MKS Low-Pressure Mass Flow Controller Qualified at Texas Instruments for Safe Delivery Source Application on Ion Implant Tool

<%=company1%>, a leading supplier of gas flow control products in the thin film and semiconductor industries, is proud to announce that Texas Instruments (TI) has successfully completed their evaluation of the MKS Model M330 Mass Flow Controller (MFC) for use in SDS (Safe Delivery Source) applications. The M330 thermal-based MFC is capable of delivering low-pressure gases for a variety of process applications.

The objective of this evaluation was to determine the lowest achievable bottle pressure while still maintaining full MFC performance levels in a Model 6200 Eaton Ion Implanter. The M330 was specifically designed to maintain the necessary flow control performance levels with an extremely low pressure drop across the MFC, allowing for more efficient use of SDS gas cylinders. Fred Sipat, Ion Implant Staff Equipment Engineer at TI's Santa Cruz, California facility (formerly Silicon Systems Inc.) has collected data that show Phosphine can be effectively delivered at a rate of 0.8 sccm with an SDS gas cylinder pressure as low as 1.5 Torr and 1 Torr at 0.5 sccm. The low gas cylinder operating pressures allow for a higher percent of the SDS source gases to be used before refilling is necessary, reducing operating costs and increasing implanter system availability. The results obtained by TI indicate that over 97% of the SDS cylinder contents can be utilized when the MKS M330 is used for gas delivery.

SDS gas sources are a method for the storage and safe delivery of arsine, phosphine, boron trifluoride, silicon tetrafluoride and germanium tetrafluoride for ion implantation. The SDS source allows gases to be delivered to the ion source region of an ion implanter with maximum gas cylinder pressures of less than one atmosphere, eliminating the risks associated with the delivery of hazardous gases at higher pressures.

MKS has developed a range of mass flow controllers for use with SDS gas sources, including the Model M330 and the Type 1640, which incorporate the MKS Baratron capacitance manometer (pressure sensor). All MKS mass flow control products are supported by MKS service personnel at calibration facilities throughout the world, are direct "form-fit-function" replacements to most MFCs on the market today, and are drop-in replacements in existing gas delivery lines.

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