Before a first surface of a substrate is polished using a chemical mechanical process, the substrate is transferred to a modification station. The substrate comprises a side wall connected with the first surface at an edge and a second surface opposite to the first surface and also connected to the side wall. The first surface is substantially flat. The side wall is substantially perpendicular to the first surface. The edge of the substrate is modified at the modification station by removing material from a region of the first surface. The side wall of the substrate is a boundary of the region. The modified edge comprises a modified first surface that tapers within the region towards the second surface. The side wall remains substantially perpendicular to the first surface.

A method of polishing includes polishing a layer of a substrate, monitoring the layer of the substrate with an in-situ monitoring system to generate signal that depends on a thickness of the layer, filtering the signal to generate a filtered signal, determining an adjusted threshold value from an original threshold value and a time delay value representative of time required for filtering the signal, and triggering a polishing endpoint when the filtered signal crosses the adjusted threshold value.

This disclosure relates to a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus, and may include: a polishing platen including an opening; a polishing pad positioned on the polishing platen and including a transmissive part overlapping the opening; a slurry supply supplying a slurry including a photocatalyst to the polishing pad; a head part positioned on the polishing pad and capable of mounting a wafer; and a light irradiation part positioned within the opening of the polishing platen.

A method of detecting a polishing endpoint includes storing a plurality of library spectra, measuring a sequence of spectra from the substrate in-situ during polishing, and for each measured spectrum of the sequence of spectra, finding a best matching library spectrum from the plurality of library spectra to generate a sequence of best matching library spectra. Each library spectrum has a stored associated value representing a degree of progress through a polishing process, and the stored associated value for the best matching library spectrum is determined for each best matching library spectrum to generate a sequence of values representing a progression of polishing of the substrate. The sequence of values is compared to a target value, and a polishing endpoint is triggered when the sequence of values reaches the target value.

The invention provides a polishing pad suitable for polishing integrated circuit wafers. It includes an upper polishing layer that having a polishing surface and at least one groove in the upper polishing layer. At least one transparent window is located within the upper layer. The at least one transparent window has a thickness greater than a desired wear depth of the at least one groove. The at least one transparent window includes a non-fluorescent transparent polymer; and a fluorescent transparent polymer. The transparent window allows measuring groove depth by activating the fluorescent transparent polymer with an activation source at a wavelength sufficient to excite the fluorescent transparent polymer and allow endpoint detection by sending light through the fluorescent transparent polymer and the non-fluorescent transparent polymer.

A planarization method includes a grinding step of holding the opposite side to a separation surface in an SiC ingot by a rotatable chuck table and rotating a grinding wheel having plural grinding abrasives disposed in a ring manner to grind the separation surface of the SiC ingot held by the chuck table, and a flatness detection step of irradiating the separation surface of the SiC ingot exposed from the grinding wheel with light and detecting reflected light to detect the degree of flatness. The grinding step is ended when that the separation surface of the SiC ingot has become flat is detected in the flatness detection step.

During polishing of a substrate a first signal is received from a first in-situ monitoring system and a second signal is received from a second in-situ monitoring system. A clearance time at which a conductive layer is cleared and a top surface of an underlying dielectric layer of the substrate exposed and determine based on the first signal. An initial value of the second signal at the determined clearance time is determined. An offset is added to the initial value to generate a threshold value, and a polishing endpoint is triggered when the second signal crosses the threshold value.

A preparation method of a split-window CMP polishing pad includes engraving a groove and a window in a backing, attaching the backing with a substrate through an adhesive, punching a hole in the substrate corresponding to the window through a substrate punching mold, forming window support blocks, punching an original window material through a punching machine and a window punching mold, obtaining a formed window material, coating another adhesive on the window support blocks, placing the formed window material into the window portion, and attaching the formed window material to the window support blocks. Compared with the sliced integrated-window, for the split-window provided by the present invention, the materials do not affect each other during the manufacturing process, so that the problem of uneven density distribution of the backing after curing can be solved, and the fluctuation of the tensile strength caused by uneven temperature is reduced.

A polishing apparatus for polishing a substrate is provided. The polishing apparatus includes: a polishing table holding a polishing pad; a top ring configured to press the substrate against the polishing pad; first and second optical heads each configured to apply the light to the substrate and to receive reflected light from the substrate; spectroscopes each configured to measure at each wavelength an intensity of the reflected light received; and a processor configured to produce a spectrum indicating a relationship between intensity and wavelength of the reflected light. The first optical head is arranged so as to face a center of the substrate, and the second optical head is arranged so as to face a peripheral portion of the substrate.

A polishing pad is held using a polishing table. The polishing table is driven to rotate using a first electric motor. The top ring for holding a semiconductor wafer and pressing the top ring against a polishing pad is driven to rotate by a top ring motor. The top ring is held by the swing arm. The swing arm is made to swing around a swing center on the swing arm by a swing shaft motor. A first output is generated by detecting a current value of the swing shaft motor. While polishing the semiconductor wafer by causing the semiconductor wafer to swing around the swing center on the swing arm, a change of a frictional force between the polishing pad and the semiconductor wafer is detected by increasing a change amount of the first output.