Performing Planarization Process Controls in Semiconductor Fabrication
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChunhung Chen, Sheng-Chen Wang, Chin Wei Chuang
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Abstract
A planarization process is performed to a wafer. In various embodiments, the planarization process may include a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. A byproduct generated by the planarization process is collected and analyzed. Based on the analysis, one or more process controls are performed for the planarization process. In some embodiments, the process controls include but are not limited to process endpoint detection or halting the planarization process based on detecting an error associated with the planarization process.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a first component configured to polish a wafer, wherein a polishing of the wafer generates byproducts;
- a second component configured to collect at least some of the byproducts generated during the polishing of the wafer;
- a third component configured to analyze the collected byproducts;
- and
- a fourth component configured to instruct the first component to adjust the polishing of the wafer based on an analysis of the collected byproducts provided by the third component.
A system, comprising:
- a first tool configured to perform a chemical-mechanical-polishing (CMP) process to a wafer, wherein the first tool includes a polishing component and a cleaning component, and wherein the polishing component generates a polishing byproduct during the CMP process, and wherein the cleaning component generates a cleaning byproduct during the CMP process;
- a second tool configured to capture samples of the polishing byproduct and the cleaning byproduct;
- a third tool configured to shoot rays or waves to the captured samples and produce an analysis of a material composition of the captured samples based on a response of the captured samples to the rays or waves;
- and
- a fourth tool configured to determine a process condition of the CMP process based on the analysis.
A system, comprising:
- a planarization tool configured to perform a planarization process to a wafer;
- a byproduct-capture tool configured to capture samples of a byproduct generated as a part of the planarization process;
- an e-sensor tool configured to analyze a content of the samples of the byproduct captured by the byproduct-capture tool;
- and
- one or more computers configured to perform one or more process controls for the planarization process based on an analysis produced by the e-sensor tool regarding the content of the captured samples.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.