Contaminants in chemicals used during manufacturing processes have a direct impact on product yield and reliability of semiconductor devices. Within the whole process of integrated circuit manufacturing, wafers are sent for repeated cleaning using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) standard for H2O2, SEMI C30-1110 - Specifications for Hydrogen Peroxide SEMI Grade 51, specifies maximum contamination levels of 10 ppt for most trace elements.
In this application note, we describe the analysis of 46 elements in 35% H2O2 using the NexION® 5000 Multi-Quadrupole ICP-MS, which offers the ability within a single analysis to determine non-metallic elements down to ppt levels together with other trace metals down to sub-ppt levels. This capability is critical in the analysis of trace contaminants in H2O2, which is used in multiple stages of the wafer fabrication process.