Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 150 共12兲 G751-G757 共2003兲 G751 0013-4651/2003/150共12兲/G751/7/$7.00 © The Electrochemical Society, Inc. Effects of Mechanical Parameters on CMP Characteristics Analyzed by Two-Dimensional Frictional-Force Measurement Yoshio Homma,*,z Kikuo Fukushima, Seiichi Kondo, and Noriyuki Sakuma Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Limited, Kokubunji, Tokyo 185-8601, Japan The effects of mechanical parameters on the characteristics of chemical mechanical polishing 共CMP兲 were evaluated by directly measuring frictional force acting on a wafer in terms of two components, i.e., the tangential and axial components of the platen’s rotation. It was found that, when the platen and the wafer were rotated at the same speed, the tangential component of the frictional force was dominant. Also, frictional force was in linear proportion with removal rate. Though frictional force increased in linear proportion to down force when mechanical-effect-dominant CMP for silicon 共Si兲 or silicon dioxide (SiO2 ) was carried out, it decreased gradually as platen rotational speed was increased. Copper 共Cu兲 polishing using abrasive-free polishing solutions, a typical example of chemical-effect-dominant CMP, showed much more complex behavior. Namely, dependence of frictional force on down force and on platen rotational speed showed nonlinear characteristics. Even when a nonlinear characteristic slurry was used, it was found that removal rate and frictional force were almost linearly correlated. It can thus be considered that frictional force is a basic parameter to determine CMP characteristics. From these results, an experimental equation was proposed to describe CMP characteristics by modifying Preston’s empirical equation. © 2003 The Electrochemical Society. 关DOI: 10.1149/1.1619990兴 All rights reserved. Manuscript received October 23, 2002. Available electronically October 10, 2003. Chemical mechanical polishing 共CMP兲 has come to be widely used in manufacturing ultralarge scale integrated circuits 共ULSIs兲 for both insulator planarization and damascene processes.1,2 Compared with other LSI manufacturing processes, CMP is unique in that the film removal utilizes mechanical energy as well as chemical reaction. The contribution of mechanical energy to CMP can be well understood by comparing CMP with dry etching, a typical manufacturing process, as shown in Table I. Though the analogy is not strict, the slurry used in CMP has, for example, a role similar to the process gas in dry etching. Moreover, the frictional force corresponds to plasma energy. The frictional force in CMP is thus an essential parameter for analyzing the CMP mechanism. To describe the contribution of mechanical parameters to CMP characteristics, Preston’s empirical equation has mainly been used, while various models on chemical aspects have been proposed for glasses and metal polishing.3-5 Discussions on the equation have been made, because the equation is not considered to be sufficient for describing the detail of the CMP mechanism. Mahajan et al. tried to measure frictional force during CMP by Si and tungsten square tips with water or diluted nitric acids.6 They observed a constant or monotonous decrease in frictional force over time. Philipossian further investigated the effects of mechanical parameters on polishing, and they applied the results to a CMP simulation model.7 Following these works, we have developed a new CMP system that can measure the frictional force accurately under actual CMP conditions.8,9 This system is equipped with a stage to support the rotating wafer, which is mobile in two orthogonal directions, and detects all the forces acting on the wafer during polishing. Experimental Dynamic frictional coefficient in Preston’s empirical equation.—The following empirical equation by Preston has long been used to describe CMP performance in terms of removal rate (RR) RR ⫽ kp v 关1兴 where k is a constant, p is down force, and v is sliding speed or linear velocity, i.e., the product of the platen rotational speed and the distance between the platen center and the wafer center. It is clear from Eq. 1 that the contribution of down force p to removal rate RR * Electrochemical Society Active Member. z E-mail: [email protected] is equal to that of the sliding speed v . If either down force p or sliding speed v is doubled, RR also will be doubled.5 Tseng and Wang re-examined the equation and gave a generalized equation10 RR ⫽ M 共 p, v 兲 p ␣ v  关2兴 where coefficients ␣ and  were estimated to be 5/6 and 1/2, respectively, by fitting with experimental results. Equation 2 is different from Eq. 1; namely the dependence of RR on down force and that of v are not linear and different. Coefficient M (p, v ), however, also changed according to both p and v , but the physical meaning of M (p, v ) has not been investigated. We found that an equation which describes the relationship can be deduced directly from the energyconservation law, as shown in Eq. 3 RR ⬀ amount of energy consumed between the wafer and the polishing pad ⫽ h 共frictional force兲 共moving distance per unit of time) ⫽ hnp v ⫹ c 关3兴 where h is a proportional coefficient corresponding to removal efficiency, and n is a dynamic frictional coefficient. Constant c is introduced to generalize the equation. Equation 3 is very similar to Eq. 1, while it is different from Eq. 2. Equation 3 shows that RR is proportional to both frictional force, i.e., the product (np), and v , if dynamic frictional coefficient n and coefficient h remain constant. Frictional force (np) is thus a fundamental parameter for describing the CMP mechanism. The role of the mechanical parameters on CMP characteristics was, accordingly, investigated by measuring the frictional force under actual CMP conditions for dielectrics and Cu. Measurement of two dimensional frictional force.—A deadweight-type CMP apparatus with a 50 cm diam platen was used, as shown in Fig. 1. The wafer was supported by pulleys and rotated spontaneously or was driven by a motor mounted on a stage, which was free to move in two orthogonal directions, i.e., x and y directions, as shown in Fig. 1a. Frictional forces acting on the wafer were measured by load cells 共Kyowa Electronic Inst.兲, which supported the stage, aligned in the x and y directions.8,9 The platen’s rotational speed, i.e., sliding speed, was varied from 30 to 120 rpm 共30 to 120 m/min兲. Down force was varied from 4.9 k to 39 k Pa 共50 to 400 g/cm2兲. Dressing was carried out in situ by using a ring-type diamond dresser 共D-60/80, Engis Co.兲 with a down G752 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 150 共12兲 G751-G757 共2003兲 Table II. Abrasive free polishing solutions. „Products from Hitachi Chemical Co.… Table I. Process analogy. Dry etching Process gas gas flow rate pressure Plasma power frequency Temperature CMP Slurry flow rate concentration Polishing pad Friction down force rotational speed polishing pad Temperature force of 7.8 kPa 共80 g/cm2兲. A polishing pad made of polyurethane foam was used with 15 mm pitch, grid-patterned grooves on the surface 共IC1000, Rodel Co.兲. Four kinds of slurries were used. As a mechanical-effectdominant slurry, the alkaline silica-based slurry SS-225 共Cabot Co.; silica-abrasive concentration: 25 wt %兲, diluted either with deionized 共DI兲 water or ammonia solution 共pH 10.5兲 to the abrasive concentration of 12.5 wt % was used for Si and SiO2 polishing. In the experiments using various concentrations of SS-225, the ammonia solution was used for dilution. As chemical-effect-dominant slurries, abrasive-free polishing solutions HS-C430 and HS-C430-A3 共properties listed in Table II; Hitachi Chemical Co.; mixed with 30% H2 O2 solution兲 were used for Cu polishing.11,12 Alumina abrasive slurry QCTT1010 共Rodel Co., mixed with H2 O2 solution兲 was also used. Si wafers and thermally oxidized SiO2 films on Si wafers 共4 in. diam兲 were used for evaluating the performance of Si or SiO2 polishing. High-purity Cu plate and sputtered or electrochemically plated Cu films on oxidized Si wafers 共4 in. diam兲 were used for evaluating the performance of Cu polishing. Either TaN or TiN were Figure 1. Two-dimensional frictional-force measurement system. 共a兲 Bird’s eye view. 共b兲 Top view. Typical removal rate 共nm/min兲 Static etching rate for Cu 共nm/min兲 Ratio of mixing with H2 O2 solution 共30%兲 HS-400 HS-C430 Cu Barrier metals SiO2 160-200 400-600 共negligible兲 ⬍1.0 共negligible兲 ⬍1.0 HS:H2 O2 ⫽ 7:3 used as the barrier and adhesion layer. The dependence of removal rate and frictional force on polishing conditions, such as down force and rotational speed, was evaluated. The obtained dependences were compared with those predicted by Eq. 1, 2, and 3. Elimination of measurement errors.—In order to realize accurate measurement, components of frictional force due to other factors than that due to the wafer itself have to be eliminated. Customarily, frictional force has been mainly measured by detecting the change of the motor torque rotating the platen. The method, however, suffers significant problems resulting in insufficient accuracy and sensitivity. One is that the effect of the frictional force generated by in situ dressing which is used in actual polishing, is contained in the motor torque. The newly developed measurement system can eliminate completely the influence of the in situ dressing. The second problem is the component due to the friction between the retainer ring and the polishing pad. Conventionally, two types of the retainer ring have been used to prevent slip-out of the wafer during polishing. One employs a so-called mechanical supporting system, in which a retainer ring is fixed on a soft backing pad such as NF-200 共Rodel Co.兲, as shown in Fig. 2a. Value d, the height Figure 2. Comparison of retainer ring structures. 共a兲 Retainer ring fixed on a soft backing pad. 共b兲 Retainer ring for an air-supporting-type carrier. 共c兲 Experimental retainer ring with low frictional characteristics. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 150 共12兲 G751-G757 共2003兲 G753 Figure 4. Dependence of frictional force on carrier rotational speed. tional force was measured by arranging the x direction in the tangential direction and the y direction to the axial direction of the platen’s rotation. Figure 3. Frictional force dependence on tilting angle ␣. difference between the wafer and the retainer ring surface, has been determined empirically. When total down force F was very small, the frictional force due to the retainer ring and the polishing pad was negligible. The retainer ring touched the polishing pad surface with a partial down force f r , when F was increased. The ratio between the f r to the wafer, f w , and to the retainer ring, f r changed with the change of total F. Recently, a so-called air-bag supporting system, as shown in Fig. 2b, has come to be widely used. In this system, down forces f w and f r can be applied independently. A large f r was needed to prevent the slip-out of the wafer, resulting in large frictional force. These surplus frictional forces are generally larger than the net frictional force due to the wafer and the polishing pad and vary with CMP conditions. It has not been possible to accurately evaluate the frictional force by using conventional method, since the frictional force due to wafer polishing has not been extracted from the other parameters. To solve the problem due to the influence of the retainer ring, we employed a low friction retainer ring as shown in Fig. 2c. A low friction fluorocarbon polymer was employed. In addition, the f r was kept at about 0.98 kPa 共10 g/cm2兲 regardless of f w . Owing to these, the frictional force due to the retainer ring was kept within the range of 0.49 to 0.98 kPa 共5 to 10 g/cm2兲. Results and Discussion Influence of measuring direction.—The intention was to measure the whole frictional force as two orthogonal components, i.e., in the of x and y directions of the stage movement. The dependence of frictional force on tilting angle ␣, is shown in Fig. 1b. Tilting angle ␣ is defined as the angle between the line O-O⬘ 共connecting the centers of the platen and the wafer兲 and the y direction of the stage. The platen rotated at 60 rpm 共sliding speed was also 60 m/min兲, while the carrier rotated spontaneously. As shown in Fig. 3, the x direction component of the force was dominant when ␣ was zero, i.e., when the x direction was parallel to the tangential direction of the platen rotation. As ␣ increased, the y direction component also increased and became equal to the x direction component when ␣ reached 45 degrees. Throughout the measurement, the resultant force remained almost constant. The fric- Influence of rotational speed of the carrier.—To investigate the polishing conditions, it is necessary to determine a physically reasonable relationship between the rotational speed of the wafer and that of the platen. Patrick et al. found mathematically that a uniform removal rate distribution within a wafer should be obtained when the wafer is rotated at the same rotational speed as the platen.13 However, the actual effect of the relationship between wafer rotational speed and that of platen rotational speed on CMP performance has not been clarified yet. The influence of carrier rotational speed on frictional force was measured for a fixed platen rotational speed. The platen’s rotational speed and the down force were fixed at 60 rpm and 19.6 kPa 共200 g/cm2兲. An alumina abrasive slurry, QCTT1010 共QCTT1010 suspension mixed at the volume ratio of 2:1 with H2 O2 ) was used to polish a Cu plate. As shown in Fig. 4, when the carrier’s rotational speed was lower than that of the platen, the axial component of frictional force acted toward the outside direction. However, when the carrier’s rotational speed was larger than that of the platen, the axial component changed toward the center. When the rotational speed of the carrier was almost equal to that of the platen, only the tangential component was observed. This result suggests that the polishing condition under the same rotational speed for the platen and the carrier represents an energetically minimum state. After that, the experiments were carried out using the same rotational speed for the platen and the carrier. Although depending on the kind of slurry, the axial component sometimes was not zero when rotational speeds were same. In such a case, carrier rotational speed was adjusted to make the axial component to zero. Dependence of frictional force on down force.—Figure 5 shows dependence of frictional force on down force when DI water, SS225 diluted with DI water (SS-225:DI water ⫽ 1:1; abrasive concentration 12.5%兲 were used to polish Si and SiO2 . This figure shows that frictional force increased in almost linear proportion to the down force in both cases. This result suggests that dynamic frictional coefficient n in Eq. 3 is constant when down force changes. The frictional force in the case of the diluted SS-225 slurry was about two times larger than that in the case of DI water. The abrasive powder or chemical components in the slurry may have been the cause of this increase. Frictional characteristics of silica-abrasive-based slurries.—Experiments were carried out to investigate the dependence of the frictional force on the platen’s rotational speed and the abrasive concentration in the slurry. SS-225 slurries diluted to vari- G754 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 150 共12兲 G751-G757 共2003兲 Figure 5. Dependence of frictional force on down force. ous abrasive concentrations were prepared by using an ammonia solution 共pH 10.5兲, so as not to change pH even under extreme dilution. Figure 6 shows that frictional force decreased with increasing platen rotational speed for various abrasive concentrations. Figure 6. Dependence of frictional force on rotational speed. Figure 7. Frictional force dependence on abrasive concentration in SS-225 slurry diluted with ammonia solution. Comparison of the results in Fig. 6 with the dependence given by Eq. 3 revealed that the dynamic frictional coefficient n was not constant. Moreover, the dependence of frictional force on v can be simulated well by a fourth order of polynomials within the range of experimental conditions. The dependence of frictional force on abrasive concentration under various sliding speeds is shown in Fig. 7. Comparing the results using ammonia solution (abrasive concentration ⫽ 0) with that of diluted slurries containing abrasive powder, it is seen that a very small amount of abrasive addition, 0.1%, increased the frictional force significantly. After the frictional force reached the maximum value, at around 5 to 10%, it decreased again as abrasive concentration increased. Relationship between frictional force and removal characteristics.—As shown in Eq. 3, when coefficient h was independent of down force, removal rate varied in linear proportion to frictional force under a fixed v . The relationship between frictional force and removal rate was measured, using thermally oxidized SiO2 films with diluted SS-225 slurry 共1:1兲 with DI water or the ammonia solution, as shown in Fig. 8a. First, it can be seen that removal rate was linearly proportional to down force, but the removal rate for the slurry diluted with ammonia solution is only about 25% of that for the slurry diluted with DI water. The relationship between down force and frictional force is shown in Fig. 8b. It is clear that the frictional force also had a linear relationship with down force, and the frictional force produced by the diluted slurry with ammonia solution was significantly smaller than that produced by the diluted slurry with DI water. The relationship between frictional force and removal rate is shown in Fig. 9; the slope of the lines in both cases are quite similar. This result suggests that the removal mechanism and the coefficient value of h are almost the same in both cases. The major difference between the two slurries is the change of the frictional force, probably caused by the addition of ammonia. To summarize this section, it was shown that frictional force measurement is a very effective way to analyze the CMP mechanism. It can be concluded from the results above that coefficient h in Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 150 共12兲 G751-G757 共2003兲 G755 Figure 9. Correlation between removal rate and frictional force. rotational speed: 60 rpm兲. The initial low frictional force indicates that effective polishing did not occur at a down force below 9.8 kPa. After polishing at 24.5 k Pa 共250 g/cm2兲 and then decreasing the down force, however, the frictional force did not return to its initial value; instead, it showed hysterisis-like characteristics. Under elevated temperature, the nonlinear and hysterisis-like characteristics disappeared at around 30°C, as shown in the same figure. This result suggests that the removal characteristics of HS-C430 are temperature sensitive. On the other hand, when HS-C430-A3 was used, the nonlinear characteristics changed little with temperature, as shown in Fig. 11. This means that the CMP characteristics were stable when the solution C430-A3 was used for Cu polishing. It agrees with that demonstrated by Ohashi et al., i.e., the stable nonlinear characteristics are suitable for achieving better Cu surface planarity by the Damascene process.12 Figure 8. Dependence of removal rate and frictional force on down force. 共a兲 Dependence of the removal rate on down force. 共b兲 Dependence of the frictional force on down force. Eq. 3 is constant regardless of variation in down force, and the dependence of RR on down force p is linear, under a fixed sliding speed. Characteristics of abrasive-free polishing solutions.—As has been already reported, abrasive-free polishing solutions have a good enough performance for the Cu damascene process, as shown in Table II. Since such solutions show perfect stop-on-barrier characteristics, they enable extremely accurate fabrication.11,12 Frictional force was measured, first, by increasing down force and, then, by decreasing it in the case of HS-C430, as shown in Fig. 10. The arrows in the figures show the measurement order, i.e., by increasing or decreasing down fore. As seen in the figure, frictional force was very low when the down force was below 9.8 kPa 共100 g/cm2兲, and it increased steeply under larger down forces at around 20°C 共the Figure 10. Influence of polishing temperature on frictional force dependence on the down force. 共abrasive-free polishing solution HS-C430.兲 G756 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 150 共12兲 G751-G757 共2003兲 for a chemical-effect dominant solution. The slopes, i.e., the values of h, suggests that the reaction speed or mechanism involved in CMP might change with temperature. As we previously reported, a linear correlation between removal rate and frictional force was also found in the case of QCTT1010 slurry.8,9 Figure 11. Dependence of frictional force on down force and temperature. 共abrasive-free polishing solution HS-C430-A3.兲 Correlation for Cu polishing.—The HS-C430 solution showed significantly different dependence on polishing conditions than the SS-225 slurry, suggesting that it is strongly chemical-effect dominant. To confirm the role of frictional force in Eq. 3 in CMP characteristics, the correlation between frictional force and removal was evaluated. The relationship between frictional force and removal rate for Cu polishing using HS-C430 solution at around 20 and 30°C is shown in Fig. 12. HS-C430 solution was chosen because it exhibited significant change in the characteristics with the temperature change in Fig. 10. It was found that frictional force and removal rate had a linear relationship, even at different polishing temperatures, as shown in Fig. 12. From Fig. 12, it can be concluded that coefficient h in Eq. 2 is constant, regardless of down force under a fixed sliding speed, even Mechanical aspects of CMP mechanism.—The original empirical equation by Preston is very simple, i.e., Eq. 1. On the other hand, several discussions on the limits of this equation have been made, and the modified model has been proposed10 in Eq. 2. Equation 2 was devised by taking into account the contribution of the shear and normal components of the down force in Eq. 1. The values of ␣, , and M (p, v ) were determined by parameter fitting with experimental results for a certain slurry, while the physical meaning of M (p, v ) was not examined. Our experimental equation 共Eq. 3兲 is given from the energy conservation law where h corresponds to removal efficiency. As can be seen, Eq. 3 is very similar to Eq. 1. Because no assumption is contained in Eq. 3, it is clear that frictional force increased in proportion to increase in down force p, while it should have remained constant despite variations in the wafer’s sliding speed v , if the dynamic frictional coefficient n remained constant. In addition, Eq. 3 gives more information on the CMP mechanism. If the dependences of removal rate on either p or on v are different, they should be due to the change in the coefficient n or h, rather than due to the difference between dependence on p and v . RR should change in linear proportion to frictional force and to sliding speed, if coefficient h is independent of down force p and sliding speed v . An important difference between Eq. 3 and Eq. 2, thus exists on the dependence of removal rate on down force p and sliding speed v . Equation 3 was verified by the experiments using various slurries and temperatures, that removal rate depends linearly on the frictional force, i.e., coefficient h is constant under a fixed sliding speed. Regarding the change of dynamic frictional coefficient n, detailed evaluation of the slurries, especially hydrodynamic characteristics, is still required. Similar evaluation on the polishing pad would also be required, since the removal characteristics change significantly according to the method of slurry dilution, as shown in Fig. 9. In Fig. 9, the significant change in the removal rate was presumed to be due to the change in the surface characteristics of the polishing pad, because the pH of the two diluted slurries did not change. Constant c can be determined by chemical or mechanical characteristics of CMP, such as a threshold energy necessary to initiate polishing or chemical etching rate. Conclusions Figure 12. Relationship between frictional force and removal rate. 共abrasive-free polishing solution HS-C430.兲 The effects of mechanical parameters on the characteristics of CMP were evaluated quantitatively by directly measuring the frictional force acting on a wafer by using a newly developed system for measuring frictional force. The whole frictional force acting on the wafer was precisely measured in terms of two components, i.e., the tangential and axial components of the platen’s rotation. It was found that, when the platen and the wafer were rotated at the same rotational speed, in most cases only the tangential component of the frictional force was detected. The frictional force was also found to have a linear relationship with removal rate. Frictional force increased nearly in linear proportion to down force when mechanicaleffect-dominant CMP 共Si or SiO2 polishing兲 was carried out, while it gradually decreased as the platen’s rotational speed increased. Copper polishing using abrasive-free polishing solutions showed much more complex behavior. That is, the dependence of frictional force on down force showed nonlinear characteristics. Even when a nonlinear characteristic slurry was used, it was found that removal rate and frictional force also had a linear relationship. According to the results, an experimental equation was thus proposed by taking into account the dynamic frictional coefficient and a new coefficient corresponding to removal efficiency. Hitachi, Ltd., assisted in meeting the publication costs of this article. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 150 共12兲 G751-G757 共2003兲 References 1. R. R. Uttecht and R. M. Geffken, in Proceedings of the International VLSI Multilevel Interconnection Conference, VMIC, IEEE, p. 20 共1991兲. 2. K. Konishi, U.S. Pat. 3,895,391 共1975兲, Japanese Pat., P879423. 3. T. Izumitani and S. 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