CN-121986012-A - High speed nozzle for pre-polishing modification of substrate thickness

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a substrate includes, after depositing an outer layer on a substrate and before polishing an exposed surface of the outer layer of the substrate, hydraulically jetting a selected portion of the exposed surface by directing a treatment liquid from a nozzle onto the selected portion at a sufficiently high velocity to remove material from the selected portion such that thickness non-uniformity of the outer layer is reduced. The outer layer of the treated substrate is then subjected to chemical mechanical polishing to planarize and reduce the thickness of the outer layer.

Inventors

• P. La Rosa
• WU HAOCHENG
• WU ZHENGXUN
• A. Sydia
• Sekine healthy people
• ZHANG SHOUSONG
• TANG JIANSHE

Assignees

• 应用材料公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20240927

Priority Date

20231004

Claims (20)

1. 1. A method, comprising: After depositing an outer layer on a substrate and before polishing an exposed surface of the outer layer of the substrate, hydraulically jetting a selected portion of the exposed surface by directing a treatment liquid from a nozzle onto the selected portion at a sufficiently high velocity to remove material from the selected portion such that thickness non-uniformity of the outer layer is reduced, and The outer layer of the treated substrate is chemically mechanically polished to planarize and reduce the thickness of the outer layer.
2. 2. The method of claim 1, comprising depositing the outer layer at a deposition station and transferring the substrate to a hydro-jet treatment station for the hydro-jet treatment.
3. 3. The method of claim 1, comprising holding the substrate on a chuck during the hydro-jet treatment.
4. 4. A method as claimed in claim 3, comprising holding the substrate in a face-up orientation during the hydro-jet treatment.
5. 5. A method as claimed in claim 3, comprising holding the substrate in a face down orientation during the hydro-jet treatment.
6. 6. The method of claim 3, comprising vacuum clamping the substrate to a chuck.
7. 7. The method of claim 3, comprising rotating the chuck and radially sweeping the nozzle across the substrate to position the nozzle over the selected portion.
8. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the treatment fluid comprises Deionized (DI) water.
9. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the treatment fluid is free of abrasives and/or etchants.
10. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected portion is annular.
11. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected portion has a radial width of about 5 to 40 mm.
12. 12. The method of claim 1, comprising flowing the treatment fluid onto the exposed surface of the substrate at a velocity of 5-20 m/s.
13. 13. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving a measured thickness profile from a metrology station, storing a desired thickness profile, and comparing the measured thickness profile to the desired thickness profile to determine the selected portion of the surface.
14. 14. A hydro-jet treatment station for modifying a substrate undergoing integrated circuit fabrication, the station comprising: A chuck for holding the substrate; a nozzle coupled to a source of treatment liquid, the nozzle being laterally movable relative to the substrate, and A controller configured to cause the nozzle to direct the treatment liquid onto the selected portion at a sufficiently high velocity to remove material from the selected portion such that thickness non-uniformity of an outer layer of the substrate is reduced.
15. 15. The hydro-jet treatment station of claim 14 including a shield to capture treatment fluid thrown or dropped from the substrate.
16. 16. The hydraulic jetting treatment station of claim 14, comprising a plurality of channels through the chuck, the plurality of channels coupled to a vacuum source to vacuum clamp the substrate to the chuck.
17. 17. The hydrajetting treatment station of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to receive a measured thickness profile of the outer layer from a metering station, store a desired thickness profile, and compare the measured thickness profile to the desired thickness profile to determine the selected portion of the surface.
18. 18. The hydraulic jet treatment station of claim 14, comprising a pump or valve to control the flow rate of treatment liquid from the source to the nozzle.
19. 19. The hydraulic jetting treatment station of claim 18, wherein the controller is configured to control the pump or valve such that the treatment liquid is jetted onto the exposed surface of the substrate at a speed of 5-20 m/s.
20. 20. The hydraulic jet treatment station of claim 14, wherein the chuck is rotatable.

Description

High speed nozzle for pre-polishing modification of substrate thickness Technical Field The present disclosure relates to chemical mechanical polishing, and more particularly to modifying a substrate thickness profile prior to polishing. Background Integrated circuits are typically formed on a substrate by sequentially depositing conductive, semiconductive, or insulative layers on a silicon wafer. Various fabrication processes require planarization of layers on a substrate. For example, one fabrication step involves depositing a fill layer on a non-planar surface and planarizing the fill layer. For some applications, the fill layer is planarized until the top surface of the patterned layer is exposed. For example, a metal layer may be deposited on the patterned insulating layer to fill the trenches and holes in the insulating layer. After planarization, the remaining portions of the metal in the trenches and holes of the patterned layer form vias, plugs, and lines to provide conductive paths between thin film circuits on the substrate. Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) is a well-known planarization method. Such planarization methods typically require the substrate to be mounted on a carrier head. The exposed surface of the substrate typically rests on a rotating polishing pad. The carrier head applies a controllable load to the substrate to urge it toward the polishing pad. A polishing slurry containing abrasive particles is typically supplied to the surface of the polishing pad. Disclosure of Invention In one aspect, a method of manufacturing a substrate includes, after depositing an outer layer on the substrate and before polishing an exposed surface of the outer layer of the substrate, hydraulically jetting treatment (hydroblast) of a selected portion of the exposed surface by directing a treatment liquid from a nozzle onto the selected portion at a sufficiently high velocity to remove material from the selected portion such that thickness non-uniformity of the outer layer is reduced. The outer layer of the treated substrate is then subjected to chemical mechanical polishing to planarize and reduce the thickness of the outer layer. In another aspect, a hydro-jet treatment station for modifying a substrate being integrated circuit fabricated includes a chuck for holding the substrate, a nozzle coupled to a source of treatment liquid, the nozzle being laterally movable relative to the substrate, and a controller configured to cause the nozzle to direct treatment liquid onto selected portions at a sufficiently high velocity to remove material from the selected portions such that thickness non-uniformity of a layer external to the substrate is reduced. Implementations may optionally include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following advantages. The thickness of the substrate layer may be more uniform prior to polishing, which may facilitate control of polishing parameters during polishing, and may improve polishing uniformity and reduce within-wafer non-uniformity (WIWNU) of the polished substrate. The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other aspects, features, and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. Drawings Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate after a deposition process. Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate during treatment of fluid ejected through a high-speed nozzle. Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a treated substrate. Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate being polished. Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a polished substrate. Fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a hydro-jet treatment station. Fig. 7 is a schematic top view of the hydro jet treatment station of fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another implementation of a hydro-jet treatment station. Detailed Description Typical semiconductor fabrication processes include depositing a layer and then chemical mechanical polishing the layer to remove the layer until a desired thickness is reached or an underlying layer is exposed. If the underlying layer is patterned, the deposited layer typically has some small-scale topography, e.g., on the order of nanometers, since the deposited layer fills the trenches or holes desired for the integrated circuit. Such small scale topography can be removed by a polishing process, i.e., the substrate can be planarized. Some deposition processes may result in non-uniform deposition across the substrate. The scale and thickness of such non-uniform deposition is much larger than the small scale topography, e.g., an annular region spanning a region up to 1 μm thick, typically 5 to 40 mm wide. Many chemical mechanical polishing systems include components that can vary the polishing rate across the substrate, such as a carrier head having multiple chambers that can be individual