Single Particle ICP-MS Applications in Advanced Semiconductor Processes

Single particle ICP-MS (spICP-MS) sizes and counts particles as small as sub-10 nm at ultra-trace levels.

It has been widely accepted as a powerful tool in many fields of study, for example single cell analysis by mass cytometry or CyTOF, environmental and industrial nanotoxicology. Its superb sensitivity and selectivity often distinguish it from other particle analysis techniques for many applications. This presentation will cover two recently developed applications in two critical semiconductor processes, ultrafiltration and chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). spICP-MS demonstrated its ability to advance the metrology to measure, for the first time, some important attributes of these processes. For example, spICP-MS successfully measured size-exclusion retention of nanoparticles by ultrafiltration membranes , and it also quantified the size changes of ceria nanoparticles before and after CMP processes . The fundamentals and applications will be discussed in more detail in the presentation.

Presenter: Charlie (Qilin) Chan (Advanced Research Specialist, PhD, PMP, 3M Corporate Research Analytical Laboratory)

Qilin Chan is an advanced research specialist at 3M. He is the corporate leader for elemental analysis technology. His current research interests include developing new analytical methods to solve problems in new technology and product development in the fields of semiconductor and biopharma processes. Qilin is a part-time student studying data science at Georgia Institute of Technology. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2011 from University of Cincinnati where he studied metalloproteins and their regulations under stress in plant and animal models. He is an author of 24 peer-reviewed journal publications.

Presenter: Jenny Nelson (Application Scientist, Agilent Technologies)

Jenny Nelson received her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 2007, and her MBA from Saint Mary’s College of California in 2011. Currently, Jenny is an Application Scientist for the Life Science and Chemical Analysis team at Agilent Technologies, joining in 2012 (with a step away in 2019). Jenny is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis, since 2013. Jenny has been very active with AOAC and ASTM over the past eight years, serving on expert review panels, chairing committees, and volunteering to develop new methods needed by the industry. Jenny has extensive experience in operating and method development for Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (MP-AES). Jenny has broad knowledge and experience in different speciation analysis for many sample matrices using GC-ICPMS and LC-ICPMS. As well as vast experience with sp-ICP-MS for many applications.