JST Manufacturing has formally introduced its Ospray family of single-wafer wet processing systems at Semicon Europa 2023 in Munich (November 14-17).

For semiconductor manufacturers, compound semiconductor manufacturers, raw wafer material suppliers, and R&D labs, utilising wet process cleaning equipment is critical to producing extremely reliable products, so partnering with a vendor with deep expertise in all aspects of the process – from equipment selection, design specification, testing, and installation/hook up – can be critical to success.

To meet application specific requirements, design engineers in industries that manufacture sensitive components often need more flexibility than standard options allow for automating wet process cleaning equipment. These specialised components can range from chips, wafers, semiconductors, and electronic devices to the specialised optics for world-class lasers.

Cleaning, an integral part of many manufacturing and maintenance processes is often critical to the performance of a broad range of technologies in the semiconductor, defence, MEMS, photonics and biotech industries. In this case, ‘cleaning’ refers to the use of agents such as solvents, acids or bases to remove unwanted particulates and other contaminates from products ranging from optics to semiconductor and electronic devices.

Cleaning, an integral part of many manufacturing and maintenance processes, is often critical to the performance of a broad range of technologies in the semiconductor, defence, MEMS, photonics and biotech industries. 'Cleaning', in this case, refers to the use of agents such as solvents, acids or bases to remove unwanted particulates and other contaminates from products ranging from optics to semiconductor and electronic devices.

  As research has become more complex, sophisticated cleanrooms have become a virtual necessity for a wide range of cutting edge physical science, material science, and biomedical disciplines. Due to the financial investment required for such facilities, both university and private R&D laboratories are designed and built to accommodate the needs of a wide range of researchers.

According to wet processing equipment specialist JST Manufacturing, many developers who would like to enter the MEMS or nano field lack the resources – such as development time and equipment - to do so. Also, specialized packaging in these areas, which requires simultaneous contact with its own environment while being isolated from other environments, is often expensive and difficult to achieve.

The consistent purity of materials used to fabricate components of electronic devices can have a critical impact on their performance. For example, producing semiconductor-grade silicon used for electronic chips involves upstream cleaning of polysilicon chunks to a purity of has high as 11N, which translates to 99.999999999%. For photovoltaic applications such as solar cells, the silicon purity levels are not quite as high (5N) but critical ...

  Companies using microfabrication can gain important benefits by using wet processing equipment designed to handle a variety of application parameters. By Ed Sullivan, a technical writer based in Los Angeles, California.