Polishing apparatus
AssigneeEbara Corporation
InventorsOsamu NABEYA, Tetsuji Togawa, Makoto Fukushima, Hozumi Yasuda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A polishing apparatus has a polishing pad, a top ring for holding a semiconductor wafer, and a vertical movement mechanism operable to move the top ring in a vertical direction. The polishing apparatus also has a distance measuring sensor operable to detect a position of the top ring when a lower surface of the top ring is brought into contact with the polishing pad, and a controller operable to calculate an optimal position of the top ring to polish the semiconductor wafer based on the position detected by the distance measuring sensor. The vertical movement mechanism includes a ball screw mechanism operable to move the top ring to the optimal position.
Claims11
1-41. (canceled)
A polishing apparatus comprising:
- a polishing pad having a polishing surface;
- a top ring body configured to press a substrate against said polishing surface;
- a retainer ring configured to press said polishing surface, said retainer ring being provided at a peripheral portion of said top ring body;
- an elastic membrane provided at a lower portion of said top ring body, said elastic membrane being brought into contact with at least a portion of the substrate;
- and
- a seal member covering a gap between said elastic membrane and said retainer ring.
A polishing apparatus comprising:
- a polishing pad having a polishing surface;
- a top ring body configured to press a substrate against said polishing surface;
- and
- a retainer ring configured to press said polishing surface, said retainer ring being provided at a peripheral portion of said top ring body,
- wherein said retainer ring includes:
- a rolling diaphragm having a pressure chamber formed therein,
- a passage for supplying a fluid to the pressure chamber to vertically expand or contract said rolling diaphragm,
- a ring member vertically movable according to said rolling diaphragm, said ring member being brought into contact with said polishing surface,
- a cylinder housing said rolling diaphragm therein, and
- a connection sheet capable of being expanded and contracted in a vertical direction, said connection sheet connecting said cylinder and said ring member so as to cover a gap between said cylinder and said ring member.
A polishing apparatus comprising:
- a polishing pad having a polishing surface;
- a top ring body configured to press a substrate against said polishing surface;
- a retainer ring configured to press said polishing surface, said retainer ring being provided at a peripheral portion of said top ring body;
- an annular sheet member fixed to said top ring body;
- a plurality of slide rings attached to said annular sheet member;
- and
- a plurality of drive pins fixed to said retainer ring, said drive pins being inserted into said slide rings so as to be slidable within said slide rings.
A polishing apparatus comprising:
- a polishing surface;
- and
- a top ring for holding a substrate, said top ring having a retainer ring for holding a peripheral portion of the substrate,
- wherein said retainer ring includes:
- a rolling diaphragm having a pressure chamber formed therein,
- a passage for supplying a fluid to the pressure chamber to vertically expand or contract said rolling diaphragm, and
- a ring member vertically movable according to said rolling diaphragm, said ring member being brought into contact with said polishing surface.
A polishing apparatus comprising:
- a polishing surface;
- a top ring for holding a substrate;
- and
- a top ring shaft movable in a vertical direction, said top ring being connected to said top ring shaft,
- wherein said top ring includes:
- an upper member connected to said top ring shaft,
- an elastic membrane which is brought into contact with at least a portion of the substrate,
- a lower member to which said elastic membrane is attached, and
- a fastening member configured to detachably fix said lower member to said upper member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.