Supercritical CO2-based solvents in next generation microelectronics processing

Large amount of chemicals and highly purified-water are needed in microelectronic manufacture. The ability of solutions to penetrate tiny spaces will become significantly more challenging as the feature size of semiconductor devices decreases to nanoscale dimensions and the functional complexity of integrated circuitries (ICs) ever increases. Supercritical fluids (SCFs) possess a unique combination of properties (no surface tension and gas-like viscosity) that can potentially be exploited for application in microelectronics manufacturing and processing in response to needs for material-compatible cleaning systems, small-dimension developing solvents, and low chemical-use processes. Recent microelec- tronics processes for cleaning and rinsing of patterned porous low-k dielectrics and drying of photo- resist in CO2-based solvents are the main focus of this review. Additional topics in supercritical fluid processing include spin coating of photoresists, development with nanoscale dimensions, metal deposition and silylation.