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Borer Chemie, 12. September 2024
What are the current trends and challenges in terms of high-purity cleaning solutions in the semiconductor industry?
The constantly increasing purity requirements, which are based on the ability to carry out surface measurements, are a challenging development in the field of cleaning media and their raw materials. As surface analysis becomes more precise, purity standards are tightening accordingly, potentially impacting the performance and value proposition of current cleaning media.
Cleaning trends are increasingly focussing on the importance and understanding of cleanliness, monitoring and maintaining clean products. The focus is increasingly being placed on the entire value chain and its individual process steps.
Another trend concerns the production chain. OEMs are increasingly focussing on the entire manufacturing chain and intervene when necessary to meet their final cleanliness requirements and quality criteria. Are the current trends and challenges in relation to high-purity cleaning solutions found in the semiconductor industry?
What specific measures is Borer Chemie taking in response to these trends and challenges?
On the one hand, we have expanded our deconex® product range. In addition to standard cleaners for achieving grade 2, our product portfolio includes three cleaners that have been specially developed for components with the highest cleanliness requirements: deconex® HPC 1309, deconex® HPC 1202 and deconex® HPC 2602. This makes them particularly attractive for the semiconductor industry.
On the other hand, our raw materials fulfil the highest selection criteria, comparable to those of the pharmaceutical industry or the cleaning and reprocessing of medical instruments in hospitals.
Our top priority is residue-free cleaning, which also benefits the products in our HPC product line. This ensures that, despite the use of elements such as phosphorus (P) or silicon (Si), no residues are detectable during the final cleaning process.
Can you explain the unique selling points (USPs) of the deconex® HPC product line in more detail?
We have subjected our HPC products to rigorous testing by evaluating their cleaning performance with defined worst-case substrates from OEMs in our in-house technical centre. The cleaned substrates were then sent to accredited and reputable? laboratories, where they were analysed for cleanliness in accordance with the OEM's specifications.
This project resulted in a technical project document (TPS), which describes the entire project and the cleanliness of the cleaning carried out.
What are the benefits for Borer Chemie's customers?
On the one hand, these results and findings create trust, avoid trial-and-error situations and focus on the causality of the value proposition through the implementation of the resulting deconex® HPC standard.
Our customers also know what performance they can expect from our deconex® products even before the project starts. We also create additional added value by minimising project costs, which has a positive impact on time to market.
What additional benefits or services does Borer Chemie offer its customers over and above the deconex® cleaning products?
Our unique offering includes our in-house technical centre, which has 13 different cleaning systems with individual applications for a wide range of uses. Customers have the opportunity to carry out independent tests, evaluate systems and carry out initial cleaning trials, even if they do not yet have a cleaning system in their own company. They are given the opportunity to develop a customised process for their final cleaning.
Through the internal project implementation of the "deconex HPC standard", we have developed a precise understanding of the performance potential of our cleaning chemicals. We provide our customers with the technical project document (TPS) created for this project free of charge in order to create added value in the design of the project realisation for process validation as well as in the definition of the process sequences and the desired results.
How do you see and assess the future development of the semiconductor industry and what role does high-purity cleaning play in this?
A look at the market reveals that massive investment is being made in the semiconductor industry, and not just in the previously known regions. Countries such as India, the USA and Italy are also currently investing more heavily in this segment. At the same time, technology is advancing rapidly, making microchips ever smaller and more powerful.
This development is far from complete, and the requirements for purity and high-purity cleaning are likely to continue to increase.
You define the cleaning requirements, we supply the solution
The unique products in our deconex® HPC line have been specially developed to meet the requirements of demanding applications. With our products you achieve the desired purity levels 1 and 2 of the individual required specifications.
Find out more about the deconex® HPC 2602 cleaning range, which also includes the new deconex® HPC 2602 concentrate for removing stains, oxide layers and annealing colours.
Contact our HPC specialists for further information
