Advantages of Marangoni Drying If you are working in a semiconductor industry, you are probably aware about Marangoni Drying;

it is an industry process that is becoming more and more popular as it gives clear advantages over the other processes. It is being used to produce dry, ultra clean surface on flat substrates. Marangoni drying involves the withdrawal of a substrate from a rinse bath, while nitrogen gas is led along its surface tension gradient in the wetting film on the substrate. As a result, completely dry, watermark-free, with low particle counts, and no feature damage substrates are produced. Marangoni drying process is considered more advantageous than other processes as it gives a number of benefits, which include the following: No moving parts moving parts are a problem that is specifically common in spin drying; with Marangoni dryer, this problem is eliminated, which is advantageous particularly for the production of thinner substrates. Alternative to spin rinse dryer Marangoni dryer is an effective substitute for spin rinse dryer as this avoids drying spots on mixed hydrophilic-hydrophobic surfaces and particle contamination caused by residue left behind after evaporation, which is common in spin rinse dryer process. No watermarks this is imperative since watermarks are well known to be a major source of yield loss; they are detrimental on bare silicon as it becomes oxidized when oxygen is present, forming silicic acid or hydrated silica. Reduced chemical consumption the process also reduces chemical consumption and so can decrease operation costs and, at the same time, can help for environmental protection campaign. Reduces production costs Cost savings through improved cycle times & reduced maintenance. Excellent for high aspect ratio structures Very low particle counts the use of Marangoni dryer significantly reduces particle concentration; this capability provides a clear advantage over other vapor drying processes. No substrate breakage issue substrate breakage is common to substrate cleaning and drying processes; however, with Marangoni drying, this problem is reduced and therefore can increase production. No SDE damage also known as electro-static discharge, a term used to mean rapid exchange of electricity from one object to another caused by static electricity builds up on the surface of any non-conductive object that rubs against similar non-conductive object.

-Riza writes and shares a wide array of topics on industry wet processes, including Marangoni drying. For more info, visit: http://www.microtechprocess.com/