Pad porosity, compressibility and slurry delivery effects in chemical-mechanical planarization: modeling and experiments

Abstract A chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) model based on lubrication theory is developed which accounts for pad compressibility, pad porosity and means of slurry delivery. Slurry film thickness and velocity distributions between the pad and the wafer are predicted using the model. Two regimes of CMP operation are described: the lubrication regime (for ∼40–70 μm slurry film thickness) and the contact regime (for thinner films). These regimes are identified for two different pads using experimental copper CMP data and the predictions of the model. The removal rate correlation based on lubrication and mass transport theory agrees well with our experimental data in the lubrication regime.