Smart conditioner rinse station
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsAlpay Yilmaz, Lakshmanan Karuppiah
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for monitoring polishing pad conditioning mechanisms is provided. In one embodiment, a semiconductor substrate polishing system includes a rinse station, a polishing surface, a conditioning element, and a conditioning mechanism. The conditioning mechanism selectively positions the conditioning element over the polishing surface and over the rinse station. At least one sensor is provided and is configured to detect a first position and a second position of the conditioning element when disposed over the rinse station.
Claims7
A semiconductor substrate polishing system, comprising:
- a polishing surface configured to polish a semiconductor substrate;
- a conditioning mechanism configured to condition the polishing surface, wherein the conditioning mechanism comprises a conditioning element configured to contact the polishing surface during conditioning;
- a rinse station configured to spray cleaning fluid on the conditioning element;
- and
- a sensor assembly configured to sense an attribute of the conditioning mechanism, wherein the attribute is indicative of performance of the conditioning element and the sensor assembly comprises:
- a first sensor configured to detect a first position of the conditioning element;
- and
- a second sensor configured to detect a second position of the conditioning element, wherein the sensor assembly is positioned in the rinse station.
A method for characterizing a component of a conditioning mechanism, comprising:
- interfacing a conditioning mechanism disposed in a polishing system with one or more sensors, wherein the conditioning mechanism is adapted to move between a conditioning position and a non-conditioning position within the polishing system;
- obtaining a metric indicative of conditioning mechanism performance from the one or more sensors, wherein the obtaining the metric indicative of conditioning mechanism comprises:
- detecting a first position of the conditioning mechanism using a first sensor;
- and
- detecting a second position of the conditioning mechanism using a second sensor;
- and
- determining if the metric of performance is within a process window.
A method for characterizing a component of a conditioning mechanism, comprising:
- interfacing a conditioning mechanism disposed in a non-conditioning position with one or more sensors;
- obtaining a metric indicative of conditioning mechanism performance from the one or more sensors, wherein the obtaining the metric indicative of conditioning mechanism performance further comprises detecting a cut-rate of the conditioning mechanism;
- and
- determining if the metric of performance is within a process window.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.