Abnormality is determined with respect to delivery of a substrate to a transfer stage from a substrate holding device for a substrate polishing process. A substrate processing apparatus includes an abnormality determiner that determines abnormal delivery of the substrate to the transfer stage from the substrate holding device, based on a time difference between a first timing at which a first sensor detects that the substrate is placed on a placement surface of the transfer stage, and a second timing at which a second sensor detects that the substrate is placed on the placement surface.

An information processing apparatus (5) includes: an information acquisition section (500) configured to acquire polishing condition information including top-ring vibration information indicating vibration of a top ring in chemical mechanical polishing of the substrate and top-ring sound information indicating sound generated from the top ring in the chemical mechanical polishing of the substrate performed by a substrate processing apparatus including a polishing table rotatably supporting the polishing pad and the top ring configured to press the substrate against the polishing pad; and a state prediction section (501) configured to predict substrate slip-out information for the polishing condition information by inputting the polishing condition information acquired by the information acquisition section (500) to a learning model (10A) that has been generated by machine learning that causes the learning model to learn a correlation between the polishing condition information and the substrate slip-out information indicating occurrence of slip out of the substrate on which the chemical mechanical polishing is performed.

A wafer polishing apparatus includes a base support; a polishing pad on the base support; a polishing head on an upper portion of the base support and configured to rotate; a polishing head support on the upper portion of the base support and connected to the polishing head, a retainer ring attached to a lower portion of the polishing head; an illumination device configured to provide light to at least a part of an inner surface of the retainer ring; and a camera device configured to capture an image of at least a part of the inner surface of the retainer ring while the polishing head rotates. The polishing head support may be configured to rotate on the base support such that the polishing head is on at least one of a treatment region or a maintenance region of the base support.

An apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing of a wafer includes a process chamber and a rotatable platen disposed inside the process chamber. A polishing pad is disposed on the platen and a wafer carrier is disposed on the platen. A slurry supply port is configured to supply slurry on the platen. A process controller is configured to control operation of the apparatus. A set of microphones is disposed inside the process chamber. The set of microphones is arranged to detect sound in the process chamber during operation of the apparatus and transmit an electrical signal corresponding to the detected sound. A signal processor is configured to receive the electrical signal from the set of microphones, process the electrical signal to enable detection of an event during operation of the apparatus, and in response to detecting the event, transmit a feedback signal to the process controller. The process controller is further configured to receive the feedback signal and initiate an action based on the received feedback signal.

A wafer grinding automation system is provided, which includes a frame, and a feeding unit, a first picking unit, a positioning unit, a reference wafer bearing unit, a second picking unit, a processing unit, a cleaning unit and a discharging unit that are arranged on the frame. Further included are an information collection unit configured to collect material and position information on wafers and reference wafers, and a control system for controlling the above units to transport and process wafers. Each unit is controlled by the information collection unit and the control system to implement automated transportation and processing of the wafers. An automated wafer grinding method is further provided, which adopts the above-mentioned wafer grinding automation system.

An apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing of a wafer includes a process chamber and a rotatable platen disposed inside the process chamber. A polishing pad is disposed on the platen and a wafer carrier is disposed on the platen. A slurry supply port is configured to supply slurry on the platen. A process controller is configured to control operation of the apparatus. A set of microphones is disposed inside the process chamber. The set of microphones is arranged to detect sound in the process chamber during operation of the apparatus and transmit an electrical signal corresponding to the detected sound. A signal processor is configured to receive the electrical signal from the set of microphones, process the electrical signal to enable detection of an event during operation of the apparatus, and in response to detecting the event, transmit a feedback signal to the process controller. The process controller is further configured to receive the feedback signal and initiate an action based on the received feedback signal.