Suss DeltaAltaSpray Operation Manual

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Author: Hans Kwinten

1. Table of contents: 1. Table of contents 2. Safety 3. Introduction 4. Main Screen

4.01 Logging in 4.02 Preparation before processing 4.03 Assigning a process recipe and start processing 4.04 Cleaning of the wafer chuck

5. Safety 6. Rules and Regulations

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2. Safety Instructions

Please read the operation manual before operating the equipment This manual gives an overview of the most common hazards. For a complete and detailed overview of all hazards, please advise the official manual provided by SUSS Microtec

Do not hesitate to press the Emergency Stop in all cases where persons and/or environment are in danger due to any hazard coming from this equipment

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The DeltaAlta Spray is designed to coat substrates with surfaces that are not suited for spin-coating. For example: wafers with high topography in MEMS processes. Standard, the spray-coater is utilized with a positive and a negative acting photo resist which cover most of the demands. It is possible however, to apply almost any solvent based photo resist, as long as the viscosity can be modified to allow spraying. Changing chemicals is easy to do. Because of the nature of spray-coating, the surface of the coated film is not as smooth as it is with spin-coating. Surface irregularities span approximately 2micrometer, depending on the chemicals and process. Therefore, the minimum layer thickness to assure a closed layer is around 3,5micrometer. There is no limitation on the maximum layer thickness. Apart from the flexibility on chemicals, the substrate compatibility is also very flexible. There are two wafer chucks available. One for standard 150mm wafers and one for 30 to 200mm round substrates. Square substrates can only be processed when the corners of the substrate are within the 200mm round area. Non standard substrate shapes can be coated by mounting them temporarily on a carrier wafer.

3.0 Introduction

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4.00 Main Screen

If the above main screen is not visible as illustrated, it will after pressing the “Overview” button on the lower toolbar

The software on the stand-alone AltaSpray is identical to the software on a litho-track. Where on a track the center field on the screen contains icons for all the modules in the track, here only an icon for the spray-coater is present. Most of the buttons in the toolbars at the right- and at the bottom-side are related to a track system and are not relevant for the stand-alone system. The function of the Auto and Pause buttons are somewhat peculiar. Although there is no wafer-handler present in the system, some of the commands in the service environment will not work when the Pause button is not activated.

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The icons of the chemical barrels indicate the level of the chemical in that barrel.

Check for the correct login •Press the login button •Select “USER” •Enter the password “123456” •Press “Login”

4.01 Logging in

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4.02 Preparation before coating

Before coating your substrate it, is recommended to first clean the spraying nozzle For cleaning the nozzle, a recipe is available in the recipe list To load the recipe: •Double click on the coater icon in the main screen

•Click on the Send Recipe button •Select a recipe from the list •Click on the Send button •Click on the Start button which appears at the bottom of the window

Select the recipe that corresponds with the nozzle you will use for the coating recipe

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4.03 Assigning a process recipe and start processing

To select and load a process recipe, proceed as in the previous paragraph to get the above overview on the screen. Select the recipe of choice an press Send. Now the next window will pop up:

Do not press the Start button, but press Cancel. Now the substrate should be loaded on the three pins at the center of the chuck. Once the substrate is there, press the Service button on the lower toolbar

Now, press the Move Pins Down button on the newly opened screen

The wafer will now be lowered onto the chuck. Align the substrate with the wafer-shape on the chuck, using your tweezers. (there is no pins up option available in the software)

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Now you may return to the main screen by pressing the Overview button on the lower toolbar.

The coating process will start by spraying in the bowl for a short time. This allows the user to check for irregularities in the spray. If so, it is safe to break the process by pressing the stop button on the front desk. After doing so, some errors will be initiated as well as the acoustic alarm that goes wit it. The Alarm can be silenced by pressing the Mute button in the upper right-hand corner. Cal for the tool-owner to assist on resetting the errors.

To start the process, press the Start button on the front desk of the machine

When the process in not interrupted by pressing the Stop button, the recipe will continue and in most cases it will be finished after 4 meanders. In recipes for very thick layers these 4 meanders might be repeated several times. After finishing, the lifting pins in the chuck will raise and the wafer can be taken out.

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4.04 Cleaning of the wafer chuck

After processing on the spray-coater, the chuck needs to be cleaned. It is wise to clean the chuck after each wafer to prevent contamination on the back-side. Cleaning is done with a recipe that can run without the necessity of a wafer being present on the chuck. Select the chuck-clean recipe as described in paragraph 4.02.

Note: When the temperature, programmed in the recipe, is different from the actual chuck temperature, the temperature will automatically be adjusted. During the warm-up or cool-down phase, the grey bar below the coater icon will turn blue during warming up and rose when cooling down. The recipe can only be started after reaching the proper temperature.

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5.00 System Alarms

On several occasions an alarm might be initiated. When a alarm is initiated, a acoustic signal will bring the event to the users attention and on the alarm button in the lower toolbar, the number of alarms is indicated. After taking notice, the alarm cam be silenced by clicking on the mute button at the upper right corner of the screen.

By clicking the Alarm button, a list of all present alarms will be popping up:

Some of the alarms are of a warning level. These can me removed by clicking on Clear or Clear all. For persistent alarms or those indicating a mall-function, please contact the tool owner or back-up to take action.

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The Suss AltaSpray is a flexible tool for coating standard and none standard substrates. Also many different chemicals (photo resists) can be applied with the tool. •For processing non standard one should consult the tool owner(s) on beforehand •Changing chemicals is only done by the tool owner(s) •It is not allowed to change recipes. On request, a new recipe can be made •It is not allowed to process with the cover opened. It is dangerous and it will disturb the airflow over your substrate •It is not allowed to change the wafer chuck without additional instructions •It is not allowed to fill the solvent tanks without additional instructions

6.00 Rules and Regulations