The detection and analysis of atmospheric molecules are driven by the pressing concerns of air quality and climate change. In high-tech manufacturing processes like the semiconductor industry, Airborne Molecular Contamination (AMC) poses a significant challenge.

These airborne contaminants not only diminish the quality of the final product but also impact the performance and longevity of manufacturing tools, leading to increased costs when not adequately controlled.

In the semiconductor industry specifically, AMCs can profoundly affect the production process and the quality of semiconductor devices. They have the potential to introduce defects that compromise the devices’ performance and reliability. Moreover, the presence of AMCs can lead to reduced yield during manufacturing, resulting in heightened production expenses. Monitoring AMC is also essential from an environmental standpoint. Certain molecular contaminants, if released into the atmosphere, can have adverse effects on the environment. By actively monitoring and controlling these contaminants, industries can minimize their environmental impact and contribute to sustainable practices. The criticality of Airborne Molecular Contamination monitoring extends to various aspects, including maintaining product quality, optimizing process efficiency, ensuring equipment reliability, controlling cleanroom environments, and safeguarding worker safety. By effectively identifying and managing molecular contaminants, manufacturers can achieve superior performance, minimize defects, and attain heightened productivity and reliability in their operations.

Multi-Max AMC Monitoring Solution

You can spend a long time looking for Airborne Molecular Contaminants (AMCs) when the catastrophic product performance or yield loss is discovered at your device final test stage; or you can deploy our Multi-Max™ AMC Monitoring Solution to locate and to monitor these invisible defect generators, commonly found lurking in and around equipment, personnel, wafer carriers, and cleanroom bays.

In today’s advanced semiconductor processing, the residual gases, vapors and chemicals emanating from the various materials, accelerated processing operations, and substrate storage and transport have become a critical concern. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) now highlights AMC contamination as a key technical challenge in achieving and sustaining low defect rates on devices.

With a particular focus on the major contributors to the “chemical contamination” element of AMCs, our Multi-Max AMC Monitoring combines our T-I Max series CRDS analyzers that can detect and continuously monitor HF, HCl, and NH3 with an unprecedented combination of sensitivity, selectivity, and speed of response. Our AMC Monitoring Solution delivers the flexibility, accuracy and reliability you need.

Benefits

• Surveying different micro-environments in a fab is now fast and easy with our safe, flexible, and easy to use Multi-Max AMC Monitoring Solution.
• Can be equipped with any combination of our T-I Max CRDS analyzers to monitor simultaneously and in real-time for the most critical contaminants in cleanroom air: NH3, HCl, and HF (other analytes available as well).
• All our analyzers come with a compact, low-power, fanless vacuum pump optimized for cleanroom operation.

MOBILE AMC MONITORING

CRDS (Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy) is a highly sensitive technique that can detect a wide range of atmospheric trace gases and airborne molecular contaminants (AMCs). The method uses the principles of absorption spectroscopy to measure the concentration of molecules in a gas sample.  With high precision, sensitivity and specificity, our TIGER OPTICS™ Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) gas analyzer is one of the best analytical methods available to monitor contaminants, pollutants and greenhouse gases, without interference from moisture and other atmospheric constituents.  Gain continuous measurements easily with little or no maintenance and few consumables. 

Exposure of wafers to Airborne Molecular Contaminants (AMCs) is a great concern to semiconductor manufacturers, which can cause yields to drop.  Our TIGER OPTICS T-I Max CEM™ analyzers monitor cleanroom environments.  Our CRDS technology makes measurements easy and free of interferences from other contaminants.  

Options Available

• Standalone
• Rack-mounted AMC Combo (HCl/HF, HCl/NH₃ or HF/NH₃)
• AMC Mobile GO-cart™ (with up to three analyzers)

APPLICATIONS

• Semiconductor Industry AMC Monitoring
• Cleanroom air
• Front Opening Unified Pods (FOUPs)
• Silicon wafers
• Continuous monitoring of air quality pollutants in other microelectronics manufacturing
• Continuous and precise measurement of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) monitoring

GET THE BENEFITS OF OUR APIMS TECHNOLOGY

VeraSpec APIMS makes the analytical difference through intuitive, low-maintenance operation.  Typical VeraSpec APIMS low detection limits by contaminant and bulk gas.

Explore our NEW optional automated stream switching capability with the APIMS SX5 stream switcher.  Automatically cycle between up to five bulk gases!

APPLICATIONS

• Semiconductor fabs
• Labs & research
• Bulk gas storage
• ASU