Chemical mechanical polishing method, method of manufacturing semiconductor device, and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018104792-A1
Application number	US-201715602256-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 23, 2017
Priority date	Oct 18, 2016
Publication date	Apr 19, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method includes preparing a polishing pad, determining a first load to be applied to a conditioning disk during conditioning of the polishing pad and a first indentation depth at which tips of the conditioning disk are inserted into the polishing pad when the first load is applied to the conditioning disk, preparing a conditioning disk, and positioning the conditioning disk on the polishing pad and conditioning a surface of the polishing pad by using the conditioning disk while applying the first load to the conditioning disk.

First claim

1 . A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method, comprising:
preparing a polishing pad; determining a first load to be applied to a conditioning disk during conditioning of the polishing pad and a first indentation depth at which tips of the conditioning disk are inserted into the polishing pad when the first load is applied to the conditioning disk; preparing a conditioning disk; and positioning the conditioning disk on the polishing pad and conditioning a surface of the polishing pad by using the conditioning disk while applying the first load to the conditioning disk.

2 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein determining the first indentation depth includes:
preparing a plurality of test conditioning disks having tips of different structures; measuring an indentation depth of each of the test conditioning disks when the first load is applied thereto; and observing surfaces of test wafers polished through a test CMP process, wherein a test wafer having a smallest number of scratches is detected as a result of the observing, a test conditioning disk used in a test CMP process for the detected test wafer is detected, and an indentation depth of the detected test conditioning disk when the first load is applied thereto is determined as the first indentation depth.

3 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein when the polishing pad has a shore hardness of about 41 D to about 50 D and the first load is about 4.5 lbf, the first indentation depth is about 1.3 μm to about 2.3 μm.

4 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein determining the first indentation depth includes:
preparing a plurality of test conditioning disks having tips of different structures; measuring an indentation depth of each of the test conditioning disks when the first load is applied thereto; and performing a test CMP process on each of the test conditioning disks while measuring vibration or noise, wherein test conditioning disks used in a test CMP process in which the measured vibration or noise is equal to or less than a reference value is detected, a maximum value of indentation depths of the detected test conditioning disks when the first load is applied thereto is determined, and the first indentation depth is determined to be equal to or less than the maximum value.

5 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein when the polishing pad has a shore hardness of about 41 D to about 50 D, the first indentation depth is equal to or less than about 1.5 μm when the first load is 2.5 lbf, is equal to or less than about 4 μm when the first load is 4.5 lbf, is equal to or less than about 6 μm when the first load is 6 lbf, is equal to or less than about 8 μm when the first load is 9 lbf, or is equal to or less than about 10 μm when the first load is 11 lbf.

6 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein when the polishing pad has a shore hardness of about 21 D to about 40 D, the first indentation depth is equal to or less than about 1.5 μm when the first load is 2.5 lbf, is equal to or less than about 5.5 μm when the first load is 4.5 lbf, is equal to or less than about 7.5 μm when the first load is 6 lbf, is equal to or less than about 12.5 μm when the first load is 9 lbf, or is equal to or less than about 15 μm when the first load is 11 lbf.

7 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein preparing the conditioning disk includes:
determining a structure of the tips so that the conditioning disk has the first indentation depth when the first load is applied to the conditioning disk; and fabricating a conditioning disk having the determined structure of the tips.

8 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein determining the structure of the tips includes determining a number, shape, dimension, and arrangement of the tips.

9 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein when the polishing pad has a shore hardness of about 41 D to about 50 D and the first load is 4.5 lbf, a total area of the tips is about 8 mm2 to about 17.5 mm2.

10 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein an interval between the tips is within about 0.1 mm to about 2 mm.

11 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the tips include first tips having a first height and second tips having a second height different from the first height.

12 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the tips are disposed over an entire bottom surface of the conditioning disk.

13 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the tips are locally disposed in an edge region of a bottom surface of the conditioning disk.

14 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the tips are arranged at regular intervals.

15 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein an interval between tips disposed in a central region of a bottom surface of the conditioning disk is greater than an interval between tips disposed in an edge region of the bottom surface of the conditioning disk.

16 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein fabricating the conditioning disk includes:
processing the substrate to form a base and a protruding pattern protruding from one side of the base; and forming a coating layer covering the protruding pattern.

17 . The CMP method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, after preparing the conditioning disk, the CMP method further comprises:
positioning the conditioning disk on the polishing pad and applying the first load to the conditioning disk to measure a first depth at which the tips of the conditioning disk are inserted into the polishing pad; and comparing the first depth with the first indentation depth.

18 . A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
forming a first material layer having a recessed portion on a semiconductor substrate; forming a second material layer different from the first material layer in the recess portion and on an entire surface of the first material layer; and performing a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process on the second material layer to confine the second material layer in the recessed portion, wherein performing the CMP process includes:
conditioning a polishing pad by rubbing a conditioning disk and the polishing pad together, and
polishing the first material layer by rubbing the polishing pad and the semiconductor substrate together while supplying a slurry for chemical mechanical polishing between the polishing pad and the semiconductor substrate,
wherein conditioning the polishing pad includes:
preparing the polishing pad,
determining a permissible range of an indentation depth according to a hardness of the polishing pad and a conditioning load,
positioning the conditioning disk on the polishing pad and then measuring a first depth at which tips of the conditioning disk are inserted into the polishing pad by applying the conditioning load to the conditioning disk, and
determining whether the first depth is within the permissible range of the indentation depth.

19 . (canceled)

20 . The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein determining the permissible range of indentation depth includes:
performing a test CMP process while changing the indentation depth, which is a depth at which the tips of the conditioning disk are inserted into the polishing pad, wherein, if vibration or noise generated during the test CMP process is measured, an upper limit of the permissible range of the indentation depth is determined as a maximum value of indentation depths when the measured vibration or noise is equal

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
• Ehwa Diamond Ind Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hong Myung-Ki
• Kim Yung-Jun
• Park Sung-Oh
• Lee Hyo-San
• Lee Joo-Han
• Oh Kyu-Min
• Park Sun-Gyu
• Lee Seh-Kwang
• Yang Chan-Ki

Classifications

• H10P74/203

  Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects · CPC title

• H10P74/23

  characterised by multiple measurements, corrections, marking or sorting processes · CPC title

• H10P52/403

  of conductive or resistive materials · CPC title

• H10W20/081

  by forming openings in the dielectric parts · CPC title

• H10W20/062

  by smoothing of conductive parts, e.g. by planarisation · CPC title