Conditioning Apparatus for Conditioning Polishing Pad

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0081721, filed on Jun. 24, 2024, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

One or more embodiments relate to a conditioning apparatus for conditioning a polishing pad.

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process is a process of polishing a substrate using a polishing pad. A polishing apparatus used in the CMP process may include a carrier for supporting the substrate and a polishing pad for physically wearing a surface of the substrate. The polishing pad may be worn by friction with the substrate. Slurry and particles used in the CMP process may chemically corrode the polishing pad and may cause unevenness in a surface of the polishing pad. The corrosion and unevenness of the polishing pad may reduce substrate yield. A conditioning apparatus for conditioning the polishing pad may be used to detect the corrosion and unevenness of the polishing pad and may remove foreign substances on the surface of the polishing pad.

However, the foregoing should not be construed as having been acknowledged by the applicant as a prior art to the description set forth in the disclosure, but should be construed only as a related art to the invention described herein.

Embodiments provide a conditioning apparatus for conditioning a polishing pad.

Embodiments provide a conditioning apparatus for monitoring the amount of wear of a polishing pad to increase uniformity of a surface of the polishing pad.

Embodiments provide a conditioning apparatus including a stopper member that may finely adjust a position of a first pressing member configured to press a conditioning member so that a position of the first pressing member reaches a target position.

The goals to be achieved by a conditioning apparatus according to an embodiment are not limited to those described above, and other unmentioned goals may be clearly understood from the following description by one of ordinary skill in the art.

According to an aspect, there is provided a conditioning apparatus for conditioning a polishing pad, the conditioning apparatus including a housing including an internal space formed along a longitudinal direction, a conditioning member connected to the housing and configured to condition a surface of the polishing pad, a cylinder member arranged to be movable along a first direction parallel to the longitudinal direction in the internal space of the housing, a first pressing member connected to the cylinder member and configured to press the conditioning member by movement of the cylinder member along the first direction, and a stopper member arranged to be movable along a second direction parallel to the first direction in the internal space of the housing so that a position of the first pressing member reaches a target position.

The conditioning apparatus may further include a second pressing member arranged in the internal space of the housing and configured to press the first pressing member by movement of the stopper member along the second direction.

The conditioning apparatus may further include a photo sensor arranged between the second pressing member and the stopper member and configured to detect an origin position of the stopper member.

The conditioning apparatus may further include a monitoring sensor configured to monitor the position of the first pressing member, wherein the stopper member moves based on the position of the first pressing member monitored by the monitoring sensor.

The conditioning apparatus may further include a load cell sensor configured to monitor flatness of the surface of the polishing pad.

The conditioning apparatus may further include a control motor configured to change a position of the stopper member based on the position of the first pressing member monitored by the monitoring sensor.

The control motor may be configured to, when the position of the first pressing member does not reach the target position, move the stopper member from the origin position to a first position and increase a pressing force of the second pressing member on the first pressing member.

The control motor may be configured to, when the position of the first pressing member reaches the target position, move the stopper member from the origin position to a second position and decrease the pressing force of the second pressing member on the first pressing member.

Additional aspects of embodiments will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.

According to embodiments, a conditioning apparatus may condition a surface of a polishing pad.

According to embodiments, a conditioning apparatus may finely adjust a pressing force on a polishing pad through a stopper member for secondarily pressing the polishing pad.

According to embodiments, a conditioning apparatus may monitor uniformity of a surface of a polishing pad and may obtain a changed recipe using monitored data.

The effects of a conditioning apparatus according to an embodiment are not limited to those described above, and other unmentioned effects may be clearly understood from the following description by one of ordinary skill in the art.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, various alterations and modifications may be made to the embodiments. Here, the embodiments are not construed as limited to the disclosure. The embodiments should be understood to include all changes, equivalents, and replacements within the idea and the technical scope of the disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not to be limiting of the embodiments. The singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises/comprising” and/or “includes/including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms including technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly-used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

When describing the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals refer to like components regardless of drawing numbers and a repeated description related thereto will be omitted. In the description of embodiments, detailed description of well-known related structures or functions will be omitted when it is deemed that such description will cause ambiguous interpretation of the present disclosure.

Also, in the description of the components of the embodiments, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b), and the like may be used. These terms are used only for the purpose of discriminating one component from another component, and the nature, the sequences, or the orders of the components are not limited by the terms. When one component is described as being “connected”, “coupled”, or “attached” to another component, it should be understood that one component may be connected or attached directly to another component, and an intervening component may also be “connected”, “coupled”, or “attached” to the components.

The same name may be used to describe an element included in the embodiments described above and an element having a common function. Unless otherwise mentioned, the descriptions of the embodiments may be applicable to the following embodiments and thus, duplicated descriptions will be omitted for conciseness.

is a perspective view of a conditioning apparatus according to an embodiment.is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an area A of the conditioning apparatus according to.is a cross-sectional view of a conditioning apparatus according to an embodiment.

Referring to, a conditioning apparatusaccording to an embodiment may condition a polishing padby finely cutting a surface of the polishing pad. In an embodiment, the conditioning apparatusmay include a housing, a conditioning member, a cylinder member, a first pressing member, a stopper member, a second pressing member, a photo sensor, a monitoring sensor, a load cell sensor, and a control motor.

In an embodiment, the housingmay form an exterior of the conditioning apparatus. The housingmay be formed along a longitudinal direction (e.g., a direction parallel to a Z-axis direction of). The housingmay include an internal spaceS formed along the longitudinal direction. Various components included in the conditioning apparatusmay be arranged in the internal spaceS of the housing.

In an embodiment, the conditioning membermay contact the surface of the polishing padto condition the surface of the polishing pad. The conditioning membermay be connected to the housing. The conditioning membermay be configured to press the surface of the polishing padby the cylinder memberdescribed below, which is arranged in the internal spaceS of the housing.

In an embodiment, the cylinder membermay be arranged to be movable along a first direction (e.g., the direction parallel to the Z-axis direction of) in the internal spaceS of the housing. The first direction in which the cylinder membermoves is shown to be parallel to the longitudinal direction of the housing, but this is only an example. The first direction may be perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the housing.

In an embodiment, the first pressing membermay be arranged to be movable along the longitudinal direction in the internal spaceS of the housing. The first pressing membermay press the conditioning memberconnected to the housingfrom the outside of the housing. A pressing force of the first pressing memberon the conditioning membermay be finely adjusted according to a profile of the polishing pad. In an embodiment, a position of the first pressing member(e.g., a position of the first pressing memberin the Z-axis direction of) may be adjusted to reach a target position. For example, the position of the first pressing membermay be finely adjusted by the stopper memberdescribed below and the control motorfor controlling the stopper member. According to an embodiment, the target position of the first pressing membermay be manually input by a user or may be automatically input during a conditioning process.

In an embodiment, the monitoring sensor may monitor the position of the first pressing member. For example, the monitoring sensor may measure the position of the first pressing memberand may transmit the measured position to each component (e.g., the control motorand the stopper member) of the conditioning apparatus. In an embodiment, each component of the conditioning apparatusmay receive data about the position of the first pressing memberfrom the monitoring sensor and may adjust the position of the first pressing memberbased on the received data about the position of the first pressing member.

In an embodiment, the load cell sensormay sense and/or monitor flatness of the surface of the polishing padon which the conditioning is performed. The load cell sensormay be arranged adjacent to the first pressing memberfor pressing the conditioning member. The load cell sensormay measure and/or monitor a voltage value indicated by a reaction force that changes depending on a profile slope appearing on the surface of the polishing pad.

In an embodiment, the stopper membermay adjust the position of the first pressing memberin the conditioning apparatus. The stopper membermay press the first pressing membertoward the conditioning memberso that the position of the first pressing memberreaches the target position. For example, the stopper membermay be arranged to be movable along a second direction (e.g., the direction parallel to the Z-axis direction of) in the internal spaceS of the housing. In an embodiment, the second direction in which the stopper membermoves in the internal spaceS of the housingmay be parallel to the first direction in which the cylinder membermoves in the internal spaceS of the housing. However, this is only an example, and the movement direction of the stopper membermay be different (e.g., vertical) to the movement direction of the cylinder member.

In an embodiment, the second pressing membermay press the first pressing memberaccording to the movement of the stopper member. For example, when the stopper membermoves in the second direction by the control motordescribed below, the second pressing membermay be pressed in the second direction by the stopper member, and the second pressing membermay press the first pressing member. In this case, the pressing force of the first pressing memberon the conditioning membermay be increased.

In an embodiment, the photo sensormay detect a position of the stopper member. The photo sensormay be arranged between the stopper memberand the second pressing member. During the conditioning process of the conditioning apparatus, when it is necessary to press the second pressing memberusing the stopper member, the stopper membermay be moved to an origin position (e.g., the position of the stopper memberof) and may be pressed along the second direction. The photo sensormay detect whether the stopper memberhas reached the origin position.

In an embodiment, the control motormay adjust the position of the stopper memberin the internal spaceS of the housing. For example, the control motormay move the stopper memberalong the second direction. The control motormay change the position of the stopper memberbased on the position of the first pressing membermonitored by the monitoring sensor. For example, when the position of the first pressing memberdoes not reach the target position, the control motormay move the stopper memberfrom the origin position to a first position P. In this case, the stopper membermay press the second pressing member, and the second pressing membermay press the first pressing member, thereby increasing a pressing force of the conditioning memberon the polishing pad. In an embodiment, when the position of the first pressing memberreaches the target position, the control motormay move the stopper memberfrom the origin position to a second position P. In this case, a pressing force of the second pressing memberon the first pressing membermay be reduced.

Hereinafter, according to an embodiment, a process of driving the conditioning memberby monitoring the position of the first pressing memberof the conditioning apparatusis described.

According to an embodiment, the cylinder memberof the conditioning apparatusmay press the first pressing memberbased on a set load value. The conditioning membermay perform the conditioning process on the polishing padwhile maintaining the set load value.

In an embodiment, in order to monitor the position of the first pressing memberby the conditioning apparatus, the stopper membermay be moved to the origin position primarily using the control motor. In this case, whether the stopper memberreaches the origin position may be detected by the photo sensor.

When the position of the first pressing membermeasured by the monitoring sensor does not reach the target position, the control motormay move the stopper memberto the first position Pto reach the target position. The stopper membermoved to the first position Pmay be in close contact with the second pressing member. The second pressing membermay be pressed on the first pressing memberby the stopper member. In this case, the first pressing membermay press the conditioning member. During the conditioning process, the profile slope of the surface of the polishing padmay be measured by the load cell sensor. The data measured by the load cell sensormay be transmitted to a controller (not shown), and the controller may generate a modified recipe in which at least a portion of an existing recipe is changed. The conditioning apparatusaccording to an embodiment may perform the conditioning process on the polishing padbased on the modified recipe.

Although the embodiments have been described with reference to the limited drawings, one of ordinary skill in the art may apply various technical modifications and variations based thereon. For example, suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order, and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner, or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and/or equivalents of the claims are within the scope of the following claims.