Cleanroom Practices, Procedures and Safety for Students using the MTTC Cleanroom For more information call

Harold Madsen: 249 6048

What is A Cleanroom?......................................................................................................................................1 How to dress for a Cleanroom..........................................................................................................................2 Movement and Handling of wafers in the cleanroom......................................................................................3 Exiting the Fab..................................................................................................................................................3 Safety Procedures.............................................................................................................................................3 Acid/Base handling ..........................................................................................................................................4 Solvent Handling..............................................................................................................................................5 Common Sense Things.....................................................................................................................................6

What is A Cleanroom?
A microelectronics cleanroom is a room in which the environment is controlled to be cleaner than in a normal room. Generally a cleanroom will have a reduced airborne particle concentration and will have a controlled temperature and humidity. Microelectronic circuits and physical mechanical devices are very small. These devices are so small that particles in the air become mountains to the devices. To produces these microelectronic devices, the environment must be devoid of these particles. Thus the cleanroom that is needed to produce these microelectronic parts must be devoid of particles. Specialized filters are use to reduce the airborne particles. It the case of our cleanroom the specialized filters consists of High Efficiency Particle Air (HEPA) filters. The HEPA filter removes most of the particles that are present in the incoming air. The filter consists of a very dense mat of fibers. The air flowing around the fibers cause particles to be trapped against a fiber. Having a continual flow of air traps the particle in place. As long as the air flows though the HEPA filter the particle will remain in place. If the airflow is stopped then the particle will be release from the trap and can come through the filter. HEPA filters are so efficient that they remove 99.999% of the airborne particles that pass through them. The MTTC has the HEPA filters located in the ceiling. This is the normal configuration for the HEPA filters. This is known as the horizontal HEPA filter configuration. Some equipment may have a vertical HEPA filter. This is usually located at the back of the equipment and flow vertically out across the equipment and towards the individual. The air flowing into the cleanroom consists of new air from the outside and part of the air that has already been in the cleanroom. Each time the air exits the cleanroom and re enters the cleanroom it is again passed through the HEPA filters. The amount of air entering the cleanroom from the out side is called the make up air and the air that is being recirculated is the return air. The continual exchange of air within the cleanroom insures that the air is exchange with fresh. The turnover rate of the air is dependent on the exchange rate that the particular lab requires. The air pressure in the lab is always higher than the outside world. This positive pressure allows the airflow to push air out of the fab thorough any crack or opening in the walls. This keeps particles from entering the lab through these openings. By design part of the airflow into the lab is removed in the exhaust of machines and chemical benches. This is required to remove harmful fumes generated by the machines and the chemicals used in the benches. The combination of the positive pressure and the designed exhaust flows create a deficit in the airflow system. To make up this air deficit, as discussed previously, new make up air must be added to the air recirculation

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system. This makeup air accomplishes two things. First it equals the air that is lost in the exhaust stacks and the second thing it does is to insure that new air is continually coming into the lab. The fresh air is added at a rate that will turn the whole air content of the lab every 5 to 10 minutes. The air conditioning systems of wafer fabs are very extensive and a major cost to maintain the lab. Another important part of HEPA filtered air is the flow rate of the air as it emerges from the filter. The flow rate is controlled to keep the air in laminar flow. Thus the HEPA filter cleans the air and the rate of the airflow from the filter keeps the air in laminar flow. So why is the air in laminar flow? Airborne particles are very small. They are so small that gravity is not strong enough to cause these particles to drop to the floor. Several conditions exist that keep the particles in suspension within the air. The first is electrostatic charges on the particles, the second is intermolecular charges on the particles and the third is the eddy currents that exist in stagnant air. These eddy currents allow the particles to ride around on the air currents. The effect is similar to seeds that have air-floating distribution. These small eddy currents in the air are enough to allow particles to remain in suspension. When laminar air is introduced into the cleanroom the particles do not have the eddy currents to stay suspended. Since all of the air molecules are moving in the same direction in laminar flow there is no presence of eddy currents. Particles within laminar flow are swept with the laminar airflow, thus the particles can not remain in suspension. As the laminar flow moves through the cleanroom and out of the lab the particles that are present within the laminar flow are swept out of the cleanroom. The air filtration within the lab is continuous. The air is filter through the HEPA filter, it then moves down from the ceiling and out the openings in the wall into the service chase and back into the HEPA filter intakes. This continues over and over again. Each time the air is recirculated it is filtered again. HEPAs filter all the air that is being introduced into the lab. Since the air circulation in the lab is continuous, the constant flow of incoming air insures that clean air is being introduced into the cleanroom and any contaminates introduced into the air in the lab is being flushed out.

How to dress for a Cleanroom

In order to keep the lab as clean as possible several procedures must be followed. The first procedure is to cover individuals completely before entering the lab. Humans shed millions of particles a day. In fact humans are the most contaminating thing in a cleanroom. To protect the microelectronics-manufacturing environment from this form of particulation, a protective covering must be placed over the individuals prior to entering the lab. These protective covering vary from a simple gown and bouffant cap to an all encompassing suit called a bunny suit that contain air filtration systems to filter all breathing air and eyelid closure sprays. In our lab the bouffant and gown are what is used. Before you enter the cleanroom you must dress for the cleanroom. This means that you must have shoes on the completely cover the feet. You must have on long pants and a shirt that covers all of the upper body. The sleeves can be short and should not be long. The covering procedure starts prior to entering the gowning room. Prior to entering the room, to the left of the gowning room door is a cabinet with eyeglasses. Open the cabinet and select a pair of cleanroom glasses. Place them on your face prior to entering the gowning room. Open the gowning room door and enter the room. On the floor just inside of the gowning room is a tacky mat. This mat is sticky and will collect particles from the bottom of you shoes. Contact the mat with each foot five times. To the left on the wall, above the mats, is a cabinet that contains shoe coverings and bouffant hair coverings. First select two shoe coverings and place them on our
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feet. Next select a bouffant and place it on you head. Insure that all of your hair is within the bouffant. Next proceed to the white cabinet that is to the left and beyond the cloths hangers. This cabinet has white reusable gowns, face coverings and gloves. Select a white gown and put it on (one-size fits all). Next select a bouffant style face covering and place it over you face, covering your mouth and any facial hair. The final part of the covering is gloves. There are two different types to select from. The first is a latex glove found below the gowns in the white cabinet. The second is a nitrile glove located to the left of the white cabinet on the wall. With the gloves on the hands and the other coverings in place one can enter the lab. If anything is being brought into the wafer fab, the surface must be cleaned to remove particles. To clean it off, obtain a pre-moisten alcohol wipe. Wipe the entire surface with the wipe. Dispose of the wipe in the red solvent trashcan. Regular pens and pencils are not allowed in the lab. Pens are provided that can be used to take notes in the fab. Regular notebook paper is not allowed in the lab as well. They produce fiber particles. Cleanroom paper can be found in the holder to the right of the entrance door to the fab. While in the fab do not tear the clean room paper. It will create a million fibers in the process of being torn and the frayed edges of the paper will continue to shed fibers. If at any time a hole should be made in any of the cleanroom gown, exit the fab and obtain a new one. Throw the old one away.

Movement and Handling of wafers in the cleanroom

Procedures for handling and moving wafers within the cleanroom environment are important. The first thing is how to move within the cleanroom. Movement should be slow and deliberate. Any quick or jerky movement will destroy the laminar flow that exists within the lab. The second thing is wafer handling. Wafers should be kept in the cleanroom box until they are to be processed. Once the wafer needed for processing, using tweezers, remove the wafer from the box and place it on the equipment or in the wet process cassette. Keep the wafer away for the body as much as possible. When completed processing place the wafer back in the carrier. The third thing is how to carry the wafer boxes. Place the wafer box at a 45-degree angle so that the wafers are against the carrier ribs. Carry the box so that the wafers are do not giggle within the carrier. Every time the wafers giggle they are causing particles that can be distributed over the wafer surface.

Exiting the Fab

When exiting the wafer fab use the reverse order from gowning. Remove the gloves and throw them away. Take off the white gown and hang it up on a hanger. Take the off the bouffant facemask and the bouffant head cover and throw them away. Remove the shoe covers and throw them away. Remove the glasses and place them in the cabinet when you exit the fab.

Safety Procedures Safety is the number one priority in the lab. The first thing to understand is the safety exits for the lab. There are two exits in the lab, the front door you enter through and the exit at the end of the lab. Either exit can be used to get out of the fab. The exit door opposite the front door will exit you out into the big room that you just came in. Across the hall is an exit door to the outside world. If you can, take this exit. It is the fastest one to the outside world. If you need to use the front door, there are two ways to exit. The first is the way you came into the gowning room. Exit through that door. The doors to the out side world are at the north end of the big room. Any of the doors alone that wall will take you to the out side world. The other way is through the door to the right as you
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exit the fab. There are two sets of door to exit through. You must turn to the right and proceed through an additional door. At this point you are on the back loading dock. The door to the left of the roll up door will take you to the outside world. Take the exit that will allow you to get out of the building as quickly as possible. If you need to exit for fire or for a large chemical spill, move quickly out of the fab and the building but do not run. If you are working with a hotplate and you can safely turn off the hotplate, do so. Take the exit that is closest to you or that is free of problems. Exit the lab and the building. Once outside proceed to the parking garage, which is to the west of the building. The doors alone the big room exits to the north. When you exit the big room, turn to the left and proceed across to the parking garage. Once at the assembly point, stay at the location until told that you can leave. Be prepared to explain to emergency personnel what the problem is.
When should you exit the lab? When there is a spill that is smaller than 12 inches or when there is an unsafe event. When should you exit the building? When there is a spill larger than 12 inches, when there is a fire or when the CO2 system has been activated on the solvent bench.

Acid/Base handling
There is an MSDS for every chemical that we use in the lab. If you want to you can read these MSDSs to insure that you understand what the chemical is and how it can affect you. The MSDS will contain an explanation of what the chemical is, how to use it, the precautions that need to be taken when using that chemical, the protection needed to use it, the health risk associated with the chemical and what to do if exposed to the chemical. The MSDSs are located on the left wall as you enter the lab. We will be using acids that will cause bodily harm. Care must be taken to insure that the proper preventive measures are followed. The first preventative measure is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). We start with the chemical gloves. The thick acid gloves are found in the same white cabinet as the gowns. These gloves will protect from acid splashes. They will not protect from prolonged contact with acids. These gloves are to be worn over the latex or nitrile gloves. To insure that the gloves do not have any leaks, fill the glove up with nitrogen and either listen for a leak or place the glove in a dump rinser filled with water and look for any air bubbles. To protect the rest of the body from acid contact a rubber gown and a face shield need to be used. To don the PPE first place the gown over your cleanroom garb. Place the gloves on the hands and over the edge of the gown. Finally place the face shield over the head and tighten the band. With the PPE in place you can now pour the acid and place wafers in the acid containers. Insure that the face shield is down over your face when you are processing wafers or are pouring fluid. Any time you are pouring or processing wafers through acid or bases the PPE will be used. When pouring acids or bases, pour the contents from the bottle so that a continuous stream of fluid flows without any gurgling. A continuous stream allows for a smooth stream to be present. This stream has fewer splashes as the fluid strikes the bath and the other fluid within the bath. If the stream is allowed to gurgle, the amount of fluid in the stream changes. This changing amount will cause splashes as the larger portion of the stream to hit the fluid surface. If the space allows, pour the fluid away from your body. This will keep splashes from coming back on you if your gripe on the bottle should fail. When the bottle is empty, it will need to be flushed out with water

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three times to insure that the bottle is clean. Wipe the bottle off and mark that it has been triple rinsed. Place the bottle in the use bottle container. When processing with acids and bases you will be placing the wafer in a cassette and then placing the wafer in the solution. Carefully lower the cassette into the solution to reduce any splashing. When the time has been completed carefully lift the cassette out of the fluid. Let the fluid drain off the wafers by tipping the cassette at an angle. The wafers are still being reacted with the solution. When the major stream of solution has come off the cassette move the wafers from the solution bath to the dump rinser. Place the cassette in the dump rinser and start the rinse cycle. Immediately take a wipe and clean up the dribbles of fluid that came off the cassette. This is referred to as drag out. The dribbles have been dragged out of the bath. They are still acid or base solution. They needed to be wiped up and the used wipe needs to be placed in the white acid trashcan. When the dump rinser has completed its cycle, carefully remove the cassette from the dump rinser. Again hold the cassette at an angle and let the major fluid come off the cassette. Hold the cassette over a container that will catch the drips and move the cassette to the spin dryer. Insert the cassette into the spin dryer and start the cycle. Insure that any fluid splashes that have occurred are wiped up. Dispose of the wipe in the acid trashcan. If any solution on the floor or the bench top and it is not known where it has come from, treat it as if it is an acid. Check the solution with a pH strip. If it is a spill of an acid or a base, stop all processing at once, evacuate the lab and call for assistance. If the spill is less than 12 inches in diameter call the fab manager. He will clean up the spill. If the spill is greater than 12 inches in diameter call the fab manager and he will call the HASMAT team to clean up the spill. At no time enter the lab if a spill has occurred or if a cleanup is in progress. If any dilutions need to be made, always add the stronger solution to the lower solution never the opposite. In the labs that we are running we should not need to dilute any acids of bases. We buy the solutions with there proper concentrations. We must dispose of the acid or base solution when we are done. This is accomplished by aspirating the solution. The aspirator is a long hose located on the bench top or in the bath. When the solution is ready to be aspirated, turn on the aspirator and place the long tube in the solution bath. The solution is aspirated through the tube. The aspiration process consists of a venturi that passes water by the other end of the long tube. As the water passes by the venturi a negative pressure is created that draws the fluid from the bath and out the venturi. This dilutes the solution as it is drawn from the bath. When the bath has been emptied, flush the bath several times with DI water and aspirate the bath again. When completed withdraw the aspiration tube and turn the aspirator off.

Solvent Handling
When using solvents in the lab a solvent bench is required. The solvent bench is made of stainless steel. This is required because of the potential for fire. If the solvent solution were to catch on fire the bench must be able to withstand the fire until it could be put out. Because of this the bench also has its own fire suppression system. This consists of a CO2 fire extinguisher. The nozzles for the fire suppression system are located in the top of the bench and are pointed towards the back of the bench. If any fire starts on the bench top or propagates up the exhaust flume, the CO2 will eliminate the fire. To insure that a fire does not start, the flash point of any solvent used must not be exceeded. The flash point of a solvent is the temperature that it takes for the solvent to spontaneously ignite.

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If a fire were to start on the solvent bench and the CO2 system were to discharge. Get out of the lab as quickly as possible. Do not reenter the lab until you have been informed that it is safe. The solvent solution that we use in this lab is used to remove photoresist from wafers after metals have been put on the wafer. The solvent has a flash point of 125 degrees C. We will be using the solution at 80 degrees C. When we pour solvent, the came care must be followed as has been discussed above. The solvent solution needs to be carefully poured so that it does not splash. The cassette with the wafers in it is placed in the solvent to remove the resist. When resist removal has been completed the cassette is lifted out of the solution and placed at an angle. This will allow most of the solvent to come off the wafers. When most of the solvent is removed transfer the wafers to the dump rinser across from the solvent bench. Make sure that you have a container under the cassette to catch any drips from the cassette. Dunk the cassette into the water and agitate it up and down until you can set that solvent has been removed from the wafer surface. Once the solvent is removed start the dump rinser. The solvent will not attack the metal until it comes in contact with water. Process the wafers normally after the dump rinse cycle ends. Make sure that the surface of the solvent bench is cleaned up after using the bench. Any dribbles must be cleaned up as soon as possible. The wipes used to clean up the dribbles must be placed in a red solvent trashcan. Never throw a solvent-containing wipe in the acid trashcan. The combination of the solvent and the acid will cause a fire. When you have completed using the solvent bath. Take the bath off the hotplate and let it cool. Once it has cooled, using a funnel, pour the solvent back in the container that it came from. Mark on the bottle that the material is used and place it in the used chemical storage unit.

Common Sense Things

Never answer your cell phone in the fab. Insure that your gloves are clean and dry. Exit the fab. Remove your glove before answering the phone. Insure that your gloves are clean and dry before touching anything around in the lab or exiting the lab. If you think that you are pregnant, do not enter the lab. Look out for you lab partners. Stay alert and know how to exit if needed. Do not leave the lab with one person left inside. Never use a tool that you are not qualified to use. Do not attempt to force anything. If it does not work, inform the lab manager. Do not poke around areas that are restricted. If anything breaks contact the lab manager. Dispose of waste properly. Corrosives in the white container. Flammables in the red container.
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Regular trash in the brown or stainless containers Sharps in the red and white containers Know the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) symbols o Blue Health o Red Flammable o Yellow Reactive o White Personal Equipment

MTTC Student User Information, January 2005, version 2.0