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:
Aug. 14, 2001
Filed:
Aug. 17, 2000
James V. Tietz, Fremont, CA (US);
John M. White, Hayward, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A semiconductor wafer fabrication apparatus includes a carrier head for holding a wafer and distributing a downward pressure across a back surface of the wafer. The apparatus also includes a wafer processing station disposed near the carrier head. The station includes a grinding wheel and a flat fluid bearing. The fluid bearing provides an upward pressure against a front surface of the wafer to substantially flatten the front surface of the wafer and conform it to the flatness of the bearing surface. The face of the wafer can move with very little friction across the bearing surface. The grinding wheel can be raised into contact with the front surface of the wafer and rotated to grind the front surface while the fluid bearing provides the upward pressure and the carrier head distributes the downward pressure. The technique can be used to planarize a wafer having one or more previously-formed layers despite variations in thickness of the wafer or warpage of the wafer.