From Microns to Nanometers: The IRDS and AMC Control

The Yield Enhancement Chapter of the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IRDS), and more specifically, the focus topics of Wafer Environment Contaminant Control and Surface Environment Contaminant Control, are responsible for identifying airborne molecular contamination (AMC) and setting guideline limits in all areas of semiconductor processing. Today AMC control is required in FEOL and BEOL operations and this control may be achieved fab-wide or at certain critical processes, potentially also at different levels for different processes.