A chemical mechanical polishing method is provided, including polishing a batch of wafers in sequence on a polishing surface of a polishing pad; conditioning the polishing surface with a pad conditioner, wherein the pad conditioner is operable to apply downward force according to a predetermined downward force stored in a controller to condition the polishing surface; measuring the downward force applied by the pad conditioner with a measurement tool when the pad conditioner is at a home position and after conditioning the polishing surface; comparing the downward force measured by the measurement tool and the predetermined downward force with the controller to determine whether a difference between the downward force measured by the measurement tool and the predetermined downward force exceeds a range of acceptable values; and calibrating the downward force applied by the pad conditioner with the controller when the difference exceeds the range of acceptable values.

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for dressing and trueing grinding wheels. A laser may be directed substantially tangential to a grinding surface of a grinding wheel. The laser may be a continuous wave laser and may ablate material from the grinding surface. The laser may move relative to the grinding wheel in order to ablate shaped surface profiles into the grinding surface.

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus is provided, including a polishing pad and a polishing head. The polishing pad has a polishing surface. The polishing head is configured to hold a wafer in contact with the polishing surface during the polishing process. The polishing head includes a retaining ring, at least one fluid channel, and a vacuum pump. The retaining ring is arranged along the periphery of the polishing head and configured to retain the wafer. The at least one fluid channel is provided inside the polishing head, wherein the retaining ring includes a bottom surface facing the polishing surface and a plurality of holes in fluid communication with the bottom surface and the at least one fluid channel. The vacuum pump is fluidly coupled to the at least one fluid channel.

A chemical mechanical polishing method is provided, including polishing a batch of wafers in sequence on a polishing surface of a polishing pad; conditioning the polishing surface with a pad conditioner, wherein the pad conditioner is operable to apply downward force according to a predetermined downward force stored in a controller to condition the polishing surface; measuring the downward force applied by the pad conditioner with a measurement tool when the pad conditioner is at a home position and after conditioning the polishing surface; comparing the downward force measured by the measurement tool and the predetermined downward force with the controller to determine whether a difference between the downward force measured by the measurement tool and the predetermined downward force exceeds a range of acceptable values; and calibrating the downward force applied by the pad conditioner with the controller when the difference exceeds the range of acceptable values.

A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus is provided. The chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes a polishing pad, a pad conditioner, a measurement tool, and a controller. The polishing pad is provided in a processing chamber for polishing a wafer placed on the polishing surface of the polishing pad. The pad conditioner is configured to condition the polishing surface. The measurement tool is provided in the processing chamber and configured to measure the downward force of the pad conditioner. The controller is coupled to the pad conditioner and the measurement tool, and is configured to adjust the downward force of the pad conditioner in response to an input from the measurement tool.

The present invention relates to a polishing pad conditioner and a manufacturing method thereof. The polishing pad conditioner includes a substrate, an abrasive layer and a protective layer. The abrasive layer covers the surface of the substrate. The abrasive layer includes a bonding layer and a plurality of abrasive particles embedded in the bonding layer. Each of the abrasive particles has a protrusion exposed out of the bonding layer, and the protrusion is insulated. The protective layer covers the surface of the bonding layer, and the protrusion is exposed out of the protective layer. The polishing pad conditioner of the present invention can protect the bonding layer from being damaged by abrasion and hold the abrasive particles, avoid the abrasive particles from falling off or out of position, and maintain the polishing effect and service life of the polishing pad conditioner.

An online precise control method for truncating parameters of microscale abrasive grains includes the steps of: (1) clamping an electrode and a diamond grinding wheel to form a discharge circuit, and communicating a workstation with a power supply and a controller of a numerical control machine tool; (2) feedback controlling movement parameters of the machine tool and parameters of the power supply according to pulse discharge parameters, controlling a discharge current and a discharge voltage, and calculating a number of rotations of the grinding wheel; (3) determining a maximum truncating area of a cutting edge and a maximum effective number of rotations of the grinding wheel according to grinding wheel parameters and pulse discharge parameters, and precisely controlling a truncating area of a cutting edge of abrasive grains online by the calculated number of rotations of the grinding wheel; and (4) after the calculated number of rotations of the grinding wheel reaches a target value, calculating a truncating area of the cutting edge and a protrusion height of truncating microscale abrasive grains, and stopping the machine tool.

An in-situ spark erosion dressing system includes a working platform, a moving platform, a cutting device, a spark erosion dressing device and a controller. The moving platform is coupled to the working platform and configured to load a work piece. The cutting device is coupled to the working platform and has a first cutting position and a first dressing position. The cutting device includes a wheel blade and the wheel blade cuts the work piece on the first cutting position. The spark erosion dressing device is coupled to the moving platform and includes a dressing electrode. The dressing electrode contacts the wheel blade on the first dressing position, and the spark erosion dressing device applies the discharge energy on the dressing electrode to dress the wheel blade. The controller controls the cutting device to move to the first cutting position according to a cutting resistance value.

The present application discloses a single-point diamond dresser for a grinding wheel based on acoustic emission online monitoring, which includes a support module, an anti-interference module, a compression cooling module and an acoustic emission online monitoring module. An acoustic emission sensor monitors the dressing state of the grinding wheel online; a damping sheet and a damping interlayer greatly reduce external noise interference; a high pressure coolant causes an upward elastic deformation of an elastic spacer and the damping sheet, enlarging a contact force between the acoustic emission sensor and the core and moreover improving a sensitivity of the acoustic emission sensor; the coolant flows through the coolant passages in the core to cool a dressing area; current limiting passages, pressure relief cavities and perforated pressure-relief plates limit flow and reduce a pressure of the coolant, reducing the interference of the coolant on the grinding wheel dressing.

The present application discloses a single-point diamond dresser for a grinding wheel based on acoustic emission online monitoring, which includes a support module, an anti-interference module, a compression cooling module and an acoustic emission online monitoring module. An acoustic emission sensor monitors the dressing state of the grinding wheel online; a damping sheet and a damping interlayer greatly reduce external noise interference; a high pressure coolant causes an upward elastic deformation of an elastic spacer and the damping sheet, enlarging a contact force between the acoustic emission sensor and the core and moreover improving a sensitivity of the acoustic emission sensor; the coolant flows through the coolant passages in the core to cool a dressing area; current limiting passages, pressure relief cavities and perforated pressure-relief plates limit flow and reduce a pressure of the coolant, reducing the interference of the coolant on the grinding wheel dressing.