Applied Materials, Inc.

Martin S Wohlert

Steven M Zuniga

Hung Chih Chen

Jeonghoon Oh

Charles C Garretson

Sidney P Huey

Douglas R McAllister

Danny Cam Toan Lu

Stacy Meyer

James Chang Wang

Venkata R Balagani

Jeffrey P Schmidt

Michael Jon Fong

Kerry F Hughes

Jian Lin

Aden Martin Allen

Romain Beau De Lamenie

Trung Tri Doan

Stan D Tsai

Daxin Mao

Renhe Jia

Huyen Karen Tran

Ajay Kumar

Liang-Yuh Chen

Wei-Sheng Lei

Feng Quan Liu

Brad Eaton

Yan Wang

James S Papanu

Yongqi Hu

You Wang

Prabhat Kumar

Yuan Tian

Trung T Doan

Daniel Cam Toan Lu

James C Wang

Romain Beau Delamenie

Jeffrey Schmidt

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

Retaining ring with shaped surface

Retaining ring with Shaped Surface

Embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses for outgassing a workpiece prior to a plasma processing operation. An embodiment of the invention may comprise transferring a workpiece having a mask to an outgassing station that has one or more heating elements. The workpiece may then be heated to an outgassing temperature that causes moisture from the mask layer to be outgassed. After outgassing the workpiece, the workpiece may be transferred to a plasma processing chamber. In an additional embodiment, one or more outgassing stations may be located within a process tool that has a factory interface, a load lock coupled to the factory interface, a transfer chamber coupled to the load lock, and a plasma processing chamber coupled to the transfer chamber. According to an embodiment, an outgassing station may be located within any of the components of the process tool.

Method of outgassing a mask material deposited over a workpiece in a process tool

Polishing compositions and methods for removing conductive materials from a substrate surface are provided. The method includes providing a substrate comprising dielectric feature definitions, a barrier material disposed in the feature definitions, and a bulk conductive material disposed on the barrier material in an amount sufficient to fill feature definitions; polishing the substrate to substantially remove the bulk conductive material; polishing a residual conductive material to expose feature definitions, comprising: applying a first voltage for a first time period, wherein the first voltage is less than the critical voltage; and applying a second voltage for a second time period, wherein the second voltage is greater than the critical voltage.

Method and composition for electrochemically polishing a conductive material on a substrate

Embodiments of a conditioning head for in-situ conditioning and/or cleaning a processing pad of a CMP, ECMP, or other processing system are provided. In one embodiment, the conditioning head includes a brush disposed in a central cavity. A cleaning fluid is provided through the central cavity of the conditioning head to a processing pad. The brush spins and moves laterally across the surface of the processing pad. The cleaning solution dispensed through the conditioning head dissolves by-products of the processing operation while the brush gently wipes the processing pad. A lip of the conditioning head retains the cleaning fluid and cleaning waste, thereby minimizing contamination of the area outside of the conditioning head. The cleaning waste is removed from the processing pad via passages formed near the outer periphery of the conditioning head.

Method and apparatus for reduced wear polishing pad conditioning

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Martin S Wohlert