Patent ID: 6503767
Filing Date: 2003-01-07
Classification: B24B,H01L

Abstract:
A process for planarizing a surface of a work piece comprising the steps of:(a) subjecting a surface of a first work piece to a planarization process; (b) measuring the amount of material removed from the surface during the planarization process at a plurality of locations across the surface to establish an experimental work piece scan comprising a plurality of experimental data points of material removed as a function of location on the surface; (c) determining an approximation of a low spatial frequency component of the experimental work piece scan by fitting the plurality of experimental data points to an mth order polynomial; (d) dividing the work piece surface into a plurality of regions, each of the plurality of regions influenced by a process variable of the planarization process; (e) analyzing the approximation of a low spatial frequency component in at least one of the plurality of regions to determine a metric for the at least one of the plurality of regions; (f) changing a process variable corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of regions and subjecting a surface of a second work piece to a planarization process including the changed process variable; (g) carrying out steps (b) through (e) on the second work piece; and (h) comparing the metric determined for the second work piece to the metric for the first work piece.