Redefining circularity
ASM's innovative dry cleaning process
Christopher Falcone, Senior Manager Surface Technology discusses ASM’s sustainable cleaning as a practical circularity lever in semiconductor equipment
Circularity in the semiconductor industry is often reduced to recycling. At ASM, we challenge that view embedding circularity much sooner in our products’ lifecycle.
Our novel dry cleaning process removes process residues from critical parts in a way that preserves their functional condition and dimensions. As a result, complex, high value components are restored to a reliable condition and kept in use longer. A welcome side-effect is the reduced need to manufacture replacements.
From recycling to value retention
As semiconductor device architectures become more advanced, the tolerance for process variability becomes tighter. This adds more pressure not only on wafer processing, but also on the condition of the parts and kits that support stable tool performance.
Traditional cleaning approaches, such as wet cleaning or blasting, can be less effective at preserving critical dimensions and delivering repeatable outcomes over multiple refurbishment cycles, especially as requirements become more demanding.
Our dry cleaning process addresses this challenge by removing deposits and restoring part condition in a more controlled way. In practical terms, that helps maintain the geometry and surface characteristics that matter for performance. Instead of considering cleaning a simple maintenance activity, dry cleaning becomes part of process control.
Dry cleaning delivers many technical benefits. By returning critical parts to service in a more consistent condition, it supports process repeatability and helps reduce variability.
It also helps protect critical dimensions. That becomes increasingly important as film compositions grow more complex. If selectivity and dimensional control are maintained clean after clean, parts remain within required specification for longer.
Another advantage is supporting refurbishment at scale. Reuse only works when restored parts can reliably meet performance expectations. That requires a controlled process, not just a cleaning step.
The operational and financial cases are equally strong. When part life is extended, replacement frequency decreases, reducing spending on new parts and lowering the operational disruption that comes with unnecessary replacement.
It also improves predictability. If refurbishment is measurable and repeatable, it becomes easier to plan maintenance intervals, manage spares, and support uptime targets.
This is why dry cleaning fits naturally with outcome-based services. When service is designed around performance outcomes such as tool availability, process consistency, and part lifetime, refurbishment becomes a value creating capability.
The sustainability benefit follows from that innovation, by reducing reliance on hazardous acids, lowering the byproduct profile and enabling a more sustainable maintenance pathway during use and refurbishment.
Additionally, the extended part lifetime means fewer new parts need to be produced resulting in lower demand for raw materials, less manufacturing effort, fewer logistics movements, and less waste from discarded parts. In other words, lifetime extension reduces impact upstream and downstream, showing that sustainability progress can come from making an existing asset last longer and perform better, not only from improving recycling rates after disposal.
Fact box: what dry cleaning delivers
An illustrative example for titanium process kits based on a 500 kit scenario highlights performance and sustainability benefits of dry cleaning compared with wet cleaning.
Dry cleaning
- enables sub angstrom precision
- outperforms wet cleaning with 10x selectivity, 5x longer part lifetime, and 5x better critical dimension control
- avoids highly toxic acids
- reduces emissions by more than 95%
- more than halves cost of ownership
Leading by example
Dry cleaning shows that maintenance can be redesigned as a strategic control point, shifting circularity from an end-of-life discussion to a value retention strategy rooted in operations.
This creates three implications for the broader semiconductor value chain:
- Focus first on technologies that extend part life. That is often where the greatest technical and economic value can be retained.
- Measure outcomes that matter, then engineer the service process to deliver them repeatably.
- Treat sustainability as part of technical excellence. The most credible sustainability solutions are grounded in operational reality, where better process control, lower chemical intensity, and longer usable life reinforce each other.
Overall, our innovative dry cleaning process makes strong business sense delivering engineering, financial and environmental benefits as it supports precision and repeatability, extends part life and lowers ownership cost, while reducing chemical intensity, emissions, and replacement demand.
