• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.193-194
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• 2005

By the high-temperature pad conditioning process: The slurry residues in pores and grooves of the polishing pad were clearly removed. These clear pores and enlarged grooves made the slurry attack the oxide surface. The changed slurry properties by high-temperature pad conditioning process made the oxide surface hydro-carbonate to be removed easily.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.115-118
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• 2011

Process characterization of the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process for undensified phosphosilicate glass (PSG) film is reported using design of experiments (DOE). DOE has been addressed to experimenters to understand the relationship between input variables and responses of interest in a simple and efficient way. It is typically beneficial for determining the adequate size of experiments with multiple process variables and making statistical inferences for the responses of interests. Equipment controllable parameters to operate the machine include the down force (DF) of the wafer carrier, pressure on the backside of the wafer, table and spindle speed (SS), slurry flow rate, and pad condition. None of them is independent; thus, the interaction between parameters also needs to be indicated to improve process characterization in CMP. In this paper, we have selected the five controllable equipment parameters, such as DF, back pressure (BP), table speed (TS), SS, and slurry flow (SF), most process engineers recommend to characterize the CMP process with respect to material removal rate (RR) and film uniformity as a percentage. The polished material is undensified PSG. PSG is widely used for the plananization in multi-layered metal interconnects. We identify the main effect of DF, BP, and TS on both RR and film uniformity, as expected, by the statistical modeling and analysis on the metrology data acquired from a series of $2^{5-1}$ fractional factorial design with two center points. This revealed the film uniformity of the polished PSG film contains two and three-way interactions. Therefore, one can easily infer that the process control based on better understanding of the process is the key to success in semiconductor manufacturing, typically when the wafer size reaches 300 mm and is continuously scheduled to expand up to 450 mm in or little after 2012.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.67-71
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• 2016

This study investigates the characteristics of the sapphire wafer chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. The material removal rate is one of the most important factors since it has a significant impact on the production efficiency of a sapphire wafer. Some of the factors affecting the material removal rate include the pressure, platen speed and slurry. Among the factors affecting the CMP process, we analyzed the trends in the material removal rate and surface roughness, which are mechanical factors corresponding to both the pressure and platen speed, were analyzed. We also analyzed the increase in the material removal rate, which is proportional to the pressure and platen speed, using the Preston equation. In the experiment, after polishing a 4-inch sapphire wafer with increasing pressure and platen speed, we confirmed the material removal rate via thickness measurements. Further, surface roughness measurements of the sapphire wafer were performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) equipment. Using the measurement results, we analyzed the trends in the surface roughness with the increase in material removal rate. In addition, the experimental results, confirmed that the material removal rate increases in proportion to the pressure and platen speed. However, the results showed no association between the material removal rate and surface roughness. The surface roughness after the CMP process showed a largely consistent trend. This study demonstrates the possibility to improve the production efficiency of sapphire wafer while maintaining stable quality via mechanical factors associated with the CMP process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.56-56
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• 2009

반도체 device가 점점 고집적화, 다층화 되면서 막질의 평탄화를 위한 CMP (chemical mechanical planarization) 공정은 반도체 제작 공정에서 필수 요건이 되었다. 특히 pad conditioning은 CMP 공정 중, 막질의 제거율과 균일도를 유지시키기 위한 중요한 공정이다. 하지만, conditioner를 장시간 사용할 경우 slurry residue와 같은 잔류 오염물질들이 conditioner의 표면의 오염을 유발할 수 있고 이로 인해 conditioner의 수명이 단축되거나 웨이퍼 표면에 결함을 유발할 수도 있다. 본 연구에서는 이를 방지하기 위해 vapor SAM을 이용하여 Ni conditioner 표면에 소수성 박막을 증착하여 오염여부를 평가해 보았다. 먼저, Ni wafer를 이용하여 증착 온도와 압력에 따라 소수성 박막을 증착하여 표면특성을 평가해 보았다. 증착전과 후에 Ni wafer 표면의 접촉각은 contact angle analyzer (Phoenix 400, SEO, Korea)를 이용하여 측정하였다. 박막 표면 형상과 거칠기는 AFM (XE-100, PSIA, Korea)를 이용하여 평가되었고 묘면 성분 분석을 위해 FT-IR (Nicolet 6700, Thermo Scientific, USA)이 사용되었다. SEM (S-4800, Hitach, Japan)은 박막 증착 전과 후의 conditioner를 이용하여 실제 conditioning후 conditioner 표면의 particle 오염정도를 관찰하기 위해 사용되었다. 또한, conditioner 표면에 실제 오염되어있는 particle 개수를 평가하기 위해 particle size analyzer (Accusizer 780A, Particle Sizing Systems Co., USA)을 사용하였다. 본 실험을 통해 최적 증착 조건을 확립하였으며 실제 conditioner 표면에 소수성 박막을 증착 후 $100^{\circ}$ 이상의 높은 contact angle을 확인할 수 있었다. 또한, 소수성 박막이 증착된 conditioner의 경우 실제 conditioning후 표면 particle 오염이 현저히 감소되었음을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.539-539
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• 2008

본 논문에서는 투명전도박막의 균일한 표면특성을 확보하기 위해 광역평탄화 공정을 적용하여 투명전도 박막의 표면 거칠기를 연구하였으며 슬러리의 종류에 따른 박막의 연마특성을 연구하였다. 본 실험에서 사용된 ITO 박막은 RF Sputtering에 의해 제작되었고 하부 기판은 석영 Glass가 사용되었다. 광역평탄화를 위한 CMP 공정은 고분자 물질계열의 패드위에 슬러리입자를 공급하고 웨이퍼 캐리어에 하중을 가하며 웨이퍼의 표면을 연마하는 방법으로 가공물을 탄성패드에 누르면서 상대 운동시켜 가공물과 친화력이 우수한 부식액으로 화학적 제거를 함과 동시에 초미립자로 기계적 제거를 하는 것이다. ITO 박막의 평탄화를 위한 공정조건은 Polisher pressure 300 g/$cm^2$, 슬러리 유속 80 ml/min, 플레이튼속도 60 rpm으로 하였다. 위의 조건에 따라 공정을 진행 후 연마특성을 측정하였으며 이때 사용된 슬러리는 산화막에 사용되는 실리카슬러리와 금속연마용 슬러리인 EPL을 사용하였다. 연마율은 실리카 슬러리가 EPL슬러리에 비해 높음을 확인 하였다. CMP 공정에 의해 평탄화를 수행 할 경우 실리카슬러리와 EPL슬러리 모두 CMP전에 비해 돌출된 힐록들이 감소되었음을 알 수 있었다. 비균일도 특성은 모든 슬러리가 양호한 특성을 나타내었다. 평탄화된 박막의 표면과 거칠기 특성은 AFM(XE-200, PSIA Company) 을 이용하여 분석을 하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.545-545
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• 2008

Poly-Si is an essential material for floating gate in NAND Flash memory. To fabricate this material within region of floating gate, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is commonly used process for manufacturing NAND flash memory. We use colloidal silica abrasive with alkaline agent, polymeric additive and organic surfactant to obtain high Poly-Si to SiO2 film selectivity and reduce surface defect in Poly-Si CMP. We already studied about the effects of alkaline agent and polymeric additive. But the effect of organic surfactant in Poly-Si CMP is not clearly defined. So we will examine the function of organic surfactant in Poly-Si CMP with concentration separation test. We expect that surface roughness will be improved with the addition of organic surfactant as the case of wafering CMP. Poly-Si wafer are deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) and oxide film are prepared by the method of plasma-enhanced tetra ethyl ortho silicate (PETEOS). The polishing test will be performed by a Strasbaugh 6EC polisher with an IC1000/Suba IV stacked pad and the pad will be conditioned by ex situ diamond disk. And the thickness difference of wafer between before and after polishing test will be measured by Ellipsometer and Nanospec. The roughness of Poly-Si film will be analyzed by atomic force microscope.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1175-1180
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• 2022

STI has been studied a lot as a process technology for wide area planarization according to miniaturization and high integration of semiconductor devices. In this study, as methods for improving the STI profile, wet etching of pad oxide using hydrofluorine solution and dry etching of O₂+CF₄ after STI dry etching were proposed. This process technology showed improvement in profile imbalance and leakage current between patterns according to device density compared to the conventional method. In addition, as a result of measuring the HLD thickness after CMP for a device having the same STI depth and HLD deposition, the measured value was different depending on the device density. It was confirmed that this was due to the difference in the thickness of the nitride film according to the device density after CMP and the selectivity of the slurry.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.30-34
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• 2023

Since dishing in the CMP process is a major factor that hinders the uniformity of the semiconductor thin film, many studies have focused this issue to improve the non-uniformity of the film due to dishing. In the metal layer, the dishing mainly occurs in the central part of the metal due to a difference in a selection ratio between the metal and the dielectric, thereby generating a step on the surface of the metal layer. Factors that cause dishing include the shape of the thin film, the chemical reaction of the slurry, thermal deformation, and the rotational speed of the pad and head, and dishing occurs due to complex interactions between them. This study analyzed the stress generated on the metal layer surface in the CMP process using ANSYS software, a commercial structure analysis program. The stress caused by the vertical load applied from the pad was analyzed by changing the area density and line width of the dummy metal. As a result of the analysis, the stress in the active region decreased as the pattern density and line width of the dummy metal increased, and it was verified that it was valid compared with the previous study that studied the dishing according to the dummy pattern density and line width of the metal layer. In conclusion, it was confirmed that there is a relationship between dishing and normal stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.8 s.173
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• pp.27-33
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• 2005

Polishing pads play an important role in chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) which has recently been recognized at the most effective method to achieve global planarization. In this paper, we have investigated CMP characteristics as a change of groove density of polishing pads. The parameter $(K_n)$ is proposed to estimate groove density of pad. The $K_n$ is defined as groove area divided by pitch area. As the groove density value increased, removal rate increased to some point and then gradually saturated in case of increasing the groove density excessively. In addition Within wafer non-uniformity(WIWNU) worse as groove density increased excessively, although WIWNU improved as groove density increased. Also the uniformity of temperature of pad surface decreased as the groove density increased. It was because that the cooling effect increased as groove density increased. In other words, increasing the groove density which means the apparent contact area of pad has influence on amount of discharge of slurry during polishing process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.82-82
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• 2007

The chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process has been widely used to obtain global planarization of multilevel interconnection process for ultra large scale. integrated circuit applications. Especially, the application of copper CMP has become an integral part of several semiconductor device and materials manufacturers. However, the low-k materials at 65nm and below device structures because of fragile property, requires low down-pressure mechanical polishing for maintaining the structural integrity of under layer during their fabrication. In this paper, we studied electrochemical mechanical polishing (ECMP) as a new planarization technology that uses electrolyte chemistry instead of abrasive slurry for copper CMP process. The current-voltage (I-V) curves were employed we investigated that how this chemical affect the process of voltage induced material removal in ECMP of Copper. This work was supported by grant No. (R01-2006-000-11275-0) from the Basic Research Program of the Korea Science.