Quantification of Ultraprecision Surface Morphology using an Algebraic Graph Theoretic Approach

Prahalad Rao, Satish Bukkapatnam, Zhenyu Kong*, Omer Beyca, Kenneth Case, Ranga Komanduri

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Assessment of progressive, nano-scale variation of surface morphology during ultraprecision manufacturing processes, such as fine-abrasive polishing of semiconductor wafers, is a challenging proposition owing to limitations with traditional surface quantifiers. We present an algebraic graph theoretic approach that uses graph topological invariants for quantification of ultraprecision surface morphology. The graph theoretic approach captures heterogeneous multi-scaled aspects of surface morphology from optical micrographs, and is therefore valuable for in situ real-time assessment of surface quality. Extensive experimental investigations with specular finished (Sa ∼ 5 nm) blanket copper wafers from a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process suggest that the proposed method was able to quantify and track variations in surface morphology more effectively than statistical quantifiers reported in literature.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12-26
Number of pages15
JournalProcedia Manufacturing
Volume1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event43rd North American Manufacturing Research Conference, NAMRC 2015 - Charlotte, United States
Duration: 8 Jun 201512 Jun 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

  • Fiedler number
  • Surface morphology quantification
  • chemical mechanical polishing (CMP)
  • copper CMP
  • graph theory
  • semiconductor wafer metrology

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