Hyoungjae Kim

Experimental Investigation of Material Removal Characteristics in Silicon Chemical Mechanical Polishing

The material removal characteristics of a silicon wafer were experimentally investigated with respect to the chemical dissolution and mechanical abrasion of the wafer during silicon chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) using an alkali-based slurry. The silicon surface without native oxide is rapidly dissolved by the slurry containing an amine agent, which effectively leads to the reduced hardness of the loaded silicon wafer due to Si–Si bond breaking during polishing. The abrasive particles in the slurry easily remove the reacted silicon surface, and the removal rate and wafer non-uniformity for abrasive concentrations of 1.5 – 3 wt % are better than those for other concentrations because of the low and steady coefficient of friction (COF) owing to the evenness of abrasive particles between the wafer and pad. Also, it was found that a high slurry flow rate of 700 –1000 cm 3 /min improves wafer non-uniformity owing to the reduced temporal variation of temperature, because the slurry acts as a good cooling source during polishing. However, the removal rate remains almost constant upon varying the slurry flow rate because of the effective dissolution characteristic of the slurry with abundant amine as an accelerator, regardless of the reduction of average temperature with increasing slurry flow rate. In the break-in process used to stabilize the material removal, the viscoelastic behaviors of the pad and the ground wafer surface with native oxide and wheel marks cause a temporal change of the friction force during polishing, which is related to the removal rate and wafer non-uniformity. As a result, the stabilization of removal rate and wafer non-uniformity is achieved through a steady-state process with elevated temperature and reduced COF after a total polishing time of 60 min, based on the removal process of the wafer surface and the permanent deformation in the viscoelastic behavior of the pad. # 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Effect of Process Parameters on Friction Force and Material Removal in Oxide Chemical Mechanical Polishing

The relationship between sliding friction and material removal was investigated using a sensor to measure dynamic friction force according to process parameters such as pressure, velocity, conditioning, abrasive concentration, and slurry pH during oxide chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). Friction force and material removal linearly depend on applied load and relative velocity. A high relative velocity also has an effect on the boundary condition between the wafer and the pad, and friction force reduces with increase in relative velocity. Friction force reduces with polishing time during oxide CMP with ex situ conditioning because of the changes in pad roughness parameters such as Ra, Rp, Rpk, and Rsk. Thus, the in situ conditioning method increases removal rate and improves nonuniformity. Friction force can be uniformly distributed on the oxide wafer as abrasive concentration increases owing to the reduction in friction force loaded on one abrasive particle, improving the nonuniformity of removal rate. In oxide CMP using alkali-based slurry, the effective formation and mechanical removal of the Si–OH bond layer on the SiO2 surface also affect the temporal decrease in friction force and result in a higher removal rate, in comparison with the results of a high friction force and a low removal rate in oxide CMP using neutral-based slurry.

Kinematical Modeling of Pad Profile Variation during Conditioning in Chemical Mechanical Polishing

Conditioning is the process of removing the glazing area from a polishing pad surface and restoring the quality of the surface to maintain a stable polishing performance. However, the conditioning process can induce a non-uniform profile variation of the pad, which can result in nonuniform material removal rates across the wafer. In this paper, a kinematical model based on Prestons equation is proposed to examine the pad profile variation (PPV) induced by swing arm conditioning with a diamond disk. The proposed model was simulated with various swing arm velocity profiles (SAVPs), and the results were compared with experimental results. The results showed the relationship between kinematical parameters and the PPV. The PPV was proportional to sliding distance based on the kinematical model, and then the sliding distance distribution across the pad was dependent on the SAVP. This study has proven the effectiveness of the kinematical model on the PPV during conditioning in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).

Chemical Mechanical Planarization Method for Thick Copper Films of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems and Integrated Circuits

Modern industries require more accurate and high power-efficient micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and integrated circuits (ICs). Because the structure of MEMS and ICs becomes complicated, chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) has been introduced to fabricate highly integrated electro-mechanical structures. This study aims to reduce dishing and erosion using a negative photoresist (PR) as a protective layer in CMP for thick copper. After bulk copper CMP, soft-landing was carried out using an acidic copper CMP slurry. Method I was the CMP of a thick copper pattern without a negative PR, and method II was a new concept for the CMP method which removed the copper and negative PR to reduce the amount of copper dishing and erosion. In comparison with method I, method II reduced the dishing and erosion by about 46 and 60%, respectively.

Effect of Process Parameters on Particle Removal Efficiency in Poly(vinyl alcohol) Brush Scrubber Cleaning

Wafer cleaning is one of the most critical processes in the semiconductor device manufacturing. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) brush scrubber cleaning is much attractive when compared with traditional wet-batch cleaning which causes the cross-contamination among the wafers in a bath and environmental issues with huge amount of chemical and deionized water (DIW) usages. The mechanical forces generated from PVA brush contact can remove the particles on a wafer surface under low concentration of chemical solution without cross-contamination. In this research, we monitored the change of the dynamic forces including normal and friction force generated by PVA brush contacts during cleaning process, and also investigated the effects of scrubbing conditions of PVA brush overlap and velocity, and the surface tension (low- or high-hydrophilic) of the wafer on the particle removal efficiency. The results show that the driving mechanism to remove the particle on a wafer surface can be changed by the PVA brush overlap and velocity condition such as the hydrodynamic drag force in the brush soft contact condition and friction force in the brush hard contact condition. The particle removal efficiency is higher under the low-hydrophilic surface having a low surface tension compared to high-hydrophilic surface.