Investigating Slurry Flow Patterns in Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) Using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Simulations

Chemical Mechanical Polishing has emerged as a leading area approach for planarizing wafer surfaces during semiconductor manufacturing due to its ability to provide defect-free and uniform surfaces. Achieving nanoscale planarity on a wafer and die is one of the most significant steps in the process 1. As part of the CMP process, it is essential to understand the interactions between consumables to facilitate the production of smooth and mirror-like surfaces 2, 3. Simulation and numerical modeling have become critical means for elucidating intricate flow patterns to probe the underlying fundamentals of CMP processes. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations provide a detailed understanding of fluid flow behavior for various conditions 4, 5. This study uses a three-dimensional CFD simulation to provide an understanding of the slurry flow pattern and its effects on CMP performance. Several CFD simulations were performed to study the effect of different parameters on slurry flow patterns. The simulations provided information on the interaction between the slurry, the wafer surface, and the polishing pad, in addition to the abrasive distribution, slurry velocity, and pressure variations within the CMP tool. It was observed that changing the pad and wafer rotation speeds, the wafer-pad gap size and the center-to-center distance affect the slurry flow conditions. For the same rotational speeds, as the center-to-center distance decreases, the flow velocity increases toward the wafer edge. Moreover, with the same rotation speed, the pad rotation dominates the wafer rotation speed. 1 B. Suryadevara, Advances in Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) . Woodhead Publishing, 2021. 2 J. Seo, Journal of Materials Research , 36 , 235–257, 2021. 3 A. R. Mazaheri and G. Ahmadi, J Electrochem Soc , 150 , G233, 2003. 4 J. Tu, K. Inthavong, and G. Ahmadi, Springer Science & Business Media, 2012. 5 G. Ahmadi, “Chapter 2 -, R. Kohli and K. L. Mittal, Eds., Oxford: William Andrew Publishing, 2012, pp. 81–105.