Ebara Corporation

Other

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Kunihiko Sakurai

Tetsuji Togawa

Nobuyuki Takada

Osamu Nabeya

Makoto Fukushima

Seiji Katsuoka

Manabu Tsujimura

Satoshi Wakabayashi

Takuji Hayama

Hozumi Yasuda

Keisuke Namiki

Masahiko Sekimoto

Kenichiro Saito

Ikutaro Noji

Shunichiro Kojima

Hideki Takayanagi

Daisuke Koga

Hiroshi Yoshida

Hiroyuki Osawa

Teruhiko Ichimura

Hirokuni Hiyama

Kazuto Hirokawa

Kuniaki Yamaguchi

Yoshihiro Mochizuki

Akira Fukuda

Ritsuo Kikuta

Masafumi Inoue

Hiromi Yajima

Toyomi Nishi

Norio Kimura

Kenya Ito

Masako Kodera

Hiroo Suzuki

The present invention relates to a substrate holding apparatus for holding and pressing a substrate against a polishing surface. The substrate holding apparatus includes a top ring body for holding the substrate, an elastic pad for contacting the substrate, and a support member for supporting the elastic pad. The substrate holding apparatus further includes a contact member mounted on a lower surface of the support member and disposed in a space formed by the elastic pad and the support member. The contact member has an elastic membrane for contacting the elastic pad. A first pressure chamber is defined in the contact member, and a second pressure chamber is defined outside of the contact member. The substrate holding apparatus also includes a fluid source for independently supplying a fluid into, or creating a vacuum in, the first pressure chamber and the second pressure chamber.

Substrate holding apparatus

A polishing apparatus is used for polishing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer to a flat mirror finish. The polishing apparatus comprises a turntable having a polishing surface, a top ring for holding a workpiece and pressing the workpiece against the polishing surface to polish the workpiece, at least three cleaning apparatuses for cleaning polished workpieces, and a transfer structure for transferring the polished workpieces between at least three cleaning apparatuses. The polishing apparatus further includes a rotary transporter disposed in a position which can be accessed by said top rings and having a plurality of portions positioned on a predetermined circumference from a center of rotation of the rotary transporter for holding the workpieces.

Polishing apparatus

The present invention relates to a substrate holding apparatus for holding a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer in a polishing apparatus for polishing the substrate to a flat finish. The substrate holding apparatus according to the present invention comprises a top ring body having a receiving space therein, and a vertically movable member which is vertically movable within the receiving space in the top ring body. An abutment member having an elastic membrane is attached to a lower surface of the vertically movable member. The elastic membrane of the abutment member comprises an abutment portion, having a flange projecting outwardly, brought into direct or indirect contact with the substrate, and a connecting portion extending upwardly from a base portion of the flange of the abutment portion and being connected to the vertically movable member. The connecting portion is made of a material having a flexibility higher than that of material of the abutment portion.

Substrate holding apparatus and polishing apparatus

A polishing method can automatically reset polishing conditions according to a state of a polishing member based on data on a polishing profile changing with time, thereby extending life of the polishing member and obtaining flatness of a polished surface with higher accuracy. The polishing method, includes steps of: independently applying a desired pressure by each of pressing portions of a top ring on a polishing object; estimating a polishing profile of the polishing object based on set pressure values, and calculating a recommended polishing pressure value so that a difference between the polishing profile of the polishing object after it is polished under certain polishing conditions and a desired polishing profile becomes smaller; and polishing the polishing object with the recommended polishing pressure value.

Method for estimating polishing profile or polishing amount, polishing method and polishing apparatus

A polishing apparatus has a polishing table () with a polishing surface () attached thereon, and a top ring () for pressing a workpiece (W) against the polishing surface (). The top ring () has a housing () and a retainer ring () vertically movable in the housing () for holding an outer circumferential edge of the workpiece (W). The polishing apparatus includes a vertically moving mechanism operable to vertically move the top ring (), a bracket () vertically movable together with the top ring (), a stopper () adjustable in vertical position to prevent downward movement of the bracket (), and a sensor () for detecting a distance between the stopper () and the bracket (). The polishing apparatus also includes a control unit () operable to adjust the stopper () in vertical position when the retainer ring () is brought into contact with the polishing surface () while a lower surface of the housing () of the top ring () is located at a predetermined height from the polishing surface () so that the distance between the stopper () and the bracket () is equal to a difference between a height of the lower surface of the housing () from the polishing surface () at the time of polishing and the predetermined height.

The present invention is relates to a polishing method for polishing a semiconductor wafer (W) by pressing the semiconductor wafer (W) against a polishing surface () with use of a top ring () for holding the semiconductor wafer (W). A pressure chamber () is defined in the top ring () by attaching an elastic membrane () to a lower surface of a vertically movable member (). The semiconductor wafer (W) is polished while a pressurized fluid is supplied to the pressure chamber () so that the semiconductor wafer (W) is pressed against the polishing surface () by a fluid pressure of the fluid. The semiconductor wafer (W) which has been polished is released from the top ring () by ejecting the pressurized fluid from an opening () defined centrally in the vertically movable member ().

Polishing method

A polishing apparatus has a polishing table () with a polishing surface () attached thereon, and a top ring () for pressing a workpiece (W) against the polishing surface (). The top ring () has a housing () and a retainer ring () vertically movable in the housing () for holding an outer circumferential edge of the workpiece (W). The polishing apparatus includes a vertically moving mechanism operable to vertically move the top ring (), a bracket () vertically movable together with the top ring (), a stopper () adjustable in vertical position to prevent downward movement of the bracket (), and a sensor () for detecting a distance between the stopper () and the bracket (). The polishing apparatus also includes a control unit () operable to adjust the stopper () in vertical position when the retainer ring () is brought into contact with the polishing surface () while a lower surface of the housing () of the top ring () is located, at a predetermined height from the polishing surface () so that the distance between the stopper () and the bracket () is equal to a difference between a height of the lower surface of the housing () from the polishing surface () at the time of polishing and the predetermined height.

There is provided a substrate polishing machine which comprises a polishing surface and a substrate carrier for holding a substrate and bringing it into contact with the polishing surface. The substrate carrier comprises a carrier body, a substrate holding member for holding a substrate with a surface of the substrate to be polished being directed towards the polishing surface. The substrate holding member is mounted on the carrier body in such a manner that the substrate holding member is movable both towards and away from the polishing surface. The substrate polishing machine further comprises a substrate holding member positioning device provided on a side of the substrate holding member opposite to that used for holding the substrate. The substrate holding member positioning device has a flexible member which defines a chamber, and which, upon introduction of a non-compressible fluid, is expanded in a direction towards the polishing surface.

Substrate polishing machine

This invention pertains to a polishing apparatus for polishing a semiconductor wafer. The apparatus comprises a storage section that is capable of receiving a workpiece to be polished and a polished workpiece. The polishing unit that polishes the workpiece includes a primary polishing table and a secondary polishing table, wherein the polishing surface of the secondary polishing table is constructed to be arranged such that at least a portion of a surface of the workpiece being polished by the polishing surface of the secondary polishing table extends beyond an edge of the polishing surface of the secondary polishing table. Also provided is a film thickness measuring device, which measures the thickness of a film formed on a polished workpiece while the polished workpiece is held by a top ring above a pusher.

The present invention relates to a substrate holding apparatus for holding a substrate to be polished and pressing the substrate against a polishing surface. The substrate holding apparatus comprises a top ring body for holding a substrate, an elastic pad for being brought into contact with the substrate, and a support member for supporting the elastic pad. The substrate holding apparatus further comprises a contact member mounted on a lower surface of the support member and disposed in a space formed by the elastic pad and the support member. The contact member has an elastic membrane for being brought into contact with the elastic pad. A first pressure chamber is defined in the contact member, and a second pressure chamber is defined outside of the contact member. The substrate holding apparatus further comprises a fluid source for independently supplying a fluid into, or creating a vacuum in, the first pressure chamber and the second pressure chamber.

Substrate holding device and polishing device

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Kunihiko Sakurai