Effect of Process Parameters on Friction Force and Material Removal in Oxide Chemical Mechanical Polishing

The relationship between sliding friction and material removal was investigated using a sensor to measure dynamic friction force according to process parameters such as pressure, velocity, conditioning, abrasive concentration, and slurry pH during oxide chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). Friction force and material removal linearly depend on applied load and relative velocity. A high relative velocity also has an effect on the boundary condition between the wafer and the pad, and friction force reduces with increase in relative velocity. Friction force reduces with polishing time during oxide CMP with ex situ conditioning because of the changes in pad roughness parameters such as Ra, Rp, Rpk, and Rsk. Thus, the in situ conditioning method increases removal rate and improves nonuniformity. Friction force can be uniformly distributed on the oxide wafer as abrasive concentration increases owing to the reduction in friction force loaded on one abrasive particle, improving the nonuniformity of removal rate. In oxide CMP using alkali-based slurry, the effective formation and mechanical removal of the Si–OH bond layer on the SiO2 surface also affect the temporal decrease in friction force and result in a higher removal rate, in comparison with the results of a high friction force and a low removal rate in oxide CMP using neutral-based slurry.