Texas Instruments Corporation

Memc Electronic Materials, Inc.

Dennis L Olmstead

Franklin L Allen

Thomas G Debner

William L Smith

Wafer processing apparatus for batch processing of wafers comprises a turntable, having a polishing surface thereon, capable of rotation about a turntable rotation axis. A pressure plate is constructed for simultaneously holding multiple wafers with a polish face of the wafers facing the polishing surface of the turntable. A polisher head capable of applying a normal force to the pressure plate is provided to drive the pressure plate toward the turntable so that the polish face of the wafers engages the polishing surface of the turntable for polishing of the wafers. A force distributing member intermediate the polisher head and the pressure plate is constructed for uniformly distributing the force applied by the polisher head to the pressure plate.

Wafer processing apparatus

The invention is to a polishing pad 14 that has a polishing surface 19 in which portions 17 and 18 of the polishing surface 19 have been removed. The removed areas 17 and 18 are annular rings adjacent an outer 15 and inner 16 edges of the polishing pad 14. The non-polishing surfaces 18 and 19 taper 17a and 18a downward from the polishing surface 19.

Semiconductor polishing pad

A method and apparatus for polishing semiconductor wafers in which a force applied to the wafer is uniformly distributed across a surface of the wafer during polishing using a hydrostatic or compliant material situated between the wafer and a piston. In a preferred embodiment, the hydrostatic or compliant material is an elastic solid or fluid filled bag. One or more teflon disks or teflon coated surfaces may be included between the hydrostatic or compliant material and a second compliant layer to form a bearing to allow the wafer to rotate about its central axis during polishing.

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Sherman, TX, United States of America

Dennis L Olmstead