Adjustable and extended guide rings

A carrier head is provided that improves the pressure uniformity of a semiconductor wafer against the polishing pad in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). The carrier head includes a carrier, a carrier film, and a guide ring. The objective of CMP is to provide planarization of the surface of a semiconductor wafer by uniformly removing material. One embodiment of the invention uses independent adjusting screws threaded in the carrier to provide uniform wafer pressure and lengthen guide ring life. The adjusting screws are threaded internally to accept holding screws attached to the guide ring using a backing. This facilitates variation in the spacing between the carrier and guide ring at each adjusting screw. A locking nut on each adjusting screw is used to maintain each gap setting. This embodiment eliminates the need for shims and the associated trial-and-error set-up time in selecting shims. In addition, compensating for guide ring wear can be easily performed without disassembling the carrier head. A second embodiment uses air vents in the carrier, an L-shaped guide ring, and O-rings between the guide ring and carrier. These modifications prevent polishing slurry from being drawn into the point of contact between the carrier and guide ring. If permitted, dried slurry deposits between the guide ring and carrier would cause variations in applied pressure to the wafer during polishing which in turn would result in non-uniform removal of material during CMP.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 (1) Field of the Invention
 The invention generally relates to a semiconductor wafer carrier and, more
 particularly to methods of improving the apparatus used in holding the
 wafer during the polishing process.
 (2) Description of Prior Art
 Semiconductor fabrication often uses a combination of chemical and
 mechanical polishing to reduce the thickness and planarize a thin film
 coating on a wafer. Typically, the wafer is placed in a polishing head and
 makes contact with a rotating polishing pad having a slurry applied
 thereto. Often the polishing head holding the wafer also rotates making
 the planarization process more uniform.
 FIGS. 1 and 2 schematically show a cross section of the current art for the
 polishing process. The wafer 14 is held in place laterally by the guide
 rings 20. To facilitate thin film planarization, uniform pressure is
 applied mechanically from above to the carrier 18 holding the wafer 14
 firmly against the polishing pad 12. To aid in maintaining uniform
 pressure to the wafer 14, a thin carrier film 16 is usually attached to
 the carrier 18. The polishing table 10 and polishing pad 12 are rotated at
 a set speed, while often, the carrier 18, carrier film 16, and wafer 14
 rotate at a second set speed. During automated loading and unloading, the
 wafer is held onto the carrier by vacuum pressure via passages 22.
 The current practice uses plastic or metal shims to set the gap between the
 guide ring and carrier. This ensures that the wafer stays under the
 carrier during chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). The shim thickness is
 not adjustable around the circumference of the guide ring and because of
 variation in the shim thickness and uneven wear rate on the guide ring,
 non-uniform pressure may be applied to the wafer. This compromises the
 process quality by unevenly removing the thin film material during CMP.
 Operating cost also increase since the guide ring must be reconditioned or
 discarded when it no longer meets specifications.
 A vacuum is used to remove the wafer from the polishing table after
 completing the CMP process. During this removal process, the vacuum may
 also draw polishing slurry into the point of contact between the carrier
 and guide ring. Slurry in this area will cause the guide ring to be out of
 tolerance, a problem that is exacerbated if the slurry is permitted to
 dry. Since the slurry does not evenly fill the gap, this also inhibits
 uniformity of pressure applied during wafer polishing.
 Other approaches attempt to address problems in maintaining uniform
 pressure across the surface of the wafer during polishing. U.S. Pat. No.
 5,681,215 to Sherwood et al. teaches a method using multiple bellows
 forming two pressure chambers. One chamber is used to apply an even load
 across the wafer and the other is used to press the retaining ring and
 wafer against the polishing pad. U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,273 to Yano et al
 teaches a method using a pressure-absorbing member between the carrier and
 guide ring. This member allows movement of the guide ring with respect to
 the carrier while maintaining uniform pressure on the wafer. U.S. Pat. No.
 5,584,751 to Kobayashi et al teaches a method whereby pressure is applied
 to a diaphragm allowing the position of the wafer and carrier to be
 adjusted during the CMP process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,716 to Strasbaugh
 teaches a method of holding the wafer during loading and unloading using
 negative pressure on a flexible membrane. This creates small suction cups
 in the membrane, holding the wafer in place. By applying positive pressure
 to the membrane, the wafer can be released, or, during CMP, held with
 uniform pressure against the polishing pad. U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,140 to
 Barns et al. teaches a method using a flexible carrier plate providing an
 air pillow that maintains uniform pressure on the wafer during CMP.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 A principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved
 mechanism for carrying semiconductor wafers during polishing.
 A second object of the present invention is to provide a carrier mechanism,
 which applies uniform pressure on the wafer during polishing. This will
 result in even planarization of thin film semiconductor material.
 A further object of the present invention is eliminating the use of shims
 between the guide rings and carrier, and the associated costs of shim
 selection and installation.
 Another object of the present invention is the prevention of slurry from
 penetrating the point of contact between the guide ring and carrier.
 Eliminating this slurry build-up allows the wafer to be held with more
 uniform pressure against the polishing pad.
 Another object of the present invention is the increase in the useable life
 and reduction in reconditioning costs in the guide rings.
 A still yet further object of the present invention is the reduction in
 setup time required to compensate for guide ring wear.
 These objects are achieved by two improvements over the present wafer
 carrier head. The first improvement uses a plurality of adjusting screws
 spaced evenly along the circumference of the carrier. The adjusting screws
 allow the wafer to be positioned flatly against the polishing pad,
 eliminating the necessity for shims between the guide ring and carrier
 film. The second improvement uses an L-shaped guide ring fitted with
 O-ring gaskets and a carrier with air vents. The combination of the air
 vents, the L-shaped guide ring and the O-rings prevent slurry from being
 drawn in the contact point between the carrier and guide ring. Allowing
 slurry to penetrate this contact point would cause the wafer to be
 misaligned, resulting in non-uniform removal of material during CMP.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
 Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 3a, 3b and 3c, there is shown one
 embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3a shows a plurality of
 adjusting screws 58 evenly spaced just inside the circumference of the
 carrier 48. It is to be understood that the number of adjusting screws 58
 could be varied and could number as few as three. Referring now to the
 guide ring 50 in FIG. 3a, a backing plate 52 is attached along the top
 surface of the guide ring 50 using a plurality of counter sunk screws (not
 shown). The location of the countersunk screws is not critical except that
 they should not interfere with the point of contact between the adjusting
 screws 58 and backing plate 52. The guide ring 50 has cavities (not
 visible in this figure) to accept the heads of holding screws 60. The
 adjusting screws 58 are threaded to accept the holding screws 60 when
 assembled, thus attaching the carrier 48 to the backing plate 52 and guide
 ring 50. Adjusting screws 58 can then be turned independently to vary the
 gap (not shown in this figure) between the carrier 48 and guide ring 50.
 This reduces set-up time for the process by eliminating the need for
 trial-and-error shim selection.
 Referring now to FIG. 3b, shown here are bottom views of the carrier 48 and
 guide ring 50. Notice that the carrier 48 and guide ring 50 have a
 plurality of mating teeth 62 and grooves or slots 64, respectively. The
 teeth 62 and grooves or slots 64 prevent rotation between the carrier 48
 and guide ring 50 when assembled. The shape of the teeth 62 and grooves or
 slots 64 may be straight or dove tailed.
 Referring now to FIG. 3c, there is shown a cross section of the assembled
 carrier head and polishing table 40. The table 40 is covered by a pad 42
 to which polishing slurry (not shown) is applied. During the CMP process
 the table 40 and pad 42 are rotated at a fixed speed. The guide ring 50 is
 placed in a concentric groove or notch in the carrier 48. The wafer 44 is
 contained laterally by the guide ring 50 during polishing. A carrier film
 46 is affixed to the underside of the carrier 48. Pressure is applied to
 the wafer 44 from the carrier 48 through the carrier film 46. The purpose
 of the carrier film 46 is to absorb any imperfections in the carrier 48
 and thus apply uniform pressure to the wafer 44. The pressure of the wafer
 44 against the pad 42 containing the slurry results in the removal of the
 thin semiconductor film. Adjusting screws 58 pass through locking nuts 56
 and threaded holes in the carrier 48. Holding screws 60 are placed
 threaded end upwards through holes in a backing plate 52. The heads of the
 holding screws 60 are fitted into cavities in the guide ring 50 and the
 backing plate 52 is then attached to the guide ring 50 using a plurality
 of countersunk screws (not shown). When the carrier head is assembled, the
 adjusting screw 58 is mated to the holding screw 60 allowing the gap 66
 between the upper surface of the backing plate 52 and the lower mating
 surface on the carrier 48 to be adjusted at each of the adjusting screw 58
 locations. Once the desired height of the gap 66 is achieved, the locking
 nut 56 is tightened to prevent movement of the adjusting screw 58.
 Independently adjusting the gap 66 between the carrier 48 and backing plate
 52 along the circumference of the guide ring 50 has several advantages.
 First, the need for shims and the trial-and-error gap adjustment
 associated with shims is eliminated. In addition by using this embodiment
 of the invention, adjustments required to compensate for wear on the guide
 ring 50 may be performed without disassembling the carrier head thus
 reducing maintenance and setup time. Finally, having the lower surface of
 the guide ring 50 parallel to the bottom surface of the wafer 44, the
 pressure applied to the wafer 44 will be uniform thereby improving the
 consistency of material removal during CMP.
 Referring now to FIGS. 4a and 4b, there is shown a second embodiment of the
 present invention. This embodiment of the carrier head prevents slurry
 from entering the contact point of the carrier and guide ring. Referring
 more particularly to FIG. 4a showing a carrier 70 with a plurality of
 evenly spaced air vents 72. The number of air vents 72 may number from
 three to twelve. Also shown on the carrier 70 is the vacuum port 74.
 Referring now to FIG. 4b, there is shown a cross section of the completed
 carrier head and polishing table 84. The table 84 is covered by a pad 82
 to which polishing slurry (not shown) is applied while the table 84 and
 pad 82 are rotated at a fixed speed. The L-shaped guide ring 86 is placed
 in a concentric groove or notch in the carrier 70. A carrier film 78 is
 affixed to the bottom surface of the carrier 70 absorbing any imperfection
 in lower surface of the carrier 70. Pressure is applied to the wafer 80
 from the carrier 70 through the carrier film 78. In this embodiment, the
 wafer 80 is contained laterally by a guide ring 86 during polishing. The
 positions of the air vents 72 are such that they coincide with the inner
 circumference of the guide ring 86. When negative pressure is applied to
 vacuum port 74, rather than drawing slurry up from the polishing pad 82,
 air will travel downward through the air vents 72. O-rings 76 also prevent
 slurry from penetrating the contact point 88 between the carrier 70 and
 guide ring 86. The O-rings 76 may be part of either the guide ring 86 or
 carrier 70. If the O-ring is part of the guide ring 86, then the carrier
 70 will be grooved to accommodate the O-ring 76. Conversely, if the O-ring
 is part of the carrier 70, then the guide ring 86 will be grooved to
 accommodate the O-ring 76.
 This embodiment has the advantage of keeping slurry from entering the
 contact point 88 between the carrier 70 and the top surface of the guide
 ring 86. This is accomplished by three methods. First, the L-shape of
 guide ring 86 creates a lip inhibiting slurry from reaching its top
 surface. Second, the air vents 72 allow air to be drawn toward the vacuum
 port 74 from above the carrier 70, rather than drawing slurry from the
 polishing pad 82 below the wafer 80. Finally, slurry is kept from reaching
 the contact point 88 between the carrier 70 and top surface of the guide
 ring 86 by O-rings placed between them.
 While not specifically shown, both of the two embodiments of this invention
 could be combined into an improved carrier assembly.
 While the invention has been particularly shown and described with
 reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by
 those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be
 made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.