Pre-conditioning polishing pads for chemical-mechanical polishing
AssigneeLSI Logic Corporation
InventorMichael J. Berman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A preconditioning mechanism for preconditioning a polishing pad is described. The preconditioning mechanism includes an arm capable of being disposed over the polishing pad and a head section located on a distal end of the arm and rotatable about a central axis. Furthermore, the head section includes at least two heads oriented about the central axis and have surfaces for either conditioning or preconditioning the polishing pad, whereby rotation of the head section about the central axis by defined amounts presents at least two heads to the polishing pad so that different of the two heads can engage the polishing pad for conditioning or preconditioning depending upon how far rotation has proceeded.
Claims30
A preconditioning mechanism for preconditioning a polishing pad, comprising:
- an arm capable of being disposed over said polishing pad;
- and
- a head section located on a distal end of said arm and rotatable about a central axis, said head section including at least two heads oriented about said central axis at least one of said at least two heads having a surface for conditioning said polishing pad and another of said at least two heads having a surface for having surfaces for either conditioning preconditioning said polishing pad, whereby rotation of said head section about the central axis by defined amounts presents the at least two heads to the polishing pad so that different of the at least two heads can engage the polishing pad for conditioning or preconditioning depending upon how far rotation has proceeded.
A preconditioning assembly for conditioning or preconditioning a polishing pad, comprising:
- a conditioning mechanism including (i) a conditioning arm capable of being disposed over said polishing pad and (ii) a conditioning head section located at a distal end of said conditioning arm and having a conditioning material capable of effectively conditioning said polishing pad;
- and
- a preconditioning mechanism including (iii) a preconditioning arm capable of being disposed over said polishing pad and (iv) a preconditioning head section located at a distal end of said preconditioning arm, said preconditioning head section having at least one preconditioning film capable of effectively preconditioning said polishing pad.
A preconditioning mechanism for preconditioning a polishing pad, comprising:
- means for holding multiple heads capable of being disposed over said polishing pad;
- and
- means for preconditioning or conditioning located on a distal end of said means for holding multiple heads and rotatable about a central axis, said means for preconditioning or conditioning including at least two heads oriented about said central axis at least one of said at least two heads having a surface for conditioning said polishing pad and another of said at least two heads having a surface for having surfaces for either conditioning preconditioning said polishing pad, whereby rotation of said means for preconditioning or conditioning about the central axis by defined amounts presents the at least two heads to the polishing pad so that different of the at least two heads can engage the polishing pad for conditioning or preconditioning depending upon how far rotation has proceeded.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.