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US 11,446,785 B2Granted
Methods to clean chemical mechanical polishing systems
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChih-Chieh Chang, Yen-Ting Chen, Hui-Chi Huang, Kei-Wei Chen
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Abstract
Provided herein are chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) systems and methods to reduce metal particle pollution on dressing disks and polishing pads. Such methods may include contacting a dressing disk and at least one conductive element with an electrolyte solution and applying direct current (DC) power to the dressing disk and the at least one conductive element.
Claims20
A method for cleaning a polishing pad, the method comprising:
- contacting a polishing surface of the polishing pad with a dressing disk and a first electrically conductive element;
- contacting the polishing pad, the dressing disk, and the first electrically conductive element with a first electrolyte solution;
- and
- applying a direct current (DC) power to the dressing disk and the first electrically conductive element, thereby removing metal particles from the polishing pad and depositing the metal particles on the dressing disk by electrolysis in the first electrolyte solution.
1 more element
A chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) system, comprising:
- a polishing pad that has a polishing surface;
- a dressing disk in contact with the polishing surface;
- a first electrically conductive element in contact with the polishing surface;
- a first electrolyte solution in contact with the dressing disk and the first electrically conductive element;
- and
- a direct current (DC) power supply electrically coupled to the dressing disk and the first electrically conductive element configured to apply a DC power to the dressing disk and the first electrically conductive element.
3 more elements
A method, comprising:
- contacting a polishing surface of a polishing pad with a dressing disk and at least one first electrically conductive element;
- conditioning the polishing surface of the polishing pad using the dressing disk;
- supplying a first electrolyte solution to the polishing surface of the polishing pad, the polishing pad and the at least one first electrically conductive element in contact with the first electrolyte solution;
- and
- performing an electrolysis reaction by applying a first direct current (DC) power to the dressing disk and the at least one first electrically conductive element with the dressing disk acting as a cathode and the at least one first electrically conductive element acting as an anode, thereby removing metal particles from the polishing pad by dissolving the metal particles in the first electrolyte solution.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.