• KIEE International Transactions on Electrophysics and Applications
• /
• v.2C no.5
• /
• pp.262-267
• /
• 2002

In this paper, we first studied the factors affecting the motor current (MC) signal, which was strongly affected by the systematic hardware noises depending on polishing such as pad conditioning and arm oscillation of platen and recipe, head motor. Next, we studied the end point detection (EPD) for the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process of shallow trench isolation (STI) with reverse moat structure. The MC signal showed a high amplitude peak in the fore part caused by the reverse meal. pattern. We also found that the EP could not be detected properly and reproducibly due to the pad conditioning effect, especially when conventional low selectivity slurry was used. Even when there was no pad conditioning effect, the EPD method could not be applied, since the measured end points were always the same due to the characteristics of the reverse moat structure with an open nitride layer.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.39-39
• /
• 2003

As the design rules in semiconductor manufacturing process become more and more stringent, the higher degree of planarization of device surface is required for a following lithography process. Also, it is great challenge for chemical mechanical polishing to achieve global planarization of 12” wafer or beyond. To meet such requirements, it is essential to understand the CMP equipment and process itself. In this paper, authors suggest the velocity distribution on the wafer, direction of friction force and the uniformity of velocity distribution of conventional rotary CMP equipment in an analytical method for an intuitive understanding of variation of kinematic variables. To this end, a novel dimensionless variable defined as “kinematic number” is derived. Also, it is shown that the kinematic number could consistently express the velocity distribution and other kinematic characteristics of rotary CMP equipment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.29-38
• /
• 2003

As the design rules in semiconductor manufacturing process become more and more stringent, the higher degree of planarization of device surface is required for a following lithography process. Also, it is great challenge for chemical mechanical polishing to achieve global planarization of 12” wafer or beyond. To meet such requirements, it is essential to understand the CMP equipment and process itself. In this paper, authors suggest the velocity distribution on the wafer, direction of friction force and the uniformity of velocity distribution of conventional rotary CMP equipment in an analytical method for an intuitive understanding of variation of kinematic variables. To this end, a novel dimensionless variable defined as “kinematic number” is derived. Also, it is shown that the kinematic number could consistently express the velocity distribution and other kinematic characteristics of rotary CMP equipment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.297-302
• /
• 2005

Chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) performances can be optimized by several process parameters such as equipment and consumables (pad, backing film and slurry). Pad properties are important in determining removal rate and planarization ability of a CMP process. It is investigated the performance of oxide CMP process using commercial silica slurry after the pad conditioning temperature was varied. Conditioning process with the high temperature made the slurry be unrestricted to flow and be hold, which made the removal rate of oxide film increase. The pad became softer and flexible as the conditioning temperature increases. Then the softer pad provided the better surface planarity of oxide film without defect.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2001.07a
• /
• pp.25-28
• /
• 2001

Recently, STI(Shallow Trench Isolation) process has attracted attention for high density of semiconductor device as a essential isolation technology. Without applying the conventional complex reverse moat process, CMP(Chemical Mechanical Polishing) has established the Process simplification. However, STI-CMP process have various defects such as nitride residue, torn oxide defect, damage of silicon active region, etc. To solve this problem, in this paper, we discussed to determine the control limit of process, which can entirely remove oxide on nitride from the moat area of high density as reducing the damage of moat area and minimizing dishing effect in the large field area. We, also, evaluated the reliability and reproducibility of STI-CMP process through the optimal process conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.21 no.7
• /
• pp.22-29
• /
• 2004

As a result of high integration of semiconductor device, the global planarization of multi-layer structures is necessary. So the chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) is widely applied to manufacturing the dielectric layer and metal line in the semiconductor device. CMP process is under influence of polisher, pad, slurry, and process itself, etc. In comparison with the general CMP which uses the slurry including abrasives, fixed abrasive pad takes advantage of planarity, resulting from decreasing pattern selectivity and defects such as dishing & erosion due to the reduction of abrasive concentration especially. This paper introduces the manufacturing technique of fixed abrasive pad using hydrophilic polymers with swelling characteristic in water and explains the self-conditioning phenomenon. And the tungsten CMP using fixed abrasive pad achieved the good conclusion in terms of the removal rate, non-uniformity, surface roughness, material selectivity, micro-scratch free contemporary with the pad life-time.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.38-45
• /
• 2005

Chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) has been widely accepted for the planarization of multi-layer structures in semiconductor fabrication. But a variety of defects such as abrasive contamination, scratch, dishing, erosion and corrosion are occurred during CMP. Especially, dishing and erosion defects increase the metal resistance because they decrease the interconnect section area, and ultimately reduce the lift time of the semiconductor. Due to this reason dishing and erosion must be prohibited. The pattern density and size in chip have a significant influence on dishing and erosion occurred by over-polishing. The fixed abrasive pad(FAP) was applied and tested to reduce dishing and erosion in this paper. The abrasive concentration decrease of FAP results in advanced pattern selectivity which can lead the uniform removal in chip and declining over-polishing. Consequently, reduced dishing and erosion was observed in CMP of tungsten pattern wafer with proposed FAP and chemicals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2004.11a
• /
• pp.707-710
• /
• 2004

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process has been widely used to planarize dielectric layers, which can be applied to the integrated circuits for sub-micron technology. Despite the increased use of CMP process, it is difficult to accomplish the global planarization of in the defect-free inter-level dielectrics (ILD). In this paper, we have investigated slurry properties and CMP performance of silicon dioxide (oxide) as a function of different temperature of slurry. Thermal effects on the silica slurry properties such as pH, particle size, conductivity and zeta potential were studied. Moreover, the relationship between the removal rate (RR) with WIWNU and slurry properties caused by changes of temperature were investigated. Therefore, the understanding of these temperature effects provides a foundation to optimize an oxide CMP Process for ULSI multi-level interconnection technology.

• KSTLE International Journal
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.32-35
• /
• 2004

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the structure and mechanical properties of laser-processed pads on their polishing behavior such as their removal rate and WIWNU (within wafer non-uniformity) during the chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process. The holes on the pad acted as the reservoir of slurry particles and enhanced the removal rate. Without grooves, no effective removal of wafers was possible. When the length of the circular-type grooves was increased, higher removal rates and lower wafer non-uniformity were measured. The removal rate and non-uniformity linearly increased as the elastic modulus of the top pad increased. Higher removal rates and lower non-uniformity were measured as the hardness of the pad increased.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.138-143
• /
• 2004

CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) technology for global planarization of multilevel interconnection structure has been widely studied for the next generation devices. Among the consumables for CMP process, especially, slurry and their chemical compositions play a very important role in the removal rates and within-wafer non-uniformity (WIWNU) for global planarization ability of CMP process. However, CMP slurries contain abrasive particles exceeding 1 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ size, which can cause micro-scratch on the wafer surface after CMP process. Such a large size particle in these slurries may be caused by particle agglomeration in slurry supply-line. In this work, to investigate the effects of agglomeration on the performance of oxide CMP slurry, we have studied an aging effect of silica slurry as a function of particle size distribution and aging time during one month. We Prepared and compared the self-developed silica slurry by adding of alumina powders. Also, we have investigated the oxide CMP characteristics. As an experimental result, we could be obtained the relatively stable slurry characteristics comparable to aging effect of original silica slurry. Consequently, we can expect the saving of high-cost slurry.