Abstract
Chemical mechanical polishing/planarization (CMP) is an indispensable technology for fabricating high-efficiency semiconductor devices, and the CMP characteristics (removal rate, accuracy, etc.) are dependent on the various consumables represented by slurry, polishing pad, and dresser used in the CMP process. Previously, we developed a novel flexible fiber dresser that would ensure high performance and longer life of tools, and we have reported the fundamental characteristics obtained with the flexible fiber dresser compared with the diamond dresser. This paper presents the results of tool life evaluation of the flexible fiber dresser using a contact image analysis method and the results of the in situ observation of fiber behavior with a high-speed digital camera. The results indicated that the flexible fiber dresser can be used continuously over 35 hours. Furthermore, the results regarding the stability of the removal rate of silicon wafer are reported. The amount of the polishing pad cut by the dressing was markedly suppressed. Therefore, we found that the flexible fiber dresser is one of the most effective dressing methods with regard to polishing pad life and dresser life.
