International Business Machines Corporation

William Joseph Surovic

Leping Li

Clifford Owen Morgan, Iii

Cong Wei

James Albert Gilhooly

Robert B Lipori

Shawn Anthony Hall

Steven G Barbee

Arnold Halperin

Ronald Wayne Nunes

Rock Nadeau

Istvan Lovas

Gary R Doyle

Anne Elizabeth McGuire

Francis Walter Kazak

Kevin L Holland

Robert Scott Emmans

Robert H Fair

Method and apparatus for accurate, micro-contact printing

Detection of the endpoint for removal of a target film overlying a stopping film by removing the target film with a process that selectively generates a chemical reaction product (for example ammonia when polishing a wafer with a nitride film in a slurry containing KOH) with one of the stopping film and the target film, converting the chemical reaction product to a separate product, producing excited molecules from the separate product, and monitoring the level of light emitted from the excited molecules as the target film is removed.

Indirect endpoint detection by chemical reaction and chemiluminescence

A fluid collection apparatus having an accumulator for contacting a polishing surface of a polishing pad and collecting fluid from the polishing pad, a reservoir for receiving fluid from the accumulator, and a volume maintainer for maintaining a set volume of fluid in the reservoir.

Accumulator for slurry sampling

Rotary signal coupling in in-situ monitoring of a chemical-mechanical polishing process. A sensor fixed to a rotatable wafer carrier for creating a signal responsive to the chemical mechanical polishing process is coupled to a bottom half of a rotary transformer fixed to a rotating portion of the polisher. A top half of the rotary transformer, coupled to the bottom half of the rotary transformer, is fixed to a stationary portion of the polisher. The signal from the sensor is thus coupled through the rotary transformer to a process monitor.

Rotary signal coupling for chemical mechanical polishing endpoint

Growing community of inventors

Carmel, NY, United States of America

William Joseph Surovic