Apparatus for conditioning polishing pads utilizing brazed diamond technology

Abstract

A conditioning ring having cutting elements brazed-bonded to the bottom surface of the ring and suitably adopted for conditioning a workpiece polishing pad by contact with the pad. The conditioning ring further includes a flange extending about the bottom periphery of the ring with the cutting elements being attached to the bottom surface of the flange. The flange includes cutout portions for permitting material to escape from the interior of the ring. The cutting elements are distributed substantially uniformly across the bottom surface of the flange and the elements are brazed-bonded to the flange with a braised metal alloy, creating an extremely strong bond between the cutting elements and the flange surface. Further, the conditioning ring may be attached to a plurality wafer carrier elements so that the conditioning process occurs during the actual polishing of the wafers, or the conditioning ring may be attached to a mechanical arm which engages the ring against the polishing pad in between wafer polishing steps. In either case, to enhance the conditioning process, the carrier element and the mechanical arm rotates the ring about its axis and oscillates the ring back and forth across the polishing pad.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.