SBIR Phase I: ACIM Wafer Saver: A Novel CMP Slurry Monitor

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的目标是避免半导体晶圆被化学机械刨平或抛光（CMP）浆料中未经检查的大错误团聚团块严重划伤。在集成电路制造的各个阶段，CMP已成为恢复晶圆表面真实度的首选方法。目前还没有一种方法可以在使用点实现cmp安全的浆液。提出的声诱导微空化（ACIM）新技术是一种建设性地控制声微空化并将其高强度能量内爆引导到特定粒子位置的手段。ACIM将实现对散失大颗粒的检测和破坏，并使整个浆料在使用时具有cmp安全。在制造商的最后阶段刮伤高端晶圆会导致巨大的直接损失。因此，使用ACIM来保存后cmp晶圆是一种直接的节省。ACIM晶圆保存器，即泥浆监测粉碎器，将是第一个完全在线、实时的使用点设备，用于检测散失的大颗粒和团块，并将其降低到纳米级。快速增长的CMP行业为这种环保的ACIM工具提供了一个发达的市场。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is targeted to save semiconductor wafers from being deeply scratched by unchecked large errant agglomerates in chemical mechanical planarizing or polishing (CMP) slurries. CMP has become the method of choice for restoring the surface trueness of wafers at all stages of integrated circuit manufacture. No method currently exists that can implement a CMP-safe slurry at the point of use. The proposed novel technology of Acoustic Coaxing Induced Microcavitation (ACIM) is a means to constructively control acoustic microcavitation and direct its high intensity energy implosions at specific particle sites. ACIM will achieve both the detection and destruction of the stray large particles andrender the entire slurry CMP-safe at the point of use. A high-end wafer scratched at the final stages of manufacturer results in a large direct loss. Using ACIM to save post-CMP wafers is therefore a direct savings. The ACIM Wafer Saver, the slurry monitor-comminuter, would be the first fully in-line, real-time, point of use device for detecting stray large particles and agglomerates, and for reducing them to a nano-fine state. The rapidly growing CMP industry presents a well-developed market for this environmentally friendly ACIM tool.