Motorola Corporation

David Weston Haggart, Jr

Karl Emerson Mautz

Walter Glashauser

John George Maltabes

A method for determining an endpoint during chemical-mechanical polishing of a semiconductor wafer ( ) is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of depositing on a first layer ( ) to be polished a second layer ( ), the physical properties of the first layer ( ) being different from the physical properties of the second layer ( ). After that, the wafer ( ) is polished by chemical-mechanical polishing. Due to the different physical properties of the layers, a variation of the physical properties can be detected, and an endpoint can be determined on the basis of the detected variation. Further, a semiconductor wafer for use in a chemical-mechanical polishing process is disclosed.

Method for determining an endpoint and semiconductor wafer

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) a metal film ( ) at the surface of a substrate ( ), with mixing a slurry precursor ( ) with an oxidizing agent ( ) to provide a slurry ( ) with a predetermined agent concentration, and supplying the slurry to a CMP pad ( ) to polish the film at a predetermined polishing rate is modified by altering the agent concentration at the end of polishing. Since the polishing rate is reduced, endpointing is enhanced. The concentration is altered by adding further oxidizing or reducing agents.

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Scottsdale, AZ, United States of America

David Weston Haggart, Jr