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. 05, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 26, 2000
Daniel L. França, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Raymond Khoury, Wappingers Falls, NY (US);
Jose M. Ocasio, Maybrook, NY (US);
Uldis A. Ziemins, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A conditioning tool including a rotary conditioning pad; a lower shaft attached to the conditioning pad; an upper shaft having an upper end and a lower end, the lower end attached to the lower shaft via a flexible coupling; and a motor attached to the upper end of the upper shaft and adapted to rotate the shaft. The tool further includes a mechanism for measuring an angle of the conditioning pad relative to a reference plane. The conditioning tool may further include a conditioning arm, various control mechanisms, and a controller for receiving feedback from the angle measuring mechanism and the various control mechanisms and for controlling the various control mechanisms in response to the feedback. A chemical-mechanical polishing apparatus and a conditioning method for providing a uniform polishing surface of a chemical-mechanical polishing pad are also disclosed.