Ebara Corporation

Kyushu Institute of Technology

Keisuke Suzuki

Hisanori Matsuo

Panart Khajornrungruang

Yoshihiro Mochizuki

Keiichi Kimura

Takahiro Tajiri

Takashi Kushida

Souichirou Ichioka

A polishing pad surface property measuring method which can measure surface properties of a polishing pad that reflect CMP performance by applying a laser beam to the polishing pad at a plurality of incident angles is disclosed. The method includes applying a laser beam to a surface of the polishing pad, and receiving light reflected by the surface of the polishing pad and performing Fourier transform on the received light to determine surface properties of the polishing pad. The laser beam is applied to the polishing pad at a plurality of incident angles.

Method and apparatus for measuring surface properties of polishing pad

The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring surface properties of a polishing pad which measures surface properties such as surface topography or surface condition of a polishing pad used for polishing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer. The apparatus for measuring surface properties of a polishing pad includes a laser beam source configured to emit a laser beam, and a photodetector configured to detect scattered light that is reflected and scattered by the polishing pad, an optical Fourier transform being performed on the detected scattered light to produce an intensity distribution corresponding to a spatial wavelength spectrum based on surface topography of the polishing pad. The laser beam is applied to the polishing pad at such an incident angle that the laser beam does not reach a bottom portion of a pore formed in the surface of the polishing pad.

Apparatus for measuring surface properties of polishing pad

A polishing apparatus having a polishing pad surface property measuring device that is capable of measuring surface properties of a polishing pad in a state where a liquid film exists on the polishing pad is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes a dam configured to dam a liquid on the polishing pad to form a liquid film having a thickness equal to or greater than a prescribed value in at least part of an area on the polishing pad, a light emitter having a light emission end disposed in the liquid film formed by the dam and configured to emit a laser beam onto the polishing pad, a light receiver disposed in the liquid film formed by the dam and configured to receive light scattered by and bounced off the polishing pad at a plurality of angles due to surface properties of the polishing pad after the laser beam is emitted from the light emitter, and a processor configured to perform Fourier transform on the light received by the light receiver into a predetermined wavelength corresponding to a reflection intensity distribution and to determine a feature quantity of the surface properties of the pad.

Polishing apparatus

The present invention relates to a method of measuring surface properties of a polishing pad which measures surface properties such as surface topography or surface condition of a polishing pad used for polishing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer. The method of measuring surface properties of a polishing pad includes applying a laser beam to the polishing pad, detecting scattered light that is reflected and scattered by the polishing pad with a photodetector and performing an optical Fourier transform on the detected scattered light to produce an intensity distribution corresponding to a spatial wavelength spectrum based on surface topography of the polishing pad, and calculating a numerical value representing surface properties of the polishing pad based on the intensity distribution corresponding to two different prescribed spatial wavelength ranges.

Growing community of inventors

Fukuoka, Japan

Keisuke Suzuki