Patents by Inventor Julie A. Kearns

Julie A. Kearns has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Method for processing a semiconductor wafer using double-side polishing
    Publication number: 20040038544
    Abstract: A method for polishing front and back surfaces of a semiconductor wafer includes the step of providing a polishing apparatus having a wafer carrier generally disposed between a first polishing pad and a second polishing pad. The first pad has a hardness significantly greater than a hardness of the second pad. The wafer is placed in the wafer carrier so that the front surface faces the first pad and so that the back surface faces the second pad. A polishing slurry is applied to at least one of the pads and the carrier, first pad and second pad are rotated. The front surface is brought into contact with the first pad and the back surface is brought into contact with the second pad for polishing the front and back surfaces of the wafer whereby less wafer material is removed from the back surface engaged by the second pad and the back surface has less gloss than the front surface after polishing so that the front surface and back surface are visually distinguishable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2003
    Publication date: February 26, 2004
    Applicant: MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Guoqiang (David) Zhang, Henry Frank Erk, Tracy M. Ragan, Julie A. Kearns