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:
Aug. 13, 2001
Alexis Grabbe, St. Charles, MO (US);
Mick Bjelopavlic, O'Fallon, MO (US);
Ashley S. Hull, St. Charles, MO (US);
Michele L. Haler, St. Paul, MO (US);
Guoqiang (David) Zhang, Ballwin, MO (US);
Henry F. Erk, St. Louis, MO (US);
Yun-Biao Xin, Glastonbury, CT (US);
MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., St. Peters, MO (US);
Abstract
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor wafer includes providing an ingot of semiconductor material, slicing the wafer from the ingot, and processing the wafer to increase parallelism of the front surface and the back surface. A final polishing operation on at least the front surface is performed by positioning the wafer between a first pad and a second pad and obtaining motion of the front and back surfaces of the wafer relative to the first and second pads to maintain parallelism of the front and back surfaces and to produce a finish on at least the front surface of the wafer so that the front surface is prepared for integrated circuit fabrication. In another aspect, the wafer is rinsed by a rinsing fluid to increase hydrodynamic lubrication. Other methods are directed to conditioning the polishing pad and to handling wafers after polishing. An apparatus for polishing wafers is also included.