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. 04, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 02, 2000
Applicant:
Inventor:
Issei Imahashi, Yamanashi-ken, JP;
Assignee:
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 2/1302 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 2/1302 ;
Abstract
A plasma polishing apparatus has a table which holds a wafer and is rotated at a high speed by a drive base. The drive base is supported on a horizontal drive stage, so that the table is linearly and reciprocally movable. A plasma generator for converting a process gas into a plasma by high-frequency inductive coupling is arranged above the table. The plasma generator has an outlet port from which the plasma flows out toward the target surface of the wafer. The plasma from the outlet port is drawn upon high-speed rotation of the wafer, diffused as a laminar flow on the target surface of the wafer, and uniformly polishes the entire target surface.