Applied Materials, Inc.

Lam Research Corporation

Gtat Corporation

Twin Creeks Technologies, Inc.

Twin Creeks Technology, Inc.

Andrew J Nagengast

Steven M Zuniga

Jeonghoon Oh

Jay Gurusamy

Samuel Chu-Chiang Hsu

Gautam Shashank Dandavate

Hung Chih Chen

Derek G Aqui

Keenan Leon Guerrero

Thomas B Brezoczky

Simon Yavelberg

Anil K Pant

Tsz-Sin Siu

Steven Mark Reedy

Brian J Brown

Doyle E Bennett

Charles C Garretson

Huanbo Zhang

Glenn W Travis

Vladimir Galburt

Michael Labunsky

Robert D Tolles

Wilbur C Krusell

Anthony Joseph Senn

Erik S Rondum

Anand N Iyer

Aditya Agarwal

Jie Diao

Thomas Li

Christopher Heung-Gyun Lee

Justin Ho Kuen Wong

Wei-Cheng Lee

Harish Kumar Bolla

Tac Huynh

Anthony Meyer

John M White

Manoocher Birang

Shijian Li

Richard M Blank

Douglas W Young

Konstantin Volodarsky

Ramin Emami

Edwin C Suarez

Eric Lau

Brian Scott Thornton

Matthew Jonathon Rodnick

Brandon L Senn

Shi-Ping Wang

Martin Scales

Kirk G Liebscher

Sandy Shih-Hsun Chao

Robert G Boehm, Jr

John M Alexander

Douglas Orcutt Brown

A carrier head for holding a substrate in a polishing system includes a housing, an annular body that is vertically movable relative to the housing by an actuator, a first annular membrane secured to extending below the annular body to form at least one lower pressurizable chamber between the first annular membrane and the annular body, and at least one pressure supply line connected to the at least one lower pressurizable chamber. The annular body includes an upper portion and at least one lower post projecting downward from the upper portion, with the at least one lower post located inside the at least one lower pressurizable chamber.

Polishing carrier head with floating edge control

Some implementations of a retaining ring has an inner surface having a first portion formed of multiple planar facets and a second portion that adjoins the first portion along a boundary and includes a frustoconical surface that is sloped downwardly from outside in. Some implementations of the retaining ring have a crenellated or serpentine inner surface, and/or an inner surface with alternating region of different surface properties or different tilt angles.

Retaining ring having inner surfaces with features

A carrier head for chemical mechanical polishing includes a base assembly and a membrane assembly connected to the base assembly. The membrane assembly includes a membrane support, an inner membrane secured to the membrane support, wherein the inner membrane forms a plurality of individually pressurizable inner chambers between an upper surface of the membrane and the membrane support, and an outer membrane secured to the membrane support and extending below the inner membrane, the outer membrane having an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the outer membrane defines a lower pressurizable chamber between the inner surface of the outer membrane and a lower surface of the inner membrane, wherein the inner surface is positioned for contact by a lower surface of the inner membrane upon pressurization of one or more of the plurality of chambers, and wherein the outer surface is configured to contact a substrate.

Dual membrane carrier head for chemical mechanical polishing

A polishing system includes a carriage arm having an actuator disposed on a lower surface thereof. The actuator includes a piston and a roller coupled to a distal end of the piston. The polishing system includes a polishing pad and a substrate carrier suspended from the carriage arm and configured to apply a pressure between a substrate and the polishing pad. The substrate carrier includes a housing, a retaining ring, and a membrane. The substrate carrier includes an upper load ring disposed in the housing. The roller of the actuator is configured to contact the upper load ring during relative rotation between the substrate carrier and the carriage arm. The actuator is configured to apply a load to a portion of the upper load ring thereby altering the pressure applied between the substrate and the polishing pad.

Polishing head with local wafer pressure

Embodiments herein generally relate to chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) systems used in the manufacturing of electronic devices. In one embodiment, a substrate carrier for polishing a surface of a substrate includes a retaining ring configured to surround a substrate during a polishing process. The retaining ring includes a first surface that is configured to contact a surface of a polishing pad during the polishing process, a second surface that is on a side of the retaining ring that is opposite to the first surface, and an array of recesses formed in the second surface. The substrate carrier for polishing a surface of a substrate also includes a plurality of load bearing pins where each load bearing pin of the plurality of load bearing pins includes a contact surface and a body that has a length, and at least a portion of the length of each load bearing pin of the plurality of load bearing pins is disposed within each recess of the array of recesses and the contact surface of each load bearing pin of the plurality of load bearing pins is positionable relative to a surface of the recess in which it is disposed during the polishing process.

Polishing head retaining ring tilting moment control

A carrier head for holding a substrate in a polishing system has a housing including a carrier plate, a first flexible membrane secured to the housing, and a plurality of independently operable piezoelectric actuators secured to the carrier plate. The first flexible membrane has an upper surface and having a lower surface that provides a substrate mounting surface. The piezoelectric actuators are positioned above the first flexible membrane so as to independently adjust compressive pressure on the upper surface of the first flexible membrane.

Polishing carrier head with piezoelectric pressure control

A retaining ring comprises a generally annular body. The body comprises a top surface, a bottom surface, an outer surface connected to the top surface at an outer top perimeter and the bottom surface at an outer bottom perimeter, and an inner surface connected to the top surface at an inner top perimeter and the bottom surface at an inner bottom perimeter. The inner surface comprises seven or more planar facets. Adjacent planar facets are connected at corners. The inner bottom perimeter comprises straight edges of the planar facets connected at the corners.

Retaining ring having inner surfaces with facets

A carrier head includes a housing, a support assembly having a support plate flexibly connected to the housing so as to be vertically movable, a plurality of fluid-impermeable barriers projecting from a bottom of the support plate to define a plurality of recesses that are open at bottom sides thereof, and pneumatic control lines. A volume between the support plate and the housing includes one or more independently pressurizable first chambers to apply pressure on a top surface of the support plate in one or more first zones. The barriers are positioned and configured such that when a planar substrate is loaded into the carrier head the barriers contact the substrate and divide a volume between the support plate and the substrate into a plurality of second chambers. The pneumatic control lines are coupled to the plurality of recesses to provide a plurality of independently pressurizable second zones.

Deformable substrate chuck

An apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) of a substrate is described herein. The apparatus includes an extension disposed between a retaining ring and a chucking membrane. The extension is disposed radially outward from the edge of the substrate and is configured to contact the retaining ring during substrate processing. The extension provides a repeatable and controlled point of contact between the retaining ring and the chucking membrane. The extension may have multiple configurations, such that the contact point between the retaining ring and the chucking membrane is set at a pre-determined location or such that the contact point is moveable by an adjustable stop.

Substrate polishing apparatus with contact extension or adjustable stop

A carrier head for holding a substrate in a polishing system includes a housing, a first flexible membrane secured to the housing to form one or more pressurizable chambers to apply pressure through a central membrane portion of the first flexible membrane to a central portion of a substrate, and a plurality of independently operable piezoelectric actuators supported by the housing, the plurality of piezoelectric actuators positioned radially outward of the central membrane portion and at different angular positions so as to independently adjust pressure on a plurality of angular zones in an annular outer region of the substrate surrounding the central portion of the substrate.

A carrier head for a polishing system includes a housing, a flexible membrane, a first plurality of pressure supply lines, a second plurality of pressure supply lines, and a valve assembly. The flexible membrane defines a multiplicity of independently pressurizable chambers. The valve assembly has a multiplicity of valves with each respective valve of the multiplicity of valves coupled to a respective pressure chamber from the multiplicity of independently pressurizable chambers. Each respective valve is configured to selectively couple the respective pressure chamber to one pressure supply line from a pair of pressure supply lines that include a pressure supply line from the first plurality of pressure supply lines and a pressure supply line from the second plurality of pressure supply lines.

Polishing carrier head with multiple angular pressurizable zones

A carrier head includes a base assembly, a substrate mounting surface connected to the base assembly, a plurality of segments disposed circumferentially around the substrate mounting surface to provide a collet retaining ring to surround a substrate mounted on the substrate mounting surface, and an outer ring that is vertically movable relative to the plurality of segments. An inner surface of the collet retaining ring is configured to engage a substrate, and the collect retaining ring and outer ring are configured such that vertical motion of the outer ring controls motion of the collet retaining ring between a clamping and unclamping position.

Pivotable substrate retaining ring

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Andrew J Nagengast