Flattening method and flattening apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10297475-B2
Application number	US-201414249606-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2014
Priority date	Oct 15, 2007
Publication date	May 21, 2019
Grant date	May 21, 2019

Abstract

A flattening method, by utilizing the advantages of the CARE method and making up for the disadvantages, can perform removal processing of a surface of a workpiece at a sufficient processing rate and can provide a processed surface having enhanced flatness without leaving damage in the processed surface. A flattening method comprises at least two surface removal steps and at least two cleaning steps, the final surface removal step being a catalyst-referred etching step comprising immersing a workpiece in a processing solution containing at least one of hydrohalic acid, hydrogen peroxide water and ozone water, and bringing a surface of a catalyst platen into contact with or close proximity to a surface to be processed of the workpiece to process the surface, said catalyst platen having in a surface a catalyst selected from the group consisting of platinum, gold, a ceramic solid catalyst, a transition metal, glass, and an acidic or basic solid catalyst.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for flattening a surface of a substrate, comprising:
a first surface removal processing unit configured to remove the surface of the substrate;
a second surface removal processing unit configured to flatten the surface of the substrate, the second surface removal processing unit being a catalyst-referred etching (CARE) unit;
a first cleaning unit configured to clean the substrate that has been processed by the first surface removal processing unit without cleaning the substrate that has been processed by the second surface removal processing unit;
a second cleaning unit configured to clean the substrate that has been processed by the second surface removal processing unit without cleaning the substrate that has been processed by the first surface removal processing unit;
a drying unit configured to dry the substrate cleaned by the first cleaning unit or the second cleaning unit; and
a transport robot configured to transport the substrate processed by the first surface removal processing unit to the first cleaning unit and to transport the substrate processed by the second surface removal processing unit to the second cleaning unit;
wherein the first surface removal processing unit comprises a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) unit, the CMP unit including:
(i) a platen having a lapping surface;
(ii) a top ring configured to hold the substrate and press the substrate against the platen to lap the substrate; and
(iii) a lapping liquid supply nozzle configured to supply slurry onto the platen;

wherein the catalyst-referred etching (CARE) unit includes:
(a) a catalyst platen having a catalyst in a surface, the catalyst selected from a group consisting of platinum, gold, a ceramic solid catalyst, a transition metal, glass, and an acidic or basic solid catalyst;
(b) a substrate holder configured to hold the substrate and to bring the surface of the substrate to be processed into contact with or close proximity to the surface of the catalyst platen;
(c) a processing solution supply section configured to supply a processing solution between the catalyst platen and the substrate;
(d) a drive section including a rotating shaft coupled to at least one of the catalyst platen and the substrate holder for moving the catalyst platen and the substrate holder relative to each other; and
(e) a pure water replacement section including a pure water nozzle arranged to supply pure water to the substrate to replace the processing solution on the substrate with the pure water, the pure water replacement section being located outside the catalyst platen and located on a path of the substrate between the catalyst platen and the second cleaning unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of through-holes are formed in the catalyst platen.

3. The flattening apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of concentric grooves are formed in the surface of the catalyst platen.

4. The flattening apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate holder has a retainer ring made of the same material as the surface of the catalyst platen, the retainer ring being configured to prevent escape of the substrate.

5. The flattening apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a conditioning section for carrying out conditioning of the surface of the catalyst platen.

6. The flattening apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first cleaning unit comprises a hydrofluoric acid cleaning unit.

7. The flattening apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second cleaning unit comprises a sulfuric acid-hydrogen peroxide mixture (SPM) cleaning unit.

8. The flattening apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second cleaning unit comprises an aqua regia cleaning unit.

Assignees

• Ebara Corp

Inventors

• Yamauchi Kazuto
• Sano Yasuhisa
• Hara Hideyuki
• Murata Junji
• Yagi Keita

Classifications

• H10P95/04

  Planarisation of conductive or resistive materials · CPC title

• H10P52/403

  of conductive or resistive materials · CPC title

• H10P52/402

  of semiconductor materials · CPC title

• H10P90/126 Primary

  by chemical etching · CPC title

• H10P72/0472

  comprising at least one polishing chamber · CPC title