Apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing

An apparatus for polishing a face of a semiconductor wafer comprising:

• a base member;
• a table having an upper surface, said table movably mounted to said base member;
• a polishing medium fixedly attached to the surface of said table;
• a table moving mechanism for moving said table in directions parallel to the surface of the table;
• a controller communicating with said table moving mechanism, said controller controlling the motion of said table according to a polishing pattern consisting of a continuous series of arcs;
• a circular platen having a face adapted to contact the wafer during polishing, said face oriented substantially parallel to the surface of the table;
• a ring peripherally oriented about the outer edge of the platen and mounted to the platen, said ring mounted and positioned to resist lateral forces on the wafer caused by engagement of the face of the wafer with the polishing surface;
• an adjustable coupling mounted to the platen and the ring, said coupling adapted to adjustably position the height of the ring relative to the face of the wafer and to rigidly support during polishing the position of the retaining ring;
• a post member movably attached to the platen and to said base member, said post member having an axis substantially perpendicular to the face of the platen;
• and
• a flexible disk fixedly mounted to said post member and to said platen, said flexible disk oriented substantially parallel to the face of said platen, adapted to prevent rotation of the platen about said axis of said post member and to transmit forces between the platen and the post member in directions parallel to said face of said platen.

A wafer polishing apparatus comprising:

• a table defining a planar polishing surface;
• a wafer carrier assembly adapted to hold a wafer against said polishing surface, said wafer carrier assembly including a base, a wafer carrier, and a linkage connecting said wafer carrier to said base, said linkage preventing rotation of said wafer carrier with respect to any axis perpendicular to said planar polishing surface;
• and
• a driver assembly connected to at least one of said table and said wafer carrier assembly to effect relative movement between said table and said wafer carrier assembly in any direction within the plane of said polishing surface.