Workpiece carrier and polishing apparatus having workpiece carrier
AssigneeEbara Corporation
InventorsNorio Kimura, Hozumi Yasuda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A workpiece carrier holds a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer and presses the workpiece against a polishing surface on a polishing table. The workpiece carrier has a top ring body for holding the workpiece, and a retainer ring for holding an outer circumferential edge of the workpiece. A fluid chamber which is supplied with a pressurized fluid such as a compressed air is provided in the top ring body and covered by a resilient membrane. A plurality of pressing members are fixed to the resilient membrane for applying a pressing force through the resilient membrane to the workpiece under the pressure of the fluid in the fluid chamber.
Claims18
A workpiece carrier for holding a workpiece to be polished and pressing the workpiece against a polishing surface on a polishing table, comprising:
- a top ring body for holding the workpiece;
- a retainer ring for holding an outer circumferential edge of the workpiece;
- a fluid chamber provided in said top ring body and covered by a resilient membrane, said fluid chamber being constructed and arranged to receive a fluid;
- and
- pressing members provided between said resilient membrane and the workpiece, when the workpiece is held by said top ring body, for pressing the workpiece against the polishing surface through said resilient membrane via a pressure of the fluid in said fluid chamber,
- wherein at least one of said pressing members has a communication hole for attracting the workpiece.
A polishing apparatus for polishing a workpiece, comprising:
- a polishing table having a polishing surface thereon;
- and
- a workpiece carrier for holding the workpiece to be polished and pressing the workpiece against said polishing surface;
- said workpiece carrier including
- (i) a top ring body for holding the workpiece,
- (ii) a retainer ring for holding an outer circumferential edge of the workpiece,
- (iii) a fluid chamber provided in said top ring body and covered by a resilient membrane, said fluid chamber being constructed and arranged to receive a fluid, and
- (iv) pressing members provided between said resilient membrane and the workpiece, when the workpiece is held by said top ring body, for pressing the workpiece against said polishing surface through said resilient membrane via a pressure of the fluid in said fluid chamber,
- wherein at least one of said pressing members has a communication hole for attracting the workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.