Generation of ionized air for semiconductor chips

Details Generation of ionized air for semiconductor chips Generation of ionized air for semiconductor chips

1993-12-13

1995-07-11

DeBoer, Todd

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Discharging or preventing accumulation of electric charge

By charged gas irradiation

250423P, H05F 306

Patent

active

054326702

ABSTRACT:
Ionization of air without the use of corona discharge tips, thereby to avoid the generation of particulates from corrosion of the corona tips, is accomplished by use of a laser beam focussed to a small focal volume of intense electric field adjacent a semiconductor chip. The electric field is sufficiently intense to ionize air. In the manufacture of a semiconductor circuit chip, during those steps which are conducted in an air environment, opportunity exists to remove from a surface of a chip, or wafer, charge acquired during the manufacturing process. The ionized air is passed along the chip surface. Ions in the air discharge local regions of the chip surface which have become charged by steps of a manufacturing process. By way of further embodiment of the invention, the ionization may be produced by injection of molecules of water into the air, which molecules are subsequently ionized by a laser beam and directed toward the chip via a light shield with the aid of a magnetic field.

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