Continuous processing system for chemical mechanical polishing

A serial substrate polishing apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of platens rotating respective polishing pads supported upon an upper surface thereof;
• a plurality of substrate heads holding respective substrates on bottom sides thereof;
• and
• a support movably supporting said substrate heads and able to engage each of said substrates held on a respective one of said substrate heads sequentially with a plurality of said polishing pads;
• wherein said support is rotatable about a rotation axis and said substrate heads are supported at different angular positions of said support relative to said rotation axis;
• and
• wherein N of said platens are disposed about said rotation axis and wherein there are N+1 of said substrate heads.

A serial polishing process, comprising the steps of:

• mounting a plurality of substrates on respective ones of a plurality of substrate heads, said substrates heads being supported at respective angular positions on a rotatable carousel;
• mounting a plurality of polishing surfaces on respective rotatable members supported on a support structure;
• rotating said carousel in a number of discrete angular steps to sequentially position each of said substrates adjacent to at least two of said polishing surfaces;
• providing relative motion between at least one of said substrates and one of said polishing surfaces to polish a surface of said one substrate.

A polishing apparatus, comprising:

• a carousel rotatable about a central axis;
• (N+1) substrate support heads supported by said carousel at (N+1) equally angularly spaced support positions around said central axis, where N is equal to or greater than 2;
• N rotatable platens having respective polishing surface and positioned at N of (N+1) equally angularly spaced station positions around said central axis;
• and
• a loading and unloading mechanism positioned at the (N+1)-th station position not occupied by said platens;
• whereby a selected rotation position of said carousel causes all said substrate heads to be aligned with respective ones of said platens and said loading and unloading mechanism.

A polishing apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of rotatable platens having respective polishing surfaces on upper sides thereof;
• a plurality of substrate heads selectively holding substrates on bottom sides thereof;
• a loading/unloading station comprising a pedestal;
• a support structure movably moving any of said substrate heads to overlie any of said polishing surfaces and said pedestal;
• and
• a vacuum chucking member insertable over said pedestal and having selective vacuum to selectively dechuck a substrate upon said pedestal to thereby deposit it there and to selective chuck a substrate supported on said pedestal to thereby remove if from there.

A polishing apparatus, comprising:

• a loading/unloading station for wafers to be loaded and unloaded to and from the polishing apparatus;
• N rotatable platens having respective polishing surfaces on tops thereof, N being equal to or greater than one, said N platens and said loading/unloading station being disposed at respective ones of (N+1) positions substantially equally angularly spaced about an axis;
• and
• (N+1) substrate heads for holding respective substrates on bottoms thereof and all being movable to overlie any of said N platens and said loading/unloading station.

A polishing method, comprising the steps of:

• placing a substrate upon a pedestal;
• chucking said substrate at the bottom of a substrate holder overlying said pedestal;
• a first step of moving said substrate holder to at least one of a plurality of rotating polishing surfaces;
• holding said substrate by said substrate holder against said one rotating polishing surface to thereby polish said substrate;
• a second step of moving said substrate holder from said one rotating polishing surface to said pedestal after it has been polished;
• dechucking said substrate from said substrate holder to said pedestal after it has been polished;
• and
• removing said substrate from said pedestal after it has been polished.