Systems and methods for angle polishing of the end faces of a plurality of optical connectors are provided. Systems are provided that include a connector defining a longitudinal axis, and at least two ferrules mounted with respect to the connector and arranged in a side-by-side orientation. The end faces of the connectors are movable relative to the connector and such movement facilitates lateral orientation of the angle polished end faces of the ferrules relative to the connector when in the mating position. Various mechanisms and methods for facilitating movement of the ferrules relative to the connector are disclosed to achieve the desired lateral polish orientation of the ferrule end faces.

A polishing apparatus polishes a substrate by moving the substrate and a polishing pad relative to each other. The apparatus includes: an elastic modulus measuring device configured to measure an elastic modulus of the polishing pad, and a polishing condition adjustor configured to adjust polishing conditions of the substrate based on a measured value of the elastic modulus. The polishing conditions include pressure of a retaining ring, arranged around the substrate, exerted on the polishing pad and a temperature of the polishing pad.

A polishing apparatus is used for polishing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer. The polishing apparatus includes a substrate holder to hold a substrate and to rotate the substrate, a pressing member configured to press a polishing tool against the substrate and to polish the substrate, a pressing force control mechanism configured to control a pressing force of the pressing member, and a polishing position limiting mechanism configured to limit a polishing position of the pressing member. A polishing tape or a fixed abrasive is used as the polishing tool.

A wafer polishing process includes polishing a central area on the back side of a wafer, polishing a peripheral area on the back side of the wafer, buffing the central area, and buffing the peripheral area. The process can significantly reduce scratch-related wafer breakage, can correct focus spots on wafers, and can replace cleaning processes that use chemical etchants. Polishing and buffing can include polishing and buffing the bevel region. Further improvements include polishing with abrasive pads having a soft backing, polishing or buffing with pads having relatively soft abrasive particles, polishing or buffing with abrasive pads made from abrasive particles that have been sorted and selected for regularity of shape, irrigating the surface being polished or buffed with an aqueous solution that includes a friction-reducing agent, and buffing with abrasive pads having 20k or finer grit or non-abrasive pads.

A mirror-finishing chamfer polishing is applied using an abrasive-grain-free polishing solution to a chamfered portion of a semiconductor wafer having an oxide film on a top side or the top and bottom sides of the semiconductor wafer and having no oxide film on the chamfered portion. Further, prior to the mirror-finishing chamfer polishing, a pre-finish mirror chamfer polishing is applied using an abrasive-grain-containing polishing solution to the chamfered portion of the semiconductor wafer having the oxide film on the top side or the top and bottom sides and on the chamfered portion.

A grinding machine for edge grinding the peripheral wafer edge of a semiconductor wafer is configured for conducting an in situ dressing operation to refurbish or dress the peripheral grinding rim surface of a grinding wheel. The grinding machine includes at least one wafer-holding chuck, a grinding wheel, and a dressing tool that are linearly spaced apart and can be respectively moved relative to each other to selectively conduct the grinding and dressing operations. In one form plural grinding stations are disclosed.

A grinding method includes a holding step of holding a laminated wafer such that a wafer included in the laminated wafer is exposed, after the holding step, a first grinding step of grinding the wafer thicknesswise with respect to the wafer to remove part of a central region of the wafer and leave an outer circumferential region of the wafer that surrounds the central region unremoved, and after the first grinding step, a second grinding step of grinding the wafer thicknesswise with respect to the wafer to remove at least a portion of the outer circumferential region of the wafer. The load imposed on the laminated wafer in the second grinding step is smaller than the load imposed on the laminated wafer in the first grinding step.

A workpiece processing method includes holding a workpiece having a structure in which a first substrate is bonded to a second substrate, such that a side of the second substrate is held by an upper surface of a chuck table, after the holding, forming a trimmed portion along an outer edge of the workpiece by, while causing a ring-shaped cutting blade having an outer peripheral surface and a side surface to rotate, causing the rotating cutting blade to cut into the workpiece along the outer edge of the workpiece from a side of the first substrate to such a depth that the cutting blade reaches the second substrate, the trimmed portion having a bottom surface and a side surface, and polishing the bottom surface and the side surface of the trimmed portion by using a polishing pad.

A workpiece processing method includes: a first trimming step of cutting and removing the peripheral edge portion of the workpiece on the first wafer side while allowing a first cutting blade to cut into the peripheral edge portion; and a second trimming step of cutting and removing the peripheral edge while allowing a second cutting blade to cut into the peripheral edge portion from the first wafer side of the workpiece at a predetermined cut depth deeper than the cut depth of the first trimming step. The first trimming step includes rotating the first cutting blade in a rotation direction of cutting the workpiece from the second wafer side toward the first wafer side. The second trimming step includes rotating the second cutting blade in a rotation direction of cutting the workpiece from the first wafer side toward the second wafer side.

A method for processing semiconductor wafers includes obtaining measurement data from a surface of a semiconductor wafer processed by a front-end process tool. The method includes determining a center plane of the wafer based on the measurement data, generating raw shape profiles, and generating ideal shape profiles. The method further includes generating Gapi profiles based on the raw shape profiles and the ideal shape profiles, and calculating a Gapi value of the semiconductor wafer based on the Gapi profiles. The generated Gapi profiles and/or the calculated Gapi value may be used to tune the front-end process tool and/or sort the semiconductor wafer for polishing. Systems include at least a front-end process tool, a flatness measurement tool, and a computing device.