International Business Machines Corporation

Other

Ecophysics Ag

Werner Moser

Leping Li

James Albert Gilhooly

Cong Wei

Walter Imfeld

Clifford Owen Morgan, Iii

Joseph Knee

Bruno Greuter

Heinz Stuenzi

Matthias Kutter

Xinhui Wang

Steven G Barbee

Scott R Cline

Adrian Siegrist

Heinz Stunzi

An apparatus for measuring ammonia gas concentration in an ongoing chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) cycle utilizing an acidic CMP slurry, having the following components:

Apparatus for detecting CMP endpoint in acidic slurries

An apparatus is described for detecting the presence of a gaseous chemical produced during a chemical-mechanical polishing operation. The apparatus includes a catalytic converter, a reaction chamber and a light sensor. The catalytic converter, heated to about 800&deg; C. converts the chemical to a different chemical product. The reaction chamber produces an excited species; the pressure in the reaction chamber is maintained sufficiently low to substantially avoid collisional deactivation of the excited species, so as to permit real-time detection of the chemical. A light signal from the excited species is input to the light sensor. An output from the light sensor corresponds to the real-time detection of the chemical, thereby permitting real-time control of the chemical-mechanical polishing operation.

Chemiluminescence detection apparatus

Device for in-situ collection of a gaseous reaction product from a polishing slurry as a workpiece, such as a semiconductor wafer, is being polished with the slurry, including a probe capable of being placed in contact with the slurry, the probe having a channel for transmitting the gaseous reaction product to an analyzer, a first hydrophobic membrane for allowing passage of the gaseous reaction product from the slurry to the channel, and means for directing a carrier gas through the channel.

Probe for slurry gas sampling

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St. Gallen, Switzerland

Werner Moser