Applied Materials, Inc.

Sidney P Huey

Charles C Garretson

Steven M Zuniga

Hung Chih Chen

Jeonghoon Oh

Douglas R McAllister

Danny Cam Toan Lu

Stacy Meyer

James Chang Wang

Venkata R Balagani

Jeffrey P Schmidt

Martin S Wohlert

Michael Jon Fong

Kerry F Hughes

Jian Lin

Romain Beau De Lamenie

Aden Martin Allen

Trung Tri Doan

Jeffrey Drue David

Jun Qian

Benjamin Cherian

Robert D Tolles

Tomohiko Kitajima

Gopalakrishna B Prabhu

Garlen C Leung

Thomas Li

Taketo Sekine

Boguslaw A Swedek

Fred Conrad Redeker

Dominic J Benvegnu

Harry Q Lee

Thomas H Osterheld

Lakshmanan Karuppiah

Ingemar Carlsson

Abraham Ravid

Benjamin A Bonner

Steven T Mear

John M White

Shijian Li

Fritz C Redeker

Boris Fishkin

Doyle E Bennett

Ramin Emami

Garrett H Sin

Terry Kin-Ting Ko

Peter McKeever

Daniel Cam Toan Lu

Trung T Doan

James C Wang

Romain Beau Delamenie

Jeffrey Schmidt

Monitoring operations of a polishing system includes obtaining a time-based sequence of reference images of a component of the polishing system performing operations during a test operation of the polishing system, receiving from a camera a time-based sequence of monitoring images of an equivalent component of an equivalent polishing system performing operations during polishing of a substrate, determining a difference value for the time-based sequence of monitoring images by comparing the time-based sequence of reference images to the time-based sequence of monitoring image using an image processing algorithm, determining whether the difference value exceeds a threshold, and in response to determining the difference value exceeds the threshold, indicating an excursion.

Training a machine learning system to detect an excursion of a CMP component using time-based sequence of images

Detecting an excursion of a CMP component using time-based sequence of images

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

Detecting an excursion of a CMP component using time-based sequence of images and machine learning

Retaining ring with shaped surface and method of forming

Retaining ring with shaped surface

A method of controlling polishing includes storing a base measurement, the base measurement being a measurement of a substrate after deposition of at least one layer overlying a semiconductor wafer and before deposition of an outer layer over the at least one layer, after deposition of the outer layer over the at least one layer and during polishing of the outer layer on substrate, receiving a sequence of raw measurements of the substrate from an in-situ monitoring system, normalizing each raw measurement in the sequence of raw measurement to generate a sequence of normalized measurements using the raw measurement and the base measurement, and determining at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate based on at least the sequence of normalized measurements.

Polishing with measurement prior to deposition of outer layer

Retaining ring with Shaped Surface

A method of controlling polishing includes storing a base spectrum, the base spectrum being a spectrum of light reflected from a substrate after deposition of a deposited dielectric layers overlying a metallic layer or semiconductor wafer and before deposition of a non-metallic layer over the plurality of deposited dielectric layer. After deposition of the non-metallic layer and during polishing of the non-metallic layer on the substrate, measurements of a sequence of raw spectra of light reflected the substrate during polishing are received from an in-situ optical monitoring system. Each raw spectrum is normalized to generate a sequence of normalized spectra using the raw spectrum and the base spectrum. At least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate is determined based on at least one normalized predetermined spectrum from the sequence of normalized spectra.

Polishing with pre deposition spectrum

A method of controlling polishing includes storing a base measurement, the base measurement being an eddy current measurement of a substrate after deposition of at least one layer overlying a semiconductor wafer and before deposition of a conductive layer over the at least one layer, after deposition of the conductive layer over the at least one layer and during polishing of the conductive layer on substrate, receiving a sequence of raw measurements of the substrate from an in-situ eddy current monitoring system, normalizing each raw measurement in the sequence of raw measurement to generate a sequence of normalized measurements using the raw measurement and the base measurement, and determining at least one of a polishing endpoint or an adjustment for a polishing rate based on at least the sequence of normalized measurements.

Polishing with eddy current feed meaurement prior to deposition of conductive layer

A cleaning method is provided for brush cleaning a surface of a substrate. The method comprises scrubbing a first surface of the substrate with a brush having a first surface geometry; and then scrubbing the first surface of the substrate with a brush having a second surface geometry, wherein the first and the second surface geometries are different. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Post CMP scrubbing of substrates

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Sidney P Huey