Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Repairing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-29
2003-11-25
Vidovich, Gregory (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Repairing
C029S426500, C029S239000, C029S275000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06651302
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an auxiliary tool for dismantling a guide a ring and an application method of the same, and more particularly, to an auxiliary tool for dismantling a guide ring which is closely engaged with a top ring module, and to an application method of the same.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Nowadays, among those well-developed techniques for the planarization of semiconductors, the chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) method is one of the major methods for the purpose of global planarization. Both mechanical polishing and chemical reaction are utilized in the CMP method for polishing the wafer to gradually planarize the profile of the wafer surface, thereby achieving the goal of global planarization that advantages the following processes, such as a deposition process and a lithographic process, etc.
Referring to
FIG. 1
,
FIG. 1
is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a conventional CMP machine, for example, a CMP machine manufactured by Ebara Corporation, Japan. During the CMP process, a top ring module
10
is installed for pressing a wafer
40
to contact a polishing pad
30
on a turntable (not shown), wherein the top ring module
10
is connected to a top ring shaft
50
located below a robotic arm
60
by means of a plurality of fastening members
12
(for example, 3 screws). A supporting membrane
32
is located between the wafer
40
and the top ring module
10
for use as an elastic cushion between the wafer
40
and the top ring module
10
. Furthermore, a guide ring
20
is installed around a surface of top ring module
10
for holding the wafer within the top ring module
10
, wherein the surface of the top ring module
10
contacts the wafer
40
. Hence, the wafer
40
would not jump out of the top ring module
10
while in the motion of spinning. During the CMP process, the slurry (not shown) composed of chemicals and polishing particles is filled in the central area of the turntable. Due to the centrifugal force produced form the spinning of the turntable, the slurry is dispersed onto the other areas of the turntable, and thus the slurry enters the area between the wafer
40
and the polishing pad
30
for performing the polishing process.
Please continuously refer to FIG.
1
. Since the guide ring
20
directly contacts the polishing pad
30
, the guide ring
20
will be worn out and has to be replaced after the CMP process has been running for a certain amount of time. Referring to
FIG. 2
,
FIG. 2
is a three-dimensional schematic view showing the structures of the top ring module and the guide ring from the conventional CMP machine, wherein a top ring flange
16
located on the lower part of the top ring module
10
is first inserted into the guide ring
20
, and then a plurality of top ring grooves
14
are aligned respectively with a plurality of fixing holes
24
on the guide ring
20
, and thereafter a plurality of screws (not shown) are installed into the aligned top ring grooves
14
and fixing holes
24
for closely engaging the top ring module
10
and the guide ring
20
. Since some slurry is stuck in the gap between the top ring module
10
and the guide ring
20
, it will become even more difficult to disengage the top ring module
10
from the guide ring
20
once the slurry is solidified. Therefore, the conventional method for replacing a guide ring is first to release a combined body of the top ring module
10
and the guide ring
20
from the top ring shaft
50
located below the robotic arm
60
, and then to take out the screws between the top ring module
10
and the guide ring
20
, and thereafter to soak the combined body in water for 30 minutes or tap the top ring module
20
with a tool, thereby disengaging the guide ring
20
from the top ring module
10
. However, it takes too much time for the conventional method to soak the combined body in water for 30 minutes. On the other hand, the top ring module
10
is easily to get cracked if the maintenance crew tries to force out the guide ring
20
by tapping the top ring module
10
too hard, and the top ring module
10
cracked usually has to be totally scrapped, which results in the increase of cost.
Hence, it is very urgent to develop an auxiliary tool and for dismantling a guide ring and an application method of the same to replace the conventional method for replacing a guide ring, thereby saving hours of labor and preventing the top ring module from cracking and being totally scrapped.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Just as mentioned above, since the conventional method for replacing a guide ring has to soak a combined body of a top ring module and a guide ring in water for 30 minutes or tap the combined body with a tool, it not only takes a lot of time and effort, but also easily cracks the top ring module for causing the top ring module to be totally scrapped.
Hence, the major object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary tool for dismantling a guide ring, and an application method of the same, to effectively replace the conventional method for replacing a guide ring. The present invention does not need to soak a combined body of a top ring module and a guide ring in water for 30 minutes or tap the combined body with a tool, thereby saving the hours of labor, and preventing the top ring module form cracking so that the top ring module can be surely kept in one piece.
Furthermore, the other object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary tool for dismantling a guide ring, and an application method of the same, so that a scrapped guide ring can be turned into a useful auxiliary tool for dismantling a guide ring. Thus, not only the cost for replacing a guide ring can be reduced, but also the targets of environmental protection and recycling can be attained.
According the objects mentioned above, the present invention provides an auxiliary tool for dismantling a guide ring, and an application method of the same. The auxiliary tool of the present invention is to install a plurality of supporting elements (for example, screws) on a fixture guide ring having the same structure as a guide ring that is desired to be dismantled (for example, a scrapped guide ring having the same model number with the guide ring can be used as the fixture guide ring), thereby dismantling the guide ring from a top ring module which is closely engaged with the guide ring. Furthermore, a plurality of buffer pads are installed on the fixture guide ring among the holes of the auxiliary tool of the present invention for avoiding damaging the top ring module in the process of dismantling the guide ring.
According the present invention, the application of the auxiliary tool for dismantling a guide ring is first to respectively insert the supporting elements of the auxiliary tool into the grooves of the top ring module, and then to disengage the guide ring from the top ring module by tapping a combined surface of the guide ring and the top ring module in a way like plotting a circle.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6305062 (2001-10-01), Chen et al.
Chian Po-Chung
Hu Sam
Sung Stanley
Cozart Jermie E.
Vidovich Gregory
Winbond Electronics Corporation
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