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US 12,011,803 B2Granted
Carrier head having abrasive structure on retainer ring
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorChang-Sheng Lin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure, in some embodiments, relates to a polishing system. The polishing system includes a carrier head configured to enclose a wafer. The carrier head has a retainer ring configured to laterally surround the wafer and an abrasive structure that partially covers a lower surface of the retainer ring. A membrane support is surrounded by the retainer ring and defines one or more ports. One or more chambers are coupled to the one or more ports and are defined by the membrane support and a flexible membrane having a lower surface configured to contact the wafer.
Claims20
A polishing system, comprising:
- a carrier head configured to enclose a wafer, the carrier head comprising a retainer ring configured to laterally surround the wafer, wherein the retainer ring comprises a lower surface having a plurality of protrusions that form apexes and valleys;
- a cushion member arranged between a lower surface of a housing and a topmost surface of the retainer ring, wherein the cushion member continuously extends along opposing outer sidewalls of the retainer ring and the topmost surface of the retainer ring;
- a membrane support surrounded by the retainer ring and defining one or more ports extending between a top of the membrane support and a bottommost surface of the membrane support, wherein one or more chambers coupled to the one or more ports are defined by the bottommost surface of the membrane support and by interior sidewalls of a flexible membrane having a bottommost surface configured to contact the wafer, the flexible membrane further comprising an outermost sidewall that continuously extends from the bottommost surface of the flexible membrane to a topmost surface of the flexible membrane, the topmost surface of the flexible membrane being vertically below the bottommost surface of the membrane support and physically contacting the bottommost surface of the membrane support directly above one of the one or more chambers;
- a conformal film covering bottoms and sidewalls of the plurality of protrusions;
- and
- wherein the retainer ring, when viewed in cross-section, has segments disposed on opposing sides of the membrane support, the segments respectively comprising a symmetric structure having opposing outermost sidewalls that are coupled to opposing uppermost sidewalls of the retainer ring by horizontally extending surfaces of the retainer ring, the horizontally extending surfaces being vertically below the opposing uppermost sidewalls and above a top of the one or more chambers.
3 more elements
A polishing system, comprising:
- a polishing pad;
- a carrier head configured to enclose a wafer, the carrier head comprising:
- a membrane support having sidewalls forming one or more ports, wherein one or more chambers are coupled to the one or more ports and are formed by a bottommost surface of the membrane support and a flexible membrane having a lower surface configured to contact the wafer;
- a retainer ring configured to surround the wafer and the membrane support, wherein the retainer ring, when viewed in cross-section, has first and second segments disposed on opposing sides of the membrane support, the first and second segments respectively comprising a symmetric structure having opposing outermost sidewalls that are respectively coupled to opposing uppermost sidewalls of the retainer ring by horizontally extending surfaces of the retainer ring, the horizontally extending surfaces being vertically below the opposing uppermost sidewalls and above a top of the one or more chambers;
- and
- an abrasive structure configured to contact an upper surface of the polishing pad;
- and
- wherein the abrasive structure comprises a lower surface having a plurality of protrusions that form apexes and valleys, wherein a conformal film covers bottoms and sidewalls of the plurality of protrusions, the conformal film having an outer surface that continuously extends along a line that is parallel to a sidewall of an overlying one of the plurality of protrusions and that covers the sidewall of the overlying one of the plurality of protrusions.
5 more elements
A polishing system, comprising:
- a carrier head configured to enclose a wafer, the carrier head comprising:
- a retainer ring configured to surround the wafer, wherein the retainer ring, when viewed in cross-section, has segments disposed along opposing sides of the carrier head, the segments respectively comprising a symmetric structure having opposing outermost sidewalls that are coupled to opposing uppermost sidewalls of the retainer ring by horizontally extending surfaces of the retainer ring, the horizontally extending surfaces being vertically between a top and a bottom of the retainer ring and above a top of one or more chambers;
- an abrasive structure disposed along a lower surface of the retainer ring and being configured to contact an upper surface of a polishing pad, wherein the abrasive structure includes a plurality of protrusions formed by sidewalls of the retainer ring and separated by one or more horizontally extending surfaces of the retainer ring;
- and
- a conformal film disposed on the plurality of protrusions, wherein the conformal film comprises a flat surface between sidewalls of the conformal film covering sidewalls of adjacent ones of the plurality of protrusions, and wherein the sidewalls of the conformal film comprise a surface that linearly and continuously extends from a bottom of the conformal film to the flat surface.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.