Applications of "dry" processing in the microelectronics industry using carbon dioxide

Condensed carbon dioxide (CO2) has emerged as a leading enabler of advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes. By exploiting the physical properties of CO2, some of the current challenges encountered in microelectronics processing related to shrinking feature sizes and materials compatibility have been addressed. Furthermore, the potential for reduction of chemicals used in processing is realized. Applications of CO2 in microelectronics operations such as wafer cleaning, spin-coating, development, and stripping of photoresists, drying, low-k film preparation and repair, etching, and metal deposition are discussed.