US 11,958,164 B2
Stepped retaining ring
Shaun Van Der Veen, San Jose, CA (US); and Steven M. Zuniga, Soquel, CA (US)
Assigned to Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Aug. 6, 2018, as Appl. No. 16/056,450.
Application 16/056,450 is a continuation of application No. 15/632,684, filed on Jun. 26, 2017, granted, now 10,040,168.
Application 15/632,684 is a continuation of application No. 13/895,620, filed on May 16, 2013, granted, now 9,694,470, issued on Jul. 4, 2017.
Application 13/895,620 is a continuation of application No. 12/851,480, filed on Aug. 5, 2010, granted, now 8,465,345, issued on Jun. 18, 2013.
Application 12/851,480 is a continuation of application No. 11/549,622, filed on Oct. 13, 2006, granted, now 7,789,736, issued on Sep. 7, 2010.
Prior Publication US 2019/0030679 A1, Jan. 31, 2019
Int. Cl. B24B 37/32 (2012.01)
CPC B24B 37/32 (2013.01) [Y10T 156/10 (2015.01)] 5 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A retaining ring of a carrier head of a polishing apparatus, the retaining ring comprising:
an annular lower portion of a first material, the lower portion having a lower surface to contact a polishing pad; and an annular upper portion of a different second material, the upper portion having an upper surface configured to attach to the carrier head, wherein the lower portion is bonded to the upper portion by a bonding layer along an interface between the lower portion and the upper portion, wherein the interface includes a step adjacent to the inner diameter of the retaining ring and wherein a remainder of the interface between the step and the outer diameter of the retaining ring is flat with the bonding layer having uniform thickness.