Chemical-mechanical polishing platform

#1. Field of the Invention

#The invention relates to chemical-mechanical polishing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a chemical-mechanical polishing platform.

#2. Description of the Related Art

#The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings,

#FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are respectively a top view and a side-view schematically illustrating a conventional in-situ chemical-mechanical polishing platform;

#FIG. 2 is a top view schematically illustrating an in-situ chemical-mechanical polishing platform, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#The following detailed description of the embodiments and examples of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings is only illustrative and not limiting. Wherever possible, like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements.

#Referring now to FIG. 2, a top view schematically illustrates an in-situ chemical-mechanical polishing platform, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The in-situ chemical-mechanical polishing platform principally comprises: a polishing table 201, a wafer carrier 202, a polishing pad 204, a slurry supplier, a conditioner 210, and a cleaning device 216. For example of illustration, the cleaning device 216 can be for example a brush sweeper. The wafer carrier 202 maintains a wafer 212 to be polished in contact with the polishing pad 204. The polishing pad 204 is, for example, a polyimide IC 1000 material arranged on the polishing table 201. The conditioner 210, typically a diamond dresser, is in contact with the polishing pad 204. The conditioner 210 is provided, by its contact surface with the polishing pad 204, with a plurality of diamond particles, such that when the polishing table 201 rotates to perform the polishing, the diamond particles scrape the polishing pad 204. As a result, a substantial roughness of the polishing pad 204 can be maintained. The slurry supplier, that comprises typically a pump 208 and an outlet tube 206, provides the polishing pad 204 with necessary slurry 214. The cleaning device 216 cleans out the diamond particles that may drop from the conditioner 210 onto the polishing pad 204, thereby preventing the wafer 212 from being scratched during the in-situ polishing process.

#When a chemical-mechanical polishing is performed on a wafer 212, the wafer carrier 202 presses on a back surface of the wafer 212, thereby maintaining a front surface of the wafer 212 to be polished against the polishing pad 204. The wafer carrier 202, conditioner 210, and cleaning device 216 are disposed sequentially on the polishing pad 204. Hence, when the polishing table 201 rotates, for instance according to a first direction 218, the region of the polishing pad 204 that has passed under the wafer 212 is scraped by the conditioner 210. Thus, an adequate roughness of the polishing pad 204 can be continuously maintained during polishing, resulting in the maintenance of a stable polishing rate of the wafer. The cleaning device 216 can be, for example, a rounded-shape device capable to rotate according to a second direction 220, such that it cleans away undesirable residue that may drop on the polishing pad 204, such as diamond particles from the conditioner 210. Thus, the wafer 212 can be prevented from being scratched during polishing. The slurry 214 is regularly supplied to the polishing pad 204 by the slurry supplier at the region I between the wafer carrier 202 and the cleaning device 216. With the regular maintenance of the roughness of the surface of the polishing pad 204 combined with the cleaning action of the cleaning device, the slurry 214 can thus adequately adsorb on the polishing pad 204, and a stable polishing rate can be favorably maintained.