-- [ From: Garber, Charles A. * EMC.Ver #3.1 ] --

Jen Robinson wrote:
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Is there a good way to clean small (<5mm square) silicon chips? Our chips
have lots of visiable residues after the dicing process, either from the
dicing tapes or wafer dusts. We have tried soaking in many different
solvents but cannot seem to get rid of them. These chips have fragile MEMS
structures on them and will break if we use ultrasonic agitation. Any
suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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If the residues are organic, then they can be easily removed using the SPI
Plasma Prep II plasma etcher, using a pure oxygen etch, see URL
http://www.2spi.com/catalog/instruments/etchers1.shtml

It is an isotopic etching system and will remove residues in a matter of
seconds.  The advantage of doing it this way is that one does not expose
their fragile structures to surface tension forces as the last vestiges of
the liquid disappear.

Disclaimer:  SPI Supplies is the manufacturer of the SPI Plasma Prep II unit
so we would have a vested interest in seeing more units sold.....we are not
exactly a "disinterested party".

Chuck

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Charles A. Garber, Ph. D. Ph: 1-610-436-5400
President                     1-800-2424-SPI
SPI SUPPLIES             FAX: 1-610-436-5755
PO BOX 656            e-mail:cgarber@2spi.com
West Chester, PA 19381-0656 USA
               Cust.Service: spi2spi@2spi.com

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