Research accomplishments at the University of Arizona SEMATECH Center of Excellence for contamination/defect assessment and control

The Arizona SEMATECH Center of Excellence (SCOE) was established in May of 1988. The SCOE is engaged in research on a broad front to understand and control contamination which causes yield-limiting defects in submicron ULSI circuits. Sandia National Laboratory personnel are integrated with UA personnel in the SCOE research. The focus of the research is on contaminants, both particulates and homogeneous or distributed, which originate in, are caused by, or are transported and deposited by process gases and chemicals or process equipment. Further, the work involves investigating the mapping from contaminants and contaminant levels to circuit defects for submicron processes and circuit technologies. Results achieved during the three years of SCOE's existence are described