Slurry feed system and method of providing slurry to chemical mechanical planarization station

摘要

A slurry feed system includes a valve manifold, a mixing tank, a slurry feed pump, a surface tension meter and suction piping, discharge piping as well as slurry return piping. The valve manifold includes inlet piping, outlet piping fluidly coupled to the inlet piping, and a slurry discharge header for supplying slurry to CMP stations. The slurry feed pump is connected to the mixing tank by the suction piping. The discharge piping is routed from the slurry feed pump to the inlet piping of the valve manifold. The slurry return piping is routed from the outlet piping of the valve manifold to the mixing tank. The suction piping, the discharge piping, the inlet piping, the outlet piping and the slurry return piping define a first slurry supply loop. The surface tension meter is coupled to the first slurry supply loop.