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

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.356-357
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• 2005

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) allows the planarization of wafers with two or more materials at their surfaces. Especially, polishing pad is considered as one of the most important consumables because of its properties. Subject of this investigation is to apply CMP for planarization of shallow trench isolation structure using microstructure pad. Microstructure pad is designed to have uniform structure on its surface and fabricated by micro-molding technology. And then STI CMP performances such as oxide dishing and nitride corner rounding are evaluated.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.303-308
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• 2005

In this paper, the effects of oxidants on tungsten chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process were investigated using three different oxidizers such as Fe(NO₃)₃, KIO₃ and H₂O₂. Moreover, the interaction between the tungsten film and the oxidizer was discussed by potentiodynamic polarization measurement with three different oxidizers, in order to compare the effects of W-CMP and electrochemical characteristics on the tungsten film as a function of oxidizer. As an experimental result, the tungsten removal rate reached a maximum at 5 wt％ Fe(NO₃)₃concentration, and when 5 wt％ H₂O₂was added in the slurry, the removal rate of W increased. Also, the microstructures of surface layer by atomic force microscopy(AFM) image were greatly influenced by the slurry chemical composition of oxidizers. It was shown that the surface roughness and removal rate of the polished surface were improved in Fe(NO₃)₃than KIO₃. The electrochemical results indicate that the corrosion current density of the 5 wt％ H₂O₂ and 5 wt％ H₂O/sub 2+/＋ 5 wt％ Fe(NO₃)₃was higher than the other oxidizers. Therefore, we conclude that the W-CMP characteristics are strongly dependent on the kinds of oxidizers and the amounts of oxidizer additive.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.121-122
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• 2008

Lithium Niobate (LN:LiNbO3) is a compound of niobium, lithium and oxygen. The characteristics of LN are piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity and photoelectricity, and which is widely used in surface acoustic wave (SAW). To manufacture LN device, the LN surface should be a smooth surface and defect-free because of optical property, but the LN material is processed difficult by traditional processes such as grinding and mechanical polishing (MP) because of its brittleness. To decrease defects, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) was applied to the LN wafer. In this study, the suitable parameters scuh as pressure and relative velocity, were investigated for the LN CMP process. To improve roughness, the LN CMP was performed using the parameters that were the highest removal rate among process parameters. And, evaluation of optical property was performed by the optical reflectance and non-linear characteristic.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.565-566
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• 2006

Slurry used in metal chemical mechanical polishing normally consists of an oxidizer, a complexing agent, a corrosion inhibitor and an abrasive. This paper investigates effects of citric acid as a complexing agent for Cu CMP with $H_2O_2$ as an oxidizer. In order to study chemical effects of a citric acid, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were performed on Cu sample after Cu etching test. XPS results reveal that CuO, $Cu(OH)_2$ layer decrease but Cu/$Cu_2O$ layer increase on Cu sample surface. To investigate nanomechanical properties of Cu sample surface, nanoindentation was performed on Cu sample. Results of nanoindentation indicate wear resistance of Cu Surface decrease. According to decrease of wear resistance on Cu surface, removal rate increases from $285\;{\AA}/min$ to $8645\;{\AA}/min$ in Cu CMP.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.32-37
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• 2008

Freestanding hydride vapor phase epitaxy grown GaN(Gallium Nitride) substrates subjected to various polishing methods were characterized for their surface and subsurface conditions, Although CMP(Chemical Mechanical Polishing) is one of the best approaches for reducing scratches and subsurface damages, the removal rate of Ga-polar surface in CMP is insignificant($0.1{\sim}0.3{\mu}m$/hr) as compared with that of N-polar surface, Therefore, conventional MP(Mechanical Polishing) is commonly used in the GaN substrate fabrication process, MP of (0001) surface of GaN has been demonstrated using diamond slurries with different abrasive sizes, Diamond abrasives of size ranging from 30nm to 100nm were dispersed in ethylene glycol solutions and mineral oil solutions, respectively. Significant change in the surface roughness ($R_a$ 0.15nm) and scratch-free surface were obtained by diamond slurry of 30nm in mean abrasive size dispersed in mineral oil solutions. However, MP process introduced subsurface damages confirmed by TEM (Transmission Electronic Microscope) and PL(Photo-Luminescence) analysis.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.7 s.238
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• pp.983-989
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• 2005

The effects of mechanical parameters on the characteristics of chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) can be directly evaluated by friction force. The piezoelectric quartz sensor for friction force measurement was installed, and friction force could be detected during CMP process. Furthermore, friction energy can be calculated by multiplying relative velocity by integration of the friction force throughout the polishing time. $SiO_2$ slurry for interlayer dielectric(ILD) CMP was used in this experiment to consider the relation of frictional characteristics and polishing results. From this experiment, it is proven that the friction energy is an essential factor of removal rate. Also, the friction force is related to removal amount per unit length(dH/ds) and friction energy has corelation to the removal rate(dH/dt) and process temporature. Moreover, within wafer non-unifornity(WIWNU) is related to coefficient of friction because of the mechanical moment equilibrium. Therefore, the prediction of polishing result would be possible by measuring friction force.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2015

CMP(Chemical Mechanical Polishing) Processes have been used to improve the planarization of the wafers in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Polishing performance of CMP Process is determined by the chemical reaction of the liquid sol containing abrasive, pressure of the head portion and rotational speed of the polishing pad. However, frictional heat generated during the CMP process causes agglomeration of the particles and the liquidity degradation, resulting in a non-uniform of surface roughness and surface scratch. To overcome this chronic problem, herein, we introduced NaCl salt as an additive into silica sol for elimination the generation of frictional heat. The added NaCl reduced the zata potential of silica sol and increased the contact surface of silica particles onto the sapphire wafer, resulting in increase of the removal rate up to 17 %. Additionally, it seems that the silica particles adsorbed on the polishing pad decreased the contact area between the sapphire water and polishing pad, which suppressed the generation of frictional heat.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.61-66
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• 2016

Total thickness variation (TTV), BOW, and surface roughness are essential characteristics for high quality sapphire substrates. Many researchers have attempted to increase removal rate by controlling the key process parameters like pressure and velocity owing to the high cost of consumables in sapphire chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). In case of the pressure approach, increased pressure owing to higher deviation of pressure over the wafer leads to significant degradation of the TTV. In this study, the authors focused on reducing TTV under the high-pressure conditions. When the production equipment polishes multiple wafers attached on a carrier, higher loads seem to be concentrated around the leading edge of the head; this occurs because of frictional force generated by the combination of table rotation and the height of the gimbal of the polishing head. We believe the skewed pressure distribution during polishing to be the main reason of within-wafer non-uniformity (WIWNU). The insertion of a hub ring between the polishing head and substrate carrier helped reduce the pressure deviation. Adjusting the location of the hub ring enables tuning of the pressure distribution. The results indicated that the position of the hub ring strongly affected the removal profile, which confirmed that the position of the hub ring changes the pressure distribution. Furthermore, we analyzed the deformation of the head via finite element method (FEM) to verify the pressure non-uniformity over the contact area Based on experiment and FEM results, we determined the optimal position of hub ring for achieving uniform polishing of the substrate.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.145-154
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• 2002

CMP (Chemical mechanical polishing) process was used to control the fine grinding process induced mechanical damage of Cz Silicon wafer. Characterization of mechanical damage was carried out using Nomarski microscope, magic mirror and also using angle lapping and lifetime scanner evaluation after heat treatment. Magic mirror and lifetime scanner were very useful for the residual damage pattern characterization and CMP process was effective on the reduction of fine grinding induced mechanical damage.