Pad soaking effect on interfacial fluid pressure measurements during CMP

Prior work has shown that there exist a sub-ambient fluid pressure at the interface between a rigid flat and the polishing pad during chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). This sub-ambient fluid pressure can have a significant impact on the polishing process since its magnitude may be similar to the applied load, depending on conditions. Further results have shown that there is a relationship between pad soaking time and the magnitude of this sub-ambient fluid pressure. This paper addresses measurements of the pad soaking time versus the magnitude of the sub-ambient interfacial fluid pressure. Experiments utilized a Rodel IC1000 polishing pad made of foamed polyurethane with average void size of 30 to 50 microns. Pad soaking tests indicated that the weight of the pad increased with soaking time due to water absorption. There is a high rate of water absorption initially before the pad becomes saturated and the mass of the pad stabilizes. It is also observed that the pad material is impermeable to water and most of the water penetrated only the topmost layer of voids in the material. These experiments suggest that the water progressively softens the top layers of the pad during the soaking and causes the sub-ambient fluid pressure to increase in magnitude. A model of the sub-ambient fluid pressure increasing as the elastic modulus of the pad decreases is also suggested.