A method and a system for planarizing a membrane is disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes providing a resilient membrane and planarizing the surface of the membrane with a conditioning tool. The planarized membrane may be used in chemical mechanical planarization of a wafer. The method further includes finishing the surface of a wafer with the planarized membrane.

A polishing pad includes a pad layer and one or more polishing structures over an upper surface of the pad layer, where each of the one or more polishing structures has a pre-determined shape and is formed at a pre-determined location of the pad layer, where the one or more polishing structures comprise at least one continuous line shaped segment extending along the upper surface of the pad layer, where each of the one or more polishing structures is a homogeneous material.

The invention relates to a mounting press for automatically mounting metallographic samples in mounting material, comprising: a pressing unit with the press cylinder, a feeding device for feeding mounting material, e.g. plastic granules, a sample loading table with a plurality of loading stations, on each of which the operator can place a sample to be mounted, a control device, a grinder and/or polisher, comprising: a device housing, at least one processing station for processing the underside of the sample, wherein the processing station comprises a grinding plate with a grinding disc for grinding the underside of the sample or a polishing plate for polishing the underside of the sample, a sample feeder with a sample removal position for providing the samples for a grinding and/or polishing process, a sample deposit position for depositing the samples after the grinding and/or polishing process, a grinding-/polishing head with a sample gripper for gripping a sample, wherein the grinding/polishing head with the sample gripper moves to the sample removal position and the sample gripper grips a sample, wherein the grinding-/polishing head with the sample gripper conveys the sample to the at least one processing station and the underside of the sample is ground or polished in the processing station, and wherein the grinding-/polishing head with the sample gripper moves the sample to the sample deposit position after the grinding or polishing process and possibly further processing steps and deposits the sample there, as well as an automated production line for mounting a plurality of samples and for processing the thus mounted samples by grinding and/or polishing samples in a program-controlled overall system comprising an automated mounting press and an automated grinder and polisher.

A substrate processing method which can increase the yield by reprocessing a substrate whose processing has been interrupted by a processing interruption command during a substrate processing is disclosed. A substrate processing method performs a predetermined processing of a substrate while sequentially transporting the substrate to a plurality of processing sections according to a preset recipe. The substrate processing method includes processing a substrate in one of the processing sections; interrupting the processing of the substrate by a processing interruption command during processing of the substrate; setting the substrate whose processing has been interrupted in a standby state; and customizing the recipe and performing reprocessing of the processing-interrupted substrate according to the customized recipe, or performing reprocessing of the processing-interrupted substrate according to a preset recipe for reprocessing.

A polishing system performs chemical-mechanical polishing of an object to be polished using an abrasive slurry. The polishing system includes a polishing amount calculator that measures an amount of free metal ions of a metallic element derived from the object to be polished in a processed slurry and calculates a polishing amount of the object to be polished from the amount of the free metal ions. The object to be polished is a glass containing the metallic element of Group 1 or Group 2 of a periodic table.

Methods for polishing semiconductor substrates are disclosed. The methods may involve alternating a first and second polishing slurry during polishing. The first and second slurries each contain silica particles with the silica particles of the first slurry containing more silica than the particles of the second slurry. By alternating between first and second polishing slurries, the polishing method may improve wafer flatness.

A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus, includes: a platen having a polishing pad attached to an upper surface thereof, and rotatably installed in one direction by a driving means, a slurry supply unit supplying a slurry including an abrasive and an additive having a zeta potential of a first polarity to the polishing pad, an electrode disposed below the polishing pad, a power supply unit applying a voltage including a DC pulse of a second polarity, opposite to the first polarity, to the electrode, and a polishing head installed on the polishing pad, and rotating a semiconductor substrate in contact with the polishing pad.

An apparatus for performing a polishing process includes: a rotatable polishing pad; a temperature sensor configured to monitor a temperature on a top surface of the rotatable polishing pad; a first dispenser configured to dispense a first slurry that is maintained at a first temperature on the rotatable polishing pad; and a second dispenser configured to dispense a second slurry that is maintained at a second temperature on the rotatable polishing pad, wherein the second temperature is different from the first temperature so as to maintain the temperature on the top surface of the rotatable polishing pad at a substantially constant value.

A chemical-mechanical polishing method includes placing a wafer onto a top side of a polish pad disposed on a platen; introducing a slurry through at least one first hole of the platen to the top side of the polish pad; polishing the wafer with the top side of the polish pad; introducing a gas through a second hole of the platen to the top side of the polish pad after polishing the wafer, wherein an opening diameter of the at least one first hole is greater than an opening diameter of the second hole; and moving the wafer away from the polish pad while introducing the gas is being performed.

A chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) tool includes a platen and a polishing pad attached to the platen, where a first surface of the polishing pad facing away from the platen includes a first polishing zone and a second polishing zone, where the first polishing zone is a circular region at a center of the first surface of the polishing pad, and the second polishing zone is an annular region around the first polishing zone, where the first polishing zone and the second polishing zone have different surface properties.