Wafer polishing apparatus and method of detecting defect of retainer ring included in the wafer polishing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12521769-B2
Application number	US-202217870340-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2022
Priority date	Nov 29, 2021
Publication date	Jan 13, 2026
Grant date	Jan 13, 2026

Abstract

A wafer polishing apparatus includes a base support; a polishing pad on the base support; a polishing head on an upper portion of the base support and configured to rotate; a polishing head support on the upper portion of the base support and connected to the polishing head, a retainer ring attached to a lower portion of the polishing head; an illumination device configured to provide light to at least a part of an inner surface of the retainer ring; and a camera device configured to capture an image of at least a part of the inner surface of the retainer ring while the polishing head rotates. The polishing head support may be configured to rotate on the base support such that the polishing head is on at least one of a treatment region or a maintenance region of the base support.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A wafer polishing apparatus comprising:
a base support; a polishing head on an upper portion of the base support, the polishing head configured to rotate; a retainer ring attached to a lower portion of the polishing head; an illumination device configured to provide light to at least a part of an inner surface of the retainer ring; and a camera device configured to capture an image of at least a part of the inner surface of the retainer ring, wherein the camera device includes a camera housing, a camera lens inside the camera housing, a cover ring on a front surface of the camera lens and configured to expose the camera lens, a camera cleaning liquid supply pipe connected to the cover ring and configured to supply a cleaning liquid to the front surface of the camera lens, a camera cleaning gas supply pipe connected to the cover ring and configured to provide cleaning gas to the front surface of the camera lens, and a protective cap coupled to the cover ring, the cover ring is coupled to the camera housing, the protective cap is configured to expose at least a part of the front surface of the camera lens and configured to provide a discharge passage of the cleaning gas, wherein
the camera device further comprises a camera cleaning liquid spray pipe connected to the camera cleaning liquid supply pipe,
the camera cleaning liquid spray pipe is in the cover ring, and
the camera cleaning liquid spray pipe has a spiral shape.

2 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the camera cleaning liquid supply pipe is configured to provide deionized water (DIW).

3 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the camera cleaning gas supply pipe is configured to provide nitrogen (N 2 ) in the cleaning gas.

4 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cleaning liquid supply pump configured to supply the cleaning liquid to the camera cleaning liquid supply pipe; a cleaning gas supply pump configured to supply the cleaning gas to the cleaning gas supply pipe; and a controller connected to the cleaning liquid supply pump and the cleaning gas supply pump.

5 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
the controller is configured to control the cleaning liquid supply pump when the camera device is in a standby state so that the camera cleaning liquid supply pipe supplies the cleaning liquid to the front surface of the camera lens, and the standby state of the camera device is a status where an image of the retainer ring is not captured.

6 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein
the controller is further configured to, control the cleaning liquid supply pump and the cleaning gas supply pump when the camera device is in an operation state so that the cleaning liquid supply pipe stops supplying of the cleaning liquid and so that the cleaning gas supply pipe supplies the cleaning gas to the front surface of the camera lens, and the operation state of the camera device is a status where the image of the retainer ring is captured.

7 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the illumination device comprises an illumination housing, an illumination light source inside the illumination housing, an illumination lens inside the illumination housing and in front of the illumination light source, and an illumination cleaning liquid supply pipe connected to the illumination housing, and the illumination cleaning liquid supply pipe is configured to supply the cleaning liquid to a front surface of the illumination lens.

8 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the camera device is configured to capture an image of at least a part of the inner surface of the retainer ring while the retainer ring is rotated by the polishing head.

9 . A wafer polishing apparatus comprising:
a base support including a treatment region and a maintenance region; a polishing pad on the treatment region of the base support; a polishing head on an upper portion of the base support and configured to rotate; a polishing head support on the upper portion of the base support and connected to the polishing head, the polishing head support configured to rotate on the base support such that the polishing head is on at least one of the treatment region or the maintenance region of the base support; a retainer ring attached to a lower portion of the polishing head; an illumination device configured to provide light to at least a part of an inner surface of the retainer ring; and a camera device configured to capture an image of at least a part of the inner surface of the retainer ring while the polishing head rotates, wherein:
the illumination device comprises an illumination housing, an illumination light source inside the illumination housing, an illumination lens inside the illumination housing and in front of the illumination light source, and
an illumination cleaning liquid supply pipe connected to the illumination housing, and
the illumination cleaning liquid supply pipe is configured to supply the cleaning liquid to a front surface of the illumination lens.

10 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the camera device comprises a line scan camera.

11 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein
the illumination device comprises a cylindrical lens configured to provide light in a line shape to a part of the inner surface of the retainer ring.

12 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:
a transfer plate on the maintenance region; an alignment jig mounted on the transfer plate; an illumination alignment laser attached to the illumination device and configured to provide light to a part of the alignment jig; and a camera alignment laser attached to the camera device and configured to provide light to a part of the alignment jig.

13 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein
the camera device comprises a camera housing, a camera lens inside the camera housing, a cover ring on a front surface of the camera lens and configured to expose the camera lens, a camera cleaning liquid supply pipe connected to the cover ring and configured to provide a movement path of a cleaning liquid, a cleaning liquid spray pipe connected to the camera cleaning liquid supply pipe, a camera cleaning gas supply pipe connected to the cover ring and configured to provide cleaning gas to the front surface of the camera lens, and a protective cap coupled to the cover ring, the cover ring is coupled to the camera housing, the cleaning liquid spray pipe is a spiral shape, the cleaning liquid spray pipe is inside the cover ring, the cleaning liquid spray pipe is configured to spray the cleaning liquid to the camera lens, and the protective cap being configured to expose at least a part of the front surface of the camera lens and configured to provide a discharge passage of the cleaning gas.

14 . The wafer polishing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein
the cleaning liquid comprises deionized water (DIW), and the cleaning gas comprises nitrogen (N 2 ).

15 . A wafer polishing apparatus comprising:
a base support including a treatment region and a maintenance region; a polishing pad on the treatment region of the base support; a polishing head on an upper portion of the base support and configured to rotate; a polishing head support on the upper portion of the base support and connected to the polishing head, the polishing head support configured to rotate on the base support such that the polishing head is on at least one of the treatment region or the mainte

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
• Tsc Inc

Inventors

• Kim Jongsu
• Kuk Johnho
• Park Sunil
• LEE Kwangsung
• Iwa Yoichiro
• Jeon Sewon
• Jung Youngho

Classifications

• B24B37/0053 Primary

  detecting loss or breakage of a workpiece during lapping · CPC title

• B08B5/02

  Cleaning by the force of jets, e.g. blowing-out cavities {(airguns or nozzles per se B05B1/005)} · CPC title

• B08B3/02 Primary

  Cleaning by the force of jets or sprays · CPC title

• B24B49/12

  involving optical means · CPC title

• B24B37/34

  Accessories · CPC title