Claims
- 1. An apparatus for planarizing a microelectronic substrate, comprising:a support; a fixed abrasive polishing pad carried by the support and having an external surface and a plurality of abrasive elements adjacent to the external surface, the external surface defining an external region external to the polishing pad and an internal region internal to the polishing pad; a planarizing liquid adjacent to the external surface of the fixed abrasive polishing pad in the external region only, the planarizing liquid having a buffering agent for maintaining a pH of the planarizing liquid at an approximately constant level; and a carrier positioned at least proximate to the support, the carrier being configured to carry a microelectronic substrate in contact with at least one of the polishing pad and the planarizing liquid.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the buffering agent includes ammonium hydroxide and at least one of ammonium acetate, ammonium phosphate, potassium hydrogen phthalate and ammonium citrate.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the abrasive elements include ceria.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a pH of the planarizing liquid has an approximately constant value between approximately 9 and approximately 13.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the polishing pad includes an elongated flexible web configured to be wound from a first roller across a platen to a second roller.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the planarizing liquid includes a surfactant for reducing friction between the polishing pad and the microelectronic substrate.
- 7. An apparatus for planarizing a microelectronic substrate, comprising:a support; a fixed abrasive polishing pad carried by the support and having a planarizing surface and a plurality of abrasive elements fixedly dispersed in the polishing pad adjacent the planarizing surface for engaging the microelectronic substrate and removing material from the microelectronic substrate; a planarizing liquid adjacent to the fixed abrasive polishing pad; a chemical buffering agent disposed in the planarizing liquid for maintaining a pH of the planarizing liquid at an approximately constant value between approximately 9 and approximately 13; and a carrier positioned at least proximate to the support, the carrier being configured to carry the microelectronic substrate in contact with at least one of the polishing pad and the planarizing liquid.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the buffering agent includes ammonium hydroxide and at least one of ammonium acetate, ammonium phosphate, potassium hydrogen phthalate and ammonium citrate.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the abrasive elements include ceria.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the polishing pad includes an elongated flexible web configured to be wound from a first roller across a platen to a second roller.
- 11. An apparatus for planarizing a microelectronic substrate, comprising:a support; a fixed abrasive polishing pad carried by the support and having a planarizing surface and a plurality of abrasive elements fixedly dispersed in the polishing pad adjacent the planarizing surface for engaging the microelectronic substrate and removing material from the microelectronic substrate; a planarizing liquid adjacent to the fixed abrasive polishing pad, the planarizing liquid having a pH of between approximately 9 and approximately 13 and including at least one of ammonium acetate, isopropyl alcohol and polyoxy ethylene ether for controlling a wetted surface area of the microelectronic substrate; and a carrier positioned at least proximate to the support, the carrier being configured to carry the microelectronic substrate in contact with at least one of the polishing pad and the planarizing liquid.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the planarizing liquid includes between approximately 2% and approximately 20% isopropyl alcohol.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the planarizing liquid includes up to approximately 1% ammonium acetate.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the polishing pad includes an elongated flexible web configured to be wound from a first roller across a platen to a second roller.
- 15. An apparatus for planarizing a microelectronic substrate, comprising:a support; a fixed abrasive polishing pad carried by the support and having a planarizing surface and a plurality of abrasive elements fixedly dispersed in the polishing pad adjacent the planarizing surface for engaging the microelectronic substrate and removing material from the microelectronic substrate; a planarizing liquid adjacent to the fixed abrasive polishing pad, the planarizing liquid having a pH of at least approximately 12; and a carrier positioned at least proximate to the support, the carrier being configured to carry the microelectronic substrate in contact with at least one of the polishing pad and the planarizing liquid.
- 16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the planarizing liquid includes at least one of ammonia, potassium hydroxide and ethylene diamine.
- 17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the planarizing liquid includes at least approximately 10% by weight ammonia.
- 18. An apparatus for planarizing a microelectronic substrate, comprising:a support; a fixed abrasive polishing pad carried by the support; a planarizing liquid disposed on the polishing pad, the planarizing liquid including: water forming from about 78% to about 99% by weight of the planarizing liquid; ammonia forming from about 0.5% to about 20.0% by weight of the planarizing liquid; and isopropyl alcohol forming from about 0.5% to about 2.0% by weight of the planarizing liquid; and wherein the apparatus further comprises a carrier positioned at least proximate to the support, the carrier being configured to carry the microelectronic substrate in contact with at least one of the polishing pad and the planarizing liquid.
- 19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the isopropyl alcohol forms about 1.25% by weight of the planarizing liquid, the ammonia forms about 10% by weight of the planarizing liquid and the water forms about 88.75% by weight of the planarizing liquid.
- 20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the isopropyl alcohol reduces a polishing rate of the planarizing liquid by no more than about 5% compared to a polishing rate of another planarizing liquid not having the isopropyl alcohol when both planarizing liquids remove material under generally identical conditions.
- 21. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a buffering agent for maintaining a pH of the planarizing liquid at an approximately constant level.
- 22. An apparatus for removing material from a microelectronic substrate, comprising:a support; a fixed abrasive polishing pad carried by the support and having a suspension medium and a plurality of abrasive particles fixedly dispersed in the suspension medium; a planarizing liquid having a planarizing liquid weight with water forming from about 78% to about 99% of the planarizing liquid weight, ammonia forming from about 0.5% to about 20.0% of the planarizing liquid weight, and isopropyl alcohol forming from about 0.5% to about 2.0% of the planarizing liquid weight; and a carrier positioned at least proximate to the support, the carrier being configured to carry the microelectronic substrate in contact with at least one of the polishing pad and the planarizing liquid.
- 23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the isopropyl alcohol reduces a polishing rate of the planarizing liquid by no more than about 5% compared to a polishing rate of another planarizing liquid not having the isopropyl alcohol when both planarizing liquids remove material under generally identical conditions.
- 24. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the isopropyl alcohol forms about 1.25% by weight of the planarizing liquid, the ammonia forms about 10% by weight of the planarizing liquid and the water forms about 88.75% by weight of the liquid.
- 25. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad is movable relative to the other, and wherein the apparatus further comprises an actuator coupled to the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad to move the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad relative to the other.
- 26. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad is movable relative to the other, and wherein the apparatus further comprises an actuator coupled to the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad to move the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad relative to the other.
- 27. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad is movable relative to the other, and wherein the apparatus further comprises an actuator coupled to the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad to move the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad relative to the other.
- 28. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad is movable relative to the other, and wherein the apparatus further comprises an actuator coupled to the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad to move the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad relative to the other.
- 29. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad is movable relative to the other, and wherein the apparatus further comprises an actuator coupled to the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad to move the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad relative to the other.
- 30. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad is movable relative to the other, and wherein the apparatus further comprises an actuator coupled to the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad to move the at least one of the carrier and the polishing pad relative to the other.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/652,955 filed Aug. 31, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,934, which is a continuation-in-part of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/389,643, filed Sep. 2, 1999, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (170)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Kondo, Seiichi et al., “Abrasive-Free Polishing for Copper Damascene Interconnection”, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 147 (10) 3907-3913, 2000. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/652955 |
Aug 2000 |
US |
Child |
10/102401 |
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US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/389643 |
Sep 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/652955 |
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US |