Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP)
Major fabs understand the need for complete solutions that improve yield in all aspects of the CMP process. Shrinking feature size, along with the need for tighter defectivity and particle control in the CMP slurry is driving innovative changes in filtration and monitoring systems. As more layers of each chip require CMP to achieve planarity, the process challenges are increasing dramatically.
We are in the position to offer single source solutions and eliminate introducing unnecessary contamination risk from incompatible chemicals or consumables. As today’s leading-edge chip designs become tomorrow’s mainstream products, single sourcing offers tremendous benefit to all fabs.
Featured White Paper
Particles, Processes, and Planning: Synergies to Improve CMP Yield
This paper explores the entire CMP process, including post-CMP cleaning, to identify potential sources of contamination and discusses the importance of the entire system working in sync to achieve minimal contamination and maximum yield.
Featured Pictogram
Finding CMP Synergies to Improve Wafer Performance, Yield, and Variability
Pictorial explaining how finding synergies between the slurries, components, filters, chemistries, pads, conditioners, brushes, and monitoring tools used in CMP, and sourcing them from Entegris, can improve wafer performance, yield, and variability.
Featured Animation
CMP Process
This animation explains how important achieving synergies between all CMP system components is to optimize CMP processes and ensure higher yields.
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Featured Video
CMP Slurry Defect Control
Bradley Wood, applications engineering manager, explains the import role filtration plays in a contamination control strategy to manage CMP slurry defects and improve process control of bulk slurry manufacturing.
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Product Solutions
The slurry is the most important part of the CMP process. It serves a simple purpose — removing a thin layer of metal or oxide using a combination of abrasive particles and chemical additives. As the industry works to scale with Moore’s Law, slurry formulations are becoming more complex. We are a market leader in the design and production of CMP slurries and our broad slurry portfolio is evolving to provide solutions to meet the complex challenges seen in logic, memory, foundry, wafer substrate, and rigid disk substrate markets. Our slurries are optimized for batch and single wafer CMP systems and provide high uniformity and easy scalability to multiple wafers for high-volume manufacturing.
- High-performance Tungsten CMP polishing slurries (Semi-Sperse™ and WIN™) are for the manufacturing of atomically smooth and defect-free wafers.
- We offer high-purity fumed silica Dielectric CMP polishing slurries (iDIEL™) for the CMP of interlayer dielectric (ILD) materials and a portfolio of innovative new products for polishing dielectric layers in advanced integrations.
- Our Aluminum CMP polishing slurries (Novus™) contain uniquely engineered abrasive particles and chemistry to remove aluminum and the complex stack of work-function metals within the transistor gates of advanced semiconductor High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) devices.
- Our high-performance Copper CMP polishing slurries (EPOCH™) are for manufacturing atomically smooth and defect-free wafers.
- Our Silicon (Si) wafer polishing slurries (SiLECT™) are developed for prime polished wafers, a highly refined, ultrapure crystalline silicon with ultra-flat and ultraclean surfaces that are customized to meet customer specifications.
- High-performance Silicon Carbide (SiC) wafer polishing slurries (SiCceed™) are for scalable manufacturing of atomically smooth and defect-free SiC wafers.
- Our high-performance Polycrystalline Silicon Carbide slurries are for scalable manufacturing of atomically smooth and defect-free polycrystalline silicon carbide (poly-SiC) substrates.
- There is a growing need for Rigid Disk and Magnetic Head slurries (Lustra™, Transele™, and Semi-Sperse™) in the CMP market. Our rigid disk slurries are specially formulated to planarize nickel-phosphorus (Ni-P) and glass substrates to an ultra-low roughness and defects. Our magnetic head slurries are capable of polishing multiple materials in a single step with tunable selectivity to meet stringent surface topography and planarization requirements.
- Our Barrier CMP polishing slurries (i-Cue™ and Sentinel™) for barrier applications are designed to meet our customers’ extensive technical requirements.
- High-performance Diamond slurries are for scalable polishing of diamond substrates and films.
- High-performance Nitride slurries are for scalable manufacturing of atomically smooth and defect-free nitride surfaces.
- High-performance Sapphire slurries are for scalable manufacturing of sapphire wafers.
Contamination must be minimized throughout slurry blending, storage, transport, and handling. As the slurry passes through tubing, valves, and other components of the fluid handling system, it can pick up contaminants. Components made from inert, corrosion-resistant fluoropolymer materials are ideal because they will not shed particles that degrade the slurry.
We have a proven understanding of fluoropolymer processing and offer the industry’s broadest range of carefully developed and fully characterized fluid handling products that are compatible with one another and can more easily optimize the overall design.
- We offer FluoroLine® ultrapure PFA tubing for use in high purity, corrosive CMP environments and where low surface friction is desired.
- Extremely robust, clean, PrimeLock® tube fittings perform effectively in the most demanding chemical applications and are the most reliable connection technology on the market.
- Designed for use with corrosive chemicals, Integra® Plus WS valves excel in ultrapure bulk chemical and CMP slurry applications.
Regardless of the materials in the system, filtration is critical. Filters should be installed at multiple locations so that they can capture contaminants and agglomerated slurry abrasives before they reach the wafer.
- Planarcap® NMB point-of-dispense slurry filters have ultra-high particle loading capacity in sub-45 nm technology nodes.
- Solaris® APR filters and Solaris II manifolds are designed for optimum gel removal and media-specific particle and agglomerate retention in the most demanding CMP slurry applications.
- Planargard® APR CMP slurry filters to address both large and fine particles reduction in slurries for advanced node processes.
- Our Chemlock® filter housing system locks the cartridge into the bowl, allowing the bowl and cartridge to be removed as a single unit in bulk or CDS (chemical/slurry delivery systems).
CMP pads are critical in the CMP process to flatten and polish wafers and can have a significant impact on process performance.
Our CMP pad solutions are manufactured using state-of-the-art polyurethane chemistry and engineering advances to provide the exact hardness, pore sizes, compressibility, and groove patterns needed to meet and exceed the requirements of various CMP applications while providing the lowest cost of ownership.
- Our NexPlanar™ CMP pads (Element and Ultra), use thermoset polyurethane technology to enable customers to manufacture smaller, faster, and more complex devices.
- The Medea™ CMP pad series utilizes the performance benefits of the Element product line with additional grooving technology and customization and can be used for both 200 mm and 300 mm applications.
- Our line of Epic™ CMP thermoplastic polishing pads offer the optimal balance of best-in-class performance, quality, and cost of ownership. This line also features our new Epic Power™ CMP thermoplastic polishing pads, the only giant hard pad out there for batch SiC wafer polishing.
Pad conditioning is a necessary step in the CMP process, allowing the pad surface to maintain the desired roughness so that the removal rate is stable and predictable. An optimally designed conditioner can also extend pad life by increasing the metal removal rate while keeping the pad cut rate relatively low.
- Planargem® XT CMP pad conditioners with micro-machined silicon carbide (SiC) substrate, offer leading-edge, customertailored performance across all aspects of the CMP process.
The clean chemistry must be designed to efficiently remove the abrasive slurry particles and organic residue from the wafer. The key to a successful clean is to precisely formulate the clean to the slurry chemistry, considering all the slurry’s chemical components, possible chemical reactions, and other contamination sources.
- Our PlanarClean® cleaning solution is a post-CMP copper cleaning product designed for use following the barrier CMP step.
- Our PlanarClean AG formulated solutions are designed for advanced post-CMP processes. The proprietary formulations offer increased performance through enhanced reliability and yield.
- The Astera™ filter platform is designed for dilute aqueous acids and bases and recommended for post-CMP cleans.
- Our Chemlock® filter housing system locks the cartridge into the bowl, allowing the bowl and cartridge to be removed as a single unit in bulk or CDS (chemical/slurry delivery systems).
The brushes used in post-CMP cleaning should be designed to achieve uniform fluid distribution on the brush surface. Brush materials with a high zeta potential allow the brush surface to repel slurry particles that might otherwise adhere to the brush surface and scratch the wafer.
- Planarcore® PVA brushes deliver superior performance and wafer-to-wafer uniformity in post-CMP wafer cleaning applications.
While choices of materials, chemicals, and components can improve CMP outcomes, it is also necessary to measure process parameters including particle size, flow rate, and chemical concentrations. Measurements in the lab inform design, while online monitoring at the fab provides real-time feedback that makes it easier to maintain process stability and keep yield high.
Particle Characterization
In advanced node CMP applications, automating the monitoring process can help prevent costly yield excursions. Advanced particle count and size analyzers provide high resolution and accuracy in CMP slurries and other suspensions.
- Installed downstream from filters, our AccuSizer® SPOS system provides data to inform real-time decisions that will optimize the CMP delivery process.
- The Nicomp® N3000 DLS online system can be integrated into many nanoparticle processes, providing real-time particle size distributions.
- Our Process Monitoring systems offer advanced automation for online particle size and/or counts analysis of suspensions.
Process Control
To achieve high product yield, process control is needed to help ensure proper slurry blending ratios and to check whether the fluid handling system is allowing sufficient flow.
- Our InVue® and NT™ integrated flow controllers combine our proven and reliable, differential pressure flow measurement technology and advanced closed-loop process control. Available in low-to-medium, medium and medium-to-high flow ranges.
- Our 14-Pin Mating Cable terminates electrical cables on our InVue® Integrated Flow Controllers, models NT6510 and NT6520
- Our NT™ proportional control valves are compatible with highly corrosive processes and designed for use in CMP slurry and ultra high-purity applications. With a range of flow factors from 0.16 to 10 Cv, we have a linear control valve to meet your flow control needs.
- Our state-of-the-art, two-stage Photochemical Dispense Pumps technology enables independent filtration and dispense. Available for low-, medium- and high-viscosity fluids. Communication systems enable you to network your pumps for efficient process monitoring.
Process Measurement
Our portfolio of process measurement solutions is specifically designed for use in high-purity, harsh chemical environments. Our electronic flowmeters allow users to obtain greater control of process variables and leading-edge pressure transducers measure line pressure accurately and reliably.
- Our optically based concentration monitors enable advanced, high-performance process efficiency for BEOL, FEOL, and sub-fab delivery chemical systems. Our portfolio includes solutions for in-situ and online applications.
- Our electronic flowmeters provide simultaneous measurement of outlet pressure and flow rate, allowing for greater control of process variables. We offer an InVue® Model NT4400 that is ideal in high purity applications.
- Our NT™ pressure transducers combine the latest electronic sensing technology with high-purity materials to help you monitor or control process conditions. Measure vacuum and positive pressure conditions accurately and reliably with our single-port or flow-through models.
Controlling Contaminants
- Our AccuSizer® Mini System is a particle characterization solution that enables customers to perform particle size analysis online, in real time, directly in the fluid stream process. In advanced node CMP applications, automating the monitoring process can help prevent costly yield excursions.
- SemiChem Advanced Process Monitor (APM) is a wet chemical monitoring system that automatically samples, analyzes, and reports quantitative chemical concentration of critical processes, helping to increase product yields.
- The InVue GV148 concentration monitor serves as a pre-check or early warning system to verify whether the slurry still meets specifications and unwanted variability has not been introduced throughout its use.
Featured Brochure
BrochureComprehensive listing of our holistic CMP process solutions that reduce contamination and deliver the best on-wafer performance, decrease cost of ownership, and ensure high yield.