Method for seasoning a polishing pad
AssigneeSEH America, Inc.
InventorPhillip P. Truong
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Abstract
A method of preparing a polishing pad of a hydrophobic material for a polishing procedure includes, prior to the polishing procedure, contacting the polishing pad with a solution of at least one component for converting at least a portion of a polishing surface, including pores therein if porous, of the polishing pad from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, and maintaining the polishing pad in a wet state between the contacting step and the polishing procedure. New hydrophobic polishing pads are thus efficiently seasoned (broken in) for subsequent use in planarizing a semiconductor substrate surface.
Claims20
A method of preparing a polishing pad comprised of a hydrophobic material for a polishing procedure, comprising
- prior to the polishing procedure, contacting the polishing pad with a solution comprised of at least one component for converting at least a portion of a polishing surface of the polishing pad from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, and
- maintaining the polishing pad in a wet state between the contacting step and the polishing procedure.
A method of planarizing a semiconductor substrate surface, comprising
- seasoning an unseasoned polishing pad comprised of a hydrophobic material by contacting the polishing pad with a solution comprised of at least one component for converting at least a portion of a polishing surface of the polishing pad from hydrophobic to hydrophilic to derive a seasoned polishing pad,
- maintaining the seasoned polishing pad in a wet state following the seasoning step and before contacting the seasoned polishing pad with a surface of a semiconductor substrate, and
- contacting the seasoned polishing pad with a surface of a semiconductor substrate to be planarized in the presence of a polishing composition to thereby planarize the semiconductor substrate surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.