• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2012

Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is a polishing process used in the microelectronic fabrication industries to achieve a globally planar wafer surface for the manufacturing of integrated circuits. Pad conditioning plays an important role in the CMP process to maintain a material removal rate (MRR) and its uniformity. For metal CMP process, highly acidic slurry containing strong oxidizer is being used. It would affect the conditioner surface which normally made of metal such as Nickel and its alloy. If conditioner surface is corroded, diamonds on the conditioner surface would be fallen out from the surface. Because of this phenomenon, not only life time of conditioners is decreased, but also more scratches are generated. To protect the conditioners from corrosion, thin organic film deposition on the metal surface is suggested without requiring current conditioner manufacturing process. To prepare the anti-corrosion film on metal conditioner surface, vapor SAM (self-assembled monolayer) and FC (Fluorocarbon) -CVD (SRN-504, Sorona, Korea) films were prepared on both nickel and nickel alloy surfaces. Vapor SAM method was used for SAM deposition using both Dodecanethiol (DT) and Perfluoroctyltrichloro silane (FOTS). FC films were prepared in different thickness of 10 nm, 50 nm and 100 nm on conditioner surfaces. Electrochemical analysis such as potentiodynamic polarization and impedance, and contact angle measurements were carried out to evaluate the coating characteristics. Impedance data was analyzed by an electrical equivalent circuit model. The observed contact angle is higher than 90o after thin film deposition, which confirms that the coatings deposited on the surfaces are densely packed. The results of potentiodynamic polarization and the impedance show that modified surfaces have better performance than bare metal surfaces which could be applied to increase the life time and reliability of conditioner during W CMP.