Systems, methods and apparatus for post-chemical mechanical planarization substrate buff pre-cleaning

A pre-clean buff module for cleaning a substrate following chemical mechanical planarization comprising:

• a tank;
• a substrate chuck positioned within the tank and configured to support a substrate with a front side of the substrate accessible;
• a buff pad assembly including a flexure plate having a first side and an opposite second side, and a buff head cap, the buff head cap positioned within the tank and supporting a buff pad having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the substrate;
• a swing arm positioned within the tank and having a rotatable shaft coupled to the buff pad assembly by way of the flexure plate, the swing arm configured to position and rotate the buff pad along the front side of the substrate and control an amount of force applied by the buff pad against the front side of the substrate;
• and
• a pad conditioning station including a brush or abrasive conditioning pad positioned within the tank and configured to at least one of clean and condition the buff pad, the pad conditioning station positioned so that the swing arm is rotatable to place the buff pad proximate the pad conditioning station;
• wherein the first side of the flexure plate is coupled to the rotatable shaft of the swing arm via a gimbal and the second side of the flexure plate is removably coupled to the buff head cap;
• and
• wherein the substrate chuck, buff pad assembly and swing arm are configured to buff clean the substrate after a chemical mechanical planarization process.