Effect of Dissolved Ozone and In-Situ Wafer Cleaning on Pre-Epitaxial Deposition for Next Generation Semiconductor Devices

The effect of in-situ process cleaning before epitaxial deposition was studied. The process includes using dissolved ozone to remove organics from the wafers' surface. In addition, the process was conducted in-situ without transferring the wafers from process to rinse tanks as is traditionally done. Results show that the dissolved ozone has significantly improved the yield results when compared to a process without using dissolved ozone as a surface treatment. The results also showed that dilute chemicals and in-situ HF/Drying are key factors required in wafer processing for successful film deposition in advanced IC manufacturing.