Polishing control using weighting with default sequence

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9296084-B2
Application number	US-201213553038-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 19, 2012
Priority date	Jul 19, 2012
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A method of controlling polishing includes storing a sequence of default values, polishing a substrate, monitoring the substrate during polishing with an in-situ monitoring system, generating a sequence of measured values from measurements from the in-situ monitoring system, combining the sequence of measured values with the sequence of default values to generate a sequence of modified values, fitting a function to the sequence of modified values, and determining at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate based on the function.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling polishing, comprising:
storing a sequence of default values;
polishing a substrate;
monitoring the substrate during polishing with an in-situ monitoring system;
generating a sequence of measured values from measurements from the in-situ monitoring system;
combining the sequence of measured values with the sequence of default values to generate a sequence of modified values;
fitting a function to the sequence of modified values; and
determining at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate based on the function.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein for each measured value from the sequence of measured values there is an associated default value from the sequence of default values.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein combining the sequence of measured values with the sequence of default values comprises for each measured value calculating a weighted average of the measured value and the associated default value.

4. The method of claim 3 , comprising storing a first timestamp for each measured value from the sequence of measured values, and a second timestamp for each default value from the sequence of default values.

5. The method of claim 4 , comprising determining a matching default value from the sequence of default values for each measured value, and wherein determining the matching default value includes determining the second timestamp that matches the first timestamp.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first timestamp comprises a measurement time, a number of platen rotations, or an ordinal position in the sequence of measured values.

7. The method of claim 3 , comprising receiving user input selecting the weighting value for the calculation of the weighted average.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein a same weighting value is used for the calculation of the weighted average for every measured value from the sequence of measured values.

9. The method of claim 3 , comprising dynamically determining a weighting value for the calculation of the weighted average.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein dynamically determining the weighting value comprises fitting a second function to the sequence of measured values, determining a goodness of fit of the second function to the sequence of measured values, and determining the weighting value based on the goodness of fit.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein monitoring the substrate comprises receiving a measured spectrum from the in-situ monitoring system, and wherein generating the sequence of measured values comprises finding a best matching reference spectrum from a plurality of reference spectra.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein dynamically determining the weighting value comprises determining a difference between the measured spectrum and the best matching reference spectrum, and determining the weighting value based on the difference.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein a same weighting value is used for the calculation of the weighted average for every measured value from the sequence of measured values.

14. The method of claim 9 , comprising calculating a weighting value for each measured value.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the in-situ monitoring comprises an optical monitoring system or an eddy current monitoring system.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein polishing the substrate comprises rotating a platen, and the sequence of measured values comprises one measured value per rotation of the platen.

17. The method of claim 1 , comprising storing a target value and determining a polishing endpoint by calculating a time at which the function equals the target value.

18. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining a value of the function at a time T0 at which the polishing parameter is adjusted, and wherein determining the adjustment comprises calculating a desired polishing rate based on the value of the function.

Assignees

• Zhang Jimin
• Wang Zhihong
• Lee Harry Q
• Tu Wen-Chiang
• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Zhang Jimin
• Wang Zhihong
• Lee Harry Q
• Tu Wen-Chiang

Classifications

• B24B49/12

  involving optical means · CPC title

• B24B37/013 Primary

  Devices or means for detecting lapping completion · CPC title

• B24B37/105

  the workpieces or work carriers being actively moved by a drive, e.g. in a combined rotary and translatory movement · CPC title