Chemical mechanical polishing systems including brushes and related methods

A Chemical-Mechanical Polishing (CMP) system for a semiconductor substrate, said system comprising:

• a polishing station for polishing the semiconductor substrate wherein said polishing station includes,
• a polishing pad having a polishing surface for polishing the semiconductor substrate,
• a conditioner for conditioning said polishing surface of said polishing pad, and
• a conditioner arm operatively coupled to said conditioner for transferring said conditioner to and from the polishing pad;
• and
• a cleaning station for cleaning the polished semiconductor substrate wherein said cleaning station includes,
• an auxiliary pad having a cleaning surface for cleaning the polished semiconductor substrate,
• an auxiliary pad brush including a plurality of bristles attached to an auxiliary pad brush support for cleaning said cleaning surface of said auxiliary pad, and
• an auxiliary pad brush arm operatively coupled to said auxiliary pad brush support for transferring said auxiliary pad brush to and from said cleaning pad.

A Chemical-Mechanical Polishing (CMP) method for cleaning a polishing pad used to polish a surface of a semiconductor substrate by rotating the semiconductor substrate in contact with a surface of a polishing pad, said method comprising the step of:

• brushing said surface of said polishing pad with a polishing pad brush thereby removing particles from said surface of said polishing pad, wherein said brushing step further comprises the steps of,
• maintaining said polishing pad brush in contact with said polishing pad while transferring said polishing pad brush from a center portion of said polishing pad to an edge thereof,
• after maintaining said polishing pad brush in contact with said polishing pad while transfering said polishing pad brush from said center portion to said edge, removing said polishing pad brush from said surface of said polishing pad, and
• after removing said polishing pad brush from said surface, transferring said polishing pad brush to said center portion of said surface of said substrate while maintaining a spacing between said polishing pad brush and said surface of said polishing pad.

A Chemical-Mechanical Polishing (CMP) method for polishing a semiconductor substrate, said method comprising the steps of:

• polishing a surface of the semiconductor substrate by rotating the semiconductor substrate in contact with a surface of a polishing pad;
• cleaning the surface of the semiconductor substrate by rotating the semiconductor substrate in contact with an auxiliary pad;
• and
• brushing said auxiliary pad thereby removing particles therefrom.