Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120276661 | HIGH SENSITIVITY EDDY CURRENT MONITORING SYSTEM - A method of chemical mechanical polishing a substrate includes polishing a metal layer on the substrate at a polishing station, monitoring thickness of the metal layer during polishing at the polishing station with an eddy current monitoring system, and controlling pressures applied by a carrier head to the substrate during polishing of the metal layer at the polishing station based on thickness measurements of the metal layer from the eddy current monitoring system to reduce differences between an expected thickness profile of the metal layer and a target profile, wherein the metal layer has a resistivity greater than 700 ohm Angstroms. | 11-01-2012 |
20120276662 | EDDY CURRENT MONITORING OF METAL FEATURES - A method of chemical mechanical polishing a substrate includes polishing a plurality of discrete separated metal features of a layer on the substrate at a polishing station, using an eddy current monitoring system to monitor thickness of the metal features in the layer, and controlling pressures applied by a carrier head to the substrate during polishing of the layer at the polishing station based on thickness measurements of the metal features from the eddy current monitoring system to reduce differences between an expected thickness profile of the metal feature and a target profile. | 11-01-2012 |
20120276817 | EDDY CURRENT MONITORING OF METAL RESIDUE OR METAL PILLARS - A method of chemical mechanical polishing a substrate includes polishing a metal layer on the substrate at a polishing station, monitoring thickness of the metal layer during polishing at the polishing station with an eddy current monitoring system, and halting polishing when the eddy current monitoring system indicates that residue of the metal layer is removed from an underlying layer and a top surface of the underlying layer is exposed. | 11-01-2012 |
20130224890 | Feedback Control Using Detection Of Clearance And Adjustment For Uniform Topography - A method of controlling polishing includes storing a desired ratio representing a ratio for a clearance time of a first zone of a substrate to a clearance time of a second zone of the substrate. During polishing of a first substrate, an overlying layer is monitored, a sequence of measurements is generated, and the measurements are sorted a first group associated with the first zone of the substrate and a second group associated with the second zone on the substrate. A first time and a second time at which the overlying layer is cleared is determined based on the measurements from the first group and the second group, respectively. At least one adjusted polishing pressure is calculated for the first zone based on a first pressure applied in the first zone during polishing the first substrate, the first time, the second time, and the desired ratio. | 08-29-2013 |
20140030956 | CONTROL OF POLISHING OF MULTIPLE SUBSTRATES ON THE SAME PLATEN IN CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING - A polishing method includes positioning two substrates in contact with the same polishing pad. Prior to commencement of polishing and while the two substrates are in contact with the polishing pad, two starting values are generated from an in-situ monitoring system. Either a starting polishing time or a pressure applied to one of the substrates can be adjusted so that the two substrates have closer endpoint conditions. During polishing the two substrates are monitored with the in-situ monitoring system to generate a two sequences of values, and a polishing endpoint can be detected or an adjustment for a polishing parameter can be based on the two sequences of values. | 01-30-2014 |
20140127971 | IN-SITU MONITORING SYSTEM WITH MONITORING OF ELONGATED REGION - A method of chemical mechanical polishing a substrate includes polishing a layer on the substrate at a polishing station, monitoring the layer during polishing at the polishing station with an in-situ monitoring system, the in-situ monitoring system monitoring an elongated region and generating a measured signal, computing an angle between a primary axis of the elongated region and a tangent to an edge of the substrate, modifying the measured signal based on the angle to generate a modified signal, and at least one of detecting a polishing endpoint or modifying a polishing parameter based on the modified signal. | 05-08-2014 |
20140222188 | ENDPOINT CONTROL OF MULTIPLE SUBSTRATES OF VARYING THICKNESS ON THE SAME PLATEN IN CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING - A difference between a first expected required polish time for a first substrate and a second expected required polish time for a second substrate is determined using a first pre-polish thickness and a second pre-polish thickness measured at an in-line metrology station. A duration of an initial period is determined based on the difference between the first expected required polish time and the second expected required polish time. For the initial period at a beginning of a polishing operation, no pressure is applied to whichever of the first substrate and the second substrate has a lesser expected required polish time while simultaneously pressure is applied to whichever of the first substrate and the second substrate has a greater expected required polish time. After the initial period, pressure is applied to both the first substrate and the second substrate. | 08-07-2014 |
20150118765 | DETERMINATION OF GAIN FOR EDDY CURRENT SENSOR - In one aspect, a method of controlling polishing includes receiving a measurement of an initial thickness of a conductive film on a first substrate prior to polishing the first substrate from an in-line or stand-alone monitoring system, polishing one or more substrates in a polishing system, the one or more substrates including the first substrate, during polishing of the one or more substrates, monitoring the one or more substrates with an eddy current monitoring system to generate a first signal, determining a starting value of the first signal for a start of polishing of the first substrate, determining a gain based on the starting value and the measurement of the initial thickness, for at least a portion of the first signal collected during polishing of at least one substrate of the one or more substrates, and calculating a second signal based on the first signal and the gain. | 04-30-2015 |
20150118766 | DETERMINATION OF GAIN FOR EDDY CURRENT SENSOR - A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a substrate at a first polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a first eddy current monitoring system to generate a first signal, determining an ending value of the first signal for an end of polishing of the substrate at the first polishing station, determining a first temperature at the first polishing station, polishing the substrate at a second polishing station, monitoring the substrate with a second eddy current monitoring system to generate a second signal, determining a starting value of the second signal for a start of polishing of the substrate at the second polishing station, determining a gain for the second polishing station based on the ending value, the starting value and the first temperature, and calculating a third signal based on the second signal and the gain. | 04-30-2015 |