Haze used as wafer, die and intra-die indirect characterization technique for advanced CMP processes on patterned wafers

This paper evaluates the haze measurement capabilities as an indirect process control technique for advanced CMP processes on patterned wafers. Interests and limitations of the technique are detailed and discussed. This work leans on previous results about Poly Open CMP and extends to other polishing step, the STI one. The proposed methodology for analysis of the signal is more deeply explained and discussed. Finally it introduces die and intra die level haze signal analysis. First results concerning these scales and comparisons with other Test-Box (local and wafer level) and dedicated scatterometry area (wafer level and intra-die) measurements are presented. Keywords: Chemical Mechanical Planarization, Haze, Characterization, Die-level, Wafer-level, Gate-last, Shallow Trench Isolation