• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.25-32
• /
• 2011

We have studied on the slicing and polishing processes of R-plane sapphire wafers for the substrates of UHB nonpolar a-plane GaN LED. The fabrication conditions of the R-plane and c-plane wafers were influenced by the large anisotropic properties (mechanical properties) of the sapphire. The slicing process was more affected by the anisotropic properties of R-plane than the polishing process. When the slicing direction was $45^{\circ}$ to the a-flat, the slicing time was shorter and the quality of as-slicing wafers was better than the slicing direction of normal to the a-flat. The MRR(Material removal rate) of mechanical polishing processes such as lapping and DMP(Diamond mechanical polishing) did not show significant differences between the R-plane and c-plane. The MRR of the c-plane was about two times higher than that of R-planes at the CMP(Chemical mechanical polishing) process due to the formation of hydrolysis reaction layers on the surface of the c-plane.

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

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2000.04b
• /
• pp.31-34
• /
• 2000

It is very important to understand the correlation of between inter layer dielectric(ILD) CMP process and various facility factors supplied to equipment system. In this paper, the correlation between the various facility factors supplied to CMP equipment system and ILD CMP process were studied. To prevent the partial over-polishing(edge hot-spot) generated in the wafer edge area during polishing, we analyzed various facilities supplied at supply system. With facility shortage of D.I. water(DIW) pressure, we introduced an adding purified $N_2(PN_2)$ gas in polishing head cleaning station for increasing a cleaning effect. DIW pressure and PN2 gas factors were not related with removal rate, but edge hot-spot of patterned wafer had a serious relation. We estimated two factors (DIW pressure and PN2 gas) for the improvement of CMP process. Especially, we obtained a uniform planarity in patterned wafer and prohibited more than 90% wafer edge over-polishing. In this study, we acknowledged that facility factors supplied to equipment system played an important role in ILD-CMP process.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.6 no.2 s.19
• /
• pp.35-40
• /
• 2007

An integrated material removal model considering thermal, chemical and contact mechanical effects in CMP process is proposed. These effects are highly coupled together in the current modeling effort. The contact mechanics is employed in the model incorporated with the heat transfer and chemical reaction mechanisms. The mechanical abrasion actions happening due to the mechanical contacts between the wafer and abrasive particles in the slurry and between the wafer and pad asperities cause friction and consequently generate heats, which mainly acts as the heat source accelerating chemical reaction(s) between the wafer and slurry chemical(s). The proposed model may be a help in understanding multi-physical interactions in CMP process occurring among the wafer, pad and various consumables such as slurry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.06a
• /
• pp.485-485
• /
• 2009

Double side polishing process has been used for various industrial applications, such as polishing of semiconductor substrates and flat panel display glasses. In wafer manufacturing, double side polishing process is applied to improve wafer flatness and to minimize particle generation from wafers in device manufacturing processes, which is recognized as one of the most important processes. Whereas the kinematical modeling and analysis results of single side polishing, extensively used for chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) in device manufacturing, are well investigated, the studies in conjunction with double side polishing are barely carried out, due to the complication of polishing system and the uncertainty of wafer motion in the carrier. This paper suggests the derivation of kinematical model with consideration of carrier and wafer motion in double side polishing, and then presents the effect of kinematical parameters on material removal amount and its non-uniformity. The kinematical analysis results help to understand the double side polishing process and to control the polishing results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2004.05a
• /
• pp.144-144
• /
• 2004

마이크로프로세서가 점점 더 고집적화 되어감에 따라 가장 중요한 반도체 제조 기술 중 하나인 로광시 초점 심도를 맞추기 위해 웨이퍼의 광역 평탄화가 요구되어 왔다. 화학 기계적 연마기술(CMP： Chemical Mechanical Polishing)은 80년대 중반 IBM에 의해 제안된 이후 이러한 요구를 만족시키기 위해서 마이크로프로세서산업에 있어서 필수 기술로 자리매김 되고 있다. 화학 기계적 연마기술은 연마 결과에 영향을 미치는 인자가 많아 체계적인 기술로 발전되지 못하고 경험적인 기술에 머물러 있는 단계이다.(중략)

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 1997.11a
• /
• pp.456-460
• /
• 1997

As device sizes are scaled to submicron dimensions, planarization technology becomes increasing1y important, both during device fabrication and during formation of multilevel interconnects and wiring. Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) has emerged recently as a new processing technique for achieving a high degree of planarization for submicron VLSI applications. This paper is presented the results of CMP process window characterization studies for 0.35 micron process with 6 metal layers.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.323-329
• /
• 2019

Sapphire is currently used as a substrate material for blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The market for sapphire substrates has expanded rapidly as the use of LEDs has extended into various industries. However, sapphire is classified as one of the most difficult materials to machine due to its hardness and brittleness. Recently, a lap-grinding process has been developed to combine the lapping and diamond mechanical polishing (DMP) steps in a single process. This paper studies, the effect of wafer surface roughness on the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process by pressure and abrasive concentration in the lap-grinding process of a sapphire wafer. In this experiment, the surface roughness of a sapphire wafer is measured after lap-grinding by varying the pressure and abrasive concentration of the slurry. CMP is carried out under pressure conditions of 4.27 psi, a plate rotation speed of 103 rpm, head rotation speed of 97 rpm, and slurry flow rate of 170 ml/min. The abrasive concentration of the CMP slurry was 20wt, implying that the higher the surface roughness after lapgrinding, the higher the material removal rate (MRR) in the CMP. This is likely due to the real contact area and actual contact pressure between the rough wafer and polishing pad during the CMP. In addition, wafers with low surface roughness after lap-grinding show lower surface roughness values in CMP processes than wafers with high surface roughness values; therefore, further research is needed to obtain sufficient surface roughness before performing CMP processes.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.1049-1055
• /
• 2004

Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) is referred to as a three body tribological system, because it includes two solids in relative motion and the CMP slurry. On the assumption that the abrasives between the pad and the wafer could be a major reason not only for the friction force but also for material removal during polishing, the friction force generated during CMP process was investigated with the change of abrasive size and concentration of CMP slurry. The threshold point of average coefficient of friction (COF) with increase in abrasives concentration during interlayer dielectric (ILD) CMP was found experimentally and verified mathematically based on contact mechanics. The predictable models, Mode I (wafer is in contact with abrasives and pad) and Mode II (wafer is in contact with abrasives only), were proposed and used to explain the threshold point. The average COF value increased in the low abrasives concentration region which might be explained by Mode I. In contrast the average COF value decreased at high abrasives concentration which might be regarded to as Mode II. The threshold point observed seemed to be due to the transition from Mode I to Mode II. The tendency of threshold point with the variation of abrasive size was studied. The increase of particle radius could cause contact status to reach transition area faster. The correlation between COF and material removal rate was also investigated from the tribological and energetic point of view. Due to the energy loss by vibration of polishing equipment, COF value is not proportional to the material removal rate in this experiment.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.33 no.5
• /
• pp.228-233
• /
• 2017

Chemical Mechanical Polishing of chemically stable sapphire substrates is dominantly affected by the mechanical processing of abrasives, in terms of the material removal rate. In this study, we investigated the effect of electrostatic force between the abrasives and substrate, on the polishing. If potassium chloride (KCl) is added to slurry, water molecules are decomposed into $H^+$ and $OH^-$ ions, and the amount of ions in the slurry changes. The zeta potential of the abrasives decreases with an increase in the amount of $H^+$ ions in the stern layer; consequently, the electrostatic force between the abrasives and substrate decreases. The change in zeta potential of abrasives in the slurry is affected by the slurry pH. In acidic zones, the amount of ions bound to the abrasives increases if the amount of $H^+$ ions is increased by adding KCl. However, in basic zones, there is no change in the corresponding amount. In acidic zones, zeta potential decreases as molar concentration of potassium increases; however, it does not change significantly in basic zones. The removal rate tends to decrease with increase in molar amount of potassium in acidic zones, where zeta potential changes significantly. However, in basic zones, the removal rate does not change with zeta potential. The tendencies of zeta potential and that of the frictional force generated during polishing show strong correlation. Through experiments, it is confirmed that the contact probability of abrasives changes according to the electrostatic force generated between the abrasives and substrate, and variation in removal rate.