Investigating effect of conditioner aggressiveness on removal rate during interlayer dielectric chemical mechanical planarization through confocal microscopy and dual emission ultraviolet-enhanced fluorescence imaging

The effect of conditioner aggressiveness is investigated in interlayer dielectric polishing on three types of pad. A method using confocal microscopy is used to analyze the effect of conditioner aggressiveness on pad-wafer contact. Results show that a more aggressive conditioner produces a higher interlayer dielectric polishing rate while at the same time a pad surface with fewer contacting summits and less contact area. It is found that the ratio of the contacting summit density to the contact area fraction is more important than either parameter measured separately since the ratio determines the mean real contact pressure. Modeling results based on contact area measurements agree well with experimental results. Moreover, it is found that a more aggressive disc also generates a thicker slurry film at the pad-wafer interface. This is in agreement with our general findings regarding pad asperity height distribution obtained using confocal microscopy.