Abstract
Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is frequently used in semiconductor manufacturing to polish the surfaces of multiple layers in a wafer. The CMP uses a slurry that aids in fabricating a smooth surface by removing the excess materials. However, excessive use of slurry affects the environment and is expensive. Therefore, we propose a hybrid slurry supply system that combines ionization and atomization to reduce slurry consumption and improve the polishing quality. The proposed hybrid system atomizes the ionized slurry using electrolysis and a spray slurry nozzle. We compared the material removal rate (MRR) and polishing uniformity based on the slurry supply systems used in Cu and SiO2 non-patterned wafers. Additionally, the step height reduction and dishing were compared in the Cu-patterned wafers. The experimental analysis using the hybrid system confirmed a 23% and 25% improvement in the MRR and uniformity, respectively, in comparison with the conventional slurry supply system. This improvement can be attributed to the chemical activation and uniform supply of the ionized and atomized slurries, respectively. Moreover, a significant reduction was observed in dishing and pitch-size dependence. Furthermore, the proposed system prevents heat accumulation between the CMP processes, serving as a cooling system.
Highlights
Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is a global planarization technique commonly employed in semiconductor manufacturing to improve the topography of wafer surfaces
As indicated in the figure, the three slurry supply s ionization systems demonstrate 23% higher material removal rate (MRR), whereas the NUs of the hybrid and exhibit higher MRR and lower NU than those of the conventional system
We evaluated a hybrid system that combines the ionization and atomization systems
Summary
Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is a global planarization technique commonly employed in semiconductor manufacturing to improve the topography of wafer surfaces. It is an essential process in manufacturing multilayered and highly dense semiconductor devices. Among the various CMP consumables, such as slurry, polishing pads, and conditioners, the slurry has the most unfavorable impact on the environment. It accounts for more than 50% of the cost of the consumables in the CMP process [3].
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