Brush cleaning apparatus, chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) system and wafer processing method

A brush cleaning apparatus, comprising:

• a substrate support configured to support a substrate;
• a planar cleaning brush having opposite first and second sides;
• a first nozzle configured to spray a cleaning liquid directly onto a backside of the planar cleaning brush, wherein a bottom of the first nozzle is separated from a top of the backside of the planar cleaning brush by a non-zero distance spanning an open region over the backside of the planar cleaning brush:
• a second nozzle configured to apply the cleaning liquid directly onto the substrate;
• wherein the first side comprises a planar cleaning surface defined by a porous material and configured to come into contact with the substrate supported by the substrate support;
• wherein the second side is defined by a core material, and wherein the core material has a bottommost surface that faces the substrate and that physically contacts a topmost surface of the porous material;
• wherein interior vertical sidewalls of the core material extend from a topmost surface of the core material to the bottommost surface of the core material to define a plurality of holes respectively extending through the core material, wherein the plurality of holes are configured to transfer the cleaning liquid, which is dispensed directly onto the second side of the planar cleaning brush, from the second side of the planar cleaning brush to the porous materials;
• wherein additional interior vertical sidewalls of the porous material extend from the topmost surface of the porous material to a bottommost surface of the porous material to define a plurality of openings that are directly below the plurality of holes, the plurality of holes and the plurality of openings collectively forming a continuous and linear path between the topmost surface of the core material and the bottommost surface of the porous material, as viewed in a cross-sectional view;
• wherein two of the interior vertical sidewalls within the core material and two of the additional interior vertical sidewalls of the porous material are separated by equal distances;
• and
• wherein the porous material comprises one of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyamide (PA), polyurethane (PU), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

A brush cleaning apparatus, comprising:

• a substrate support configured to support a substrate;
• a planar cleaning brush having opposite first and second sides;
• a first nozzle configured to spray a cleaning liquid directly onto a backside of the planar cleaning brush, wherein a bottom of the first nozzle is separated from a top of the backside of the planar cleaning brush by a non-zero distance spanning an open region over the backside of the planar cleaning brush;
• a second nozzle configured to apply the cleaning liquid directly onto the substrate;
• wherein the first side comprises a planar cleaning surface defined by a porous material and configured to come into contact with the substrate supported by the substrate support;
• wherein the second side is defined by a core material, the core material having a bottommost surface that faces the substrate and that physically contacts a topmost surface of the porous material;
• wherein interior vertical sidewalls of the core material extend from a topmost surface of the core material to the bottommost surface of the core material to define a plurality of holes respectively extending through the core material, wherein the plurality of holes are configured to transfer the cleaning liquid, which is dispensed directly onto the second side of the planar cleaning brush, from the second side of the planar cleaning brush to the porous materials;
• wherein additional interior vertical sidewalls of the porous material extend from the topmost surface of the porous material to a bottommost surface of the porous material to define a plurality of openings that are directly below the plurality of holes, the plurality of holes and the plurality of openings collectively forming a continuous and linear path between the topmost surface of the core material and the bottommost surface of the porous material, as viewed in a cross-sectional view;
• wherein two of the interior vertical sidewalls within the core material and two of the additional interior vertical sidewalls of the porous material are separated by equal distances;
• and
• the plurality of holes have an average hole size between 0.5 millimeters and 2 millimeters.