Modifying substrate thickness profiles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016016279-A1
Application number	US-201414334948-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 18, 2014
Priority date	Jul 18, 2014
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A polishing system include a support to hold a substrate having a substrate surface to be polished, a carrier to hold a polishing pad in contact with the substrate surface, and a pressure applicator to apply pressure at a selected region of a back surface of the polishing pad. The back surface is opposite to the polishing surface. The pressure applicator includes an actuator and a body configured to be moved by the actuator into and out of contact with the selected region of the back surface of the polishing pad.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A polishing system, comprising:
a support to hold a substrate having a substrate surface to be polished; a carrier to hold a polishing pad in contact with the substrate surface; and a pressure applicator to apply pressure at a selected region of a back surface of the polishing pad, the back surface being opposite to the polishing surface, wherein the pressure applicator includes an actuator and a body configured to be moved by the actuator into and out of contact with the selected region of the back surface of the polishing pad.

2 . The polishing system of claim 1 , wherein the carrier is configured to hold the polishing pad having a width greater than the substrate such that during the polishing pad contacts substantially all of the substrate.

3 . The polishing system of claim 2 , wherein the carrier is configured to be secured to the polishing pad at only the rim of the polishing pad.

4 . The polishing system of claim 3 , wherein the carrier is configured such that a remainder of the back surface of the polishing pad within the rim is open to a fluid in a chamber.

5 . The polishing system of claim 1 , wherein the pressure applicator comprises one or more pressure control pads each having a cross-sectional area to contact the back surface of the polishing pad.

6 . The polishing system of claim 5 , wherein each cross-sectional area has a lateral dimension of about 1 mm to about 10 mm.

7 . The polishing system of claim 6 , wherein each cross-section area has a shape of an arc.

8 . The polishing system of claim 5 , wherein the pressure applicator comprises a plurality of pressure control pads that are laterally movable relative to the polishing pad.

9 . The polishing system of claim 8 , wherein each pressure control pad is laterally moveable independently of other pressure control pads.

10 . The polishing system of claim 8 , each pressure control pad is laterally movable relative to a position of a center of the substrate surface when the substrate is held by the substrate support.

11 . The polishing system of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of pressure control pads comprise a pair of pressure control pads that are movable in coordination relative to a center of the substrate surface.

12 . The polishing system of claim 1 , comprising a drive system to generate relative motion between the substrate and the polishing pad.

13 . The polishing system of claim 1 , wherein the pressure applicator comprises a flexible ring having a top structure and a bottom structure, the top structure having a fixed diameter, and the bottom structure having a cross-section for contacting the back surface of the polishing pad and having an adjustable diameter.

14 . The polishing system of claim 13 , wherein the flexible ring further comprises ribs and a moving mechanism, each rib having one end connected to the moving mechanism and another end connected to the bottom of the body at a location between adjacent slots of the body, wherein the moving mechanism is configured to move along a long axis of the body to adjust the diameter of the body at the bottom.

15 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a conditioning system for conditioning the polishing surface of the polishing pad, the conditioning system comprising one or more conditioning heads configured to move to and condition one or more regions of the polishing surface that correspond to the one or more selected regions of the back surface.

16 . A polishing tool, comprising:
a bulk polishing station, comprising
a rotatable platen to support a polishing article, and
a carrier head to hold a substrate with a surface of the substrate in contact with a polishing surface of the polishing article, the carrier head having one or more controllable zones;
a modification station, comprising
a support to hold the substrate having a to be polished,
a carrier to hold a polishing pad in contact with the substrate surface, and
a pressure applicator to apply pressure at a selected region of a back surface of the polishing pad, the back surface being opposite to the polishing surface, wherein the pressure applicator includes an actuator and a body configured to be moved by the actuator into and out of contact with the selected region of the back surface of the polishing pad; and
a transfer mechanism configured to transfer the substrate between the bulk polishing station and the modification station.

17 . A method of polishing, comprising:
bringing a surface of a substrate into contact with a polishing surface of a polishing pad, the surface of the substrate comprising one or more underpolished regions, the polishing pad spanning the surface of the substrate; applying pressure to one or more selected regions of a back surface of the polishing pad substantially without applying pressure to a remainder of the back surface of the polishing surface, the back surface being opposite to the polishing surface, the one or more selected regions of the back surface corresponding to the one or more underpolished regions; and generating relative motion between the substrate and polishing pad to cause polishing of the one or more underpolished regions.

18 . The method of claim 17 , applying pressure comprises moving, with an actuator, a body into contact with the selected region of the back surface of the polishing pad.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the one or more pressure applicators comprise one or more pressure control pads each having a cross-section that contacts the back surface of the polishing pad, each cross-section a size and a shape corresponding to the one or more regions of the substrate surface.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Gurusamy Jay
• Chen Hung Chih

Classifications

• H10P52/402

  of semiconductor materials · CPC title

• B24B37/34

  Accessories · CPC title

• B24B37/042 Primary

  operating processes therefor · CPC title

• H01L21/30625

  Electricity · mapped topic