Influence of a retaining ring on strain and stress in the chemical mechanical polishing process

In this article, a two-dimensional axisymmetric quasi-static finite element wafer scale model for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process involved in the wafer carrier, the carrier film, the wafer, the pad, and the retaining ring was developed to investigate the effect of a retaining ring surrounding the wafer carrier to the strain, stress, and nonuniformity of the wafer surface for the purpose of improving edge exclusion of wafer and preventing the wafer sliding from the carrier while grinding. Considering the same revolutions of the wafer and the pad and the axisymmetric distributed force forms of the wafer carrier and the retaining ring, and applying the principle of minimum potential energy, a two-dimensional axisymmetric quasi-static finite element model for CMP process was established. Following the developed model, the effects of the retaining ring on the strain components, the stress components, the von Mises stress, and the wafer's nonuniformity were investigated. The findings indicated that a retaining ring installed in the conventional CMP mechanism could reduce the variation of the von Mises stress distribution to reach the lower wafer's nonuniformity effectively, improve the over-grinding phenomenon and prevent the wafer sliding from the carrier while grinding.