Due to the continuing trend toward higher integration scales and smaller structural dimensions in semiconductor technology, a new class of detrimental contaminants arises: volatile organics. Recently it has been shown that, among others, they cause severe problems in epitaxial growth, in oxidation kinetics, and in all wet chemical treatments of the wafer. In order to select appropriate polymeric materials for future boxes, minienvironments, or other equipment, we investigated the outgassing characteristics of polypropylene (PP: natural, antistatic, and blue, respectively), polycarbonate (PC), perfluoroalkoxy polymer (PFA), po]yvinylidenefluoride (PVDF), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer (ABS), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). All samples were taken from commercial products for semiconductor technology. Each polymer was heated up from 60 to 20~ below its softening temperature with continuous monitoring of the amount of outgassing. Additionally, the outgassing components were identified separately. PTFE and PFA showed the lowest amounts of outgassings over the entire temperature range. If only selected temperature ranges are of interest, other polymers like PVDF or PC are almost as good. From the knowledge about particular outgassings and the understanding of the chemistry of the polymer, measures can be derived on how to improve .certain polymers.

No abstract

The basic chemistry and lithographic characteristics of anhydride-containing, diazo-based NUV and DUV resists as well as silylation of top resist patterns with aqueous solutions of silicon-containing diamines in the Si-CARL bilayer process (CARL: Chemical Amplification of Resist Lines) were reported recently. This paper describes technical control of the Si-CARL process for g-line and DUV in a 6" pilot line using automatic equipment. Linewidth uniformity of top resist patterns is not affected by silylation and is found to be 0.045 im (3) for nominal 0.4 jim lines! spaces, the resolution limit of the 0.55 NA g-line stepper used. Both overexposure and linewidth increase due to silylation conditions can be used in the Si-CARL process for optimization of defocus latitudes. With the use of a 0.55 NA g-line stepper total defocus latitudes are 2.8 im for 0.6 im equal lines and spaces and > 3.2 xm for isolated 0.6 im spaces. In order to meet the requirement for sufficient throughput on KrF-excimerlaser steppers the sensitivity of DUV top resists is improved by chemical variations of resist polymers. The use of maleimide-containing resist polymers with improved alkaline solubility in diazo-inhibited top resists allows resolution of 0.25 im lines and spaces at 161 mJ!cm2 on a 0.37 NA KrF-excimerlaser stepper. Further considerable improvement ofDUV sensitivity to 1 1 mJ!cm2 was achieved using an acid-catalyzed top resist based on onium-salt and a terpolymer containing N-t-BOC-maleimide-units.

No abstract

Amid 2020 challenging business environments due to COVID-19 pandemic and strong global push towards transition to cleaner energy, PETRONAS has declared its' aspiration to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. PETRONAS sustainability journey has begun for more than two decades and with strong management support towards renewable and as part of PETRONAS's technology agenda, its' research arm, PETRONAS Research Sdn. Bhd. (PRSB) has been working on ways to use renewable energy sources for offshore oil and gas platforms in Malaysia. Oil and Gas industry has long relied on turbine generators for offshore power generation. These turbo-fired machineries are operating as microgrid with existing power management system (PMS) as microgrid controllers. They normally use either gas or diesel as fuel gas to ensure reliable power generation where high maintence cost is expected to operate these generators. Also, they have low energy efficiency and hence, usually oversized to ensure meeting the demand reliably. Typically, the power generation load is being taken by two units of turbine generators with another unit as spare. This has resulted in high operational expenditure (OPEX) and contributes to high levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for offshore power generation for such conventional system. LCOE is the yardstick for power generation technology, and it measures discounted lifecycle cost consisting of both capital expenditure (CAPEX) and OPEX, divided by discounted lifecycle of annual energy production [2], [4], [5]. Also, these turbine generators operating at platforms that have gas evacuation pipelines will use up precious fuel gas which can otherwise be sold. This will have impact on the total sales gas revenue. Not withstanding, the burning of the fuel gas will result in the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hence is exposed to carbon tax. To mitigate this issue, PRSB has developed an offshore hybrid power generation concept to leverage and optimize wind turbine system for offshore power generation in weak wind area such as Malaysia. In this concept, one gas turbine generator is replaced by an offshore wind turbine adapted to low wind speed region. This will lower the maintenance cost and carbon exposure. Also, the fuel gas will be diverted to sales gas. This in turn will improve the economics of the renewable solution thereby making offshore renewable power generation feasible for oil and gas platforms. Forward thinking efforts include pushing the limits of harnessing wind energy in weak wind area such as Malaysia. In here, considerations of a total solution include not only the type of wind turbine generator that can be adapted to weak wind area and having the lowest maintenance requirements as possible, but also looking into cutting edge foundation technologies. The LCOE is expected to be lower than conventional power generation. To ensure optimized hybrid concept, careful selection and adaptations of wind turbine system and its' substructure are required to achieve a cost-effective solution [3], [2]. Conceptual engineering and front-end engineering design were conducted which resulted in the development of the hybrid offshore power generation system. In this paper, the hybrid concept will be shown, the considerations for selection of a suitable wind turbine will be shared and the decisions leading the to the selection and optimization of the foundation type, either fixed bottom or floating are elaborated.