Slurry recycling for chemical mechanical planarazation system
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorWen-Kuei Liu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure describes an apparatus and a method for a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process that recycles used slurry as another slurry supply. The apparatus includes a pad on a rotation platen, a first feeder and a second feeder where each of the first and the second feeder is configured to dispense a slurry on the pad, and a flotation module configured to process a first fluid sprayed from the pad. The flotation module further includes an oulet fluidly connected to the second feeder and configured to output a second fluid, and a first tank configured to store a plurality of chemicals where the plurality of chemicals include a frother and a collector configured to chemically bond with chemicals in the first fluid.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- receiving a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) waste fluid in a tank;
- providing, within the tank, a chemical fluid comprising a frother;
- mixing the CMP waste fluid with the chemical fluid in the tank;
- introducing a gas into the tank to form bubbles via the frother;
- and
- separating a recycled slurry from the CMP waste fluid in the tank based on an interaction between the bubbles and the CMP waste fluid.
A method, comprising:
- providing a tank comprising a chemical fluid having a frother;
- introducing a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) waste fluid into the tank;
- forming bubbles in the tank using the frother;
- attaching contaminants in the CMP waste fluid to the bubbles;
- and
- removing the contaminants from the CMP waste fluid by transporting the bubbles toward an upper portion of the tank.
A method, comprising:
- polishing a substrate using a slurry to generate a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) waste fluid;
- directing the CMP waste fluid to a tank containing a chemical fluid comprising a frother;
- forming bubbles in the tank using the frother;
- separating contaminants from the CMP waste fluid using the bubbles in the tank;
- and
- reusing a portion of the CMP waste fluid as a recycled slurry in a CMP system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.