Applied Materials, Inc.

Twin Creeks Technologies, Inc.

Gtat Corporation

Robert D Tolles

Harry Q Lee

Sasson Roger Somekh

Ilya Perlov

Eugene Gantvarg

Norm Shendon

Steven M Zuniga

Fred Conrad Redeker

Gopalakrishna B Prabhu

Steven T Mear

Hung Chih Chen

Jeffrey S Marks

Sidney P Huey

James C Nystrom

Boguslaw A Swedek

Manoocher Birang

Dominic J Benvegnu

Brian J Brown

Andrew J Nagengast

Doyle E Bennett

Madhavi R Chandrachood

Abraham Ravid

William L Guthrie

John H Prince

Anthony Joseph Senn

Norman Shendon

Derek G Aqui

Tsungnan Cheng

Keenan Leon Guerrero

Tsungan Cheng

Rajeev Bajaj

Jeonghoon Oh

Thomas H Osterheld

Jianshe Tang

Charles C Garretson

Jay Gurusamy

Gregory E Menk

Mahendra Christopher Orilall

You Wang

Victor B Mimken

Ekaterina A Mikhaylichenko

Aditya Agarwal

Semyon Spektor

John S Hearne

Victor Belitsky

Veera Raghava Reddy Kakireddy

William R Bartlett

Huyen Karen Tran

Kirk G Liebscher

David P Alvarez

Norman W Parker

Orion Leland

Eric Davey

Ivan A Ocanada

Matthew G Garbett

In one embodiment, a fluid delivery apparatus includes a vessel body having a first chamber and a second chamber disposed therein, a plurality of first delivery lines fluidly coupled to the first chamber, a dispense nozzle fluidly coupled to the second chamber, a second delivery line fluidly coupled to the second chamber, and a valve disposed between the first and second chambers. Here, fluid communication between the first chamber and the second chamber is controlled by the valve disposed therebetween. Polishing fluid components are flowed into the first chamber through the plurality of first delivery lines fluidly coupled thereto to form a batch of polishing fluid. Once formed, the batch of polishing fluid is transferred to the second chamber by opening the valve. Typically, the valve is then closed and the transferred batch can be delivered to a polishing pad through the dispense nozzle fluidly coupled to the second chamber, often by pressurizing the second chamber using pressurized gas delivered thereinto through the second delivery line.

Small batch polishing fluid delivery for CMP

A metrology technique for analyzing a substrate includes storing data indicating a boundary of an area in a 2-dimensional color space having a pair of color channels including a first color channel and a second color channel as axes of the color space, receiving color data of a substrate from a camera, generating a color image of the substrate from the color data, performing a comparison of a pair of color values for the pair of color channels for the pixel to the boundary of the area in the 2-dimensional color space for each pixel of a plurality of pixels of the color image to determine whether the pair of color values meet thresholds provided by the boundary, and generating a signal to an operator based on results of the comparison for the plurality of pixels.

Color imaging for CMP monitoring

The present disclosure relates generally to a polishing article, and apparatus and methods of chemical mechanical polishing substrates using the polishing article. In some embodiments, the polishing article, such as a polishing pad, includes multiple layers in which one or more layers (i.e., at least the top layer) includes a plurality of nano-fibers that a positioned to contact a substrate during a polishing process. In one embodiment, a polishing article comprises a layer having a thickness less than about 0.032 inches, and the layer comprising fibers having a diameter of about 10 nanometers to about 200 micro meters.

Multi-layered nano-fibrous CMP pads

A method and apparatus for polishing a substrate that includes a polishing article comprising a polymeric sheet having a raised surface texture, which is formed on the surface of the polymeric sheet is provided. According to one or more implementations of the present disclosure, an advanced polishing article has been developed, which does not require abrasive pad conditioning. In some implementations of the present disclosure, the advanced polishing article comprises a polymeric sheet having a polishing surface with a raised surface texture or 'micro-features' and/or a plurality of grooves or 'macro-features' formed in the polishing surface. In some implementations, the raised surface texture is embossed, etched, machined or otherwise formed in the polishing surface prior to installing and using the advanced polishing article in a polishing system. In one implementation, the raised features have a height within one order of magnitude of the features removed from the substrate during polishing.

Thin plastic polishing article for CMP applications

A polishing system includes a polishing station including a platen to support a polishing pad, a support to hold a substrate, an in-line metrology station to measure the substrate before or after polishing of a surface of the substrate in the polishing station, and a controller. The in-line metrology station includes a color line-scan camera, a white light source, a frame supporting the light source and the camera, and a motor to cause relative motion between the camera and the support along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis to cause the light source and the camera to scan across the substrate. The controller is configured to receive a color data from the camera, to generate a 2-dimensional color image from the color data, and to control polishing at the polishing station based on the color image.

A bonding apparatus and method holds first and second bodies peripherally, one above the other, on respective shelves. A lower heat-transfer body is configured to lift the first body from below and press the first and second bodies against an upper heat-transfer body to enable bonding between the first and second bodies.

Bonding apparatus and method

A chemical-mechanical polishing apparatus including a table top, a transfer station mounted on the table top, a plurality of polishing stations mounted on the table top, a plurality of washing stations, and a plurality of carrier heads supported by a support member rotatable about an axis. Each washing station is located between a first polishing station and either a second polishing station or the transfer station, and the transfer station and the plurality of polishing stations are arranged at approximately equal angular intervals about the axis.

Chemical mechanical polishing system having multiple polishing stations and providing relative linear polishing motion

A method and apparatus for supplying greater fluid flow and/or fluid volume from a fluid provided from a facility source to a substrate processing chamber is provided. The apparatus couples to an existing facility fluid source and accumulates the fluid, and the flow characteristics of the accumulated fluid are enhanced for delivery to the processing chamber. The apparatus includes a tank in fluid communication with the facility source and one or more processing chambers, and a valve disposed between the tank and the processing chambers adapted to receive a signal from a controller to facilitate filling or draining of the tank. The apparatus and method affects cost of ownership by altering the pressure and/or volume of the existing facility source without the need to alter the facility source.

Apparatus for rapid filling of a processing volume

In some embodiments, a method of forming a photovoltaic cell includes (1) forming a cleave plane in a donor body so as to define a lamina to be bonded to a receiver element and exfoliated from the donor body; (2) prior to bonding, pre-heating the donor body without the receiver element to a temperature of greater than about 200&#xb0; C. for a first time period that is less than a time period required for exfoliation of the lamina from the donor body; (3) cooling the donor body after pre-heating the donor body; (4) bonding the donor body to the receiver element; and (5) heating the bonded donor body and receiver element for a second time period so as to complete the exfoliation of the lamina from the donor body. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Methods of forming a photovoltaic cell

A polishing pad has a polishing layer with a polishing surface and a first registration mark, and a backing layer connected to the polishing layer and having a second registration mark aligned with the first registration mark. The polishing pad may have a window that includes an aperture in the backing layer aligned with a solid transparent portion in the polishing layer.

Multilayer polishing pad and method of making

A polishing method usable in an apparatus including a rotatable member rotatable about a first axis, at least one substrate head assembly supported on said rotatable member, and at least two polishing surfaces arranged below said rotatable member at respective angular positions about said first axis is described. In one implementation, a substrate can be mounted onto a first one of said at least one substrate head assembly. The rotatable member can be rotated to a position so that the substrate overlies a selected one of the polishing surfaces. The substrate can be engaged with said selected polishing surface and relative linear movement imparted between the selected polishing surface and the first substrate head assembly, while the substrate is engaged with the selected polishing surface.

Methods and apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing are described. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a table top and a transfer station and multiple polishing stations are mounted on the table top. The apparatus further includes multiple washing stations, where each washing station is located between either two polishing stations or between a polishing station and a transfer station. Multiple carrier heads are supported by a support member that is rotatable about an axis. The transfer station and the multiple polishing stations are arranged at approximately equal angular intervals about the axis.

Polishing apparatus having a trough

The polishing pad for a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus and method of making the same has a polishing pad with a bottom layer, a polishing surface on a top layer and a transparent sheet of material interposed between the two layers. Slurry from the chemical mechanical polishing process is prevented from penetrating the impermeable transparent sheet to the bottom layer of the polishing pad.

Polishing pad with transparent window having reduced window leakage for a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Robert D Tolles