Pub Date : 2025-11-14DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3633070
Dongkyum Kim;Jiwon Seo;Jun-Ho Choi;Munam Kim;Bumsuk Jung;Sang Jeen Hong;Jeongsoon Lee
The widespread use of fluorinated gases in semiconductor manufacturing has raised significant environmental concerns due to their high global warming potential (GWP). To address this issue, we developed a systematic methodology for screening and evaluating low-GWP F-gases based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The infrared absorption cross-section (ACS) spectra and radiative efficiencies (RE) of candidate gases were predicted and systematically corrected using an empirical scaling factor derived from the correlation between calculated and experimentally measured RE values. This correction significantly improved the accuracy of GWP predictions. The methodology was successfully validated against representative F-gases, yielding GWP1oo estimates that closely align with reported values for high-GWP gases (GWP1oo=2,240), mid-GWP gases (GWP1oo=87), and low-GWP gases (below GWP1oo=10). Notably, several candidate gases, such as COF2, CF3OCFCF2, CF3C(O)CF(CF3)2, and C6F6, exhibited estimated GWP1oo values of 1.79, 2.69, 3.03, and 7.56, respectively, which are consistent with reported values. They were re-confirmed by the proposed method as promising low-GWP alternatives to conventional high-GWP etching and cleaning gases. By adopting a practical, accessible DFT methodology, this approach delivers reliable comparisons of GWP values among candidate gases and supports rapid, on-site GWP assessments without requiring specialized expertise.
{"title":"A Computational Method for Screening Low-GWP Fluorinated Gases in Semiconductor Manufacturing","authors":"Dongkyum Kim;Jiwon Seo;Jun-Ho Choi;Munam Kim;Bumsuk Jung;Sang Jeen Hong;Jeongsoon Lee","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3633070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3633070","url":null,"abstract":"The widespread use of fluorinated gases in semiconductor manufacturing has raised significant environmental concerns due to their high global warming potential (GWP). To address this issue, we developed a systematic methodology for screening and evaluating low-GWP F-gases based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The infrared absorption cross-section (ACS) spectra and radiative efficiencies (RE) of candidate gases were predicted and systematically corrected using an empirical scaling factor derived from the correlation between calculated and experimentally measured RE values. This correction significantly improved the accuracy of GWP predictions. The methodology was successfully validated against representative F-gases, yielding GWP1oo estimates that closely align with reported values for high-GWP gases (GWP1oo=2,240), mid-GWP gases (GWP1oo=87), and low-GWP gases (below GWP1oo=10). Notably, several candidate gases, such as COF2, CF3OCFCF2, CF3C(O)CF(CF3)2, and C6F6, exhibited estimated GWP1oo values of 1.79, 2.69, 3.03, and 7.56, respectively, which are consistent with reported values. They were re-confirmed by the proposed method as promising low-GWP alternatives to conventional high-GWP etching and cleaning gases. By adopting a practical, accessible DFT methodology, this approach delivers reliable comparisons of GWP values among candidate gases and supports rapid, on-site GWP assessments without requiring specialized expertise.","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"39 1","pages":"156-164"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3630127
Gene Eu Jan;Hsin-Lung Wu;Jia-Xi Zhao;Bor-Shing Lin
As high-density packaging and low power consumption are prioritized in semiconductor production, ultrathin wafer processing has become vital. However, the fragile nature of these wafers often leads to damage during manual detaping, a process that is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and subjective. To address this, we developed an automated evaluation system integrating You Only Look Once version 8 (YOLOv8) with domain adaptation for robust performance under environmental variations. Through real-time image analysis, the system tracks detaping motion and quantifies operational stability using a finite state machine to calculate operation time. Experimental results under supervised learning showed average motion detection recall and precision of 99.06% and 98.33%, with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.17 s. Crucially, the proposed semi-supervised domain adaptive framework mitigated data distribution differences; in one experiment, mAP50 improved by 72.62% from baseline. For motion detection across two domain adaptation experiments, the system maintained high performance, with average precision and recall of 95.4% and 93.5% and an MAE of 0.275 s. This system provides an effective, automated evaluation of manual detaping, demonstrating the value of domain adaptation-based object detection in industrial applications.
{"title":"Artificial Intelligence–Based Evaluation System With Domain Adaptation for Ultrathin Wafer Detaping","authors":"Gene Eu Jan;Hsin-Lung Wu;Jia-Xi Zhao;Bor-Shing Lin","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3630127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3630127","url":null,"abstract":"As high-density packaging and low power consumption are prioritized in semiconductor production, ultrathin wafer processing has become vital. However, the fragile nature of these wafers often leads to damage during manual detaping, a process that is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and subjective. To address this, we developed an automated evaluation system integrating You Only Look Once version 8 (YOLOv8) with domain adaptation for robust performance under environmental variations. Through real-time image analysis, the system tracks detaping motion and quantifies operational stability using a finite state machine to calculate operation time. Experimental results under supervised learning showed average motion detection recall and precision of 99.06% and 98.33%, with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.17 s. Crucially, the proposed semi-supervised domain adaptive framework mitigated data distribution differences; in one experiment, mAP50 improved by 72.62% from baseline. For motion detection across two domain adaptation experiments, the system maintained high performance, with average precision and recall of 95.4% and 93.5% and an MAE of 0.275 s. This system provides an effective, automated evaluation of manual detaping, demonstrating the value of domain adaptation-based object detection in industrial applications.","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"39 1","pages":"16-27"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-04DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3628524
{"title":"2025 Index IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3628524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3628524","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"38 4","pages":"937-965"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11224862","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145455900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-31DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3622883
{"title":"Call for Papers for a Special Issue of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices: Ultrawide Band Gap Semiconductor Devices for RF, Power and Optoelectronic Applications","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3622883","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3622883","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"38 4","pages":"935-936"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11223045","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145405310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-31DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3622881
{"title":"Call for Papers for a Special Issue of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices: Reliability of Advanced Nodes","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3622881","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3622881","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"38 4","pages":"933-934"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11223071","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145405300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-31DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3622905
{"title":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing Information for Authors","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3622905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3622905","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"38 4","pages":"C3-C3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11223047","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145405348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-20DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3623907
S. Atheeth;H. B. Chandan;N. Trishul;Manish Arora
This paper reports on the parameters that affect the crystalline quality of Aluminium Nitride (AlN) thin film grown using the RF magnetron sputtering process. AlN film of 1-micron thickness is the piezoelectric material of choice in the fabrication of a high-frequency resonating structure. Substrate temperature, RF power, gas-ratios were fine tuned in various experimental trials to obtain a <002> c-axis oriented AlN thin film. Least obtained FWHM from the XRD plots were 0.44°. In Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) surface roughness of the best quality AlN thin film was 11.1nm. Using Piezo response Force Microscopy (PFM) butterfly loops were constructed and effective piezoelectric co-efficient of 7.28 pm/V was obtained. This co-efficient value is accounting for both the ${mathrm { d}}_{33}$ of the piezoelectric material and the substrate bending for the released membrane structure.
{"title":"Improving RF Magnetron Sputter Parameters for a Piezoelectric AlN Thin Film Deposition","authors":"S. Atheeth;H. B. Chandan;N. Trishul;Manish Arora","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3623907","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3623907","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports on the parameters that affect the crystalline quality of Aluminium Nitride (AlN) thin film grown using the RF magnetron sputtering process. AlN film of 1-micron thickness is the piezoelectric material of choice in the fabrication of a high-frequency resonating structure. Substrate temperature, RF power, gas-ratios were fine tuned in various experimental trials to obtain a <002> c-axis oriented AlN thin film. Least obtained FWHM from the XRD plots were 0.44°. In Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) surface roughness of the best quality AlN thin film was 11.1nm. Using Piezo response Force Microscopy (PFM) butterfly loops were constructed and effective piezoelectric co-efficient of 7.28 pm/V was obtained. This co-efficient value is accounting for both the <inline-formula> <tex-math>${mathrm { d}}_{33}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of the piezoelectric material and the substrate bending for the released membrane structure.","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"39 1","pages":"10-15"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-16DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3622489
Anthony Xavier Andrade;Omid Ali Zargar;Yang-Cheng Shih;Graham Leggett;Shih-Cheng Hu
Controlling moisture content during silicon wafer fabrication is essential to maintain good product quality, minimize undesired defects, and improve the performance of the manufacturing process. This study investigated the 3D air flow patterns and relative humidity (RH) distribution within a Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) used in semiconductor manufacturing. Two purging techniques were evaluated: the diffuser purge method and the diffuser & laminar air curtain (LAC) purge method, to determine their effectiveness in moisture removal when the FOUP door is open under varying flow rates. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model were conducted to analyze air flow behavior and RH levels, and the numerical results were validated through experimental measurements using humidity sensors embedded in dummy wafers. The findings demonstrate that the integrated diffuser and LAC purging strategy is a highly effective solution for maintaining low humidity levels in FOUPs, thereby enhancing cleanliness standards critical to semiconductor fabrication.
{"title":"Three-Dimensional Flow Analysis and Humidity Level Evaluation for a FOUP During Open Door Operation Conditions","authors":"Anthony Xavier Andrade;Omid Ali Zargar;Yang-Cheng Shih;Graham Leggett;Shih-Cheng Hu","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3622489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3622489","url":null,"abstract":"Controlling moisture content during silicon wafer fabrication is essential to maintain good product quality, minimize undesired defects, and improve the performance of the manufacturing process. This study investigated the 3D air flow patterns and relative humidity (RH) distribution within a Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) used in semiconductor manufacturing. Two purging techniques were evaluated: the diffuser purge method and the diffuser & laminar air curtain (LAC) purge method, to determine their effectiveness in moisture removal when the FOUP door is open under varying flow rates. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model were conducted to analyze air flow behavior and RH levels, and the numerical results were validated through experimental measurements using humidity sensors embedded in dummy wafers. The findings demonstrate that the integrated diffuser and LAC purging strategy is a highly effective solution for maintaining low humidity levels in FOUPs, thereby enhancing cleanliness standards critical to semiconductor fabrication.","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"39 1","pages":"46-52"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-14DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3621131
William P. Shuley;Santosh K. Kurinec
This study involves the tabulation of energy usage for a standard metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) manufacturing process in a university semiconductor fabrication teaching laboratory. The purpose of the energy audit is to pave the way for further reductions in energy usage and more efficient fabrication processes, to lessen the semiconductor industry’s burden on the global energy supply chain. A prototype photovoltaic system is designed to offset the energy usage of this process providing a vision towards the use of renewables. For the chemical case study, a comparison of reactive ion etching to ion beam etching is done to observe differences in the efficiency and results of the processes and to compare their prospects for widespread use within industry. Reactive ion etching involves the use of harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances. Ion beam etching is another etching technology that is less widespread in large-scale manufacturing but consumes inert gases and does not produce environmental toxins as a byproduct. The study of these two important areas, at an educational level, will be a way for the future of the industry to improve the impact they have on society by re-engineering energy usage and re-thinking chemical usage.
{"title":"Addressing Energy and PFAS Chemical Consumption in Semiconductor Manufacturing: Case Study in a University Fab","authors":"William P. Shuley;Santosh K. Kurinec","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3621131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3621131","url":null,"abstract":"This study involves the tabulation of energy usage for a standard metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) manufacturing process in a university semiconductor fabrication teaching laboratory. The purpose of the energy audit is to pave the way for further reductions in energy usage and more efficient fabrication processes, to lessen the semiconductor industry’s burden on the global energy supply chain. A prototype photovoltaic system is designed to offset the energy usage of this process providing a vision towards the use of renewables. For the chemical case study, a comparison of reactive ion etching to ion beam etching is done to observe differences in the efficiency and results of the processes and to compare their prospects for widespread use within industry. Reactive ion etching involves the use of harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances. Ion beam etching is another etching technology that is less widespread in large-scale manufacturing but consumes inert gases and does not produce environmental toxins as a byproduct. The study of these two important areas, at an educational level, will be a way for the future of the industry to improve the impact they have on society by re-engineering energy usage and re-thinking chemical usage.","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"38 4","pages":"925-932"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145405336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-14DOI: 10.1109/TSM.2025.3621092
Guanzhong Wu;Wenqing Xiong;Chunrong Pan
In semiconductor manufacturing, a multifunctional process module (MPM) can perform multiple processing steps by adjusting its functional settings. This enhances the reconfigurability of cluster tools and allows them to flexibly adapt to diverse production requirements. However, the different function settings of the MPM change the number of processing modules and generate multiple alternative processing routes. Deadlocks occur more frequently in wafer manufacturing processes with flexible routes. The flexible configuration of MPM function leads to a highly complex and large-scale model. Proper configuration of MPM can optimize lot scheduling and improve processing efficiency. Thus, based on the functional setting of MPM, process-oriented Petri nets (POPNs) are established to describe the transient and steady state processing of the system, and control explanations are developed to avoid the system deadlock. Then, based on the evolving mechanism of the Petri nets, the temporal properties of the system under the earliest starting strategy (ESS) are analyzed. An algorithm based on ESS is developed to compute the makespan of wafers in a lot and optimize the settings of the MPM function. Experimental results demonstrate that for scheduling problems unsolvable by the mixed-integer programming (MIP) model, the algorithm can adaptively minimize system lot completion time by reasonably setting the function of MPM.
{"title":"Modeling and Scheduling of Dual-Arm Cluster Tools With Multifunctional Process Modules","authors":"Guanzhong Wu;Wenqing Xiong;Chunrong Pan","doi":"10.1109/TSM.2025.3621092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TSM.2025.3621092","url":null,"abstract":"In semiconductor manufacturing, a multifunctional process module (MPM) can perform multiple processing steps by adjusting its functional settings. This enhances the reconfigurability of cluster tools and allows them to flexibly adapt to diverse production requirements. However, the different function settings of the MPM change the number of processing modules and generate multiple alternative processing routes. Deadlocks occur more frequently in wafer manufacturing processes with flexible routes. The flexible configuration of MPM function leads to a highly complex and large-scale model. Proper configuration of MPM can optimize lot scheduling and improve processing efficiency. Thus, based on the functional setting of MPM, process-oriented Petri nets (POPNs) are established to describe the transient and steady state processing of the system, and control explanations are developed to avoid the system deadlock. Then, based on the evolving mechanism of the Petri nets, the temporal properties of the system under the earliest starting strategy (ESS) are analyzed. An algorithm based on ESS is developed to compute the makespan of wafers in a lot and optimize the settings of the MPM function. Experimental results demonstrate that for scheduling problems unsolvable by the mixed-integer programming (MIP) model, the algorithm can adaptively minimize system lot completion time by reasonably setting the function of MPM.","PeriodicalId":451,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing","volume":"39 1","pages":"91-104"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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