Polishing apparatus and substrate retainer ring providing continuous slurry distribution
This invention relates generally to polishing equipment and, more particularly, to polishing heads and head sub-assemblies for use with semiconductor polishing equipment. A polishing apparatus includes a rotatable head assembly including a substrate retainer that incorporates a cavity in the face su...
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| Main Authors | , |
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| Format | Patent |
| Language | English |
| Published |
10.09.2002
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| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | This invention relates generally to polishing equipment and, more particularly, to polishing heads and head sub-assemblies for use with semiconductor polishing equipment.
A polishing apparatus includes a rotatable head assembly including a substrate retainer that incorporates a cavity in the face surface of the substrate retainer for temporarily holding polishing slurry during operation of the polishing apparatus. The cavity resides in the face surface of the substrate retainer at a location adjacent the perimeter surface of the retainer. During operation of the polishing apparatus, slurry flowing along the surface of the polishing pad flows into the cavity where a portion of the slurry is temporarily held. As the head assembly of the polishing apparatus rotates against the polishing pad, slurry continuously flows from the cavity across the polishing pad and is uniformly distributed across the exposed surface of the substrate being polished. An offset in the cavity wall permits used slurry to flow away from the substrate retainer during rotation of the head assembly. |
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