Polishing Pad Analysis and Improvement to Control Performance

In this paper, a polishing pad has been analyzed in detail, to understand surface phenomena of polishing process. The polishing pad plays a key role in polishing process and is one of the important layer in polishing process, because it is a reaction layer of polishing[1]. Pad surface physical property is also ruled by pad profile. The profile and roughness of pad is controlled by different types of conditioning tool. Conditioning tool add mechanical force to pad, and make some roughness and profile. Formed pad surface will affect on polishing performance such as RR (Removal Rate) and uniformity in CMP Pad surface condition is changed by conditioning tool and dummy run and is stable at final. And this research, we want to reduce break-in and dummy polishing process by analysis of pad surface and artificial machining to make stable pad surface. The surface treatment or machining enables to control the surface of polishing pad. Therefore, this research intends to verify the effect of the buffing process on pad surface through analysis of the removal rate, friction force and temperature. In this research, urethane polishing pad which is named IC pad(Nitta-Haas Inc.) and has micro pore structure, is studied because, this type of pad is most conventional type.