William R Bartlett, Age 81345 County Road 250, Durango, CO 81301

6350188, Feb 26, 2002

Mar 10, 2000

09/523402

William Bartlett - Los Gatos CA
Arulkumar Shanmugasundram - Mountain View CA
Jim Tobin - Fremont CA

Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

B24B 502

451288, 451285, 451342

A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus has a polishing station, a transfer station, a carrier head to support a substrate, a rotatable carousel supporting the carrier head, a carousel drive shaft coupled to the carousel to rotate the carousel, and a carousel drive system. The carousel is rotatable between a first position in which the carrier head is in the polishing station and a second position in which the carrier head is in the transfer station. The carousel drive system includes a drive motor, a gear reduction box coupled to an output of the drive motor, and a brake system coupling the gear reduction box to the drive shaft.

6506099, Jan 14, 2003

Apr 5, 2000

09/543395

William R. Bartlett - Los Gatos CA

Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

B24B 100

451 41, 45285, 45398

A wafer polishing apparatus includes a carrier head having a central axis and a drive shaft coupled to the carrier head. A first input pulley or input gear A is coupled to the drive shaft to drive the carrier head about its central axis. A second input pulley or input gear A is coupled to the carrier head to drive the carrier head in a circular path about a point that is offset from the central axis of the carrier head. A controller , can regulate speeds of the input pulleys or input gears while the wafer is held in contact with a polishing pad. Rotation of the carrier head about a point that is offset from the axis of the carrier head can sweep the carrier head across the larger area of the polishing pad. The sweeping motion of the carrier head across the pad can help randomize non-uniformities in the pad and can reduce the amount of wear to the pad as the wafer is moved across it.

5899801, May 4, 1999

Oct 31, 1996

8/741662

Robert D. Tolles - Santa Clara CA
James C. Nystrom - Palo Alto CA
Jeffrey Marks - San Jose CA
William Bartlett - Los Gatos CA
Victor Belitsky - Sunnyvale CA

Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

B24B 100
B24B 2900

451288

A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus has a platen with a cavity with an opening to the top surface of the platen. A polishing pad is located at an upper surface of the platen. A flexible membrane is positioned in the cavity to define a first and a second volume. A pressure source is connected to the second volume to flex the membrane, and a lifting member is positioned in the first volume so that flexing of the membrane extends the lifting member through the opening to lift the substrate off the polishing pad. Alternately, de-ionized water may be forced through a passage in the platen and an aperture in the polishing pad to lift the substrate.

5971652, Oct 26, 1999

Jul 30, 1998

9/126688

William H.C. Bartlett - San Jose CA
Donald J. Brockhage - Milpitas CA

F16C 1104

403 84

An articulated conduit joint (8) includes first and second arms (10, 12), defining first and second passages (106), pivotally coupled by a main clutched joint (14) for movement of the arms about a joint pin (78) defining a first axis (20). The main clutched joint includes a generally open central portion (70) located between first and second end portions (72, 74). Clutch plates (82, 84) in the first end portion are alternately keyed to the first end portion and the joint pin. A compression spring (100) within the second end portion biases the joint pin along the first axis and forces the clutch plates against one another. The first and second end portions are integral with the first and second arms so that relative pivotal movement of the arms about the first axis is frictionally resisted by the clutch plates sliding against one another. One or both of the arms may include a hollow arm extension (22) housed within an arm body (16) for movement about a second axis (24) passing along the passage within the arm. Clutch plates (32, 34) are keyed to the arm extension and the arm body in an alternating fashion and are biased against one another to provide frictional resistance to rotation of the arm extension within the arm body.

6245680, Jun 12, 2001

Sep 26, 2000

9/670611

Norm Shendon - San Carlos CA
William R. Bartlett - Los Gatos CA

Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

H01L 2100

438692

A polishing apparatus including a plurality of polishing pads on respective rotating platens. The polishing platens, and therefore the attached pads also, may be of substantially different diameters. Multiple wafer heads can simultaneously polish multiple wafers on the multiple polishing pads or at different positions on one of the pads. The wafer heads are suspended from a rotatable carousel, which provides positioning of the heads relative to the polishing surfaces. Additionally, a loading/unloading station is provided. The carousel selectively positions the heads on the polishing surfaces, or positions one of the heads over the loading/unloading station while the remaining heads are located over polishing stations for substrate polishing, at which positions the wafers can be polished. The carousel can rotate to sweep all wafer heads attached thereto over respective polishing pads that they overlie.

5951373, Sep 14, 1999

Oct 27, 1995

8/549607

Norm Shendon - San Carlos CA
William R. Bartlett - Los Gatos CA

Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

B24B 700

451 41

A polishing apparatus including a plurality of polishing pads on respective rotating platens. The polishing platens, and therefore the attached pads also, may be of substantially different diameters. Multiple wafer heads can simultaneously polish multiple wafers on the multiple polishing pads or at different positions on one of the pads. The wafer heads are suspended from a rotatable carousel, which provides positioning of the heads relative to the polishing surfaces. Additionally, a loading/unloading station is provided. The carousel selectively positions the heads on the polishing surfaces, or positions one of the heads over the loading/unloading station while the remaining heads are located over polishing stations for substrate polishing, at which positions the wafers can be polished. The carousel can rotate to sweep all wafer heads attached thereto over respective polishing pads that they overlie.

5775983, Jul 7, 1998

May 1, 1995

8/431934

Norman Shendon - San Carlos CA
William R. Bartlett - Los Gatos CA

Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

B24B 2118
B24B 3300
B24B 4726
B24B 5500

451444

A method and apparatus for conditioning a polishing pad improves the polishing characteristics of the pad by providing an embedded pattern that facilitates polishing and reduces glazing. Moreover, the present invention conditions a pad without significantly abrading the polishing surface, thereby prolonging the pad's useful life. A series of independently rotatable rollers having a knurled outer surface is used to embed a pattern of score marks in the surface of the polishing pad. Alternatively, a knurled conical roller engages a radius of the pad. The apparatus is adaptable to either manual or automated processes. The present invention is particularly useful for conditioning polishing pads used in the fabrication of semiconductor wafers.

6136715, Oct 24, 2000

Jul 26, 1999

9/360532

Norm Shendon - San Carlos CA
William R. Bartlett - Los Gatos CA

Applied Materials, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

H01L 2100

438692

A polishing apparatus including a plurality of polishing pads on respective rotating platens. The polishing platens, and therefore the attached pads also, may be of substantially different diameters. Multiple wafer heads can simultaneously polish multiple wafers on the multiple polishing pads or at different positions on one of the pads. The wafer heads are suspended from a rotatable carousel, which provides positioning of the heads relative to the polishing surfaces. Additionally, a loading/unloading station is provided. The carousel selectively positions the heads on the polishing surfaces, or positions one of the heads over the loading/unloading station while the remaining heads are located over polishing stations for substrate polishing, at which positions the wafers can be polished. The carousel can rotate to sweep all wafer heads attached thereto over respective polishing pads that they overlie.