An insightful Q&A with Steven Kochevar, an Aerosol/Vacuum/Gas Applications Specialist at Particle Measuring System, Inc. in an interview conducted by Bartlett Bay Consulting.

Bartlett Bay Consulting: What do you see are the biggest challenges for particle measurements in the near future?
Steven Kochevar: A few semiconductor clients continue to ask for detection of smaller particles (<90 nm) as well as particle composition. These are difficult tasks, as instruments that detect particle contamination are separate from instruments that analyze particle content. Similarly, particle compositionis an oft-asked question in pharmaceutical applications.

Additional challenges involve flat panel display (FPD) and liquid crystal display (LCD) makers who require smaller particle counters because their process platforms, called stages, have areas measuring less than 15 cm high for mounting these particle counters. These FPD and LCD makers suffer yield losses with particles >1 micron, so the particle counter must be both small and able to detect these larger particles. Detecting 1-micron particles is not a challenge: the true challenge is putting this technology into a small particle counter. Furthermore, even when the FPD and LCD makers install an appropriate particle counter, they must still understand how to control the contamination, and this requires expertise and support.

In short, the challenges for all industries requires an understanding of each process, developing products for each consumer, while maintaining a technological and pricing advantage over competitors, who may offer cheaper, but less accuratesolutions.

BBC: Are these cheaper/less-accurate solutions available today?

SK: Yes, cheaper/less accurate solutions are available, and companies offering those instruments are doing a prolific business. Unfortunately for the end user, they may be purchasing an instrument that offers nothing more than a simple smoke detector (i.e. an instrument that only alerts the user under catastrophic conditions), and it is very important that the users monitor low-level contamination control problems for trends of potential problems.

BBC: You mention that particle composition is an oft-asked question in semiconductor and pharmaceutical applications. We are also being asked more questions about composition. How will these fabs handle this: will sophisticated analytical technology (e.g. Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence (TXRF) or Vapor Phase Decomposition/Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (VPD-ICP-MS) be part of routine semiconductor/pharmaceutical processing?

SK: Yes, this seems to be the beginning of what might be a trend in fabs and foundries; as I see some of these fabs having their own labs for the analysis of particles on the back surfaces of wafers which is becoming an important metric. Furthermore, pharmaceuticals and filter makers often ask for particle composition because they make many different products within a single building,so cross contamination becomes an issue.

BBC: It seems to me that particle measurements are becoming more importantthan in the recent past. Why do you think that is so?

SK: Particle measurements are becoming more important because manufacturers are improving their processes and understand more about the particle contamination within their processes. In short, the industry has grown more intelligent about, and more aware of particle contamination issues, so they demand more from manufacturers of particle counters.