In situ endpoint detection by pad temperature in chemical-mechanical polishing of copper overlay
As the number of metal levels and the wafer size increase, the global planarity and effective removal of metal overlay across the wafer becomes more crucial. Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) has been recognized essential to achieve this goal. Accurate in situ endpoint detection and monitoring method significantly improves the yield and throughput. Previous methods have been proposed, which either require the rearrangement of the machine set-up, or can only be implanted on certain types of machines. In this study, a model for pad temperature capable of predicting the endpoint of CMP in situ is established based on the total consumed kinematic energy between wafer and pad. Limited assumptions of thermal and kinematic conditions are made. The model of temperature rise uses the integral of the relative polishing speed and is verified by on-line measurement. Since the coefficient of friction between the pad and dielectric layer is distinguishably lower than that between the pad and the metal layer, the pad temperature increases milder than polishing the metal layer. In use of the proposed regression method applied to the measured temperature rise, the endpoint of the process can be detected.
Optimization of tribological properties of silicon dioxide during the chemical mechanical planarization process
Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) has been proved to achieve excellent global and local planarity, and, as feature sizes shrink, the use of CMP will be critical for planarizing multilevel structures. Understanding the tribological properties of a dielectric layer in the CMP process is critical for successful evaluation and implementation of the materials. In this paper, we present the tribological properties of silicon dioxide during the CMP process. A CMP tester was used to study the fundamental aspects of the CMP process. the accessories of the CMP tester were first optimized for the reproducibility of the results. The coefficient of friction (COF) was measured during the process and was found to decrease with both down pressure and platen rotation. An acoustic sensor attached to this tester is used to detect endpoint, delamination, and uniformity. The effects of machine parameters on the polishing performance and the correlation of physical phenomena with the process have been discussed.
General expression for the density effect for the ionization loss of charged particles
The equations for the density-effect correction $\ensuremath{\delta}(X)$ for the ionization loss as given in a previous paper have been extended to the case where $\ensuremath{\delta}({X}_{0})\ensuremath{\equiv}{\ensuremath{\delta}}_{0}g0$. Here ${X}_{0}$ is the lower limit of the range ${X}_{0}lXl{X}_{1}$, where a particularly simple expression for $\ensuremath{\delta}(X)$ applies; $X={log}_{10}(\frac{p}{{m}_{0}c})$, where $p$ is the momentum and ${m}_{0}$ is the mass of the incident particle. The case ${\ensuremath{\delta}}_{0}g0$ applies directly to the calculation of $\ensuremath{\delta}(X)$ for conductors (metals).