# US 6,293,850 B1 · Chemical-mechanical polish machines and fabrication process using the same

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- Number: US 6,293,850 B1
- Document ID: US6293850B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 09/426,937
- Filed: 1999-10-22
- Granted: 2001-09-25
- Earliest claimed: 1997-09-01
- Assignees: United Microelectronics Corp.
- Inventors: Juen-Kuen Lin; Chien-Hsin Lai; Peng-Yih Peng; Kun-Lin Wu; Daniel Chiu; Chih-Chiang Yang; Juan-Yuan Wu; Hao-Kuang Chiu
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US6293850B1

## CPC

- B24B 37/32: Retaining rings
- B24B 37/042: {operating processes therefor}
- B24B 57/02: for feeding of fluid, sprayed, pulverised, or liquefied grinding, polishing or lapping agents
- B24B: MACHINES, DEVICES, OR PROCESSES FOR GRINDING OR POLISHING (grinding of gear teeth B23F, of screw-threads B23G1/36; by electro-erosion B23H; abrasive or related blasting B24C; tools for grinding, buffing or sharpening B24D; polishing compositions C09G1/00; abrasives C09K3/14; electrolytic etching or polishing C25F3/00; grinding arrangements for use on assembled railway tracks E01B31/17); DRESSING OR CONDITIONING OF ABRADING SURFACES; FEEDING OF GRINDING, POLISHING, OR LAPPING AGENTS

## Abstract

A chemical mechanical polishing machine and a fabrication process using the same. The chemical mechanical polishing machine comprises a retainer ring having a plurality of slurry passages at the bottom of the retainer ring. The retainer ring further comprises a circular path. By conducting the slurry through the slurry passages and the circular, a wafer is planarized within the chemical mechanical polishing machine.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A chemical mechanical polishing machine, comprising:
a polishing table;
a polishing pad on the polishing table;
a slurry supplier, to supply slurry onto the polishing table for polishing a wafer;
a polishing head, to dispose the wafer therein; and
a retainer ring, at the bottom edge of the polishing head to retain the wafer, wherein
the wafer is retained by the retainer ring with its surface to be polished facing the polishing pad; and
the retainer has a plurality of slurry passages to direct the slurry supplied by the slurry supplier through the retainer ring over the surface of the wafer, and the slurry passages are radially declined from an inner perimeter to an outer perimeter and each of the slurry passages has an acute angle of attack against the slurry flow outside the polishing head while the polishing head is spinning for polishing.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The chemical mechanical polishing machine of claim 1, wherein the retainer ring has an inner diameter larger than 4 inch.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The chemical mechanical polishing machine of claim 1, wherein the slurry passages are each formed with a width of 0.05˜0.3 mm and a depth of 2˜4 mm.

### Claim 4

A chemical mechanical polishing machine, comprising:
a polishing table;
a polishing pad on the polishing table;
a slurry supplier, to supply slurry onto the polishing table for polishing a wafer;
a polishing head, to dispose the wafer therein; and
a retainer ring, at the bottom edge of the polishing head to retain the wafer; wherein:
the wafer is retained by the retainer ring with its surface to be polished facing the polishing pad; and
the retainer ring further comprises:
a plurality of slurry passage to direct the slurry supplied by the slurry supplier through the retainer ring over the surface of the wafer; and
a circular path intercrossing the slurry passages between an inner perimeter and an outer perimeter of the retainer ring.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The chemical mechanical polishing machine of claim 4, wherein the slurry passages substantially equally spaced.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The chemical mechanical polishing machine of claim 4, wherein the slurry passages are radially declined in a way to form an acute angle of attack against the slurry flow outside the retainer ring.

### Claim 7 (depends on 4)

The chemical mechanical polishing machine of claim 4, wherein the retainer ring has an inner diameter larger than 4 inch.

### Claim 8 (depends on 4)

The chemical mechanical polishing of claim 4, wherein the slurry passages are each formed with a width of 0.05˜0.3 mm and a depth of 2˜4 mm.

### Claim 9 (depends on 4)

The chemical mechanical polishing of claim 4, wherein said circular path is formed with a width of 0.05˜0.3 mm and a depth of 2˜4 mm.

### Claim 10

A chemical mechanical polishing machine, comprising:
a polishing table;
a polishing pad on the polishing table;
a slurry supplier, to supply slurry onto the polishing table for polishing a wafer;
a polishing head, to dispose the wafer therein; and
a retainer ring at the bottom edge of the polishing head to retain the wafer, wherein
the retainer ring has a plurality of slurry passages to direct the slurry supplied by the slurry supplier through the retainer ring over the surface of the wafer, and the slurry passages are designed in such a way with a gradually expanding path for slurry from an outer perimeter to an inner perimeter of the retainer ring.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The retainer ring in claim 10, wherein the slurry passages further comprises a circular path intercrossing the slurry passages between an inner surface and an outer surface of the retainer ring.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The chemical mechanical polishing machine in claim 10, wherein the slurry passages are designed with a diffusion angle between 0° to 10°, and an angle of attack φ1 calculated from the equation: sin ⁢ ⁢ φ 1 = x l
wherein the x is the minimum distance between a tangent line of an inlet point and a tangent line of an outlet point, and l is a path length of each of the slurry passages.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The retainer ring in claim 10, wherein the slurry passages further comprises at least one circular path intercrossing the slurry passages between an inner surface and an outer surface of the retainer ring.