Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:09:26.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Model of Cu-CMP

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Ed Paul
Affiliation:
Stockton College, Pomona NJ 08240, USA
Vlasta Brusic
Affiliation:
Cabot Microelectronics, Aurora IL 60504, USA
Fred Sun
Affiliation:
Cabot Microelectronics, Aurora IL 60504, USA
Jian Zhang
Affiliation:
Cabot Microelectronics, Aurora IL 60504, USA
Robert Vacassy
Affiliation:
Cabot Microelectronics, Aurora IL 60504, USA
Frank Kaufman
Affiliation:
Cabot Microelectronics, Aurora IL 60504, USA
Get access

Abstract

CMP has been described qualitatively in terms of alternating cycles of chemical formation and mechanical removal of a thin layer on the wafer surface. A quantitative model of CMP has been developed2-7 which is based on mechanisms for surface kinetics, treating mechanical removal as one step in the mechanism. This model has been used successfully to explain removal rates for tungsten and thermal oxide CMP. In particular, for tungsten CMP the removal rate increases steeply with increasing oxidizer concentration at low concentrations, and then approaches an asymptotic maximum removal rate at high concentrations. The model explains this by starting with the assumption that mechanical abrasion removes only tungsten oxide but not tungsten metal. It then focuses on the fraction of wafer surface covered by a tungsten oxide layer. At low oxidizer concentrations, the oxide formation rate is small compared the removal rate, so only a small fraction of the surface is oxidized and the removal rate is small. At high oxidizer concentrations, the oxide formation rate is large compared to the removal rate, so most of the surface is oxidized and the removal rate is large. Increasing the oxidizer concentration in the high oxidizer concentration region does not significantly increase the surface fraction of tungsten oxide, and the removal rate approaches a constant value.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Kaufman, F. B., Thompson, D. B., Broadie, R. E., Jaso, M. A., Guthrie, W. L., Pearson, D. J. and Small, M. B.., J. Electrochem. Soc. 138, 3460 (1991).Google Scholar
2. Paul, E., J. Electrochem. Soc., 148, G355 and G359 (2001) plus 149, G305 (2002).Google Scholar
3. Paul, E. and Vacassy, R., J. Electrochem. Soc., 150, G739 (2003).Google Scholar
4. Paul, E., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp., 613, E1.4 (2000) and 671, M4.8 (2001)Google Scholar
5. Paul, E. and Vacassy, R., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp., 767, F1.2 (2003).Google Scholar
6. Paul, E., Proc. Twentieth Int. VLSI Multilevel Interconnection Conf., VMIC, 277 (2003)Google Scholar
7. Paul, E. and Philipossian, A., Proc. Ninth CMP-MIC Conf., 421 (2003)Google Scholar
8. Li, Y. and Babu, S.V. Electrochem. Solid State Lett., 4, G20 (2001)Google Scholar
9. Thakurta, D.G., Schwendeman, D.W., Gutmann, R.J., S, Shankar, Jiang, L. and Gill, W. N., Thin Solid Films 414, 78 (2002).Google Scholar
10. Steigerwald, J.M., Murarka, S. P., Ho, J., Guttman, R.J., and Duquette, D. J., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B13, 2215 (1995).Google Scholar
11. Aksu, S., Wang, L. and Doyle, F. M. J. Electrochem Soc., 150, G718 (2003)Google Scholar
12. Du, T., Tamboli, D., Desai, V., and Seal, S., J. Electrochem Soc., 151, G230 (2004)Google Scholar
13. Luo, Q., Ramarajan, S. and Babu, S. V., Thin Solid Films 335,160 (1998)Google Scholar
14. Hernandez, J., Wrschka, P. and Oehrlein, G.S. J. Electrochem Soc., 148, G389 (2001)Google Scholar
15. Aksu, S. and Doyle, F. M. J. Electrochem Soc., 149, G352 (2002)Google Scholar
16. Tamilmani, S., Huang, W., Raghavan, S. and Small, R., J. Electrochem Soc., 149, G638 (2002)Google Scholar