GE P&W Sievers 500 RLe User Manual
GE Power & Water
Water & Process Technologies
Analytical Instruments
Fact Sheet
Sievers 500 RL
e
On-Line TOC Analyzer
Advancing the science of ultra low-level TOC
measurement in microelectronics applications
Overview
The Sievers* 500 RLe On-Line TOC Analyzer is the
semiconductor industry’s only on-line, reagentless TOC
analyzer capable of accurately detecting problematic
compounds such as urea, trimethylamine (TMA),
organic acids and organic bases.
An on-line Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analyzer should
be as simple as possible, but not so simple that it
exposes the fabrication operations to unacceptable
risks associated with undetected organic transients.
Recently the leading global semiconductor immersion
tool manufacturer has required all TOC measurements
of the water feeding their tools to include the accurate
measurement of organic nitrogen compounds in the
ultrapure water (UPW).1 Some brands of TOC analyzers
are simply not able to measure commonly present
organic nitrogen compounds such as urea or TMA in
the UPW.
measures them to meet this new TOC performance
requirement.
1,2
The 500 RLe accurately and reproducibly
showed that 91% of all the Instrument-to-Instrument
TOC readings were within ± 0.05 ppb C. Additionally
44,272 LOD analyses were performed on the same ve
analyzers, and 98% of the time the TOC LOD was less
than 0.02 ppb C (see Figures 3 and 4). It is notable that
this performance is achieved automatically without
the need to do manual re-calibration operations or
to send the analyzer osite for special calibrations, as
often required by other TOC sensors.
e
Design enhancements allow the 500 RL
on higher conductivity waters than the PPT while still
delivering the same analytical performance. As a result,
the 500 RLe oers greater versatility and reliability.
Specic attention has been paid to performance on
low dissolved oxygen (DO) water systems, resolving
TOC recovery issues that are problematic for other
reagentless TOC analyzers.
to operate
The 500 RLe uses GE Analytical Instruments’ proprietary
membrane conductometric technology, delivering ultra
low-level accuracy and reliability by eliminating false
positive and false negative readings associated with
other simplied TOC technologies (see Figures 1 and 2).
The 500 RLe automatically exhibits the best-inclass Instrument-to-Instrument matching and the
lowest Limit of Detection (LOD) for reagentless
online semiconductor UPW TOC analyzers. Five
500 RLe Analyzers were placed on the same major
semiconductor companies’ 0.3 ppb C UPW and data
was collected for two months. The large data set
Applications
Microelectronics Ultrapure Process Waters
The 500 RLe Analyzer’s remarkable Instrumentto-Instrument matching allows you to condently
compare TOC results between dierent water loops
in your factory and around the world. The very high
sensitivity, as demonstrated by the LOD, allows you to
see the smallest change in your system before it gets
out of control.
For the most advanced state-of-the-art chip
manufacturing facilities’ requirements, there is never
a question about unmeasured organics that may be
% Recovery on 5 ppb Injections
- Dissolved O
2
< 2 ppb
% Recovery for 5 ppb TOC Injections
500
400
300
200
% Recovery
100
0
900 500-24 500-19 PPT-6 PPT-9 A-1000 5000TOC
-100
2-Propanol Urea Acetic Acid C HCl3TMA TMAH
% Recovery for 5 ppb TOC Injections
% Recovery on 5 ppb Injections - Dissolved O2 < 2 ppb
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
% Recovery
50
0
TMA 2-Propanol Aceti c Acid Chloroform Urea
-50
Sievers (Membrane Conductometric)
Competition (Direct Conductometric)
Figure 1. Recovery comparison of Sievers and other brands
aecting the lithography or another critical process.
Because you are measuring all the organics with the
500 RLe, your facilities engineers are given the best tool
to optimize their processes. The top semiconductor
companies in the world accept no other options for
their critical UPW TOC measurements.
Low DO / Hydrogenated Water Applications
Low DO and hydrogenated water systems are becoming
more common in microelectronics applications. Low DO
systems present a signicant challenge to reagentless
TOC analyzers because all reagentless TOC analyzers
rely on the process water as a source of oxygen for fully
oxidizing the organics in the sample.
In low DO systems, there is insucient oxygen available
to facilitate full oxidation, resulting in articially low TOC
results. If a contamination event occurs, the lack of
oxygen may prevent complete oxidation of the organics.
Consequently, most analyzers will show little or no change
in the TOC value. Only the Sievers 500 RLe incorporates
trace oxygen addition to ensure fully oxidized organics in
low DO and hydrogenated water systems. This gives you
the ability to see important changes in your water system
that other analyzers completely miss (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Recovery graph for TOC injections
Robust Method
TOC Recovery
The 500 RLe has been extensively tested to demonstrate
comparability to the Sievers PPT Analyzer as well as
superior performance relative to competitive TOC
technologies.
of the 500 RLe in normal and Low DO systems, compared
to the PPT and alternative TOC technologies.
Risk of Simplied TOC Methods
Can you trust the TOC results from your analyzer
to provide your fabrication engineers with the best
measurement tools? Simplied TOC methods used in
other TOC analyzers expose the water system and fab
to contamination risks from compounds that these
simplied technologies can not detect. In numerous
published studies and technical papers,
simplied TOC analyzers have been demonstrated
to be incapable of reliable performance in waters
containing even the simplest organic compounds —
compounds known to exist in UPW systems, introduced
through the feed waters, resins, system materials,
and production processes. The Sievers membrane
technology dramatically enhances the ability to detect
and manage variations in TOC contamination that
can go unnoticed and uncontrolled with older, more
simplied TOC sensors.
1,2,3
Figures 1 and 2 show the performance
1,2,3
these
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