CMP conditioner and method of manufacturing the same

Abstract

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) conditioner has diamond abrasive grits adhered to a conditioning surface which faces and makes contact with an abrasive pad of a CMP machine. The diamond abrasive grit is adhered to the CMP conditioner body by a metal plating layer, and the CMP conditioner body is formed of resin.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) conditioner used for conditioning (dressing or toothing) of an abrasive pad of the CMP machine for polishing semiconductor wafers, and a method of manufacturing the same.[0003]Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application Nos. JP 2009-107858 and JP 2009-158619 filed in the Japan Patent Office on Apr. 27, 2009, and Jul. 3, 2009, respectively, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]As the semiconductor industry advances, demands for a machining method for polishing surfaces of metals, semiconductors, ceramics, or the like with a high precision soar. Particularly, as integration on semiconductor wafers increases, there is a demand for surface polishing of a nanometer order. In order to provide such high-precision surface polishing, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process using a porou...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) conditioner in which diamond abrasive grit is adhered to a conditioning surface which faces and makes contact with an abrasive pad of a CMP machine, wherein the diamond abrasive grit is adhered to the CMP conditioner body by a metal plating layer, and the CMP conditioner body is formed of resin. The metal plating layer including the diamond abrasive grit and the CMP conditioner body are provided as separate components and bonded as a single body. In this case, it is possible to make the CMP conditioner be lightweight, suppress generation of internal cracks by a thermal impact or the like, and adhere the diamond abrasive grit to the CMP conditioner body at a regularly-spaced interval.

[0014]According to another aspect of the invention, an outer peripheral end portion of the metal plating layer is provided with a curved portion curved in a thickness direction of the metal plating layer along a side surface of the CMP conditioner body around the entire periphery. In this case, the rigidity of the metal plating layer increases, and flatness in the conditioning surface is obtained. Since the diamond abrasive grit is adhered to the conditioning surface at a regularly-spaced interval, it is possible to prevent slurries from being soaked from the outer peripheral portion to the bonding surface and to contribute to the bonding strength.

Problems solved by technology

Thereby, undesirable phenomena such as polishing speed reduction or irregular polishing occur.

However, since stainless steel or ceramics are usually used in the body of the aforementioned CMP conditioner to provide an anticorrosion property, the self-weight of the conditioner increases, making it difficult to perform precisely controlled conditioning.

However, in a case of the resin body, although the CMP conditioner can be made in a lightweight, the resin tend to be removed easily during the conditioning if the diamond abrasive grits are directly adhered to the resin body.

This characteristic adversely affects conditioning performance of the conditioner.

Although the diamond abrasive grits can be directly adhered to the resin using an electroplating layer, they may drop off due to an insufficient adhesive force.

Although the diamond abrasive grits can be adhered using a sintering bond as an alternative method, it is disadvantageous comparing to the adhesion using the electroplating layer because of higher cost.

In addition, the diamond abrasive grits could be fractured, since minute cracks can be generated within the diamond abrasive grits by a thermal shock.

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