公开(公告)号：US10556315B2

公开(公告)日：2020-02-11

申请号：US16240576

申请日：2019-01-04

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Shih-Haur Shen ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Ingemar Carlsson ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  Wen-Chiang Tu ,  Hassan G. Iravani ,  Tzu-Yu Liu

IPC: B24B37/013 ,  H01L21/66 ,  H01L21/321 ,  B24B49/10 ,  H01L21/67

Abstract: A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a substrate at a first polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a first eddy current monitoring system to generate a first signal, determining an ending value of the first signal for an end of polishing of the substrate at the first polishing station, determining a first temperature at the first polishing station, polishing the substrate at a second polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a second eddy current monitoring system to generate a second signal, determining a starting value of the second signal for a start of polishing of the substrate at the second polishing station, determining a gain for the second polishing station based on the ending value, the starting value and the first temperature, and calculating a third signal based on the second signal and the gain.

公开(公告)号：US10427272B2

公开(公告)日：2019-10-01

申请号：US15710533

申请日：2017-09-20

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Kevin Lin ,  Ingemar Carlsson ,  Shih-Haur Shen ,  Tzu-Yu Liu

IPC: B24B49/02 ,  B24B47/10 ,  B24B37/013 ,  B24B37/10 ,  B24B37/20 ,  B24B37/22 ,  B24B49/04

Abstract: A method of polishing includes polishing a layer of a substrate, monitoring the layer of the substrate with an in-situ monitoring system to generate signal that depends on a thickness of the layer, filtering the signal to generate a filtered signal, determining an adjusted threshold value from an original threshold value and a time delay value representative of time required for filtering the signal, and triggering a polishing endpoint when the filtered signal crosses the adjusted threshold value.

公开(公告)号：US20190134775A1

公开(公告)日：2019-05-09

申请号：US16240576

申请日：2019-01-04

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Shih-Haur Shen ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Ingemar Carlsson ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  Wen-Chiang Tu ,  Hassan G. Iravani ,  Tzu-Yu Liu

IPC: B24B37/013 ,  H01L21/67 ,  H01L21/321 ,  B24B49/10 ,  H01L21/66

CPC classification number: B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/105 ,  H01L21/3212 ,  H01L21/67092 ,  H01L21/67248 ,  H01L22/14 ,  H01L22/26

Abstract: A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a substrate at a first polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a first eddy current monitoring system to generate a first signal, determining an ending value of the first signal for an end of polishing of the substrate at the first polishing station, determining a first temperature at the first polishing station, polishing the substrate at a second polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a second eddy current monitoring system to generate a second signal, determining a starting value of the second signal for a start of polishing of the substrate at the second polishing station, determining a gain for the second polishing station based on the ending value, the starting value and the first temperature, and calculating a third signal based on the second signal and the gain.

公开(公告)号：US10207386B2

公开(公告)日：2019-02-19

申请号：US15046270

申请日：2016-02-17

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Shih-Haur Shen ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Ingemar Carlsson ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  Wen-Chiang Tu ,  Hassan G. Iravani ,  Tzu-Yu Liu

IPC: B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/10 ,  H01L21/67 ,  H01L21/66 ,  H01L21/321

Abstract: A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a substrate at a first polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a first eddy current monitoring system to generate a first signal, determining an ending value of the first signal for an end of polishing of the substrate at the first polishing station, determining a first temperature at the first polishing station, polishing the substrate at a second polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a second eddy current monitoring system to generate a second signal, determining a starting value of the second signal for a start of polishing of the substrate at the second polishing station, determining a gain for the second polishing station based on the ending value, the starting value and the first temperature, and calculating a third signal based on the second signal and the gain.

公开(公告)号：US20160158908A1

公开(公告)日：2016-06-09

申请号：US15046270

申请日：2016-02-17

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Shih-Haur Shen ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Ingemar Carlsson ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  Wen-Chiang Tu ,  Hassan G. Iravani ,  Tzu-Yu Liu

IPC: B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/10 ,  H01L21/67

CPC classification number: B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/105 ,  H01L21/3212 ,  H01L21/67092 ,  H01L21/67248 ,  H01L22/14 ,  H01L22/26

Abstract: A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a substrate at a first polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a first eddy current monitoring system to generate a first signal, determining an ending value of the first signal for an end of polishing of the substrate at the first polishing station, determining a first temperature at the first polishing station, polishing the substrate at a second polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a second eddy current monitoring system to generate a second signal, determining a starting value of the second signal for a start of polishing of the substrate at the second polishing station, determining a gain for the second polishing station based on the ending value, the starting value and the first temperature, and calculating a third signal based on the second signal and the gain.

公开(公告)号：US20150118765A1

公开(公告)日：2015-04-30

申请号：US14066509

申请日：2013-10-29

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Shih-Haur Shen ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Ingemar Carlsson ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  Wen-Chiang Tu ,  Hassan G. Iravani ,  Tzu-Yu Liu

IPC: H01L21/66 ,  B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/10 ,  H01L21/321

CPC classification number: H01L22/26 ,  B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/105 ,  H01L21/3212 ,  H01L22/14

Abstract: In one aspect, a method of controlling polishing includes receiving a measurement of an initial thickness of a conductive film on a first substrate prior to polishing the first substrate from an in-line or stand-alone monitoring system, polishing one or more substrates in a polishing system, the one or more substrates including the first substrate, during polishing of the one or more substrates, monitoring the one or more substrates with an eddy current monitoring system to generate a first signal, determining a starting value of the first signal for a start of polishing of the first substrate, determining a gain based on the starting value and the measurement of the initial thickness, for at least a portion of the first signal collected during polishing of at least one substrate of the one or more substrates, and calculating a second signal based on the first signal and the gain.

Abstract translation: 一方面，一种控制抛光的方法包括：在从第一基板或独立监视系统抛光第一基板之前，在第一基板上接收导电膜的初始厚度的测量，在一个或多个基板中抛光一个或多个基板 抛光系统，所述一个或多个衬底包括第一衬底，在一个或多个衬底的抛光期间，用涡流监视系统监测该一个或多个衬底以产生第一信号，确定第一信号的起始值 开始抛光第一衬底，对于在一个或多个衬底的至少一个衬底的抛光期间收集的第一信号的至少一部分，基于起始值和初始厚度的测量来确定增益，并且计算 基于第一信号和增益的第二信号。

公开(公告)号：US12136574B2

公开(公告)日：2024-11-05

申请号：US18471893

申请日：2023-09-21

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Kiran Lall Shrestha ,  Doyle E. Bennett ,  David Maxwell Gage ,  Benjamin Cherian ,  Jun Qian ,  Harry Q. Lee

IPC: H01L21/304 ,  B24B37/013 ,  B24B49/10 ,  G06F17/15 ,  G06N3/08 ,  H01L21/321 ,  H01L21/66

Abstract: A method of polishing a substrate includes polishing a conductive layer on the substrate at a polishing station, monitoring the layer with an in-situ eddy current monitoring system to generate a plurality of measured signals values for a plurality of different locations on the layer, generating thickness measurements the locations, and detecting a polishing endpoint or modifying a polishing parameter based on the thickness measurements. The conductive layer is formed of a first material having a first conductivity. Generating includes calculating initial thickness values based on the plurality of measured signals values and processing the initial thickness values through a neural network that was trained using training data acquired by measuring calibration substrates having a conductive layer formed of a second material having a second conductivity that is lower than the first conductivity to generated adjusted thickness values.

公开(公告)号：US12090599B2

公开(公告)日：2024-09-17

申请号：US18365527

申请日：2023-08-04

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Kun Xu ,  Benjamin Cherian ,  Jun Qian ,  Kiran Lall Shrestha

IPC: B24B37/00 ,  B24B37/013 ,  G05B19/418 ,  G06N3/045 ,  G06N3/08 ,  H01L23/00

CPC classification number: B24B37/013 ,  G05B19/4188 ,  G06N3/045 ,  G06N3/08 ,  H01L23/00 ,  G05B2219/32335

Abstract: A method of training a neural network includes obtaining two ground truth thickness profiles a test substrate, obtaining two thickness profiles for the test substrate as measured by an in-situ monitoring system while the test substrate is on polishing pads of different thicknesses, generating an estimated thickness profile for another thickness value that is between the two thickness values by interpolating between the two profiles, and training a neural network using the estimated thickness profile.

公开(公告)号：US20230390883A1

公开(公告)日：2023-12-07

申请号：US17961516

申请日：2022-10-06

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Haoquan Fang ,  Thomas H. Osterheld ,  Benjamin Cherian ,  Jun Qian ,  Kun Xu ,  Sohrab Pourmand ,  Boguslaw A. Swedek ,  Jeonghoon Oh ,  Dominic J. Benvegnu ,  Brian J. Brown

IPC: B24B37/005 ,  B24B37/32 ,  G01N29/44 ,  G01N29/46

CPC classification number: B24B37/005 ,  B24B37/32 ,  G01N29/4436 ,  G01N29/4427 ,  G01N29/46

Abstract: A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes a platen supporting a polishing pad, a carrier head to hold a surface of a substrate against the polishing pad, an acoustic sensor supported on the platen, and a motor to generate relative motion between the platen and the carrier head so as to polish the substrate. The carrier head includes a retaining ring for holding the substrate, and the acoustic sensor travels in a path below the carrier head and the retaining ring. A controller is configured to analyze a signal from the acoustic sensor and determine a characteristic of the retaining ring based on the signal.

公开(公告)号：US11780045B2

公开(公告)日：2023-10-10

申请号：US16440785

申请日：2019-06-13

Applicant: Applied Materials, Inc.

Inventor： Wei Lu ,  David Maxwell Gage ,  Harry Q. Lee ,  Kun Xu ,  Jimin Zhang

IPC: B24B37/005 ,  G01B7/06 ,  B24B49/10 ,  B24B37/27

CPC classification number: B24B37/005 ,  B24B37/27 ,  B24B49/105 ,  G01B7/10

Abstract: A method of chemical mechanical polishing includes bringing a substrate having a conductive layer disposed over a semiconductor wafer into contact with a polishing pad, generating relative motion between the substrate and the polishing pad, monitoring the substrate with an in-situ electromagnetic induction monitoring system as the conductive layer is polished to generate a sequence of signal values that depend on a thickness of the conductive layer, determining a sequence of thickness values for the conductive layer based on the sequence of signal values, and at least partially compensating for a contribution of conductivity of the semiconductor wafer to the signal values.