低磨料浓度的碱性铜抛光液平坦化性能的研究

A novel alkaline copper slurry that possesses a relatively high planarization performance is investigated under a low abrasive concentration.Based on the action mechanism of CMP,the feasibility of using one type of slurry in copper bulk elimination process and residual copper elimination process,with different process parameters,was analyzed.In addition,we investigated the regular change of abrasive concentration effect on copper and tantalum removal rate and within wafer non-uniformity(WIWNU) in CMP process.When the abrasive concentration is 3 wt%,in bulk elimination process,the copper removal rate achieves 6125 °/min,while WIWNU is 3.5%,simultaneously.In residual copper elimination process,the copper removal rate is approximately 2700°/min,while WIWNU is 2.8%.Nevertheless,the tantalum removal rate is 0 °/min,which indicates that barrier layer isn’t eliminated in residual copper elimination process.The planarization experimental results show that an excellent planarization performance is obtained with a relatively high copper removal rate in bulk elimination process.Meanwhile,after residual copper elimination process,the dishing value increased inconspicuously,in a controllable range,and the wafer surface roughness is only 0.326 nm(sq < 1 nm) after polishing.By comparison,the planarization performance and surface quality of alkaline slurry show almost no major differences with two kinds of commercial acid slurries after polishing.All experimental results are conducive to research and improvement of alkaline slurry in the future.     

在铜CMP过程中降低抛光压力与磨料的机械作用

Chemical mechanical planarization(CMP) is a critical process in deep sub-micron integrated circuit manufacturing. This study aims to improve the planarization capability of slurry, while minimizing the mechanical action of the pressure and silica abrasive. Through conducting a series of single-factor experiments, the appropriate pressure and the optimum abrasive concentration for the alkaline slurry were confirmed. However, the reduced mechanical action may bring about a decline of the polishing rate, and further resulting in the decrease of throughput.Therefore, we take an approach to compensating for the loss of mechanical action by optimizing the composition of the slurry to enhance the chemical action in the CMP process. So 0.5 wt% abrasive concentration of alkaline slurry for copper polishing was developed, it can achieve planarization efficiently and obtain a wafer surface with no corrosion defect at a reduced pressure of 1.0 psi. The results presented here will contribute to the development of a “softer gentler polishing” technique in the future.     

Effect of copper slurry on polishing characteristics

The composition of the polishing solution is optimized by investigating the impact of the WIWNU (the so-called within-wafer-non-uniformity WIWNU) and the removal rate(RR) on the polishing characteristics of copper.The oxidizer concentration is 1 Vol%;the abrasive concentration is 0.8 Vol%;the chelating agent of the solution is 2 Vol%.The working pressure is 1 kPa.The defect on the surface is degraded and the surface is clean after polishing.The removal rate is 289 nm/min and the WIWNU is 0.065.The surface roughness measured by AFM after CMP(chemical mechanical planarization) is 0.22 nm.     

大分子螯合剂在低压力低磨料条件下铜膜的化学机械抛光中的应用

The mechanism of the FA/O chelating agent in the process of chemical mechanical polishing （CMP） is introduced. CMP is carried on a φ300 mm copper film. The higher polishing rate and lower surface roughness are acquired due to the action of an FA/O chelating agent with an extremely strong chelating ability under the condition of low pressure and low abrasive concentration during the CMP process. According to the results of several kinds of additive interaction curves when the pressure is 13.78 kPa, flow rate is 150 mL/min, and the rotating speed is 55/60 rpm, it can be demonstrated that the FA/O chelating agent plays important role during the CMP process.     

化学机械抛光制程中铜抛光液平坦化能力的评估

The evaluation methods of planarization capability of copper slurry are investigated.Planarization capability and material removal rate are the most essential properties of slurry.The goal of chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) is to achieve a flat and smooth surface.Planarization capability is the elimination capability of the step height on the copper pattern wafer surface,and reflects the passivation capability of the slurry to a certain extent.Through analyzing the planarization mechanism of the CMP process and experimental results,the planarization capability of the slurry can be evaluated by the following five aspects:pressure sensitivity,temperature sensitivity,static etch rate,planarization efficiency and saturation properties.     

The stability of a novel weakly alkaline slurry of copper interconnection CMP for GLSI

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is one of the important machining procedures of multilayered copper interconnection for GLSI,meanwhile polishing slurry is a critical factor for realizing the high polishing performance such as high planarization efficiency,low surface roughness.The effect of slurry components such as abrasive (colloidal silica),complexing agent (glycine),inhibitor (BTA) and oxidizing agent (H2O2) on the stability of the novel weakly alkaline slurry of copper interconnection CMP for GLSI was investigated in this paper.First,the synergistic and competitive relationship of them in a peroxide-based weakly alkaline slurry during the copper CMP process was studied and the stability mechanism was put forward.Then 1 wt％ colloidal silica,2.5 wt％ glycine,200 ppm BTA,20 mL/L H2O2 had been selected as the appropriate concentration to prepare copper slurry,and using such slurry the copper blanket wafer was polished.From the variations of copper removal rate,root-mean square roughness (Sq) value with the setting time,it indicates that the working-life of the novel weakly alkaline slurry can reach more than 7 days,which satisfies the requirement of microelectronics further development.     

基于化学机械动力学的碱性铜抛光液平坦化机理研究

The planarization mechanism of alkaline copper slurry is studied in the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process from the perspective of chemical mechanical kinetics.Different from the international dominant acidic copper slurry,the copper slurry used in this research adopted the way of alkaline technology based on complexation. According to the passivation property of copper in alkaline conditions,the protection of copper film at the concave position on a copper pattern wafer surface can be achieved without the corrosion inhibitors such as benzotriazole(BTA),by which the problems caused by BTA can be avoided.Through the experiments and theories research,the chemical mechanical kinetics theory of copper removal in alkaline CMP conditions was proposed. Based on the chemical mechanical kinetics theory,the planarization mechanism of alkaline copper slurry was established. In alkaline CMP conditions,the complexation reaction between chelating agent and copper ions needs to break through the reaction barrier.The kinetic energy at the concave position should be lower than the complexation reaction barrier,which is the key to achieve planarization.     

Alkaline barrier slurry applied in TSV chemical mechanical planarization

We have proposed a TSV （through-silicon-via） alkaline barrier slurry without any inhibitors for barrier CMP （chemical mechanical planarization） and investigated its CMP performance. The characteristics of removal rate and selectivity of Ti/SiO2/Cu were investigated under the same process conditions. The results obtained from 6.2 mm copper, titanium and silica show that copper has a low removal rate during barrier CMP by using this slurry, and Ti and SiO2 have high removal rate selectivity to Cu. Thus it may be helpful to modify the dishing. The TSV wafer results reveal that the alkaline barrier slurry has an obvious effect on surface topography correction, and can be applied in TSV barrier CME     

A new weakly alkaline slurry for copper planarization at a reduced down pressure

This study reports a new weakly alkaline slurry for copper chemical mechanical planarization （CMP）, it can achieve a high planarization efficiency at a reduced down pressure of 1.0 psi. The slurry is studied through the polish rate, planarization, copper surface roughness and stability. The copper polishing experiment result shows that the polish rate can reach 10032 A/rain. From the multi-layers copper CMP test, a good result is obtained, that is a big step height （10870 A） that can be eliminated in just 35 s, and the copper root mean square surface roughness （sq） is very low （〈 1 rim）. Apart from this, compared with the alkaline slurry researched before, it has a good progress on stability of copper polishing rate, stable for 12 h at least. All the results presented here are relevant for further developments in the area of copper CMP.     

碱性铜抛光液在300mm平坦化系统中CMP工艺优化的研究

CMP process optimization for bulk copper removal based on alkaline copper slurry was performed on a 300 mm Applied Materials Reflexion LK system. Under the DOE condition, we conclude that as the pressure increases, the removal rate increases and non-uniformity is improved. As the slurry flow rate increases, there is no significant improvement in the material removal rate, but it does slightly reduce the WIWNU and thus improve uniformity. The optimal variables are obtained at a reduced pressure of 1.5 psi and a slurry flow rate of 300 ml/min. Platen/carrier rotary speed is set at a constant value of 97/103 rpm. We obtain optimized CMP characteristics including a removal rate over 6452 A/min and non-uniformity below 4% on blanket wafer and the step height is reduced by nearly 8000 A/min in the center of the wafer on eight layers of copper patterned wafer, the surface roughness is reduced to 0.225 nm.     

新型碱性抛光液各组分对铜化学机械平坦化性能的影响

随着集成电路特征尺寸的减小、晶圆尺寸的增大以及布线层的逐渐增多,加工晶圆过程中实现较高的材料去除速率、较小的片内非一致性(WIWNU)及较小的表面粗糙度已经成为铜化学机械抛光工艺的几大难点.采用正交实验法选取5组抛光液进行Cu CMP实验,系统研究了含有双氧水、脂肪醇聚氧乙烯醚(AEO)、FA/O Ⅰ型螯合剂与苯骈三氮唑(BTA)的碱性抛光液化学组分对铜去除速率、WIWNU的影响,并对铜CMP的各种变化规律做出机理分析.结果表明:采用pH值约为8.6,体积分数为3％的H202,质量分数为0.08％的非离子表面活性剂AEO与体积分数为1.5％的螯合剂的碱性抛光液,在12英寸(1英寸=2.54 cm)铜镀膜片抛光后有助于去除速率达到629.1 nm/min,片内非一致性达到4.7％,粗糙度达到1.88 nm.     

铜抛光液对片内非均匀性影响的研究

对于低介电常数材料和铜互连结构在低压化学机械抛光中,研发新的抛光液和调整工艺参数是非常必要的。抛光液的研发是减少抛光表面划伤和解决磨料剩余的关键。抛光液组成由片内非均匀性和铜抛光去除速率特性来优化。氧化剂浓度1Vol%;磨料浓度0.8Vol%;螯合剂浓度2Vol%。工作压力1kPa。抛光后表面缺陷减小并且表面干净无污染。去除速率289nm/min,片内非均匀性0.065。化学机械抛光后用原子力测量粗糙度为0.22 nm。     

300mm铜膜低压CMP速率及一致性

随着铜互连结构中低k介质的应用,要求CMP抛光过程中必须将压力减小到6.89 kPa以下,传统的化学机械抛光已不符合当前的工艺要求,如何兼顾超低压力下抛光速率和速率一致性成为关键问题.对300 mm Blanket铜膜进行了低压化学机械抛光实验,分析研究了碱性抛光液组分及抛光工艺参数对铜膜去除速率及其一致性的影响.通过...     

Cu CMP抛光液对速率的影响分析及优化

在超大规模集成电路多层Cu布线CMP工艺中,抛光液是决定抛光速率、抛光表面状态和平坦化能力的重要因素。采用Plackett-Burman(PB)筛选实验对抛光液成分(磨料、氧化剂、活性剂、螯合剂)进行显著性因素分析,得出磨料、FA/O螯合剂Ⅱ型和氧化剂为显著性因素,并采用响应曲面法对其进行优化并建立了模型,最终得到以去除速率为评价条件的综合最优抛光液配比,为Cu抛光液配比优化及对CMP的进一步发展提供了新的思路与途径。     

碱性抛光液中H_2O_2对铜布线CMP的影响

化学机械平坦化(CMP)过程中,抛光液的化学作用对平坦化效果起着不可替代的作用。介绍了碱性抛光液中氧化剂(H2O2)对铜布线CMP的作用:H2O2对铜的强氧化性可以将铜氧化为离子状态,然后在螯合剂的螯合作用下快速去除铜膜;H2O2对铜的钝化作用可以保护凹处铜膜不被快速去除,从而有效降低高低差。此外,还研究了碱性抛光液中不同H2O2浓度对铜的静态腐蚀速率、动态去除速率及铜布线平坦化结果的影响。研究表明:抛光液对铜的静态腐蚀速率随H2O2浓度的增大逐渐降低然后趋于饱和;铜的动态去除速率随H2O2浓度的增大而逐渐降低;抛光液的平坦化能力随H2O2浓度的增大逐渐增强再趋于稳定。