Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.
After the silicon wafer is subjected to a double-sided polishing process, fine damage is usually left on the surface. In order to remove the damage and make the silicon wafer mirror and continuously improve the flatness, FP work is generally performed. The conventional FP work is to bring a Polishing Head (Polishing Head) loaded with a silicon wafer into contact with the surface of a Polishing pad attached to a lower platen, and the surface of the silicon wafer is polished by a chemical reaction between a colloidal Polishing liquid (Colloidal slurry) supplied through a Polishing liquid pipe (slurry Tube) and a chemical (chemical) and by the influence of a physical reaction caused by mechanical pressurization.
Specifically, the silicon wafer after the double-sided polishing process is put into a cleaning machine, and then the FP operation is required after the silicon wafer is discharged from the cleaning machine, and the complete FP operation flow includes three polishing operations, specifically as follows: firstly, performing a first FP step, which can also be called as a rough Polishing (Stock Polishing) step, on a silicon wafer, wherein the step is used for removing surface defects caused by a preceding process of the silicon wafer and manufacturing the silicon wafer into a mirror surface state; this step is used to adjust the flatness of the abrasive particles (particles) and the entire wafer surface during the process. The rough polishing step is followed by a second FP step that adjusts the abrasive particles by using a minimum amount of polishing to adjust the roughness of the wafer surface. After the second FP step is completed, a third FP step is performed, which is used to adjust the micro roughness (micro roughness) and fine particles (FINE PARTICLE) on the surface of the silicon wafer and complete the ending operation. After completing the FP operation of the above 3 steps, the silicon wafer is simply surface-cleaned in the apparatus, and finally placed in the blanking cassette (unloading cassette), and a waiting process is performed until the blanking cassette is filled with the silicon wafer.
For the first FP step in the above operation flow, that is, the rough Polishing step, in the process of the operation, a Finish Polishing (FP) device 100 capable of implementing the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig. 1, where the FP device 100 specifically may include: the polishing apparatus comprises a polishing head 101, an adsorption pad 102, a polishing liquid supply line 103, a polishing disk 104, a polishing pad 105 attached to the polishing disk 104, a first drive shaft 106 and a second drive shaft 107. When the FP device 100 is used for final polishing of the silicon wafer W, a polishing liquid is supplied to the polishing pad 105 through the polishing liquid supply line 103 at a constant supply flow rate under the condition that the adsorption pad 102 is adsorbed to the back surface of the silicon wafer W, and after the polishing liquid is supplied to the polishing pad 105 and contacts the silicon wafer W, the polishing disk 104 and the polishing head 101 are driven to perform relative rotation by the first drive shaft 106 and the second drive shaft 107, respectively, and pressure is applied to the silicon wafer W by the polishing head 101 to complete the final polishing operation of the silicon wafer W. The damaged surfaces of the silicon wafer W generated in the previous part of the mechanical processing process can be removed by performing the final polishing operation on the silicon wafer W, and these damaged surfaces are chemically softened by the polishing liquid in the final polishing process, and the chemically softened damaged surfaces can be removed by the mechanical movement with the polishing pad 105. And repeating the final polishing process to completely remove the damaged surface on the surface of the silicon wafer W and finally planarize the surface of the silicon wafer W.
Since the wafer and the polishing pad are always in a relative rotation state when final polishing is performed using the FP device 100, the polishing liquid tends to accumulate at the edge of the wafer due to centrifugal action caused by rotation, which makes the polishing removal amount of the edge region of the wafer surface larger than that of the central region of the wafer surface, and the unevenness of the polishing removal amount eventually causes the flatness of the wafer surface to deteriorate.
In this regard, the embodiment of the invention provides a polishing head and polishing equipment; the flatness level of the polished silicon wafer can be improved by intervening the distribution and components of the polishing liquid in the polished area of the silicon wafer.
Referring to fig. 2, in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention proposes a polishing head 200, the polishing head 200 comprising:
A head main body 201;
An adsorption port 202 provided on a lower surface 201a of the head main body 201, the adsorption port 202 being for adsorbing a silicon wafer W so that the silicon wafer W can move together with the head main body 201;
A first discharge port 203 provided on a lower surface 201a of the head main body 201, the first discharge port 203 being provided outside the adsorption port 202 in a radial direction for discharging a gas outside a circumferential direction of the silicon wafer W when the silicon wafer W is polished to reduce an amount of the polishing liquid near an edge of the silicon wafer W.
As shown in fig. 2, the head main body 201 has a pipe penetrating the center thereof in the vertical direction, the pipe leading to the suction port 202 so that a negative pressure can be formed at the suction port 202 to suck the wafer W to the polishing head 200 so that the polishing head 200 can drive the wafer W to move therewith, a first discharge port 203 is further provided at the outer side of the suction port 202 in the radial direction of the lower surface 201a of the head main body 201, the first discharge port 203 is also located at the outer side of the wafer W sucked to the polishing head 200 in the circumferential direction for discharging a gas at the outer side of the wafer W in the circumferential direction to blow off the polishing liquid collected near the edge of the wafer W, the amount of the polishing liquid near the edge of the wafer W is reduced, thereby reducing the polishing amount to the edge of the wafer, and improving the surface flatness of the polished wafer.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a polishing head 200; the polishing head 200 adsorbs a silicon wafer W through an adsorption port 202 provided on a lower surface 201a of a head main body 201 so that the silicon wafer W is fixed to the head main body 201 to be movable together with the head main body 201, and a first discharge port 203 is further provided on the lower surface 201a of the head main body 201 of the polishing head 200, the first discharge port 203 being provided so as to be capable of discharging a gas at a circumferential outer side of the silicon wafer W when the silicon wafer W is polished, whereby a gas barrier can be formed at the circumferential outer side of the silicon wafer W, whereby an excessive amount of polishing liquid can be prevented from accumulating at an edge of the silicon wafer, an amount of polishing liquid for polishing the edge of the silicon wafer is reduced, thereby avoiding excessive polishing of the edge of the silicon wafer, and improving flatness of the polished silicon wafer.
In order to further reduce polishing of the edge portion of the silicon wafer, it is preferable that the polishing head 200 further includes a second discharge port 204 provided on the lower surface 201a of the head main body 201, the second discharge port 204 being located between the suction port 202 and the first discharge port 203 in a radial direction for discharging a liquid on the circumferential outer side of the silicon wafer W when the silicon wafer W is polished to reduce the concentration of the polishing liquid near the edge of the silicon wafer W, as shown in fig. 2 and 3.
As shown in fig. 2 and 3, a second discharge port 204 is further provided between the suction port 202 and the first discharge port 203 in the radial direction of the lower surface 201a of the head main body 201, and the second discharge port 204 is used for discharging liquid outside the circumferential direction of the silicon wafer W to dilute the polishing liquid near the edge of the silicon wafer, thereby reducing the concentration thereof and also playing a role of avoiding the excessive polishing of the edge of the silicon wafer.
In order to dilute the polishing liquid without adversely affecting the polishing liquid, preferably, the liquid is deionized water or a strong alkali solution, wherein the pH value of the strong alkali solution is greater than 11, particularly preferably, the pH value of the strong alkali solution is about 12, and the strong alkali solution can chemically react with grinding components such as silicon dioxide and the like in the grinding liquid to form a peptized body so as to effectively reduce the polishing capability of the polishing liquid.
For the realization of the first discharge opening, it may be formed, for example, as an annular opening. In order to enable more uniform discharge of the gas, preferably, as shown in fig. 3, the polishing head 200 includes a plurality of the first discharge ports 203 arranged in the circumferential direction of the lower surface 201a of the head main body 201, that is, a plurality of discrete first discharge ports 203, each of which may be uniformly spaced apart from each other. In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, each first discharge opening is rectangular, it is contemplated that the first discharge openings may take other shapes, such as circular, oblong, etc.
According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the polishing head 200 includes a plurality of the second discharge ports 204 arranged in the circumferential direction of the lower surface 201a of the head main body 201. In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the second discharge port 204 is circular, but of course, the second discharge port 204 may be formed in other shapes, such as rectangular, triangular, etc.
The start time and duration of the discharge of the first and second discharge ports 203 and 204 may be selected according to actual production conditions, and for one polishing operation, neither the first discharge port 203 nor the second discharge port 204 is discharged to allow the silicon wafer to be sufficiently contacted with the polishing liquid to obtain necessary polishing, and the first discharge port 203 may be intermittently discharged with the gas and the second discharge port 204 may be intermittently discharged with the liquid in the intermediate stage of polishing to avoid excessive polishing of the edge of the silicon wafer.
In order to be able to accurately control the first and second discharge ports 203 and 204 according to actual production needs, it is preferable that, referring to fig. 2, the polishing head further comprises a controller 205, the controller 205 being for controlling the discharge of the first and second discharge ports 203 and 204.
In order to achieve rotational movement of the polishing head about its own axis and translational movement on the polishing pad, the polishing head 200 preferably further comprises a driver 206 for driving the polishing head in movement, as shown in fig. 2.
In order not to contaminate the polishing liquid, the gas is preferably an inert gas, for example, the gas may be nitrogen.
In a second aspect, referring to fig. 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides a polishing apparatus 300, the polishing apparatus 300 comprising the polishing head 200 according to the first aspect.
It should be noted that: the technical schemes described in the embodiments of the present invention may be arbitrarily combined without any collision.
The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.