RASIRC, a provider of steam generators and humidifiers, announced that its steamer enables production of uniform thin oxides using wet thermal oxidation process.
A study conducted by WRS Materials, a producer of silicon wafers and related services such as wafer reclaiming, sputtered or deposited films, thermal oxidation, grinding and polishing, has compared the uniformity and growth rate of 1000 angstrom oxide film created by wet oxidation and dry oxidation processes. The wet oxidation process is performed using a steamer from RASIRC. The study has revealed that wet oxidation enhances the process throughput by 87% and maintains uniformity, which is comparable with dry oxidation. RASIRC Steamers generate ultra pure steam or water vapor for various applications, including nanotechnology, photovoltaics, semiconductor and others.
WRS Materials has grown 1000 angstrom films over 300 mm oxide wafers in a 400 mm furnace. RASIRC Steamer has been used to purify and distribute 50 L of water vapor per minute. WRS Materials has discovered that the oxidation process time can be minimized from 100 min to 13 min without compromising on uniformity needs. Richard Mee, WRS Materials’ President and Chief Operating Officer, remarked that 300 mm wafers are required by end users for use in products and by OEMs for testing.
Jeffrey Spiegelman, Founder and President of RASIRC, stated that process throughput is more important for the success of commodity products. Usually, 3000 and 5,000 angstrom oxide films are grown with steam, while 1,000 angstrom film processes use dry oxidation to attain the required uniformity. Thus, minimizing the process time for 1,000 angstrom uniform thin oxides by over 87% will have an instantaneous effect on the outcome, concluded Spiegelman.