Flexible diaphragm post-type floating and rigid abrading workholder
First Claim
1. A rotating platen abrasive lapping and polishing apparatus having a floating workpiece substrate carrier apparatus comprising:
- a) a workpiece substrate carrier frame moveable in a vertical direction supporting an attached rotatable workpiece carrier spindle having a rotatable carrier drive shaft with a vertical rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation;
b) a rotatable drive housing having a rotatable drive housing rotation axis wherein the rotatable drive housing is attached to the rotatable carrier drive shaft and the rotatable drive housing rotation axis is coincident with the rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation;
c) a rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device with an annular diaphragm device annular surface, an annular diaphragm device outer periphery portion, an annular diaphragm device inner periphery portion and an axis of rotation that is nominally located at the radial center of the annular diaphragm device annular surface and that is nominally perpendicular to the annular diaphragm device annular surface, wherein the annular diaphragm device outer annular periphery portion is moveable relative to the annular diaphragm device inner annular periphery portion;
d) a floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate having a workpiece carrier plate top surface, an opposed nominally-horizontal workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface, a workpiece carrier plate rotation axis nominally located at the radial center of the workpiece carrier plate bottom surface and is nominally-perpendicular to the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface wherein the floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate is movable relative to the rotatable drive housing in a nominally-vertical direction along the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and can be tilted relative to the rotatable drive housing;
e) wherein the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device inner annular periphery portion is attached to the rotatable drive housing and the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device outer annular periphery portion is attached to the workpiece carrier plate and the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device axis of rotation is nominally-coincident with the vertical rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation and the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device together with the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate forms a sealed enclosed rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device abrading pressure chamber having an internal volume contained on one side of the internal volume by the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm, the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate;
f) a rotary workpiece drive device connected with both the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate wherein the rotary workpiece drive device allows movement of the workpiece carrier plate relative to the rotatable drive housing and the rotary workpiece drive device transmits torque, measured about the rotatable drive housing rotation axis, from the rotatable drive housing to the workpiece carrier plate and is configured to cause the workpiece carrier plate to be rotated by the rotatable drive housing;
g) a vertical support shaft supported by at least one shaft bearing is attached to the rotatable drive housing wherein the at least one shaft bearing allows the vertical support shaft to move vertically relative to the rotatable drive housing and the at least one shaft bearing restrains the vertical support shaft in a radial direction perpendicular to the rotatable drive housing rotation axis;
h) a spherical-action bearing having a spherical-action bearing inner race and a spherical-action bearing outer race, wherein the inner race of the spherical-action bearing is attached to the vertical support shaft and the outer race of the spherical-action bearing is attached to the workpiece carrier plate, wherein the spherical-action bearing allows the workpiece carrier plate to be tilted relative to the rotatable drive housing and wherein the spherical-action bearing restrains the workpiece carrier plate in a radial direction that is nominally-perpendicular to the workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and wherein the spherical-action bearing maintains the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis as nominally concentric with the carrier drive shaft axis of rotation;
i) a vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union device that is attached to the rotatable workpiece carrier spindle wherein the vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union device supplies vacuum or pressurized fluid through fluid passageways to vacuum port holes in the workpiece carrier plate that are open on the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface and wherein the vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union supplies vacuum or pressurized fluid through fluid passageways to the sealed flexible-diaphragm pressure chamber;
j) wherein the floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate is movable relative to the workpiece substrate carrier frame in a nominally-vertical direction along the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and can be tilted relative to the workpiece substrate carrier frame;
k) a flat-surfaced rotatable abrading platen having the flat surface of the rotatable abrading platen is nominally horizontal and has an abrasive coating;
l) wherein at least one workpiece having opposed workpiece nominally-flat top and bottom surfaces has the workpiece nominally-flat top surface vacuum-attached to the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface and wherein the nominally-flat bottom surface of the at least one attached workpiece can be held in flat-surfaced abrading contact with the abrasive coating on the rotatable abrading platen.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Hard-material, flat-surfaced workpieces such as semiconductor wafers or sapphire disks are quickly attached with vacuum to a rotatable floating workpiece carrier. Fluid pressure in a sealed chamber applies uniform abrading pressure over the full abraded surface of the workpieces. A flexible diaphragm is used to form the sealed chamber and the carrier is rotationally driven by a lug-pin device. The floating carrier is horizontally restrained by a center-post device that provides rigid lateral support against abrading forces. Tilting of the floating carrier is provided by a spherical bearing. The abrading system can be operated at the very high abrading speeds used in high speed flat lapping with raised-island abrasive disks. Vacuum can also be applied to the sealed chamber to quickly move the workpiece away from the abrading surface. A mode of providing rigid parallel-surface abrading of a workpiece can be activated by simply applying vacuum to the sealed chamber.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A rotating platen abrasive lapping and polishing apparatus having a floating workpiece substrate carrier apparatus comprising:
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a) a workpiece substrate carrier frame moveable in a vertical direction supporting an attached rotatable workpiece carrier spindle having a rotatable carrier drive shaft with a vertical rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation; b) a rotatable drive housing having a rotatable drive housing rotation axis wherein the rotatable drive housing is attached to the rotatable carrier drive shaft and the rotatable drive housing rotation axis is coincident with the rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation; c) a rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device with an annular diaphragm device annular surface, an annular diaphragm device outer periphery portion, an annular diaphragm device inner periphery portion and an axis of rotation that is nominally located at the radial center of the annular diaphragm device annular surface and that is nominally perpendicular to the annular diaphragm device annular surface, wherein the annular diaphragm device outer annular periphery portion is moveable relative to the annular diaphragm device inner annular periphery portion; d) a floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate having a workpiece carrier plate top surface, an opposed nominally-horizontal workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface, a workpiece carrier plate rotation axis nominally located at the radial center of the workpiece carrier plate bottom surface and is nominally-perpendicular to the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface wherein the floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate is movable relative to the rotatable drive housing in a nominally-vertical direction along the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and can be tilted relative to the rotatable drive housing; e) wherein the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device inner annular periphery portion is attached to the rotatable drive housing and the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device outer annular periphery portion is attached to the workpiece carrier plate and the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device axis of rotation is nominally-coincident with the vertical rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation and the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device together with the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate forms a sealed enclosed rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device abrading pressure chamber having an internal volume contained on one side of the internal volume by the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm, the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate; f) a rotary workpiece drive device connected with both the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate wherein the rotary workpiece drive device allows movement of the workpiece carrier plate relative to the rotatable drive housing and the rotary workpiece drive device transmits torque, measured about the rotatable drive housing rotation axis, from the rotatable drive housing to the workpiece carrier plate and is configured to cause the workpiece carrier plate to be rotated by the rotatable drive housing; g) a vertical support shaft supported by at least one shaft bearing is attached to the rotatable drive housing wherein the at least one shaft bearing allows the vertical support shaft to move vertically relative to the rotatable drive housing and the at least one shaft bearing restrains the vertical support shaft in a radial direction perpendicular to the rotatable drive housing rotation axis; h) a spherical-action bearing having a spherical-action bearing inner race and a spherical-action bearing outer race, wherein the inner race of the spherical-action bearing is attached to the vertical support shaft and the outer race of the spherical-action bearing is attached to the workpiece carrier plate, wherein the spherical-action bearing allows the workpiece carrier plate to be tilted relative to the rotatable drive housing and wherein the spherical-action bearing restrains the workpiece carrier plate in a radial direction that is nominally-perpendicular to the workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and wherein the spherical-action bearing maintains the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis as nominally concentric with the carrier drive shaft axis of rotation; i) a vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union device that is attached to the rotatable workpiece carrier spindle wherein the vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union device supplies vacuum or pressurized fluid through fluid passageways to vacuum port holes in the workpiece carrier plate that are open on the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface and wherein the vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union supplies vacuum or pressurized fluid through fluid passageways to the sealed flexible-diaphragm pressure chamber; j) wherein the floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate is movable relative to the workpiece substrate carrier frame in a nominally-vertical direction along the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and can be tilted relative to the workpiece substrate carrier frame; k) a flat-surfaced rotatable abrading platen having the flat surface of the rotatable abrading platen is nominally horizontal and has an abrasive coating; l) wherein at least one workpiece having opposed workpiece nominally-flat top and bottom surfaces has the workpiece nominally-flat top surface vacuum-attached to the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface and wherein the nominally-flat bottom surface of the at least one attached workpiece can be held in flat-surfaced abrading contact with the abrasive coating on the rotatable abrading platen. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A process of providing abrading workpieces using an abrading machine floating workpiece substrate carrier apparatus comprising:
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a) providing a workpiece substrate carrier frame moveable in a vertical direction that supports an attached rotatable workpiece carrier spindle having a rotatable carrier drive shaft with a vertical rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation; b) providing a rotatable drive housing having a rotatable drive housing rotation axis wherein the rotatable drive housing is attached to the rotatable carrier drive shaft and the rotatable drive housing rotation axis is coincident with the rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation; c) providing a rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device with an annular diaphragm device annular surface, an annular diaphragm device outer periphery portion, an annular diaphragm device inner periphery portion and an axis of rotation that is nominally located at a radial center of the annular diaphragm device annular surface and that is nominally perpendicular to the annular diaphragm device annular surface, wherein the annular diaphragm device outer annular periphery portion is moveable relative to the annular diaphragm device inner annular periphery portion; d) providing a floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate having a workpiece carrier plate top surface, an opposed nominally-horizontal workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface, a workpiece carrier plate rotation axis nominally located at the radial center of the workpiece carrier plate bottom surface and is nominally-perpendicular to the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface wherein the floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate is movable relative to the rotatable drive housing in a nominally-vertical direction along the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and can be tilted relative to the rotatable drive housing; e) attaching the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device inner annular periphery portion to the rotatable drive housing and attaching the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device outer annular periphery portion to the workpiece carrier plate and the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device axis of rotation is nominally-coincident with the vertical rotatable carrier drive shaft axis of rotation and the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device together with the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate forms a sealed enclosed rotatable flexible annular diaphragm device abrading pressure chamber having an internal volume contained by the rotatable flexible annular diaphragm, the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate; f) providing a rotary workpiece drive device that is connected with both the rotatable drive housing and the workpiece carrier plate wherein the rotary workpiece drive device allows movement of the workpiece carrier plate relative to the rotatable drive housing and wherein the rotary workpiece drive device transmits torque, measured about the rotatable drive housing rotation axis, from the rotatable drive housing to the workpiece carrier plate and is configured to cause the workpiece carrier plate to be rotated by the rotatable drive housing; g) providing a vertical support shaft supported by at least one shaft bearing that is attached to the rotatable drive housing wherein the at least one shaft bearing allows the vertical support shaft to move vertically relative to the rotatable drive housing and the at least one shaft bearing restrains the vertical support shaft in a radial direction that is perpendicular to the rotatable drive housing rotation axis; h) providing a spherical-action bearing having a spherical-action bearing inner race and a spherical-action bearing outer race wherein the inner race of the spherical-action bearing is attached to the vertical support shaft and the outer race of the spherical-action bearing is attached to the workpiece carrier plate wherein the spherical-action bearing allows the workpiece carrier plate to be tilted relative to the rotatable drive housing and wherein the spherical-action bearing restrains the workpiece carrier plate in radial direction that is nominally-perpendicular to the workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and wherein the spherical-action bearing maintains the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis as nominally concentric with the carrier drive shaft axis of rotation; i) providing a vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union device that is attached to the rotatable workpiece carrier spindle wherein the vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union device applies vacuum or pressurized fluid through fluid passageways to vacuum port holes in the workpiece carrier plate that are open on the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface and wherein the vacuum and fluid rotatable rotary union applies vacuum or pressurized fluid through fluid passageways to the sealed flexible-diaphragm pressure chamber; j) the floating circular rotatable workpiece carrier plate is movable relative to the workpiece substrate carrier frame in a nominally-vertical direction along the floating circular workpiece carrier plate rotation axis and can be tilted relative to the workpiece substrate carrier frame; k) providing a flat-surfaced rotatable abrading platen where the flat surface of the rotatable abrading platen is nominally horizontal and has an abrasive coating; l) providing at least one workpiece having opposed workpiece nominally-flat top and bottom surfaces and using vacuum to attach the workpiece nominally-flat top surface to the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface; m) moving the workpiece substrate carrier frame and the attached workpiece carrier spindle vertically to position the flat workpiece bottom surface of at least one workpiece attached to the workpiece carrier plate flat bottom surface close to flat-surfaced abrading contact with the rotatable abrading platen abrading surface after which the movable workpiece substrate carrier frame and the workpiece carrier spindle are held stationary at that position and wherein the workpiece carrier plate is moved in a vertical direction relative to the stationary workpiece substrate carrier frame by adjusting the pressure in the sealed flexible-diaphragm pressure chamber wherein the at least one workpiece bottom surface is positioned in flat-surfaced abrading contact with the rotatable abrading platen abrading surface; and n) rotating both the workpiece carrier plate having the attached at least one workpiece and the abrasive-coated flat-surfaced rotatable abrading platen, wherein the sealed flexible-diaphragm pressure chamber provides controlled abrading pressure to the at least one workpiece to abrade the at least one workpiece.
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Specification