Method and apparatus for polishing a substrate
AssigneeEbara Corporation
InventorsMakoto FUKUSHIMA, Tetsuji TOGAWA, Shingo TOGASHI, Tomoshi INOUE
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A polishing method is used for polishing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer to a flat mirror finish. A method of polishing a substrate by a polishing apparatus includes a polishing table (100) having a polishing surface, a top ring (1) for holding a substrate and pressing the substrate against the polishing surface, and a vertically movable mechanism (24) for moving the top ring (1) in a vertical direction. The top ring (1) is moved to a first height before the substrate is pressed against the polishing surface, and then the top ring (1) is moved to a second height after the substrate is pressed against the polishing surface.
Claims9
1-48. (canceled)
An apparatus for polishing a substrate, comprising:
- a polishing table having a polishing surface;
- a top ring configured to hold a rear face of the substrate by a substrate holding surface and to hold an outer peripheral edge of the substrate by a retainer ring, and configured to press the substrate against the polishing surface;
- and
- a vertically movable mechanism configured to move the top ring in a vertical direction;
- wherein the top ring comprises at least one elastic membrane configured to form a plurality of pressure chambers for being supplied with a pressurized fluid, and a top ring body for holding the membrane, the elastic membrane being configured to press the substrate against the polishing surface under a fluid pressure when the plurality of pressure chambers are supplied with the pressurized fluid;
- and
- wherein when the substrate is removed from the elastic membrane constituting the substrate holding surface, at least one of the plurality of pressure chambers is pressurized and at least one of the plurality of pressure chambers is depressurized in a vacuum state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.