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:
May. 21, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 01, 1999
Hung Chih Chen, San Jose, CA (US);
Steven M. Zuniga, Soquel, CA (US);
Bret W. Adams, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Manoocher Birang, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Kean Chew, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Apparatus and methods of polishing substrates are disclosed. A retaining ring for a polishing apparatus includes an inner surface exposed to contact a peripheral edge of a substrate to be polished against a polishing surface, a bottom surface exposed to contact the polishing surface while the substrate is being polished, and a wear marker indicative of a preselected amount of wear of the bottom surface. The inner surface, bottom surface and wear marker may form part of a retaining ring used in chemical mechanical polishing operations. In one method, one or more substrates may be polished against a polishing surface using the retaining ring, and at least a portion of the retainer may be replaced when the bottom surface has been worn away by the preselected amount indicated by the wear marker. In another method, one or more substrate may be polished against a polishing surface with a substrate carrier that includes a substrate retaining ring with a wear marker indicative of a preselected amount of wear of the retaining ring, and a warning signal may be generated upon detection of the wear marker.