In 2023, the stewardship of Water and Energy are at the forefront of the planning and decision-making processes utilized by the semiconductor industry. As device sizes decrease, process steps increase which accelerates the consumption of these critical resources. Technologies that enable resource savings in the semiconductor manufacturing process are vital to the sustainability and growth of this industry. The focus of this presentation is to demonstrate the ecological benefits of point-of-use (POU) water heating technologies. POU technologies provide the mechanism for enabling sustainable and cost-effective utilization of these critical resources in a scaling environment.
Since 2002, Trebor International has focused on providing the semiconductor market with water and energy savings technology in the POU water heating space. The unique feature that sets Trebor water heaters apart is referred to as Stop Flow Technology. This technology is utilized in Trebor’s Single Pass water heaters which are used to support wet cleaning and wet etch applications as well as parts cleaning, FOUP cleaning and water treatment. Stop Flow technology is enabled through the utilization of Trebor’s thin film on quartz electric resistive heating element which offers an extremely low thermal mass. This technology enables industry leading water and energy savings in single pass water heating applications by eliminating the need for minimum flow requirements during heater operation.
Limitations exist in single pass water heating applications which require the user to implement stability steps to maintain temperature accuracy, trickle flows to avoid organic speciation as well as water column evacuation prior to wafer level dispense. To address these limitations, Trebor International developed a recirculated water heater which eliminates the water and energy waste associated with single pass POU heaters, maximizes process throughput and allows the user to eliminate the need for a centralized HDIW loop. Recirculating hot water at the POU ensures that fabs will consume less energy when compared to a central HDIW loop. This is due to the fact that recirculation technology is heating water in volumes that are nearly identical to the actual consumption of the tool. A central HDIW loop will operate at flows that may be 2x the wafer level needs of the fab which translates to twice as much energy consumption to heat the water than the process requires. Recirculation technology is designed to support the rinse steps which are a part of the process recipes utilized in batch or single wafer cleaning applications. This presentation describes how recirculation technology in the POU space provides the tool with instant hot water at stable temperatures and pressures while ensuring maximum water and energy savings.
