Design, Fabrication, and Performance Test of a Quartz Horn Megasonic Waveguide for Semiconductor Cleaning

A quartz horn megasonic waveguide for semiconductor cleaning was developed. Design and fabrication processes with a performance test are explained. A finite element analysis was performed using ANSYS for the design process. The predicted anti-resonance frequency of the quartz waveguide with a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator was 1002 kHz, which agreed well with the measured value of 1003 kHz. Using this analysis results, the waveguide was fabricated with quartz. To assess the system performance, acoustic pressures were measured. The results of measurement showed well-distributed acoustic pressure output. Finally, particle removal efficiency (PRE) tests were carried out with different input powers between 0.5 W and 7 W. The number of particles was counted using a particle counting machine, and over 90% particles was removed with more than 1 W power supply. These results suggest that the developed quartz horn megasonic system can be used for semiconductor cleaning process.