7272results about "Polishing machines" patented technology

Methods are provided for controlling adjustable pressure zones of a CMP carrier. A method comprises determining a first thickness of a layer on a wafer underlying a first zone of the carrier. A first portion of the layer underlying the first zone is removed. The first zone is configured to exert a first pressure against the second surface of the wafer. A second thickness of the layer underlying the first zone is determined and a target thickness corresponding to a predetermined thickness profile is selected. A second pressure for the first zone is calculated using the first thickness, the second thickness, the first pressure, and the target thickness. The pressure exerted by the first zone against the second surface of the wafer is adjusted to the second pressure and the steps are repeated for a second zone.

The present invention discloses a CMP pad dresser which has a plurality of uniformly spaced abrasive particles protruding therefrom. The abrasive particles are super hard materials, and are typically diamond, polycrystalline diamond (PCD), cubic boron nitride (cBN), or polycrystalline cubic boron nitride(PcBN). The abrasive particles are brazed to a substrate which may be then coated with an additional anti-corrosive layer. The anti-corrosive layer is usually a diamond or diamond-like carbon which is coated over the surface of the disk to prevent erosion of the brazing alloy by the chemical slurry used in conjunction with the CMP pad. This immunity to chemical attack allows the CMP pad dresser to dress the pad while it is polishing a workpiece. In addition to even spacing on the substrate, the abrasive particles extend for a uniform distance away from the substrate, allowing for even grooming or dressing of a CMP pad both in vertical and horizontal directions. A method of producing such a CMP pad dresser is also disclosed.

A round-shank bit for a coal cutting machine or the like, having a bit head and a bit shank, wherein the bit head has a bit tip, maintained by a base element in a receptacle of the bit head. Starting at the base element, the bit tip tapers in a direction toward the free end of the bit tip, wherein the base element forms a maximum diameter of the bit tip, and wherein the bit tip has recesses on its outer contour. In order to assure good rotational behavior over the entire length of the operating time, the base element has the recesses on an outer circumference forming the maximum diameter.

The present invention provides a wafer carrier that includes a plurality of concentric sealing members that provide a seal, with the outer seal independently movable to allow cleaning of a peripheral backside of the wafer to occur while the wafer is still attached to the wafer carrier, and a plurality of vacuum openings that a re disposed only adjacent to an inner side of the inner seal at a location corresponding to the backside periphery of the wafer.

An improved pad and process for polishing metal damascene structures on a semiconductor wafer. The process includes the steps of pressing the wafer against the surface of a polymer sheet in combination with an aqueous-based liquid that optionally contains sub-micron particles and providing a means for relative motion of wafer and polishing pad under pressure so that the moving pressurized contact results in planar removal of the surface of said wafer, wherein the polishing pad has a low elastic recovery when said load is removed, so that the mechanical response of the sheet is largely anelastic. The improved pad is characterized by a high energy dissipation coupled with a high pad stiffness. The pad exhibits a stable morphology that can be reproduced easily and consistently. The pad surface resists glazing, thereby requiring less frequent and less aggressive conditioning. The benefits of such a polishing pad are low dishing of metal features, low oxide erosion, reduced pad conditioning, longer pad life, high metal removal rates, good planarization, and lower defectivity (scratches and Light Point Defects).

A process for the surface polishing of a silicon wafer, includes the successive polishing of the silicon wafer on at least two different polishing plates covered with polishing cloth, with a continuous supply of alkaline polishing abrasive with SiO2 constituents, an amount of silicon removed during the polishing on a first polishing plate being significantly higher than on a second polishing plate, with the overall amount of silicon removed not exceeding 1.5 mum. A polishing abrasive (1a), then a mixture of a polishing abrasive (1b) and at least one alcohol, and finally ultrapure water (1c) are added to the first polishing plate, and a mixture of a polishing abrasive (2a) and at least one alcohol and then ultrapure water (2b) are added to the second plate.

The invention discloses an ultra-precise curved surface finishing method based on non-Newtonian fluid shear thickening effect. The method includes: adding abrasive particles or micropowder into non-Newtonian fluid with shear thickening effect to prepare non-Newtonian fluid polishing solution, wherein the non-Newtonian fluid accounts for 50%-90% of the mass of the polishing solution, the abrasive particles or the micropowder account for 10%-50% of the mass of the polishing solution, and the particle size of the abrasive particles or the micropowder ranges from 0.05 micrometer to 50 micrometers. Relative motion is generated between a workpiece and the polishing solution during polishing, shear thickening is generated at a contact portion of the polishing solution and the workpiece under shearing action, viscosity of the polishing solution in the contact area is increased to enhance holding force to the abrasive particles or the micropowder, and removal of workpiece surface materials is achieved under the micro cutting or chemical mechanical action of the adding abrasive particles or micropowder with polishing effect in the polishing solution on the workpiece, so that polishing of the workpiece surface is achieved. The ultra-precise curved surface finishing method based on the non-Newtonian fluid shear thickening effect can achieve efficient and high-quality polishing to various curved surfaces, in particular to complex curved surfaces and has great economic and social benefits.

The present invention provides a polishing pad for electrochemical mechanical polishing of conductive substrate. The pad comprises a plurality of grooves formed in a polishing surface of the polishing pad, the grooves being adapted to facilitate the flow of polishing fluid over the polishing pad. The conductive layers are respectively formed in the grooves and are in electrical communication with each other.

A fixed abrasive polishing pad includes a base and a plurality of polishing layers on the base, wherein each polishing layer includes abrasive particles and apertures in a polishing surface of the polishing layer.

A method and apparatus for monitoring polishing pad wear during processing is developed to extend the pad's useful life, and maintain pad uniformity. This is accomplished in the present invention by measuring and monitoring the diminished pad thickness using a non-intrusive measurement system, and creating a closed-loop system for adjusting the chemical-mechanical polishing tool process parameters. The non-intrusive measurement system consists of an interferometer measurement technique utilizing ultrasound or electromagnetic radiation transmitters and receivers aligned to cover any portion of the radial length of a polishing pad surface. The measurement system is sensitive to relative changes in pad thickness for uniformity, and to abrupt changes such as detecting wafer detachment from the CMP wafer carrier.

A method for polishing wafers includes providing a wafer having a process layer formed thereon; providing a polishing tool having a plurality of control zones and being adapted to polish the process layer based on an operating recipe, the operating recipe having a control variable corresponding to each of the control zones; measuring a pre-polish thickness profile of the process layer; comparing the pre-polish thickness profile to a target thickness profile to determine a desired removal profile; determining values for the control variables associated with the control zones based on the desired removal profile; and modifying the operating recipe of the polishing tool based on the values determined for the control variables. A processing line includes a polishing tool, a metrology tool, and a process controller. The polishing tool is adapted to polish a wafer having a process layer formed thereon based on an operating recipe. The polishing tool includes a plurality of control zones and the operating recipe includes a control variable corresponding to each of the control zones. The metrology tool is adapted to measure a pre-polish thickness profile of the process layer. The process controller is adapted to compare the pre-polish thickness profile to a target thickness profile to determine a desired removal profile, determine values for the control variables associated with the control zones based on the desired removal profile, and modify the operating recipe of the polishing tool based on the values determined for the control variables.

A conductive polishing pad that includes one or more anodes and one or more cathodes formed at or near the polishing surface of a polishing pad. The anodes and cathodes are connected to a wiring network that is part of an electrical connector system that allows for a current source to be connected to the polishing pad and provide a current to the anodes and cathodes even if the polishing pad is moving relative to the current source. An electrolytic polishing fluid introduced between the polishing surface and the metal layer of a wafer forms an electrical circuit between the anode, cathode and the metal layer. The conductive polishing pad allows for electrochemical mechanical polishing (ECMP) to be performed on a conventional chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) tool.

A method of manufacturing a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) pad comprises the steps of (a) forming a layer of a polymer resin liquid solution (i.e., a polymer resin dissolved in a solvent); (b) inducing a phase separation in the layer of polymer solution to produce an interpenetrating polymeric network comprising a continuous polymer-rich phase interspersed with a continuous polymer-depleted phase in which the polymer-depleted phase constitutes about 20 to about 90 percent of the combined volume of the phases; (c) solidifying the continuous polymer-rich phase to form a porous polymer sheet; (d) removing at least a portion of the polymer-depleted phase from the porous polymer sheet; and (e) forming a CMP pad therefrom. The method provides for microporous CMP pads having a porosity and pore size that can be readily controlled by selecting the concentration polymer resin in the polymer solution, selecting the solvent based on the solubility parameters of the polymer in the solvent polarity of solvent, selecting the conditions for phase separation, and the like.

An apparatus for simultaneously polishing wafers including at least a first and a second web of polishing media. At least two polishing heads are provided on a carrier coupled to a drive system such that one polishing head positions a wafer against the first web and a second polishing head positions a second wafer against the second web. The drive system imparts a programmed polishing motion or pattern to the polishing heads.

A method and apparatus is provided for cleaning and shaping a probe tip using a multi-layer adhesive and abrasive pad. The multi-layer adhesive and abrasive pad is constructed on the surface of a support structure, such as a silicon wafer, and is made of an adhesive in contact with abrasive particles. Adhesive is applied in layers with abrasive particles in-between each layer of adhesive. Abrasive particles may vary in size and material from layer to layer to achieve cleaning, shaping and polishing objectives.

A substrate processing apparatus, a substrate processing method, a substrate holding mechanism, and a substrate holding method are disclosed. The apparatus includes a polishing section configured to polish a substrate, a transfer mechanism configured to transfer the substrate, and a cleaning section configured to clean and dry the polished substrate. The cleaning section has plural cleaning lines for cleaning plural substrates. The plural cleaning lines have plural cleaning modules and plural transfer robots for transferring the substrates.

The invention relates to a steel plate surface polishing device, in particular to a steel plate surface polishing device for hardware machining. The steel plate surface polishing device for hardware machining aims to achieve the technical purposes that manual labor is not needed, the requirement for professional operation skills is not high, operation is easy, the price-performance ratio is high, the safety coefficient is high, and harm of the operation environment to health of operators is small. In order to achieve the technical purposes, the steel plate surface polishing device for hardware machining comprises a bottom plate, a first sliding rail, a first sliding block, a collection tank, a fixing stop block, a spring, a supporting rod, a first bearing pedestal, a first air cylinder, a disc and the like, wherein the first sliding rail is arranged in the middle of the top of the bottom plate. Through ingenious cooperation of the components, the effects that manual labor is not needed, the requirement for professional operation skills is not high, operation is easy, the price-performance ratio is high, the safety coefficient is high, and harm of the operation environment to health of the operators is small are achieved.

A carrier head for chemical mechanical polishing of a substrate has a base and a retaining ring positioned beneath the base. The retaining ring includes a main portion with a first surface to apply a load to a perimeter portion of the back surface of the substrate and an annular projection with a second surface to retain the substrate. A bottom surface of the projection is separated from a top surface of a polishing pad by a gap.

There are disclosed a polishing method and a polishing device in which cleaning of a glass substrate surface can be achieved to a high level. A glass substrate (MD substrate 1) in the shape of a circular disc having a circular hole in a center portion is immersed in an abrasive liquid 50 containing free abrasive grains, and an inner peripheral end surface of the glass substrate is polished using the abrasive liquid containing the free abrasive grains by rotating a rotary brush 4 or a polishing pad in contact with the inner peripheral end surface.

Various embodiments of a planarization device and methods of using the same are provided. In one aspect, a device for planarizing a surface of a semiconductor workpiece is provided that includes a table for holding a quantity of an electrically conducting solution thereon. A member is included for holding the semiconductor workpiece such that the surface is in contact with the solution and operates as a working electrode. The member has a first conductor for establishing electrical connection with the semiconductor workpiece. A counter electrode is provided for making electrical connection with the solution and a reference electrode is provided for making electrical connection with the solution with a known electrode potential. A power source is operable to control the electric potential between the working electrode and the counter electrode. Slurry consumption may be dramatically reduced and static etch rate due to aborts may be virtually eliminated.

The invention discloses a five-axis numerical control polishing machine capable of changing grinding heads automatically. The five-axis numerical control polishing machine comprises a plurality of semi-axis grinding heads, a machine body frame, a controller, a polishing head, a grinding head supply mechanism, a spindle clamping device, a Z-axis drive mechanism, an X-axis drive mechanism, a Y-axis drive mechanism, an A-axis rotary workbench and a C-axis rotating mechanism. The polishing head, the grinding head supply mechanism, the spindle clamping device, the Z-axis drive mechanism, the X-axis drive mechanism, the Y-axis drive mechanism, the A-axis rotary workbench and the C-axis rotating mechanism are respectively connected with the controlled and controlled by the same. The five-axis numerical control polishing machine capable of changing grinding heads automatically has the advantages that the polishing machine is ingenious and reasonable in structural design, high in automation level, convenient and fast to operate, high in flexibility by the five-axis linkage structure, and widely applicable; multiple polishing procedures such as rough polishing, fine polishing and mirror polishing can be completed at one-step clamping, clamping time is saved, machining efficiency and precision are increased greatly, polishing effect is guaranteed, work efficiency is increased, labor intensity of workers is lowered, enterprise competitiveness is increased effectively, and polishing of surfaces of complex curve shapes can be achieved.

A method for planarizing a dielectric layer on a semiconductor wafer is provided. In one aspect, the wafer is coated with a resist and the resist selectively removed forming an uncoated peripheral portion of the wafer. The partially coated wafer is then exposed to an etchant such as RIE to etch the dielectric material not covered by the resist and forming a profiled dielectric layer having a thinner peripheral dielectric portion and a remaining thicker original dielectric central portion. The profiled wafer is then planarized using CMP. The dielectric layer is typically SiO2, PSG, BSP, or BPSG. In another method and apparatus of the invention, a dielectric coated wafer is secured to a rotating turntable and a liquid etchant sprayed at the periphery of the wafer from a distribution conduit to etch and remove dielectric from a circumferential edge of the wafer forming a profiled dielectric layer as above which is then planarized by CMP. In another aspect of the invention, a CMP polished semiconductor wafer having an edge bead is planarized by polishing only the edge bead of the dielectric layer using a special polishing tool or a CMP apparatus to remove the edge bead from the dielectric layer. Planarized semiconductor wafers made using the method and apparatus of the invention are also provided.

A semiconductor substrate processing method and apparatus, more specifically, a method and apparatus for polishing a substrate or semiconductor wafer in a polishing system. In one embodiment, the system includes one or more polishing modules, an input module, a first robot and a second robot that provides a compact polishing system that has a minimal tool footprint. The first robot is adapted to transfer the substrate to the input module, while the second robot is adapted to transfer the substrate between the input module and the one or more polishing modules. In another embodiment, the first and second robots have rotary actuators coupled to their grippers that enable the substrate to be orientated between a horizontal and vertical position. The input module is adapted to maintain the substrate in a vertical orientation. The vertical orientation of the substrates facilitates integration of a cleaning system that cleans the substrates while in the vertical orientation.

A polishing apparatus (1) has a polishing pad (22), a top ring (20) for holding a semiconductor wafer (W), a vertical movement mechanism (24) operable to move the top ring (20) in a vertical direction, a distance measuring sensor (46) operable to detect a position of the top ring (20) when a lower surface of the top ring (20) is brought into contact with the polishing pad (22), and a controller (47) operable to calculate an optimal position of the top ring (20) to polish the semiconductor wafer (W) based on the position detected by the distance measuring sensor (46). The vertical movement mechanism (24) includes a ball screw mechanism (30, 32, 38, 42) operable to move the top ring (20) to the optimal position.

For use with a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus for polishing a semiconductor wafer having a platen, a polishing pad and a wafer carrier, an optical closed-loop control system. In one embodiment, the system includes a plurality of optical probes impacting a corresponding probe window and rigidly mountable through the platen. The system also includes a flash lamp configured to provide light to each of the plurality of optical probes and minimize an exposure time of the light onto the semiconductor wafer, a spectrograph configured to spatially image light received by each of the plurality of optical probes to a common charge-coupled device and produce real-time spectral reflectometry data therefrom. The system further includes a control subsystem configured to analyze the real-time spectral reflectometry data and determine at least one wafer state parameter therefrom, and cause the polishing to be adjusted based upon the at least one wafer state parameter.

An apparatus for planarizing a work piece includes an easily assembled work carrier. The carrier includes a carrier insert having a work piece bladder clamped to a carrier backing plate with a plurality of clamps to form a plurality of web plenums. The outer edge of the bladder is supported by a rib that is coupled to a carrier plenum. By adjusting the pressure in the carrier plenum, the pressure exerted on the edge of a work piece during a planarization operation can be adjusted. The carrier also includes a floating wear ring that surrounds the work piece bladder and a work piece mounted on that bladder. By adjusting the force exerted by the wear ring on a polishing pad, independently of the pressure exerted by the rib at the edge of the bladder, the material removal rate near the edge of the work piece can be controlled.

The present invention is a hand-held device that integrates and enables one or more or a combination of functions of spraying, cleaning, drying, waxing, polishing and shining of a floor or a surface including that of a vehicle. The present invention has one or more brushes rotated by one or more electric motors powered by a power source or a built-in and/or removable and/or rechargeable battery pack or by water pressure and is capable of discharging, dispersing or spraying one or more or a combination of air, water, steam, compressed air, pressurized water, pressurized steam, hot air, detergent, waxing agent and polishing agent. The discharging, dispersing or spraying of one or more or a combination of these materials through select nozzles along with the rotation of the brush or brushes enables multiple functions to be accomplished in a single pass of the device over the surface.

The invention relates to a grinding and polishing device, in particular to an efficient hardware kitchen ware grinding and polishing device for hardware manufacturing, and provides the high-working efficiency efficient hardware kitchen ware grinding and polishing device for hardware manufacturing which is aimed at solving the technical problem. The efficient hardware kitchen ware grinding and polishing device for hardware manufacturing provided to solve the technical problem comprises a fixing rack, a wedge block, a sliding block, a slide rail, a bottom plate, a pull wire, a first supporting rod, a fixed pulley, a gear, a second supporting rod, a wire winding wheel, a top plate, a rack, a first fixing block, a first spring, a lifting rod, a contact roller, a placing groove, a grinding device, a sliding sleeve, a screw rod, a nut, and the like, wherein the fixing rack, the slide rail and the first supporting rod are sequentially arranged at the top of the bottom plate from left to right. According to the efficient hardware kitchen ware grinding and polishing device, the grinding device is driven to grind and polish kitchen ware up and down through forward rotation and reverse rotation of a rotating motor, and the effect of high working efficiency is achieved.

A substrate-planarizing device and method of using the device comprising a substrate storage stage outside a room, and on a base inside the room, a multi-joint transfer robot, a temporary alignment platform, a movable transfer pad, a grinding process stage in which substrate holders that compose three stages of a substrate loading/unloading stage, a rough grinding stage, a finish grinding stage are arranged in a concentric pattern on the first index rotary table, and a polishing process stage that has a substrate holder table composing a substrate loading/unloading/finish polishing stage as well as a substrate holder table composing a rough polishing stage arranged in a concentric pattern on the second index rotary table.

A polished state monitoring apparatus capable of easily grasping the progress of polish is provided. The polished state monitoring apparatus monitors the progress of polish of a surface to be polished by obtaining a characteristic value indicating a state of the polished surface of an object 12 at each sampling point every predetermined interval while scanning the surface. The apparatus comprises light emitting means 21 capable of emitting light for irradiating the surface and computing units 26 for receiving light reflected from the surface to generate a characteristic value. Then, the apparatus fetches the characteristic values obtained from the sampling points at the same sampling timing during each scan and outputs the characteristic values. This enables the progress of the polish to be monitored in accordance with the distance from the center of the surface.