In addition, affordable fused filament fabrication (FFF)-based 3-D printing has successfully produced high-quality and affordable scientific equipment, focusing on tools without strict chemical compatibility limitations. The results demonstrate that simple 3-D printed objects, such as wafer boxes or tweezers, are not notable contamination sources, and hence, are equally suitable for use in cleanrooms as the commercial equivalents.ģ-D printing shows great potential in laboratories for making customized labware and reaction vessels. Finally, 3-D printing filaments considered in this study are shown to be resistant to isopropanol and deionized water, which is critical for efficient cleaning for use of 3-D printed objects in cleanrooms. Thus, 3-D printing filaments with natural color should be preferred for purposes, where metal contamination could be an issue, including semiconductor processing. Elemental analysis reveals that 3-D printed objects contain no other harmful metal impurities than those originating from colorants. Regular cleaning of those parts is thus recommended, and applicability in a cleanroom environment will depend on the cleanliness constraints. The 3-D wafer positioner seems to cause a negligible particle increase on the manipulated wafer, while abrasion of the mechanical parts generate larger numbers of particles that may disperse in the environment. Nevertheless, the number of particles on all wafers is in the same order of magnitude, indicating that 3-D printed boxes are not significant particle sources. The results show that the single wafer boxes 3-D printed from PLA and ABS generate as little particles as a commercial equivalent, whereas slightly more particles are found from a wafer stored in the self-printed PP box. The designed equipment supplements commercial selection by introducing support for samples with non-standard shape or size and simultaneously reduces the price of often extensively expensive cleanroom equipment. This work investigates the opportunity to utilize 3-D printing in cleanrooms by analyzing three potentially suitable polymers (polylactic acid (PLA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polypropylene (PP)) for two applications that do not require particular chemical compatibility: a custom single wafer storage box and a wafer positioner for a metrology system. However, the applicability of 3-D printed devices to cleanrooms used for semiconductor processing is not as straightforward, as the controlled environment sets strict requirements for the allowed materials and items. 3-D printing has potential to revolutionize manufacturing of customized low-cost scientific equipment, and numerous self-designed applications have already been realized and demonstrated.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |