Design of experimental optimization for ULSI CMP process applications

As the device geometry shrinks to the deep sub-micron region, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) planarization has become a more essential technique in advanced ULSI process. In particular, the complete global planarization of multilevel interconnections can be achieved only with the CMP process. However, it still has various problems due to the CMP equipment. In particular, among the CMP components, process variables are very important parameters in determining the removal rate and non-uniformity. In this paper, we studied the design of experiments (DOE) method in order to obtain optimized CMP equipment variables. Various process parameters, such as table and head speed, slurry flow rate and down force, have been investigated from the viewpoint of high removal rate and low non-uniformity. Through the above DOE results, we can determine the optimal CMP process parameters. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.