Wafer Container Monitoring Concerning Airborne Molecular Contaminations along a 300 mm Power Semiconductor Production Flow

The focus of the study was to understand the behavior of airborne molecular contaminations (AMC) within the 300 mm wafer containers called front-opening unified pods (FOUPs) in a high-volume fabrication facility for power semiconductors of Infineon Technologies Dresden. A main goal was to implement new concepts and strategies to prevent the different power semiconductors from any yield losses driven by AMC. It could be shown, that there is a strong dependency of the concentration and the type of the determined contaminations on the investigated process steps.

Practical Reuse of Activated Carbon in the Exhaust Facility of Semiconductor Production Factory with Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Regeneration

An possible reason why the activated carbon used in the exhaust facility of real semiconductor production factory could not be regenerated by scCO2 regeneration was estimated to be attributable to its high boiling point adsorbates which showed a peak in TGA (Thermogravimetric analysis) curve at 400-900°C. This study was conducted to experimentally verify the above insight by using TGA analysis and scCO2 regeneration for the real samples with different loads from the factory. The experimental results showed that high boiling point ratio defined by TGA analysis was less than 4.0% in case of the heating treatment temperature of 200 °C in the exhasut facility of real semiconductor production factory. This result suggested regeneration rate of the activated carbon was higher than 80%. Our scCO2 regeneration process can achieve high efficiency as a practical application.

Semiconductor Work and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Associated with Male Workers: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Objectives A hazardous work environment in semiconductor factories is a threat to the workers’ health. Semiconductor manufacturing characteristically requires young workers, and reproductive toxicity is an important issue. Studies investigating reproductive toxicity among individuals working in the semiconductor manufacturing industry have primarily focused on outcomes in women. Information on the reproductive health of male semiconductor factory workers is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the association between workplace exposures among male workers in a Korean semiconductor company and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Methods Based on the data from the 2015 Semiconductor Health Survey (SHS), which evaluated the workplace exposures, pregnancy outcomes, and general health of 21 969 employees of the semiconductor industry in South Korea, we included 3868 male workers with 7504 pregnancy outcomes identified by self-reports for this retrospective cohort study. Data regarding the pregnancy outcomes, order of pregnancy, and the years of the outcomes were collected via the SHS questionnaire. Adverse pregnancy outcomes were defined as preterm labor, spontaneous abortion, and stillbirth. Workplace exposures were classified as fabrication, assembly, others, lab, and office work (reference group). A generalized estimating equations model including repeated events of individuals and producing relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to estimate the association between workplace exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Analyses were adjusted for work location, spouse’s employment in semiconductor production work, educational level, marital status, risky alcohol drinking, smoking status, body mass index, order of pregnancy, and age and year of pregnancy outcome, which were based on a priori decisions. Results The adjusted risk for adverse outcomes was higher [RR (95% CI): 1.47 (1.04, 2.07)] among assembly process workers compared with the office workers. Adjusted risks for adverse outcomes among workers in assembly and fabrication, whose spouses also worked in semiconductor production, were 1.60 (95% CI: 1.04, 2.46) and 1.74 (95% CI: 1.18, 2.57) times higher, respectively, compared with the office workers with spouses not working in semiconductor production. Conclusions Based on these findings, semiconductor work might be considered a risk factor for reproductive toxicity among male workers, especially for those whose spouses have the same job.