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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7993485 | Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate Apparatus and methods adapted to polish an edge of a substrate include a polishing film, a frame adapted to tension and load the polishing film so that at least a portion of the film is supported in a plane, and a substrate rotation driver adapted to rotate a substr... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7897007 | Substrate holding apparatus and substrate polishing apparatus A substrate holding apparatus has a substrate holder body with a substrate holding side facing a polishing surface and holding a substrate on the substrate holding side and a retainer ring fixedly secured to the substrate holder body. The retainer ring is arranged t... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7879180 | Polishing device and polishing method Disclosed are a polishing device and polishing method for forming a wafer with high flatness using a CMP process. For the polishing of the wafer, a polishing device including a chuck section and a polishing member having a needle member is used. In the polishing, th... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7850817 | Polishing device and substrate processing device A polishing apparatus has a plurality of polishing units. Moving mechanisms for moving top rings between polishing positions on polishing surfaces and wafer receiving/delivering positions are provided in each of the polishing units. Linear transporters are provided ... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7842158 | Multiple zone carrier head with flexible membrane A carrier head for chemical mechanical polishing of a substrate includes a base and a flexible membrane extending beneath the base. The flexible membrane includes a central portion with an outer surface providing a substrate receiving surface, a perimeter portion co... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7695589 | Versatile system for conditioning slurry in CMP process The present invention provides a system (100) for conditioning multi-component slurries utilized in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) of semiconductor wafers (140). The system provides a first slurry component (108), and a second slurry compon... | 04/13/2010 |
| 7459056 | Pad conditioning head for CMP process In a first aspect, a first apparatus is provided for a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. The first apparatus includes (1) a rotatable member; (2) an end effector adapted to receive and retain a conditioning disk; and (3) an elastic device disposed between... | 12/02/2008 |
| 7435162 | Polishing fluids and methods for CMP Provided are several polishing compositions useful for modifying a surface, such as a semiconductor wafer suitable for fabrication of a semiconductor device, especially when used in fixed abrasive planarization techniques. The polishing compositions include a synerg... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7402521 | Method for chemically mechanically polishing organic film, method of manufacturing semiconductor device, and program therefor There is proposed a polishing method. The method includes feeding a slurry onto a polishing pad, press-contacting a semiconductor substrate held on a polishing head with the polishing pad, the semiconductor substrate having an organic film thereon, and chemically me... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7396430 | Apparatus and method for confined area planarization A proximity head and associated method of use is provided for performing confined area planarization of a semiconductor wafer. The proximity head includes a chamber defined to maintain an electrolyte solution. A cathode is disposed within the chamber in exposure to ... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7371152 | Non-uniform subaperture polishing A method for subaperture polishing includes determining a first portion of a sample to be polished disproportionately compared to a second portion of the sample. Based on the determination of the first portion, a sweep frequency that is a first rate of lateral motio... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7357703 | Chemical mechanical polishing pad and chemical mechanical polishing method A chemical mechanical polishing pad of the present invention has the following two groups of grooves on the polishing surface: (i) a group of first grooves intersect a single virtual straight line extending from the center toward the periphery of the polishing surfa... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7354333 | Detection of diamond contamination in polishing pad Methods for reconditioning a polishing pad and detecting diamond contamination of the polishing pad, are disclosed. In particular, the methods include the step of exposing the reconditioned polishing pad to an energy source to induce the diamond contamination to flu... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7329174 | Method of manufacturing chemical mechanical polishing pad The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a chemical mechanical polishing pad which provides a chemical mechanical polishing pad which fully suppresses the occurrence of a scratch on the polished surface and has an excellent polishing rate. T... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7326105 | Retaining rings, and associated planarizing apparatuses, and related methods for planarizing micro-device workpieces Retaining rings and associated planarizing apparatuses, and related methods for planarizing micro-device workpieces are disclosed herein. A carrier head configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention can be used to retain a micro-device workpiece duri... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7323415 | Polishing pad for semiconductor wafer, polishing multilayered body for semiconductor wafer having same, and method for polishing semiconductor wafer An objective of the present invention is to provide a polishing pad for a semiconductor wafer and a laminated body for polishing of a semiconductor wafer equipped with the same which can perform optical endpoints detection without lowering the polishing performance ... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7314402 | Method and apparatus for controlling slurry distribution A method and apparatus for ‘through-the-pad’ delivery of slurry polishing agents directly to the land areas of a polishing pad is disclosed. The present invention further provides for improved control of the chemical composition of the slurry to address loss of ... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7303462 | Edge bead removal by an electro polishing process A method and apparatus for the removal of a deposited conductive layer along an edge of a substrate using an electrode configured to electro polish a substrate edge are disclosed. The electro polishing of the substrate edge may occur simultaneously during electroche... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7303662 | Contacts for electrochemical processing Systems and methods for electrochemically processing. A contact element defines a substrate contact surface positionable in contact a substrate during processing. In one embodiment, the contact element comprises a wire element. In another embodiment the contact elem... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7300340 | CMP pad having overlaid constant area spiral grooves A circular chemical mechanical polishing pad that includes a polishing surface having a concentrically located origin. The polishing surface includes groove sets each containing grooves arranged in a pattern in which ones of the grooves in one groove set cross ones ... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7288165 | Pad conditioning head for CMP process In a first aspect, a first apparatus is provided for a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. The first apparatus includes (1) a rotatable member; (2) an end effector adapted to receive and retain a conditioning disk; and (3) an elastic device disposed between... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7270597 | Method and system for chemical mechanical polishing pad cleaning In one embodiment, a method for cleaning a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) pad is provided. The CMP pad surface has a residue thereon. Chemicals are applied onto the surface of the CMP pad and the pad surface is rinsed so as to substantially remove by-product pr... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7264539 | Systems and methods for removing microfeature workpiece surface defects Systems and methods for removing microfeature workpiece surface defects are disclosed. A method for processing a microfeature workpiece in accordance with one embodiment includes removing surface defects from a surface of a microfeature workpiece by engaging the sur... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7264742 | Method of planarizing a surface A method for removing at least a portion of a structure, such as a layer, film, or deposit, including ruthenium metal and/or ruthenium dioxide includes contacting the structure with a material including ceric ammonium nitrate. A material for removing ruthenium metal... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7255771 | Multiple zone carrier head with flexible membrane A carrier head for chemical mechanical polishing of a substrate includes a base and a flexible membrane extending beneath the base. The flexible membrane includes a central portion with an outer surface providing a substrate receiving surface, a perimeter portion co... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7252736 | Compliant grinding wheel A pre-planarization module configured to perform a long range planarization operation is provided. The pre-planarization module includes a semiconductor substrate support configured to rotate about a first axis. The pre-planarization module also includes an annular ... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7249995 | Apparatus and method for feeding slurry A slurry feeding apparatus includes closed slurry bottle, piping, wet nitrogen generator, wet nitrogen supply pipe, suction and spray nozzles, temperature regulator, flow rate control valves, slurry delivery pump and controller for controlling the operation and flow... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7250369 | Materials for polishing liquid for metal, polishing liquid for metal, method for preparation thereof and polishing method using the same Provided are a metal-polishing liquid that comprises an oxidizing agent, an oxidized-metal etchant, a protective film-forming agent, a dissolution promoter for the protective film-forming agent, and water; a method for producing it; and a polishing method of using i... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7241203 | Six headed carousel The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor substrates with improved throughput and reduced foot print. One embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus for polishing a substrate. The apparatus comprises a base, ... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7238090 | Polishing apparatus having a trough Methods and apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing are described. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a table top and a transfer station and multiple polishing stations are mounted on the table top. The apparatus further includes multiple washing stations,... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7232363 | Polishing solution retainer A substrate polishing apparatus and method are described. A base includes at least one movable platen to engage a polishing pad. At least one carrier head assembly presses a substrate against the polishing pad substantially within a polishing area during a polishing... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7229339 | CMP apparatus and method Methods and apparatus are provided for the chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) of a surface of a work piece. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention the apparatus comprises a plurality of CMP systems, a plurality of load cups for loading unprocessed w... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7225946 | Constant pressure fluid-dispensing pumping system and method An improved microprocessor-controlled dual piston-pump viscous fluid dispensing system as for dispensing uniform sealing beads and the like (as well as other types of uniform deposits), wherein the pressure throughout the fluid path is maintained constant including ... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7223153 | Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using one or more polishing surfaces An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes one or more polishing surfaces, multiple wafer carriers and at least one load-and-unload cup. The load-and-unload cup may be configured to move to and from the wafer carriers in a ... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7208417 | Apparatus and method for supplying chemicals A chemical supplying apparatus includes first and second mixing tanks for mixing and supplying chemical slurries used in a semiconductor fabrication process. The slurries are alternately provided from the first and second mixing tanks such that the slurry is continu... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7204743 | Integrated circuit interconnect fabrication systems A system for processing a conductive surface on a front surface of a wafer to form a metallic interconnect structure is disclosed. The system for processing comprises an electrochemical mechanical processing (ECMPR) module configured to form a substantially planariz... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7198560 | Wafer planarization composition and method of use A wafer polishing solution and method for polishing a wafer comprising an amino acid and calcium ions or barium ions. The wafer polishing solution can be adjusted to control cut rate and selectivity for modifying semiconductor wafers using a fixed abrasive CMP proce... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7182680 | Apparatus for conditioning processing pads Embodiments of a flexible pad conditioner for conditioning a processing pad are provided. The pad conditioner includes an arc-shaped member having an abrasive bottom surface configured for conditioning the processing pad. Means are provided to apply a downward force... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7183716 | Charged particle source and operation thereof A charged particle source utilizes a novel plasma processing chamber, RF coil and ion optics, to achieve high uniformity. The plasma processing chamber has a re-entrant vessel which is movable, and which includes extensions of adjustable shape or position, to make m... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7175510 | Method and apparatus for conditioning a polishing pad A method and apparatus for polishing a thin film on a semiconductor substrate is described. A polishing pad is rotated and a wafer to be polished is placed on the rotating polishing pad. The polishing pad has grooves that channels slurry between the wafer and polish... | 02/13/2007 |
