Linear prediction for filtering of data during in-situ monitoring of polishing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9308618-B2
Application number	US-201213456801-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2012
Priority date	Apr 26, 2012
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a substrate, during polishing monitoring the substrate with an in-situ monitoring system, the monitoring including generating a signal from a sensor, and filtering the signal to generate a filtered signal. The signal includes a sequence of measured values, and the filtered signal including a sequence of adjusted values. The filtering includes for each adjusted value in the sequence of adjusted values, generating at least one predicted value from the sequence of measured values using linear prediction, and calculating the adjusted value from the sequence of measured values and the predicted value. At least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate is determined from the filtered signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions, which, when executed by a processor of a polishing system, causes the polishing system to:
polish a substrate;
during polishing, monitor the substrate with an in-situ monitoring system, the monitoring including generating a signal from a sensor, the signal including a sequence over time of measured values;
filter the signal to generate a filtered signal, the filtered signal including a sequence over time of adjusted values, the instructions to filter including instructions to, for each adjusted value in the sequence over time of adjusted values,
generate at least one predicted value from the sequence over time of measured values from the sensor using linear prediction, and
calculate the adjusted value from the sequence over time of measured values from the sensor and the predicted value; and

determine at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate from the filtered signal.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to generate at least one predicted value comprise instructions to generate a plurality of predicted values.

3. The computer program product of claim 2 , wherein using linear prediction comprises a calculation of a first predicted signal value

x
^

n

=

∑

i
=
1

p

⁢

a
i

⁢

x

n
-
i

where {circumflex over (x)} n is the first predicted signal value, p is a number of signal values used in the calculation (which can be equal to n−1), x n−i are previous observed signal values, and a i is a predictor coefficient.

4. A polishing system, comprising:
a platen to hold a polishing pad;
a carrier head to hold a substrate against the polishing pad during polishing;
an in-situ monitoring system, the monitoring including a sensor to monitor the substrate during polishing and generate a signal, the signal including a sequence over time of measured values; and
a controller configured to
filter the signal to generate a filtered signal, the filtered signal including a sequence over time of adjusted values, wherein the filter is configured to, for each adjusted value in the sequence over time of adjusted values,
generate at least one predicted value from the sequence over time of measured values from the sensor using linear prediction, and
calculate the adjusted value from the sequence over time of measured values from the sensor and the predicted value, and

determine at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate from the filtered signal.

5. The polishing system of claim 4 , wherein the in-situ monitoring system comprises a motor current monitoring system or motor torque monitoring system.

6. The polishing system of claim 5 , wherein the in-situ monitoring system comprises a carrier head motor current monitoring system or a carrier head motor torque monitoring system.

7. The polishing system of claim 5 , wherein the motor current monitoring system or motor torque monitoring system comprises a platen motor current monitoring system or a platen motor torque monitoring system.

8. The polishing system of claim 5 , wherein the in-situ monitoring system comprises a motor current monitoring system.

9. The polishing system of claim 4 , wherein generating at least one predicted value comprises generating a plurality of predicted values.

10. The polishing system of claim 9 , wherein calculating the adjusted value includes applying a frequency domain filter.

11. The polishing system of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of predicted values comprise at least twenty values.

12. The polishing system of claim 9 , wherein the linear prediction comprises a calculation of a first predicted signal value

x
^

n

=

∑

i
=
1

p

⁢

a
i

⁢

x

n
-
i

where {circumflex over (x)} n is the first predicted signal value, p is a number of signal values used in the calculation (which can be equal to n−1), x n−i are previous observed signal values, and a i is a predictor coefficient.

13. The polishing system of claim 12 , wherein the linear prediction comprises a calculation of a second predicted signal value

x
^

n
+
L

=

∑

i
=
1

p

⁢

a
i

⁢

x

n
+
L
-
i

where {circumflex over (x)} n+L is the second predicted signal value, L is greater than 0, p is a number of signal values used in the calculation (which can be equal to n+L−1), x n+L−i are previous observed signal values for L−i≧0, and x n+L−i are predicted signal values for L−i<0, and a i is a predictor coefficient.

14. The polishing system of claim 13 , wherein

∑
P

i

⁢

a
i

⁢

R

i
-
j

=

-

Assignees

• Benvegnu Dominic J
• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Benvegnu Dominic J

Classifications

• B24B37/013 Primary

  Devices or means for detecting lapping completion · CPC title

• B24B49/10

  involving electrical means (B24B49/02, B24B49/08 take precedence) · CPC title

• H10P52/00 Primary

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