IMPROVEMENT OF OXIDE POST-CMP CLEANING EFFICIENCY WITH BUFF MODULE INTEGRATION AND BRUSH CLEANER OPTIMIZATION

摘要

Post-CMP cleaning efficiency is an important factor in determining the CMP process impact on yield. The SpeedFam-IPEC (SFI) integrated 776 CMP tool (776) utilizes a buff module followed by a mechanical brush cleaner (scrubber) module for post-CMP wafer cleaning. Combining the buff process with the scrubber process is an effective way to decrease particle counts and eliminate micro-scratches on the post-CMP planarized surface of wafers. SFI optimized the post-CMP oxide buff and scrubber processes on the 776 tool using mathematical modeling followed by experimental testing to prove the modeling results. Details of the optimization are presented in this paper. Baseline oxide CMP processes were chosen to exemplify the optimized cleaning processes using standard oxide CMP consumables.