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Michael Pittroff, Speaker at Green Chemistry Conferences
Solvay, Germany
Title : Environmental-Friendly Fluorine Mixture for CVD Cleaning Processes to replace C2F6 and NF3 under industrial Conditions

Abstract:

During the climate conference in Paris (2015) a binding and universal climate target was established. It was agreed to limit the temperature increase to a maximum of 2 C° until 2100 ( ). The most relevant climate gas is CO2, considered as a primary greenhouse gas with a significant impact on global warming. Although the semiconductor industry is only a small contributor to the global warming, several fluorinated gases having a high global warming potential (GWP) ( ), are intensively used. NF3 is the most frequently used gas, having a GWP of 17200, followed by C2F6 and CF4 with GWPs of 1200 and 7390 respectively ( ), as shown in table 1. The main application of these gases is to remove residual films remaining inside deposition chambers after a PECVD process (plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition). The most important materials to remove are dielectric layers like silicon dioxides (SiO2), carbon-containing silicon oxides, silicon nitrides (Si3N4) and, to a certain
extent, conducting films like doped poly-silicon and silicide layers. According to the World Semiconductor Council, the semiconductor industry used in 2018 12696 t NF3, 2024 t CF4 and 736 t C2F6 on a global basis. Approximately 72% of all semiconductor industry gaseous emissions are caused from these three gases. This article discusses the replacement of C2F6 and NF3 as cleaning gases thru an environmental-friendly gas mixture named Solvaclean®NO (30% F2, 60%N2 and 10% Ar).
It could be shown at the production site, which the cleaning was done with Solvaclean®NO achieves similar cleaning time with significant lower gas consumption, appr. 60-70% less gas compared to C2F6. The RF-power during cleaning was reduced by 20% and the amount of fluorinated waste water was as well significantly reduced. In addition a Solvaclean®NO supply for a production FAB was installed, based on a bundle delivery system. After a ”craddel to grave” technical check of the gas supply system could be shown, that Solvaclean®NO can be used as a `drop in´ to replace C2F6.

Biography:

Michael Pittroff currently holds the position as global marketing manager for electronic gases for the business unit electronics of Solvay`s global business unit Special Chem. He started to work on development of environmentally friendly processes in the Solvay group (Laboratoire Central) of Solvay, Brussels Belgium in 1993. Since then, he has developed several new processes or products for Solvay, mainly for gases. In 2006 he joint Solvay Korea to support the group in building up a high purity gases plant for semiconductors and establishing an agent network in Asia. Solvaclean® was developed together with Texas Instruments after his return to Germany in 2012.

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