Publications Details
End-point process development for low-volume, high reliability tungsten CMP
A temperature end point method was developed for tungsten CMP (WCMP) processing in the Sandia Microelectronics Development Laboratory (MDL), a facility which develops and prototypes a variety of silicon based devices including ASIC, memory, radiation hardened CMOS and microelectromechanical systems. A large product variety and small production lot size prevents process recipe optimization or standardization for each mask level and product. Rigorous product reliability requirements and prohibitively expensive hardware qualifications essentially require that a single process and consumable set be established for all products, with minimal opportunity for adjustment. A timed process was not suitable without significant potential for manual inspections and rework. Over several weeks of processing on an IPEC 472, the temperature end point method gave a 7.7% 1-sigma end point time distribution. This enabled a 50% reduction in daily process qualification wafers, and allowed minimization of yield loss, rework, and oxide erosion.