Standard Operating Manual Branson IPC 3000 O 2 Asher Page 1 of 14
Contents 1 Picture and Location 2 Process Capabilities 2.1 Cleanliness Standard 2.2 Recipes 2.3 Performance of Branson IPC 3000 O 2 Asher 3 Contact List and How to Become a Qualified User 3.1 Emergency Responses and Communications 3.2 Training to Become a Qualified User 4 Operating Procedures 4.1 System Description 4.2 Safety Warnings 4.3 Operation Rules 4.4 Initial System Checks 4.5 Status Checks 4.6 Steps to operate the equipment 4.6.1 Load the Wafers or Specimens into the chamber 4.6.2 Select Recipe and Run the Process 4.6.3 Pump Down and Start the Process 4.6.4 Vent and Unload the Samples Page 2 of 14
1. Picture and Location Branson IPC 3000 O 2 Asher Touch Screen Panel Chamber This tool is located at NFF Enterprise Center Cleanroom Room 4162 Chamber Door Mechnical Pump RF Generator Process Capabilities Fig.1 Branson IPC 3000 O 2 Asher 2. Process Capabilities 2.1 Cleanliness Standard Branson IPC 3000 O 2 Asher is an Non-Standard equipment for Photo Resist etching. 2.2 Recipes Two standard recipes are provided for processing photo resist stripping and plasma Page 3 of 14
descum. Recipes parameters are shown below. Plasma Descum (DESCUM.RCP) Ramp ambient N 2 flow rate (slpm) 0.45 Temperature at the end of ramp ( o C) 70 Power during ramp (W) 300 N 2 pressure (Torr) 1.3 Process O 2 flow rate (slpm) 0.45 Temperature at the end of ash ( o C) 75 Power during ash (W) 150 O 2 pressure (Torr) 1.3 Ash time (minutes) 1 Photoresist Stripping (Striper.RCP) Ramp ambient N 2 flow rate (slpm) 0.45 Temperature at the end of ramp ( o C) 100 Power during ramp (W) 300 N 2 pressure (Torr) 1.3 Process O 2 flow rate (slpm) 0.45 Temperature at the end of ash ( o C) 200 Power during ash (W) 300 O 2 pressure (Torr) 1.3 Ash time (minutes) 20 NOTE: Please consult with NFF staff for the feasibility if you request to run the process by your own recipe. Page 4 of 14
2.3 Performance of Branson IPC 3000 O 2 Asher Gases available N 2 & O 2 RF Power Source Substrate size 400W at 13.56 MHz 2, 4 and 6 wafers or specimen 3. Contact List and How to Become a Qualified User 3.1 Emergency Responses and Communications Security Control Center: 2358-8999 (24hr) & 2358-6565 (24hr) Safety Officer: Mr. Wing Leong CHUNG 2358-7211 & 64406238 Deputy Safety Officer: Mr. Man Wai LEE 2358-7900 & 9621-7708 NFF EC Technician: Mr. Peter Yiu Cheong PUN 2358-7225 & 2358-7218 NFF Phase 2 Technician: Mr. Wilson Pui Keung YIP 2358-7894 3.2 Training to Become a Qualified User Please follow the procedure below to become a qualified user. 1. Read the operation manual of Branson IPC 3000 O 2 asher which can be found at NFF web site. 2. Send an e-mail to NFF requesting Branson IPC 3000 O 2 asher operation training. Scheduling can take up to several weeks due to the many requests coming in for this tool. Page 5 of 14
4. Operating Procedures 4.1 System Description Branson IPC 3000 O 2 Asher can generate a low pressure, low temperature gaseous plasma. Ashing, etching and polymer surface modification can be performed quickly and reproducibly. It consists of a quartz process chamber, main unit, touch screen panel, RF generator, pressure gauge, thermal couple and power supply. O 2 and N 2 are provided for process and vent. Fig2. Touch Screen Panel Fig3. RF Generator Page 6 of 14
Fig4. Mechanical Pump Fig5. Main unit including chamber Page 7 of 14
4.2 Safety Warnings This equipment can cause injury if it is not being used under a cautious manner. 1. The quartz chamber, wafer boats (see Fig.7) are very brittle. Please handle them carefully. 2. Load the wafers or specimens into the chamber carefully to avoid damage of thermal couple which is isolated in a quartz tube (see Fig 6). 3. The system will be damaged if wrong recipe parameters are applied. Make sure NFF staff knows in case of any change of recipe parameters. 4. Machine case is hot during process. Don t touch any surface to prevent burns. 5. Do not operate this machine if you are pregnant since small amount of unpreventable RF power would escape from the machine. 6. Mechanical pump oil is hazardous to human body. Report to NFF staff when spillage of oil occurs. Thermal Couple Fig.6 Thermal Couple inside quartz chamber Fig.7 Quartz boats Page 8 of 14
4.3 Operation Rules 1. If the equipment alarms during operation, do not try to fix the problem by yourself and should report to NFF staff immediately. 2. Do not operate the equipment unless you are properly trained and approved by NFF staff. 3. Do not leave an on-going experiment unattended. 4. Do not run the process for more than 30 mins. 5. Enough time of cooling is needed before unloading the wafers or specimens from the chamber after process completed. 6. Do not start the process while the door is still open. 7. Except for main menu, Process for Engineering menu and Diagnostics menu, do not click into other menus such as Maintenance menu. 8. Do not stop the process by an improper way during normal operation. For example, turn off the RF generator to stop the process during normal operation. 9. Do not change the machine settings without permission of NFF staff. 10. This equipment is only for purposes of PR stripping and Descum. For any other request, please consult with NFF staff. 4.4 Initial System Checks 1. The RF generator is turned on by confirming that AC ON red light is on and REMOTE ENABLE green light is on. 2. The mechanical pump is turned on 3. The computer is turned on so the touch screen is functioning. 4. The chamber should be under atmosphere pressure. Page 9 of 14
5. The quartz boats, thermal couple and chamber are under good conditions and without cracks. 6. The sealing surface and the sealing rubber of the door are under good conditions without damage. 4.5 Status Checks No reservation is needed for this equipment. The equipment is under first come first serve basis. 4.6 Steps to Operate The Equipment 4.6.1 Load the wafers or specimens into the chamber 1. Put the wafers or specimens into suitable quartz boats. The quartz boats are located on top of the main unit. 2. Make sure the chamber is vented. 3. If the door is locked, pull the knob and turn it in clockwise direction. Unlock and open the chamber door. 4. Use the metal fork to load the boats into the chamber. 5. Put the boats in the center position of the chamber. Don t damage the thermal couple which is located at the left of the chamber. 6. Close the door, turn the knob in anti-clockwise direction and push the knob to lock the chamber door. 4.6.2 Select recipe and run the process 1. In AllWin21 operation interface, go to Process for Engineering menu. Page 10 of 14
2. Four columns can be found in this menu. Go to the last column Recipe File, select the correct recipe and click Recipe Edit. All recipes should be in *.RCP format. 3. Check the recipe parameters to make sure the parameters are correct. The tables below show the recipe parameters of DESCUM.RCP and Striper.RCP. Step Step Time Temperature Steady Gas1 Gas2 RF Vac. END RF No. Function (sec) ( o C) Intn O2 N2 Power Pressure Point Factor SLPM SLPM (W) (Torr) Detect 1 Delay 70 25 1 0 0.45 0 1.3 0 OFF 2 Wait 120 100 1 0 0.45 300 1.3 0 ON 3 Delay 30 100 1 0.45 0 0 1.3 0 OFF 4 Delay *300 200 1 0.45 0 300 1.3 0 ON 5 Finish 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 OFF Table1. Recipe parameters of Striper.RCP Step Step Time Temperature Steady Gas1 Gas2 RF Vac. END RF No. Function (sec) ( o C) Intn O2 N2 Power Pressure Point Factor SLPM SLPM (W) (Torr) Detect 1 Delay 70 25 1 0 0.45 0 1.3 0 OFF 2 Wait 140 70 1 0 0.45 300 1.3 0 ON 3 Delay 30 70 1 0.45 0 0 1.3 0 OFF 4 Delay *60 70 1 0.45 0 150 1.3 0 ON 5 Finish 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 OFF Table2. Recipe parameters of DESCUM.RCP * Remark: This is the process time for ashing. 4. If no recipe parameters are being changed, Click Exit and then click START PROCESS to start the process. 5. If recipe parameters have to be changed, choose the boxes, change the Page 11 of 14
numbers and click Enter. To save the new settings, click RECIPE VALIDATE first. Click Yes on Popup massage Congratulation! Validation Success! and then click Save. After that, click Exit to exit this page and click START PROCESS to start the process. 4.6.3 Pump down and start the process 1. Once click START PROCESS, the chamber pump down automatically to reach its vacuum set point which is 0.01Torr. A popup message shows Waiting for Vacuum Pump down (see Fig.8). 2. After pressure reached 0.01Torr, process starts with real time process information showing on another page (see Fig.9). Those process feedback values are presented in formats of graphs and bars. Fig8. Popup message to show Waiting for vacuum. Pump down. Page 12 of 14
Fig9. Process running with real time feedback data Fig 9. X-axis: Time (Sec), Y-axis: Green line: O 2 flow rate; Blue line: N 2 flow rate; Pink line: RF power; purple line: Pressure; Thin blue line: Temperature Bars: N2 flow rate, O2 flow rate, RF power, pressure 3. During the process, check the process feedback values to make sure the values are close to the set values in recipe. Otherwise, report to NFF staff to check for the equipment. Don t go away while machine is running and keep monitoring the process until completed. 4. If the process needs to be aborted during running, Click STOP NOT PURGE and ask NFF staff to vent the chamber to take out the wafers or specimens. 5. Otherwise, Process Completed is shown on the screen when process is done. At the same time, chamber will be vented automatically. Page 13 of 14
4.6.4 Vent and unload the samples 1. After venting to atmosphere, pull the knob and turn it in clockwise direction. Open the chamber door and take out the quartz boats by metal fork. Don t touch the quartz boats or chamber by hands because they might be still hot. 2. Exit and go to the main page. Click Diagnostics (see fig.10) to stop venting and exit again to go back to the main page. 3. Make sure the chamber and the working environment are clean after use. Fig.10 Diagnostic menu Page 14 of 14