COMPLETED RESEARCH
A COMPARISON OF AMBIENT CONDITIONS AND CONTAMINATION OF SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT ENCLOSED WITHIN A MINIENVIRONMENT
by
Christopher Mosby
ABSTRACT
Airborne particulate matter is harmful to the microelectronic manufacturing process. As a result, manufacturing equipment is typically housed in a cleanroom, a space where the amount of airborne particulate matter can be controlled. Similarly, personnel servicing such equipment wear special clothing designed to limit the introduction of airborne particles. In recent years, to improve cleanliness, some production equipment has been installed within a minienvironment, a system which isolates a process tool from the surrounding ambient conditions.
This experiment investigates, through techniques originated in previously published experiments, the relationship of maintenance activities, personnel gowning, ambient conditions and minienvironment isolation performance. This provides information on the ability of a minienvironment system to operate in a nominal U.S. Class 1,000 or U.S. Class 10,000 room condition with reduced levels of worker gowning. This capability could result in substantial facilities cost savings in future factory designs. The experiment includes additional variations in personnel gowning and ambient conditions which were not included in previously published work
