Patent · US Expired

Polishing facility

US5827110A · kind A · utility

41Cited by
0References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignees

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 28, 1995
Grant dateOct 27, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 28, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01L21/67057
  • WIPO fieldMachine tools
  • WIPO sectorMechanical engineering

Abstract

A polishing facility integrates separate components of polishing such as wafer transport, polishing, cleaning and drying in one standardized facility to provide efficient polishing operation at low cost. The facility is designed to deal with a variety of different types of wafers, including different types of surface film, and is designed also to enables quick and low cost upgrading of the facility to meet advancing requirements of customers. The polishing facility can be placed within a cleanroom to provide efficient handling of polished wafers for further processing and fabrication tasks. Individual work component of polishing is arranged in one block having its own power supply and signal lines, and is controlled by a central controller having a dedicated software program for each work component. Therefore, if upgrading of the facility is required on any work component, only that work component requiring attention needs to be repaired/replaced, thus eliminating the need to shut down the entire facility as in conventional polishing setups. Each work component is modularized for easy replacement and inventory purposes. The overall effect of the integrated polishing facility is tha…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.