Patent Application
20070034614
The present invention relates to polishing pads used for chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP), and in particular relates to such pads that have grooves formed therein utilizing laser ablation.
In the fabrication of integrated circuits and other electronic devices, multiple layers of conducting, semiconducting, and dielectric materials are deposited on or removed from a surface of a semiconductor wafer. Thin layers of conducting, semiconducting, and dielectric materials may be deposited by a number of deposition techniques. Common deposition techniques in modern processing include physical vapor deposition (PVD), also known as sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and electrochemical plating (ECP).
As layers of materials are sequentially deposited and removed, the uppermost surface of the substrate may become non-planar across its surface and require planarization. Planarizing a surface, or “polishing” a surface, is a process where material is removed from the surface of the wafer to form a generally even, planar surface. Planarization is useful in removing undesired surface topography and surface defects, such as rough surfaces, agglomerated materials, crystal lattice damage, scratches, and contaminated layers or materials. Planarization is also useful in forming features on a substrate by removing excess deposited material used to fill the features and to provide an even surface for subsequent levels of metallization and processing.
Chemical mechanical planarization, or chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), is a common technique used to planarize substrates such as semiconductor wafers. In conventional CMP, a wafer carrier or polishing head is mounted on a carrier assembly and positioned in contact with a polishing pad in a CMP apparatus. The carrier assembly provides a controllable pressure to the substrate urging the wafer against the polishing pad. The pad is moved (e.g., rotated) relative to the substrate by an external driving force. Simultaneously therewith, a chemical composition (“slurry”) or other fluid medium is flowed onto the substrate and between the wafer and the polishing pad. The wafer surface is thus polished by the chemical and mechanical action of the pad surface and slurry in a manner that selectively removes material from the substrate surface.
Typically, grooves are machined or molded into the polishing pad. Unfortunately, these processes for forming grooves are limited in their ability to adapt to various shapes and patterns of the desired grooves. Accordingly, methods for forming grooves utilizing lasers have been investigated (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,794,605). Unfortunately, as shown in
Accordingly, what is needed is a method of forming a polishing pad for chemical-mechanical planarization utilizing a laser with an improved groove having increased texture and greater surface area for transporting slurry and improving polishing performances.
In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a polishing pad for chemical mechanical planarization utilizing laser ablation, comprising: providing a laser to cut a groove into the polishing pad; providing a beam splitter to split a laser beam from the laser; splitting the beam from the laser to provide multiple laser beams onto the polishing pad; and wherein the multiple laser beams have effective cutting areas that at least overlap each other.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a polishing pad having grooves formed therein for chemical mechanical planarization, the grooves being formed by: cutting the pad to form the groove with a first laser beam and at least a second laser beam, wherein a first section cut by the first laser beam overlaps with a second section cut by the second laser beam.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a polishing pad for chemical mechanical planarization, comprising: providing a first laser with a first laser beam; providing at least a second laser with another laser beam; radiating the first and another laser beams onto the polishing pad; and wherein the beams at least partially overlap each other to cut grooves into the polishing pad.
Referring to the drawings,
In the present invention, a laser beam 3 from a laser 5 is split by a beam splitter 11 to create multiple beams 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d. Alternatively, multiple lasers 5 may be utilized to create any number of multiple beams without a beam splitter 11, as desired. Note, any number of beams, 2 or more, may be utilized to practice the instant invention. Also, any commercially available beam splitter may be utilized, including lightweight mirrors, cylindrical mirrors, shutter mirrors, cassegrain mirrors, knife-edge mirrors and roof prisms. A roof prism is preferred as it is inexpensive, adjustable, polarization insensitive and will work with high powers. The multiple beams 3a-3d are irradiated onto the polishing pad 10 to form the novel grooves. Namely, as shown in
Preferably, each of the beams 3a-3d overlap each other such that a net, non-Gaussian distribution of the energy from the beam is experienced by the polishing pad 10. In other words, by splitting the beam 3 to individual beams 3a-3d (with at least some overlap between the beams), the highest energy from the beam 3 is concentrated in each of the beams 3a-3d, such that the net, overall effect of the laser beam is broadly spread out throughout the beam 3 and not simply concentrated in the center as in prior art single beam methods. Thus, laser beams 3a-3d have effective cutting areas that at least overlap each other.
Furthermore, the surface area of the groove 90 is increased by providing a more, square or rectangular, cross-sectional profile as compared to a groove having a typical “V” shaped profile as illustrated in
Note, laser 5 can be moved in any direction (i.e., x, y or z plane) to accommodate numerous designs or configurations as desired. In the present invention, any supporting member (not shown), for example, a table to support the polishing pad, need not be moved relative to the laser 5. Rather, laser 5 can be moved to achieve, for example, the desired groove 90 having roughness 13, independent of any movement of the supporting member. In addition, an inert gas may be provided from a nozzle (not shown) to reduce oxygen at the cutting surface, reducing burns or chars on the cutting surface edge. Also, the laser beam may be utilized in conjunction with a high pressure waterjet to reduce the heat that may be produced by conventional laser cutting processes.
In the present embodiment, the laser 5 used for micromachining may be pulsed excimer lasers that have a relatively low duty cycle. Optionally, laser 51 may be a continuous laser that is shuttered (i.e., the pulse width (time) is very short compared to the time between pulses). Even though excimer lasers have a low average power compared to other larger lasers, the peak power of the excimer lasers can be quite large. The peak intensity and fluence of the laser is given by:
During laser ablation, several key parameters should be considered. An important parameter is the selection of a wavelength with a minimum absorption depth. This should allow a high energy deposition in a small volume for rapid and complete ablation. Another parameter is short pulse duration to maximize peak power and to minimize thermal conduction to the surrounding work material. This combination will reduce the amplitude of the response. Another parameter is the pulse repetition rate. If the rate is too low, energy that was not used for ablation will leave the ablation zone allowing cooling. If the residual heat can be retained, thus limiting the time for conduction, by a rapid pulse repetition rate, the ablation will be more efficient. In addition, more of the incident energy will go toward ablation and less will be lost to the surrounding work material and the environment. Yet another important parameter is the beam quality. Beam quality is measured by the brightness (energy), the focusability, and the homogeneity. The beam energy is less useful if it can not be properly and efficiently delivered to the ablation region. Further, if the beam is not of a controlled size, the ablation region may be larger than desired with excessive slope in the sidewalls.
In addition, if the removal is by vaporization, special attention must be given to the plume. The plume will be a plasma-like substance consisting of molecular fragments, neutral particles, free electrons and ions, and chemical reaction products. The plume will be responsible for optical absorption and scattering of the incident beam and can condense on the surrounding work material and/or the beam delivery optics. Normally, the ablation site is cleared by a pressurized inert gas, such as nitrogen or argon.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of forming a polishing pad for chemical-mechanical planarization, utilizing a laser, with an improved groove having increased texture and greater surface area for transporting slurry and improving polishing performances. In particular, the method includes providing a laser to cut a groove into the polishing pad and providing a beam splitter to split a laser beam from the laser. Further, the method provides splitting the beam from the laser to irradiate multiple laser beams onto the polishing pad and wherein the multiple laser beams have effective cutting areas that at least overlap each other.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/706,921 filed Aug. 10, 2005.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60706921 | Aug 2005 | US |
