Development of Recycling Process for Ruthenium Precursors Used in Next Generation Semiconductor Miniaturization Technology
Tokyo Electron and Tanaka Kikinzoku have announced the successful joint development of recycling process for ruthenium precursors (CVD-ruthenium material) used in the next generation semiconductor miniaturization technology. The development of the new process is a way for improving copper filling performance in semiconductor fabrication by utilizing a ruthenium liner film offering excellent adhesion and lower resistivity. As a result of this development, the ruthenium precursor that were normally disposed of in the past, can now be collected, refined and reused without returning to ruthenium metal.
Through this development, Tokyo Electron has contributed the recovery system capable of collecting the residue in ruthenium-CVD precursor that did not deposit onto wafer, and Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo developed the process to refine and re-use the collected ruthenium precursors. Ruthenium is a scares material found in amounts of around 10-20% in platinum ore, which is mainly produced in South Africa. The annual output ruthenium worldwide is 30 tons, with an estimated ruthenium reserve quantities of nearly 6,000 tons.
