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Development of a single particle sizing system for monitoring abrasive particles in chemical mechanical polishing process

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An Erratum to this article was published on 04 April 2023

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Abstract

A particle sizer was developed for real-time monitoring of suspended particles in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurries to prevent any damage caused by coarse particles in the CMP process. Laser-induced light scattering from individual particles was utilized to monitor the concentration and size distribution of suspended particles in the CMP slurries, because monitoring is crucial for achieving higher than 80 % of chip yields by controlling the slurries. The particle sizer, Termed as PrimeSizer_SM Micro, consists of an integrated fluid system and optical sensing component. The PrimeSizer_SM Micro was calibrated using commercially available standard polystyrene-latex (PSL) particles with sizes in the range of 0.15–0.5 µm. Performance was evaluated in Terms of the PSL particle size distribution. Two types of CMP slurries, containing silica and ceria particles, were analyzed using the PrimeSizer_SM Micro. The results revealed the size distributions and concentrations of the CMP slurries.

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Abbreviations

x :

Size parameter

λ :

Wavelength

r :

Radius of particle

d :

Distance between the particle and photo detector

I :

Mie scattering intensity

I 0 :

Intensity of incident light

\(\sigma _{scat}^\prime \) :

Cross-section of differential scattering

σ ext :

Scattering cross-sectional area

D :

Diameter of particle

Q ext :

Extinction efficiency

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Technology Innovation Program (20004269, Development of LPC Large Particle Counter for the slurry quality monitoring in CMP process with Raman spectroscopy) funded By the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea).

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Authors

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Correspondence to Hyeong-U Kim or Taesung Kim.

Additional information

Changmin Kim received his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Kangwon National University, Korea, in 2015. He received his Master of Engineering degree in 2017 from the Department of Convergence Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Republic of Korea. He is currently Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Republic of Korea.

Sungwon Choi received his M.S. from Sogang Univesity in 2014. He is currently works as a resercher at Korea Spectral Products. His research interests are light scattering and optical analysis using machine learning.

Jeongan Choi is a Senior Researcher at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM). He received the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA, in 2021. His current research interests include plasma technologies for renewable energy devices and laser diagnostics for reacting flows.

Hyunho Seok is a Ph.D. candidate in SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT) at Sungkyunkwan University. He received his B.S. degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University in 2019. His research interest is plasma-assisted 2D materials and 2D heterostructures synthesis and mechanism investigation for their electrical and electrochemical applications.

Keun-Oh Park received his master’s degree at Pusan National University in 1993, worked at SK Hynix (device company), TES (equipment company), and now works as a researcher at Korea Spectral Products. His research interests focus on process diagnosis and LPC of semiconductor equipment.

Youngho Cho received his Ph.D. from-Kookmin Univesity in 2019. He is currently works as a resercher at Korea Spectral Products. His research interests are spectroscopy, especially Raman and plasma spectroscopy.

Kihong Park received his Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Changwon National University, Republic of Korea, in 2015. He received his Master of Engineering degree in 2017 from the Department of Convergence Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Republic of Korea. He is currently Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Republic of Korea.

Sanghyuck Jeon received his Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Department Materials Science & Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea, in 2015. He received his Master of Engineering degree in 2017 from the Department of Convergence Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Republic of Korea. He is currently Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Republic of Korea.

Hyeong-U Kim received his B.S. from Hanyang University in 2013 and Ph.D. degree in 2019 from Sungkyunkwan University. He is currently a Senior Researcher in the Department of Plasma Engineering from Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM). His research field is plasma-based 2D semiconductor and heterostructure synthesis and etching for various applications

Taesung Kim received his B.S. from Seoul National University in 1994 and a Ph.D. degree in 2002 from the University of Minnesota. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and SAINT at Sungkyunkwan University. His research interest is aerosol technology, semiconductor process (chemical mechanical planarization and cleaning), and plasma process for 2D material synthesis.

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Kim, C., Choi, S., Choi, J. et al. Development of a single particle sizing system for monitoring abrasive particles in chemical mechanical polishing process. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 1317–1324 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0218-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0218-y

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