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:
Dec. 25, 2012
Filed:
Jun. 22, 2009
Sivakumar Dhandapani, San Jose, CA (US);
Stan D. Tsai, Fremont, CA (US);
Daxin Mao, San Jose, CA (US);
Sameer Deshpande, Milpitas, CA (US);
Shou-sung Chang, Stanford, CA (US);
Gregory E. Menk, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Charles C. Garretson, San Jose, CA (US);
Jason Garcheung Fung, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Christopher D. Cocca, Fremont, CA (US);
Hung Chih Chen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Sivakumar Dhandapani, San Jose, CA (US);
Stan D. Tsai, Fremont, CA (US);
Daxin Mao, San Jose, CA (US);
Sameer Deshpande, Milpitas, CA (US);
Shou-Sung Chang, Stanford, CA (US);
Gregory E. Menk, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Charles C. Garretson, San Jose, CA (US);
Jason Garcheung Fung, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Christopher D. Cocca, Fremont, CA (US);
Hung Chih Chen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for conditioning a polishing pad is provided. The conditioning element is held by a conditioning arm rotatably mounted to a base at a pivot point. An actuator pivots the arm about the pivot point. The conditioning element is urged against the surface of the polishing pad, and translated with respect to the polishing pad to remove material from the polishing pad and roughen its surface. The interaction of the abrasive conditioning surface with the polishing pad surface generates a frictional force. The frictional force may be monitored by monitoring the torque applied to the pivot point, and material removal controlled thereby. The conditioning time, down force, translation rate, or rotation of the conditioning pad may be adjusted based on the measured torque.