Electropolish assisted electrochemical mechanical polishing apparatus

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for processing a substrate in an electrochemical mechanical planarizing system. An apparatus is provided for processing a substrate including a planarizing module, at least one electrochemical mechanical polishing station disposed on the planarizing module, at least one polishing head disposed above the planarizing module and the at least one polishing head adapted to selectively lower a substrate retained in the polishing head to the electrochemical mechanical polishing station, a factory interface disposed adjacent both the planarizing module, a loading robot disposed between the factory interface and the planarizing module, and an electrochemical polishing station disposed on or adjacent the planarizing module, the factory interface, or a combination thereof. The electrochemical polishing station may be disposed on the planarizing module, adjacent the planarizing module, in the factory interface, adjacent the factory interface, or between the planarizing module and the factory interface.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60 / 785,323, filed Mar. 23, 2006, which is herein incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a method and apparatus for electrochemical processing of a substrate.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]Electrochemical mechanical planarizing (Ecmp) is a technique used to remove conductive materials from a substrate surface by electrochemical dissolution while concurrently polishing the substrate with reduced mechanical abrasion compared to conventional planarization processes. Ecmp systems may generally be adapted for deposition of conductive material on the substrate by reversing the polarity of the bias. Electrochemical dissolution is performed by applying a bias between a second electrode and a substrate surface to remove conductive materials from the ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

This dichotomy of processing (e.g., Ecmp and CMP on a single system) requires divergent utilities and process consumables, resulting in higher cost of ownership.

Moreover, as most Ecmp processes utilize lower contact pressure between the substrate being processed and a processing surface, the heads utilized to retain the substrate during processing do not provide robust processing performance when utilized for conventional CMP processes, which typically have high contact pressures, which results in high erosion of conductive material disposed in trenches or other features.

As the removal rate of low pressure conventional CMP barrier layer processing is generally less than about 100 Å / min, conventional CMP processing of barrier materials using low pressure is not suitable for large scale commercialization.

Images