Simple and robust near-infrared spectroscopic monitoring of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) etching solution using Teflon tubing

Abstract

The ability to monitor etching solutions using a spectroscopy directly through existing Teflon lines in electronic industries is highly beneficial and offers many advantages. A monitoring method was developed using near-infrared (NIR) measurements with Teflon tubing as a sample container for the quantification of components in the indium-tin-oxide (ITO) etching solution composed of hydrochloric acid (HCl), acetic acid (CH3COOH) and water. Measurements were reproducible and it was possible to use the same calibration model for different Teflon tubings. Even though partial least squares (PLS) calibration performance was slightly degraded for Teflon cells when compared to quartz cells of the similar pathlength, the calibration data correlated well with reference data. The robustness of Teflon-based NIR measurement was evaluated by predicting the spectra of 10 independent samples that were collected using five different Teflon tubes. Although, two Teflon tubes were visually less transparent than the other three, there was no significant variation in the standard error of predictions (SEPs) among the five Teflon tubes. Calibration accuracy was successfully maintained and highly repeatable prediction results were achieved. This study verifies that a Teflon-based NIR measurement is reliable for the monitoring of etching solutions and it can be successfully integrated into on-line process monitoring.