Development of evaluation method for organic contamination on silicon wafer surfaces

A method, called the silicon plate method, has been developed using a small sampling device with a clean simple process, in order to directly evaluate organic contamination on a silicon wafer surface that came from the cleanr oom air. Using this method, the concentration of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate on the silicon wafer surface is experimentally shown, for the first time, to reach a steady state which has a relationship with its concentration in the cleanroom air. The experimental results are consistent with those theor etically predicted using the model of multicomponent organic species adsorp tion-induced contamination; therefore, the silicon plate method is conclude d to be effective for evaluating the time-dependent behavior of organic spe cies on the silicon wafer surface. (C) 2001 The Electrochemical Society.