Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Trace Organic Impurities Extracted from a Corrosion Inhibitor and a Semiaqueous Residue Remover

Within the next ten years, advanced semiconductor manufacturing will move into the sub-10 nm regime [1]. At these dimensions, there is concern that molecular scale impurities (≤ 1 nm diameter) within cleaning chemistries will have an increasing impact on wafer cleanliness, device yield, and performance. Considering that these impurities may be on the same size scale as some of the active ingredients, this will raise significant challenges for solution developers in terms of impurity identification and prevention. Herein, we will describe our efforts to better understand the impurities within a semi-aqueous residue remover (RR). This work has primarily focused on identifying trace water-insoluble impurities not readily detectable by standard impurity characterization techniques, such as gas and liquid chromatography. The first part of this project involves a proof of concept study of isolating known impurities from a corrosion inhibitor (CI), and the second part of this study is the identification of unknown impurities within RR and the identification of the source of these impurities.