A Comparative Analysis of Common Dry and Wet Wafer Cleaning Methods

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-986-5_11How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Wafer cleaning; Dry cleaning; Wet cleaning; Semiconductor manufacturing

Abstract

As the feature size of semiconductor devices continues to approach the physical limit, the impact of wafer surface cleanliness on device performance becomes increasingly significant. Especially in advanced processes below 7 nanometers, single-atomic-layer contamination can lead to a sharp increase in device leakage current and a decline in reliability, which poses a severe challenge to traditional cleaning processes. Meanwhile, the urgent demand for green manufacturing in the global semiconductor industry is also driving the innovation of cleaning technology towards low energy consumption and low emissions. This study discusses the key processes of wafer cleaning in semiconductor manufacturing and compares the basic principles and process flows of traditional wet cleaning and modern dry cleaning. Wet cleaning technology is mature and has stable effects, but it has deficiencies in removing nanoscale contaminants, reducing chemical residues and being environmentally friendly. Dry cleaning, on the other hand, utilizes technologies such as lasers and supercritical CO₂ to achieve precise decontamination and reduce the use of chemical reagents. Through comparative analysis, it provides a theoretical basis for further optimizing the wafer cleaning process and improving the device performance. The research is of certain significance for breaking through the yield bottleneck of advanced processes and reducing environmental pollution in chip manufacturing.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Junyi Jiang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/18
TI  - A Comparative Analysis of Common Dry and Wet Wafer Cleaning Methods
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Electronics, Electrical and Grid Technology (ICEEGT 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 91
EP  - 99
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-986-5_11
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-986-5_11
ID  - Jiang2026
ER  -