On a Particle-Augmented Mixed Lubrication Approach to Predicting CMP

Abstract

ABSTRACTChemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is a process commonly used to planarize or polish thin film surfaces to enable stacking of additional levels to enhance lithographic patterning of wafers. It is used to make surfaces atomically smooth and is also an interim step in integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing. CMP is an example of a tribological regime called Particle-Augmented Mixed Lubrication (PAML) as named by the authors. PAML occurs when two surfaces in relative motion under load are partially separated by an intervening fluid-particle mixture. The load is supported by both asperities and fluid, and the interface is further complicated by the addition of nanoparticles. PAML involves four core components that must be modeled integrally—fluid mechanics, particle dynamics, contact mechanics, and material removal (wear). This work introduces the fundamental tenets of PAML, and describes how it is an effective first principle multi-physics approach to modeling CMP. By inputting the artificial random topographies for the pad and wafer with their actual mechanical properties, the PAML modeling simulation results predict the instantaneous material removal as the wear volume caused by particle-induced wear. These discrete instantaneous material removal events lead to the cumulative wear seen during CMP over a short time. Although only a small fraction of the time of the actual CMP process, tests of 120μs show that the cumulative material removal occurring over the entire simulation is approximately 0.012μm3. This work suggests that a generalized multi-physics modeling simulation of the CMP process is plausible.