Post-CMP cleaner apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A post-CMP (Chemical-Mechanical Polishing) semiconductor substrate cleaning apparatus including a plurality of stations, comprising:
- a first QDR (Quick Dump Rinse) DI water bath for receiving a cassette of semiconductor substrates from a previous CMP processing station, for keeping said semiconductor substrates submerged in DI water following CMP and before transmission to a next processing station and for performing at least one rinsing and dumping operation on said semiconductor substrates in flowing DI water;
a loader mechanism for transferring said semiconductor substrates from the cassette to a single substrate processing chuck;
a chuck clean bath for cleaning the single substrate processing chuck;
a chemical bath for receiving semiconductor substrates;
a second QDR (Quick Dump Rinse) DI water bath for receiving semiconductor substrates from said chemical bath and for performing at least one rinsing and dumping operation on said semiconductor substrates in flowing DI water;
a semiconductor substrate dryer; and
an unloader mechanisim for transferring said semiconductor substrates from the single substrate processing chuck to a cassette.
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Abstract
An improved and new apparatus and method for post chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) cleaning has been developed. Use of a QDR (Quick Dump Rinse) DI water bath for receiving a cassette of semiconductor substrates from a previous CMP processing station, for keeping the semiconductor substrates submerged in DI water following CMP and before transmission to a next processing station and for performing at least one rinsing and dumping operation on the semiconductor substrates in flowing DI water greatly enhances the manufacturing throughput of the process, reduces the use of chemicals, and simplifies the tool requirements for the post-CMP cleaning process.
28 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A post-CMP (Chemical-Mechanical Polishing) semiconductor substrate cleaning apparatus including a plurality of stations, comprising:
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a first QDR (Quick Dump Rinse) DI water bath for receiving a cassette of semiconductor substrates from a previous CMP processing station, for keeping said semiconductor substrates submerged in DI water following CMP and before transmission to a next processing station and for performing at least one rinsing and dumping operation on said semiconductor substrates in flowing DI water; a loader mechanism for transferring said semiconductor substrates from the cassette to a single substrate processing chuck; a chuck clean bath for cleaning the single substrate processing chuck; a chemical bath for receiving semiconductor substrates; a second QDR (Quick Dump Rinse) DI water bath for receiving semiconductor substrates from said chemical bath and for performing at least one rinsing and dumping operation on said semiconductor substrates in flowing DI water; a semiconductor substrate dryer; and an unloader mechanisim for transferring said semiconductor substrates from the single substrate processing chuck to a cassette. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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Specification