Ultrapure Water Conference, Portland, OR, May 30, 2017
The Spot Sampler™ aerosol particle collector will be featured in a presentation describing a new method for the identification of contaminating nanoparticles in ultrapure water (UPW) systems in the semiconductor industry. The UPW is first spray aerosolized with a NanoParticle Nebulizer from Kanomax FMT, and the water is evaporated leaving behind only the contaminants as dried aerosol particles. These particles are then collected dry in a concentrated spot on a suitable substrate for SEM/EDX analysis. This presentation reports on the successful collection and identification of 10nm colloidal silica particles in UPW. This methodology shows immense promise for identifying contaminants smaller than 20nm in UPW for today’s state-of-the-art semiconductor fabs. The presenting author is Dr. David Blackford, President, KanomaxFMT.