Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to compile information for the current research concerns and relevant equipments for wafer rinsing and to improve the operation of a wafer rinsing process through both theoretical and experimental studies. A simple experimental setup is constructed to observe the fluid flow between two wafers and the experimental design methodology is adopted to examine the effects of relevant operating and processing conditions on the rinsing efficiency. As for the theoretical investigation, a finite volume based CFD package is used to study the relationship between the rinsing efficiency and process parameters, including inlet stream location, wafer gap, and the way the inlet stream is introduced. The effort is devoted to the development of an improved method for wafer rinsing. According to our simulation and experimental results, we find that the performance of jet is better than that of slot, and the rinsing will be better done if the two inlet streams are located in a direct opposite fashion. Changing the flow rate ratio of the two inlet streams during the rinsing process is a more efficient way to strengthen the more powerful convection rinsing, thus reducing the necessary rinsing time. Additionally, we predict that the shear stress will be large on the impurity face of the wafer when orienting it toward the center of the tank. We conclude that the sequential rinsing, which consists of two sets of inlet streams located properly and operated sequentially with a possible different flow rate ratio, is the most efficient rinsing procedure.