• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.105-106
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• 2005

As the integrated circuit device shrinks to the smaller dimension, the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process has been widely used in microelectronics and semiconductor processes. Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film was polished by CMP by the change of process parameters for the improvement of CMP performance. Removal rate and planarity were improved after CMP process at the optimized process parameters compared to that before CMP process.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.1037-1041
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• 2014

Slurry used for polishing semiconductors processed by exchange, pressurization, and multi-step feeding has been studied to investigate the effect of the size and shape of slurry particles on the oxide CMP removal rate. First, spherical silica sol was prepared by the ion exchange method. The spherical silica particle was used as a seed to grow non-spherical silica sol in accordance with the multi-step feeding of silicic acid by the ion exchange and pressurization methods. The oxide removal rate of both non-spherical silica sol and commercially available slurry were compared with increasing average particle size in the oxide CMP. The more alkaline the pH level of the non-spherical silica sol, the higher was the removal rate and non-uniformity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.118-118
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• 2008

The oxide CMP has been applied to interlayer dielectric(ILD) and shallow trench isolation (STI) in chip fabrication. Recently the slurry used in oxide CMP being changed from silica slurry to ceria (cerium dioxide) slurry particularly in STI CMP, because the material selectivity of ceria slurry is better than material selectivity of silica slurry. Moreover, the ceria slurry has good a planarization efficiency, compared with silica slurry. However ceria abrasives make a material removal rate too high at the region of wafer center. Then we focuses on why profile of material removal rate is convex. The material removal rate sharply increased to 3216 $\AA$/min by $4^{th}$ run without conditioning. After $4^{th}$ run, material removal rate converged. Furthermore, profile became more convex during 12 run. And average material removal rate decreased when conditioning process is added to end of CMP process. This is due to polishing mechanism of ceria. Then the ceria abrasive remains at the pad, in particular remains more at wafer center contacted region of pad. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images showed that the pad sample in the wafer center region has a more ceria abrasive than in wafer outer region. The energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) verified the result that ceria abrasive is deposited and more at the region of wafer center. Therefore, this result may be expected as ceria abrasives on pad surface causing the convex profile of material removal rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1996.11a
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• pp.172-176
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• 1996

The rapid structural change of ULSI chip includes minimum features, multilevel interconnection and large diameter wafers. Demands for the advanced chip structure necessitates the development of enhanced deposition, etching and planarization techniques. Planarization refers to a process that make rugged surfaces flat and uniform. One of the emerging technologies for planarization is chemical mechanical polishing(CMP). Chemical and mechanical removal actions occur during CMP, and both appear to be closely interrelated. The purpose of this study is the optimal application of the slurry to the various types of device materials during CMP. We investigates the effect of slurry on CMP characteristics for thermal oxide and sputtered Al blanket wafers. Results from the polishing rate and the uniformity of residual film include mechanical and chemical reactions between several set of slurry and work material.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.119-120
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• 2008

ILD CMP process has been well accepted for the planarization of the dielectric oxide film and becomes a critical process in ULSI manufacturing due to the rapid shrinkage of the design rule for the device. In total manufacturing process steps for a device, the proportion of ILD CMP process has been gradually increased. Ever since ILD CMP has been introduced, the scratches have been a major defects on polished surfaces which cause the electrical shorts between vias or metal lines [1,2]. It was reported that micro-scratches are caused by large, irregularly shaped particles during CMP process. Therefore, most of the CMP users have used < 5 m POU filter to remove and reduce the scratch source from the slurry. However, the scratch has always been the biggest concern in ILD polishing whatever preventive actions are taken. Silica and ceria slurries are widely used for ILD CMP process. There are not much differences in generated scratches and their formation mechanism. In this study, the scratches were investigated as a function of polishing conditions with possible explanation on formation mechanism in ILD CMP.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07d
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• pp.1888-1890
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• 1999

In this work, we have systematically studied the effects of filtration and the defect trend as a function of polished wafer count using various filters in Inter-Metal Dielectric(IMD) CMP. The filter Installation in CMP polisher makes defect reduced after IMD CMP. As a result of formation micro-scratches, it shows that slurry filter plays an important role in determining consumable pad lifetime. The filter lifetime is dominated by the defects. We have acknowledged slurry filter lifetime is fixed by the degree of generating defects.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1296-1300
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• 2004

SnO$_2$ is one of the most suitable gas sensor materials. The microstructure and surface morphology of films must be controlled because the electrical and optical properties of SnO$_2$ films depend on these characteristics. The effects of chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) on the variation of morphology of SnO$_2$ films prepared by RF sputtering system were investigated. The commercially developed ceria-based oxide slurry, silica-based oxide slurry, and alumina-based tungsten slurry were used as CMP slurry. Non-uniformities of all slurries met stability standards of less than 5 %. Silica slurry had the highest removal rate among three different slurries, sufficient thin film topographies and suitable root mean square(RMS) values.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.157-162
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• 2006

Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP), one of the dominant technology for ULSI planarization, is used to flatten the micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) structures. The objective of this paper is to achieve good planarization of the deposited film and to improve deposition efficiency of subsequent layer structures by using surface-micromachining process in MEMS technology. Planarization characteristic of poly-Si film deposited on thin oxide layer with MEMS structures is evaluated with different slurries. Patterns used for this research have shapes of square, density, line, hole, pillar, and micro engine part. Advantages of CMP process for MEMS structures are observed respectively by using the test patterns with structures larger than 1 urn line width. Preliminary tests for material selectivity of poly-Si and oxide are conducted with two types of silica slurries: $ILD1300^{TM}\;and\;Nalco2371^{TM}$. And then, the experiments were conducted based on the pretest. A selectivity and pH adjustment of slurry affected largely step heights of MEMS structures. These results would be anticipated as an important bridge stone to manufacture MEMS CMP slurry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.05c
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• pp.41-44
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• 2003

As the device feature size is reduced to the deep sub-micron regime, the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) technology is widely recognized as the most promising method to achieve the global planarization of the multilevel interconnection for ULSI applications. However, cost of ownership (COO) and cost of consumables (COC) were relatively increased because of expensive slurry. In this paper, the effects of different slurry composition on the oxide CMP characteristics were investigated to obtain the higher removal rate and lower non-uniformity. We prepared the various kinds of slurry. In order to save the costs of slurry, the original slurry was diluted by de-ionized water (DIW). And then, alunima abrasives were added in the diluted slurry in order to promote the mechanical force of diluted slurry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.05b
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• pp.30-33
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• 2001

Chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) process has been widely used to planarize dielectrics, which can apply to employed in integrated circuits for sub-micron technology. Despite the increased use of CMP process, it is difficult to accomplish the global planarization of free-defects in inter-level dielectrics (ILD). Especially, defects like micro-scratch lead to severe circuit failure, and affects yield. CMP slurries can contain particles exceeding $1{\mu}m$ size, which could cause micro-scratch on the wafer surface. The large particles in these slurries may be caused by particle agglomeration in slurry supply line. To reduce these defects, slurry filtration method has been recommended in oxide CMP. In this work, we have studied the effects of filtration and the defect trend as a function of polished wafer count using various filters in inter-metal dielectric(IMD)-CMP. The filter installation in CMP polisher could reduce defect after IMD-CMP. As a result of micro-scratches formation, it shows that slurry filter plays an important role in determining consumable pad lifetime.