Diamond disc pad conditioning in chemical mechanical polishing

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is a final major manufacturing step extensively used in semiconductor fabrication for flattening semiconductor wafers to obtain a mirror surface finish. In 2011, the CMP pad market yielded 626 million while the slurry market totaled 1.0 billion, and is forecasted to grow 7.0% in 2012 and exceed 1.3 billion by 2016 [1]. CMP is still considered the leading planarization technology for current and future manufacturing [2]. 

The CMP material removal mechanism involves a special combination of chemical and mechanical forces [3]. First, chemically active slurry containing fine abrasive particles is released onto the porous pad and attacks the film to be planarized to chemically modify it. This allows the mechanical action involving a three-body contact motion of pad, abrasive, and wafer under an applied pressure to easily facilitate 

Advances in Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP). http //dx.doi.Org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100165-3.00013-9 

In later developments, such as the abrasive disc described by Jackson et al. [14], diamond grits are more often used as the abrasive particles because of its wear resistance, chemical inertness, and reduced propensity to contaminate the pad or wafer [21]. 

To overcome the initial shortcomings, another device was proposed to employ a larger diameter metal disc on which diamond abrasives are uniformly arranged and coated [13]. In this case, pressure applied to the diamond disc controls the depth of cut (or penetration) in the pad. 

---

Diamond disc pad conditioning in chemical mechanical polishing... 

---