CONDITIONING APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING POLISHING PAD

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

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.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

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

2. Description of the Related Art

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.

SUMMARY

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.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and are provided together with the detailed description for better understanding of the technical idea of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth in the drawings.

These and/or other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conditioning apparatus according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2A is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an area A of the conditioning apparatus according to FIG. 1; and

FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of a conditioning apparatus according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conditioning apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2A is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an area A of the conditioning apparatus according to FIG. 1. FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of a conditioning apparatus according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B, a conditioning apparatus 100 according to an embodiment may condition a polishing pad 200 by finely cutting a surface of the polishing pad 200. In an embodiment, the conditioning apparatus 100 may include a housing 110, a conditioning member 120, a cylinder member 130, a first pressing member 140, a stopper member 150, a second pressing member 160, a photo sensor 171, a monitoring sensor, a load cell sensor 172, and a control motor 180.

In an embodiment, the housing 110 may form an exterior of the conditioning apparatus 100. The housing 110 may be formed along a longitudinal direction (e.g., a direction parallel to a Z-axis direction of FIG. 2A). The housing 110 may include an internal space 110S formed along the longitudinal direction. Various components included in the conditioning apparatus 100 may be arranged in the internal space 110S of the housing 110.

In an embodiment, the conditioning member 120 may contact the surface of the polishing pad 200 to condition the surface of the polishing pad 200. The conditioning member 120 may be connected to the housing 110. The conditioning member 120 may be configured to press the surface of the polishing pad 200 by the cylinder member 130 described below, which is arranged in the internal space 110S of the housing 110.

In an embodiment, the cylinder member 130 may be arranged to be movable along a first direction (e.g., the direction parallel to the Z-axis direction of FIG. 2A) in the internal space 110S of the housing 110. The first direction in which the cylinder member 130 moves is shown to be parallel to the longitudinal direction of the housing 110, but this is only an example. The first direction may be perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the housing 110.

In an embodiment, the first pressing member 140 may be arranged to be movable along the longitudinal direction in the internal space 110S of the housing 110. The first pressing member 140 may press the conditioning member 120 connected to the housing 110 from the outside of the housing 110. A pressing force of the first pressing member 140 on the conditioning member 120 may be finely adjusted according to a profile of the polishing pad 200. In an embodiment, a position of the first pressing member 140 (e.g., a position of the first pressing member 140 in the Z-axis direction of FIG. 2A) may be adjusted to reach a target position. For example, the position of the first pressing member 140 may be finely adjusted by the stopper member 150 described below and the control motor 180 for controlling the stopper member 150. According to an embodiment, the target position of the first pressing member 140 may 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 140. For example, the monitoring sensor may measure the position of the first pressing member 140 and may transmit the measured position to each component (e.g., the control motor 180 and the stopper member 150) of the conditioning apparatus 100. In an embodiment, each component of the conditioning apparatus 100 may receive data about the position of the first pressing member 140 from the monitoring sensor and may adjust the position of the first pressing member 140 based on the received data about the position of the first pressing member 140.

In an embodiment, the load cell sensor 172 may sense and/or monitor flatness of the surface of the polishing pad 200 on which the conditioning is performed. The load cell sensor 172 may be arranged adjacent to the first pressing member 140 for pressing the conditioning member 120. The load cell sensor 172 may 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 200.

In an embodiment, the stopper member 150 may adjust the position of the first pressing member 140 in the conditioning apparatus 100. The stopper member 150 may press the first pressing member 140 toward the conditioning member 120 so that the position of the first pressing member 140 reaches the target position. For example, the stopper member 150 may be arranged to be movable along a second direction (e.g., the direction parallel to the Z-axis direction of FIG. 2A) in the internal space 110S of the housing 110. In an embodiment, the second direction in which the stopper member 150 moves in the internal space 110S of the housing 110 may be parallel to the first direction in which the cylinder member 130 moves in the internal space 110S of the housing 110. However, this is only an example, and the movement direction of the stopper member 150 may be different (e.g., vertical) to the movement direction of the cylinder member 130.

In an embodiment, the second pressing member 160 may press the first pressing member 140 according to the movement of the stopper member 150. For example, when the stopper member 150 moves in the second direction by the control motor 180 described below, the second pressing member 160 may be pressed in the second direction by the stopper member 150, and the second pressing member 160 may press the first pressing member 140. In this case, the pressing force of the first pressing member 140 on the conditioning member 120 may be increased.

In an embodiment, the photo sensor 171 may detect a position of the stopper member 150. The photo sensor 171 may be arranged between the stopper member 150 and the second pressing member 160. During the conditioning process of the conditioning apparatus 100, when it is necessary to press the second pressing member 160 using the stopper member 150, the stopper member 150 may be moved to an origin position (e.g., the position of the stopper member 150 of FIG. 2A) and may be pressed along the second direction. The photo sensor 171 may detect whether the stopper member 150 has reached the origin position.

In an embodiment, the control motor 180 may adjust the position of the stopper member 150 in the internal space 110S of the housing 110. For example, the control motor 180 may move the stopper member 150 along the second direction. The control motor 180 may change the position of the stopper member 150 based on the position of the first pressing member 140 monitored by the monitoring sensor. For example, when the position of the first pressing member 140 does not reach the target position, the control motor 180 may move the stopper member 150 from the origin position to a first position P1. In this case, the stopper member 150 may press the second pressing member 160, and the second pressing member 160 may press the first pressing member 140, thereby increasing a pressing force of the conditioning member 120 on the polishing pad 200. In an embodiment, when the position of the first pressing member 140 reaches the target position, the control motor 180 may move the stopper member 150 from the origin position to a second position P2. In this case, a pressing force of the second pressing member 160 on the first pressing member 140 may be reduced.

Hereinafter, according to an embodiment, a process of driving the conditioning member 120 by monitoring the position of the first pressing member 140 of the conditioning apparatus 100 is described.

According to an embodiment, the cylinder member 130 of the conditioning apparatus 100 may press the first pressing member 140 based on a set load value. The conditioning member 120 may perform the conditioning process on the polishing pad 200 while maintaining the set load value.

In an embodiment, in order to monitor the position of the first pressing member 140 by the conditioning apparatus 100, the stopper member 150 may be moved to the origin position primarily using the control motor 180. In this case, whether the stopper member 150 reaches the origin position may be detected by the photo sensor 171.

When the position of the first pressing member 140 measured by the monitoring sensor does not reach the target position, the control motor 180 may move the stopper member 150 to the first position P1 to reach the target position. The stopper member 150 moved to the first position P1 may be in close contact with the second pressing member 160. The second pressing member 160 may be pressed on the first pressing member 140 by the stopper member 150. In this case, the first pressing member 140 may press the conditioning member 120. During the conditioning process, the profile slope of the surface of the polishing pad 200 may be measured by the load cell sensor 172. The data measured by the load cell sensor 172 may 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 apparatus 100 according to an embodiment may perform the conditioning process on the polishing pad 200 based 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.