Wafer polishing apparatus
AssigneeMitsubishi Materials Corporation
InventorsHiroyuki Kobayashi, Hiroo Miyairi, Osamu Endo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wafer polishing apparatus increases the polishing uniformity by adjusting an abutting pressure of a retainer ting to an optimum value. A wafer holding head 32 of this apparatus has a head body 34, a carrier 46 provided within the head body 34, a retainer ring 50 arranged on the outer periphery of the carrier 46, a diaphragm 44 for pressing the carrier 46, a ring-shaped tube 54 which is made of an elastic material and mounted between the head body 34 and the retainer ring 50, and a second pressure regulating mechanism 60 for regulating a pressure of a fluid filled within the tube 54.
Claims11
A wafer polishing apparatus, comprising:
- a platen having a polishing pad affixed to a surface thereof;
- at least one wafer holding head for holding a first surface of the wafer to be polished and to abut a second surface, opposite said first surface, of the wafer against said polishing pad;
- and
- a head driving mechanism for polishing the second surface of the wafer with said polishing pad by relatively moving said wafer holding head with respect to said platen,
- wherein said wafer holding head includes,
- (a) a head body,
- (b) a disc-like carrier provided within said head body for holding said first surface of the wafer to be polished,
- (c) a retainer ring disposed concentrically on an outer periphery of the carrier for abutting against said polishing pad when polishing and holding an outer periphery of the wafer,
- (d) a carrier pressure regulating mechanism for regulating a pressing force of said carrier toward said platen, and
- (e) a ring pressure regulating mechanism provided independently of said carrier pressure regulating mechanism for regulating a pressing force of said retainer ring toward said platen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.