The present disclosure is to provide a polishing pad which is capable of providing physical properties corresponding to various polishing purposes for various polishing objects through the subdivided structural design in a thickness direction, and of securing environmental friendliness by applying a recycled or recyclable material to at least some components, in relation to disposal after use, unlike the conventional polishing pad. Specifically, it includes a polishing layer, wherein the polishing layer includes a polishing variable layer having a polishing surface; and a polishing constant layer disposed on a rear surface side of the polishing variable layer opposite to the polishing surface.

A wafer polishing head is provided. The wafer polishing head includes a carrier head, a plurality of piezoelectric actuators disposed on the carrier head, and a membrane disposed over the plurality of piezoelectric actuators. The plurality of piezoelectric actuators is configured to provide mechanical forces on the membrane and generate an electrical charge when receiving counterforces of the mechanical forces through the membrane. A wafer polishing system and a method for polishing a substrate using the same are also provided.

A polishing apparatus includes a polishing unit that rotatably supports a polishing pad for polishing a wafer held on a holding surface of a chuck table and that has a spindle formed with a through-hole extending from one end of the spindle to the other end of the spindle in an axis of the spindle. A thickness measuring unit is disposed at one end of the through-hole of the spindle that measures a thickness of the wafer. A controller obtains information regarding the thickness of the wafer measured by the thickness measuring unit at a position defined by a variation in a distance between a rotational center of the rotating wafer fed by a parallel feeding mechanism, a center of the other end of the through-hole facing the wafer, and a rotational angle of the chuck table, and forms mapping data regarding the thickness of the wafer.

Provided is a method of double-side polishing a wafer by which variations of the GBIR values of polished wafers between batches can be reduced. In the method of double-side polishing a wafer, a current batch includes measuring the center thickness of the wafer before polishing (S100); setting a target GBIR value within a predetermined range (S110); calculating a polishing time of the current batch based on Formula (1) (S120); and polishing both surfaces of the wafer for the calculated polishing time (S130).
Polishing time of current batch=polishing time of previous batch+A.sub.1×(center thickness of wafer before polishing in previous batch−center thickness of wafer before polishing in current batch)+A.sub.2×(GBIR value of wafer after polishing in previous batch−target GBIR value)+A.sub.3  (1), where A.sub.1, A.sub.2, and A.sub.3 are predetermined coefficients.

In a substrate polishing apparatus where a polishing liquid passes through inside a rotary joint, the rotary joint requires maintenance. There is provided a substrate polishing apparatus that includes: a polishing head for holding a substrate; a rotary table that has a surface to which a first opening portion is provided; a polishing liquid discharge mechanism disposed to the rotary table; and a controller configured to control at least the polishing liquid discharge mechanism. The polishing liquid discharge mechanism includes a first cylinder, a first piston, and a driving mechanism that drives the first piston. The first opening portion is communicated with a liquid holding space defined by the first cylinder and the first piston. The controller controls the driving of the first piston by the driving mechanism to increase and decrease a volume of the liquid holding space.

A CMP system includes a polishing apparatus configured to polish a wafer and roll cleaning apparatus, which includes a rotating roll brush configured to roll against a surface of the wafer during operation, a fluid supply system configured to apply a fluid on the surface of the wafer, and an array of liquid sensors configured to detect a distribution of the fluid on the surface of the wafer in areas that are not covered by the rotating roll brush.

The present invention relates to a polishing method and a polishing apparatus for polishing a substrate, such as a wafer. The present invention further relates to a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing the polishing apparatus to perform the polishing method. The polishing method includes: rotating a polishing table (3); and polishing a substrate (W) by pressing the substrate (W) against a polishing surface (2a). Polishing the substrate (W) includes a film-thickness profile adjustment process and a polishing-end-point detection process. The film-thickness profile adjustment process includes adjusting pressing forces on the substrate (W) against the polishing surface (2a) based on a plurality of film thicknesses, and determining a point in time at which a film-thickness index value has reached a film-thickness threshold value. The film-thickness index value is determined from at least one of the plurality of film thicknesses. The polishing-end-point detection process includes measuring a torque for rotating the polishing table (3) and determining a polishing end point based on the torque.

The sum of torques: the torque of the sun gear and the torque of the internal gear, and the ratio of the torques are controlled within predetermined ranges.

A polishing apparatus capable of preventing condensation on an inner surface of a transparent window provided in a polishing pad and capable of achieving accurate measuring of a film thickness is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a polishing pad having a polishing surface; a polishing head configured to press a workpiece against the polishing surface; a transparent window disposed in the polishing pad; a polishing table configured to support the polishing pad; an optical sensor head located below the transparent window and configured to direct light to the workpiece through the transparent window and receive reflected light from the workpiece through the transparent window; and a cooling device configured to cool a space between the transparent window and the optical sensor head.

A method of polishing a substrate having amorphous carbon layer deposited thereon removes protrusions on the ACL surface by using a soft pad with a low hardness and a polishing slurry containing non-spherical modified fumed silica with high friction force with the surface.