Nath & Associates
Chemical mechanical polishing method with in-line thickness detection
 The present invention discloses a chemical mechanical polishing method with in-line thickness detection. First, the semiconductor wafer is loaded into CMP equipment and is putted on a loading table for the preparation of a CMP process. The CMP process is performed on the wafer for polishing. The CMP process is interrupted and the thickness of a polished thin film layer is detected by using an in-line thickness measurement technique. The thickness is determined whether or not being accepted by a specification of the CMP process. As the thickness is accepted by the specification, the wafer is cleaned, dried and moved out from the CMP equipment. Alternatively, the thickness is not accepted by the specification, it must be determined whether or not the thickness is less than the low limit of the specification. As the thickness is smaller than the low limit, the wafer is cleaned, dried after it is moved out from the CMP equipment. Alternatively, the thickness is larger than the low limit and not accepted by the specification, the CMP process of the wafer must be started again. 
Mosel Vitelic Inc.
B B H
B24B B24B H01L
inventional inventional inventional
Kuei-Chang Li-Chun Yun-Liang Chin-Hsiang
Tsai Hsien Ouyang Chang