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AssigneeKomatsu Denshi Kinzoku Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsMasamitsu Kitahashi, Toshiyuki Kamei, Hidetoshi Takeda, Hiroyuki Tokunaga, Tomoaki Tajiri
Estimating the term…
A polishing apparatus comprises a polishing plate (24), an abrasive cloth (25) attached to the surface of the polishing plate (24), a chuck (19) for holding and pressing one surface of a wafer (39) against the abrasive cloth (25), and a circular retaining ring (23) concentrically arranged on the periphery of the chuck (19). The retaining ring (23) is rotatable and vertically movable with respect to the chuck (19), and is pressed against the abrasive cloth (25) during the lapping step. The retaining ring (23) is lifted upward during the final polishing step, thereby preventing lapping grains from being brought into the final polishing stage. Accordingly, lapping and final polishing can be successively conducted using the same polishing head. With this structure, cost cutting of the apparatus can be realized, since lapping and final polishing are successively conducted using the same polishing head without bringing the lapping grains used for lapping into the final polishing stage.
1-7. (canceled)
A method of wafer polishing in which, in a state in which a polishing liquid is interposed between a polishing target material and an abrasive cloth while the polishing target material held by a chuck is pushed against the abrasive cloth, polishing of the polishing target material is implemented by the abrasive cloth by a relative motion of the chuck and a polishing plate,
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.