Ultrapure Water (UPW) Ultrapure Water (UPW)
The process and the product quality can be affected by contaminated rinsing water that contains different organic and inorganic contaminants. By integrating all technologies for water purification, the purity of water is upgraded to an ultra-high level by removing particles, organic and inorganic components as well as gases that are dissolved. The semiconductor industry requires increasingly stringent tolerance limits for contaminants in ultrapure water, especially for critical metals and TOC (see ITRS). This demands a carefully structured, analytical test program for critical parameters like ions, metals, particles, organic compounds and bacteria in order to ensure a high quality of UPW
Services in the Field of Air Analysis
- Monitoring of air inside and outside of cleanroom installations
- Air sampling inside and outside of mini environments and working environments
- Determination of pollutants in indoor air environments (work spaces, offices, factory buildings)
- Evaluation of material outgassing
- Ultra trace analysis in ppb to sub-ppt range
- Analysis on typical AMC substances:
- Total volatile organic compounds (VOC) and semivolatile organic compounds (SVOC), including organic amines and refractory compounds as well as specific organic compounds like PGMEA, ethyl lactate by TD-GC/MS
- Ions: organic and inorganic acid anions, ammonium and other cations by ion chromatography (IC)
- Trace metals, dopants included (B, P, Sb, As) by ICP-MS
Quality Control of Ultrapure Water (UPW)
The services of our analytical laboratory start with the qualification of water quality within the UPW infrastructure after installation. We evaluate and verify the water quality in process systems and mini environment POE (point of entry) as routine services:
- Qualification of UPW systems
- Routine quality monitoring of UPW within the UPW infrastructure to ensure the performance criteria
- Consultancy on chemical/technical issues with regard to UPW quality control
- Conformity evaluation according to ITRS, SEMI and customer specifications
Performance Check of Systems for Media Conditioning
Quality monitoring of ultrapure water systems is essential in semiconductor and other industries to ensure the performance criteria during production.
Our services include:
- Test of water quality in a process tool or mini environment for UPW conditioning
- Testing the water quality in the overall system from point of entry (POE) to point of use (POU)
- Controlling water quality at several transfer points
- Pre-qualification of ultrahigh purity (UHP) polymer materials (tubes, hoses, membranes etc.) for UPW distribution systems by static or dynamic leach out tests
- Validation of ion exchange resins and filter systems used for UPW systems