In a chemical mechanical polishing system, a platen shield cleaning assembly is installed on a rotatable platen in a gap between the rotatable platen and a platen shield. The assembly includes a sponge holder attached to the platen and a sponge. The sponge is held by the sponge holder such that an outer surface of the sponge is pressed against an inner surface of the platen shield.

Provided is a method for recycling a polishing agent slurry comprising: a first process including a slurry collecting process of collecting the used polishing agent slurry discharged from a polishing device; a desalting treatment process of reducing an ion concentration of the collected polishing agent slurry; and a dispersion treatment process of dispersing the polishing agent component and the constituent component of the object to be polished by adding a pH adjusting agent and a dispersing agent to the desalted polishing agent slurry; and after the first process, a second process of preparing a recycled polishing agent slurry from the polishing agent component by separating the polishing agent component and the constituent component of the object to be polished.

In a chemical mechanical polishing system, a platen shield cleaning assembly is installed on a rotatable platen in a gap between the rotatable platen and a platen shield. The assembly includes a sponge holder attached to the platen and a sponge. The sponge is held by the sponge holder such that an outer surface of the sponge is pressed against an inner surface of the platen shield.

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus includes a polishing pad on a polishing platen, a polishing head on the polishing pad, the polishing head having a membrane to hold a wafer on the polishing pad, and a polishing slurry feeding line to feed a polishing slurry, and a retainer ring around the membrane and in contact with the polishing pad to prevent detachment of the wafer, the retainer ring including a polishing slurry feeding inlet connected to the polishing slurry feeding line to feed the polishing slurry onto the polishing pad.

A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus includes a polishing pad on a polishing platen, a polishing head on the polishing pad, the polishing head having a membrane to hold a wafer on the polishing pad, and a polishing slurry feeding line to feed a polishing slurry, and a retainer ring around the membrane and in contact with the polishing pad to prevent detachment of the wafer, the retainer ring including a polishing slurry feeding inlet connected to the polishing slurry feeding line to feed the polishing slurry onto the polishing pad.

Technique to provide an abrasive regeneration method which, from a used abrasive, can recover an abrasive by an efficient method and can thereafter obtain a high-purity regenerated abrasive by a simple method. This abrasive regeneration method uses an abrasive comprising at least one type of abrasive selected from diamond, boron nitride, silicon carbide, alumina, alumina zirconia, zirconium oxide and cerium oxide. The abrasive regeneration involves a slurry recovery step (A) for recovering an abrasive slurry discharged from a polishing machine, a separation and concentration step (B) for adding an alkaline earth metal salt as an inorganic salt to the recovered abrasive slurry to aggregate the abrasive, and separating and concentrating the abrasive from a mother liquor, an abrasive recovery step (C) for recovering the separated and concentrated abrasive, and a second concentration step (D) for filter-treating the concentrated abrasive.

Technique to provide an abrasive regeneration method which, from a used abrasive, can recover an abrasive by an efficient method and can thereafter obtain a high-purity regenerated abrasive by a simple method. This abrasive regeneration method uses an abrasive comprising at least one type of abrasive selected from diamond, boron nitride, silicon carbide, alumina, alumina zirconia, zirconium oxide and cerium oxide. The abrasive regeneration involves a slurry recovery step (A) for recovering an abrasive slurry discharged from a polishing machine, a separation and concentration step (B) for adding an alkaline earth metal salt as an inorganic salt to the recovered abrasive slurry to aggregate the abrasive, and separating and concentrating the abrasive from a mother liquor, an abrasive recovery step (C) for recovering the separated and concentrated abrasive, and a second concentration step (D) for filter-treating the concentrated abrasive.

Abrasive material regeneration method regenerates a cerium oxide abrasive material from a used abrasive material slurry containing the cerium oxide abrasive material and resulting from grinding a grinding subject having silicon as the primary component, characterized by regenerating the abrasive material containing cerium oxide through: a slurry recovery step (A) for recovering an abrasive material slurry discharged from a grinder; an isolation/concentration step (B) for adding a magnesium salt as an inorganic salt to the recovered abrasive material slurry, aggregating the abrasive material under the condition that the pH value of the mother liquor converted to 25 DEG C is at least 6.5 and less than 10.0, and thus isolating and concentrating the abrasive material from the mother liquor; and an abrasive material recovery step (C) for recovering the isolated and concentrated abrasive material.

Abrasive material regeneration method regenerates a cerium oxide abrasive material from a used abrasive material slurry containing the cerium oxide abrasive material and resulting from grinding a grinding subject having silicon as the primary component, characterized by regenerating the abrasive material containing cerium oxide through: a slurry recovery step (A) for recovering an abrasive material slurry discharged from a grinder; an isolation/concentration step (B) for adding a magnesium salt as an inorganic salt to the recovered abrasive material slurry, aggregating the abrasive material under the condition that the pH value of the mother liquor converted to 25 DEG C is at least 6.5 and less than 10.0, and thus isolating and concentrating the abrasive material from the mother liquor; and an abrasive material recovery step (C) for recovering the isolated and concentrated abrasive material.

A slurry and/or chemical blend supply apparatus suitable for providing slurry and/or chemical blend to chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) tools or other tools in a semiconductor fabrication facility, related processes, methods of use and methods of manufacture. The slurry and/or chemical blend supply apparatus includes one or more of the following: feed module, blend module, analytical module and distribution module.