Apparatus for conditioning polishing pads

摘要

A flexible conditioning apparatus and method for uniformly conditioning a polishing surface of a pad used to remove undesirable irregularities from a silicon wafer and to achieve a planar condition of the polishing pad. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a roughening member comprising a plurality of point contacts, such as diamond particles, is adapted for movement into and out of engagement with the surface of the pad. A flexible member supporting the roughening member allows the roughening member to conform to the surface of the pad to achieve uniform polishing of the pad.