MEMORANDUM

To: Katalin Voros, Operations Manager

From: Kim Chan, Assistant Development Engineer

Subject: 2006 Year-End Report

Date: 12 January 2007

cc: Sia Parsa, Andy Neureuther

This is a summary of the activities and projects that I was involved during 2006.

I. SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSING

I have been working on special photoresist and lithography projects with the Advanced Lithography Group's researchers.

• Assisted Jacob Poppe in the Microlab. Mixed triology etch, stripped poly and oxide on the Cypress processed poly annular wafer with triology etch and BHF. Tried to solder Au, evaporated Au on wafers and measure resistivities on wafers.
• Thinned APEX-E resist with PGMEA, ethyl- (s) – (-) - lactate, n-trioctylamine, spun coat and tested them by exposing on the ASML stepper. Thinned JSR Type A, JSR Type B, JSR Type C, JSR Type D with G solvent and mixed hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol top coat for Jacob and Marshal to do e-beam lithography.
• Measured resist thicknesses, R. I., inspected resist patterns and took LEO SEM pictures on APEX-E, HSQ, KRFM, KRS, KRS-XE, PMMA and TOK resist EBL patterned wafers for the shotnoise experiments. Searched for potassium developers, tried various methods to etch EBL patterned wafers into the Si surface such as using AZ400K developer, Microposit 452 developer, diluted HF and poly Si recipe in lam5. Tried Cr lift off process on patterned resists, Cr evaporation process on KRS resist pattern, grew thin oxide, etched 3” EBL patterned oxide wafers with centura-mxp. Took LEO SEM pictures on lam5 etched Si trench wafer, Cr evaporated wafer and thin oxide wafers to determine which method gives better data for the shotnoise experiments also.
• Checked descum rate on I-line, G-line and KRS resists with various power on Technics-C for Marshal.
• Mixed Au nano-particle solutions with thinned APEX-E resist, spun it at various speeds and took SEM Pictures to see how the nano-particles distributed on the wafers for Marshal.
• Investigated and solved particle problem in Shipley RTC. Spun filtered Shipley RTC on thin APEX-E resist and tested it on the ASML stepper.

I have been working on special projects for the Microlab process group.

• Cleaned and lubricated GCA wafer stepper 2 and 6 stage rails, cleaned and lubricated GCA pattern generator stage rails, and made masks for the Microlab while Marilyn Kushner was on vacation.
• Cleaned 25- 6” recycle wafers, coated them with I-line resist and shipped to RZE, Inc.
• Modified PID values, entered new programs, solved vacuum issue, got the new vacoven working and wrote the chapter manual.
• Cleaned ETR bonded chip, sputtered Pd and took SEM pictures.
• N2 annealed 9 samples in vacoven at 400C for Artur Kolris.
• Tested manual alignment and tested the special bonded wafer in gcaws6 for Jing Xue.
• Tried to solve the I-line and G-line resist streaking issue on svgcoat1 and svgcoat2 by cleaning the nozzles, priming the resist lines and changing the arm positions, but concluded the exhaust flow need to be adjusted.
• Worked on the ASML stepper and GCAWS6 stepper mix and match alignment tests with Sia.
• Worked on Tim Reiley’s Hitachi ETR.
• Took SEM pictures on MEMS Exchange Run #3062
• Worked on the matrix, lam2 and Technics-c with Eyre from LBL.
• Worked on the matrix and svgcoat6 with Craig from LBL.
• Diced chips on part of a wafer for Tjacka Bus.
• Bonded Si to Si wafers in Tystar4.
• Took Dado project pictures on uvscope with Artist Gordon Huether as requested by the Dean’s office.
• Worked on Colby’s lithography and SEM ETR.
• Assisted the high school interns on the lithography process.
• Broke an 8” wafer into 4 pieces, diced wafers into various die sizes for Professor White.
• Baked chips for Roozbeh Jafari.
• Grew oxide, ran the lithography process, etched oxide in centura-mxp and etched the silicon (pocket) wafers in TMAH for the Microlab and RZE, Inc.
• Worked the post cmp clean experiment and wrote the chapter manual on sinkcmp.
• Discussed with Bill and Sia about the new pocket wafer process for RZE, Inc., checked the ksaligner X & Y micrometer scale values, stage movement and alignment limitation for the new process.

Processing involved many silicon equipment and analytical instruments in the Microlab. This year I learned how to use the hfvapor, linewidth measurement system, cmp, vacoven, the TC and pyrometer calibration procedure on heatpulse4 from “ALLWIN” field service engineers and refill laser gas manually on the asml stepper.

II. EQUIPMENT & PROCESS MAINTENANCE

Equipment Maintenance

• Sorted the cpa pallets to solve cross contamination issues.
• Switched lamp on, power up canon, cleaned rails, wafer chucks and ran focus tests on the Canon projection aligner when it was not working properly.
• Checked vacuum, focus problems and solved problems on the Canon aligner. Found new focuses and changed posted values after the wafer chucks were polished.
• Ran image quality control and illumination uniformity tests on the ASML stepper.
• Changed laser gas, started light source, exposed test wafers, and checked CT status on the ASML stepper.
• Rebooted ASML stepper when there were problems that couldn’t fix by the software commands.
• Tried to solve the asml stepper problems such as initialize the wafer stage, wafer handler, wafer stage levelling, malfunction smif pods, checked out illumination & chill function errors and ran fast start up & full start up on the ASML stepper.
• Ran wafers to test the ASML stepper when there were problems reported.
• Posted warning sign that loading mask in single smif pod can puncture reticle pellicle for ASML stepper.
• Assisted ASML service representatives when they were working on the ASML stepper.
• Assisted lab members on the ASML stepper when there were problems such as wafers stucked on the pre-alignment chuck or e-chuck, job modifications and others.
• Assisted RZE serviceman when he was working on gcaws2, gcaws6 and gcapg.
• Assisted sopra serviceman as needed.
• Checked and cleared svgcoat6 HMDS, EBR, svgcoat6 and svgdev6 problems when needed.
• Checked SPR 220 resist dispensing program to solve problem on svgcoat1 & 2.
• Re-programmed recipes on svgcoat6 and svgdev6.
• Re-programmed recipes in primeoven, tested them and measurement contact angles on HMDS primed wafers.
• Replaced I-line, G-line and SPR 220-7.0 photoresists on svgcoat1/2, I-line and UV210 photoresists on svgcoat6 and primed the photoresist lines.
• Refilled water in the chiller for the svgdev6 when needed.
• Disposed resist waste and replaced new container on svgcoat6.
• Powered up the matrix asher, loaded recipe, reset heater and tested it
• Cleaned LEO chamber seal to solve vacuum problem and rebooted LEO SEM to clear software controlling error.
• Assisted lab members with LEO SEM problems.
• Wrote and posted LEO SEM policy sign.
• Rebooted gcapg to clear a MT error/running problem.
• Checked and cleared gcaws6 problems such as removed stuck reticle, mask vacuum, stuck wafer, stage, RMS, reticle loading, ACS and auto focus problems on gcaws6.
• Solved die size and editing issues for lab members after gcaws2 upgrade.
• Covered up all analytical equipment near the sopra with large plastic sheets because of the water leak from the ceiling.
• Cleaned cassettes for new vacoven.
• Cleaned sink4 table top to clear reported problem.
• Assisted staff to do wet chemical etch on equipment parts.
• Checked DUV thin oxide programs and focus problem on nanoduv until the deuterium was replaced.
• Cleaned Si debris problem on spindryer3 and tested it afterward.
• Test vacuum problems on parylene system and followed through until it was fixed.

Process Maintenance

I have been responsible to maintain general photolithography processes for the Advanced Photolithography Group. This involved the following:

• Recycled used 6” wafers.
• Scrubbed pyrex dishes, piranha cleaned small brown bottles and pyrex dishes.

• Ran focus tests for the asml stepper.

• Labelled new chemicals and stored them in the refrigerator.
• Grew oxide, evaporated Cr & Au and measured thickness on nanoduv & asiq on wafers.
• HMDS primed, coated resists, exposed wafers, PEB, developed and inspected them.
• Diced, inspected samples and sputtered Au-Pd film for SEM work.
• Took pictures on the uvscope and the LEO SEM.
• Searched the website, called vendors and technical personnel for technical information and price quotes for MSDS, hydrolyzed poly vinyl alcohol, (n)-trioctylamine, small brown bottles and syringe filters.
• Inspected wafers on the uvscope when needed.
• Checked and informed DUV group on process data, equipment information and equipment status.
• Refilled small bottles with AR3-600, RTC, filtered RTC and various types of photoresists.

I have been responsible to maintain part of the general photolithography processes for the Microlab and the process group. This involved the following:

• Monitored UV210 photoresist uniformity and thickness from svgcoat6.
• Monitored Eo using UV210 photoresist and exposed with the ASML stepper.

• Recycled test, flat and ultra-flat silicon wafers to be used on the GCAWS6 and ASML stepper.
• Assisted in running F/E matrix tests on gcaws2 after the computer upgrade.
• Cleaned 6” dummy wafers for svgcoat6, svgdev6 and ASML stepper.
• Prepared photoresist coated wafers for RZE Inc., ASML stepper field servicemen and the process group.
• Refilled developers on svgdev6, EBR and HMDS on svgcoat6 when I see they are low. Restocked EBR in the lobby chemical cabinet when it was reported out.
• Cleaned and dehydration baked wafers for processing.
• HMDS primed, coated resists, exposed wafers, PEB, developed and inspected them.
• Measured line widths and took pictures on the LEO SEM.
• Deposit LTO for post CMP polish clean experiment.
• Monitored the photoresist inventory on 6” wafer track, labeled DUV photoresists and stored them.
• Gave advises to lab members on photolithography processing and mask modification.
• Solved resist uniformity on svgcoat1 & 2 and checked SPR-220 air bubble problem.
• Assisted lab members in programming on the svgcoats and coating ARC-600.
• Marked 6” dummy wafers for svgcoat6, svgdev6 and ASML stepper.
• Set up LEO sem accounts for qualify users.
• Restocked gloves, texwipes and printer paper in the LEO room when I see they are low.
• Informed Susan to order UV210-0.6 resist when it is low.
• Ran F/E matrix, system focus and baseline correction tests on gcaws6.
• Copied and edited files on gcaws6 for lab members.
• Diced test and baseline wafers on disco.
• Assisted George Vida svgcoat6 & svgdev6 transfer problems.
• Tested program problems on aptchrome.
• Mixed rapid fixer for aptemul.
• Refilled HMDS for sink4.
• Tested emulsion exposure problem on gcapg.
• Assisted Changrui in checking the software on LEO SEM.
• Operated the LEO SEM for Firas, Yaojie and staff.
• Cleaned pocket wafer mask, svgcoat6 transfer stations and combi reticle for the ASML stepper.
• Cleaned out all the wafers in 120C VWR oven because it was overloaded.
• Looked up my old resist lift-off process and wrote it in word file for the Microlab.
• Looked up my old motorized stage process information for a lab member.
• Worked on a show wafer.
• Wrote a qualification check list and suggested superusers for LEO SEM.

III. INSTRUCTION & DOCUMENTATION

Instruction

• Instructed and qualified researchers on equipment operation and fabrication procedures when necessary. The DUV group researchers I worked with are: Jacob Poppe and Marshal Miller.
• Showed some staff how to clean masks, run colorimeter, cmp, gcaws6, ksaligner, linewidth, nanoduv, svgcoat6, svgdev6, program svgcoat6 & svgdev6 and LEO S.E.M.
• Gave lab tours for monthly orientation when needed.
• Assisted and showed a few lab members how to use the

- ASML stepper

- ASIQ profiler

- Canon projection aligner

- Disco dicing saw

- Electronics Balance

- GCA pattern generator, wafer stepper 2 & 6

- Hummer sputter system

- Jeol107 SEM

- Kruss Contact Angle Measurement System

- LEO S.E.M.

- Matrix asher

- Memscope

- Nanoduv Microspectrophotometer

- Primeoven

- Quintel aligner

- Svgcoat6 and svgdev6

- Sink432A, sink432C and sink3

- Sopra ellipsometer

- UVScope

- Vacoven

• Qualified lab members on the operation of the

- Canon projection aligner

- GCA wafer stepper 6

- Headway spinner

- Heatpulse2

- Hummer sputter system

- Kruss Contact Angle Measurement System

- LEO sem

- Matrix asher

- Memscope

- Nanoduv

- Primeoven

- Quintel aligner

- Sinks

- SVG coat and develop systems

- UVScope

- Vacoven

- YES prime oven

Documentation

• Wrote daily reports to Professor Andy Neureuther.
• Wrote weekly reports to Sia Parsa.
• Revised 6, 7 and 29 modules, asml, cpa, gcaws6, general resist parameters, hfvapor, hummer, primeoven, quintel, standard equipment & process monitor, svgcoat1, svgcoat2, svgcoat6 and svgdev chapter manuals, gcaws6 & quintel written quizzes, svgcoat1, svgcoat2 and svgdev posted signs.
• Graded asiq, asml, cpa, disco, gcaws2, jeol107 SEM, lam1-3, LEO SEM, lab orientation, Quintel aligner, svgcoat6, svgdev6, svgdev, sinks and westbond lab quizzes.
• Input the UV210-0.6 resist thickness and Eo data into the process monitor on the Microlab web page.
• Recorded gcaws6 F/E matrix test and baseline correction results on log book.
• Informed DUV researchers on the progress of their processes by sending them e-mails.

IV. PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

My performance objectives listed 2006 have been completed as follow:

• Assisted Jacob Poppe in the Microlab. Mixed triology etch, stripped poly and oxide on the Cypress processed poly annular wafer with triology etch and BHF. Tried to solder Au, evaporated Au on wafers and measure resistivities on wafers.
• Thinned APEX-E resist with PGMEA, ethyl- (s) – (-) - lactate, n-trioctylamine, spun coat and tested them by exposing on the ASML stepper. Thinned JSR Type A, JSR Type B, JSR Type C, JSR Type D with G solvent and mixed hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol top coat for Jacob and Marshal to do e-beam lithography.
• Measured resist thicknesses, R. I., inspected resist patterns and took LEO SEM pictures on APEX-E, HSQ, KRFM, KRS, KRS-XE, PMMA and TOK resist EBL patterned wafers for the shotnoise experiments. Searched for potassium developers, tried various methods to etch EBL patterned wafers into the Si surface such as using AZ400K developer, Microposit 452 developer, diluted HF and poly Si recipe in lam5. Tried Cr lift off process on patterned resists, Cr evaporation process on KRS resist pattern, grew thin oxide, etched 3” EBL patterned oxide wafers with centura-mxp. Took LEO SEM pictures on lam5 etched Si trench wafer, Cr evaporated wafer and thin oxide wafers to determine which method gives better data for the shotnoise experiments also.
• Checked descum rate on I-line, G-line and KRS resists with various power on Technics-C for Marshal.
• Mixed Au nano-particle solutions with thinned APEX-E resist, spun it at various speeds and took SEM Pictures to see how the nano-particles distributed on the wafers for Marshal.
• Investigated and solved particle problem in Shipley RTC. Spun filtered Shipley RTC on thin APEX-E resist and tested it on the ASML stepper.
• Cleaned and lubricated GCA wafer stepper 2 and 6 stage rails, cleaned and lubricated GCA pattern generator stage rails, and made masks for the Microlab while Marilyn Kushner was on vacation.
• Cleaned 25- 6” recycle wafers, coated them with I-line resist and shipped to RZE, Inc.
• Modified PID values, entered new programs, solved vacuum issue, got the new vacoven working and wrote the chapter manual.
• Cleaned ETR bonded chip, sputtered Pd and took SEM pictures.
• N2 annealed 9 samples in vacoven at 400C for Artur Kolris.
• Tested manual alignment and tested the special bonded wafer in gcaws6 for Jing Xue.
• Tried to solve the I-line and G-line resist streaking issue on svgcoat1 and svgcoat2 by cleaning the nozzles, priming the resist lines and changing the arm positions, but concluded the exhaust flow need to be adjusted.
• Worked on the ASML stepper and GCAWS6 stepper mix and match alignment tests with Sia.
• Worked on Tim Reiley’s Hitachi ETR.
• Took SEM pictures on MEMS Exchange Run #3062
• Worked on the matrix, lam2 and Technics-c with Eyre from LBL.
• Worked on the matrix and svgcoat6 with Craig from LBL.
• Diced chips on part of a wafer for Tjacka Bus.
• Bonded Si to Si wafers in Tystar4.
• Took Dado project pictures on uvscope with Artist Gordon Huether as requested by the Dean’s office.
• Worked on Colby’s lithography and SEM ETR.
• Assisted the high school interns on the lithography process.
• Broke an 8” wafer into 4 pieces, diced wafers into various die sizes for Professor White.
• Baked chips for Roozbeh Jafari.
• Grew oxide, ran the lithography process, etched oxide in centura-mxp and etched the silicon (pocket) wafers in TMAH for the Microlab and RZE, Inc.
• Worked the post cmp clean experiment and wrote the chapter manual on sinkcmp.
• Discussed with Bill and Sia about the new pocket wafer process for RZE, Inc., checked the ksaligner X & Y micrometer scale values, stage movement and alignment limitation for the new process.

V. SUMMARY

I had assisted Jacob Poppe on his Au resistivity check process and finished his experiment on the Cypresss processed wafers, so he could analyze the data. I had prepared thin photoresists for the DUV Group to do the EBL in LBL. I grew oxide on wafers, Cr evaporation, Cr lift off process on thin photoresists, control the resist thickness by ashing it on Technics-C, etched shallow Si trenches and thin oxide patterns on wafers and took SEM pictures for Marshal to analyze the data for the shotnoise experiments. The shotnoise experiments are progressing well from the analytical data. Furthermore, I solved the RTC particle problem so it wouldn’t affect the resist process. I had mixed Au nano-particle solutions to thin resist and found nano-particles successfully under the SEM. Further finding of Au distribution will be investigated when time allows. I had assisted the Advanced Lithography Group to run the experiments and processes well this year.

I had completed the ETR runs, had assisted staff and lab members to make processes run smoothly in the Microlab. I had assisted to bring the new vacoven up and wrote a new chapter manual for it. I had tested the post CMP clean process and wrote a new chapter manual for sinkcmp. I had assisted the Microlab to maintain equipment when necessary to keep equipment in good running conditions and minimize equipment down time. I had graded written quizzes and qualified lab members on equipment so the lab members could use the Microlab facility. I had revised chapter manuals, process modules and written quizzes to keep them update. I had made masks when Marilyn was away on vacation so lab members could continue their work. I had assisted the process group to maintain the general processes in the lab to run smoothly this year.