We investigate the post-CMP cleaning process with a tribological approach. A cleaning process involves three components: brush, wafer/disk, fluid undergoing three-body sliding contact between the brush, wafer, and particles from slurry. Having this in mind, we investigated cleaning mechanisms through experiment measurement of friction force and analyzed the contact condition for particle removal. Our investigation leads to the conclusions that the cleaning process is a boundary to elastohydrodynamic lubricating process that involves a constant contact between a brush and the wafer or disk surface. The motion of the brush nodule is such that the surface forces between the brush and workpiece change from an initial adhesion to sliding abrasion. These analysis leads to insight of particle removal mechanisms.
