DETECTION OF CLEARANCE OF POLYSILICON RESIDUE

• US 20080138988A1
• Filed: 12/07/2007
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Sin, Garrett, Lee, Chris Heung-Gyun, Karuppiah, Lakshmanan, Benvegnu, Dominic J., David, Jeffrey Drue, Mao, Daxin, Swedek, Boguslaw A., Qian, Jun, Dhandapani, Sivakumar
• Application Number:
  US11/952,777
• Publication Number:
  US 20080138988A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/692
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/3212 by chemical mechanical polishing [CMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/26 Acting in response to an ongoing measurement without interruption of processing, e.g. endpoint detection, in-situ thickness measurement endpoint detection arrangements in CMP apparatus B24B37/013, in discharge apparatus H01J37/32

Abstract

During polishing of a substrate, polysilicon can be removed from a surface of the substrate. Detecting an endpoint during polishing of polysilicon can include polishing the substrate having a polysilicon residue on an area of oxide area and optically detecting clearance of the polysilicon residue.

Claims

1. A method of detecting an endpoint during polishing of polysilicon, comprising:

polishing a substrate having polysilicon residue on an area of oxide; and

optically detecting clearance of the polysilicon residue.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein optically detecting clearance comprises selecting a reference spectrum, obtaining a current spectrum in-situ during polishing, and determining a polishing endpoint based on the reference spectrum and the current spectrum.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the polishing endpoint comprises calculating a difference between the reference spectrum and the current spectrum.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the reference spectrum corresponds to a spectrum from immediately after clearance of the polysilicon residue.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting the reference spectrum comprises polishing a test substrate and obtaining a test spectrum in-situ during polishing of the test substrate.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein selecting the reference spectrum further comprises observing the test spectrum, observing a sudden change in the 550-800 nm wavelength range of the test spectrum that occurs after initial exposure of the oxide, and selecting the reference spectrum proximally after the sudden change.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein selecting the reference spectrum further comprises calculating a difference between the test spectrum and a test reference spectrum corresponding to initial exposure of the oxide, detecting an inflection in the differential signal that occurs after initial exposure of the oxide, and selecting the reference spectrum proximally after the inflection.

8. A method of detecting an endpoint, comprising:

receiving a spectrum during polishing of a substrate having polysilicon residue on an oxide area; and

optically detecting clearance of the polysilicon residue using the spectrum.

9. A computer program product, tangibly stored on machine readable medium, the product comprising instructions operable to cause a processor to:

receive a spectrum during polishing of a substrate having polysilicon residue on an oxide area; and

detect clearance of the polysilicon residue from a spectrum.

10. The product of claim 9, wherein the instructions to cause a processor to optically detect include instructions to cause a processor to select a reference spectrum, receive a current spectrum in-situ during polishing, and determine a polishing endpoint based on the reference spectrum and the current spectrum.

11. The product of claim 10, wherein the instructions to cause a processor to determine a polishing endpoint include instructions to cause a processor to calculate a difference between the reference spectrum and the current spectrum.

12. The product of claim 11, wherein the reference spectrum corresponds to a spectrum from immediately after clearance of the polysilicon residue.

13. The product of claim 12, wherein the instructions to cause a processor to select the reference spectrum include instructions to cause a processor to receive a test spectrum in-situ during polishing of the test substrate.

14. The product of claim 13, wherein the instructions to cause a processor to select the reference spectrum further comprise instructions to select the reference spectrum proximally after a sudden change in the test spectrum, wherein the sudden change is in the 550-800 nm wavelength range of the test spectrum and occurs after initial exposure of the oxide.

15. The product of claim 13, wherein the instructions to cause a processor to select the reference spectrum further comprise instructions to cause a processor to calculate a difference between the test spectrum and a test reference spectrum corresponding to initial exposure of the oxide, determine when an inflection in the differential signal occurs after initial exposure of the oxide, and select the reference spectrum proximally after the inflection.