Method of identifying trajectory of eddy current sensor, method of calculating substrate polishing progress, method of stopping operation of substrate polishing apparatus, method of regularizing substrate polishing progress, program for executing the same, and non-transitory recording medium that records program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11376704-B2
Application number	US-201916441904-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2019
Priority date	Jun 22, 2018
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

To specify a trajectory of an eddy current sensor provided on a polishing table of a substrate polishing apparatus, disclosed is a method of identifying a trajectory of an eddy current sensor as seen from a substrate in a substrate polishing apparatus having a polishing table and a polishing head. The method includes: obtaining a sensor output map as three-dimensional data; polishing the substrate; obtaining a profile of the real-time polishing signal as two-dimensional data; and extracting a trajectory having a profile most similar to the profile of the real-time polishing signal as two-dimensional data from the sensor output map as three-dimensional data and identifying the extracted trajectory as a trajectory of the eddy current sensor as seen from the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for identifying a trajectory of an eddy current sensor as seen from a substrate in a substrate polishing apparatus, wherein
the substrate polishing apparatus comprises:
a polishing table provided with the eddy current sensor and configured to be rotatable; and
a polishing head positioned to face the polishing table and configured to be rotatable, the substrate being installable on a surface facing the polishing table, and

the method comprises:
obtaining a sensor output map that is a map representing an output signal of the eddy current sensor for a whole surface to be polished of the substrate as three-dimensional data;
polishing the substrate by pressing the substrate to the polishing table while rotating the polishing head installed with the substrate and the polishing table;
obtaining a profile of a real-time polishing signal that is a signal output from the eddy current sensor during polishing of the substrate as two-dimensional data; and
extracting a trajectory having a profile most similar to the profile of the real-time polishing signal as two dimensional data from the sensor output map as three-dimensional data and identifying the extracted trajectory as a trajectory of the eddy current sensor as seen from the substrate.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
a shape of the trajectory extracted from the sensor output map is determined at least on the basis of shapes and rotation speeds of the polishing table and the polishing head, and a positional relationship therebetween.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the sensor output map is created from the output signal of the eddy current sensor by rotating the polishing table and the polishing head and causing the eddy current sensor to pass through a plurality of trajectories while a second substrate of the same type as the substrate polished in the polishing step is installed in the polishing head.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein
the sensor output map is created under a condition that the substrate is not substantially polished.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the sensor output map is created by simulation based on design data of the substrate polished in the obtaining of the real-time polishing signal.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising
feeding back the real-time polishing signal to the sensor output map as learning data.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
a plurality of the sensor output maps are obtained in the obtaining of the sensor output map.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein
at least one of the plurality of the sensor output maps is a map for an unpolished substrate, and
at least one of the plurality of the sensor output maps is a map for a polished substrate.

9. A method of identifying the trajectory of the eddy current sensor using the method according to claim 1 , and calculating a polishing progress of the substrate during the polishing on the basis of a result of comparison between a profile of the sensor output map on the identified trajectory and the profile of the real-time polishing signal.

10. A method of calculating the polishing progress using the method according to claim 9 and stopping operation of the substrate polishing apparatus when the calculated progress is equal to or higher than a predetermined level.

11. A method of regularizing a substrate polishing progress, comprising:
identifying the trajectory of the eddy current sensor using the method according to claim 1 ;
calculating the substrate polishing progress during the polishing for each region of the substrate on the basis of a result of comparison between the profile of the sensor output map on the identified trajectory and the profile of the real-time polishing signal; and
decreasing a polishing pressure for the region calculated that the polishing progress of the substrate is high and/or increasing the polishing pressure for the region calculated that the polishing progress of the substrate is low.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein
the substrate polishing apparatus has an airbag, and
the airbag is used to increase and decrease the polishing pressure.

13. A non-transitory recording medium on which a program for executing the method according to claim 1 is recorded.

14. A substrate polishing apparatus comprising:
a polishing table installed with an eddy current sensor and configured to be rotatable;
a polishing head positioned to face the polishing table and configured to be rotatable, a substrate being installable on a surface facing the polishing table; and
a controller, wherein
the controller controls the substrate polishing apparatus such that:
a sensor output map that is a map representing an output signal of the eddy current sensor for a whole surface to be polished of the substrate is obtained as three-dimensional data,
the substrate is polished by pressing the substrate to the polishing table while rotating the polishing head installed with the substrate and the polishing table,
a profile of a real-time polishing signal that is a signal output from the eddy current sensor during polishing of the substrate is obtained as two-dimensional data,
a trajectory having a chosen profile most similar to the profile of the real-time polishing signal as trajectory two-dimensional data is extracted from the sensor output map as three-dimensional data, and
the extracted trajectory is identified as a trajectory of the eddy current sensor as seen from the substrate.

15. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein a shape of the extracted trajectory from the sensor output map is determined at least on the basis of shapes and rotation speeds of the polishing table and the polishing head, and a positional relationship therebetween.

16. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein
the sensor output map is created from the signal output from the eddy current sensor by rotating the polishing table and the polishing head and causing the eddy current sensor to pass through a plurality of trajectories while a second substrate of the same type as the substrate polished in the polishing step is installed in the polishing head.

17. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein
the sensor output map is created under a condition that the substrate is not substantially polished.

18. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein
the sensor output map is created by simulation based on design data of the substrate polished in the obtaining of the real-time polishing signal.

19. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein
the controller controls the substrate polishing apparatus such that:
the controller feedbacks the real-time polishing signal to the sensor output map as learning data.

20. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein
a plurality of the sensor output maps are obtained in the obtaining of the sensor output map.

21. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein
at least one of the plurality of the sensor output maps is a map for an unpolished substrate, and
at least one of the plurality of the sensor output maps is a map for a polished substrate.

22. The substrate polishing apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein
the controller controls the substrate polishing apparatus such that:
the controller calculates

Assignees

• Ebara Corp

Inventors

• Nakamura Akira

Classifications

• B24B37/34

  Accessories · CPC title

• B24B37/042

  operating processes therefor · CPC title

• G01B7/105

  for measuring thickness of coating · CPC title

• B24B7/228

  for grinding thin, brittle parts, e.g. semiconductors, wafers (grinding edges of thin, brittle parts B24B9/065) · CPC title

• B24B37/013 Primary

  Devices or means for detecting lapping completion · CPC title