公开(公告)号：US20230390883A1

公开(公告)日：2023-12-07

申请号：US17961516

申请日：2022-10-06

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Haoquan Fang ,  Thomas H. Osterheld ,  Benjamin Cherian ,  Jun Qian ,  Kun Xu ,  Sohrab Pourmand ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Jeonghoon Oh ,  Dominic J. Benvegnu ,  Brian J. Brown

IPC: B24B37/005 ,  B24B37/32 ,  G01N29/44 ,  G01N29/46

CPC classification number: B24B37/005 ,  B24B37/32 ,  G01N29/4436 ,  G01N29/4427 ,  G01N29/46

Abstract: A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes a platen supporting a polishing pad, a carrier head to hold a surface of a substrate against the polishing pad, an acoustic sensor supported on the platen, and a motor to generate relative motion between the platen and the carrier head so as to polish the substrate. The carrier head includes a retaining ring for holding the substrate, and the acoustic sensor travels in a path below the carrier head and the retaining ring. A controller is configured to analyze a signal from the acoustic sensor and determine a characteristic of the retaining ring based on the signal.

公开(公告)号：US20230286107A1

公开(公告)日：2023-09-14

申请号：US17691101

申请日：2022-03-09

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Patrick A. Higashi ,  Hassan G. Iravani ,  Harry Q. Lee ,  Haosheng Wu ,  Eric T. Wu ,  Ningzhuo Cui ,  Jeonghoon Oh ,  Christopher Lai ,  Jun Qian

IPC: B24B49/10 ,  B24B37/26

CPC classification number: B24B49/105 ,  B24B37/26

Abstract: A body is brought into contact with a polishing pad of a polishing system, a polishing liquid is supplied to the polishing pad, relative motion between the body and the polishing pad is generated while the body contacts the polishing pad, a signal from an in-situ eddy current monitoring system during the relative motion while the body contacts the polishing pad, generating, and mechanical vibrations in the polishing system are detected based on a signal from the in-situ eddy current monitoring system.

公开(公告)号：US11699595B2

公开(公告)日：2023-07-11

申请号：US17185876

申请日：2021-02-25

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Dominic J. Benvegnu ,  Jun Qian ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Thomas H. Osterheld

IPC: B24B37/005 ,  H01L21/321 ,  B08B7/00

CPC classification number: H01L21/3212 ,  B08B7/0035 ,  B24B37/005

Abstract: A substrate cleaning system includes a cleaner module to clean a substrate after polishing of the substrate, a drier module to dry the substrate after cleaning by the cleaner module, a substrate support movable along a first axis from a first position in the drier module to a second position outside the drier module, and an in-line metrology station including a line-scan camera positioned to scan the substrate as the substrate is held by the substrate support and the substrate support is between the first position to the second position. The first axis is substantially parallel to a face of the substrate as held in by the substrate support.

公开(公告)号：US11577356B2

公开(公告)日：2023-02-14

申请号：US16554427

申请日：2019-08-28

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Benjamin Cherian ,  Jun Qian ,  Nicholas Wiswell ,  Dominic J. Benvegnu ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Thomas H. Osterheld

IPC: G06N3/02 ,  B24B37/013 ,  G06N3/084

Abstract: During chemical mechanical polishing of a substrate, a signal value that depends on a thickness of a layer in a measurement spot on a substrate undergoing polishing is determined by a first in-situ monitoring system. An image of at least the measurement spot of the substrate is generated by a second in-situ imaging system. Machine vision processing, e.g., a convolutional neural network, is used to determine a characterizing value for the measurement spot based on the image. Then a measurement value is calculated based on both the characterizing value and the signal value.

公开(公告)号：US20220270889A1

公开(公告)日：2022-08-25

申请号：US17185876

申请日：2021-02-25

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Dominic J. Benvegnu ,  Jun Qian ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Thomas H. Osterheld

IPC: H01L21/321 ,  B24B37/005 ,  B08B7/00

Abstract: A substrate cleaning system includes a cleaner module to clean a substrate after polishing of the substrate, a drier module to dry the substrate after cleaning by the cleaner module, a substrate support movable along a first axis from a first position in the drier module to a second position outside the drier module, and an in-line metrology station including a line-scan camera positioned to scan the substrate as the substrate is held by the substrate support and the substrate support is between the first position to the second position. The first axis is substantially parallel to a face of the substrate as held in by the substrate support.

公开(公告)号：US20210407066A1

公开(公告)日：2021-12-30

申请号：US17359345

申请日：2021-06-25

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Sivakumar Dhandapani ,  Arash Alahgholipouromrani ,  Dominic J. Benvegnu ,  Jun Qian ,  Kiran Lall Shrestha

IPC: G06T7/00 ,  G06T7/60 ,  B24B37/013

Abstract: A neural network is trained for use in a substrate thickness measurement system by obtaining ground truth thickness measurements of a top layer of a calibration substrate at a plurality of locations, each location at a defined position for a die being fabricated on the substrate. A plurality of color images of the calibration substrate are obtained, each color image corresponding to a region for a die being fabricated on the substrate. A neural network is trained to convert color images of die regions from an in-line substrate imager to thickness measurements for the top layer in the die region. The training is performed using training data that includes the plurality of color images and ground truth thickness measurements with each respective color image paired with a ground truth thickness measurement for the die region associated with the respective color image.

公开(公告)号：US09362186B2

公开(公告)日：2016-06-07

申请号：US14800246

申请日：2015-07-15

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Tomohiko Kitajima ,  Jeffrey Drue David ,  Jun Qian ,  Taketo Sekine ,  Garlen C. Leung ,  Sidney P. Huey

IPC: H01L21/66 ,  H01L21/321 ,  H01L21/3105 ,  H01L21/67 ,  H01L21/311

CPC classification number: H01L22/26 ,  B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/105 ,  H01L21/31053 ,  H01L21/31055 ,  H01L21/31111 ,  H01L21/31116 ,  H01L21/3212 ,  H01L21/67075 ,  H01L21/67092 ,  H01L21/67253 ,  H01L22/14 ,  H01L22/20 ,  H01L22/34 ,  H01L27/11556 ,  H01L27/11582

Abstract: A method of controlling polishing includes storing a base measurement, the base measurement being an eddy current measurement of a substrate after deposition of at least one layer overlying a semiconductor wafer and before deposition of a conductive layer over the at least one layer, after deposition of the conductive layer over the at least one layer and during polishing of the conductive layer on substrate, receiving a sequence of raw measurements of the substrate from an in-situ eddy current monitoring system, normalizing each raw measurement in the sequence of raw measurement to generate a sequence of normalized measurements using the raw measurement and the base measurement, and determining at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate based on at least the sequence of normalized measurements.

Abstract translation: 控制抛光的方法包括：在淀积位于半导体晶片上方的至少一层之后，以及在沉积导电层之后，至少沉积一层之后，存储基底测量，基底测量是衬底的涡流测量， 在至少一层上的导电层和在衬底上的导电层的抛光期间，从原位涡流监测系统接收衬底的原始测量序列，使原始测量序列中的每个原始测量标准化以产生 使用原始测量和基础测量的归一化测量序列，以及至少基于归一化测量的序列来确定抛光终点或抛光速率的调整中的至少一个。

公开(公告)号：US09056383B2

公开(公告)日：2015-06-16

申请号：US13777829

申请日：2013-02-26

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Jeffrey Drue David ,  Benjamin Cherian ,  Dominic J. Benvegnu ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Thomas H. Osterheld ,  Jun Qian ,  Thomas Li ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  David J. Lischka ,  Steven M. Zuniga

IPC: B24B49/00 ,  B24B49/12 ,  B24B37/013

CPC classification number: B24B49/12 ,  B24B37/013

Abstract: A method of operating a polishing system includes polishing a substrate at a polishing station, the substrate held by a carrier head during polishing, transporting the substrate to an in-sequence optical metrology system positioned between the polishing station and another polishing station or a transfer station, measuring a plurality of spectra reflected from the substrate with a probe of the optical metrology system while moving the carrier head to cause the probe to traverse a path across the substrate and while the probe remains stationary, the path across the substrate comprising either a plurality of concentric circles or a plurality of substantially radially aligned arcuate segments, and adjusting a polishing endpoint or a polishing parameter of the polishing system based on one or more characterizing values generated based on at least some of the plurality of spectra.

Abstract translation: 一种操作抛光系统的方法包括在抛光台处抛光衬底，在抛光期间由衬底保持的衬底，将衬底传送到定位在抛光站与另一抛光站或转移站之间的顺序光学测量系统 测量由光学计量系统的探针从衬底反射的多个光谱，同时移动载体头以使探针横穿穿过衬底的路径，并且当探针保持静止时，穿过衬底的路径包括多个 同心圆或多个基本上径向对齐的弧形段，以及基于基于多个光谱中的至少一些生成的一个或多个特征值来调整抛光系统的抛光端点或抛光参数。

公开(公告)号：US20140242881A1

公开(公告)日：2014-08-28

申请号：US13779686

申请日：2013-02-27

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Jeffrey Drue David ,  Gregory E. Menk ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  Jun Qian ,  Sivakumar Dhandapani ,  Benjamin Cherian ,  Thomas H. Osterheld ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek

IPC: B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/12

CPC classification number: B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/12

Abstract: A method of controlling a polishing operation is described. A controller stores an optical model for a layer stack having a plurality of layers and a plurality of input parameters including a first parameter and a second parameter. The controller stores data defining a plurality of default values for the first parameter and measures an optical property of a substrate and generates a second value. Using the optical model and the second value and iterating over the first values, a number of reference spectra are calculated. A spectrum is measured and the measured spectrum is matched to the reference spectra and the best matched reference spectrum is determined. The first value of the best matched reference spectrum is determined and is used to adjust a polishing endpoint or a polishing parameter of a polishing apparatus.

Abstract translation: 描述了一种控制抛光操作的方法。 控制器存储具有多个层的层堆叠的光学模型和包括第一参数和第二参数的多个输入参数。 控制器存储为第一参数定义多个默认值的数据，并测量衬底的光学特性并产生第二值。 使用光学模型和第二个值并迭代第一个值，计算多个参考光谱。 测量光谱，并测量光谱与参考光谱相匹配，并确定最佳匹配参考光谱。 确定最佳匹配参考光谱的第一个值，并用于调整抛光装置的抛光终点或抛光参数。

公开(公告)号：US20140242879A1

公开(公告)日：2014-08-28

申请号：US13777829

申请日：2013-02-26

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Jeffrey Drue David ,  Benjamin Cherian ,  Dominic J. Benvegnu ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Thomas H. Osterheld ,  Jun Qian ,  Thomas Li ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  David J. Lischka ,  Steven M. Zuniga

IPC: B24B49/12

CPC classification number: B24B49/12 ,  B24B37/013

Abstract: A method of operating a polishing system includes polishing a substrate at a polishing station, the substrate held by a carrier head during polishing, transporting the substrate to an in-sequence optical metrology system positioned between the polishing station and another polishing station or a transfer station, measuring a plurality of spectra reflected from the substrate with a probe of the optical metrology system while moving the carrier head to cause the probe to traverse a path across the substrate and while the probe remains stationary, the path across the substrate comprising either a plurality of concentric circles or a plurality of substantially radially aligned arcuate segments, and adjusting a polishing endpoint or a polishing parameter of the polishing system based on one or more characterizing values generated based on at least some of the plurality of spectra.

Abstract translation: 一种操作抛光系统的方法包括在抛光台处抛光衬底，在抛光期间由衬底保持的衬底，将衬底传送到定位在抛光站与另一抛光站或转移站之间的顺序光学测量系统 测量由光学计量系统的探针从衬底反射的多个光谱，同时移动载体头以使探针横穿穿过衬底的路径，并且当探针保持静止时，穿过衬底的路径包括多个 同心圆或多个基本上径向对齐的弧形段，以及基于基于多个光谱中的至少一些生成的一个或多个特征值来调整抛光系统的抛光端点或抛光参数。