XPS analysis with an ultra clean vacuum substrate carrier for oxidation and airborne molecular contamination prevention

Germanium wafer oxidation has been studied by angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS). These analyses have been used for testing a new concept for substrate contamination prevention methods using an ultra clean vacuum substrate carrier for semiconductor manufacturing environments. Satisfying the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) under 65 nm nodes has introduced many assignments to future semiconductor manufacture such as haze problems in lithography masks, wafer oxidation growth in queue time, or contact with airborne molecular contaminations (AMC). From our experience, silicon and germanium wafers, after HF passivation and cleaning, were transported to XPS in order to measure various aspects of the oxidation progress; one case with normal ambient air exposure and another with vacuum carrier storage without ambient exposure. The results give information on the Ge oxidation kinetic, in term of speed and bounding environment. Moreover, the tests performed using the vacuum carrier are significant proof of the efficiency of germanium oxidation prevention. The methods have a large potential for solving critical problems and decontamination methods in the short term IT road map.