Made in America Means More Than a Label: Cleaning, Contamination Control, and the Domestic Semiconductor Process Gap

In early July, SEMI convened its annual Surface Preparation & Cleaning Conference (SPCC 2026) in Chandler, Arizona — the premier technical forum dedicated to advancing surface preparation, cleaning technologies, and wet processes in semiconductor manufacturing. The conference came at a time when billions of dollars are flowing into domestic semiconductor investment: Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra posted on X that Micron is increasing its U.S. investment to more than $250 billion through 2035, Apple’s $600 billion American Manufacturing Program spans from wafer production to advanced packaging, and the White House has enacted Section 232 tariffs on imported semiconductors citing national security risk.

For senior electronics manufacturing engineers, semiconductor packaging teams, aerospace and defense electronics suppliers, EMS providers, and federal supply-chain stakeholders, the question is no longer whether domestic semiconductor investment is real. It is whether the domestic process ecosystem — the cleaning, contamination control, and surface preparation infrastructure that sits between a bare die and a qualified assembly — can keep pace with the ambition.

SEMI’s own data underscores the urgency: the semiconductor industry is on pace to reach $1 trillion in annual revenue in 2026 — four years ahead of prior forecast — with logic and micro capacity expected to nearly double by 2030. But as SEMI Americas President Joe Stockunas noted at SPCC, growth is concentrated in advanced nodes, while geopolitical tensions and a growing talent shortage create headwinds.

The cleaning challenges nobody budgets for until yield falls

SPCC 2026 exposed several process realities that directly affect whether “Made in America” translates into qualified, reliable output:

Hybrid bonding and flux removal: Intel and ProSys presented collaborative work on megasonic removal of flux from narrow gaps in advanced packaging structures — a critical step in 2.5D and 3D-IC integration. Their research found that application of 10-millisecond pulses of 925 kHz sound waves at 90% duty cycle was highly effective, with acoustic streaming rather than cavitation as the primary cleaning mechanism. Getting this wrong means residue trapped in sub-micron gaps, and that means yield loss and reliability failures.
Particle contamination in 3D stacking: Kurita Industries demonstrated functional water plus megasonic cleaning for higher particle removal than conventional SC-1 processes — along with alkaline water rinsing to reduce copper pad recessing versus DI water. As packages stack vertically, the cost of a single missed particle multiplies with each layer.
Selectivity and yield at advanced nodes: Mitsubishi Chemical presented a Si/SiGe selective etchant achieving 750:1 selectivity for backside power delivery networks (BSPDN). IBM showed oxide-selective wet chemistry reducing buried void defects by over 20× during dummy gate removal in gate-all-around (GAA) nanosheet flows. These are not nice-to-haves — they are yield-critical process windows.
PFAS and sustainability: imec, Purdue University, and Enspired Solutions demonstrated UV destruction achieving more than 99% PFAS destruction efficiency for semiconductor manufacturing waste. As domestic fabs scale, meeting environmental compliance on waste streams becomes a production constraint, not just an ESG checkbox.
DRAM uniformity at scale: Micron presented a dilute sulfuric peroxide clean achieving 3.59× selectivity between bottom and top container fill — solving uniformity issues that conventional chemistries could not address at advanced DRAM nodes.

Each of these presentations underscores a common theme: as devices get smaller and packages get more complex, the margin for error in cleaning and surface preparation shrinks toward zero. And the process infrastructure to execute these steps reliably, at volume, in North America is not simply a matter of installing equipment. It requires contamination control expertise, chemistry optimization for local water and facility conditions, process validation, and ongoing application support.

Why the gap matters for defense, aerospace, and federal procurement

The White House’s January 2026 proclamation under Section 232 found that the United States consumes roughly one-quarter of the world’s semiconductors but fully manufactures only approximately 10% of what it requires. The Secretary of Commerce reported that defense systems depend on high-performance semiconductors for radar, communications, electronic warfare, cybersecurity, and guidance systems for missiles and drones — and that this dependence is a “significant economic and national security risk.”

The January 2026 SEMI 2026 U.S. Policy Strategy explicitly calls out the need for balanced trade policy, workforce development, CHIPS Act implementation, and supply chain resilience. A bipartisan Senate bill introduced in June 2026 would extend CHIPS Act tax credits to space-based semiconductor manufacturing — recognizing that even the most exotic platforms depend on terrestrial process capability.

For defense and aerospace electronics, the implications are concrete: a domestically fabricated die is only as reliable as the assembly process that packages it, the cleaning steps that ensure bond integrity, and the contamination control protocols that prevent field failures. Buy American and domestic procurement mandates do not specify cleaning chemistry — but the reliability requirements behind those mandates absolutely depend on it.

What this means for your process line

The reshoring conversation has shifted from “will it happen?” to “can the domestic supply chain execute at the required standard?” For electronics manufacturers building domestic capability, the practical questions include:

Contamination control at the assembly level: Is your vapor degreasing, aqueous cleaning, or hybrid cleaning process validated for the flux chemistries, underfill materials, and bonding metallurgies your advanced packages require? Contamination that was tolerable at legacy nodes can cause reliability failures at fine-pitch, high-density interconnects.
Legacy component handling: Defense and aerospace programs often require requalification of obsolete or end-of-life components. Lead forming, cutting, tinning, and solderability restoration processes must meet the same contamination standards as new-build assemblies — and the process documentation must satisfy traceability requirements.
Wire bonding and microassembly: Bond pad cleanliness directly affects adhesion and long-term reliability. Functional water, optimized rinse protocols, and post-clean verification are not optional steps — they are yield and reliability gates.
Equipment qualification: Federal procurement and defense programs demand process validation and traceability. Thermal processing, vacuum equipment, and cleaning systems must be qualified and documented to standards that satisfy both the customer and the regulatory environment.
North American application support: The SEMI data shows that China is emerging as a significant player in bulk wet chemicals and deposition materials. For U.S.-based manufacturers, the ability to get localized technical support — chemistry optimization, process troubleshooting, and qualification assistance — is a competitive differentiator when global supply chains are uncertain.

The process layer is where Made in America becomes real

The semiconductor industry’s $1 trillion milestone is real. The policy tailwinds from CHIPS Act funding, Section 232 tariffs, and multi-billion-dollar corporate commitments from Micron, Apple, Intel, Texas Instruments, and others are real. But as the SEMI SPCC conference made clear, the process science that enables these investments to produce reliable output is not something you can import or shortcut.

Domestic semiconductor manufacturing capability requires a domestic process ecosystem — and that ecosystem is built on cleaning chemistry, contamination control expertise, surface preparation science, and the application support to optimize these steps for each manufacturer’s specific requirements. Without that process layer, billions in fab investment risks producing wafers that cannot be reliably packaged, assembled, and qualified for the applications that matter most.

Akrivis supports U.S. and North American manufacturers building domestic electronics capability — from PCB/SMT and microassembly cleaning, through vapor degreasing and thermal processing, to legacy component reconditioning and advanced packaging process support. Our North American application engineering team works with manufacturers to validate cleaning processes, optimize contamination control protocols, and ensure that the equipment and chemistry on your line meets the standards your customers and contracts require.

If you are building or scaling domestic electronics manufacturing and need to validate or optimize your cleaning, contamination control, or assembly process infrastructure, contact us for an application review.