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US 6,284,092 B1Granted
CMP slurry atomization slurry dispense system
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorPaul A. Manfredi
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AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorPaul A. Manfredi
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for polishing a semiconductor wafer is provided comprising a wafer carrier to provide a force against a wafer and a rotating polishing pad during the polishing operation and a polishing slurry dispenser device disposed to dispense the slurry toward the pad preferably as a stream or more preferably drops toward the pad surface and a curtain of air to intersect the slurry at or near the polishing pad surface. The wafer is polished using less slurry than a conventional polishing apparatus while still maintaining the polishing rates and polishing uniformity of the prior art polishing apparatus. A preferred dispenser is an elongated housing having a slurry tube and air tube therein each tube having a plurality of spaced apart slurry openings and air openings along its longitudinal axis which tube is preferably positioned radially over at least one-half the diameter of the polishing pad. A polishing slurry is directed from the slurry tube toward the surface of the pad, preferably in the form of drops, and the air from the air tube forms an air curtain, with the air curtain intersecting the slurry drops preferably at or slightly above the pad surface to atomize the slurry.
An apparatus for polishing a surface of a workpiece comprising:
As an article of manufacture, a chemical slurry dispenser for use in a chemical-mechanical polishing process comprising an elongated conduit for forcing a slurry through a plurality of openings therein so that the slurry is directed toward a polishing pad and an elongated conduit for forming an air curtain and directing the curtain of air to intersect the slurry at or near the pad surface atomizing the slurry wherein wafers or other electronic component substrates to be polished are held against a rotating polishing pad by a carrier which provides a force across the surface of the wafer and imparts a flat polished surface on the wafer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.