This application claims benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0185049, filed on Dec. 22, 2021, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present inventive concept relates to a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus and a method using the same.
A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process is a process of planarizing a surface of a substrate by combining a mechanical polishing effect of an abrasive and a chemical reaction effect of an acid or base solution.
The CMP process is used for planarization of various materials, such as an interlayer dielectric (ILD), a polishing process of a silicon oxide film for shallow trench isolation (STI) purposes, a tungsten (W) plug forming process, and a copper interconnection process.
An aspect of the present inventive concept is to provide a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus having improved planarization efficiency of a polishing target film in a CMP process.
An aspect of the present inventive concept is to provide a chemical mechanical polishing method in which flatness of a polishing target film is improved in a CMP process.
According to an aspect of the present inventive concept, a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes: a platen having a polishing pad attached to an upper surface thereof, and rotatably installed in one direction by a driving means, a slurry supply unit configured to supply a slurry including an abrasive and an additive having a zeta potential of a first polarity to the polishing pad, an electrode disposed below the polishing pad, a power supply unit configured to apply a voltage including a DC pulse of a second polarity, opposite to the first polarity, to the electrode, and a polishing head installed on the polishing pad, and configured to rotate a semiconductor substrate in contact with the polishing pad.
According to an aspect of the present inventive concept, a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes: a platen having a polishing pad attached to an upper surface thereof, a slurry supply unit configured to supply a slurry including an abrasive and an additive having a zeta potential of a first polarity to the polishing pad, an electrode disposed below the polishing pad, a voltage supply unit configured to apply a voltage of a second polarity, opposite to the first polarity, to the electrode, the voltage supply unit configured to adjust the voltage to adjust intensity of an electrical field applied to the abrasive and the additive at the electrode, and a polishing head installed on the polishing pad, and configured to rotate a semiconductor substrate in contact with the polishing pad, wherein the abrasive and the additive have different vertical distributions between the polishing pad and the semiconductor substrate by the electrical field.
According to an aspect of the present inventive concept, a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes: a platen having a polishing pad attached to an upper surface thereof, a slurry supply unit configured to supply a slurry including an abrasive and an additive having a zeta potential of a first polarity to the polishing pad, an electrode disposed below the polishing pad, a power supply configured to apply a voltage of the first polarity and a voltage of a second polarity, opposite to the first polarity, to the electrode, and a polishing head installed on the polishing pad, and configured to rotate a semiconductor substrate including a polishing target film having a zeta potential of the second polarity in contact with the polishing pad, wherein the power supply unit is configured to alternately apply a voltage of the first polarity and a voltage of the second polarity.
According to an aspect of the present inventive concept, a chemical mechanical method includes: preparing a polishing target film on a semiconductor substrate, preparing a slurry including an abrasive and an additive having a zeta potential of a first polarity and having different charge densities, and applying a voltage of a second polarity, opposite to the first polarity, to the slurry and polishing the polishing target film with the slurry, wherein the polishing the polishing target film with the slurry includes adjusting the voltage to adjust a magnitude of an electrical field applied to the slurry, to control a vertical distribution of the abrasive and the additive included in the slurry.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present inventive concept will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
A polishing pad may be mounted to each of the first to third platens 20-1, 20-2, and 20-3. First to third polishing heads 30-1, 30-2, and 30-3, and first to third slurry supply units 40-1, 40-2, and 40-3 may be disposed in the first to third platens 20-1, 20-2, and 20-3, respectively.
The first to fourth polishing heads 30-1, 30-2, 30-3, and 30-4 may be attached to a rotatable multi-head carousel 36 to be moved onto the first to third platens 20-1, 20-2, and 20-3 and the loading-unloading unit 17. The first to fourth polishing heads 30-1, 30-2, 30-3, and 30-4 may be configured to independently perform a raising and lowering operation and a rotation operation, respectively. For example, the first to fourth polishing heads 30-1, 30-2, 30-3, and 30-4 may be configured to be independently raised and lowered and to be independently rotated. The semiconductor substrate inversion unit 15 may invert and transfer a semiconductor substrate to the loading-unloading unit 17 for polishing, or may invert and unload the semiconductor substrate from the loading-unloading unit 17. The robot R may transfer a semiconductor substrate to be polished to the semiconductor substrate inversion unit 15, or may unload the polished semiconductor substrate from the semiconductor substrate inversion unit 15. The first to third conditioners 50-1, 50-2, and 50-3 may adjust a state of the polishing pad to maintain a constant polishing rate.
The chemical mechanical polishing apparatus 10 illustrated in
Hereinafter, with reference to
As illustrated in
Referring to
A power supply unit 24 may be connected to the electrode 21. The power supply unit 24 according to an example embodiment may include a DC power supply 25 and a pulse supply unit 26. However, the present inventive concept is not limited thereto, and the power supply unit 24 may include an AC power source. When the power supply unit 24 includes an AC power, the pulse supply unit 26 may be omitted.
The electrode 21 may be disposed to cover a lower portion of the polishing pad 22. In some embodiments, the electrode 21 may be disposed to completely cover a lower portion of the polishing pad 22. The electrode 21 may form an electrical field above the polishing pad 22 using power applied from the power supply unit 24. A distribution of the abrasive P2 and the additive P1 included in the slurry SL supplied on the polishing pad 22 may be adjusted by an electrical field formed by the electrode 21, and by using this, etching flatness of the polishing target film OL of the semiconductor substrate W may be improved. For example, the power supply unit 24 may adjust the supplied power to adjust intensity of the electrical field applied to the abrasive and the additive at the electrode. This will be described later in detail.
A semiconductor substrate W to be chemically and mechanically polished may be attached to a lower portion of the polishing head 30 by vacuum. The polishing head 30 may adhere the semiconductor substrate W to the polishing pad 22 with a constant pressure and may rotate by a rotation shaft 32 to chemically and mechanically polish the semiconductor substrate W. For example, the polishing head 30 may be installed on the polishing pad 22, and may rotate the semiconductor substrate W in close contact with the polishing pad 22. A polishing target film OL may be formed on the semiconductor substrate W, and the polishing target film OL may be a silicon oxide film. However, the present inventive concept is not limited thereto, and the polishing target film OL may be a metal film such as tungsten or copper, depending on example embodiments.
Referring to
The slurry SL may include an abrasive P2 and an additive P1 (see
The abrasive P2 may mechanically polish a surface S of the polishing target film OL of the semiconductor substrate W. The abrasive may be a composition including any one of silica, alumina, or ceria.
The additive P1 may be adsorbed on the surface S of the polishing target film OL of the semiconductor substrate W, to cover a surface of the semiconductor substrate W. Examples of the additive (P1) may include potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, and amine-based compounds. These can be used individually or in mixture thereof
Referring to
In an example embodiment, a case in which the polishing target film OL is a silicon oxide film, the abrasive P2 is ceria, and the additive P1 is an amine-based compound, will be described as an example. Referring to
Referring to
For example, when a DC pulse is applied to the electrode 21, a vertical distribution of the abrasive P2 and the additive P1 may be adjusted by appropriately adjusting a magnitude and frequency of the pulse. For example, the magnitude of the applied DC pulse may be adjusted in a range of 1000 V or less, and the frequency of the DC pulse may be adjusted in a range of 10 Hz to 1000 Hz. In addition, when an alternating current is applied to the electrode 21, a vertical distribution of the abrasive P2 and the additive P1 may be adjusted by adjusting a magnitude and frequency of the alternating current. For example, the magnitude of the applied AC current may be adjusted in a range of 1000 V or less, and the frequency of the AC may be adjusted in the range of 10 Hz to 1000 Hz.
Conversely, as shown in
A DC pulse shown in
Conversely, a DC pulse illustrated in
A DC pulse shown in
In an alternating current shown in
A DC pulse shown in
A DC pulse shown in
Next, a chemical mechanical polishing method according to an example embodiment will be described with reference to
First, a semiconductor substrate on which a polishing target film OL is formed may be prepared (S10). In an example embodiment, the polishing target film OL may be a silicon oxide film. Alternatively, according to an example embodiment, the polishing target film OL may be a metal film such as tungsten or copper.
The polishing target film OL may have a zeta potential, opposite to a first polarity, which will be described later. A semiconductor substrate W may be attached to the polishing head 30 of
Next, a slurry including an abrasive and an additive having a zeta potential of a first polarity may be prepared (S20). An abrasive P2 may include any one of silica, alumina, and ceria. Examples of an additive (P1) may be potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, amine-based compounds, and the like. These can be used individually or in mixture thereof. In an example embodiment, the abrasive P2 may be ceria, and the additive P1 may be an amine-based compound. In this case, by measuring the zeta potential of the abrasive P2 and the additive P1, a magnitude and frequency of a current of a second polarity applied to a slurry SL may be determined.
Next, a polishing target film may be polished by applying a current of a second polarity to a slurry SL (S30). In an example embodiment, the polishing target film OL may be polished by spraying the slurry SL to the platen 20 of
As set forth above, according to an example embodiment of the present inventive concept, it is possible to provide a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus and a method using the same having improved flatness efficiency of a polishing target film in a CMP process.
Herein, a lower side, a lower portion, a lower surface, and the like, are used to refer to a direction toward a mounting surface of the fan-out semiconductor package in relation to cross-sections of the drawings, while an upper side, an upper portion, an upper surface, and the like, are used to refer to an opposite direction to the direction. However, these directions are defined for convenience of explanation, and the claims are not particularly limited by the directions defined as described above.
The meaning of a “connection” of a component to another component in the description includes an indirect connection through an adhesive layer as well as a direct connection between two components. In addition, “electrically connected” conceptually includes a physical connection and a physical disconnection. It can be understood that when an element is referred to with terms such as “first” and “second”, the element is not limited thereby. They may be used only for a purpose of distinguishing the element from the other elements, and may not limit the sequence or importance of the elements. In some cases, a first element may be referred to as a second element without departing from the scope of the claims set forth herein. Similarly, a second element may also be referred to as a first element.
The term “an example embodiment” used herein does not refer to the same example embodiment, and is provided to emphasize a particular feature or characteristic different from that of another example embodiment. However, example embodiments provided herein are considered to be able to be implemented by being combined in whole or in part one with one another. For example, one element described in a particular example embodiment, even if it is not described in another example embodiment, may be understood as a description related to another example embodiment, unless an opposite or contradictory description is provided therein.
Terms used herein are used only in order to describe example embodiments rather than limiting the present disclosure. In this case, singular forms include plural forms unless interpreted otherwise in context.
The various and advantageous advantages and effects of the present inventive concept are not limited to the above description, and may be more easily understood in the course of describing the specific embodiments of the present inventive concept.
While example embodiments have been shown and described above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations could be made without departing from the scope of the present inventive concept as defined by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2021-0185049 | Dec 2021 | KR | national |