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:
Jan. 14, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 05, 2000
William R. Bartlett, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A wafer polishing apparatus includes a carrier head having a central axis and a drive shaft coupled to the carrier head. A first input pulley or input gear A is coupled to the drive shaft to drive the carrier head about its central axis. A second input pulley or input gear A is coupled to the carrier head to drive the carrier head in a circular path about a point that is offset from the central axis of the carrier head. A controller , can regulate speeds of the input pulleys or input gears while the wafer is held in contact with a polishing pad . Rotation of the carrier head about a point that is offset from the axis of the carrier head can sweep the carrier head across the larger area of the polishing pad. The sweeping motion of the carrier head across the pad can help randomize non-uniformities in the pad and can reduce the amount of wear to the pad as the wafer is moved across it.