Pad Conditioning and Pad Surface Characterization in Oxide Chemical Mechanical Polishing

Abstract

AbstractAn understanding of the pad surface state and its effect on the polishing process is critical to a more fundamental understanding of Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP). Vertical Scanning Interferometry has been shown to be a useful tool to monitor the pad surface state. In this paper, various techniques for analyzing pad surface data obtained using interferometry are described. The pad surface state can be modified through the manipulation of process and pad conditioner design parameters. Many of the parameters extracted from interferometry data show strong correlations with corresponding polish data. A careful analysis of these complementary data can yield significant insight into the mechanisms of CMP processes.