Method And Device For Cleaning A Brush Surface Having A Contamination

WU; Jiann-Lih ;   et al.

Patent Application Summary

U.S. patent application number 13/740128 was filed with the patent office on 2014-07-17 for method and device for cleaning a brush surface having a contamination. This patent application is currently assigned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.. The applicant listed for this patent is TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.. Invention is credited to Soon-Kang HUANG, Jeng-Jyi HWANG, Jiann-Lih WU, Chi-Ming YANG.

Application Number20140196744 13/740128
Document ID /
Family ID51164241
Filed Date2014-07-17

United States Patent Application 20140196744
Kind Code A1
WU; Jiann-Lih ;   et al. July 17, 2014

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CLEANING A BRUSH SURFACE HAVING A CONTAMINATION

Abstract

A method for cleaning a brush surface having a contamination is provided. The method includes steps of: providing a mechanical wave; and stripping off the contamination from the brush surface by the mechanical wave.


Inventors: WU; Jiann-Lih; (Hsin-Chu City, TW) ; HWANG; Jeng-Jyi; (Hsin-Chu County, TW) ; HUANG; Soon-Kang; (Hsin-Chu City, TW) ; YANG; Chi-Ming; (Hsin-Chu City, TW)
Applicant:
Name City State Country Type

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.

Hsinchu City

TW
Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
Hsinchu City
TW

Family ID: 51164241
Appl. No.: 13/740128
Filed: January 11, 2013

Current U.S. Class: 134/1 ; 15/1.51
Current CPC Class: A46B 17/06 20130101
Class at Publication: 134/1 ; 15/1.51
International Class: A46B 17/06 20060101 A46B017/06

Claims



1. A method for cleaning a brush surface having a contamination, comprising steps of: providing a mechanical wave; and stripping off the contamination from the brush surface by the mechanical wave.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contamination includes a contaminant particle having a particle surface, the brush surface has a first surface charge thereon, the particle surface has a second surface charge thereon, the first surface charge has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge, and the method further comprises steps of: enhancing the second surface charge, so that the contaminant particle is repelled from the brush surface; and causing the brush surface to have a motion.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein: the electric polarity is negative; and the motion includes a rotation.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of enhancing the second surface charge on the particle surface is performed by a functional water process.

5. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of enhancing the second surface charge on the particle surface is performed by a chemical process.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the mechanical wave is a megasonic wave, and is applied to the brush surface through a fluid; the fluid includes one of a functional water and an alkaline solution; and the brush surface is used to clean a wafer in a chemical-mechanical planarization process.

7. A method for cleaning a brush surface having a first surface charge and a contaminant particle having a particle surface having a second surface charge, wherein the first surface charge has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge, comprising a step of: causing the second surface charge to be enhanced, so that the contaminant particle is repelled from the brush surface.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the electric polarity is negative.

9. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the step of enhancing the second surface charge is performed by a functional water process.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the functional water process is performed by adding an H2 water to form a solution system for reducing a oxidation/reduction potential of the solution system.

11. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the step of enhancing the second surface charge is performed by a chemical process.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the chemical process is performed by adding an alkaline solution to reduce a zeta potential of the contaminant particle.

13. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the chemical process is used to facilitate a dissociation of a functional group from the contaminant particle.

14. A device for cleaning a brush surface having a first surface charge and a contaminant particle having a particle surface having a second surface charge, wherein the first surface charge has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge, comprising: a cleaning module configured to enhance the second surface charge on the particle surface, so that the contaminant particle is repelled from the brush surface.

15. A device as claimed in claim 14, further comprising: a bath including a pool region, a bottom region, an inlet region and a first wall disposed above the inlet region, wherein the inlet region provides a fluid to the pool region therethrough, and the fluid includes at least one of a functional water and an alkaline solution; a megasonic device disposed in the bottom region, and providing a mechanical wave; a discharge unit including an overflow region surrounding the first wall, a second wall surrounding the overflow region, and an outlet region, wherein when the pool region overflows, an overflow portion of the fluid is discharged through the overflow region and the outlet region.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the mechanical wave is a megasonic wave.

17. A device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the cleaning module performs a functional water process to reduce a oxidation/reduction potential of the fluid.

18. A device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the cleaning module performs a chemical process to reduce a zeta potential of the contaminant particle.

19. A device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the contaminant particle is one selected from a group consisting of a PSi, an Si3N4, an SiO2, an Al2O3, and the combination thereof.

20. A device as claimed in claim 14, further comprising a detector detecting an electric polarity of one of the first and second surface charges.
Description



TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a cleaning method and device, and more particularly to a method and device for cleaning a brush surface having a contamination.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Nowadays the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process has been widely used in the manufacture process of the semiconductor wafer. The conventional CMP tool includes a post-CMP cleaning module, wherein the post-CMP cleaning module includes a roller cleaner (such as a roller type brush), a pencil cleaner (such as a pencil type brush) and a dryer. The wafer polished is transferred to the roller cleaner and the pencil cleaner to scrub the slurry residue from the wafer surface, and then transferred to the dryer to dry the wafer. During the cleaning process performed by the roller cleaner and the pencil cleaner, there are many by-products (such as a contaminant particle) produced and accumulated on the brush surface, which may scratch the wafer surface during the cleaning process; thus, the conventional post-CMP cleaning module further includes a deionize (DI) rinse process and a quartz scrubber to clean those brushes. However, the cleaning efficiency of the deionize (DI) rinse process and the quartz scrubber is not well enough to remove the contaminant particle formed on the brush surface, and as the size of the wafer becomes larger than 450 mm, the loading of the brush has become larger, either, which may shorten the life time of the brush.

[0003] Hence, because of the defects in the prior arts, there is a need to solve the above problems.

SUMMARY

[0004] In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a device for cleaning a brush surface having a first surface charge and a contaminant particle having a particle surface having a second surface charge is provided, wherein the first surface charge has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge. The device includes a cleaning module configured to enhance the second surface charge on the particle surface, so that the contaminant particle is repelled from the brush surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] The present disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not shown to scale and are used for illustration purposes only. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

[0006] FIG. 1A shows a device for cleaning a brush surface in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0007] FIG. 1B illustrates a top view diagram of the device shown in FIG. 1A.

[0008] FIG. 2 illustrates a brush surface with a first surface charge and a contamination with a second surface charge in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0009] FIG. 3 shows the correlation between the PH and the zeta potential.

[0010] FIG. 4 shows a diagram of the brush surface having a contaminant particle.

[0011] FIG. 5A shows the experiment result about the remained amount of the contaminant particle for a first group of cleaning processes.

[0012] FIG. 5B shows the experiments result about the remained amount of the contaminant particle for a second group of cleaning processes.

[0013] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a method for cleaning the brush surface having a contamination in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The present disclosure will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings, but the disclosure is not limited thereto but is only limited by the claims. The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn on scale for illustrative purposes. The dimensions and the relative dimensions do not necessarily correspond to actual reductions to practice.

[0015] Furthermore, the terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking or in any other manner. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.

[0016] It is to be noticed that the term "comprising", used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listed thereafter; it does not exclude other elements or steps. It is thus to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components as referred to, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components, or groups thereof. Thus, the scope of the expression "a device comprising means A and B" should not be limited to devices consisting only of components A and B.

[0017] Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

[0018] Similarly it should be appreciated that in the description of exemplary embodiments, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

[0019] Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

[0020] In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

[0021] The present disclosure will now be described by a detailed description of several embodiments. It is clear that other embodiments can be configured according to the knowledge of persons skilled in the art without departing from the true technical teaching of the present disclosure, the claimed invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

[0022] Hereafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0023] Please refer to FIGS. 1A, 1B and 2. FIG. 1A shows a device 100 for cleaning a brush surface 202 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 1B illustrates a top view diagram of the device 100 shown in FIG. 1A; and FIG. 2 illustrates a brush surface 202 with a first surface charge 210 and a contamination 204 with a second surface charge 212 in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. During the post-CMP cleaning period, there are many by-products generated and accumulated on the brush surface 202, which includes the contamination 204. However, the contamination 204 on the brush surface 202 may scratch the wafer surface during the post-CMP cleaning period; thus, the device 100 shown in FIG. 1A is used to clean the contamination 204 from the brush surface 202. Referring to FIG. 2, the contamination 204 includes a contaminant particle 206 having a particle surface 208, the brush surface 202 has a first surface charge 210 thereon, the particle surface 208 has a second surface charge 212 thereon, and the first surface charge 210 has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge 212. In one embodiment, the device 100 further includes a detector 128 used for detecting the electric polarity of one of the first and second surface charges 210 and 212. In another embodiment, the electric polarity is negative, as shown in FIG. 2. For cleaning the brush surface 202, a cleaning method is designed to repel the contaminant particle 206 from the brush surface 202 and further prevent the contaminant particle 206 from re-adhering to the brush surface 202. The device 100 is configured to implement the cleaning method mentioned above to clean the brush surface 202.

[0024] Please refer to FIG. 1A, which illustrates the device 100 for cleaning the brush surface 202 mentioned above, wherein the device 100 includes a cleaning module 102 configured to enhance the second surface charge 212 on the particle surface 208 to repel the contaminant particle 206 from the brush surface 202. In one embodiment, the first surface charge 210 has a first charge quantity, and the second surface charge 212 has a second charge quantity, wherein the first charge quantity may be larger, equal or smaller than the second charge quantity. The cleaning module 102 is configured to enhance the second surface charge 212 to have a third charge quantity, wherein the third charge quantity is larger than the second electric quantity; thus, the repulsive force between the first surface charge 210 and the second surface charge 212 may be strengthen, and the contaminant particle 206 may be further repelled from the brush surface 202. That is to say, the repelled (detached) contaminant particle 206 may not re-adhere to the brush surface 202. In one embodiment, the cleaning module 102 further includes a first cleaning sub-module 104 and a second cleaning sub-module 106 to implement the cleaning method mentioned above.

[0025] In one embodiment, the device 100 further includes a bath 108, a megasonic device 110 and a discharge unit 112, wherein the bath 108 includes a pool region 114, a bottom region 116, an inlet region 118 and a first wall 120. The brush (not shown) to be cleaned is disposed in the pool region 114, and has the brush surface 202; and the megasonic device 110 is disposed in the bottom region 116. The discharge unit 112 includes an overflow region 122, a second wall 124 and an outlet region 126, wherein the overflow region 122 surrounds the first wall 120 and the second wall 124 surrounds the overflow region 122, as shown in FIG. 1B. Referring to FIG. 1A, the cleaning module 104 includes the bath 108 and the discharge unit 112; each of the first cleaning sub-module 104 and the second cleaning sub-module 106 includes the bath 108 and the discharge unit 112; the first cleaning sub-module 104 performs a functional water process to reduce the oxidation/reduction potential; and the second cleaning sub-module 106 performs a chemical process to reduce the zeta potential. It should be appreciate that the effects of performing the functional water process and the chemical process are the same, trying to enhance the second surface charge 212 on the contaminant particle 206, as explained later.

[0026] Referring to FIG. 1A, when the brush to be cleaned is disposed in the pool region 114, a fluid is provided to the pool region 114 through the inlet region 118. In one embodiment, the inlet region 118 is controlled to provide the fluid to the pool region 114 according to the position relationship between the brush and the pool region 114. The fluid may include at least one of a functional water and an alkaline solution. In one aspect, for performing the functional water process by the first cleaning sub-module 104, the fluid is configured to include the functional water, which is added to the pool region 114 to form a first solution system. For example, the functional water may include a H2 water, which is added to the pool region 114 to form the first solution system to reduce the oxidation/reduction potential of the first solution system, wherein the first solution system includes the contaminant particle 206, the brush surface 202 and the H2 water. In another aspect, for performing the chemical process by the second cleaning sub-module 106, the fluid is configured to include the alkaline solution, which is added to the pool region 114 to form a second solution system. For example, the alkaline solution may include an NH4 solution, which is added to the pool region 114 to reduce a zeta potential of the contaminant particle 206, wherein the second solution system includes the contaminant particle 206, the brush surface 202 and the NH4 solution. Adding the alkaline solution is used to facilitate a dissociation of a functional group from the contaminant particle 206. In one embodiment, the contaminant particle 206 is one selected from a group consisting of PSi, Si3N4, SiO2, Al2O3, and the combination thereof. In one embodiment, the functional water is added to the pool region 114 to reduce the oxidation/reduction potential of the contaminant particle 206 for enhancing the second surface charge 212 of the contaminant particle 206.

[0027] Please refer to FIG. 3, which shows the correlation between the PH and the zeta potential. In FIG. 3, the x axis represents the PH, and the y axis represents the zeta potential (mV). According to the correlation between the PH and the zeta potential, when the potential of hydrogen (PH) increases, the dissociation of the functional group of the contaminant particle 206 may increase with the potential of hydrogen and the zeta potential of the contaminant particle 206 is declined; thus, the second surface charge 212 of the contaminant particle 206 is to be enhanced to have the third charge quantity. Under the condition that the second surface charge 212 is enhanced to have the third charge quantity, the repulsive force between the brush surface 202 and the contaminant particle 206 is strengthen, thereby preventing the contaminant particle 206 from re-adhering to the brush surface 202. In another embodiment, the fluid is acted as a medium for the mega sonic device 110 to provide a mechanical wave to the brush surface 202 to repel the contaminant particle 206.

[0028] Please refer to FIGS. 1A and 4, wherein FIG. 4 shows a diagram of the brush surface 202 having a contaminant particle 206. When the brush begins to be washed, the inlet region 118 provides the fluid to the pool region 114 therethrough to form a third solution system in the pool region 114, the third solution system includes the fluid, the contaminant particle 206 and the brush surface 202. The megasonic device 110 is disposed in the bottom region 116 and provides a mechanical wave to the brush surface 202. The mechanical wave forms a physical force to lift off or strip off the contaminant particle 206 from the brush surface 202, as shown in FIG. 4, wherein the mechanical wave travels to the brush surface 202 through the fluid. In one embodiment, the mechanical wave is a megasonic wave; for example, the megasonic wave typically has a frequency ranging from 0.8 to 2.0 MHz. The megasonic wave repels the contaminant particle 206 from the brush surface 202. In order to prevent the contaminant particle 206 from re-adhering to the brush surface 202, at least one of the functional water (such as the H2 water) and the alkaline solution (such as the NH4 solution) is provided to the pool region 114 through the inlet region 118 to form the third solution system. When the functional water is provided to the brush surface 202, the functional water reduces the oxidation/reduction potential of the third solution system; and when the alkaline solution is provided to the brush surface 202, the alkaline solution reduces the zeta potential of the contaminant particle 206. For example, the functional water reduces the oxidation/reduction potential of the contaminant particle 206. In one embodiment, the first cleaning sub-module 104 performs a functional water process to reduce the oxidation/reduction potential of the contaminant particle 206 when the fluid includes the functional water and is provided to the brush surface 202; and the second cleaning sub-module 106 performs a chemical process to reduce the zeta potential when the fluid includes the alkaline solution and is provided to the pool region 114. In one embodiment, the brush surface 202 may be rotated in order to clean each brush surface 202 of the brush to be cleaned.

[0029] In another embodiment, when the pool region 114 overflows with the fluid, an overflow region of the fluid flows into the overflow region 122 and is discharged through the overflow region 122 and the outlet region 126. In another embodiment, it can be inferred that a profile of the device 100 is a circular shape, as shown in FIG. 1B. In still another embodiment, the profile of the device 100 may be a rectangular shape.

[0030] Please refer to FIGS. 5A and 5B, wherein FIG. 5A illustrates the experiment result about the remained amount of the contaminant particle 206 for a first group of cleaning processes, and FIG. 5B illustrates the experiment result about the remained amount of the contaminant particle 206 for a second group of cleaning processes. As shown in FIG. 5A, the x axis represents the type of the cleaning process performed on the brush surface 202, wherein the first group of cleaning processes are denoted in the x axis, and includes the post-CMP cleaning process (after CMP), the ultra pure water without mega sonic process (UPW w/o MS), the ultra pure water plus mega sonic process (UPW+MS), the H2 water plus ultra pure water without mega sonic process (H2-UPW w/o MS) and H2 water plus ultra pure water plus mega sonic process (H2-UPW+MS); and the y axis represents the remained amount of the contaminant particle 206 after performing each of the processes mentioned above. According to the experiment result in FIG. 5A, after the post-CMP cleaning process, there are more than 20,000 contaminant particles remained on the brush surface 202, and after cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying the ultra pure water without the mega sonic process, there are still 5,500 contaminant particles remained on the brush surface 202; in contrast therewith, after cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying ultra pure water with mega sonic process, there are 680 contaminant particles remained on the brush surface. It can be seen that cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying the mega sonic process may get better cleaning performance; that is to say, cleaning the brush by applying the mega sonic process may repel much more contaminant particle than cleaning the brush merely with ultra pure water. On the other hand, after cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying the functional water process (such as H2 plus ultra pure water) without mega sonic process, there are 2,600 contaminant particles remained on the brush surface; in contrast therewith, after cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying the functional water process (such as H2 plus ultra pure water) with mega sonic process, there are merely less than 200 contaminant particles remained on the brush surface; that is to say, cleaning the brush by applying the mega sonic process may repel much more contaminant particle than cleaning the brush merely with H2 plus ultra pure water. According to the experiment data mentioned above, the method of cleaning the brush surface 202 by combining the mega sonic process with the functional water process provides the best performance.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 5B, the x axis represents the chemical process performed by applying the type of the fluid, wherein the second group of cleaning processes are denoted in the x axis, and includes the post-CMP cleaning process, and the chemical processes performed by applying the anode water, the conventional water, the NH4 solution and the NH4 solution plus the H2 water, respectively; the y axis represents the amount of the contaminant particle remained on the brush surface. FIG. 5 also shows the respective potential of hydrogen (PH) of a solution system (such as the first solution system, the second solution system or the third solution system) and the respective oxidation/reduction potential (ORP) of the contaminant particle for each of the chemical processes. According to the experiment result in FIG. 5B, after the post-CMP cleaning process (before the brush cleaning process), there are above 20,000 contaminant particles 206 remained on the brush surface 202. After cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying the anode water, the remained amount of the contaminant particles 206 is declined to about 1,500, wherein the solution system has a first pH equal to 2.0, and the oxidation/reduction potential of the contaminant particle equals to 1.35V. After cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying the conventional ultra pure water, the remained amount of the contaminant particles 206 is declined to about 500, the solution system has a second pH equal to 7.0, and the oxidation/reduction potential of the contaminant particle 206 equals to 0.49V. After cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying the NH4 solution, the remained amount of the contaminant particles 206 is declined to less than 500, the solution system has a third pH equal to 8.5, and the oxidation/reduction potential of the contaminant particle 206 equals to 0.31V. Further, after cleaning the brush surface 202 by applying the NH4 solution plus the H2 water, the remained amount of the contaminant particles 206 is declined to less than 100, the solution system has a fourth pH equal to 8.5, and the oxidation/reduction potential of the contaminant particle 206 equals to -0.49V. Based on the above mentioned experiment data, the method of cleaning the brush surface 202 by combining the functional water process with the chemical process provides an excellent performance.

[0032] Please refer to FIG. 6, which illustrates a flow chart of a method 600 for cleaning the brush surface 202 having a contamination 204 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In step 602, the mega sonic device 110 provides a mechanical wave. In step 604, the mechanical wave strips off the contamination 204 from the brush surface 202. In one embodiment, the contamination 202 includes a contaminant particle 206 having a particle surface 208, the brush surface 202 has a first surface charge 210 thereon, the particle surface 208 has a second surface charge 212 thereon, and the first surface charge 210 has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge 212. In order to avoid the detached contaminant particle 206 attached back to the brush surface 202, the method 600 further includes step 606 to enhance the second surface charge 212 on the particle surface 208, so as to reinforce the repulsive force between the first surface charge 210 and the second surface charge 212. In step 608, the brush surface 202 is caused to have a motion. In one embodiment, the motion is a rotation.

[0033] In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for cleaning a brush surface having a contamination is provided. The method includes steps of: providing a mechanical wave; and stripping off the contamination from the brush surface by the mechanical wave.

[0034] In various implementations, the contamination includes a contaminant particle having a particle surface, the brush surface has a first surface charge thereon, the particle surface has a second surface charge thereon, the first surface charge has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge, and the method further includes steps of: enhancing the second surface charge, so that the contaminant particle is repelled from the brush surface; and causing the brush surface to have a motion, wherein the electric polarity is negative; and the motion includes a rotation. In one aspect, the step of enhancing the second surface charge on the particle surface is performed by a functional water process. In another aspect, the step of enhancing the second surface charge on the particle surface is performed by a chemical process. The mechanical wave is a megasonic wave, and is applied to the brush surface through a fluid, the fluid includes one of a functional water and an alkaline solution; and the brush surface is used to clean a wafer in a chemical-mechanical planarization process.

[0035] In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for cleaning a brush surface having a first surface charge and a contaminant particle having a particle surface having a second surface is provided, wherein the first surface charge has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge. The method includes the following steps: causing the second surface charge to be enhanced, so that the contaminant particle is repelled from the brush surface. In one aspect, the electric polarity is negative. In another aspect, the step of enhancing the second surface charge is performed by a functional water process. In still another aspect, the functional water process is performed by adding an H2 water to form a solution system for reducing a oxidation/reduction potential of the solution system. In still another aspect, the step of enhancing the second surface charge is performed by a chemical process. In still another aspect, the chemical process is performed by adding an alkaline solution to reduce a zeta potential of the contaminant particle. In still another aspect, the chemical process is used to facilitate a dissociation of a functional group from the contaminant particle.

[0036] In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a device for cleaning a brush surface having a first surface charge and a contaminant particle having a particle surface having a second surface charge is provided, wherein the first surface charge has an electric polarity the same with that of the second surface charge. The device includes a cleaning module configured to enhance the second surface charge on the particle surface, so that the contaminant particle is repelled from the brush surface. In one aspect, the device further includes a bath, a megasonic device and a discharge unit. The bath includes a pool region, a bottom region, an inlet region and a first wall disposed above the inlet region, wherein the inlet region provides a fluid to the pool region therethrough, and the fluid includes at least one of a functional water and an alkaline solution. The megasonic device is disposed in the bottom region, and provides a mechanical wave. The discharge unit includes an overflow region surrounding the first wall, a second wall surrounding the overflow region, and an outlet region, wherein when the pool region overflows, an overflow portion of the fluid is discharged through the overflow region and the outlet region. In another aspect, the mechanical wave is a megasonic wave. In still another aspect, the cleaning module performs a functional water process to reduce a oxidation/reduction potential of the fluid. In still another aspect, the cleaning module performs a chemical process to reduce a zeta potential of the contaminant particle, and the contaminant particle is one selected from a group consisting of PSi, Si3N4, SiO2, Al2O3, and the combination thereof. In still another aspect, the device further includes a detector used for detecting an electric polarity of one of the first and second surface charges.

[0037] While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclose embodiments. Therefore, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.

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