The double jet ionizer for ULSI manufacturing processes

The use of a corona discharge ionizer is one of the most effective methods to control electrostatic charges in electronic devices during the manufacturing process. However, the conventional ionizer generates various kinds of contamination. The double jet ionizer was proposed in order to reduce the contamination from the ionizer. The double jet ionizer is made from nozzles with jet emitters located at the center of the nozzles. Both the jet emitter and the nozzle can spray argon gas. Particle generation from the emitter, ozone generation, and particle growth to the emitter tip was investigated for both the double jet ionizer and a conventional nonjet ionizer. When compared with the conventional nonjet ionizer, the double jet ionizer reduces the number of generated particles by 1/40. The concentration of ozone generated from the emitters of the double jet ionizer can be reduced to 1/20 of the concentration from that of a conventional nonjet ionizer. Particle growth was absent from the emitter tip of the double jet ionizer.