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

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的目标是保护半导体晶片免受化学机械平坦化或抛光（CMP）浆料中未经检查的大型错误团聚物的深刻划伤。CMP已成为在集成电路制造的所有阶段恢复晶片表面真实性的首选方法。目前不存在可以在使用点实现CMP安全浆料的方法。声诱导微空泡（Acoustic Coaxing Induced Microcavitation，ACIM）是一种新型的声诱导微空泡技术，它可以有效地控制声微空泡，并将其高强度能量内爆到特定的粒子位置。ACIM将实现对杂散大颗粒的检测和破坏，并使整个浆料CMP在使用点安全。 高端晶圆在制造商的最后阶段被划伤会导致很大的直接损失。因此，使用ACIM来节省CMP后的晶片是一种直接的节省。ACIM Wafer Saver是浆料监测粉碎机，将是第一个完全在线的实时使用点设备，用于检测杂散大颗粒和团聚体，并将其减少到纳米级。快速增长的CMP行业为这种环保型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.