Applied Materials, Inc.

Jonathan Paul Domin

Steven M Zuniga

Jagan Rangarajan

Ekaterina A Mikhaylichenko

Jim Kellogg Atkinson

Edward Golubovsky

Dmitry Sklyar

Michael A Anderson

Adrian Blank

Balasubramaniam Coimbatore Jaganathan

Hung Chih Chen

Jeonghoon Oh

Shou-Sung Chang

Paul D Butterfield

Simon Yavelberg

Jay Gurusamy

Lakshmanan Karuppiah

Haosheng Wu

Hari N Soundararajan

David J Lischka

Dan Zhang

Gerald John Alonzo

Chad Pollard

Noel Manto

Calvin Lee

Shuchivrat Datar

Andrew Liu

A chemical mechanical polishing system includes a steam generator with a heating element to apply heat to a vessel to generate steam, an opening to deliver steam onto a polishing pad, a first valve in a fluid line between the opening and the vessel, a sensor to monitor a steam parameter, and a control system. The control system causes the valve to open and close in accordance with a steam delivery schedule in a recipe, receive a measured value for the steam parameter from the sensor, receive a target value for the steam parameter, and perform a proportional integral derivative control algorithm with the target value and measured value as inputs so as to control the first valve and/or a second pressure release valve and/or the heating element such that the measured value reaches the target value substantially just before the valve is opened according to the steam delivery schedule.

Control of steam generation for chemical mechanical polishing

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally provide methods, polishing systems with computer readable medium having the methods stored thereon, to facilitate consistent tensioning of a polishing article disposed on a web-based polishing system. In one embodiment, a substrate processing method includes winding a used portion of a polishing article onto a take-up roll of a polishing system by rotating a first spindle having the take-up roll disposed thereon; measuring, using an encoder wheel, a polishing article advancement length of the used portion of the polishing article wound onto the take-up roll; determining a tensioning torque to apply to a supply roll using the measured polishing article advancement length; and tensioning the polishing article by applying the tensioning torque to the supply roll.

Methods for a web-based CMP system

A cleaning module for cleaning a wafer comprises a wafer gripping device configured to support a wafer in a vertical orientation and comprises a catch cup and a gripper assembly. The catch cup comprises a wall that has an annular inner surface that defines a processing region and has an angled portion that is symmetric about a central axis of the wafer gripping device. The gripper assembly comprises a first plate assembly, a second plate assembly, a plurality of gripping pin, and a plurality of loading pin. The gripping pins are configured to grip a wafer during a cleaning process and the loading pins are configured to grip the wafer during a loading and unloading process. The cleaning module further comprises a sweep arm coupled to a nozzle mechanism configured to deliver liquids to the front and back side of the wafer.

Non-contact clean module

Methods, apparatus, and systems are provided for detecting the presence of a substrate in a load cup. The invention includes a proximity sensor having a detection pad disposed below a contact surface of a load cup assembly and a target disposed on a lever member and adapted to move toward the detection pad when a substrate is placed on the lever member and adapted to move away from the detection pad when a substrate is removed from the lever member. Numerous additional aspects are disclosed.

Methods and apparatus for sensing a substrate in a load cup

Embodiments described herein relate to an apparatus and method for a roller assembly that may be utilized in a brush cleaning module. In one embodiment, a roller assembly is described. The roller assembly includes an annular groove having at least two substantially parallel opposing sidewalls adapted to contact the major surfaces of a substrate along a periphery of the substrate, each of the opposing sidewalls comprising a compressible material having a pre-compressed dimension that is less than a thickness of the periphery of the substrate.

Roller assembly for a brush cleaning device in a cleaning module

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Jonathan Paul Domin