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. 09, 2006
Filed:
Sep. 28, 2004
Simon Mcclatchie, Fremont, CA (US);
Peter Norton, Emeryville, CA (US);
Xuyen Pham, Fremont, CA (US);
Ren Zhou, Fremont, CA (US);
Simon McClatchie, Fremont, CA (US);
Peter Norton, Emeryville, CA (US);
Xuyen Pham, Fremont, CA (US);
Ren Zhou, Fremont, CA (US);
Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
Apparatus and methods control CMP to uniformly polish a series of wafers. Average motor current I(avg) drawn by, and related average work W(avg) performed by, motors during CMP on the wafers reliably indicate quality of a roughness polishing characteristic of a polishing surface of a polishing pad. A conditioner controller controls a rate at which the quality of the polishing surface is restored by conditioning in relation to a rate of change of the quality of the polishing surface due to the CMP. Motor current is measured and averaged over many CMP-processed wafers. The method defines a baseline range of values of average work and controls conditioning according to whether average work is within the baseline range. When the polishing surface moves at constant velocity relative to each of the wafers that are being polished, a control signal based on average motor current represents the quality of the polishing characteristic.