A method for etching a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) structure is described. A stack of MTJ layers on a bottom electrode on a wafer is provided. A hard mask layer is provided on the MTJ stack. The hard mask layer is patterned to form a hard mask. The MTJ stack is patterned to form a MTJ device wherein sidewall damage is formed on sidewalls of the MTJ device. The sidewall damage is removed by applying a CMP slurry which physically attacks and removes the sidewall damage on the MTJ device.

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system include apparatus and methods to clean brushes used to scrub substrates, including brush cleaning using periodic chemical treatment. One or more embodiments include a method of operating the CMP system to rotate a first one or more scrubber brushes while the first one or more scrubber brushes are in contact with a first substrate, performing, concurrent with the rotating during the first time duration, a cleaning operation for a second one or more scrubber brushes, performing, during a second time duration of the cleaning cycle, the cleaning operation for the first one or more scrubber brushes, and rotating, concurrent with the performing the cleaning operation during the second time duration, the second one or more scrubber brushes while the second one or more scrubber brushes are in contact with a second substrate.

A polishing method capable of polishing a substrate, such as a wafer, with low running costs is disclosed. A polishing method includes: rotating a substrate while holding a back-side surface of the substrate with a vacuum suction stage; rotating a polishing head holding a plurality of polishing tools; and polishing a front-side surface of the substrate by pressing the plurality of polishing tools, which are rotating, against the front-side surface of the substrate. The front-side surface is a surface on which interconnect patterns are to be formed.

A substrate cleaning apparatus for performing scrub cleaning of a surface of a substrate by rotating both of the substrate and a roll cleaning member while keeping the roll cleaning member in contact with the surface. The apparatus includes a roll holder configured to support and rotate a roll cleaning member, a vertical movement mechanism, having a vertically movable unit vertically movable by actuating an actuator having a regulating device, configured to vertically move the roll holder coupled to the vertically movable unit so the roll cleaning member applies a roll load to the substrate W while cleaning the substrate. A load cell provided between the vertically movable unit of the vertical movement mechanism and the roll holder is configured to measure the roll load. A controller is configured to perform feedback control of the roll load through the regulating device based on a measured value of the load cell.

A brush is moved from a central position to an outer periphery position while the brush is contacted with an upper surface of a substrate being rotated at a first rotational speed. In this way, a flat region of the substrate is scrub-cleansed. Thereafter, the brush is contacted with a bevel region of the substrate being rotated at a second rotational speed lower than the first rotational speed. In this way, the bevel region of the substrate is scrub-cleansed. Thereafter, while the substrate is rotated at a third rotational speed higher than the second rotational speed, the brush is disposed at an overlapping region cleaning position. In this way, an overlapping region of the flat region and the bevel region are scrub-cleansed.

Contamination of a bottom surface of a substrate caused by a processing liquid used for cleaning a top surface of the substrate can be suppressed. After performing a liquid processing on the top surface of the substrate and a liquid processing on the bottom surface of the substrate in parallel while rotating the substrate by a substrate holding/rotating unit, when stopping the liquid processing on the top surface of the substrate and the liquid processing on the bottom surface of the substrate, a control unit 18 stops a supply of the processing liquid onto the top surface of the substrate by a processing liquid supply device 73, and then, stops a supply of the processing liquid onto the bottom surface of the substrate by a processing liquid supply device 71.

A method of manufacturing a gallium nitride substrate, the method including forming a first buffer layer on a silicon substrate such that the first buffer layer has one or more holes therein; forming a second buffer layer on the first buffer layer such that the second buffer layer has one or more holes therein; and forming a GaN layer on the second buffer layer, wherein the one or more holes of the first buffer layer are filled by the second buffer layer.

The present invention relates to a substrate cleaning apparatus for performing scrub cleaning of a surface of a substrate by rotating both of the substrate and a roll cleaning member while keeping the roll cleaning member in contact with the surface of the substrate. The substrate cleaning apparatus includes a roll holder (42) configured to support and rotate a roll cleaning member (46), a vertical movement mechanism (60), having a vertically movable unit (58) vertically movable by actuation of an actuator (56) having a regulating device (62), configured to vertically move the roll holder (42) coupled to the vertically movable unit (58) so that the roll cleaning member (46) applies a roll load to the substrate W at the time of cleaning the substrate, a load cell (54) provided between the vertically movable unit (58) of the vertical movement mechanism (60) and the roll holder (42) and configured to measure the roll load, and a controller (66) configured to perform feedback control of the roll load through the regulating device (62) of the actuator (56) based on a measured value of the load cell (54).

A substrate cleaning apparatus for bringing an elongated roll cleaning member into sliding contact with a flat plate type substrate to perform cleaning processing on the substrate includes a roll holder for supporting the roil cleaning member so that the roll cleaning member is rotatable, an elevating mechanism that has a linking member for supporting the roll holder, and moves the roll holder up and down so that the roll cleaning member applies a predetermined roll load to the substrate, a sensor member that is provided to the linking member and measures frictional force between the roll cleaning member and the substrate, and a controller for performing feedback control on the frictional force between the roll cleaning member and the substrate based on a measured value of the sensor member.

Methods and tools for de-bonding and cleaning substrates are disclosed. A method includes de-bonding a surface of a first substrate from a second substrate, and after de-bonding, cleaning the surface of the first substrate. The cleaning comprises physically contacting a cleaning mechanism to the surface of the first substrate. A tool includes a de-bonding module and a cleaning module. The de-bonding module comprises a first chuck, a radiation source configured to emit radiation toward the first chuck, and a first robot arm having a vacuum system. The vacuum system is configured to secure and remove a substrate from the first chuck. The cleaning module comprises a second chuck, a spray nozzle configured to spray a fluid toward the second chuck, and a second robot arm having a cleaning device configured to physically contact the cleaning device to a substrate on the second chuck.