The Mechanics of CMP and Post-CMP Cleaning Sinan Müftü Ahmed Busnaina George Adams Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manuf. Engineering Northeastern University Boston, MA 02115
Introduction Objective Outline Brief description of proposed modeling work Previous work on material removal rate (MRR) Mixed lubrication in CMP and tape recording! Summary
Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) Goal is to remove excess material to ensure: - Reliable interconnects between multilayers - Uniform thickness of dielectric materials Interlayer Dielectric Carrier Polishing pad Slurry Wafer Rotating platen Source: J.A. Hopwood, Thin Films, Vol. 27, 2000. Abrasive silica particles ~50-100 nm Wafer Polishing pad Wafer-pad clearance, h Source: A. Philliposian, Uinv. of Arizona, 2001 Source: A. Jensen et al., Solid State Technology, June 2001
Post-CMP Brush Cleaning Operation brus h brus h brus h Non - Contact Partial Contact Complete Contact Results In brush cleaning, contact between the particle and the brush is essential to the removal of submicron particles. In non-contact mode, 0.1-micron particle are difficult to remove when the brush is more than 1 micron above the particle. In full contact mode, RM>>1 for typical brush rotating speeds investigated.
Objective Investigate the mechanics of contact and wear in CMP (post-cmp cleaning) by studying the simultaneous effects of: deformation of the polishing pad (scrubbing brush), lubrication due to cleaning slurry (liquid) and deformations of surface asperities and abrasive particles.
Effect of pad deformation and lubrication P 0 pad wafer r slurry P c r Pad deformation redistributes the load P 0 non-uniformly Lubrication carries part of the load, 0 0 Elastohydrodynamic lubrication The contact pressure distribution on the wafer surface is non-uniform, P c =P c (r,θ). As contact is responsible for the material removal (I.e., M in CMP, ) it is important to know how the mechanics of lubrication, pad, asperity and abrasives affect it.
Factors that Influence Material Removal Rate and Quality Independent parameters: External pushdown pressure, P 0 Relative sliding speed, V Slurry Liquid Chemistry Flow rate Viscosity, m Abrasive Size distribution, Material properties Polishing pad, E p, p, H p Wafer, E w, w, H w Abrasive, E a, a, H a Friction coeffcients Pad and wafer geometry Pad and wafer surface topography Dependent parameters: Contact pressure distribution, P c (r, ) Liquid pressure distribution, P l (r, ) Deformation distribution, Pad, U p Wafer U w and Asperities U a Real Contact area Wafer-to-pad clearance distribution, h(r, ) These will control Material removal rate Polishing uniformity, Surface quality
Detailed Modeling the Mechanics of CMP The 3D model will consider Pad deformations (FEM) Three dimensional large deformation elasticity non-linear material behavior Poroelasticity can be addressed later p(r,θ)=p atm r V top (r,θ) Wafer deformations (FEM) can be addressed later Slurry lubrication (FEM and FDM) Incompressible, viscous fluid with low Reynolds Number Steady state V bot (r,θ) Chemical reactions, Effects of abrasive particles on the fluid flow, and Transient effects can be addressed later Mechanics of deformation of abrasives and pad surface roughness
Detailed Modeling the Mechanics of CMP Contact can occur on the tips of wafer asperities and on the abrasive particles embedded in the pad A combined model to predict Abrasive silica particles ~50-100 nm Wafer Polishing pad Source: A. Philliposian, Uinv. of Arizona, 2001 Wafer-pad clearance, h the real contact area due to pad asperities and such as Greenwood & Williamson Model the number of abrasives that are caught in that contact area Abrasive density and size distribution is necessary A model for three body contact that considers elasticity of the upper and lower planes and the abrasive is necessary (especially as R 0). R A 2 abrasives Real contact area A 1
Detailed Modeling the Mechanics of CMP Wear Dominant contact related wear mode is abrasion Third bodies (abrasives) act like two body Adhesive wear typically modeled by L Vr = k Fr H V% Source: Stachowiak and Batchelor, Engineering Tribology, 2001. :wear volume r k :geometric constant L :sliding length H F r :Hardness :Normal force
Material Removal Rate (MRR) P 0 Material removal occurs as a result of: Chemical etching and Mechanical wear Abrasive wear Three body abrasion Source: A. Philliposian, Uinv. of Arizona, 2001 V, relative sliding speed Material removal rate is critical to control the CMP MRR K PV Preston s equation (1927): P 0 Modified Preston s equation: P 0 Zhang and Busnaina (1999): = MRR = K PV + MRR MRR= K PV 3/2 3/2 Zao and Shi (1998, 1999): MRR = KV P ( P0 Pth ) P 0 init K p is empirically determined
Work of Luo and Dornfield (2001) ( 1/3 1 3 ) MRR= C1 Φ CP 2 0 PV 0 C 1, C 2 deterministic functions of slurry chemicals, slurry abrasives, wafer size, wafer density, wafer hardness, pad hardness pad material and pad roughness is probability density function The effect of local equilibrium due to pad deformation and lubrication are not included
Elastohydrodynamic lubrication in tape recording V h Air lub. x T Moment and out-of-plane equilibrium: 2 ( ρ ) ( ) Dw + kw+ cv N w N w = p+ p p, xxxx t, xx, x, x c a N R In-plane equilibrium: N, x + τ = 0 with Rigid body contact pressure: h pc = pc( h, σ 0, P0), e.g., = P0 1 σ Air lubrication: Coulomb friction (in case of sliding) 1 if Vt > 0 τ = fpc 1 if Vt < 0 d 3 ( 6 2) dp ph λ ph 6 a µ ( Vt Vr) dph dx + = + dx dx 0 2 16 parameters control 5 dependent variables: w, h, p air, p cont, N
Equilibrium of contact and air lubrication in head/tape interface V h Air lub. x T Head/tape clearance, h/σ 0 2.00 1.75 1.50 1.25 1.00 0.75 0.50 V=1 m/s, T=80 N/m Air, contact pressure, p/p a 1.00 0.75 0.50 0.25 V=1 m/s, T=80 N/m Tape tension Contactpressure 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1 0.9 0.8 Tape tension, T (N/m) 0.25 0.00 Air pressure 0.7 0.6 0.00 0 0.5 1 Longitudinal direction, x 0 0.5 1 Longitudinal direction, x 0.5
Effect of tape speed on Equilibrium in head/tape interface Head/tape clearance, h/σ 0 1.50 1.25 1.00 0.75 0.50 V = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 m/s V = 10 m/s V = 2 m/s 0 0.5 1 Longitudinal direction, x Head/tape clearance is nonlinearly related to tape speed, and tension. Software tools are commonly used by tape-recording industry.
Non-uniform pad deformation due to slurry lubrication in CMP Levert, Danyluk, and Tichy (1997-9) Lubrication in Journal Bearings & the Stribeck Curve Source: Philliposian (2001) Coefficient of Friction (unitless) 10 1 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.0001 asperity contact 1 10 100 1000 10000 (Shaft Velocity, rpm) x (Oil Viscosity, cpoise) / (Bearing Pressure, psi) rotating shaft partial contact (mixed lubrication) hydrodynamic lubrication stationary cylindrical bearing oil bearing load
Non-uniform pad deformation due to slurry lubrication in CMP Levert, Danyluk, and Tichy (1997-9) Calculated film thickness Calculated fluid pressure The equilibrium between; external load, slurry pressure and restoring force of the pad and asperities develop such that the film thickness has a diverging shape on the entry side. The fluid film expands into this cavity and develops a subambient pressure Measured fluid pressure Net downward force acting on the polishing pad = external load + load due to negative pressure!
US Patent 6,118,626 (2000) Contact Sheet Recording with a Self-Acting Negative Air Bearing, Sinan Muftu, Hans F. Hinteregger Wrap Angle, P<P atm q Tape Speed, V Head Length, R&W Device q Tension, T Head/Tape Spacing Measurements Using Two-Wavelength Interferometry h (nm) 300 250 200 150 100 50 H = 609 µm, θ = 3 o, V = 3.81 m/s L B D isplacement-bump regions Centeral contact region Tape motion T =10.94 N/m T =21.89 T =43.76 T =65.67 L B and H B increase with increasing T Head/tape spacing settles to 40<h<50 nm Downstream and upstream bump height H B differences are inconclusive due to wrap angle uncertainties. Flat Head Geometry 0-50 0 200 400 600 x (µm)
RESULTS: Head/Tape Spacing Measurements Using Two-Wavelength Interferometry Typical Measurements and Calculations for: H,=16 mils, θ = 2 o, V =50, 100, 150 ips, T = 1,2,4,6 oz/in h meas (nm) 300 250 200 150 100 50 V = 1.27 m/s T=1 0.94 N/m T=2 1.89 T=4 3.78 T=6 5.67 H = 406 µm, θ = 2 o V = 2.54 m/s V = 3.81 m/s 0-50 h calc (nm) 300 250 200 150 100 50 T=1 0.94 N/m T=2 1.89 T=4 3.78 T=6 5.67 0-50 0 100 200 300 400 0 100 200 300 400 Distance along the head, x (µm) 0 100 200 300 400
Summary of proposed work Goal is to investigate the mechanics of contact and wear in CMP (post-cmp cleaning) Develop a model that will include the effects of deformation of the polishing pad (scrubbing brush) lubrication due to cleaning slurry (liquid) deformations of surface asperities and abrasive particles material removal There are similarities with the experimental work Tribology and Fluid Dynamics Characterization of CMP Pads by Dr. A. Philliposian at U.of Arizona. which can be advantageous to understanding the fundamentals fo polishing and cleaning.
Outcomes The modeling tool can be used to: - Analyze the contact mechanics: The contributions of -slurry flow, -pad elasticity, wafer deformation -pad surface roughness on contact forces will be characterized. - Investigate the causes of polishing non-uniformity - Optimize abrasive density in slurry - Control (optimize) contact pressure distribution - The effects of smaller abrasives and different slurry liquids can be analyzed.
Contact Pressure Contact occurs on the asperity tips The real and apparent contact pressures, P r and P a, are related: A a F a R p Greenwood and Williamson (1966) p r = P π a Fa = = Pr = A p d a pa a a ( ) φ() NR s d sds F A r r F r Source: E. Rabinowicz, Friction and Wear of Materials, 1995 N: Number of asperities : Probability density function of asperity peak height distribution d: Separation of surfaces