Ultratrace measurement of calcium in ultrapure water using the Agilent 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS

In the semiconductor industry, the control of metal impurities in the process chemicals used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices is critical to achieve the required product performance and yield. As device performance is continually increasing, the required impurity control becomes ever more stringent. For example, metal content of the ultra pure water (UPW) used in the manufacturing process must be at the sub-ppt level. ICP-MS is the standard technique used for the trace metals analysis of semiconductor chemicals and devices. The most common instrument and measurement technique used in the semiconductor industry is single quadrupole ICP-MS (ICP-QMS) with cool plasma. The cool plasma technique [1], developed in the mid 1990’s, enables the quantifi cation of key contaminant elements at the single ppt level. Collision and reaction cell ICP-QMS, developed from 2000 onwards, enabled the direct analysis of more complex semiconductor matrices, but did not improve on the detection limits or background Ultratrace measurement of calcium in ultrapure water using the Agilent 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS