Granted Patent B2

US 12,434,347 · App. 18/537,574 · Granted Oct 7, 2025

Inventors: Haosheng Wu (San Jose, CA); Shou-Sung Chang (Mountain View, CA); Chih Chung Chou (San Jose, CA); Jianshe Tang (San Jose, CA); Hui Chen (San Jose, CA); Hari Soundararajan (Sunnyvale, CA); Brian J. Brown (Palo Alto, CA)

Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.

B24B37/015B24B57/02H01L21/3212H01L21/67248

Abstract

Claims (21)

1. A method of temperature control for a chemical mechanical polishing system, comprising:

delivering a gas from a gas source to a convergent-divergent nozzle, wherein the gas is formed by evaporation of liquid ethanol, by evaporation of liquid isopropyl alcohol, or by sublimation of dry ice;

cooling the gas from an initial temperature above 20° C. to below 0° C. by flowing the gas through the convergent-divergent nozzle;

injecting a liquid through a sidewall of and into a throat of the convergent-divergent nozzle; and

directing the cooled gas and liquid onto a polishing pad.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the liquid is water.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the liquid is ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, or both.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising freezing the liquid into solid particles by exposure to the cooled gas.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the liquid freezes before impinging the polishing pad.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising cooling the gas from the initial temperature above 20° C. to below 20° C.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising dispensing the cooled gas onto the polishing pad at a temperature below 0° C.

8. The method of claim 7 , comprising dispensing the cooled gas onto the polishing pad at a temperature between −70 to −50° C.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising flowing the gas into the convergent-divergent nozzle at a rate up to 1000 liters per minute.

10. The method of claim 1 , flowing the liquid at a rate of up to 300 milliliters per minute into the convergent-divergent nozzle.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein a flow rate by volume of the liquid is 0.001% to 1% of a flow rate of the gas.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the flow rate of the liquid is 0.01% to 0.1% of the flow rate of the gas.

13. A method of temperature control for a chemical mechanical polishing system, comprising:

delivering a gas from a gas source to a convergent-divergent nozzle, wherein the gas is formed by evaporation of liquid nitrogen;

cooling the gas from an initial temperature above 20° C. to below 0° C. by flowing the gas through the convergent-divergent nozzle;

injecting a liquid through a sidewall of and into a throat of the convergent-divergent nozzle; and

directing the cooled gas and liquid onto a polishing pad.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (234)