Development of a pad conditioning simulation module with a diamond dresser for CMP applications

作者：Yeh Hsiu Ming; Chen Kuo Shen^*

来源：International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 2010, 50(1-4): 1-12.

DOI：10.1007/s00170-009-2488-7

• Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP)
• Dressing
• Computer simulation
• CAD
• Preston's constant

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is a key fabrication route for the modern semiconductor process. The degradation of the polishing pad during the polishing process can significantly influence the polishing performance. Therefore, pads need to be conditioned frequently and an efficient emulator for the dressing process optimization is required to guide the dressing process. In this work, a pad condition simulation module is designed and demonstrated. In addition, a new performance index, called as recover-area ratio (RAR), is defined. Subsequently, a series of parametric studies are performed to investigate the influence of key geometric or processing parameters for a pad conditioning process in terms of optimizing the conditioning performance. Finally, results reveal that it is possible to correlate the pad RAR and Preston's constant variation and to integrate the pad conditioning emulator with the pre-developed CMP polishing simulation module as a whole utility to further optimize the existing CMP processes.

• 出版日期2010-9