ALPSITEC MECAPOL E 460 – CMP (CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING)

To be read first:

  • This tool is not a MICRO-ELECTRONIC compatible tool
  • SAFETY OPERATOR MANUAL
  • The system is compatible with 4”, 6” and 8” wafers. It is possible to process other wafer sized or chips by bonding them to a carrier wafer (see the detailed procedure here).

RESERVATIONS RULES AND BILLING POLICY :

  1. Booking : No restriction
  2. Reservation names must correspond to operators
  3. Billing : Processing time
  4. No penalty fees in case of user’s no show

CONTENTS :

I. Equipment description

II. Available slurries

III. Examples of process

  • Oxide polishing
  • Silicon polishing
  • Metal polishing

IV. How to use the system

V. Links

VI. Gallery

I. Equipment description

The Alpsitec E 460 CMP tool is a semi-automatic system for the polishing and the planarization of wafers. The system is compatible with 4”, 6” and 8” wafers. It is possible to process other wafer sized or chips by bonding them to a carrier wafer (see the detailed procedure here). The tool is equipped with 2 pumps for slurry delivery and an ex-situ conditioning system. 

II. Available slurries

The slurries available at CMi are: 

  • 30N50 : Basic slurry made of colloidal SiO2 particles for dielectric polishing.

  • 30H50 : Acid slurry made of colloidal SiO2 particles for dielectric polishing.  This slurry is also  used to formulate slurries for metal polishing (Copper, Tungsten , Nickel ….). 

  • 40EA50 : Basic slurry for silicon polishing. It has to be used diluted 1:10 with water.

III. Examples of process

  • Oxide polishing

The polishing rate of the oxide is significantly dependent on the quality of the oxide. The process below is used for the qualification of the CMP tool (Uniformity and polishing rate) on blanket wafer with the slurry 30N50.

The targets are an thermal oxide is a thickness range of  less than 500A  (maximum range) and a removal rate between 2600 – 2800 A/min. The removal rate can be 2 to 5 times higher on deposited oxides.

This slurry can be used also for silicon, polysilicon and nitride. 

Step Duration Pad rotation speed Polishing head rotation speed Polishing head pressure
1 ▽ (Landing) 10 s 50 rpm 40 rpm 0.2 bar
2 ▽▽ (Skip – not used) – – – –
3 ▽▽▽ (Polishing) 1 min 30 s 85 rpm 78 rpm 0.79 bar
4 ▽▽▽▽ (Rinsing) 10 s 100 rpm 100 rpm 0.25 bar
  • Silicon polishing

The Si  polishing is used after grinding. The process below is used to remove the roughness  to get a miror surface for the wafer. The global removal is around 8 to 10 um for 10 min with a huge variation of the rate due to initial roughness. 

Step Duration Pad rotation speed Polishing head rotation speed Polishing head pressure
1 ▽ (Landing) 10 s 50 rpm 40 rpm 0.2 bar
2 ▽▽ (Skip – not used) – – – –
3 ▽▽▽ (Polishing) 10 min 90 rpm 100 rpm 0.79 bar
4 ▽▽▽▽ (Rinsing) 10 s 100 rpm 100 rpm 0.25 bar
  • Metal polishing

For metal polishing, the process are too dependent on the metal and the pattern, there is no reference process, please contact CMi staff for more information.

IV. How to use the system

The tool is not a microelectronic tool, but you have 2 sets of consumables. One set of consumable (Pad, head and conditioning tool) is for the microelectronic layers polishing and a second set (Pad, head and conditioning tool) is for copper polishing. 

The use of the tool is identical for both applications. The details of the procedure is in this document.

V. Links

VI. Gallery