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. 14, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 02, 1997
Applicant:
Inventor:
Joseph V Cesna, Niles, IL (US);
Assignee:
SpeedFam-IPEC Corp., Chandler, AZ (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B24B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
451 21 ; 451 56 ; 451443 ; 451-6 ;
Abstract
A laser element is mounted above a polishing pad of a workpiece polishing machine to monitor and control flatness of the pad. Actual flatness of the pad is determined by a computer processor which receives thickness measurements from the laser element and compares the thickness at the inner diameter portion of the pad with the thickness at the outer diameter portion of the pad. If the flatness varies substantially from a target flatness, a conditioning device mounted on the machine is moved appropriately relative to the pad to conform its flatness to the target flatness.