Lam Research Corporation

Tony Luong

Xuyen Pham

Anthony De La Llera

David Wei

Tuan Anh Nguyen

Cangshan Xu

Travis R Taylor

Ren Zhou

Sridharan Srivatsan

Christian DiPietro

Patrick P H Wu

Katgenhalli Y Ramanujam

Stephen C Jew

Linda Jiang

Joseph P Simon

Katgenahalli Y Ramanujam

Philip Ngoon

Anjun Jerry Jin

Andrew Siu

An air platen assembly is described and includes a platen that has a plurality of concentric rings. Each of the rings has a plurality of openings in order to provide a cushion of air to a CMP belt. At least one of the rings extends beyond an outer edge of a wafer to be planarized by the CMP belt. A support is attached with the platen and has a plurality of air ports for pressurized air to pass to the rings of the platen. A gasket is positioned between the support and the platen and has a plurality of cutouts that align with the openings and the air ports. A base is also included and supports the support.

Air platen for leading edge and trailing edge control

A liquid dispense manifold having drip nozzles configured to form controlled droplets is provided for use in chemical-mechanical polisher (CMP) systems. The liquid dispense manifold includes a plurality of drip nozzles that are secured to the side of the liquid dispense manifold. Each of the plurality of drip nozzles has a passage defined between a first end and a second end. A bend is defined within the drip nozzle passage such that droplets are directed downward toward a polishing surface. The nozzles are configured with respect to the manifold to provide an even flow rate of substantially uniform drops onto the polishing surface.

Liquid dispense manifold for chemical-mechanical polisher

A temperature controlling system for use in a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) system having a linear polishing belt, a carrier capable of applying a substrate over a preparation location over the linear polishing belt is provided. The temperature controlling system includes a platen having a plurality of zones. The temperature controlling system further includes a temperature sensor configured determine a temperature of the linear polishing belt at a location that is after the preparation location. The system also includes a controller for adjusting a flow of temperature conditioned fluid to selected zones of the plurality of zones of the platen in response to output received from the temperature sensor.

Method and apparatus for heating polishing pad

An apparatus for applying a wafer to a polishing belt during a CMP operation includes a spindle having an upper end and a lower end. A wafer carrier is coupled to the lower end of the spindle. A linear force generator is disposed at the upper end of the spindle. A load cell is positioned between the linear force generator and the upper end of the spindle. A controller is coupled to the load cell for controlling the force applied by the linear force generator. A method for applying downward force on a wafer during CMP also is described.

Method and apparatus for applying downward force on wafer during CMP

A belt wiper that can be used in a linear belt-type chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) system to maintain a belt pad is provided. The belt wiper mitigates disturbances within a detection region important to a belt pad steering system. Also, the belt wiper mitigates the obscuring of optical components important to operation of an endpoint detection system. Thus, the belt wiper, by wiping the underside of the belt pad will preserve the functionality of both the belt pad steering system and the endpoint detection system.

Belt wiper for a chemical mechanical planarization system

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Tony Luong