Substrate processing control system, substrate processing control method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12036634-B2
Application number	US-201716338931-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2017
Priority date	Oct 18, 2016
Publication date	Jul 16, 2024
Grant date	Jul 16, 2024

Abstract

A local polishing system comprises: a particle estimation unit ( 30 ) for estimating the film thickness distribution of a wafer; a local polishing region setting unit ( 11 ) for setting a local polishing region on the wafer based on the film thickness distribution; a polishing head selection unit ( 12 ) for selecting a polishing head based on the size of the local polishing region; a model storage ( 20 ) holding a recipe generating model that defines the relation between an input node and an output node, the input node being an attribute of the local polishing region, the output node comprising a recipe for a polishing process; a polishing recipe generator ( 13 ) that puts an attribute of the local polishing region set by the local polishing region setting unit ( 11 ) into the input node of the recipe generating model and determines a polishing recipe for polishing the local polishing region; and a polishing recipe transmitter ( 15 ) for transmitting data of the polishing recipe to a local polishing module ( 200 ) that performs local polishing.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for controlling a polisher that locally polishes a substrate, the substrate processing control system comprising:
a film thickness distribution estimation controller that measures the film thickness of the substrate and estimates the film thickness distribution of the substrate based on the measurement result;
a local polishing region setting controller for setting a local polishing region on the substrate based on the film thickness distribution;
a polishing head selection controller for selecting a polishing head based on the size of the local polishing region;
a model storage holding a recipe generating model that defines the relation between an input node and an output node, input nodes including (i) an attribute of the local polishing region that includes the estimated average film thickness thereof and (ii) a head type, and the output node comprises a recipe for a polishing process;
a polishing recipe generator that puts an attribute of the local polishing region set by the local polishing region setting controller and the polishing head selected by the polishing head selection controller into the input node of the recipe generating model and determines a polishing recipe for polishing the local polishing region; and
a polishing recipe transmitter for transmitting data of the polishing recipe to a polisher that performs local polishing,
wherein the substrate processing control system controls local polishing to be performed on an entirely polished substrate, and
wherein the recipe generating model has a condition of the entire polishing as an input node.

2. The substrate processing control system according to claim 1 , wherein the input node of the recipe generating model comprises a plurality of input nodes that are the outline of the local polishing region.

3. The substrate processing control system according to claim 1 wherein the local polishing region setting processor changes a criterion for setting a local polishing region depending on whether the precision or throughput of substrate processing is given priority.

4. The substrate processing control system according to claim 1 , wherein the film thickness distribution estimation processor estimates the film thickness distribution also based on an etching pattern of a substrate to be polished.

5. The substrate processing control system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a simulator that simulates the film thickness distribution of a substrate and throughput to be achieved by local polishing according to the polishing recipe and determines whether the polishing recipe is to be adopted or not based on a simulation result.

6. The substrate processing control system according to claim 5 ,
wherein the model storage holds a plurality of recipe generating models of different types,
wherein the polishing recipe generator determines a plurality of polishing recipes using different recipe generating models, and
wherein the simulator determines a single polishing recipe based on simulation results of the plurality of polishing recipes determined by using different recipe generating models.

7. The substrate processing control system according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a learning processer for performing learning on the recipe generating model based on results of simulations performed on a plurality of local polishing regions by the simulator.

8. The substrate processing control system according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a learning processor for performing learning on the recipe generating model based on a result of local polishing actually performed according to the polishing recipe.

9. The substrate processing control system according to claim 5 , having an actual result data storage holding a previously generated polishing recipe and data on the film thickness distribution of a substrate polished by using the polishing recipe,
wherein the substrate processing control system reads from the actual result data storage a predetermined number of polishing recipes approximate to the film thickness distribution of a substrate estimated by the film thickness distribution estimation processor, and
wherein the simulator determines a single polishing recipe based on simulation results of a plurality of polishing recipes.

10. The substrate processing control system according to claim 5 , further comprising:
an output processor for outputting the simulation result obtained by the simulator.

11. The substrate processing control system according to claim 5 , wherein the simulator comprises a simulation model.

12. The substrate processing control system according to claim 11 , wherein the simulation model performs learning based on a result of local polishing actually performed according to the polishing recipe.

13. The substrate processing control system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a data receiver for receiving data on local polishing transmitted from a plurality of polishers connected to the data receiver via a network.

Assignees

• Ebara Corp

Inventors

• Takeda Koichi
• Torikoshi Tsuneo
• Oishi Kunio
• Watanabe Katsuhide
• Yasuda Hozumi
• Ishii Yu

Classifications

• H10P52/00

  Grinding, lapping or polishing of wafers, substrates or parts of devices · CPC title

• B24B37/12

  Lapping plates for working plane surfaces · CPC title

• B24B49/03

  according to the final size of the previously ground workpiece · CPC title

• B24B55/06

  Dust extraction equipment on grinding or polishing machines (B24B31/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B24B49/04

  involving measurement of the workpiece at the place of grinding during grinding operation · CPC title