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Sub-20 nm Particle Counting & Sizing

Gas and Liquid Filtration

High-purity compressed air, process gas, and liquid delivery systems are the circulatory system of a semiconductor fab — and filtration is what keeps that system clean. From bulk gas distribution in the sub-fab to the final liquid rinse before a wafer enters the process chamber, every filter in the path represents a potential point of contamination or a point of protection. TSI provides the metrology needed to characterize filter performance across both gas and liquid media — supporting compliance with standards such as ISO 12500-3, SEMI F38, and SEMI C79 — giving process engineers the confidence to qualify filters, set replacement intervals, and defend those decisions not with assumptions, but with data.

Gas Line and Point-of-Use Filtration

Gas and compressed air filters serve two distinct roles in the fab, each with its own performance requirements. Compressed air and gas line filters, typically installed within the sub-fab distribution network, protect against particulate contamination introduced during compression, storage, and distribution — with performance validated under the controlled, size-defined aerosol challenge conditions specified in ISO 12500-3. Point-of-use (POU) gas filters, by contrast, sit at the final stage of delivery — integrated into gas panels, or tool-side manifolds — where even trace-level contamination can affect yield. SEMI F38 provides the standardized method for qualifying these filters, ensuring they meet the particle removal efficiency specifications required immediately upstream of the process chamber.

Liquid Filtration Below 20 nm

As device geometries shrink, the particles that threaten yield are increasingly ones that conventional liquid particle counters simply cannot see. Most optical instruments stop resolving particles around 20 nm, and many misidentify bubbles as particles or introduce bias based on particle composition. TSI's Aerosol Generator + SMPS system applies established aerosol science to liquid filtration, enabling particle number concentration and sizing below 20 nm — and in some configurations below 2.5 nm — in process liquids. This fills a measurement need that optical method cannot, at exactly the size regime where yield risk is highest, while supporting the liquid-borne particle counter qualification practices outlined in SEMI C79.

Applications for Semiconductor Professionals

TSI instruments support particle-based performance testing and validation across a wide range of semiconductor filtration applications, including point-of-use (POU) gas filter qualification, compressed dry air (CDA) filtration, specialty gas delivery systems, and chemical filtration. By providing accurate particle aerosolization, counting, and sizing capabilities, TSI solutions help characterize filter efficiency, verify filtration performance, and support contamination control in both gas and liquid process streams across semiconductor manufacturing.

Background Information

Guide for Evaluating Sub-15 nm UPW Filters

SEMI C79

SEMI C79 provides guidance for evaluating the efficacy of sub-15 nm filters used in ultrapure water (UPW) distribution systems for semiconductor manufacturing. The guide describes methods for challenging and assessing filter performance with nanoparticles in the size range that is difficult to measure using conventional inline particle monitoring. It supports consistent evaluation of filter retention performance to help maintain the high level of UPW purity required by advanced semiconductor processes.

常见问题

Q. Why is sub-20 nm particle characterization important for semiconductor liquid filtration?

As semiconductor device geometries continue to shrink, increasingly smaller particles can impact process performance and yield. Conventional liquid particle counters typically have a lower detection limit of around 20 nm, leaving an increasingly critical size range uninvestigated. TSI's Aerosol Generator + SMPS solution extends particle counting and sizing into the sub-20 nm—and in some configurations sub-2.5 nm—range, providing additional insight into particles that conventional optical methods cannot resolve.

Q. How does TSI measure particles in liquids below the limits of conventional liquid particle counters?

Rather than measuring particles directly in the liquid, TSI's solution converts the liquid sample into an aerosol using a controlled aerosol generator. The resulting airborne particles are then characterized using a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), enabling high-resolution particle sizing and concentration measurements well below the detection limits of conventional liquid particle counters.

Q. Which semiconductor filtration standards can TSI solutions support?

TSI instruments support particle characterization and filter performance testing for applications aligned with standards including ISO 12500-3 for compressed air filtration, SEMI F38 for point-of-use (POU) gas filter qualification, and SEMI C79 for evaluating sub-15 nm filters used in ultrapure water (UPW) distribution systems. Depending on the application, TSI solutions provide particle generation, counting, and sizing capabilities needed to perform or support these test methods.

Q. Why use particle sizing in addition to particle counting when evaluating filter performance?

Particle counts alone indicate the number of particles present, but particle size distributions provide additional insight into filtration performance across different particle sizes. Combining particle counting with high-resolution sizing enables engineers to identify the sizes at which particles penetrate a filter, compare filter performance, and generate more comprehensive data for filter qualification, optimization, and replacement decisions.