Kalrez® News 2 - Article 7

DuPont Performance Elastomers Kalrez® 9100 parts Surpass Planned Maintenance Standards, increase Uptime, improve Wafer Yield

DuPont Performance Elastomers Kalrez® 9100 perfluoroelastomer parts are specifically designed for ultra-low contamination in aggressive plasma environments. Kalrez® 9100 parts demonstrate unusually long life in the harshest semiconductor manufacturing processes to help cut costly downtime and reduce cost of ownership.

For static and dynamic sealing applications in deposition as well as select etch and ash processes, Kalrez® 9100 parts offer performance that surpasses industry maintenance standards for greater equipment uptime. A combination of properties effectively extends seal life, produces higher quality chips and greater yields. Kalrez® 9100 parts have:

• low erosion and ultra-low particle generation
• very low outgassing and metals content
• excellent resistance to dry process chemistry, including oxygen and fluorine based plasmas
• excellent thermal stability with maximum continuous service temperature of 300°C and the standard offering is a Kalrez® UltraPure™ offering

Kalrez® 9100 parts have been tested in a variety of demanding semiconductor process applications where oxygen and fluorinated plasmas are used during the cleaning cycle. In a number of customer evaluations, they exhibited less erosion, lower particle generation and longer seal life compared to competitive perfluoroelastomer parts in both static and dynamic sealing applications. Kalrez® 9100 parts significantly extended PM cycle time from two to three times in HDPCVD, PECVD, etching and ashing applications. "Kalrez® 9100 parts were developed to meet the requirement for extremely high resistance to erosion in aggressive plasma environments" says Steve Metaxas, DPE global semiconductor manager. The formulation used in "Kalrez® 9100 parts is completely polymeric so particle generation is ultra low. It helps reduce maintenance costs and allows for greater equipment uptime. This improved quality results in significantly higher wafer yields."

DuPont Performance Elastomers is committed to the global semiconductor market. For more than 75 years, product development and technical expertise have helped introduce a broad product offering across major processes. Kalrez® 9100 parts for aggressive plasma environments complement the company’s offering of its dry-to-wet range of perfluorelastomer parts – Kalrez® Sahara™ 8085, Kalrez® 8002, Kalrez® 7075UP, Kalrez® Sahara™ 8475, and Kalrez® 6375UP – proven performers in silicon wafer processing.

DuPont Peformance Elastomers also has integrated manufacturing back to the polymer, enhancing quality control and product development. Kalrez® parts are manufactured in ISO 9000 registered facilities and are available in a wide variety of finished products from conventional seal shapes and bonded door seals to custom geometrics. Kalrez® perfluorelastomer parts are specially cleaned and double packaged in Class 100 workstations to significantly reduce the potential for contamination. Each item is individually packaged in a bar-coded bag for full traceability and is available as O-rings, sheets, and custom parts.

About DuPont Performance Elastomers

DuPont Performance Elastomers, a global supplier of specialty elastomers with headquarters in Wilmington, Del., is a wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont. The company is an industry leader in chloroelastomers and fluorinated elastomers, serving the automotive, chemical, petrochemical, semiconductor, food and pharmaceutical processing construction, general rubber and wire and cable industries.

Kalrez® is a registered trademark of DuPont.

* Photograph © Can Stock Photo Inc. | zurijeta

Next Article: Article 6: DuPont Performance Elastomers Spearheads Semicon Successes With Kalrez® Seals