Polishing apparatus and polishing method, and method of manufacturing semiconductor device and method of manufacturing thin film magnetic head

Abstract

A polishing apparatus comprises a plurality of (three, for example) polishing portions and a cleaning portion. First, roughing is performed in a first polishing portion by a platen made of a hard grinder. The polishing surface of the platen is hard so that the wafer on the polishing surface exhibits no pattern dependence. Next, scratches and polishing distortion slightly generated on the wafer in the platen are removed (medium polishing) by a hard abrasive pad with a single-layered structure in a second polishing portion. Further, finishing is performed in a third polishing portion by an abrasive pad with a two-layered structure. At last, the contamination left by the micro scratches or slurry generated in the prior process is completely cleaned by a cleaning pad in the cleaning portion.

Description

[0001] This is a Continuation-in-Part of Application Ser. No. 09 / 359,807, filed Jul. 26, 1999. The entire disclosure of the prior application is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.[0002] 1. Field of Invention[0003] The invention relates to a polishing apparatus and a polishing method for planarization of a thin film magnetic head, a semiconductor integrated circuit and so on, and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic head.[0004] 2. Description of Related Art[0005] In a manufacturing process of a semiconductor integrated circuit using silicon or the like, microfabrication of the metallic wiring is required in order to scale down a device and to improve performance of elements. Specifically, it is necessary to form the pattern with a submicron thickness and to laminate such patterns to form a multi-layer.[0006] In such a multi level interconnect structure, interlayer insulating films made of silicon oxi...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

There is a similar problem in a manufacturing process of a thin film magnetic head.

CMP, however, has several problems since it has a polishing characteristic that the abrasive pad follows the wafer pattern.

On the other hand, MP has a problem that scratches are easily formed on the surface of the wafer.

However, this may cause another problem that the polishing speed decreases.

Therefore, the apparatus also has several problems in controlling the amount of polishing because of the pattern dependence in the wafer, like the polishing apparatus with one platen.

As a result, the planarization process using the polishing apparatus of the related art has serious problems such as flatness, scratches, and recesses between the insulating film and the metallic layer, since magnetic materials and insulating materials or metallic materials are polished at one time.

With such a method, however, there has been a limit in precision of polishing.

However, the areas between two dense regions where the wiring metallic patterns 401 are densely formed do not have high flatness.

As a result, ohmic contact resistance between the contact holes or the like and the electrode wiring becomes large and thus the performance of many of the device characteristic deteriorates, which ultimately results in decreasing the yields.

As described, the CMP apparatus of the related art has a problem that the CMP apparatus can achieve an excellent flatness locally but cannot attain sufficient flatness over a wide area.

As a result, in the manufacturing process of the semiconductor integrated circuit of the related art, the wiring layer provided on the region with low flatness have breaks or failures caused by electro-migration if the width of the metallic wiring pattern is small.

It is extremely difficult to control uniformity of the amount of polishing of the whole wafer since the polishing speed varies because of the pattern dependence.

With the polishing apparatus of the related art, however, it has not been possible to achieve a CMP process, in which the film thickness of the insulating layer made of such as alumina and the magnetic layer (shield magnetic film or recording pole) made of such as permalloy (NiFe) is precisely controlled.

The reason is because it is extremely difficult to control the polishing speed of the substances with different hardness such as the insulating layer made of alumina and metal such as permalloy, as described, and thus recesses are formed between the insulating layer and the top or bottom shield layers when the bottom shield layer, the top shield layer and the pole tip are polished.

This has been a main factor for suppressing the performance of the thin film magnetic head.

In the polishing apparatus of the related art, however, when polishing the bottom shield layer, the top shield layer or the pole tip, recesses are formed between the insulating layer and the top or bottom shield layers or the pole tip, which results in deterioration of the performance of the thin film magnetic head.

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