ABSTRACT
Particle contamination in microelectronics manufacturing originates from within the clean room and is usually related to defective equipment or by-products of the process. This chapter describes the methodology used in the laboratories, a combination of Raman and infra-red microspectroscopies with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, to identify the composition of particles. It compiles a proprietary library of Raman spectra of materials of relevance to microelectronics. The problem of contamination by particles in microelectronics can be divided into two general categories: extrinsic and intrinsic. The first category deals with the prevention of contamination from the outside world reaching the surface of wafers during fabrication. The second category deals with particles and contamination problems generated inside the clean room itself. The chapter presents examples of particle problems encountered in manufacturing. Fourier Transform Infra-red spectroscopy is mostly useful in the analysis of film type contamination.
