Oriol Inc.

Other

Inopla Inc.

Komico Technology, Inc.

In Kwon Jeong

Yong Bae Kim

Jungyup Kim

David Eric Berkstresser

Yong Ho Lee

An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, uses at least one object cleaner, which may be a movable object cleaner. The movable object cleaner allows access to different parts of the apparatus for maintenance.

Apparatus and method for polishing objects using object cleaners

An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes one or more polishing surfaces, multiple wafer carriers and at least one load-and-unload cup. The load-and-unload cup may be configured to move to and from the wafer carriers in a pivoting manner. The load-and-unload cup may be configured to move to and from the wafer carriers in a linear reciprocating manner. The wafer carriers may be configured to move to and from the load-and-unload cup in a pivoting manner. The wafer carriers may be configured to move to and from the load-and-unload cup in a linear reciprocating manner.

Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using one or more polishing surfaces

An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes one or more pivotable load-and-unload cups to transfer the objects to and/or from one or more object carriers to polish the objects. Each pivotable load-and-unload cup may be configured to transfer the objects to and/or from a single object carrier. Alternatively, each pivotable load-and-unload cup may be configured to transfer the objects to and/or from two object carriers. The pivotable load-and-unload cups may be configured to be pivoted about one or more pivoting points over at least one polishing surface, such as a polishing pad surface.

Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using one or more pivotable load-and-unload cups

An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes pivotable load/unload cups to transfer the objects to object carriers to polish the objects on at least one polishing surface. The pivoting axes of the pivotable load/unload cups are located between the object carriers.

Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using pivotable load/unload cups

A system and method for cleaning a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, utilizes a rotatable wafer supporting assembly with a cylindrical body to provide stability for the substrate being cleaned, even at high rotational speeds. The rotatable wafer supporting assembly may include wafer holding mechanisms with pivotable confining members that are configured to hold the substrate using centrifugal force when the wafer supporting assembly is rotated. In an embodiment, the cleaning system may include a positioning system operatively connected to an acoustic transducer to provide meaningful control of the acoustic energy applied to a surface of the substrate by selectively changing the distance between the acoustic transducer and the substrate surface so that the substrate can be cleaned more effectively.

System and method for wet cleaning a semiconductor wafer

An apparatus and method for treating surfaces of semiconductor wafers with a reactive gas, such as ozone, utilizes streams of gaseous material ejected from a gas nozzle structure to create depressions on or holes through a boundary layer of processing fluid formed on a semiconductor wafer surface to increase the amount of reactive gas that reaches the wafer surface through the boundary layer. The apparatus and method may be used to clean a semiconductor wafer surface and/or grow an oxide layer on the wafer surface by oxidation.

Apparatus and method for treating surfaces of semiconductor wafers using ozone

Methods for fabricating one or more metal (e.g., copper) damascene structures in a semiconductor wafer use at least three polishing steps to reduce erosion topography in the resulting metal damascene structures and/or increase throughput. The polishing steps may be performed at four polishing units of a polishing apparatus, which may include one or more pivotable load/unload cups to transfer the semiconductor wafer between some of the polishing units.

Methods for fabricating one or more metal damascene structures in a semiconductor wafer

A temperature control system for a semiconductor processing facility includes a common cooling unit for controlling the temperature of a cooling fluid and multiple remote temperature control modules that separately control temperatures of multiple process components. The temperature control modules are near process components and include a circulation loop for cooling fluid from the common cooling unit and a circulation loop for a heat transfer fluid received from a component. A heat exchanger within the temperature control module allows heat transfer between heat transfer fluid and cooling fluid, thereby cooling the component. A heat source may also be within the temperature control module to heat the heat transfer fluid and the component. The cooling unit may be a refrigeration unit that provides compressed refrigerant to the temperature control modules which may include an upstream thermal expansion valve and a downstream refrigerant flow control valve that form an evaporation chamber.

Multi-channel temperature control system for semiconductor processing facilities

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers utilizes multiple wafer carriers that are transferred to different positions about a polishing pad to polish at least one semiconductor wafer while another semiconductor wafer is being loaded onto or unloaded from one of the wafer carriers. The different positions include multiple polishing positions and one or more loading/unloading positions. In some embodiments, the CMP apparatus is configured such that a semiconductor wafer is polished at a loading/unloading position. The CMP apparatus may also be configured to continuously polish one or more semiconductor wafers while the wafer carriers are being transferred to different positions. Thus, the CMP apparatus can continuously process the semiconductor wafers without significant idle periods. Consequently, in these embodiments, the efficiency of the CMP apparatus is significantly increased. Furthermore, the wafer carriers of the CMP apparatus are preferably restricted to a small area to decrease the footprint of the apparatus.

Apparatus and method for sequentially polishing and loading/unloading semiconductor wafers

A temperature control system for multiple process components in a semiconductor processing facility includes a common cooling unit for controlling the temperature of a cooling fluid and multiple remote temperature control modules in fluid communications with the common cooling unit that separately control the temperature of the multiple process components. The remote temperature control modules are located near the process components and each remote temperature control module includes a circulation loop for the cooling fluid from the common cooling unit and a circulation loop for a heat transfer fluid that received from a process component. A heat exchanger within the remote temperature control module allows heat transfer between the heat transfer fluid and the cooling fluid, thereby cooling the process component. A heat source may also be included within the remote temperature control module to provide heat to the heat transfer fluid and to the process component.

An apparatus and method for cleaning surfaces of semiconductor wafers utilizes streams of gaseous material ejected from a gas nozzle structure to create depressions on or holes through a boundary layer of cleaning fluid formed on a semiconductor wafer surface to increase the amount of gaseous material that reaches the wafer surface through the boundary layer.

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