Measurement of Particle Emissions from Clean Room Gas-Handling Components

Particle emissions f rom clean room gas-handling components were measured by following a test method developed recently by SEMATECH. Three types of tests, namely, the static, the dynamic, and the impact tests were conducted to determine particle emissions f rom the components tested. Particles emitted by the components such as valves, point-of-use filters and inline pressure regulators were measured using a condensation nucleus particle counter. The number of particles emitted by the valve was influenced by the actuator pressure used to open and close the test valve. That is, the higher the actuator pressure the higher the number of particles released f rom the automatic valve. Particle contributions measured f rom valves, filters, and regulators are presented here. The purity of the process gases used in semiconductor processing strongly depends upon the cleanliness of gas-handl ing components used in the gas delivery systems. Par-ticulate contaminat ion f rom gas-handling components is an important parameter that must be kept be low specific acceptable levels to maintain gas purity at the point-of-use. This paper reports measurements of particle emissions f rom various contemporary gas-handling component