A new method for determining trace metal impurities in semiconductor grade phosphoric acid uses reaction cell ICP-MS to determine parts-per-trillion levels
Agilent Technologies has announced a new method to determine trace metal impurities in phosphoric acid.
The new method uses the high detection capability of the Agilent 7500cs reaction cell ICP-MS to determine parts-per-trillion level impurities in phosphoric acid for all of the important Semi (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) specified elements.
The new application presents the user with detection limits, BECs, spike recovery and stability data highlighting the suitability and accuracy of the new 7500cs.
Contamination control in semiconductor processing is increasingly important as critical dimensions (CD) of devices continue to shrink.
Particulate contamination, which can lead to device defectivity, must be minimised at each of the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing stages.
Because more than 50 percent of the yield losses in IC manufacturing are due to micro contamination, it is critical that the wafer surface is not contaminated by metallic impurities present in the acid.
In order to minimise this risk, many incoming chemicals including phosphoric acid are analysed for chemical purity.
The Agilent 7500cs ICP-MS provides the testing of difficult matrices like phosphoric acid, enabling high performance, reliability and sensitivity in trace metal analysis. Designed for semiconductor and research facilities that demand the widest elemental coverage and ultimate detection power in high purity matrices, the new 7500cs features an octopole reaction system (ORS) and ShieldTorch for interference removal in a full range of semiconductor matrices.
The Agilent application note 'Determination of trace metal impurities in semiconductor grade phosphoric acid by high sensitivity reaction cell ICP-MS', publication number 5988-8901EN, is available free of charge from Agilent.
