Monitoring retaining ring thickness and pressure control
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsSameer Deshpande, Zhihong Wang, Samuel Chu-Chiang Hsu, Gautam Shashank Dandavate, Hung Chih Chen, Wen-Chiang Tu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes a carrier head including a retaining ring having a plastic portion with a bottom surface to contact a polishing pad, an in-situ monitoring system including a sensor that generates a signal that depends on a thickness of the plastic portion, and a controller configured to receive the signal from the in-situ monitoring system and to adjust at least one polishing parameter in response to the signal to compensate for non-uniformity caused by changes in the thickness of the plastic portion of the retaining ring.
Claims18
A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus, comprising:
- a carrier head including a retaining ring having a plastic portion with a bottom surface to contact a polishing pad;
- a platen to support the polishing pad;
- an in-situ monitoring system including a sensor that generates a signal during a polishing operation while the bottom surface of the plastic portion contacts the polishing pad, wherein the signal depends on a thickness of the plastic portion, and wherein the sensor is supported by the platen at a position below the polishing surface positioned on a side of the polishing pad farther from the retaining ring;
- and
- a controller configured to receive the signal from the in-situ monitoring system and to adjust at least one polishing parameter in response to the signal to compensate for nonuniformity caused by changes in the thickness of the plastic portion of the retaining ring.
A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus, comprising:
- a carrier head including a retaining ring having a plastic portion with a bottom surface to contact a polishing pad;
- a rotatable platen to support the polishing pad;
- an in-situ monitoring system including a sensor that generates a signal while the bottom surface of the plastic portion contacts the polishing pad, wherein the signal depends on a thickness of the plastic portion, and wherein the sensor is located in and rotates with the platen;
- and
- a controller configured to receive the signal from the in-situ monitoring system and to adjust at least one polishing parameter in response to the signal to compensate for non-uniformity caused by changes in the thickness of the plastic portion of the retaining ring.
A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus, comprising:
- a carrier head including a retaining ring having a plastic portion with a bottom surface to contact a polishing pad;
- a platen to support the polishing pad;
- an in-situ monitoring system including a sensor that generates a signal during a polishing operation while the bottom surface of the plastic portion contacts the polishing pad, wherein the signal depends on a thickness of the plastic portion, and wherein the sensor is supported by the platen at a position below the polishing surface positioned on a side of the polishing pad farther from the retaining ring;
- and
- a controller configured to receive the signal from the in-situ monitoring system and to determine the thickness of the plastic portion from the signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.