A polishing apparatus polishes a periphery of a substrate by bringing a polishing tool into sliding contact with the substrate. The polishing apparatus includes a substrate-holding mechanism configured to hold a substrate and rotate the substrate, a polishing mechanism configured to press a polishing tool against a periphery of the substrate so as to polish the periphery, and a periphery-supporting mechanism configured to support the periphery of the substrate by a fluid. The periphery-supporting mechanism is configured to support a surface of the substrate from an opposite side or the same side of the periphery of the substrate.

An abrasive belt grinding center applicable to grinding and polishing of a whole profile of a blisk is provided, an X-axis feed mechanism, a Y-axis feed mechanism, a Z-axis feed mechanism, a B-axis rotation mechanism and a C-axis rotation mechanism constitute a grinding head feed mechanism, and a housing, a drum, a synchronous driven pulley, a synchronous belt, a synchronous driving pulley, and a grinding head rotation driving motor constitute a grinding head rotation mechanism. In the present application, two grinding heads are utilized to reasonably assign the machining angle and the feeding, and rough machining and fine machining can be both realized by one time of clamping, and the combination of six degrees of freedom in space is achieved by a short drive chain, and further the rigidities of a grinding head mechanism and a workpiece clamping mechanism are ensured.

A substrate processing method which can clean a peripheral portion of a substrate after polishing and can check the cleaning effect of the peripheral portion of the substrate is disclosed. The substrate processing method includes polishing a peripheral portion of the substrate by pressing a polishing tape having abrasive grains against the peripheral portion of the substrate with a first head, cleaning the peripheral portion of the substrate by supplying a cleaning liquid to the peripheral portion of the substrate after polishing, bringing a tape having no abrasive grains into contact with the peripheral portion of the substrate after cleaning by a second head, applying light to the tape and receiving reflected light from the tape by a sensor, and judging that the peripheral portion of the substrate is contaminated when an intensity of the received reflected light is lower than a predetermined value.

An attachment for a drill comprises a shank with a chuck configured to mount the attachment to the drill. A housing on the shank comprises a threaded end and a hollow chamber. A compression bladder having a tubular opening through it is configured to be inserted into the hollow chamber. A tube comprising a sanding or cleaning surface located on the inner surface of the tube is configured to be insertable into the tubular opening of the compression bladder. A threaded lid having a circular opening that is at least the same diameter as the inner diameter of the tube is configured to mount onto the housing at the threaded end and compress the compression bladder thereby reducing the diameter of the tubular opening and compressing the compression bladder against the tube to secure the tube within the housing.

An abrasive belt grinding center applicable to grinding and polishing of a whole profile of a blisk is provided, an X-axis feed mechanism, a Y-axis feed mechanism, a Z-axis feed mechanism, a B-axis rotation mechanism and a C-axis rotation mechanism constitute a grinding head feed mechanism, and a housing, a drum, a synchronous driven pulley, a synchronous belt, a synchronous driving pulley, and a grinding head rotation driving motor constitute a grinding head rotation mechanism. In the present application, two grinding heads are utilized to reasonably assign the machining angle and the feeding, and rough machining and fine machining can be both realized by one time of clamping, and the combination of six degrees of freedom in space is achieved by a short drive chain, and further the rigidities of a grinding head mechanism and a workpiece clamping mechanism are ensured.

A polishing unit of a polishing apparatus according to an embodiment includes: a polishing head having a pressing member configured to hold a polishing tape and press the polishing tape against a peripheral portion of a substrate from above; a tape supply and recovery mechanism configured to supply the polishing tape to the polishing head and recover the polishing tape from the polishing head; a first moving mechanism configured to move the polishing head in a radial direction of the substrate; and a second moving mechanism configured to move the tape supply and recovery mechanism in the radial direction of the substrate. The positioning unit includes a positioning block having a contacting surface, and alignment of the polishing tape is conducted by the second moving mechanism moving the tape supply and recovery mechanism so that a substrate-side edge of the polishing tape makes contact with the contacting surface.

A finishing device includes a finishing belt, a finishing belt holding device, a first drive configured to rotationally drive a workpiece about a workpiece axis, and a second drive configured to oscillate the workpiece and the finishing belt relative to another along the workpiece axis. The finishing belt holding device has a holding section configured to hold a portion of the finishing belt. The portion has an active area configured to finish a circumferential workpiece surface. The portion extends in a plane which is vertical when referring to the direction of gravity and extends in a horizontal direction when referring to the direction of gravity and when viewing in the running direction of the finishing belt. The finishing device includes a workpiece holding device defining a workpiece holding axis which is vertical when referring to the direction of gravity.

A wafer edge trimming tool includes an abrasive tape and a holding module configured to hold the abrasive tape against portions of an edge of a rotating wafer during a wafer edge trimming process.

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.

A polishing unit of a polishing apparatus according to an embodiment includes: a polishing head having a pressing member configured to hold a polishing tape and press the polishing tape against a peripheral portion of a substrate from above; a tape supply and recovery mechanism configured to supply the polishing tape to the polishing head and recover the polishing tape from the polishing head; a first moving mechanism configured to move the polishing head in a radial direction of the substrate; and a second moving mechanism configured to move the tape supply and recovery mechanism in the radial direction of the substrate. The positioning unit includes a positioning block having a contacting surface, and alignment of the polishing tape is conducted by the second moving mechanism moving the tape supply and recovery mechanism so that a substrate-side edge of the polishing tape makes contact with the contacting surface.