Metallic contamination in semiconductor products adversely affects device performance and impacts the yield of the fabrication process. To meet the demand for higher yields and performance in wafer substrates, contamination must be minimized on the wafer surface as well as in the substrate itself.
Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) is widely used in the development of photoresists in the photolithography process and liquid crystal display (LCD). Due to its wide usage in these demanding applications, the analysis of impurities in TMAH is becoming increasingly critical. This work describes a method for the routine ultratrace-level quantification of nanoparticle impurities in semiconductor-grade TMAH using the NexION® 5000 Multi-Quadrupole ICP-MS in single particle mode.