Substrate Polishing Method and Apparatus

Abstract

A polishing apparatus is provided for optimizing a polishing profile in consideration of even such parameters as the temperature on the surface of an object to be polished, and the thickness of a polishing pad, in addition to a polished amount. The polishing apparatus for polishing the object to be polished under control of a control unit CU has at least two pressing sections, and comprises a top ring which can apply an arbitrary pressure to the object to be polished from each of the pressing sections, a measuring device IM for measuring a polished amount of the object to be polished, and a monitoring device SM for monitoring the object to be polished for a polishing condition. The control unit CU forces the polishing apparatus to polish the object to be polished in accordance with a simulation program for setting processing pressures required to optimize a polishing profile of the object to be polished to the top ring based on the output of the measuring device IM and the output of the monitoring device SM.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a substrate polishing apparatus for polishing materials to be polished, represented by a semiconductor substrate, which can suppress a degradation in yield rate due to non-uniformity of residual films on the surface of substrates, mainly caused by aging changes of consumable materials, extend the life time of such consumable materials to reduce an operation cost, and a polishing apparatus which embodies the method.BACKGROUND ART[0002]In recent years, as semiconductor devices are increasingly more miniaturized and complicated in element structure, the semiconductor devices tend to have increased asperities and larger steps on the surface. As a result, thin films are formed in smaller thicknesses on such steps, and open circuits can be developed due to disconnections of wires, and short circuits attributable to defective insulation between wiring layers, leading to a lower yield rate. In a planarization technology for solving such ...

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Benefits of technology

[0007]The present invention has been proposed in view of the foregoing problems, and it is an object of the invention to automatically optimize a processing pressure using a simulator based on the Preston's empirical formula within a polishing appara

Problems solved by technology

In recent years, as semiconductor devices are increasingly more miniaturized and complicated in element structure, the semiconductor devices tend to have increased asperities and larger steps on the surface.

As a result, thin films are formed in smaller thicknesses on such steps, and open circuits can be developed due to disconnections of wires, and short circuits attributable to defective insulation between wiring layers, leading to a lower yield rate.

Specifically, allowed aging changes in the polishing profile is increasingly narrowed in more miniaturized devices and devices having a larger number of layers, resulting in a higher frequency of r

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