CMP area automation in SMIF fab

The objective of CMP (chemical mechanism polishing) is to produce wafer planarization. However, the polishing and cleaning equipment cannot incorporate SMIF pods. The wafers must be taken out of the SMIF pod to complete the polishing process. While the wafers are outwith the SMIF pod, it is not easy to read the wafer ID, and the equipment cannot identify the wafer to warn operators of errors. This causes more errors than in other areas and increases process cost. The major purpose of CMP automation is to reduce operator errors in the CMP area, and upgrade the operating mode from manual to automatic. Reasons for operator error include: mixed lot, complex operation steps, wafer transfer, selecting the wrong recipe or slurry stop. In this paper, we have proposed a solution using an ID system linkage with the manufacturing execution system (MES) to successfully reduce mis-operation (MO) events, improve equipment efficiency and extend material usage life. The system obtains the wafer ID and transfers it to the polishing and cleaning equipment without using smart tags. In this structure, a barcode label ID is designed to replace the wafer ID. The system will find the original wafer ID according to a mapping system for the barcode label ID. In these polishing and clean processes, some parts of the original process procedures can be automated. After implementing this system, we have reduced MO cases from 2 cases/month to 0 cases/month, enhanced equipment efficiency from 70% to 80% and extended material usage life from 15 hours to 30 hours.