PFAS Methodology Study for Assembly Materials

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemical substances with high stability and persistence to prove Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). PFAS can exist in the environment for a long time and accumulate in humans to cause cancer. Due to the environmental impact and persistence of PFAS, more and more countries around the world are considering legislation to ban the use of PFAS. PFAS is widely used in the consumer and semiconductor industries, where it plays an important role. PFAS can be applied to semiconductor materials such as underfill materials, adhesives, substrates, photoresist materials, etc. Facing the stringent restrictions proposed by the EU REACH regulation, the industries need to adopt effective testing and risk management strategies to comply with regulations.No analytical method can cover all types of PFAS because of their variety and complex structures. Total fluorine is one of the methods used to screen materials for PFAS risk. Third-party laboratories have developed the targeted PFAS detection method for some standard samples. However, developing a detection method that can cover all types of PFAS substances is a new challenge. This paper mainly explores a new PFAS screening method. Several assembly materials are selected for analysis using Pyrolysis gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS/MS) to identify the presence of PFAS and distinguish whether the PFAS is a polymer or a compound. The detection results obtained from the PFAS screening method are discussed in this paper.