Patent ID: 7105446

Claim:
A polishing apparatus for condition and pre-conditioning a polishing pad to achieve a desired polishing pad temperature for a semiconductor wafer polishing operation, comprising: a conditioning arm comprising a conditioning head, said conditioning arm pivotally mounted adjacent the polishing pad for conditioning the polishing pad; a pre-conditioning arm mounted adjacent the polishing pad; and, an ingot consisting essentially of a first material, said ingot removeably and fixedly mounted on said pre-conditioning arm for engaging and pre-conditioning the polishing pad, said pre-conditioriing arm pivotable for sweeping said ingot across said polishing pad, said ingot for raising a temperature of said polishing pad to a desired operating temperature within a desired time period for polishing a semiconductor production wafer surface comprising said first material; wherein an actuation mechanism operably engages said pre-conditioning arm for selectively moving said ingot into and out of contact with the polishing pad at a selected contact pressure.