A polishing apparatus which can efficiently polish an entirety of a back surface of a substrate, with the back surface facing downward, is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a substrate holder configured to rotate the substrate; a polishing head configured to polish the back surface of the substrate; a tape advancing device; and a translational rotating mechanism configured to cause the polishing head to make a translational rotating motion. The substrate holder includes a plurality of rollers which are rotatable about their own axes. The plurality of rollers have substrate-holding surfaces capable of contacting a periphery of the substrate. The polishing head is disposed below the substrate-holding surfaces. The polishing head includes a polishing blade configured to press the polishing tape against the back surface of the substrate, and a pressing mechanism configured to push the polishing blade upward.

The polishing apparatus has a polishing unit capable of polishing a peripheral portion of the substrate to form a right-angled cross section. The polishing apparatus includes: a substrate holder that holds and rotates the substrate; guide rollers that support a polishing tape; and a polishing head having a pressing member that presses an edge of the polishing tape against the peripheral portion of the substrate from above. The guide rollers are arranged such that the polishing tape extends parallel to a tangential direction of the substrate and a polishing surface of the polishing tape is parallel to a surface of the substrate. The substrate holder includes: a holding stage that holds the substrate; and a supporting stage that supports a lower surface of the peripheral portion of the substrate in its entirety. The supporting stage rotates in unison with the holding stage.

Disclosed is a cannula that can decrease the rate of increase in resistance that is generated when penetrating an incision formed in tissue. The cylindrical cannula (1) configures a trocar (B) used during surgery; an incision member (C) can be inserted and removed therewithin; one side of the end portion of the cylinder forms a protruding slanted cut end (2); and a tapered surface (3) having an uneven width and a width that is wider on the protruding side (the side of point 2a) of the slanted cut end than the non-protruding side (the side of point 2b) is formed on the outer periphery of the slanted cut end (2).

The present invention relates to a polishing apparatus and a polishing method for polishing a substrate, such as a wafer, and more particularly to a polishing apparatus and a polishing method for polishing an edge portion of a wafer with use of a polishing tape. The polishing apparatus includes a substrate holder (1) configured to hold and rotate a substrate (W), and a polishing unit (7) configured to polish an edge portion of the substrate (W) with use of a polishing tape (5). The polishing unit (7) includes: a disk head (12) having a circumferential surface for supporting the polishing tape (5); and a head moving device (50) configured to move the disk head (12) in a tangential direction of the substrate (W) and to bring the polishing tape (5) on the circumferential surface of the disk head (12) into contact with the edge portion of the substrate (W).

A method and an apparatus for processing a peripheral portion of a substrate, such as a wafer, are disclosed. The substrate processing method includes: holding a substrate on a substrate stage; rotating the substrate stage and the substrate about an axis of the substrate stage; directing a laser beam to an edge portion of the rotating substrate to form an annular crack in the substrate; and pressing a polishing tool against the edge portion of the rotating substrate to form a stepped recess in a peripheral portion of the substrate.

Loopback rolls which can transfer and guide a polishing tape (T) in a tangential direction of a pressure contact roll (R) is provided, a top edge face (RG1) and a tapered peripheral edge (RG) having a pair of slant edge faces (RG2) are formed on a periphery of the pressure contact roll, by both of which the polishing tape can be bent into a substantially V-shape in cross section, and a switchable pressure contact mechanism (7) is switchably provided which pressure contacts each of bent portions (T) of the polishing tape, which is bent into the substantially V-shape in cross section by the tapered peripheral edge to one tooth face (B1) or the other tooth face of a bottom land (B) of a worm (W).

A substrate processing apparatus which causes a processing tape to abut against a processing object, including: a tape supply reel configured to supply the processing tape; a tape recovery reel configured to recover the processing tape; a recovery motor configured to apply a torque to the tape recovery reel; a tape feed motor configured to feed the processing tape between the tape supply reel and the tape recovery reel; and a control unit configured to control the tape feed motor, wherein the control unit controls the torque of the recovery motor depending on a change in an outer diameter of a roll of the processing tape wound by the tape recovery reel such that tension applied to the processing tape is constant, using a feed length of the tape fed by the tape feed motor and a thickness of the processing tape.

A polishing head having a simple construction and a compact size is disclosed. The polishing head includes: a polishing-tool pressing member for supporting a polishing tool; a movable shaft coupled to the polishing-tool pressing member; a housing which houses the movable shaft therein; and a diaphragm which forms a pressure chamber between an end portion of the movable shaft and the housing, the diaphragm including a central portion in contact with the end portion of the movable shaft, an inner wall portion connecting with the central portion and extending along a side surface of the movable shaft, a folded-back portion connecting with the inner wall portion and having a curved cross section, and an outer wall portion connecting with the folded-back portion and located outside the inner wall portion.

A substrate processing apparatus includes: a first polishing head configured to polish a first surface of a substrate by sliding a polishing tool on the first surface; a second polishing head configured to polish the first surface of the substrate by sliding a polishing tool on the first surface, the second polishing head having a smaller diameter than a diameter of the first polishing head; and a substrate support mechanism configured to support the substrate by a fluid pressure at positions corresponding to the first polishing head and the second polishing head, the substrate support mechanism being configured to support the substrate from a second surface of the substrate opposite to the first surface.

The invention has a turnback roll which can transfer and guide a polishing tap in a tangential direction of a pressure contacting roll, a vertical oscillation mechanism which linearly oscillates the pressure contacting roll in a tangential direction of a ball groove while being orthogonal to a rotating axis line, and a horizontal oscillation mechanism which linearly oscillates the pressure contacting roll in a direction of a rotating axis line toward both inner side surfaces of the ball groove. The ball groove can be securely polished by the polishing tape on the basis of the continuous or intermittent transfer of the polishing tape and the linear oscillating motion of the ball groove. It is possible to improve a polishing precision, it is possible to improve a surface roughness of the ball groove and it is possible to improve a polishing workability of the ball groove.