Made in the USA, ESE® is a modification of our patented SIS®, allowing it to operate in reverse mode to safely capture and pump out spent slurry for subsequent assay and pad-shavings analysis. We have sold 8 units thus far on AMAT, and Fujikoshi-Araca polishers.
Safe to use – No need to defeat polisher safety interlocks to get close to the moving parts of the polisher.
Hands-free, automatic extraction of spent slurry during polishing.
Allows for inline analysis of pH, refractive index, zeta potential, particle size distribution, and large-particle counts.
Allows for offline SEM and EDX analyses.
Safe extraction of spent slurry from the polishing process has become mission-critical. In today’s CMP processes, slurry mean residence time on the pad can exceed 45 seconds. As such, the slurry has plenty of time to accumulate unwanted reaction by-products and pad shavings. These can contribute significantly to wafer-level defects, as they repeatedly enter and re-enter the pad-wafer interface dozens of times before eventually leaving the system. Knowing the extent of debris uptake by the spent slurry during polishing, and whether nanoparticles can maintain their overall morphology during polishing without being crushed by the wafer or the retaining ring, is critical to ensuring efficient, high-quality, high-yielding planarization processes.
Traditional ways to sample spent slurry during polishing have been either through the slurry waste line or from inside the capture tub that surrounds the platen. These methods are far from ideal. First and foremost, they cannot be done safely without a technician disabling the safety interlocks on the cabinetry surrounding the polisher to get close to the moving parts. Second, the capture tub can be quite dirty, contaminated with myriad dried-out, co-mingled slurries and debris from runs over months of operation. Lastly, the waste line may also be contaminated; it will surely contain residual water from rinsing steps.
A video showing the efficient and stable operation of the ESE® during a 300-mm wafer polishing process is shown below. For enhanced visual contrast, we have dyed the slurry red. A bow wave is formed in the back of the injector’s leading edge, which contains used slurry and pad conditioning debris that can cause polishing defects. The excessive used slurry buildup is due to the EBU’s design, which includes multiple arched pockets that communicate with the longitudinal fluid track leading to the pump.
ESE® is sold as a Kit. It comprises a mount and an extractor. The mount (including the rods that connect it to the extractor) has a life of more than 10 years. The extractor (including the PEEK Extractor Bottom Unit – EBU) is always in contact with the pad. Since the ESE® is meant to be used sporadically and only for slurry health diagnostics and understanding what the pad shavings look like, the estimated lifetime of the EBU should exceed several years. A peristaltic pump (not included) is needed to pump the effluent slurry into a collection vial.
The overall appearance of the ESE® is identical to that of the SIS®, except that the tube that connects to the system is used to remove the slurry rather than to inject it. Of course, the design of the PEEK bottom is different, which allows slurry capture instead of injection atop the pad.
ESE® is a totally passive device. It requires no power or specialized software. Initial installation takes 30 minutes, while removal and reinstallation of the extractor take 5 minutes. Connection to an external peristaltic pump should take no more than a couple of minutes. The system comes with a 1-year warranty.
Direct-to-Consumer (D2C).
To all OEMs for value-added resale.
OEM and parts manufacturing licenses available for sale.
Contact us to discuss your slurry diagnostics needs and how ESE® can help you analyze pad debris, slurry by-products, and nanoparticle morphology during your CMP processes.
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