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:
Feb. 20, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 16, 1996
Charles Franklin Drill, Boulder Creek, CA (US);
VLSI Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is a vacuum removal system for removing polishing by-products from the surface of a polishing pad in a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) machine used to polish wafers. The vacuum removal system includes a vacuum removal nozzle which is adapted to dislodge and remove polishing by-product particles from a textured surface of a polishing pad through the application of suction. The vacuum removal nozzle is connected to a mounting attachment. The mounting attachment is mounted on the polishing machine and is adapted to maintain close proximity of the vacuum removal nozzle with the textured surface of the polishing pad. A vacuum line is connected to the vacuum nozzle to convey a vacuum to the vacuum nozzle and to receive the polishing by-product particles from the vacuum nozzle. A vacuum source is connected to the vacuum line to generate the vacuum used by the system.