APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING WAFER TEMPERATURE IN CHEMICAL MECHANICAL POLISHING

摘要

Apparatus and methods control the temperature of a wafer (52) for chemical mechanical polishing operations. A wafer carrier (66) has a wafer mounting surface for positioning the wafer adjacent to a thermal energy transfer unit (64) for transferring energy relative to the wafer (52). A thermal energy detector (54) is oriented adjacent to the wafer mounting surface for detecting the temperature of the wafer (52). A controller (60) is responsive to the detector (54) for controlling the supply of thermal energy relative to the thermal energy transfer unit (64). Embodiments include defining separate areas of the wafer, providing separate sections of the thermal energy transfer unit (64) for each separate area, and separately detecting the temperature of each separate area to separately control the supply of thermal energy relative to the thermal energy transfer unit (64) associated with the separate area.