Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute

In 1973 the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute (SEMI) held its first standards meeting. SEMI standards are voluntary consensus specifications developed by the producers, users, and general interest groups in the semiconductor (qv) industry. Examples of electronic chemicals are glacial acetic acid [64-19-7] acetone [67-64-17, ammonium fluoride [12125-01 -8] and ammonium hydroxide [1336-21 -6] (see Ammonium compounds), dichloromethane [75-09-2] (see Cm.OROCARBONSANDcm.OROHYDROCARBONs), hydrofluoric acid [7664-39-3] (see Eluorine compounds, inorganic), 30% hydrogen peroxide (qv) [7722-84-1] methanol (qv) [67-56-1] nitric acid (qv) [7697-37-2] 2-propanoI [67-63-0] (see Propyl alcohols), sulfuric acid [7664-93-9] tetrachloroethane [127-18-4] toluene (qv) [108-88-3] and xylenes (qv) (see also Electronic materials). 

Water is the solvent that probably has the greatest number of documented grades of specifications. These include ACS (American Chemical Society), USP (United States Pharmacopoeia), ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials), and SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute) specifications as well as more general specifications such as pyrogen-free. It is critical to ensure that the water used in a method meets the specifications demanded by the method. Since many of these organizations include tests that are non-standard with respect to high-purity HPLC solvent manufacturers, it is important to contact the manufacturer whenever it is unclear whether or not their water is suitable for the intended use. 

Ion chromatography offers an efficient method for analyzing ionic species for the production of semiconductor components and printed circuit boards. Conventional methods based on the SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute, Inc.) regulations for identifying and quantifying ionic species responsible for corrosion are labor-intensive and time-consuming, whereas it is... 

There has been considerable interest in the determination of ions at trace levels as, for example, in applications need high-purity water as in semiconductor processing and the determination of trace anions in amine treated waters. For this investigation, we will define "trace" as determinations at or below 1 pg/1 (ppb) levels. The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) recommended the use of IC for tracking trace ionic contaminants from 0.025 to 0.5 pg/1 [18]. In addition, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has established IC as the analytical technique for determining of trace level concentrations of sodium, chloride and sulfate down to 0.25 pg/1 in power plant water [19]. 

H. FS11, A. Papp., and B.O. Kolbesen, "Technical Proceedings Semiconductor Processing and Equipment Symposium, Semicon Europa 84", Semiconductor and Materials Institute, Mountain View, CA, 67, 1984... 

---