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. 07, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 29, 1996
Shih-Ming Wang, Hsin-Chu, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsin-Chu, TW;
Abstract
An apparatus for chemical-mechanical-polishing(CMP) is described which employs a dedicated optical film thickness monitor for quasi in-situ assessment of the thickness of a dielectric film on an integrated circuit wafer during CMP operations involving planarization and polish-back. The wafers being polished remain mounted on the CMP wafer carrier and are transported from the polishing platen to the optical film thickness measuring device by an integral mechanical transport assembly which can be operated either manually or automatically by a computer. Real-time polishing rates are determined after each polish/measurement cycle so that time variant polishing rates are redressed.