Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Apparatus – With heating – cooling or heat exchange means
Patent
1996-09-30
2000-03-21
Smith, Lynette R. F.
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Apparatus
With heating, cooling or heat exchange means
134147, 134148, B08B 312
Patent
active
06039059&
ABSTRACT:
A wafer cleaning system cleans semiconductor wafers using megasonic energy to agitate cleaning fluid applied to the wafer. A source of acoustic energy vibrates an elongated quartz probe which transmits the acoustic energy into the fluid. One form of the probe has a solid cylindrical-shaped cleaning portion within the tank and a flared rear portion with an increasing diameter outside the tank. A heat transfer member acoustically coupled to the larger rear portion of the probe and to a transducer conducts heat away from the transducer. A housing for the heat transfer member and transducer supports those components and provides means for conducting coolant through the housing to control the temperature of the transducer. In one arrangement, fluid is sprayed onto both sides of a wafer while a probe is positioned close to an upper side. In another arrangement, a short probe is positioned with its end face close to the surface of a wafer, and the probe is moved over the wafer as it rotates. The probe may also be positioned through a central hole in a plurality of discs to clean a group of such elements at one time.
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Brumback Brenda G.
Smith Lynette R. F.
Verteq, Inc.
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