The system, with a state-of-the art concept brings not only pure water and cost savings, but primarily technological progress, considerable benefits for the customers and consequently competitive advantage for AP&S in the international equipment market.

Since the beginning of 2017 the new UHPW system is in operation at the AP&S manufacturing facility in Donaueschingen. The system reduces the impurities of city residues up to the ultratrace level of <1ppb per cationic element. The system was installed by Haage & Elsässer (H&E) from Stuttgart, Germany. H&E provides industrial water treatment systems for more than 40 years and is one of the technological leaders in this field of UHPW concepts.

The main reason for the investment decision lies in the strong requirements on stability and purity of wet process applications in the semiconductor industry. Before a new wet process application can be used in production, it has to fulfill and demonstrate the required purity specifications. In practice, it means that before commissioning long-term rinsing and cleaning process at customer's fab is necessary, which is associated with time, resources and material consumption.

The AP&S process engineer team recognized that an optimization of this process-set up would bring considerable advantages for the customers. Thus the basic idea for the project was born. In 2016, the investment and installation of the new UHPW system followed.

Stefan Zuercher, Process Engineer at AP&S, sums up the most important advantages of the new water system: "Less water consumption and lower costs, associated with calculable risk of process hardware purity, which is monitored by on-line analytics, are the cornerstones of the new system. Additional new feature is that the used water can be recycled internally.  The UHPW system has a storage capacity of 6-8 m³ of UHPW and a production capacity of 3m³ water per hour. The purified water is used for rinsing, cleaning and conditioning of the AP&S tools and the facility."

Prior to delivery to customers the AP&S tools are rinsed with the ultra-high purity water and qualified with optical particle counters (OLC's @ > 0.1 μm resolution). Samples for trace impurity measurements are checked for cation concentrations typically to levels <1ppb each. An ICP-MS or GF-AAS is used in an external laboratory close by.

The value add for each customer is, that tools can be much faster qualified, less effort is needed on site and defect density requirements for production output can be achieved much faster.

"The new water system enables AP&S to provide customer wet process applications, which meet the highest SC-technology standards", says Robert Preisser, Adjunct Professor at AP&S, who has initiated, specified and supported the project.

"With the implementation of this advanced water treatment technology, AP&S has put itself at the forefront of the medium-sized equipment providers for wet process solutions, which support the semiconductor and nanotechnology industries around the globe", adds CEO of AP&S Alexandra Laufer-Mueller.

AngelTech Live III: Join us on 12 April 2021!

AngelTech Live III will be broadcast on 12 April 2021, 10am BST, rebroadcast on 14 April (10am CTT) and 16 April (10am PST) and will feature online versions of the market-leading physical events: CS International and PIC International PLUS a brand new Silicon Semiconductor International Track!

Thanks to the great diversity of the semiconductor industry, we are always chasing new markets and developing a range of exciting technologies.

2021 is no different. Over the last few months interest in deep-UV LEDs has rocketed, due to its capability to disinfect and sanitise areas and combat Covid-19. We shall consider a roadmap for this device, along with technologies for boosting its output.

We shall also look at microLEDs, a display with many wonderful attributes, identifying processes for handling the mass transfer of tiny emitters that hold the key to commercialisation of this technology.

We shall also discuss electrification of transportation, underpinned by wide bandgap power electronics and supported by blue lasers that are ideal for processing copper.

Additional areas we will cover include the development of GaN ICs, to improve the reach of power electronics; the great strides that have been made with gallium oxide; and a look at new materials, such as cubic GaN and AlScN.

Having attracted 1500 delegates over the last 2 online summits, the 3rd event promises to be even bigger and better – with 3 interactive sessions over 1 day and will once again prove to be a key event across the semiconductor and photonic integrated circuits calendar.

So make sure you sign up today and discover the latest cutting edge developments across the compound semiconductor and integrated photonics value chain.

REGISTER FOR FREE

VIEW SESSIONS