An abrasive-free polishing (AFP) solution for chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) of copper films on semiconductor wafers has been developed to overcome such disadvantages of conventional CMP as dishing, erosion, Cu and oxide loss, and microscratching. Electrochemical methods are an effective way of understanding the role of each chemical component in the AFP solution in order to optimize its performance. Analysis of the reaction layer of Cu elucidates the reasons for the excellent results that have been obtained. By applying the AFP solution for Cu CMP in combination with a slurry for CMP of the metal barrier layer, seven-level multilayer Cu interconnections can be successfully fabricated.

To develop high signal speed semiconductor LSIs, Cu interconnection is one of the most important requirements. In the fabrication of Cu interconnections using CMP method, minimized dishing, erosion and reduction in micro-scratches are large issues to be realized. We performed a research for superior properties of Cu CMP. Finally, we succeeded in developing Abrasive Free (AF) Cu slurry suitable for these requirements.We also developed slurry for barrier (TaN) with a high selectivity between TaN and SiO2 of 50 to reduce oxide (SiO2) loss. This reduced oxide loss is directly related to obtaining a controlled circuit resistivity.By applying these two kinds of slurries, ULSIs with multilevel Cu interconnects and excellent reliabilities were obtained.

We investigated the mechanical effect of an abrasive in an abrasive-free-like (AFL) slurry using CMP evaluation and ζ potential evaluation. The amount of abrasive strongly influenced CMP performance. We found out the optimum amount of abrasive for optimal CMP performance. The ζ potential of the abrasive was positive, and those of the Cu and barrier metal were negative. We discussed a planarization model of the AFL slurry in detail based on the ζ potential results obtained.

Abrasive-free Cu CMP solutions have been developed to reduce micro-scratches and obtain minimized dishing and erosion properties. During the development of the solutions, some electrochemical examinations were performed. One of the most instructive knowledge was obtained through the Tafel plot. Other attractive data were obtained through Cu complex film analysis. On the basis of these studies were developed and released newly formulated abrasive-free Cu CMP solutions with a high Cu removal rate and excellent topography performance. Mechanism of polishing by applying abrasive-free Cu CMP solutions is also discussed in this paper.