Polishing apparatus

Abstract

A polishing apparatus is disclosed, which can precisely control a polishing rate by quickly decreasing a pad temperature to below ambient temperature. The polishing apparatus includes a rotatable polishing table supporting a polishing pad; a polishing head configured to press a substrate W against a polishing surface of the rotating polishing pad to polish the substrate; at least one pad-temperature measuring device configured to measuring a temperature of the polishing surface; a pad-temperature regulating apparatus for regulating the temperature of the polishing surface; and a controller configured to control operation of the pad-temperature regulating apparatus based on the temperature of the polishing surface measured by the at least one pad-temperature measuring device. The pad-temperature regulating apparatus includes: at least one cooling nozzle configured to inject a cooling agent onto the polishing surface; and at least one gas nozzle configured to inject dry gas onto the polishing surface. The cooling agent has a boiling point lower than atmosphere temperature.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.