Page 259 - Semiconductor Manufacturing Handbook

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CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING

17.14 WAFER PROCESSING

will be critical for process stability. Wafer cleaning systems are becoming solvent based to reduce
CMP cleaning damage on low-k films. In addition, these new tools must offer increasing pad life,
reduced water consumption, and lower slurry utilization rates. Cost of ownership is increasingly a
bigger driver in CMP tool selection.
For advanced Cu CMP, some companies have reported depositing Cu and planarizing it on the same
platform. This would potentially allow for a deposit-etchback-deposit damascene-based trench fill
process. Integrating CMP tools with Cu deposition tools will likely occur in the future. Surprisingly, the
Cu CMP and Cu deposition processes are chemically very similar.
In summary, advanced CMP tools will likely consume less water and recycle some chemicals.
Toxic wastes will be better managed. They will be highly automated tools that offer good reliability
and low process cost of ownership. In addition, solvent or low-pressure based drying systems will
likely replace spin rinse driers in newer CMP tools as critical defect criteria keep reducing in size
and allowable surface density.

FURTHER READING

1. Lee, S. H., and R. Miller, Chemical Mechanical Polishing in Silicon Processing, Academic Press, Burlington,
MA, October 15, 1999.
2. Borst, C. L., W. N. Gill, and R. J. Gutmann, Chemical-Mechanical Polishing of Low Dielectric Constant
Polymers and Organosilicate Glasses: Fundamental Mechanisms and Application to IC Interconnect
Technology, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 2002.

INFORMATION RESOURCES

Novellus: http://www.novellus.com/damascus/tec/tec.asp.
CREOL in Florida: http://www.creol.ucf.edu/.
Clarkson University (CAMP): http://www.clarkson.edu/camp/.
The American Vacuum Society: http://www.avs.org/.
The Materials Research Society: http://www.mrs.org/.

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