Flow pressure and material removal rate in chemical mechanical planarization

Abstract

We investigated how a flow pressure between a rotating wafer and pad influenced the MRR of the wafer surface in the CMP process. We determined the flow pressure by solving Reynolds equation via application of the Reynolds boundary condition. The MRR was measured and verified with simulated results, and we confirmed that the MRR at the wafer center is smaller than it is at the wafer edge due to the flow pressure that is generated during the CMP process. We also confirmed that the MRR increases when the applied pressure of the wafer and pad increase.