Granted Patent B2

US 12,451,380 · App. 16/137,009 · Granted Oct 21, 2025

Inventors: Sivakumar Dhandapani (San Jose, CA); Jun Qian (Sunnyvale, CA)

Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.

H01L21/67253B24B37/005B24B37/20B24B37/32H01L21/3212H01L22/12H01L22/20H01L22/26

Abstract

Claims (32)

1. A method of processing substrates, comprising:

subjecting each respective first substrate of a first plurality of substrates to a process that modifies a thickness of an outer layer of the respective first substrate;

for each respective first substrate, recording values of a plurality of control parameter values for a plurality of control parameters and a plurality of state parameter values for a plurality of state parameters;

generating a plurality of groups of the plurality of control parameter values and the plurality of state parameter values;

for each respective first substrate, measuring a removal profile of the outer layer during or after the process with a monitoring system, thus generating a plurality of measured removal profiles;

generating a column vector comprising the plurality of control parameter values and the plurality of state parameter values;

generating a matrix, the matrix and the column vector partially determining a calculated removal profile, wherein generating the matrix comprises finding matrix values that best fit the plurality of groups of the plurality of control parameter values and the plurality of state parameter values to the plurality of measured removal profiles;

for each respective second substrate of a second plurality of substrates, determining a target removal profile and a plurality of state parameter values;

for each respective second substrate, calculating respective control parameter values to use when polishing the respective second substrate, wherein calculating uses the matrix and the column vector; and

subjecting each respective second substrate to the process using the respective control parameter values and the state parameter values.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the matrix is an augmented matrix, and further comprising storing an initial matrix that relates the plurality of control parameters and the plurality of state parameters to a calculated removal profile.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising calculating control parameters for each respective first substrate by applying a target removal profile and state parameter values to the initial matrix.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the process comprises chemical mechanical polishing.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the state parameter values comprise one or more of a retaining ring life, or a polishing pad life.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of control parameter values comprise pressures of chambers in a carrier head to hold a substrate against a polishing pad.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of control parameter values further comprise one or more of a platen rotation rate, carrier head rotation rate, or polishing time.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring system comprises an in-situ monitoring system.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the target removal profile comprises storing a desired thickness profile, receiving a measured thickness profile of the respective second substrate, and determining a difference between the measured thickness profile and the desired thickness profile.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising monitoring each respective second substrate during processing with an in-situ monitoring system and modifying the respective control and state parameter values based on data from the in-situ monitoring system.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium for controlling processing of a substrate, the non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processer to:

generate a column vector comprising a plurality of control parameters and a plurality of state parameters;

generate a matrix, a product of the matrix and the column vector partially determining a calculated removal profile, wherein generating the matrix comprises finding matrix values that best fit a plurality of groups of process parameter values and a plurality of groups of state parameter values to a plurality of measured removal profiles;

obtain a target removal profile and a plurality of state parameter values for each respective substrate of a plurality of substrates;

for each respective substrate, calculate respective control parameter values to use when polishing the respective substrate, wherein calculating comprises using the matrix and the column vector; and

cause a semiconductor processing system to subject each respective substrate to the process using the respective control parameter values and the plurality of state parameter values.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , comprising instructions for causing the processor to:

store an initial matrix that relates the plurality of control parameters and the plurality of state parameters to a calculated removal profile.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , comprising instructions for causing the processor to:

calculate control parameters for each respective first substrate by applying a target removal profile and state parameter values to the initial matrix.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of control parameter values comprise pressures of chambers in a carrier head to hold a substrate against a polishing pad.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of control parameter values further comprise one or more of a platen rotation rate, carrier head rotation rate, or polishing time.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the state parameter values comprise one or more of a retaining ring life, or a polishing pad life.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (32)