Adaptive endpoint method for pad life effect on chemical mechanical polishing
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
H01L-021/465
B24B-037/20
B24B-037/013
B24B-049/12
H01J-037/32
H01L-021/66
H01L-021/321
출원번호
US-0758658
(2013-02-04)
등록번호
US-9333619
(2016-05-10)
발명자
/ 주소
Lee, Chu-An
Huang, Hui-Chi
Jangjian, Peng-Chung
출원인 / 주소
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
대리인 / 주소
Haynes and Boone, LLP
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
0인용 특허 :
9
초록▼
The present disclosure provides a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system. The CMP system includes a pad designed for wafer polishing, a motor driver coupled with the pad and designed to drive the pad during the wafer polishing, and a controller coupled with the motor driver and designed to contr
The present disclosure provides a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system. The CMP system includes a pad designed for wafer polishing, a motor driver coupled with the pad and designed to drive the pad during the wafer polishing, and a controller coupled with the motor driver and designed to control the motor driver. The CMP system further includes an in-situ rate monitor designed to collect polishing data from a wafer on the pad, determine CMP endpoint based on a life stage of the pad, and provide the CMP endpoint to the controller.
대표청구항▼
1. A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system, comprising: a pad designed for wafer polishing;a motor driver coupled with the pad and designed to drive the pad during the wafer polishing;a controller coupled with the motor driver and designed to control the motor driver; andan in-situ rate monitor
1. A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system, comprising: a pad designed for wafer polishing;a motor driver coupled with the pad and designed to drive the pad during the wafer polishing;a controller coupled with the motor driver and designed to control the motor driver; andan in-situ rate monitor including a signal module designed to extract a polishing signal during the wafer polishing, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is designed to amplify the polishing signal according to a life stage of the pad, determine CMP endpoint based on the life stage of the pad, and provide the CMP endpoint to the controller. 2. The CMP system of claim 1, wherein the in-situ rate monitor includes: a window module for defining and applying multiple endpoint windows with respective window widths; andan endpoint module for determining the CMP endpoint by applying one of the multiple endpoint windows to the polishing signal according to the life stage of the pad. 3. The CMP system of claim 1, further comprising another pad for wafer polishing and coupled with the in-situ rate monitor. 4. A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system, comprising: a polishing pad configured to polish a wafer;a motor driver coupled with the polishing pad and configured to drive the polishing pad during wafer polishing;an in-situ rate monitor configured to define a time region of pad life for the polishing pad and configured to assign a ladder coefficient to the polishing pad according to the time region of pad life; anda controller coupled with the motor driver and in-situ rate monitor and configured to control the motor driver to apply a CMP process to the wafer positioned on the polishing pad and control the motor driver to end the CMP process at an endpoint according to the time region of pad life for the polishing pad. 5. The CMP system of claim 4, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to determine the endpoint using an endpoint window having a window width particular to the time region of the polishing pad. 6. The CMP system of claim 4, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to determine whether the polishing pad is in the time region based on a level of a polishing signal being applied during the CMP process to the wafer. 7. The CMP system of claim 6, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to associate an endpoint window to the polishing signal according to the time region, the endpoint window having a width particular to the time region of the polishing pad. 8. A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system, comprising: a polishing pad configured to polish a wafer;a motor driver coupled with the polishing pad and configured to drive the polishing pad during wafer polishing;an in-situ rate monitor configured to: define a plurality of time regions of pad life for the polishing pad;assign a ladder coefficient to the polishing pad according to the plurality of time regions of pad life;define a plurality of endpoint windows to the plurality of time regions, respectively, according to pad life effect;determine a time region of a polishing signal of the wafer based on the ladder coefficient; andassociate one of the endpoint windows to the polishing signal according to the time region; anda controller coupled with the motor driver and in-situ rate monitor and configured to control the motor driver to apply a CMP process to the wafer positioned on the polishing pad and control the motor driver to end the CMP process at an endpoint determined by the endpoint window associated with the polishing signal. 9. The CMP system of claim 8, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to, before an end of the CMP process, determine the endpoint by fitting the endpoint window to a portion of the polishing signal. 10. The CMP system of claim 8, wherein the polishing signal is a signal from the wafer multiplied by the ladder coefficient within the time region. 11. The CMP system of claim 8, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to define an upper limit and a lower limit of the polishing signal relative to the time region and determine that the polishing signal is associated with the time region if a flat portion of the polishing signal is within a range between the upper limit and the lower limit. 12. The CMP system of claim 8, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to define a plurality of window widths corresponding to the plurality of endpoint windows, respectively. 13. The CMP system of claim 8, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to define the ladder coefficient with a plurality of gain levels corresponding to the plurality of time regions of pad life, respectively. 14. The CMP system of claim 8, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to define an initial pad life region, a middle pad life region, and an end pad life region. 15. The CMP system of claim 8, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to collecting CMP data, and extracting a polishing characteristic parameter of the polishing pad. 16. The CMP system of claim 15, wherein the in-situ rate monitor is further configured to define the plurality of time regions of pad life for the polishing pad based on the polishing characteristic parameter. 17. The CMP system of claim 15, wherein the polishing characteristic parameter includes a polishing ratio defined as a ratio between a polishing rate of a metal material and a polishing rate of a dielectric material. 18. The CMP system of claim 17, wherein the polishing ratio is defined as a ratio between an aluminum polishing rate and a silicon oxide polishing rate. 19. The CMP system of claim 8, further including a CMP data module configured to collect data associated with the polishing pad. 20. The CMP system of claim 19, wherein the data associated with the polishing pad includes at least one of polishing rate, CMP failure information, system maintenance record data, polishing pad replacement record data, and out of specification (OOS) records.
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이 특허에 인용된 특허 (9)
Birang, Manoocher; Johansson, Nils; Gleason, Allan, Apparatus and method for in-situ endpoint detection for chemical mechanical polishing operations.
Southwick Scott A., Methods for predicting polishing parameters of polishing pads and methods and machines for planarizing microelectronic substrate assemblies in mechanical or chemical-mechanical planarization.
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