Polishing pad conditioner with shaped abrasive patterns and channels
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsVenkata R. Balagani, George Lazari, Kenny King-Tai Ngan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A polishing pad conditioner comprises a base and a pad conditioning face on the base. The conditioning face comprises central and peripheral regions. Abrasive spokes having a substantially constant width of abrasive particles, extend from the central to the peripheral region. The spokes are symmetric and radially spaced apart from one another, and may have a variety of shapes. The conditioning face can also have a cutout inlet channel to receive polishing slurry when the conditioning face is rubbed against a polishing pad, a conduit to receive the polishing slurry from the cutout inlet channel, and an outlet on the peripheral edge of the base to discharge the received polishing slurry.
Claims25
A polishing pad conditioner comprising:
- (a) a base;
- and
- (b) a conditioning face on the base, the conditioning face comprising:
- (i) a central region,
- (ii) a peripheral region, and
- (iii) a plurality of straight abrasive spokes comprising a substantially constant width of abrasive particles that extend from the central region to the peripheral region, the abrasive spokes each comprising a central axis and being radially spaced apart from one another such that the central axes of adjacent abrasive spokes are separated by an angle of from about 15 to about 45°.
A polishing pad conditioner comprising:
- (a) a base;
- and
- (b) a conditioning face on the base, the conditioning face comprising a plurality of abrasive arcs spaced apart by non-abrasive strips, the abrasive arcs comprising at least a first set of arcs at a first radial distance R1 from the center of the conditioning face, and a second set of arcs at a second radial distance R2 from the center of the conditioning face, the abrasive arcs being separated by a ΔR of 0.125 R, where R is the radius of the conditioning face.
A polishing pad conditioner comprising:
- (a) a base;
- and
- (b) a conditioning face on the base, the conditioning face comprising an array of abrasive squares that are spaced apart from one another and located in a non-abrasive grid, the abrasive squares comprising abrasive particles such that at least about 80% of the abrasive particles have crystalline structures with substantially the same crystal symmetry.
A polishing pad conditioner comprising:
- (a) a conditioning face comprising at least one cutout inlet channel to receive polishing slurry when the conditioning face is rubbed against a polishing pad, the cutout inlet channel comprising a mid-section having a constant radial width;
- (b) at least one conduit to receive the polishing slurry from the cutout inlet channel;
- and
- (c) at least one outlet on the peripheral edge of the base to discharge the received polishing slurry.
A polishing pad conditioner comprising:
- (a) a base;
- and
- (b) a conditioning face on the base, the conditioning face comprising:
- (i) a central region,
- (ii) a peripheral region, and
- (iii) a plurality of S-shaped abrasive spokes comprising a substantially constant width of abrasive particles that extend from the central region to the peripheral region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.