Evaluation of water based intelligent fluids for resist stripping in single wafer cleaning tools

The application of phasefluid based intelligent fluids (R) in the field of photoresist stripping was studied. Due to their highly dynamic inner structure, phasefluids penetrate into the polymer network of photoresists and small gaps between resist layer and substrate and lift off the material from the surface. These non-aggressive stripping fluids were investigated regarding their efficiency in various resist stripping applications including initial results on copper metallization. Furthermore intelligent fluids (R) have been evaluated on an industry standard high volume single wafer cleaner. A baseline process on 300 mm wafers has been developed and characterized in terms of metallic and ionic impurities and defect level. Finally a general proof of concept for removal of positive tone resist from 300 mm silicon wafers is demonstrated.