Patent ID: 6447369
Filing Date: 2002-09-10
Classification: B24B,B24D

Abstract:
A planarizing machine for mechanical and/or chemical-mechanical planarization of a microelectronic substrate, comprising:a table having a support panel and an opening through the support panel; a planarizing pad on the support panel, the pad having a window aligned with the opening; a substrate carrier assembly having a carrier head configured to hold a microelectronic substrate and a drive system coupled to the carrier head to engage the substrate with the planarizing pad, wherein at least one of the carrier head and the table is movable to rub the substrate against the planarizing pad; an alignment assembly having a carriage assembly alignable with the opening and an actuator assembly coupled to the carriage assembly, the carriage assembly having an emission site configured to be coupled to a light source of an optical monitoring system for directing a source light along a light path projecting from the carriage, and the actuator assembly being configured to move the carriage assembly relative to the window in the pad and the opening to align the light path with the window in the pad; and wherein the carriage assembly has a first carriage and a second carriage slidably coupled to the first carriage, and the actuator assembly has a first actuator coupled to the first carriage and a second actuator coupled to the second carriage, the first actuator being configured to move the first carriage along a first alignment path and the second actuator being configured to move the second carriage along a second alignment path transverse to the first path, wherein at least one of the first and second alignment paths is transverse to the pad travel path, and wherein the emission site is on the second carriage.