Determination of Impurities in Semiconductor-Grade TMAH with the NexION 300S ICP-MS

Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) is widely used as a basic solvent in the development of acidic photoresist in the semiconductor photolithography process and in liquid crystal display manufacturing. Its wide usage in these demanding applications has made the analysis of impurities in TMAH more and more critical. With its ability to determine analytes rapidly and at the ultra-trace level in various process chemicals, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MSO) has become an indispensible analytical tool for quality control. This application note demonstrates the ability of PerkinElmer’s NexION 300S ICP-MS to remove interferences so that trace levels of impurities in THMA can be easily measured using hot plasma conditions for all analytes in a single analysis.