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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8092281 | Polishing head and polishing apparatus The present invention is a polishing head provided with an annular rigid ring, a rubber film bonded to the rigid ring with a uniform tension, a mid plate joined to the rigid ring and forming a space portion together with the rubber film and the rigid ring, and an an... | 01/10/2012 |
| 7976362 | Substrate polishing apparatus and method A substrate polishing apparatus includes a substrate holding mechanism having a head for holding a substrate to be polished, and a polishing mechanism including a polishing table with a polishing pad mounted thereon. The substrate held by the head is pressed against... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7967665 | Substrate holding apparatus, polishing apparatus, and polishing method A substrate holding apparatus prevents a substrate from slipping out and allows the substrate to be polished stably. The substrate holding apparatus has a top ring body for holding and pressing a substrate against a polishing surface, and a retainer ring for pressin... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7789736 | Stepped retaining ring A two part retaining ring is described. An rigid upper portion has an annular recess along its inner diameter. An annular wearable lower portion has an inner diameter, an annular extension defined by the inner diameter and a vertical wall that is perpendicular to a ... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7677957 | Polishing apparatus, method for providing and mounting a polishing pad in a polishing apparatus, and method for producing a substrate using the polishing apparatus The present invention is a polishing pad used for polishing a semiconductor substrate, wherein, at least, grooves having a radial pattern are formed on a surface of the polishing pad, and so that a groove depth of the groove parts located nearer to the center than t... | 03/16/2010 |
| 7666068 | Retainer ring A retainer ring and a method of using the retainer ring are provided. The retainer ring has openings along a bottom surface. Grooves encompass the openings and extend to an interior portion of the retainer ring wherein a semiconductor wafer may be held. In operation... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7645185 | Substrate delivery mechanism A substrate delivery mechanism comprises a top ring, a substrate loader for loading a substrate, and a pusher mechanism, wherein the substrate loader comprises a top ring guide and the pusher mechanism comprises a top ring guide lifting table, in which the top ring ... | 01/12/2010 |
| 7572173 | Polishing apparatus and pad replacing method thereof A polishing apparatus and a pad replacing method thereof are provided. The polishing apparatus includes a first clamping element, a second clamping element and a polishing head. The first clamping element includes a first upper clamper and a first lower clamper for ... | 08/11/2009 |
| 7534166 | Chemical mechanical polishing apparatus An edge section of a wafer can be polished, and at same time, a polishing surface of a polishing member can be dressed by a dresser mechanism. A polishing member has annular concave trenches, which are coaxially formed in the front surface thereof, and at least an i... | 05/19/2009 |
| 7524237 | Diamond tool blade with circular cutting edge An apparatus for turning a hard and/or brittle material includes a precision workpiece spindle, a workpiece support, a hard and/or brittle workpiece rigidly coupled to the workpiece support, and a diamond tool blade rigidly coupled to a spin-turner mechanism. The di... | 04/28/2009 |
| 7520798 | Polishing pad with grooves to reduce slurry consumption A chemical mechanical polishing pad having an annular polishing track and a concentric center O. The polishing pad includes a polishing layer having a plurality of pad grooves formed therein. The polishing pad is designed for use with a carrier, e.g., a wafer carrie... | 04/21/2009 |
| 7503837 | Composite retaining ring A two part retaining ring is described that has a lower ring and an upper ring. The lower ring contacts a polishing surface during chemical mechanical polishing. The upper surface and the lower surface of the lower ring have thick and thin subportions to increase th... | 03/17/2009 |
| 7488240 | Polishing device A polishing device includes a polishing pad for polishing a wafer and a polishing head for holding the wafer. The polishing head has a retainer ring for retaining the wafer in the in-plane direction of the wafer, a membrane sheet for pressing the wafer against the p... | 02/10/2009 |
| 7465221 | Polishing apparatus A first supply unit sprays and supplies abrasive slurry containing abrasive grains into a mixing unit. A second supply unit sprays and supplies additive into the mixing unit. A third supply unit sprays and supplies pure water into the mixing unit. The mixing unit mi... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7438795 | Electrochemical-mechanical polishing system Provided is a polishing apparatus and polishing pad, intended for polishing a substrate, and designed for improved flow and distribution of a polishing composition to the area of interaction between the pad and substrate. In one aspect, a polishing pad is provided h... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7438632 | Method and apparatus for cleaning a web-based chemical mechanical planarization system A method and apparatus for cleaning a web-based chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) system. Specifically, a fluid spray bar is coupled to a frame assembly which may be mounted on a CMP system. The fluid spray bar will move along the frame assembly. As the fluid ... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7435165 | Transparent microporous materials for CMP The invention is directed to a chemical-mechanical polishing pad substrate comprising a porous material having an average pore size of about 0.01 microns to about 1 micron. The polishing pad substrate has a light transmittance of about 10% or more at at least one wa... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7429207 | System for endpoint detection with polishing pad A method of forming a polishing pad with a polishing layer having a polishing surface and a back surface. A plurality of grooves are formed on the polishing surface, and an indentation is formed in the back surface of the polishing layer. A region on the polishing s... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7419420 | Substrate holding mechanism, substrate polishing apparatus and substrate polishing method A substrate holding mechanism, a substrate polishing apparatus and a substrate polishing method have functions capable of minimizing an amount of heat generated during polishing of a substrate to be polished and of effectively cooling a substrate holding part of the... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7407433 | Pad characterization tool Tools and methods for in-situ characterizing of a surface of a polishing pad are described. A characterization tool is integrated with polishing tool so that the polishing pad can be monitored in-situ. The characterization tool and the polishing pad can be rotated o... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7404757 | Apparatus and method for breaking in multiple pad conditioning disks for use in a chemical mechanical polishing system An apparatus for breaking in new pad conditioning disks for use in a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system that polishes a semiconductor wafer by pressing the semiconductor wafer against a moving polishing pad. The apparatus comprises a break-in head that is re... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7390242 | Diamond tool blade with circular cutting edge An apparatus for turning a hard and/or brittle material includes a precision workpiece spindle, a workpiece support, a hard and/or brittle workpiece rigidly coupled to the workpiece support, and a diamond tool blade rigidly coupled to a spin-turner mechanism. The di... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7374471 | Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using one or more pivotable load-and-unload cups An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes one or more pivotable load-and-unload cups to transfer the objects to and/or from one or more object carriers to polish the objects. Each pivotable load-and-unload cup may be confi... | 05/20/2008 |
| 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 |
| 7367866 | Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using pivotable load/unload cups An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes pivotable load/unload cups to transfer the objects to object carriers to polish the objects on at least one polishing surface. The pivoting axes of the pivotable load/unload cups a... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7367867 | Two-side working machine A two-side working machine, comprising an upper and a lower working disc which hold on, and are fixed to, an upper and a lower carrier disc, and which are disposed coaxially with each other and are adapted to be rotationally driven relative to each other by a workin... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7368395 | Method for fabricating a nano-imprinting mold An imprinting apparatus and method of fabrication provide a mold having a pattern for imprinting. The apparatus includes a semiconductor substrate polished in a [110] direction. The semiconductor substrate has a (110) horizontal planar surface and vert... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7364495 | Wafer double-side polishing apparatus and double-side polishing method The present invention provides a wafer double-side polishing apparatus comprising at least a carrier plate having wafer holding holes; upper and lower turn tables to which polishing pads are attached; and a slurry supply means; with wafers held in the wafer holding ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7364496 | Polishing head for polishing semiconductor wafers A polishing head and method for handling and polishing semiconductor wafers uses a base structure with at least one recess region and an outer flexible membrane that can conform to the at least one recess region to form at least one depression to hold a semiconducto... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7364497 | Polish pad and chemical mechanical polishing apparatus comprising the same A polishing pad for use in chemically mechanically polishing a semiconductor substrate enhances the uniformity of the rate at which material is removed from the surface of the semiconductor substrate, thereby ensuring the reproducibility of the chemical mechanical p... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7364502 | Cutting wheel The present invention relates to an improved cutting wheel, comprising a disk-shaped abrasive body having two opposite faces and a non-uniform thickness. ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7366575 | Wafer polishing control Methods of controlling polishing of wafers are disclosed. In one aspect, a method may include measuring one or more pre-polish thicknesses of one or more layers of a wafer. The one or more layers may then be polished. Then a post-polish thickness of a layer of the w... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7364493 | Lap grinding and polishing machine An apparatus, system and method for grinding or polishing an optic is provided. The apparatus includes a shell adapted to a bending profile, torque actuators attached at an outer edge of the shell and coupled to each other, a tensioning system attached at the outer ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7359069 | Polishing pad surface shape measuring instrument, method of using polishing pad surface shape measuring instrument, method of measuring apex angle of cone of polishing pad, method of measuring depth of groove of polishing pad, CMP polisher, and method of manufacturing semiconductor device The main sensor 15 measures the distance Lm to the surface of the pad 2a, and the sub-sensor 16 measures the distance Ls to the surface of the reference block 12. What is actually taken as the measured value is the value of (Lm+Ls)... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7357698 | Polishing pad and chemical mechanical polishing apparatus using the same A polishing pad for chemically mechanically polishing a semiconductor wafer comprises a first groove pattern circularly formed on the surface of the polishing pad, and a second groove pattern formed on the surface of the polishing pad while spirally extending from t... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7354335 | CMP apparatus and load cup mechanism In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a load cup mechanism is provided for loading and unloading apparatus such as a CMP apparatus. The load cup mechanism, configured to load a work piece into and to unload a work piece from the apparatus, comprises a ... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7354334 | Reducing polishing pad deformation A polishing system can have a polishing pad with a polishing surface and a bottom surface that includes a recess with a thickness less than the thickness of the polishing pad. An in-situ monitoring module can be positioned in a cavity formed in part by the recess. A... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7350400 | Test method to measure lubricant mobility on a hard drive disk A method for measuring the mobility of a lubricant located on the top surface of a disk used in hard disk drives. The method includes forming one or more scribe lines in a lubricant layer of the disk. The disk is then spun by a spin stand where lubricant moves in re... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7344434 | Retaining ring with shaped surface A retaining ring can be shaped by machining or lapping the bottom surface of the ring to form a shaped profile in the bottom surface. The bottom surface of the retaining ring can include flat, sloped and curved portions. The lapping can be performed using a machine ... | 03/18/2008 |
| 7341502 | Methods and systems for planarizing workpieces, e.g., microelectronic workpieces Planarizing workpieces, e.g., microelectronic workpieces, can employ a process indicator which is adapted to change an optical property in response to a planarizing condition. This process indicator may, for example, change color in response to reaching a particular... | 03/11/2008 |
