Polishing apparatus
AssigneeEbara Corporation
InventorsNorio Kimura, Hideji Isobe, Kazuo Shimizu, Hiroyuki Osawa
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Abstract
A polishing apparatus is used for polishing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, and has a sensor capable of continuously detecting the thickness of an electrically conductive layer. The polishing apparatus includes a polishing table having a polishing surface, and a top ring for holding and pressing the substrate against the polishing surface to polish the surface of the substrate. A sensor such as an eddy-current sensor is disposed below the polishing surface of the polishing table for measuring the thickness of a conductive layer formed on the surface of the substrate.
Claims6
A polishing apparatus comprising:
- a polishing table having a polishing surface;
- a top ring for holding a substrate and pressing a surface of the substrate against said polishing surface to polish said surface of the substrate;
- and
- at least one sensor for measuring the thickness of a conductive layer formed on said surface of the substrate;
- wherein said at least one sensor is positioned so as to pass through the center of the substrate.
A polishing apparatus comprising:
- a polishing table having a polishing surface;
- a top ring for holding a substrate and pressing a surface of the substrate against said polishing surface to polish said surface of the substrate;
- and
- an eddy-current sensor for measuring the thickness of a conductive layer formed on said surface of the substrate;
- wherein said eddy-current sensor is used for monitoring the polishing process by monitoring the combined impedance of said eddy-current sensor and said conductive layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.