Correction of fabricated shapes in additive manufacturing using modified edge
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorDaniel Redfield
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of fabricating a polishing pad using an additive manufacturing system includes depositing successive layers by droplet ejection to form the polishing pad. The polishing pad includes a polishing surface having one or more partitions separated by one or more grooves. Depositing a layer of the successive layers includes dispensing first regions corresponding to edges of the one or more partitions by a first droplet ejection process. After curing the first regions, a second region corresponding to interior of the one or more partitions is dispensed between the edges by a different second droplet ejection process.
Claims19
A method of fabricating a polishing pad using an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
- depositing a plurality of successive layers by droplet ejection to form the polishing pad, the polishing pad comprising a polishing surface having a plurality of partitions separated by one or more grooves, each partition including an interior portion and an edge portion surrounding the interior portion with edge portions of adjacent partitions separated by a groove of the one or more grooves, and wherein depositing a layer of the successive layers includes
- dispensing first regions corresponding to the edge portions of the plurality of partitions by a first droplet ejection process and not ejecting droplets into third regions corresponding to the grooves between the edge portions of the adjacent partitions,
- curing the first regions,
- after curing the first regions, dispensing second regions corresponding to the interior portions of the plurality of partitions between the edge portions by a different second droplet ejection process;
- and
- curing the second regions.
A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions to cause one or more processors to:
- receive data indicative of a desired shape of a polishing pad to be fabricated by droplet ejection by an additive manufacturing system, the polishing pad comprising a polishing surface having a plurality of partitions separated by one or more grooves, each partition including an interior portion and an edge portion surrounding the interior portion with edge portions of adjacent partitions separated by a groove of the one or more grooves;
- determine from the data first regions corresponding to the edge portions of the plurality of partitions and second regions corresponding to interior portions of the partitions;
- and
- cause the additive manufacturing system to deposit a plurality of successive layers by droplet ejection to form the polishing pad, wherein the instructions to cause the additive manufacturing system to deposit the plurality of successive layers include instructions to cause the additive manufacturing system to
- dispense the first regions corresponding to the edge portions of the plurality of partitions by a first droplet ejection process and not ejecting droplets into third regions corresponding to the grooves between the edge portions of the adjacent partitions,
- curing the first regions;
- after curing the first regions, dispense the second regions corresponding to the interior portions between the edge portions by a different second droplet ejection process;
- and
- curing the second regions.
An additive manufacturing system, the system comprising:
- a support;
- at least one dispenser configured to deliver a plurality of layers of a pad precursor material onto the support by droplet ejection;
- at least one energy source;
- and
- a controller configured to
- receive data indicative of a desired shape of a polishing pad to be fabricated by droplet ejection by an additive manufacturing system, the polishing pad comprising a polishing surface having a plurality of partitions separated by one or more grooves, each partition including an interior portion and an edge portion surrounding the interior portion with edge portions of adjacent partitions separated by a groove of the one or more grooves;
- and
- cause the at least one dispenser and at least one energy source to deposit a plurality of successive layers by droplet ejection and cure the plurality of successive layers to form the polishing pad, wherein the controller is configured to cause the at least one dispenser and the at least one energy source to, for each layer of a plurality of layers that correspond to the plurality of partitions, dispense and cure first regions that correspond to edge portions of the plurality of partitions by a first droplet ejection and curing process without ejecting droplets into third regions corresponding to the grooves between the edge portions of the adjacent partition and after curing the first regions dispense and cure second regions that correspond to interiors of the partitions between the edge portions by a different second droplet ejection and curing process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.