Stocker Purge System

The retrofittable Stocker Purge System by Fabmatics purges FOUPs with an inert gas during interim storage. Thus, it reliably protects wafers between process steps from undesired chemical reactions due to humidity and Evaporation.

With nitrogen to higher yield

Semiconductor industry leading edge companies are developing and producing at process nodes of 28 nm and below. These smaller structures require a contamination and oxidation-free environment during production in order to exclude harmful influences like humiditiy, ambient oxygen or emission of molecules (airborne molecular contamination).These process related interactions may lead to surface defects and yield loss. Especially while wafers stored in FOUPs are waiting for the next process step, the danger of these unwanted side reactions is very high.The FOUP Purge System by Fabmatics avoids oxidation and other chemical reactions on the wafer surface by purging the FOUP with an inert gas (e. g. N2) during interim storage. The system can be easily retrofitted to existing storage modules (e .g. Zero Footprint Storage or Purge Stocker).

Features:

May be easily retrofitted with existing systems for FOUP storage (e. g. ZFS, Stocker) without having to change the fab structure during regular fab operations
Independent purge functionality for each nest, no gas spill / waste
Constant gas flow during the entire storage period
Every purge nest is individually monitored and controlled

Benefits:

Avoids AMC (Airborne Molecular Contamination) and other chemical reactions
Allows extended queue time between process steps
Improves overall process yield

Reference:

In a 300mm semiconductor factory more than 3,000 existing ZFS workstations were retrofitted with a Fabmatics ZFS FOUP Purge System. The solution has significantly increased the production yield and now allows extended idle times before further processing if necessary.

To date, more than 700 Stocker stations have been equipped with a Fabmatics MFS (Matrix Frame Storage) FOUP Purge System. The systems now available as purge-storage systems serve as WIP (Work in Progress) intermediate storage within production.

In another 300mm semiconductor factory, nearly 5,000 shelf storage stations were also equipped with a Fabmatics MFS (Matrix Frame Storage) FOUP Purge System. Particularly low purge gas flow rates are used for long-term storage of end-processed wafers.