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:
Dec. 07, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 22, 1997
Timothy S Chamberlin, Fairfax, VT (US);
Matthew K Miller, Burlington, VT (US);
Erick G Walton, So. Burlington, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for polishing a semiconductor wafer is provided comprising a wafer carrier to provide a force against a wafer and a rotating polishing pad during the polishing operation and a polishing slurry distributor device disposed to provide a spray of the slurry on the polishing pad. The wafer is polished using less slurry than a conventional polishing apparatus while still maintaining the polishing rates and polishing uniformity of the prior art polishing apparatus. A preferred spraying means is a closed elongated tube having a plurality of openings which tube is positioned over at least one-half the diameter of the polishing pad and a polishing slurry under pressure is directed onto the surface of the pad, preferably in a substantially transverse spray stream.