JPH09298176A - Polishing method and polishing apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: A semiconductor device with good planarization is obtained by appropriately determining the polishing end point when planarizing the surface of a wafer on which a dielectric layer is laminated by chemical mechanical polishing. To obtain a polishing method and a polishing apparatus using the same. In a polishing method in which a surface of a film layer provided on a substrate surface is relatively driven by a polishing means having a polishing pad having a smaller area than the surface of the film layer, the polishing method is provided as a part of the polishing means. The detection means obtains surface information of the film layer, and the control means controls continuation or stop of polishing of the film layer based on a signal from the detection means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a polishing method for chemically and mechanically polishing the surface of a substrate such as a wafer on which a dielectric layer or the like is laminated in a semiconductor device manufacturing process or the like, and a method for using the same. With respect to the polishing apparatus described above, for example, the polishing end point of the polishing process of the insulating film layer (film layer) applied on the silicon substrate is accurately detected to bring the film thickness of the insulating film layer into a predetermined range and to reduce the surface of the insulating film layer. It is suitable for a lithography process for obtaining a highly integrated semiconductor device by efficiently performing shape flattening.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as semiconductor devices have become highly integrated, circuit patterns have become finer and device structures have become three-dimensional. When the numerical aperture of the projection optical system is increased in order to achieve high integration of the semiconductor device, the depth of focus of the projection optical system becomes shallower accordingly, and the unevenness of the surface of the substrate such as the wafer on which wirings and dielectrics are laminated is minimized, It is necessary to secure the depth of focus. Further, as the number of layers increases, surface irregularities make it difficult to form a wiring pattern, and locally reduce the reliability of the wiring pattern. For this reason, the surface of a substrate such as a wafer on which wirings and dielectric layers are laminated is polished to remove steps and irregularities, the surface is flattened, a photoresist is applied onto the flattened surface, and projection exposure is performed. It is important to achieve high resolution.

Polishing an insulating film layer provided on a silicon substrate into a film layer having a uniform thickness is an important requirement for maintaining a uniform interlayer capacitance and a constant via hole depth. ing.

Conventionally, a chemical mechanical polishing method has been proposed as a flattening technique for flattening by removing irregularities and stepped portions on the surface of a substrate such as a wafer on which wirings and dielectric layers are laminated.

In the chemical mechanical polishing, it is necessary to appropriately control a polishing rate, a slurry concentration in a polishing liquid, a temperature of a polished surface, and the like in order to improve polishing efficiency. If this control is inadequate, the insulating film provided on the silicon substrate will not have a predetermined film thickness, and it will not be possible to flatten it, resulting in the inability to secure the depth of focus described above, a decrease in the reliability of the wiring, or an insulating film. A dishing phenomenon and a thinning phenomenon due to a difference in polishing rate of the electrode wiring portion may occur, and a short circuit between via holes may occur.

Therefore, when the surface of a substrate such as a wafer on which a dielectric material or the like is laminated is polished and planarized, it is possible to properly determine the polishing end point and planarize the surface without removing the material of the lower layer. It becomes important.

For example, while simultaneously monitoring the film thickness and surface profile distribution of the surface layer of a substrate such as a wafer on which a dielectric to be polished is laminated, the entire surface of the surface and the level of local planarization are grasped, An end point detection method for determining an optimum polishing end position has become important in chemical mechanical polishing. As a method of detecting the polishing end point, for example, there is a method of obtaining the polishing amount from the polishing time, a method of obtaining the change of the polishing resistance from the current change of the polishing platen drive motor, and the like.

[0008]

As a method for detecting the polishing end point in planarizing the surface of a substrate such as a wafer on which a dielectric or the like is laminated by chemical mechanical polishing, the method of determining the polishing amount from the polishing time is the polishing process. It is difficult to accurately detect the end point because it is necessary to control conditions such as the pressing force on the surface, the degree of wear of the polishing pad, the slurry concentration in the polishing liquid, and the temperature of the polishing surface to be constant.

Further, in the method of detecting the change in the polishing resistance from the change in the current of the polishing platen drive motor, it is difficult to accurately detect the end point because it is necessary to separate the signal waveform and the noise with high accuracy. Also, the local polishing condition of the polished surface cannot be detected.

On the other hand, in the step of polishing the surface of a substrate such as a wafer on which a dielectric or the like is laminated, the surface is planarized so that the surface is within the depth of focus of the projection optical system, and the thickness of the insulating film layer on the surface. Is required to be within a predetermined range in order to prevent variation in interlayer capacitance and to keep the depth of the via hole constant.

The present invention detects the surface shape and film thickness distribution of an insulating film layer provided on a surface of a substrate such as a wafer having a dielectric material laminated thereon by chemical mechanical polishing when the surface is flattened. , A polishing method suitable for manufacturing a highly integrated semiconductor device by efficiently flattening the surface in a semiconductor process by accurately judging the end point of the polishing step by using these values, and the use thereof. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a polishing device.

[0012]

According to the polishing method of the present invention, (1-1) the surface of the film layer provided on the substrate surface is relatively driven by a polishing means having a polishing pad having a smaller area than that. In the polishing method in which the polishing is performed, the surface information of the film layer is obtained by the detection means provided in a part of the polishing means, and the control means continues or stops the polishing of the film layer based on the signal from the detection means. It is characterized by controlling.

In particular, (1-1-1) the polishing means is movable in a plane parallel to the surface of the film layer, and the detecting means detects position information of the polishing means in the plane. The surface information of the film layer is obtained by using the position information from the position detecting means for detecting.

(1-1-2) The detecting means has a distance measuring means for detecting the distance from the surface of the film layer to the reference plane and for measuring the film thickness of the film layer.

(1-1-3) The detecting means should have a film thickness measuring means for measuring the film thickness of the film layer.

(1-1-4) The control means determines whether or not the surface shape and the film thickness distribution of the film layer obtained from the detection means are within a preset allowable range, Controlling whether polishing of the film layer is continued or stopped based on a signal from the determination unit. And so on.

The polishing apparatus of the present invention is (2-1) a polishing apparatus for polishing the surface of a film layer provided on a substrate surface by relatively driving both by a polishing means having a polishing pad having a smaller area. In the above, the polishing means is fixedly provided with a detection means for detecting surface information of the film layer.

In particular, (2-1-1) the polishing means is movable in a plane parallel to the surface of the film layer, and the detecting means detects position information of the polishing means in the plane. The surface information of the film layer is obtained by using the position information from the position detecting means for detecting.

(2-1-2) The detecting means has a distance measuring means for detecting the distance from the surface of the film layer to the reference plane and for measuring the film thickness of the film layer.

(2-1-3) The detecting means should have a film thickness measuring means for measuring the film thickness of the film layer.

(2-1-4) The control means determines by the determination unit whether or not the surface shape and the film thickness distribution of the film layer obtained from the detection means are within a preset allowable range, Controlling whether polishing of the film layer is continued or stopped based on a signal from the determination unit. And so on.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a main part of a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a chemical mechanical polishing device. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the surface of the workpiece 101 is being polished.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the partial polishing tool 4 of FIG. The sensor 2 is fixedly held inside the partial polishing tool 4. The sensor 2 is provided in the partial polishing tool 4 so as to be hermetically sealed from the outside, thereby preventing adhesion of slurry, dust or the like in the polishing process. The sensor 2 is the workpiece 10.
The surface information of No. 1 (surface shape and film thickness distribution) is detected together with the control means 103 described later. The control means 103 controls the workpiece 1 based on the detection result of the surface information of the workpiece 101.
The end point of the No. 01 polishing process or whether or not to continue is controlled.

The workpiece 101 has a structure in which an insulating film layer (film layer) 5 is formed on a silicon substrate 6 and is held by a substrate holder 7.

In this embodiment, the insulating film layer 5 on the silicon substrate 6 is partially chemically mechanically polished by the partial polishing tool 4. The substrate holder 7 holds the workpiece 101,
An angular velocity ω1 around the rotation axis C by a driving means (not shown)
Spinning at. In the figure, the rotation axis C is the Z axis, and the planes orthogonal to the Z axis are the X and Y planes.

Reference numeral 4 is a partial polishing tool. The partial polishing tool has a polishing pad (4a1) and a holder (4a2) for holding the polishing pad (4a1), and is rotated at an angular velocity ω2 about a rotation axis C ′ by a driving means (not shown). . The figure shows the case where the insulating film layer 5 on the silicon substrate 6 is partially polished by one polishing pad (4a1). A plurality of partial polishing tools 4 may be used.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the polishing opening of the polishing pad (4a1) is smaller than the surface (insulating film layer) 5 of the workpiece 101 to be polished. This partially polishes. As shown in FIG. 3, the partial polishing tool 4 is positioned at a distance r from the Z axis in the X axis direction, and can be moved from the position 1 to the position 2 on the X axis by a distance p. Two
Reference numeral 2 is a linear encoder that detects position information of the partial polishing tool 4 in the X-axis direction.

Reference numeral 21 is a rotary encoder, which detects the rotation information of the rotary shaft C. The sensor 2 inspects the surface state of the insulating film layer 5 on the silicon substrate 6 such as the surface shape and the film thickness distribution by a method described later.

In the present embodiment, when polishing the surface of the insulating film layer 5, the partial polishing tool 4 is rotated about the rotation axis C'and the substrate holder 7 is rotated about the rotation axis C, so that they are opposed to each other. Drive both, and if necessary, both X
The slurry containing the abrasive is caused to flow out from the nozzle (not shown) onto the surface of the workpiece 101 while displacing the relative position in the Y-direction and the Y-direction, and is made uniform at the interface between the insulating film layer 5 and the polishing pad (4a1). Is being supplied to.

At this time, polishing is performed by appropriately selecting the pressure between the insulating film layer 5 and the partial polishing tool 4, the rotation speed ratio, and the slurry supply amount. In this way, the insulating film layer 5 formed on the silicon substrate 6 is partially polished by the partial polishing tool 4 to flatten its surface.

After partial polishing for a preset time, the sensor 2 provided in the partial polishing tool 4 as shown in FIG. 2 measures the film thickness and surface position information of the insulating film layer 5 by a method described later. .

In the present embodiment, the surface condition of the insulating film layer 5 of the work piece 101 can be measured even in the liquid, thereby improving the throughput.

Then, the control means 103 obtains the surface shape and the surface condition such as the film thickness distribution of the entire insulating film layer 5 based on the output signal obtained from the sensor 2 by the method described later. At this time, the control unit 103 determines in the determination unit whether or not both the surface shape such as unevenness and steps on the surface of the insulating film layer 5 and the film thickness distribution are within the preset range. When both are within the preset range, it is determined that the polishing is at the end point, and the polishing process is stopped. If not, the polishing process is controlled to continue again.

Then, when the control means 103 determines that both the surface shape and the film thickness distribution of the insulating film layer 5 do not fall within the preset ranges during the polishing process (for example, too thin and too thin). At the time), the polishing process is stopped. At this time, the workpiece 101 is determined to be defective.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the projection exposure is performed by flattening the insulating film layer 5 of the silicon substrate 6, the entire target region of the insulating film layer 5 falls within the depth of focus of the projection optical system. I am trying. Further, the film thickness of the insulating film layer 5 is set within a predetermined range to prevent variation in interlayer capacitance and unify the depth of via holes.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a main part of the sensor 2 of this embodiment. The sensor 2 is an insulating film layer 5 on a silicon substrate 6.
A film thickness measuring means 8 for measuring the film thickness of the insulating film layer 5 and a distance measuring means 9 for measuring the distance from the reference surface to the polished surface (insulating film layer 5) in order to obtain the surface shape of the insulating film layer 5. There is.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the partial polishing tool 4 as viewed from below the Z axis (on the rotary encoder 21 side). In FIG. 6A, the polishing pad 4a1 is provided in a region other than the prism region including the reference surface, and the entire surface is polished by this. In FIG. 6B, the polishing pad 4a1 has a ring shape,
The case where ring-shaped polishing is performed is shown. In FIG. 6B, reference numeral 61 denotes a cushioning member (scrub material) having no polishing effect.

The scrubbing material 61 is made of pure water for removing slurry or a material for forming a closed space so that air can be efficiently recirculated. The material of the material is hydrophilic and has excellent wear resistance such as nylon or polyvinyl. Made of foam etc.

In this embodiment, the configuration shown in FIG. 6A or 6B is used according to the purpose.

In FIGS. 7A and 7B, the film thickness and surface position information at each position in the insulating film layer 5 of the workpiece 101 are measured by the sensor 2 provided in the partial polishing tool 4 in this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the positional relationship when performing.

In FIG. 1A, the rotary position of the insulating film layer 5 is controlled by the rotary encoder 21 while the partial polishing tool 4 is moved to the position r in the X direction by the linear encoder 22.
Is used to control the drive. Then, position information (distance r and angle θ from the rotation axis C) between the insulating film layer 5 and the partial polishing tool 4 is stored, and the surface position information of the insulating film layer 5 at that position is detected by the sensor 2 to control means. It is stored in a storage unit (not shown) in 103.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6B, the partial polishing tool 4 is moved in the X-axis direction by using a predetermined amount of the linear sensor 22, and the surface position information at that position is detected in the same manner as in FIG. Then, it is stored in the storage unit. By changing the value of the angle θ variously, surface position information is obtained over the entire surface of the insulating film layer 5, and the film thickness distribution and surface shape of the entire insulating film layer 5 are obtained from this.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic diagram of a part of FIG.
The optical path when the surface shape and the film thickness of the insulating film layer 5 on the silicon substrate 6 are measured by the sensor 2 is shown.

Next, the structure of the film thickness measuring means 8 and the distance measuring means 9 of the sensor 2 and the measuring method thereof will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. First, a method for obtaining the film thickness d (ρ) of the insulating film layer 5 by the distance measuring means 9 will be described.

Thickness of insulating layer film 5 and reference surface (prism surface)
The distance measuring means 9 for calculating the distance from the polishing surface to the polished surface (the surface of the insulating film layer 5) is a light source (semiconductor laser) 17 capable of changing the coherence length by time division, and a light beam emitted from the light source 17 is a parallel light Lens 18 for irradiating the two-dimensional region ρ of the insulating film layer 5 to be measured through the prism 11 and the reflected light flux from the two-dimensional region ρ to the image sensor 20 through the prism 11. It has a lens 19 which is incident as.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 12 is a water supply nozzle for supplying pure water, which discharges pure water to the surface to be processed (insulating film layer) to remove slurry, dust, etc. adhering thereto, It facilitates highly accurate detection of the surface condition of the workpiece. Reference numeral 13 is a drain nozzle for draining pure water.

In this embodiment, instead of discharging pure water onto the surface to be processed, an air nozzle may be used to discharge air.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 11 denotes a pure water layer, which is located at a position lower than the surface of the polishing pad 4 by several hundreds of μm to the reference surface 11a (z
= 0), the planes of the prisms 11 are arranged so as to coincide with each other, and pure water is circulated in the layers sandwiched by the planes and the insulating film layer 5 by the water supply nozzle 12 and the drainage nozzle 13. Here, the reference surface 11a is set to a position sufficiently longer than the film thickness of the insulating film layer 5.

The luminous flux from the light source 17 as means for changing the coherence length by time division is the oscillation center wavelength λ ₀ = 780 n.
A single mode semiconductor laser of m is used and has a sufficiently long coherence length with respect to the thickness of each film layer to be measured.

The light source 17 is multi-moded by a high-frequency current that cuts the laser oscillation threshold value by a high-frequency superimposing circuit (not shown), and the coherence length is shortened to about 10 μm or less. When each film layer is irradiated with the first light flux from the light source having such a short coherence length, as shown in FIG. 5, the reflected light a from the reference surface that coincides with the flat surface of the prism 11 and the pure water layer 10 are obtained. / Reflected light b from the boundary surface of the insulating film layer 5 (surface of the insulating film layer 5) and reflected light c from the boundary surface of the insulating film layer 5 / silicon substrate 6 are generated.

Since the coherence length of the light beam from the light source is short, among these three reflected lights a, b, c, only the reflected lights b, c with a short optical path difference interfere with each other, and the reflected light a is the other. It does not interfere with the reflected light and becomes a direct current component. The interference intensity I ₁ (ρ) of the interference pattern formed on the image pickup device 17 at this time is expressed as follows.

[0052] ^{_{I 1 (ρ) = ua 2}} + ub 2 + uc 2 + 2ub uc cos (σb -σc) ... (1) where k is the wave number in the 2n / λ. The .sigma.b -Shigumashi is σb -σc = k × 2 × n 1 × d (ρ) cos φ 1. k, n ₁ and φ ₁ are known, and the equation (1) is d
(Ρ), that is, the average film thickness of the insulating film layer 5 is changed as a variable. For this d (ρ),
Since the insulating film layer 5 is usually formed on the silicon substrate 6 by controlling the film thickness, an approximate value of d (ρ) can be determined in advance, and a data table of interference intensity based on d (ρ), etc. With reference to the above, d (ρ) is calculated by calculation processing.

On the other hand, the film thickness measuring means 8 of this embodiment is used as needed, and the average film thickness d (ρ) of the two-dimensional region ρ of the insulating film layer 5 is measured by the spectral reflectance measurement. It has a unit 14 including a light source and a spectroscope, a half mirror 15, and a photomultiplier (photoelectric element) 16. A monochromatic light whose wavelength continuously changes is emitted from the unit 14 and reflected by the surface of the insulating film layer 5 and the interface between the insulating film layer 5 and the silicon substrate 6. The two light beams reflected at this time interfere with each other.

In this embodiment, the average film thickness d (ρ) of the insulating film layer 5 is obtained from the change in the interference intensity due to the two light beams. Now, let λ be the wavelength when the interference intensity becomes maximum and minimum.
₁ , λ ₂ , the refractive index of the insulating film layer 5 is n ₁ , and the reflection angle at the above-mentioned boundary surface is φ ₁ , the film thickness in the minute region x in the two-dimensional region ρ is d (x) = 1. / [(4n ₁ cos φ ₁ ) (1 / λ ₂ −1 / λ ₁ )] ... (2) Here, the average of the film thicknesses measured at a plurality of points within the two-dimensional region ρ is d (ρ).

In this case, the pure water layer 10 and the prism 11
Interference signal is also generated, but the film thickness of the insulating film layer 5 is several μ.
Since these have a sufficiently large thickness as compared with about m or the like, the frequency of the interference signal becomes very high and can be easily separated from the interference signal from the insulating film layer 5.

In this embodiment, the film thickness measuring means 8 may be omitted if the distance measuring means 9 measures the film thickness.

Next, a description will be given of a case where the distance measuring means 9 in the present embodiment obtains the distance from the reference surface to the film thickness surface (polished surface) to obtain the surface shape of the film layer 5.

Now, as the coherent light source 17, a single mode semiconductor laser having an oscillation center wavelength λ ₀ = 780 nm is used to form each film with a second light flux having a coherence length sufficiently long with respect to the thickness of each film layer to be measured. Irradiate the layer. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the reflected light a from the reference surface that coincides with the flat surface of the prism 11, the reflected light b from the pure water layer 10 / insulating film layer 5 boundary surface (the surface of the insulating film layer 5), the insulation Reflected light c from the interface between the film layer 5 and the silicon substrate 6 is generated, and these three reflected lights interfere with each other and the interference intensity I ₂ on the image pickup device 17.
An interference pattern of (ρ) is formed.

Each reflected light a, b, c is a = ua e^{i σ a}
 , B = ub e^{i σ b} , C = uc e^{i σ c} Then, that
Interference intensity I_Two (Ρ) is expressed as follows.

I ₂ (ρ) = ua ² + ub ² + uc ² + 2ua ub cos (σa −σb) + 2ua uc cos (σa −σc) + 2ub uc cos (σb −σc) (3) Obtained by this time division. The difference between the two interference intensities is given by equation (4).

I ₂ (ρ) -I ₁ (ρ) = 2ua ub cos (σa −σb) + 2ua uc cos (σa −σc) (4) Here, the thickness of the pure water layer 10, that is, the reference surface and the polishing The distance to the processed surface is d (ρ) ′, the refractive index of the pure water layer 10 is n ₀ , and the reflection angle at the pure water layer 10 / insulating film layer 5 boundary surface is φ.
₀ , the refractive index of the material of the prism 11 is N, the center wavelength of the oscillation spectrum of the light source 14 is λ, and k = 2π / λ, then σa −σb = k [2n ₀ d (ρ) ′ cos φ ₀ ] σa−σc = k [2n ₀ d (ρ) ′ cos φ ₀ + 2n ₁ d
(Ρ) cos φ ₁ ].

Since d (ρ) is known from n ₀ , n ₁ , φ ₀ , φ ₁ and the equation (3), the equation (4) showing the difference between the two interference intensities is d (ρ) ′, That is, the distance between the reference surface and the polished surface changes as a variable. The surface shape of the polished surface is calculated by calculating this d (ρ) ′ by arithmetic processing.

In the present embodiment, the film thickness distribution of the polished surface and the surface profile measurement value obtained by such a method and apparatus are stored in the storage unit for each measurement, and finally the target film thickness distribution is obtained. Comparing the differences. If this difference is not within the predetermined value range, the polishing rate, the slurry concentration in the polishing liquid, the temperature of the polishing surface, the polishing pressure distribution, etc. are appropriately corrected based on the difference value and the surface shape measurement value, and the flattening is unsuccessful. The polishing is controlled so as to efficiently promote the polishing of a proper portion.

After this difference comparison operation is repeated a plurality of times, when the difference is within a predetermined value range, the polishing process is terminated. FIG. 8 shows a flow of detecting the end point of the planarization processing by the chemical mechanical polishing described above.

In this embodiment, as a means for varying the coherence length of the light source, the single mode semiconductor laser 17 is made into a multimode by a high frequency superimposing circuit and is time-divided to obtain the above-mentioned I ₁ (ρ) and I ₂ (ρ). However, two light sources having different coherence lengths are spatially separated and two image pickup devices corresponding to the respective light sources are provided, and I ₁ (ρ) and I ₂ ( ρ) may be measured.

Further, in the distance measuring means 9 for measuring the distance between the reference surface and the polished surface, the incident angle of the irradiation light beam is set to 0.
The optical path may be partly common to the film thickness measuring means 8 for measuring the film thickness of the insulating film layer 5 at an angle (parallel to the z axis).

Although the insulating film has been described above, as a chemical mechanical polishing application in the semiconductor process, the thin metal film can be used even after the tungsten film is formed in the contact or via hole or the wiring film is formed. The film thickness distribution in the layer, the surface shape, and further the metal film are removed, and the method can be applied to the polishing method and the polishing apparatus by measuring the film thickness distribution in the insulating film and the surface shape.

[0068]

As described above, according to the present invention, the surface shape of the insulating film layer provided on the surface of the wafer laminated with the dielectric is flattened by chemical mechanical polishing. And the film thickness distribution are detected, and the end point of the polishing process is accurately determined by using these values to efficiently flatten the surface in the wafer process in which a dielectric is laminated, and to achieve a highly integrated semiconductor device. A polishing method suitable for manufacturing and a polishing apparatus using the same can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a main part of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a main part of a part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a portion of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a main part of a sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged explanatory view of a part of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged explanatory view of a part of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a measuring method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Polishing Device 2 Sensor 4 Partial Polishing Tool 4a1 Polishing Pad 5 Insulating Film Layer 6 Silicon Substrate 7 Substrate Holding Tool 8 Film Thickness Measuring Means 9 Distance Measuring Means 11 Prism 12 Water Nozzle 13 Drainage Nozzle 14 Light Source 15 Half Mirror 21 Rotary Encoder 22 Linear encoder 17 Light source 18, 19 Lens 20 Image sensor

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A polishing method in which a surface of a film layer provided on a substrate surface is relatively driven by a polishing means having a polishing pad having an area smaller than the surface of the film layer, and the surface is provided as a part of the polishing means. A polishing method, wherein surface information of the film layer is obtained by the detecting means, and continuation or stop of polishing of the film layer is controlled by the control means based on a signal from the detecting means. 2. The polishing means is movable in a plane parallel to the surface of the film layer, and the detecting means is a position detecting means for detecting position information of the polishing means in the plane. The polishing method according to claim 1, wherein the surface information of the film layer is obtained by using position information. 3. The detecting means has a distance measuring means for detecting a distance from a surface of the film layer to a reference surface and for measuring a film thickness of the film layer.
Polishing method. 4. The detecting means has a film thickness measuring means for measuring the film thickness of the film layer.
Polishing method. 5. The control unit determines by a determination unit whether or not the surface shape and the film thickness distribution of the film layer obtained from the detection unit are within a preset allowable range. The polishing method according to claim 1, wherein whether the polishing of the film layer is continued or stopped is controlled based on a signal. 6. A polishing apparatus for polishing the surface of a film layer provided on a substrate surface by relatively driving both with a polishing means having a polishing pad having a smaller area than the surface of the film layer. A polishing apparatus characterized in that detection means for detecting surface information is fixed. 7. The polishing means is movable in a plane parallel to the surface of the film layer, and the detecting means is a position detecting means for detecting position information of the polishing means in the plane. 7. The polishing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein surface information of the film layer is obtained by using position information. 8. The detecting means has a distance measuring means for detecting a distance from a surface of the film layer to a reference plane and for measuring a film thickness of the film layer.
Polishing equipment. 9. The detection means has a film thickness measuring means for measuring the film thickness of the film layer.
Polishing equipment. 10. The control unit determines by a determination unit whether or not the surface shape and the film thickness distribution of the film layer obtained from the detection unit are within a preset allowable range, and the control unit determines 7. The polishing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein whether the polishing of the film layer is continued or stopped is controlled based on the signal.