Topics

This symposium is bi-annual event devoted to Cleaning and surface preparation for micro and nano-technology for electronic applications and related fields such as Photo-voltaics and bio-electronics.

It is the purpose of the UCPSS symposium to increase the level of understanding on ultra-clean processing and surface preparation technology in all steps of the fabrication of ICs, PV-modules and bioelectronics devices. The conference consists of invited presentations, as well as selected contributing presentations and posters.

The Conference will be held in the city center of Leuven, in the university facilities “de Hallen” Naamsestraat 22.

The topics to be addressed include, but are not limited to:
• Fundamentals of contaminants on surfaces and contamination-substrate interactions.
• Removal of contaminants in all steps of micro-, nano-electronics applications and 3D-integration. • Surface chemistry, passivation, conditioning and characterization of group IV and III/V materials (Si, Ge, SiGe, SiC, InP, GaAs and InGaAs) for sensitive FEOL processes (high-k-metal gate stacks dielectrics, Ge surfaces, III-V, CVD and MBE- epitaxy, ALD, SAM deposition).
• Post-CMP clean for advanced Logic, Memory and 3D-applications.
• Cleaning and advanced etching schemes in advanced RMG and work function tuning.
• Surface processing in high-aspect ratio trenches and vias.
• Surface processing and drying of flexible and fragile high aspect ratio topography: leaning, sticking, collapse.
• Chemical and physical cleaning in liquid, gaseous, vapour, remote plasma and supercritical fluids (e.g. scCO2).
• Cleaning and surface preparation for novel materials for Qubits (quantum computing) and advanced memory applications (DRAM, Flash memory, PCM, RRAM, MRAM, STT, ...:): magnetic materials, OTS-materials, topological insulators,…
• BEOL strip and cleans, including corrosion issues of aggressively scaled interconnect schemes • Trade-offs between cleaning performance, substrate damage and etching.
• Contamination/particle control and its relation with process yield or performance.
• Importance of ambient control during fabrication, transport or storage for wafer surface cleanliness.
• Yield enhancement cleans: wafer backside, bevel.
• Removal of (modified) photo resist, post etch residues and polymers.
• Analytical methods, process and contamination diagnostics, in-situ monitoring and process control.
• General issues in ultra-clean technology, ultra-pure materials and supply systems.
• Safety, environmentally friendly technologies and mass balance equations.
• Challenges of cleaning EUV-masks.
• Transfer, cleaning and surface preparation of 2D-materials (graphene, WS2, MoS2, WSe2, ...).
• Surface functionalization, e.g. based on SAMs or other methods.
• Surfaces for integrated bio-electronic sensors.
• Surface preparation and functionalization for integrated microfluidic bio-sensor devices: including immobilization of bio-molecules on sensor substrates.
• Cleaning and surface preparation for photovoltaic applications, M- and N-EMS.

Organised by  imec