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US 2025/0010431 A1Published application
Polishing fluid recovery and reuse system for semiconductor substrate processing
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsJianjun HU, Peng LIU, Colin John DICKINSON, Quoc TRUONG, Jamie Stuart LEIGHTON, Gopalakrishna B. PRABHU, John Howard GIVENS
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Abstract
The present disclosure generally relates to methods and system used to collect and reuse polishing fluids used during a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process for the fabrication of electronic devices. More specifically, systems and methods provided herein include a polishing fluid collection system having a catch basin, a vacuum device, and a polishing fluid recycling module for recycling polishing fluid.
Claims20
A polishing system, comprising:
- a catch basin sized to surround and to abut a polishing pad secured to a platen, the catch basin comprising:
- an inner wall;
- an outer wall disposed radially outward from the inner wall;
- and
- a base portion connecting the inner wall to the outer wall, the base portion configured to couple the catch basin to the platen such that the catch basin rotates with the platen and the polishing pad, wherein:
- the outer wall, the inner wall, and the base portion collectively define a trough;
- and
- a radially inward facing surface of the catch basin is further defined by an arc radius which is equal to an arc radius of the platen that the catch basin is sized to surround, the radially inward facing surface of the catch basin configured to allow for a polishing fluid to flow radially outward from the polishing pad into the trough;
- a first vacuum device, the first vacuum device comprising a suction tube;
- wherein the suction tube is disposed within the trough of the catch basin, wherein the suction tube is stationary in relation to the catch basin when rotating;
- and
- a polishing fluid recycle module, wherein the first vacuum device draws a polishing fluid out of the trough and sends the polishing fluid to the polishing fluid recycle module for reuse.
9 more elements
A fluid reuse system, the system comprising:
- a platen;
- a polishing pad secured to the platen;
- a first and a second closed loop control slurry delivery system (CLCSDS), wherein the first CLCSDS delivers a first polishing fluid to the polishing pad, wherein the first polishing fluid is collected by a catch basin, the catch basin comprising:
- an inner wall;
- an outer wall disposed radially outward from the inner wall;
- and
- a base portion connecting the inner wall to the outer wall, the base portion configured to couple the catch basin to the platen such that the catch basin rotates with the platen, wherein:
- the outer wall, the inner wall, and the base portion collectively define a trough;
- and
- a radially inward facing surface of the catch basin is defined by an arc radius which is equal to a radius of the platen the catch basin is sized to surround;
- and
- a first vacuum device, the first vacuum device comprising a suction tube, wherein the suction tube is disposed within the trough of the catch basin and to be spaced apart therefrom the base portion, and wherein the suction tube is stationary in relation to the catch basin when rotating;
- wherein the first vacuum device collects the first polishing fluid;
- a polishing fluid recycle module, the polishing fluid recycle module configured to recycle the first polishing fluid into a second polishing fluid, wherein the second polishing fluid is provided to the second CLCSDS;
- and
- wherein the second CLCSDS delivers the second polishing fluid the platen and the first CLCSDS delivers the first polishing fluid to the platen to allow a polishing process to be configured to operate from the first polishing fluid from the second polishing fluid, or from a mixture of both.
13 more elements
A method of polishing a substrate, comprising:
- dispensing a polishing fluid onto a surface of a polishing pad;
- urging the substrate against the surface of the polishing pad while rotating a platen, the platen having the polishing pad disposed thereon;
- collecting the polishing fluid using a fluid reuse system, wherein:
- the fluid reuse system comprises a catch basin coupled to the platen, the catch basin being configured to abut the platen and to rotate with the platen;
- and
- at least some of the polishing fluid dispensed onto the polishing pad being collected in a trough of the catch basin;
- the polishing fluid being collected by a vacuum device, the vacuum device comprising a suction tube disposed within the trough;
- filtering the polishing fluid of contaminants;
- and
- dispensing the polishing fluid collected using the catch basin onto the surface of the polishing pad.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.