AMC and Particles Monitoring in FOUP

Airborne Molecular Contamination (AMC) and particles are known as one of the main sources of wafer defectivity causing yield losses in semiconductor fabs. FOUPs (Front Opening Universal Pods) are used to transport wafers between process tools. As wafers spend almost 70% of their manufacturing cycle in FOUPs, AMC and particles monitoring in FOUPs is critical to reach the highest manufacturing yield. In addition, systems should be in-line in order to detect contamination at all stages of the manufacturing cycle, providing means for corrective actions before "killer defect" actually occurs on wafers. Pfeiffer Vacuum offers a wide range of in-line monitoring systems dedicated to leading edge semiconductor manufacturing fabs as well as R&D centers.