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:
Mar. 23, 2004
Filed:
Jun. 26, 2002
Karl E. Mautz, Round Rock, TX (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
A method for monitoring a polishing condition of a surface of a wafer in a polishing process is provided, the method comprising providing a wafer ( ) to be polished, the wafer ( ) having at least one optically distinguishable feature ( ) below a transparent or translucent layer ( ) to be polished; selecting one or more of the features ( ) for monitoring; measuring an optical contrast profile ( ) across one or more of the selected features ( ); determining the polishing condition of the surface of the wafer ( ) on the basis of the measured contrast profile ( ); and repeating the measuring the optical contrast profile ( ) and determining the polishing condition until a predetermined polishing condition is reached. A method for polishing wafers by a CMP polishing tool and apparatus for monitoring a polishing condition of a surface of a wafer ( ) is also provided.