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The Symposium on Ultra Clean Processing of Semiconductor Surfaces (UCPSS) is a biannual event. The next edition will be held from 16-19 September 2012 in ICC Ghent (Belgium).  A special session will be devoted to photovoltaic applications.

It is the purpose of the UCPSS symposium to increase the level of understanding on ultra-clean processing technology in all steps of the IC-production, PV and bioelectronics. The conference consists of invited presentations, as well as selected contributing presentations and posters.

The issues to be addressed include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Removal of contaminants in all steps of micro-, nano-electronics applications and 3D-integration
• Fundamentals of contaminants on surfaces: e.g. particle-substrate interactions
• Surface chemistry, passivation, conditioning and characterization of group IV and III/V materials (Si, Ge, GaAs and InGaAs) for sensitive FEOL  processes (high-k-metal gate stacks dielectrics, Ge surfaces, III-V, epitaxy, ALD)
• Chemical and physical cleaning in liquid, gaseous and supercritical ambient
• Trade-offs between cleaning performance, substrate damage and etching
• Contamination/particle control and its relation with process yield or performance
• Yield enhancement cleans: wafer backside, bevel
• Dry-etch resist strip and polymer removal
• Removal of modified photo resist, post etch residues and polymers
• Process and contamination diagnostics, in-situ monitoring and process control
• General issues in ultra-clean technology, ultra-pure materials and supply systems
• Environmentally friendly technologies and mass balance equations
• EUV-mask cleaning
• Surface functionalization for integrated bio-electronic sensors
• Cleaning and surface preparation for silicon substrate based solar cells such as:
  • Purity requirements for solar cell fabrication
  • Wet texturization processes
  • Surface passivation for low surface recombination lifetime