The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 15, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 26, 1997
Cyprian Emeka Uzoh, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
James McKell Harper, Yorktown Heights, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method of planarizing a layer of a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer includes rotating the layer against an electrolytic polishing slurry and flowing an electrical current through the slurry and through only one major side and/or minor sides of the layer, to remove portions of the layer. The one major side carries no microelectronic components which might be damaged by the current. At least a part of each step of rotating and of flowing occurs simultaneously. An apparatus for planarizing a layer includes a rotatable workpiece carrier, a rotatable platen arranged proximately to the carrier, a polishing pad mounted on the platen, and workpiece electrodes. The workpiece electrodes are movably attached to the carrier so as to engage electrically the minor sides of a layer when a workpiece is held on the carrier.