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Mems: Developing resist and wet etching substrates can be a problem because of the discrete features and tortuous paths that the processing liquid must follow. Fluid stagnation producing dead areas can lead to locally slow diffusion limited mass transfer. Megasonics processing can allow sonic energy to transfer through substrates and across discrete devices eliminating stagnant areas and increasing mass transfer rates. While resonance issues with discrete structures may become a worry for some parts, with an available frequency range from 400 kHz to 3 MHz, Liquid Plasma™ processing can give you the gentleness your devices need.
Electrochemical Processing: Whether you are plating, polishing/etching or growing surface layers, concentration polarization and fluid stagnation in trenches and vias can lead to slow diffusion limited processing. Megasonics processing allows sonic energy to transfer through substrates and across features to maximize bulk fluid movement even in small trenches and recesses to minimize diffusion limiting stagnant locations. Thus the number and amount of various processing chemicals added to act as filling agents or to locally promote or retard processing speed can be reduced and in some cases eliminated.
Flat Panel: When you have large areas to process with sonic energy, Liquid Plasma™ megasonics processing with wide area SoftSonic™ nozzle technology can provide the processing fluid directly to the substrate surface simultaneously with the sonic energy to uniformly process large areas quickly and efficiently. This allows the combination of sonic energy with spray technology to maximize processing effectiveness even for the smallest particles.
Nano Fabrication: As discrete features shrink along with the particles that need to be removed, megasonics processing meets the need with the widest range of operating frequencies available running from 400 kHz up to over 3 MHz. This wide frequency range coupled with the ability to transfer energy across and through substrates maximizes processing effectiveness even with the nanoscale particles and features.
Sonochemistry: When energy with multiple/variable frequencies is important to fine tune specific chemical reactions for particles of different sizes, or liquid of different characteristics, megasonics processing technology delivers.
Cleaning nanoscale particles: Cleaning of sub 50 nanometer particles is becoming a real challenge. With megasonics processing technologies multiple frequencies up to 3 MHz can be utilized simultaneously to provide special processing modes to clean even the smallest particles on the most delicate features. Further, in some cases megasonics processors can cause the substrates to vibrate as well as the fluid to maximize the removal of even the smallest particles and contaminates. Thus by moving points of interference around quickly and uniformly even the smallest particles can’t escape the cleaning power of sonic waves. So whether the job requires the removal of stubborn particles or the protection of fragile devices, megasonics processing can be fine tuned to meet the need.
Solar cell fabrication: When rapid particle removal, increased etch rates and substrate cleaning is required on large scale substrates, megasonics processors can assist in new manufacturing technologies.
CMP: Liquid Plasma™ megasonics processors can send sonic energy through the base or the wafer holder to the interface between the wafer and the pad to make pressure profiles more uniform as well as conditioning the pads either during CMP processing or in a separate step out of the machine. Liquid Plasma™ megasonics processors can also condition slurry by breaking up agglomerates thus prolonging slurry life and minimizing wafer surface scratches and defects.
Disk Components: When huge amounts of media need to be cleaned quickly, the unsurpassed power and intensity of megasonics processing removes even those stubborn particles quickly and efficiently. When small discreet three dimensional parts need to be thoroughly cleaned even of the smallest particles, megasonics processing meets the need by sending energy through and across parts and substrates to clean in those hidden recesses and tortuous paths.
Resist Stripping: When it is time for stripping resists, megasonics processing can be combined with dissolved ozone or other chemicals in various liquids to produce the highest gas transfer rates available. Megasonics processing can disrupt a thin liquid boundary layers to enhance mass transfer of various gases and liquids needed for enhanced processing. Son luminescence may even aid in reaching the desired activation energy for novel new processing. Cancellation occurs in regions between transducers.
