Claims
- 1. An air platen assembly comprising:
a platen having a plurality of concentric rings, each of said rings having a plurality of openings in order to provide a cushion of air to a CMP belt, at least an entire one of said plurality of rings extending beyond an outer edge of a wafer to be planarized by said CMP belt; a support attached with said platen, said support having a plurality of air ports for pressurized air to pass to said rings of said platen; a gasket positioned between said support and said platen, said gasket having a plurality of cutouts that align with said openings and said air ports; and a base that supports said support.
- 2. The air platen assembly of claim 1 further comprising two channels passing through said platen, said channels each having a plurality of passages extending upwardly from said channel to a top surface of said platen.
- 3. The air platen assembly of claim 1, wherein said plurality of rings, except for two inner-most rings, each has a top quarter, a bottom quarter, a leading edge quarter, and a trailing edge quarter, each of said quarters and said inner-most rings being an independent air passage for receiving a supply of pressurized air.
- 4. The air platen assembly of claim 3, wherein each of said independent air passages is connected with a fitting in order to receive pressurized air.
- 5. The air platen assembly of claim 3 further comprising a plurality of regulators connected with said rings in order to regulate the pressure of said air being supplied.
- 6. The air platen assembly of claim 5, wherein said two inner-most rings is each connected with one regulator, and a remainder of said plurality of rings is each connected with three regulators.
- 7. The air platen assembly of claim 6, wherein one of said three regulators is connected with said top quarter and said bottom quarter, a second of said three regulators is connected with said leading edge quarter, and a third of said three regulators is connected with said trailing edge quarter of each of said remaining rings.
- 8. The air platen assembly of claim 7, wherein said regulators are manual regulators that each monitors the pressure of said air.
- 9. The air platen assembly of claim 7, wherein said regulators are electro-pneumatic regulators that each monitors the pressure of said air and that each adjusts said air pressure to each of said independent air passages to a preset value if said pressure falls outside of a preset target range.
- 10. The air platen assembly of claim 1, wherein said platen is made from an aluminum bronze material.
- 11. The air platen assembly of claim 1, wherein said support is made from stainless steel.
- 12. The air platen assembly of claim 1, wherein said base is made from stainless steel.
- 13. The air platen assembly of claim 1, wherein said gasket is made from an elastomeric material.
- 14. The air platen assembly of claim 1, wherein said gasket is a 70 durometer EPDM gasket.
- 15. An air platen comprising:
an inner zone having at least one row of openings to provide a cushion of air to a CMP belt, a midzone having at least one row of openings to provide a cushion of air to a CMP belt and an outerzone having at least one row of openings to provide a cushion of air to a CMP belt, and wherein at least one of said row of openings of the outerzone is oriented to extend beyond an outer edge of a wafer to be planarized by said CMP belt.
- 16. The air platen of claim 15 further comprising
at least one pressure regulator connected with said innerzone; at least one pressure regulator connected with said midzone; and at least one pressure regulator connected with said outerzone.
- 17. The air platen of claim 16 further comprising three pressure regulators connected with said outerzone.
- 18. The air platen of claim 15, wherein said at least one row of openings of said outerzone further comprises a top quarter, a bottom quarter, a leading edge quarter, and a trailing edge quarter, and wherein each of said quarters and said innerzone and said midzone are each an independent air passage for receiving a supply of pressurized air.
- 19. The air platen of claim 18, further comprising one regulator connected with said top and said bottom quarters, one regulator attached with said trailing edge quarter, and one regulator attached with said leading edge quarter.
- 20. The air platen assembly of claim 19, wherein said regulators are electro-pneumatic regulators that each monitors the pressure of air and that each adjusts air pressure to each of said independent air passages to a preset value if said pressure falls outside of a preset target range.
- 21. The air platen of claim 15 further comprising two channels passing through said air platen, said channels each having a plurality of passages extending upwardly to a top surface of said platen.
- 22. The air platen assembly of claim 15 further comprising an aluminum bronze material.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present patent document is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/037,452, filed Dec. 20, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10037452 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
Child |
10876415 |
Jun 2004 |
US |