Thin plastic polishing article for CMP applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10786885-B2
Application number	US-201815875867-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2018
Priority date	Jan 20, 2017
Publication date	Sep 29, 2020
Grant date	Sep 29, 2020

Abstract

A method and apparatus for polishing a substrate that includes a polishing article comprising a polymeric sheet having a raised surface texture, which is formed on the surface of the polymeric sheet is provided. According to one or more implementations of the present disclosure, an advanced polishing article has been developed, which does not require abrasive pad conditioning. In some implementations of the present disclosure, the advanced polishing article comprises a polymeric sheet having a polishing surface with a raised surface texture or “micro-features” and/or a plurality of grooves or “macro-features” formed in the polishing surface. In some implementations, the raised surface texture is embossed, etched, machined or otherwise formed in the polishing surface prior to installing and using the advanced polishing article in a polishing system. In one implementation, the raised features have a height within one order of magnitude of the features removed from the substrate during polishing.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A polishing article, comprising a polymeric sheet that comprises:
a thickness that is defined between a polishing surface and an opposing bottom surface;
a length that extends in a first direction that is substantially parallel to the polishing surface;
a width that extends in a second direction, which is substantially parallel to the polishing surface and is perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the width is at least two times smaller than the length;
a solid polymeric material that is substantially pore free;
a plurality of discrete elements that are formed on the polishing surface; and
an array of grooves that are formed in the polishing surface,
wherein the array of grooves are aligned relative to the first direction or the second direction,
wherein the discrete elements have:
a feature span of less than 40 μm; and
an arithmetical mean height (Sa) from 2 to 7 μm, and

wherein the opposing bottom surface includes a surface roughness that has an arithmetical mean height (Sa) from 2 micro-inches (0.05 micrometers) to 200 micro-inches (5.08 micrometers).

2. The polishing article of claim 1 , wherein each of the grooves in the array of grooves extend from the polishing surface to a depth below the polishing surface, and the thickness is less than or equal to about 0.48 mm.

3. The polishing article of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric sheet comprises a material selected from a group consisting of polypropylene and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

4. The polishing article of claim 1 , further comprising a releasable bonding layer that is disposed on the opposing bottom surface, and the releasable bonding layer has an interface surface that is on a side of the releasable bonding layer that is opposite to the opposing bottom surface, wherein the interface surface has a static friction coefficient of greater than 1.51, and wherein the static friction coefficient is measured by urging a surface of an object that has an arithmetical mean height (Sa) of 200 micro-inches (5.08 micrometers) against the interface surface.

5. The polishing article of claim 1 , wherein the array of grooves extend from the polishing surface toward the opposing bottom surface, and the grooves define a repeating groove pattern in the polishing surface.

6. The polishing article of claim 1 , wherein the array of grooves extend from the polishing surface toward the opposing bottom surface, and the grooves comprise a first sidewall and a second sidewall that are each positioned adjacent to and extend from the polishing surface, and have a length that extends within a plane that is parallel to the polishing surface, wherein the first sidewall and the second sidewall are curved.

7. The polishing article of claim 1 , wherein the discrete elements formed in the polishing surface further comprise:
an interfacial area ratio of 45% to 65%;
an average peak density of 30 to 35 per one millimeter;
a maximum peak height (Sp) of 30 to 50 μm; and
a maximum pit height (Sv) of 30 to 80 μm.

8. The polishing article of claim 1 , wherein the discrete elements formed in the polishing surface further comprise:
an average peak density of 30 to 35 per one millimeter.

9. A polishing article, comprising:
a polymeric sheet having a pad body that comprises:
a solid polymeric material that is substantially pore free;
a thickness that is defined between a polishing surface and an opposing bottom surface, and the thickness is less than about 0.46 mm; and
a plurality of discrete elements that are formed in the polishing surface, wherein the discrete elements formed in the polishing surface have:
a feature span of less than 40 μm; and
an arithmetical mean height (Sa) from 2 to 7 μm, wherein the opposing bottom surface includes a surface roughness that has an arithmetical mean height (Sa) from 2 micro-inches (0.05 micrometers) to 200 micro-inches (5.08 micrometers).

10. The polishing article of claim 9 , wherein the pad body comprises a material selected from a group consisting of polypropylene and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

11. The polishing article of claim 9 , further comprising a releasable bonding layer that is disposed on the opposing bottom surface, and the releasable bonding layer has an interface surface that is on a side of the releasable bonding layer that is opposite to the opposing bottom surface, wherein the interface surface has a static friction coefficient of greater than 1.51, and wherein the static friction coefficient is measured by urging a surface of an object that has an arithmetical mean height (Sa) of 200 micro-inches (5.08 micrometers) against the interface surface.

12. The polishing article of claim 9 , wherein the polymeric sheet further comprises a plurality of grooves that extend from the polishing surface to a depth within the pad body, and the grooves define a repeating groove pattern in the polishing surface.

13. The polishing article of claim 9 , wherein the polymeric sheet further comprises a plurality of grooves extending from the polishing surface toward the opposing bottom surface, and the grooves comprise a first sidewall and a second sidewall that are each positioned adjacent to and extend from the polishing surface, and have a length that extends within a plane that is parallel to the polishing surface, wherein the first sidewall and the second sidewall are curved.

14. The polishing article of claim 9 , wherein the discrete elements formed in the polishing surface further comprise:
an interfacial area ratio of 45% to 65%;
an average peak density of 30 to 35 per one millimeter;
a maximum peak height (Sp) of 30 to 50 μm; and
a maximum pit height (Sv) of 30 to 80 μm.

15. The polishing article of claim 9 , wherein the discrete elements formed in the polishing surface further comprise:
an average peak density of 30 to 35 per one millimeter.

16. A polishing article, comprising:
a polymeric sheet that comprises:
a thickness that is defined between a polishing surface and an opposing bottom surface;
a length that extends in a first direction that is substantially parallel to the polishing surface;
a width that extends in a second direction, which is substantially parallel to the polishing surface and is perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the width is at least two times smaller than the length;
a solid polymeric material that is substantially pore free;
a plurality of discrete elements that are formed on the polishing surface;
an array of grooves that are formed in the polishing surface, wherein the array of grooves are aligned relative to the first direction or the second direction; and
a releasable bonding layer that is disposed on the opposing bottom surface, and the releasable bonding layer has an interface surface that is on a side of the releasable bonding layer that is opposite to the opposing bottom surface, wherein the interface surface has a static friction coefficient of greater than 1.51, and wherein the static friction coefficient is measured by urging a surface of an object that has an arithmetical mean height (Sa) of 200 micro-inches (5.08 micrometers) against the interface surface.

17. The polishing article of claim 16 , wherein each of the grooves in the array of grooves extend from the polishing surface to a depth below the polishing surface, and the thickness is less than or equal to about 0.48 mm.

18. The polishing article of claim 16 , wherein the polymeric sheet comprises a material selected from a group consisting of polypropylene and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Tolles Robert D
• Menk Gregory E
• Davey Eric
• Wang You
• Tran Huyen Karen
• Redeker Fred C
• Kakireddy Veera Raghava Reddy
• Mikhaylichenko Ekaterina
• Gurusamy Jay

Classifications

• H10P52/402

  of semiconductor materials · CPC title

• H10P74/238

  comprising acting in response to an ongoing measurement without interruption of processing, e.g. endpoint detection or in-situ thickness measurement · CPC title

• B24D11/001

  Manufacture of flexible abrasive materials · CPC title

• B24B37/26

  characterised by the shape of the lapping pad surface, e.g. grooved · CPC title

• B24B37/12

  Lapping plates for working plane surfaces · CPC title