Claims
- 1. A method of determining a concentration of a component of a slurry, the method comprising the step of measuring change in refractive index associated with changes in concentration of the component of interest in a slurry.
- 2. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the slurry is selected from the group consisting of slurries for tungsten CMP and slurries for copper CMP.
- 3. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the change of refractive index is less than 0.001 units.
- 4. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the change of refractive index is less than 0.0001 units.
- 5. The method in accordance with claim 1 employing a refractometer having resolution n of 0.00001 units.
- 6. The method in accordance with claim 5 wherein the refractometer is a bench-top unit.
- 7. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the component of interest is an oxidizing agent.
- 8. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein the oxidizing agent is non-ionic.
- 9. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein the oxidizing agent is hydrogen peroxide.
- 10. A method of controlling an oxidizer concentration in a slurry by employing the methods of claim 1 and using data obtained to adjust the oxidizer concentration accordingly.
- 11. A method of controlled abrasion of a surface employing a slurry, the slurry comprising an oxidizer, the method comprising using the steps of claims 1.
- 12. The method in accordance with claim 1, 10, or 11 wherein a solid state sensor operating on the principle of surface plasmon resonance was used for real-time monitoring of changes in refractive index.
- 13. A method of monitoring changes in a concentration of a reagent in a manufacturing process composition comprising the step of measuring changes in a refractive index of the composition.
- 14. The method in accordance with claim 13 wherein the step of measuring comprises the step of measuring changes with a refractometer.
- 15. The method in accordance with claim 13 wherein the step of measuring comprises the step of measuring changes with a surface plasmon resonance detector.
- 16. The method in accordance with claim 13 wherein the semiconductor processing composition comprises a CMP slurry.
- 17. The method in accordance with claim 13 wherein the reagent comprises an oxidizer.
- 18. The method in accordance with claim 17 wherein the oxidizer comprises hydrogen peroxide.
- 19. The method in accordance with claim 13 wherein the changes monitored are a decrease in the concentration of the reagent from deterioration.
- 20. The method in accordance with claim 16 wherein the CMP slurry is selected from the group consisting of tungsten and copper CMP slurries.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is related to the provisional application for patent entitled “METHOD OF DETERMINING CONCENTRATION OF A COMPONENT OF A SLURRY” filed Dec. 21, 2000 by the inventors Misra and Fisher (Attorney Docket No. SERIE 5565 [25185-P006V1]) and granted U.S. Serial No. 60/257,700, currently pending.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60257700 |
Dec 2000 |
US |