Applied Materials, Inc.

Charles C Garretson

Steven M Zuniga

Jeonghoon Oh

Hung Chih Chen

Thomas H Osterheld

Sidney P Huey

Douglas R McAllister

Stacy Meyer

Venkata R Balagani

Michael Jon Fong

Romain Beau De Lamenie

Aden Martin Allen

Trung Tri Doan

Danny Cam Toan Lu

James Chang Wang

Jeffrey P Schmidt

Martin S Wohlert

Eric Lau

Kerry F Hughes

Jian Lin

Sivakumar Dhandapani

Huanbo Zhang

Jun Qian

Brian J Brown

Jason Garcheung Fung

Edwin C Suarez

Zhize Zhu

Garrett Ho Yee Sin

King Yi Heung

Jeffrey Drue David

Harry Q Lee

Stan D Tsai

Andrew J Nagengast

Benjamin Cherian

Gregory E Menk

Shou-Sung Chang

Sen-Hou Ko

Hui W Chen

Jay Gurusamy

David Masayuki Ishikawa

Mohsen Salek

Chih Chung Chou

Benjamin A Bonner

Vladimir Galburt

Christopher Cocca

Chia-Ling Pai

Niraj Prasad

Julio David Muzquiz

Fred Conrad Redeker

Manoocher Birang

Jianshe Tang

Daniel Redfield

Robert D Tolles

Boris Fishkin

Doyle E Bennett

Gopalakrishna B Prabhu

Ashwin Chockalingam

Daxin Mao

Sameer Deshpande

Wei-Cheng Lee

Boris Fuksshimov

Peter McKeever

Shuchivrat Datar

Asheesh Jain

Trung T Doan

David Chui

Daniel Cam Toan Lu

Jeff P Rudd

James C Wang

Romain Beau Delamenie

Jeffrey Schmidt

Generating a recipe for a polishing process includes receiving a target removal profile that includes a target thickness to remove for a plurality of locations spaced angularly around a center of a substrate, storing a first function providing substrate orientation relative to the carrier head over time, storing a second function defining a polishing rate below a zone of the zone as a function of one or more pressures of one or more zones from a plurality of pressurizable zones of the carrier head that are spaced angularly around the center of the substrate, and for each particular zone of the plurality of zones, calculating a recipe defining a pressure for the particular zone over time. Calculating the recipe includes calculating an expected thickness profile after polishing from the second function defining the polishing rate and the first function providing substrate orientation relative to the zone over time, and applying a minimizing algorithm to reduce a difference between the expected thickness profile and the target thickness profile.

Control of processing parameters for substrate polishing with substrate precession

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

Generating a recipe for controlling a polishing system includes receiving a target removal profile that includes a target thickness to remove for a plurality of locations on a substrate that are angularly distributed around the substrate, and storing a first function defining a polishing rate for a zone from a plurality of pressurizable zones of a carrier head that are angularly distributed around a the carrier head. The first function defines polishing rates as a function of pressures. For each particular zone of the plurality of zones a recipe defining a pressure for the particular zone over time is calculated by calculating an expected thickness profile after polishing using the first function, and minimizing a cost function that incorporates a first term representing a difference between the expected thickness profile and a target thickness profile.

Control of processing parameters for substrate polishing with angularly distributed zones using cost function

A method for chemical mechanical polishing includes receiving an angular removal profile for a carrier head and an angular thickness profile of a substrate. Prior to polishing the substrate, a desired angle of the carrier head relative to the substrate is selected for loading the substrate into the carrier head. Selecting the desired angle is performed based on a comparison of the angular removal profile for the carrier head and the angular thickness profile of the substrate to reduce angular non-uniformity in polishing. The carrier head is rotated to receive the substrate at the desired angle, the substrate is transferred to the carrier head and loaded in the carrier head with the carrier head at the desired angle relative to the substrate, and the substrate is polished.

Asymmetry correction via oriented wafer loading

A retaining ring can be shaped by machining or lapping the bottom surface of the ring to form a shaped profile in the bottom surface. The bottom surface of the retaining ring can include flat, sloped and curved portions. The lapping can be performed using a machine that dedicated for use in lapping the bottom surface of retaining rings. During the lapping the ring can be permitted to rotate freely about an axis of the ring. The bottom surface of the retaining ring can have curved or flat portions.

Method of forming retaining ring with shaped surface

Retaining ring with shaped surface and method of forming

Embodiments herein relate to a retaining ring for use in a polishing process. The retaining ring includes an annular body having an upper surface and a lower surface. An inner surface is connected to the upper surface and the lower surface. The inner surface includes one or more surfaces that are used to retain a substrate during processing. The one or more surfaces have an angle relative to a central axis of the retaining ring. The inner surface also includes a plurality of facets. Channels are disposed within the retaining ring to allow passage of a polishing fluid from an inner surface to an outer surface of the retaining ring disposed opposite of the inner surface.

Retaining ring design

A chemical mechanical polishing system includes a metrology station having a sensor configured to measure a thickness profile of a substrate, a robotic arm configured to transfer the substrate from the metrology station to a polishing station having, a platen to support a polishing pad having a polishing surface, a carrier head on the polishing surface, the carrier head having a membrane configured to apply pressure to the substrate in the carrier head, and a controller configured to receive measurements from the sensor and configured to control the robotic arm to orient the substrate in the carrier head according to substrate profile and a removal profile for the carrier head.

Retaining ring with shaped surface

A retaining ring for a polishing process is disclosed. The retaining ring includes a body comprising an upper portion and a lower portion, and a sacrificial surface disposed on the lower portion, the sacrificial surface comprising a negative tapered surface having a taper height that is about 0.0003 inches to about 0.00015 inches.

Methods and apparatus for profile and surface preparation of retaining rings utilized in chemical mechanical polishing processes

A polishing module includes a chuck having a substrate receiving surface and a perimeter, and one or more polishing pad assemblies positioned about the perimeter of the chuck, wherein each of the one or more polishing pad assemblies are coupled to an actuator that provides movement of the respective polishing pad assemblies in a sweep direction, a radial direction, and a oscillating mode relative to the substrate receiving surface and are limited in radial movement to about less than one-half of the radius of the chuck as measured from the perimeter of the chuck.

Polishing system with local area rate control and oscillation mode

A chemical mechanical polishing system includes a substrate support configured to hold a substrate, a polishing pad assembly include a membrane and a polishing pad portion having a polishing surface, a polishing pad carrier, and a drive system configured to cause relative motion between the substrate support and the polishing pad carrier. The polishing pad portion is joined to the membrane on a side opposite the polishing surface. The polishing surface has a width parallel to the polishing surface at least four times smaller than a diameter of the substrate. An outer surface of the polishing pad portion includes at least one recess and at least one plateau having a top surface that provides the polishing surface. The polishing surface has a plurality of edges defined by intersections between side walls of the at least one recess and a top surface of the at least one plateau.

Textured small pad for chemical mechanical polishing

A polishing module including a chuck having a substrate receiving surface and a perimeter, and one or more polishing pad assemblies positioned about the perimeter of the chuck, wherein each of the one or more polishing pad assemblies are coupled to an actuator that provides movement of the respective polishing pad assemblies in one or more of a sweep direction, a radial direction, and a oscillating mode relative to the substrate receiving surface and are limited in radial movement to about less than one-half of the radius of the chuck as measured from the perimeter of the chuck.

Local area polishing system and polishing pad assemblies for a polishing system

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Charles C Garretson