The APA 302 is a unique in-line monitoring tool for advanced chip manufacturing in clean room environment. This innovative equipment measures the airborne molecular contamination (in short AMC) in a FOUP and in the surrounding environment. The measurement occurs in real-time with a high sensitivity in the ppbv-range.

Efficient contamination monitoring
Moisture and Airborne Molecular Contamination (AMC) such as hydrogen fluoride (HF) are released in the FOUPs slot-to-slot space during queue times. These elements can generate crystal growth on patterned wafers which leads to yield loss and performance degradation.
The APA 302 by Pfeiffer Vacuum is sampling the AMC through the FOUP filters. The measurement occurs in 2 mn with a high sensitivity in the ppb-range through ion mobility spectroscopy, flame ionization detection, Fluorescence UV or cavity ring-down spectroscopy. When there is no FOUP on the load ports, the APA 302 monitors the surrounding clean room environment.

Reliable analysis of the FOUP environment
In order to guarantee performance, the SEMI S2/S8 compliant APA 302 is equipped with an auto-calibration function, which is activated in regular intervals. The monitoring of the AMC within the APA can be executed in PODs with or without wafers. FOUPs can be delivered either manually or through overhead hoist transportation (OHT) on the 2 load ports. Thus, the queue times between the individual process steps can be optimized, increased values of contamination immediately recognized and yields increased.

Applications : for clean rooms, environmental