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. 25, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 20, 2001
John Skrovan, Boise, ID (US);
Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, ID (US);
Abstract
Conditioning systems and methods for conditioning polishing pads used in mechanical and chemical-mechanical planarization of microelectronic-device substrate assemblies. In one aspect of the invention, a conditioning system includes a conditioning element or conditioning member having a conditioning face configured to engage a polishing pad. The conditioning face preferably includes a bonding medium covering at least a portion of the conditioning face and a plurality of conditioning particles attached to the bonding medium. The conditioning system also includes a corrosion-inhibiting unit that can be coupled to the conditioning element or a liquid on the polishing pad. The corrosion-inhibiting unit retards corrosion of the bonding medium in the presence of chemicals on the polishing pad that would otherwise corrode the bonding medium. For example, the corrosion-inhibiting unit can be a DC power source coupled to the conditioning element and the polishing pad to impart an electrical potential between the conditioning element and the polishing pad that retards corrosion of the bonding medium and/or other components of the conditioning element.