Tribo-chemical Behavior of Copper in Chemical Mechanical Planarization

Abstract

Chemical mechanical planarization/polishing (CMP) of copper has emerged as an important component in semiconductor processing. It involves both chemical and mechanical effects, consisting of several steps such as passivation, film dissolution, chemical corrosion, and abrasive abrasion. It is important to understand the individual steps in the removal process. In this paper, investigations were focused on the tribo-chemical behavior of copper in hydrogen peroxide solution at different pH values. The repassivation current and friction coefficient were measured in situ as a function of time. The compositions of unworn and worn surfaces after the tribocorrosion experiments were also analyzed by Raman spectra. The copper exhibited a tendency of repassivation during the potentiostatic tests; furthermore, the repassivation kinetics varied with the surface species and the quantity of passive films formed at different pH values. The results indicate that both relatively high material removal rate and good surface quality may be achieved in the weak acidic solution during CMP.