We have had the same problem in the past. We've tried different solvents and
solutions (e.g. Acetone, IPA, RCA), but none of these seemed to help. Also
an oxygen-plasma clean did not give the desired result. The problem seems to
sit  in the fact that the residu seems to be a mixture of organic-residue
and silicon-particles. We eventually solved the problem by putting the chips
for a couple of minutes in a KOH-solution (approx. 25wt%) at aproximately
60?C. The wafers were then gently rinsed in DI-water, followed by and
IPA-rinse (which facilitates drying).
Of course, the usage of a KOH-solution is only possible if your devices do
not have any exposed silicon, or other layers that are not KOH-resistant
(e.g. Al, Ti).
Succes.

Jason

___________________________________________________________
Jason Viotty
Senior Process Engineer
C2V
http://www.c2v.nl


-----Original Message-----
From: Jen Robertson [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: zaterdag 20 december 2003 2:05
To: [email protected]
Subject: [mems-talk] cleaning small chips


Hi-

Is there a good way to clean small (<5mm square) silicon chips? Our chips
have lots of visiable residues after the dicing process, either from the
dicing tapes or wafer dusts. We have tried soaking in many different
solvents but cannot seem to get rid of them. These chips have fragile MEMS
structures on them and will break if we use ultrasonic agitation. Any
suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


Jen


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