This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes a multi-disciplinary research effort for physical modeling and model-based sensing and control of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) systems. CMP is a rapidly emerging technology that is playing an increasingly critical role in global planarization for microelectronics fabrication. Since CMP is a relatively new process, developed mainly by experimental trial and error, the process operating "windows" are extremely narrow. Therefore, there is a critical need for integrated physical models that can be used to predict the effect of important input parameters, such as pressure and velocity, on process performance parameters such as the material removal rate and uniformity. Also, various sensing approaches using in-situ and ex-situ sensors, and innovative model-based feedback control strategies for achieving robust performance need to be developed. A virtual prototype that integrates physical models, sensing, and control will be developed and then applied to the Applied Materials MirraTM CMP system. The successful development and implementation of the proposed research program will result in improved and repeatable performance as well as increased throughput relative to the existing methods of CMP control. SC Solutions proposes to focus on the development of integrated physical models and model-based control strategies within the context of an actual commercial CMP system. The result of this focused modeling and control effort will be an experimentally validated preliminary virtual prototype of the CMP process and associated control software to optimize process performance. Since this virtual prototype and associated control software has the potential to significantly improve the "trial and error" approach currently employed in CMP, the commercial application of the proposed product is enormous.
