Development of Megasonic cleaning for silicon wafers. Quarterly report No. 1

Technical Report · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5840267· OSTI ID:5840267

Mayer, A

The purpose of the program is to scale up, automate, and improve the existing RCA-invented Megasonic Cleaning System to increase its throughput from about 600 wafers per hour to about 2500 wafers per hour, in preparation for the large-scale production of flat-plate silicon solar-cell arrays. Design of the dynamic version of the Megasonic station was completed, and the unit was built, by the Fluorocarbon Company. It was delivered and is in the process of being installed. Plans are underway to maximize utilization of the cleaning solution - a mixture of water, ammonium hydroxide, and hydrogen peroxide - by recirculation and filtration. A circulation system was designed, corrosion tests were carried out, and most of the parts have been delivered. Tests showed that polysulfone might be a useful material of construction. The filter membrane and wafer carriers will be fabricated from this. An air-drying module capable of delivering air filtered through a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter at a speed of about 28.5 m/s was designed and delivered; the unimpeded flow was measured to be 25 +- 2.5 m/s. Quartz wafer carriers were designed to fit diffusion tubes with 101-mm ID, one with 3/16-in. and another with 3/32-in. spacing. These have been ordered. A design for a plastic carrier, polysulfone or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), was also worked out for use during the production rate, full-scale test of the Megasonic cleaning system.

• Research Organization: RCA Solid State Div., Somerville, NJ (USA); RCA Labs., Princeton, NJ (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: NAS-7-100-955342
• OSTI ID: 5840267
• Report Number(s): DOE/JPL/955342-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360601 -- Other Materials-- Preparation & Manufacture
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
AMMONIUM HYDROXIDES
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
AUTOMATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CIRCULATING SYSTEMS
CLEANING
CORROSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
DISPERSIONS
DRYING
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
HYDROXIDES
MIXTURES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PEROXIDES
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PROCESSING
PRODUCTION
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELL ARRAYS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLUTIONS
SURFACE CLEANING
SURFACE FINISHING