Airborne Molecular Contamination

Airborne Molecular Contamination (AMC) continues to grow as a major contamination control issue for microelectronics manufacturers. Because of this, chemical filter manufacturers are offering a large number of AMC control options from which the facilities, process, and contamination control engineer must determine which is the best solution for their specific AMC control applications.

Cleaning the outside air that is used for ventilation and pressurization, removing tramp and fugitive emissions from recirculation airstreams, and cleaning process emission and exhaust streams are some of the many applications that require AMC control.

The first consideration in the selection of an AMC control system should be an assessment of the type and quantities of AMC to be controlled. This can be done by direct gas monitoring or with passive or real-time reactivity monitoring. SEMI Standard F-21-11023 classifies AMC in cleanrooms by their chemical properties, providing a way to characterize the environment by groups of materials that could have similar effects on an exposed wafer. The purpose of this standard is to classify cleanrooms with respect to their molecular contaminant levels. The classifications are defined as:

  • Acid: a corrosive material whose chemical reaction is that of an electron acceptor.
  • Base: a corrosive material whose chemical reaction is that of an electron donor.
  • Condensable: a chemical substance capable of condensation on a clean surface (excluding water).
  • Dopant: a chemical element that modifies the electrical properties of a semiconductive material.


ETG is able to help the semiconductor industries in choosing the better solution for the AMC monitoring, and it’s able to supply the customer with tailored solution in order to prevent contamination and to understand in which way the AMC could reduce the productivity for any semiconductor fab.

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Airborne Molecular Contamination.

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