Improvement and application of pad conditioning accuracy in chemical mechanical polishing

Abstract

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is the key application process in the fabrication of large optical flats to achieve global planarity and smooth surface. The large-diameter pad is a significant part and plays a vital role in CMP. To improve the polishing quality and efficiency, high-profile accuracy of the pad, conditioned by a diamond conditioner, is necessary. However, the conventional conditioning method (CCM) has been unable to satisfy the machining requirements for optical flats, and it is a challenge to improve the conditioning accuracy of the large-diameter polyurethane pad. In this study, we propose an advanced conditioning method (ACM) using the idea of subaperture conditioning, which reduces the size of the conditioner and adds the traverse movement to control the removal of different regions. Based on the conditioning density distribution model, the effect of conditioner diameter and process parameters on the pad planarity is investigated. The conditioning accuracy of the pad and polishing quality of the optical flats obtained with ACM are compared with those of a CCM. Experimental results showed that ACM can create the surface shape of the pad more uniformly than CCM. Furthermore, the polishing accuracy of the large optical flats of ACM exceeds that of CCM.