Apparatus and method for controlling polishing profile in chemical mechanical polishing

摘要

An apparatus and a method for controlling a polishing profile on a substrate during a polishing process are disclosed. In the apparatus for controlling the polishing profile on a silicon wafer during a CMP process, an elastic plate that has sufficient rigidity is used as a backing plate for a wafer to be polished. By deforming the elastic plate with a contour adjusting device, the curvature of the substrate to be polished can be changed from being convex to being concave, or vice versa. The present invention novel apparatus and method therefore allows the achievement of a more uniform thickness profile after a polishing process. The present invention novel method and apparatus farther allows an in-situ control of the curvature of a elastic plate during polishing and thus a specific thickness profile on the substrate surface.