Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Repairing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-21
2001-10-23
Bryant, David P. (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Repairing
C029S407090, C029S407100, C029S464000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305062
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a preventive maintenance (PM) method and apparatus for quickly and precisely replacing a backing-film of a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) machine; in particular, the invention relates to a method and an apparatus capable of enhancing the efficiency during a PM procedure by simplifying the procedure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past years, CMP has emerged as a critical technology in the area of wafer planarization for companies that manufacture integrated circuit (IC) devices.
FIG. 1
shows a schematic view of a CMP machine, wherein the CMP machine shown consists of a shaft
1
, a top-ring
4
disposed on the shaft
1
, a polishing slurry-distributing system
3
, a platform
2
, and a polishing pad
5
disposed on the platform
2
. In addition, a wafer
6
is held by the top-ring
4
.
FIG. 2
a
and
FIG. 2
b
are schematic views of the top-ring
4
, wherein
FIG. 2
a
shows a surface of the top-ring
4
which is connected with the shaft
1
of the top-ring
4
. The top ring
4
comprises a body
41
, a guide-ring
42
, and a cover
43
, wherein a closed space is formed between the cover
43
and the body
41
. By connecting a port
431
of the cover
43
with a pumping system (not shown), the wafer can be sucked by air holes
411
, referring to
FIG. 3
f
and
FIG. 3
g,
located in the top-ring
4
. The body
41
and the cover
43
are coupled by plural screws
44
, whereas the body
41
and the guide-ring
42
are coupled by plural screws
45
.
FIG. 2
b
shows the other surface of the top ring
4
, on the opposite side, which is in contact with the polishing pad
5
. In
FIG. 2
b,
the guide-ring
42
is disassembled. A backing-film
7
, without being drilled, is adhered to this surface. As shown in
FIG. 2
c,
a surface of the backing-film
7
is provided with a sticker
71
such that the unused sticker
71
is covered by a paper
72
to protect the adhesive surface of the sticker
71
.
The conventional procedures for changing a backing-film described in detail hereinafter are in reference to
FIG. 3
a,
FIG. 3
b,
FIG. 3
c,
FIG. 3
d,
FIG. 3
e,
FIG. 3
f,
FIG. 3
g
and
FIG. 3
h.
Firstly, as shown in
FIG. 3
a,
the top-ring
4
is disassembled from the shaft
1
. Then, after the guide-ring
42
and the cover
43
have been disassembled from the body
41
, the used backing-film is removed from the top-ring
4
. Referring to
FIG. 3
b,
a new backing-film
7
as shown in
FIG. 2
c
is positioned upon the surface of the top-ring
4
that is to be in contact with the polishing pad
5
. The backing-film
7
is aligned with the top-ring
4
afterwards, and a portion of the paper
72
is then peeled off from the sticker
71
, as shown in
FIG. 3
c.
FIG. 3
d
shows the process of adhering the backing-film
7
onto the top-ring
4
wherein the backing-film
4
is adhered to the top-ring
4
and smoothed out completely by means of a roller
8
, as shown in
FIG. 3
e.
Referring to
FIG. 3
f,
FIG. 3
G
and
FIG. 3
h,
the process of drilling the backing-film
7
is proceeded after the backing-film
7
is completely adhered to the top-ring
4
. Plural holes corresponding to the positions of the air holes
411
are manually drilled by means of a drill
9
. Then, the top-ring
4
is turned upside down so as to re-drill the drilled holes from the other end by the drill
9
in order to smooth the drilled holes. The steps shown in
FIG. 3
f,
FIG. 3
g
and
FIG. 3
h
are repeated until all holes corresponding to the air holes
411
have been drilled. After the drilling process is completed, the guide-ring
42
and the cover
43
are assembled to the body
41
. The whole top-ring
4
is then assembled to the shaft
1
to finish this backing-film replacing procedure according to the conventional apparatus and method.
However, the conventional backing-film replacing procedure can have the following disadvantages:
1. The drilling process is typically difficult and laborious. Also, burr tends to be generated to cause untrimmed edge of the drilled hole, which in turn may contribute to unstable and/or inefficient PM. As a result, the down time for the top-ring during a routine PM and QC (quality control) may prove to be too long such that productivity is affected.
2. The burr stated above can easily cause a bad finishing result of the wafer polishing or even the breakage of a wafer. Furthermore, the machine may be halted by such error.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the disadvantages of the conventional method, the present invention provides a preventive maintenance (PM) method and apparatus for quickly and precisely replacing a backing-film of a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) machine that can enhance the efficiency of the PM by simplifying the procedures of the PM.
According to the present invention, the backing-film is pre-drilled by laser in order to bypass the restriction set by a conventional manual drilling process on the backing-film. In addition, a PM apparatus for the backing-film comprises an aligning panel having a plural first pins in order to quickly check whether drilled holes of the backing-film area aligned with the corresponding air holes or not. Therefore, the CMP machine down time due to the PM can be reduced.
Furthermore, the steps involved in the preventive maintenance method according to the present invention for a backing-film or a CMP machine are described as below. First of all, a top-ring is disassembled from a shaft of the CMP machine. Then, the top-ring undergoes a cleaning process after a guide-ring is disassembled from the top-ring and the original backing-film is removed. Next, a new backing-film is to be aligned with the above-mentioned aligning panel to make sure that every first pin of the aligning panel aligns with a corresponding through hole. Furthermore, the new backing-film is positioned on the top-ring with the aligning panel where each first pin is inserted through the corresponding air hole. The new backing-film is then adhered to the top-ring, followed by a removal of the aligning panel. Finally, the top-ring is assembled back to the shaft after the guide-ring is assembled to the top-ring.
In addition, the diameter of the through hole is larger than the diameter of the air hole, whereas preferably the diameter of the air hole is 0.8 mm with the diameter of the through hole being 0.8~1.2 mm.
Accordingly, the preventive maintenance apparatus for the backing-film of a CMP machine having a top-ring with plural air holes comprises an aligning panel and plural first pins thereof as described above. The aligning panel is provided with plural first pinholes corresponding to the air holes, wherein each of the first pins is disposed inside the respective first pinhole.
Furthermore, the first pin is provided with a first protrusion and a second protrusion, wherein the second protrusion protrudes from the first protrusion. In particular, the diameter of the first protrusion corresponds to the diameter of the through hole, and the diameter of the second protrusion corresponds to the diameter of the air hole.
Furthermore, the number of the first pinholes of the aligning panel is less than the number of the air holes of the top-ring.
Furthermore, the aligning panel further comprises plural first bases and plural first springs. Each of the first bases is disposed respectively in a first pinhole, and each of the first springs is disposed respectively inside each first pinhole and located between the first pin and the first base.
Furthermore, the apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a check-panel and plural second pins. The check-panel is provided with plural second pinholes that correspond to the layout positions of the air holes, and each of the second pins is disposed inside the second pinhole respectively.
Furthermore, each second pin is provided with a third protrusion and a fourth protrusion protruding from the third protrusion, the diameter of the third protrusion corresponds to the diameter of the through hole, and the
Chang Frank J. C.
Chen Ting-Kou
Liao Yong-Sen
Bryant David P.
Cozart Jermie E.
Ladas & Parry
Winbond Electronics Corp.
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