Applied Materials, Inc.

Hung Chih Chen

Steven M Zuniga

Jeonghoon Oh

Charles C Garretson

Shou-Sung Chang

Douglas R McAllister

Manoocher Birang

Sen-Hou Ko

Gautam Shashank Dandavate

Samuel Chu-Chiang Hsu

Thomas B Brezoczky

Stacy Meyer

Venkata R Balagani

Michael Jon Fong

Romain Beau De Lamenie

Aden Martin Allen

Trung Tri Doan

Sidney P Huey

Danny Cam Toan Lu

James Chang Wang

Jeffrey P Schmidt

Martin S Wohlert

Kerry F Hughes

Jian Lin

Andrew J Nagengast

Tsz-Sin Siu

Fred Conrad Redeker

Thomas H Osterheld

Paul D Butterfield

Yin Yuan

Rajeev Bajaj

Hui W Chen

John M White

Shijian Li

Stan D Tsai

Jay Gurusamy

Jason Garcheung Fung

Gopalakrishna B Prabhu

Kapila P Wijekoon

Ramin Emami

Huanbo Zhang

Ming Kuie Tseng

Robert D Tolles

Doyle E Bennett

Simon Yavelberg

Lakshmanan Karuppiah

Denis M Koosau

Erik S Rondum

Sameer Deshpande

David Datong Huo

Jim Kellogg Atkinson

Boris T Govzman

Steven T Mear

Sasson Roger Somekh

Rashid Mavliev

Donald J K Olgado

Allen L D'Ambra

Terrance Y Lee

Mohsen Salek

Roy C Nangoy

Eric Lau

Dan Zhang

Ramakrishna Cheboli

Takashi Fujikawa

Noel Manto

Ming Kuei Tseng

Brian J Brown

Wen-Chiang Tu

Jimin Zhang

Yuchun Wang

Gregory E Menk

Sivakumar Dhandapani

Robert T Lum

Daxin Mao

Zhihong Wang

David J Lischka

Bret W Adams

Alpay Yilmaz

Mario David Silvetti

Stephen Jew

Garrett Ho Yee Sin

Gerald John Alonzo

Shaun Van Der Veen

Christopher Cocca

Jonathan Paul Domin

Toshikazu Tomita

Jin Yi

Samuel Chu-Chiang

Daniel Cam Toan Lu

Kean Chew

Frank Bose

Trung T Doan

Matthew A Gallelli

Kevin Chou

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

A substrate polishing apparatus is disclosed that includes a polishing platform having two or more zones, each zone adapted to receive a different slurry component. A substrate polishing system is provided having a holder to hold a substrate, a polishing platform having a polishing pad, and a distribution system adapted to dispense, in a timed sequence, at least two different slurry components selected from a group consisting of an oxidation slurry component, a material removal slurry component, and a corrosion inhibiting slurry component. Polishing methods and systems adapted to polish substrates are provided, as are numerous other aspects.

Chemical mechanical polishing apparatus and methods

Retaining ring with shaped surface

A carrier head for a chemical mechanical polisher includes a base, a substrate mounting surface, an annular inner ring and an outer ring. The inner ring has a lower surface configured to contact an upper surface of a substrate positioned on the substrate mounting surface, an outer surface, and an inwardly facing surface extending downwardly from the lower surface and is configured to circumferentially surround the edge of the substrate, the inner ring vertically movable relative to the substrate mounting surface. The outer ring has an inner surface circumferentially surrounding the inner ring, an outer surface, and a lower surface to contact the polishing pad, and the outer ring is vertically movable relative to and independently of the substrate mounting surface and the inner ring.

Inner retaining ring and outer retaining ring for carrier head

Chemical mechanical polishing can be used for 'touch-up polishing' in which polishing is performed on a limited area of the front surface of the substrate. The contact area between the polishing pad and the substrate can be substantially smaller than the radius surface of the substrate. During polishing, the polishing pad can undergo an orbital motion. The polishing pad can be maintained in a fixed angular orientation during the orbital motion. The contact area can be arc-shaped. The contact area can be provided by one or more lower portions projecting downward from an upper portion of the polishing pad. A perimeter portion of the polishing pad can be vertically fixed to an annular member and a remainder of the polishing pad within the perimeter portion can be vertically free.

Polishing pad having arc-shaped configuration

A flexible membrane for use in a carrier head has a generally circular main portion with a lower surface, an annular outer portion for connection to a base assembly, and an annular flap extending from the main portion on a side opposite the lower surface for connection to the base assembly. At least one surface of the flap has a surface texture to prevent adhesion.

Textured membrane for a multi-chamber carrier head

A method and apparatus for conditioning a polishing pad is provided. In one embodiment, a pad conditioning device for a substrate polishing process is provided. The pad conditioning device includes an optical device coupled to a portion of a polishing station adjacent a polishing pad, the optical device comprising a laser emitter adapted to emit a beam toward a polishing surface of the polishing pad, the beam having a wavelength range that is substantially non-reactive with a polishing fluid utilized in the polishing process, but is reactive with the polishing pad.

Methods and apparatus for conditioning of chemical mechanical polishing pads

A polishing pad includes and upper portion and one or more lower portions. The upper portion has an upper surface for attachment to a pad carrier and a first lateral dimension. The one or more lower portions project downward from the upper portion. A bottom surface of the one or more lower portions provide a contact surface to contact a substrate during chemical mechanical polishing. Each lower portion has a second lateral dimension that is less than the first lateral dimension. A total surface area of the contact surface from the one or more lower portions is no more than 10% of a surface area of the upper surface.

Polishing pad configuration and chemical mechanical polishing system

Polishing pad configuration and polishing pad support

A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes a plate on which a substrate is received, and a movable polishing pad support and coupled polishing pad which move across the substrate and orbit a local region of the substrate during polishing operation. The load of the pad against the substrate, the revolution rate of the pad, and the size, shape, and composition of the pad, may be varied to control the rate of material removed by the pad.

Orbital polishing with small pad

A polishing system includes a support to hold a substrate having a substrate surface to be polished, a conditioning system for conditioning a polishing pad, the conditioning system comprising one or more conditioning heads, a movable support structure, and a carrier to hold a polishing pad. The carrier is suspended from the movable support structure, and the support structure is configured to move the carrier between the support to hold the substrate and the conditioning system.

Polishing system with pad carrier and conditioning station

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Hung Chih Chen