公开(公告)号：DE69935291D1

公开(公告)日：2007-04-12

申请号：DE69935291

申请日：1999-07-30

Applicant: SIEMENS AG ,  IBM

Inventor： BOGGS KARL E ,  LIN CHENTING ,  NEUTZEL JOACHIM F ,  PLOESSL ROBERT ,  RONAY MARIA ,  SCHNABEL FLORIAN ,  STEPHENS JEREMY K

IPC: H01L21/304 ,  H01L21/3105 ,  B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/12 ,  H01L21/306 ,  H01L21/66 ,  H01L23/544

Abstract: The method of polishing metal layers on wafers comprises the steps of: using a chemical-mechanical polisher (50) to polish the metal layers (32) to remove material therefrom, inspecting indicator areas on the wafer to determine an amount of material removed from said areas (80), and adjusting the operation of the chemical-mechanical polisher (50) in response to the inspection of the indicator areas (80). The indicator areas (80) may include macroblocks comprised of a multitude of individual blocks (82). The wafer may be inspected by optically identifying the polishing state of the blocks (82) in the macroblock (80). Additionally, the process may be automated for mass production. A feedback loop to the polisher can be formed where data from optical inspection of macroblocks on a polished wafer can be immediately fed back to the polisher in order to adjust process parameters.

公开(公告)号：DE69935291T2

公开(公告)日：2007-11-22

申请号：DE69935291

申请日：1999-07-30

Applicant: SIEMENS AG ,  IBM

Inventor： BOGGS KARL E ,  LIN CHENTING ,  NEUTZEL JOACHIM F ,  PLOESSL ROBERT ,  RONAY MARIA ,  SCHNABEL FLORIAN ,  STEPHENS JEREMY K

IPC: H01L21/304 ,  H01L21/3105 ,  B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/12 ,  H01L21/306 ,  H01L21/66 ,  H01L23/544

Abstract: The method of polishing metal layers on wafers comprises the steps of: using a chemical-mechanical polisher (50) to polish the metal layers (32) to remove material therefrom, inspecting indicator areas on the wafer to determine an amount of material removed from said areas (80), and adjusting the operation of the chemical-mechanical polisher (50) in response to the inspection of the indicator areas (80). The indicator areas (80) may include macroblocks comprised of a multitude of individual blocks (82). The wafer may be inspected by optically identifying the polishing state of the blocks (82) in the macroblock (80). Additionally, the process may be automated for mass production. A feedback loop to the polisher can be formed where data from optical inspection of macroblocks on a polished wafer can be immediately fed back to the polisher in order to adjust process parameters.