Papers by Author: Feng Wei Huo

Abstract: A new D/SiO2 CMG tool for Al2O3 ceramic process was developed by adding some diamond abrasive into SiO2 CMG tool. The solid state reaction between the CMG tool and Al2O3 ceramic played a key role for achieving ultra-precision, high efficiency and low damage.Three kinds of formulations for the D/SiO2 tool were tested and evaluated. The material removal rate(MRR) of Al2O3 ceramic mainly depended on the content of diamond abrasive. In contrast with the corresponding SiO2 tool,the D/ SiO2 tool, which had minimal content of diamond abrasive,could achieve a minimal Ra and better MRR. The enhanced mechanical removal action made the MRR improve nearly twice times, and the process surface roughness of Al2O3 ceramic specimen using the D/ SiO2 tool kept almost same value as using the SiO2 tool without surface damage. Thus the D/ SiO2 tool is more suitable for process of Al2O3 ceramic workpieces.

Abstract: The effect of surfactant in alkaline slurry for copper chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) was studied through polishing experiments with slurries containing different weight percentage of four nonionic surfactants respectively. The results indicate that properly chosen nonionic surfactants with proper weight percentage could result in little negative influence on the material removal rate, but can help to improve copper wafer surface quality significantly. Alkylphenol ethoxylates was found to be an excellent surfactant for alkaline slurry and a surface roughness of Ra 0.89nm and a material removal rate of 526 nm/min were obtained when polishing with the slurry containing 0.25 wt% alkylphenol ethoxylates, while the surface roughness and the material removal rate were Ra 1.34nm and 525 nm/min respectively when polishing with the origin slurry. The density of polishing defects such as scratches and etch pits decreased significantly. The action mechanism of surfactant was further analyzed based on the experiment results.

Abstract: The calculating model of surface non-uniformity of polishing pad and the kinematical model between polishing pad and conditioner are initially established. Then the effects of several conditioning parameters were investigated by using the two models. The results of simulation and calculation show that the width ratio of diamond band of conditoner and the rotation speed at the same speed ratio between pad and conditioner have little effect on the surface non-uniformity of polishing pad, while at high non-integer rotation speed ratio, the surface non-uniformity of polishing pad is better than that at low integer speed ratio. The research results are available to select appropriate conditioning parameters especially for the stringent requirement of within-wafer non-uniformity in next generation IC.

Abstract: A 3D profiler based on scanning white light interferometry with a lateral sampling interval of 0.11μm was introduced to measure the surface topography of a #3000 diamond grinding wheel, and a large sampling area could be achieved by its stitching capability without compromising its lateral or vertical resolution. The protrusion height distribution of diamond grains and the static effective grain density of the grinding wheel were derived, and the wheel chatter and the deformation of the wheel were analyzed as well. The study shows that the grain protrusion height obeys an approximate normal distribution, the static effective grain density is much lower than the theoretical density, and only a small number of diamond grains are effective in the grinding process with fine diamond grinding wheel. There exists waviness on the grinding wheel surface parallel with the wheel cutting direction. The cutting surface of the grinding wheel is not flat but umbilicate, which indicates that the elastic deformation at the wheel edges is much larger than in the center region.

Abstract: Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) has been extensively used in the integrate circuit (IC) manufacturing industry as a widely accepted global planarization technology, accurate in situ endpoint detection of CMP process can reduce the product variance, significantly improve yield and throughput. A CMP in situ endpoint detection system, which measured the friction and downforce during CMP process using a specially designed three-axis strain gauge force sensor, was developed. The frictional transition from copper (Cu) to tantalum (Ta) barrier as well as Ta barrier to silicon dioxide (SiO2) dielectric was detected during CMP process. The experimental results showed that the change of friction could be detected when the polished material changed. The developed CMP in situ endpoint detection system is feasible for 300 mm and 450 mm copper CMP process.

Abstract: A new non-destructive method was developed to identify the grinding mode of silicon wafers, which is based on the information of subsurface cracks extracted from the surface topography of the ground silicon wafers measured with a 3D surface profiler. We examined extensive measurement data of the surface topography of silicon wafers processed by single grain grinding or real grinding operation, and our results show that the information about median cracks could be captured if the lateral sampling interval of the 3D surface profiler is small enough, even if the grain depth of cut is below 20nm. If the maximum valley of the measured surface topography is approximately equal to the grain depth of cut, surface formation will be under ductile mode, whereas, if the maximum valley is several times larger than the grain depth of cut, surface formation will be under brittle mode. According to this criterion, silicon wafers ground by ductile mode or brittle mode could be identified rapidly and conveniently. Experimental validation shows that this method is accurate.

Abstract: Grinding of single crystal silicon may be achieved by two modes of material removal: ductile mode and brittle mode. Knowing of the brittle to ductile transition point at which the grinding process changes from the brittle mode to ductile mode is critically important for the realization of ductile mode grinding. This paper uses a new single grain diamond grinding method developed recently by the authors to investigate the brittle to ductile transition during grinding of single crystal silicon in all around. The results indicate that there exist four stages of brittle to ductile transition as the depth of cut is reduced: firstly, the surface cracks outside the grinding groove disappeared, secondly
cracks on the bottom of the groove disappeared, then the lateral cracks ceased in the subsurface region, and finally the median crack is suppressed beneath the grooves. It is not until the depth of cut reaches the last transition point that a crack-free groove can be produced, therefore, the last transition stage is decisive. The critical depth of cut delineating the brittle to ductile transition point derived based on this criterion is 40 nanometers, which is much lower than that based on surface cracks.