Effect of chelating agent concentration in alkaline Cu CMP process under the condition of different applied pressures

We propose the action mechanism of Cu chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) in an alkaline solution. Meanwhile, the effect of abrasive mass fraction on the copper removal rate and within wafer non-uniformity (WIWNU) have been researched. In addition, we have also investigated the synergistic effect between the applied pressure and the FA/O chelating agent on the copper removal rate and WIWNU in the CMP process. Based on the experimental results, we chose several concentrations of the FA/O chelating agent, which added in the slurry can obtain a relatively high removal rate and a low WIWNU after polishing, to investigate the planarization performance of the copper slurry under different applied pressure conditions. The results demonstrate that the copper removal rate can reach 6125 A/min when the abrasive concentration is 3 wt.%. From the planarization experimental results, we can see that the residual step height is 562 A after excessive copper of the wafer surface is eliminated. It denotes that a good polishing result is acquired when the FA/O chelating agent concentration and applied pressure are fixed at 3 vol% and 1 psi, respectively. All the results set forth here are very valuable for the research and development of alkaline slurry.