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Utilizing megasonic energy to enhance post-chemical mechanical planarization (p-CMP) cleaning for emerging substrates
As integrated circuit and logic devices feature size continue to decrease to sub-3-nm nodes, it is imperative to limit induced defectivity during Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) process (polishing and substrate cleaning). The CMP process can cause various defects, and they can be classified as mechanical (i.e., scratching), chemical (i.e., corrosion), or physiochemical (i.e., adsorbed contaminants) according to the mechanism of formation. Traditionally, a contact cleaning method involving a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) brush is used to transfer cleaning chemistry to the substrate of interest and provide the necessary mechanical energy for defect removal. While effective in contaminant removal, this process is known to induce secondary defect modes, such as scratching, due to its reliance on shear forces. Implementing cleaning processes that balance the modulation of surface reaction kinetics (chemical and adsorption) with an advanced low-shear force environment is of utmost importance. This work will focus on the strategic design of p-CMP cleaning systems for emerging materials (SiC and carbon-doped oxides) in which the chemical activity at the substrate interface can be modulated under a low-shear environment. More specifically, this process will use transient cavitation effects via megasonic energy coupled with supramolecular chemistries (micelle, vesicle, polyelectrolyte) or reactive oxygen species (ROS) generating complexes to promote a “soft” cleaning environments with reduced secondary defects. Results from a second-order kinetic model indicate that processing conditions (i.e., time and power), cleaning chemistry additive (i.e., shape, charge, and complex stability), and the generation of ROS all play a critical role in cleaning efficiency in the megasonic field.
The manufacturing of Integrated Circuit (IC) technologies has been shifting focus to wide band gap (WBG) materials (i.e., Silicon carbide (SiC)) over the recent years. These WBG materials have shown promise as semiconductor materials due to the intrinsic properties (i.e…