When most people think about particle counting, they think mainly about testing high purity chemicals, ultra clean DI water and aerosol particulate within cleanrooms and Fabs. There is a sub sector market that deals specifically with surface parts testing of OEM products who provide finished products to the semiconductor and other industries. These parts need to be particulate free as they are an integral part of the Fab and Fab supplier process.
In this case, the customer custom designed an automated liquid bath machine for their customer who supplies finished parts to semiconductor manufacturers. It is crucial that these OEM manufactured parts do not introduce particulate to the semiconductor manufacturing process.
Particle Counter Solution for Parts Cleanliness Testing
The customer designed a 5-tank immersion rinse bath, placed in a series. The unit was automated so the parts could move from tank to tank. While the first tank was set up to use surfactant, the last tank uses DI water to remove all surfactant from the parts. To ensure the parts were particulate free, an inline Liquilaz S02 Particle Counter was placed at the last bath as a check.
Particle Measuring Systems (PMS) helped guide the customer with the design of the particle counter within the cleaning machine. From there, the parts automatically moved into the cleanroom for final processing and packaging.
The customer is in the process of making the unit “smart” in the sense that, it will continue rinsing and will not be able to move from this final rinse stage until, the counts reach an acceptable level.
Watch the video where Lauren Kuta, the Midwest territory representative for Particle Measuring Systems, discusses this case study.
Learn more about the Liquilaz particle counter.
