IP Library Granted Patent US 9,281,253
Granted Patent B2
US 9,281,253 · App. 14/066,571 · Granted Mar 8, 2016

Determination of gain for eddy current sensor

Inventors: Kun Xu (Sunol, CA); Shih-Haur Shen (Sunnyvale, CA); Boguslaw A. Swedek (Cupertino, CA); Ingemar Carlsson (Milpitas, CA); Doyle E. Bennett (Santa Clara, CA); Wen-Chiang Tu (Mountain View, CA); Hassan G. Iravani (San Jose, CA); Tzu-Yu Liu (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
H01L22/26B24B37/013B24B49/105H01L21/3212H01L22/14
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,281,253
App. No.
14/066,571
Granted
Mar 8, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a substrate at a first polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a first eddy current monitoring system to generate a first signal, determining an ending value of the first signal for an end of polishing of the substrate at the first polishing station, determining a first temperature at the first polishing station, polishing the substrate at a second polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a second eddy current monitoring system to generate a second signal, determining a starting value of the second signal for a start of polishing of the substrate at the second polishing station, determining a gain for the second polishing station based on the ending value, the starting value and the first temperature, and calculating a third signal based on the second signal and the gain.

Claims (38)

1. A computer program product, tangibly encoded on a non-transitory computer readable media, including instructions to cause a data processing apparatus to:

cause a first polishing station to polish a substrate;

receive a first signal from a first eddy current monitoring system during polishing of the substrate at the first polishing station;

determine an ending value of the first signal for an end of polishing of the substrate at the first polishing station;

determine a first temperature at the first polishing station;

after polishing the substrate at the first polishing station, cause a second polishing station to polish the substrate;

receive a second signal from a second eddy current monitoring system during polishing of the substrate at the second polishing station;

determine a starting value of the second signal for a start of polishing of the substrate at the second polishing station;

determine a gain for the second polishing station based on the ending value, the starting value and the first temperature;

for at least a portion of the second signal collected during polishing of at least one substrate at the second polishing station, calculate a third signal based on the second signal and the gain; and

determine at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment to a polishing parameter for the at least one substrate based on the third signal.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to determine the gain for the second polishing station further include instructions to receive a second temperature at the second polishing station.

3. The computer program product of claim 2 , wherein the instructions to determine the gain include instructions to calculate the gain based on the resistivity of a layer being polished at the first and second temperatures.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 , comprising instructions to calculate a value G that satisfies

G =[1+alpha( TE post −TE ini )]

where TE post is the first temperature at the first polishing pad, TE ini is the second temperature at the second polishing pad, and alpha is a resistivity factor for a material of layer being polished.

5. The computer program product of claim 3 , wherein the instructions to determine the ending value comprise instructions to generate a first sequence of measured values from the first signal, fit a first function to the first sequence of measured values, and calculate the ending value as a value of the first function at an endpoint time for polishing at the first polishing station.

6. The computer program product of claim 3 , comprising instructions to determine a first thickness from the ending value and a calibration function relating thickness to signal strength.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , comprising instructions to determine an adjusted thickness based on the first thickness, the first temperature and the second temperature.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to determine the adjusted thickness comprise instructions to multiply the first thickness by [1 +alpha (TE post −TE ini )] where TE post is the first temperature at the first polishing station, TE ini is the second temperature at the second polishing station, and alpha is a resistivity factor for a material of the layer being polished.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 , comprising instructions to determine a desired value from the adjusted value and the calibration function.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the instructions to determine the starting value comprise instructions to generate a second sequence of measured values from the second signal, fit a second function to the second sequence of measured values, and calculate the starting value as a value of the second function at an approximate start time of polishing at the second polishing station.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the instructions to determine the gain comprise instructions to calculate a multiplier N that satisfies

N

=

(

D

-

K

)

(

S

-

K

)

where D is the desired value, S is the starting value, and K is a constant representing a value of the calibration function for zero thickness.

12. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the first temperature represents a temperature of a first polishing pad at the first polishing station and the second temperature represents a temperature of the second polishing pad at the second polishing station.

13. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the first temperature represents a temperature of a layer being polished at the first polishing station and the second temperature represents a temperature of the layer being polished at the second polishing station.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 2, 2014
From: XU, KUN; SHEN, SHIH-HAUR; SWEDEK, BOGUSLAW A.; CARLSSON, INGEMAR; BENNETT, DOYLE E.; TU, WEN-CHIANG; IRAVANI, HASSAN G.; LIU, TZU-YU
To: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
Reel/Frame 031880/0758 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20150118766A1 · Apr 30, 2015