• 마이크로전자및패키징학회지
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.47-51
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• 2006

디바이스의 고집적화로 인한 다층 배선구조로 인해 초점심도가 중요해짐에 따라 표면의 평탄도가 디바이스에 매우 큰 영향을 주게 되어, 표면의 평탄도를 결정지어주는 CMP(Chemical Mechanical Polishing) 공정이 매우 중요한 요소가 되었다. CMP 공정에는 슬러리, 연마패드, 컨디셔닝 디스크와 같은 소모품들이 사용된다. 이러한 소모품 중 하나인 컨디셔닝 디스크를 이용한 컨디셔닝 공정은 CMP 공정이 끝난 후 패드의 기공과 groove 내에 잔류 하는 화학반응물이나 슬러리와 같은 잔유물들을 컨디셔닝 디스크 표면에 부착되어 있는 다이아몬드를 이용하여 제거 함으로써 연마율을 높이고, 연마 패드의 수명을 증가 시켜주는 역할을 한다. 컨디셔닝 공정을 실시함으로써 연마 패드의 수명이 연장되기 때문에 경제적인 부분에서도 큰 이점을 가지게 된다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 CMP 공정에서 중요한 역할을 하는 소모품 중 하나인 컨디셔닝 디스크 표면에 존재하는 다이아몬드의 밀도, 형상 그리고 크기에 따라 연마 패드의 회복력 변화를 알아봄으로써 효율적인 컨디션닝 디스크의 특성을 평가해 보았다.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제38권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2022

Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) process is a semiconductor process that planarizes a wafer surface using mechanical friction between a polishing pad and a substrate surface during a specific chemical reaction. During the CMP process, polishing pad conditioning is applied to prevent the rapid degradation of the polishing quality caused by polishing pad glazing through repeated material removal processes. However, during the conditioning process, uneven wear on the polishing pad is inevitable because the disk on which diamond particles are electrodeposited is used. Therefore, the abrasion of the polishing pad should be considered not only for the variables during the conditioning process but also when designing the CMP conditioning system. In this study, three design variables of the conditioning system were analyzed, and the effect on the pad wear profile during conditioning was investigated. The three design variables considered in this study were the length of the conditioner arm, diameter of the conditioner disk, and distance between centers. The Taguchi method was used for the experimental design. The effect of the three design variables on pad wear and uniformity was assessed, and new variables used in conditioning system design were proposed.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제40권2호
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• pp.67-70
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• 2024

Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is an essential process for ensuring high integration when manufacturing semiconductor devices. CMP mainly requires the use of polyurethane-based polishing pads as an ultraprecise process to achieve mechanical material removal and the required chemical reactions. A diamond disk performs pad conditioning to remove processing residues on the pad surface and maintain sufficient surface roughness during CMP. However, the diamond grits attached to the disk cause uneven wear of the pad, leading to the poor uniformity of material removal during CMP. This study investigates the pad wear rate profile according to the swing motion of the conditioner during swing-arm-type CMP conditioning using deep learning. During conditioning, the motion of the swing arm is independently controlled in eight zones of the same pad radius. The experiment includes six swingmotion conditions to obtain actual data on the pad wear rate profile, and deep learning learns the pad wear rate profile obtained in the experiment. The absolute average error rate between the experimental values and learning results is 0.01%. This finding confirms that the experimental results can be well represented by learning. Pad wear rate profile prediction using the learning results reveals good agreement between the predicted and experimental values.

• 한국재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국재료학회 2011년도 춘계학술발표대회
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• pp.33.2-33.2
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• 2011

CMP (Chemical-Mechanical Planarization) 공정이란 화학적 반응과 기계적 힘을 동시에 이용하여 표면을 평탄화하는 공정으로, 반도체 산업에서 회로의 고집적화와 다층구조를 형성하기 위해 CMP 공정이 도입되었으며 반도체 패턴의 미세화와 다층화에 따라 CMP 공정의 중요성은 더욱 강조되고 있다. CMP 공정은 압력, 속도 등의 공정조건과, 화학적 반응을 유도하는 슬러리, 기계적 힘을 위한 패드 등에 의해 복합적으로 영향을 받는다. CMP 공정에서, 폴리우레탄 패드는 많은 기공들을 포함한 그루브(groove)를 형성하고 있어 웨이퍼와 직접적으로 접촉을 하며 공정 중 유입된 슬러리가 효과적으로 연마를 할 수 있도록 도와주는 역할을 한다. 하지만, 공정이 진행 될수록 그루브는 손상이 되어 제 역할을 하지 못하게 된다. 패드 컨디셔닝이란 컨디셔너가 CMP 공정 중에 지속적으로 패드 표면을 연마하여 패드의 손상된 부분을 제거하고 새로운 표면을 노출시켜 패드의 상태를 일정하게 유지시키는 것을 말한다. 한편, 금속박막의 CMP 공정에 사용되는 슬러리는 금속박막과 산화반응을 하기 위하여 산화제를 포함하는데, 산화제는 금속 컨디셔너 표면을 산화시켜 부식을 야기한다. 컨디셔너의 표면부식은 반도체 수율에 직접적인 영향을 줄 수 있는 scratch 등을 발생시킬 뿐만 아니라, 컨디셔너의 수명도 저하시키게 되므로 이를 방지하기 위한 노력이 매우 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 컨디셔너 표면에 연마 잔여물 흡착을 억제하고, 슬러리와 컨디셔너 표면 간에 일어나는 표면부식을 방지하기 위하여 소수성 자기조립 단분자막(SAM: Self-assembled monolayer)을 증착하여 특성을 평가하였다. SAM은 2가지 전구체(FOTS, Dodecanethiol를 사용하여 Vapor SAM 방법으로 증착하였고, 접촉각 측정을 통하여 단분자막의 증착 여부를 평가하였다. 또한 표면부식 특성은 Potentiodynamic polarization와 Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) 등의 전기화학 분석법을 사용하여 평가되었다. SAM 표면은 정접촉각 측정기(Phoenix 300, SEO)를 사용하여 $90^{\circ}$ 이상의 소수성 접촉각으로써 증착여부를 확인하였다. 또한, 표면에너지 감소로 인하여 슬러리 내의 연마입자 및 연마잔여물 흡착이 감소하는 것을 확인 하였다. Potentiodynamic polarization과 EIS의 결과 분석으로부터 SAM이 증착된 표면의 부식전위와 부식전류밀도가 감소하며, 임피던스 값이 증가하는 것을 확인하였다. 본 연구에서는 컨디셔너 표면에 SAM을 증착 하였고, CMP 공정 중 발생하는 오염물의 흡착을 감소시킴으로써 CMP 연마 효율을 증가하는 동시에 컨디셔너 금속표면의 부식을 방지함으로써 내구성이 증가될 수 있음을 확인 하였다.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.152-161
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• 2022

Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is a technology that planarizes the surfaces of semiconductor devices using chemical reaction and mechanical material removal, and it is an essential process in manufacturing highly integrated semiconductors. In the CMP process, a conditioning process using a diamond conditioner is applied to remove by-products generated during processing and ensure the surface roughness of the CMP pad. In previous studies, prediction of pad wear by CMP conditioning has depended on numerical analysis studies based on mathematical simulation. In this study, using an artificial neural network, the ratio of conditioner coverage to the distance between centers in the conditioning system is input, and the average conditioning density, standard deviation, nonuniformity (NU), and conditioning density distribution are trained as targets. The result of training seems to predict the target data well, although the average conditioning density, standard deviation, and NU in the contact area of wafer and pad and all areas of the pad have some errors. In addition, in the case of NU, the prediction calculated from the training results of the average conditioning density and standard deviation can reduce the error of training compared with the results predicted through training. The results of training on the conditioning density profile generally follow the target data well, confirming that the shape of the conditioning density profile can be predicted.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.330-336
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• 2019

Conditioning is a process involving pad surface scraping by a moving metallic disk that is electrodeposited with diamond abrasives. It is an indispensable process in chemical-mechanical planarization, which regulates the pad roughness by removing the surface residues. Additionally, conditioning maintains the material removal rates and increases the pad lifetime. As the conditioning continues, the pad profile becomes unevenly to be deformed, which causes poor polishing quality. Simulation calculates the density at which the diamond abrasives on the conditioner scratch the unit area on the pad. It can predict the profile deformation through the control of conditioner dwell time. Previously, this effect of the diamond shape on conditioning has been investigated with regard to microscopic areas, such as surface roughness, rather than global pad-profile deformation. In this study, the effect of diamond shape on the pad profile is evaluated by comparing the simulated and experimental conditioning using two conditioners: a) random-shaped abrasive conditioner (RSC) and b) uniform-shaped abrasive conditioner (USC). Consequently, it is confirmed that the USC is incapable of controlling the pad profile, which is consistent with the simulation results.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2003년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.1296-1301
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• 2003

The chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) is necessarily applied to manufacturing the dielectric layer and metal line in the semiconductor device. The conditioning of polishing pad in CMP process additionally operates for maintaining the removal rate, within wafer non-uniformity, and wafer to wafer non-uniformity. But the fixed abrasive pad(FAP) using the hydrophilic polymer with abrasive that has the swelling characteristic by water owns the self-conditioning advantage as compared with the general CMP. FAP also takes advantage of planarity, resulting from decreasing pattern selectivity and defects such as dishing due to the reduction of abrasive concentration. This paper introduces the manufacturing technique of FAP. And the tungsten CMP using FAP achieved the good conclusion in point of the removal rate, non-uniformity, surface roughness, material selectivity, micro-scratch free contemporary with the pad life-time.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제21권7호
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• pp.22-29
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• 2004

As a result of high integration of semiconductor device, the global planarization of multi-layer structures is necessary. So the chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) is widely applied to manufacturing the dielectric layer and metal line in the semiconductor device. CMP process is under influence of polisher, pad, slurry, and process itself, etc. In comparison with the general CMP which uses the slurry including abrasives, fixed abrasive pad takes advantage of planarity, resulting from decreasing pattern selectivity and defects such as dishing & erosion due to the reduction of abrasive concentration especially. This paper introduces the manufacturing technique of fixed abrasive pad using hydrophilic polymers with swelling characteristic in water and explains the self-conditioning phenomenon. And the tungsten CMP using fixed abrasive pad achieved the good conclusion in terms of the removal rate, non-uniformity, surface roughness, material selectivity, micro-scratch free contemporary with the pad life-time.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제19권10호
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• pp.212-220
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• 2002

The finishing process for die and mold manufacturing is very important because it influences the final quality of products. Injection molds need higher quality surface than general purpose dies and molds. Conventional polishing can not make mold surface down to nanometer roughness efficiently because of their loading and glazing. This paper focused on the development of fixed abrasive pad using water swelling mechanism of polymer binder network. Self-conditioning was recognized as the long term polishing stabilization tool without any loading or glazing because water makes fixed abrasives free by swelling of the pad. Consequently, stable nano-polishing process has been applied on the injection mold, from the experimental results with polished surface roughness of Ra 15.1nm on STD-11 die steel.

• 한국기계가공학회지
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• 제2권4호
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• pp.17-24
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• 2003

Chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) has been applied for planarization of topography after patterning process in semiconductor fabrication process. Tungsten CMP is necessary to build up interconnects of semiconductor device. But the tungsten dishing and the oxide erosion defects appear at end-point during tungsten CMP. It has been known that the generation of dishing and erosion is based on the over-polishing time, which is determined by pattern selectivity. Fixed abrasive pad takes advantage of decreasing the defects resulting flam reducing pattern selectivity because of the lower abrasive concentration. The manufacturing technique of fixed abrasive pad using hydrophilic polymers is introduced in this paper. For application to tungsten CMP, chemicals composed of oxidizer, catalyst, and acid were developed. In comparison of the general pad and slurry for tungsten CMP, the fixed abrasive pad and the chemicals resulted in appropriate performance in point of removal rate, uniformity, material selectivity and roughness.