A polishing pad for polishing a workpiece to a mirror finish is attached to a rotatable polishing table of a chemical mechanical polishing apparatus. The workpiece, such as a metal body, is held by a carrier and pressed against the polishing pad. This polishing pad includes: an elastic pad having a polishing surface; a deformable base layer that supports the elastic pad; and an adhesive layer that joins the elastic pad to the base layer.

A wafer processing method includes a first grinding step and a second grinding step. In the first grinding step, first grinding abrasives are moved in a processing feed direction that is a direction orthogonal to a holding surface of a chuck table of grinding apparatus and a wafer is ground to form a first circular recess in the back surface of the wafer. In the second grinding step, second grinding abrasives formed of finer abrasive grains than the first grinding abrasives are moved down in an oblique direction from the center side of the wafer toward the periphery of the wafer and the first circular recess is ground.

Provided are multilayered abrasive articles that include an abrasive composite having shaped features, a carrier film, and a nonwoven web, where the nonwoven web and the carrier film have respective patterns of discrete, three-dimensional protrusions that are aligned with each other. A compressible foam backing extending across a major surface of the nonwoven web opposite the carrier film. Further provided are multilayered abrasive articles that include an abrasive composite, a carrier film, and a non-woven web. The nonwoven web and the carrier film have respective patterns of discrete, three-dimensional protrusions that are aligned with each other and the shaped features and the three-dimensional protrusions of the nonwoven web have an average diameter:average diameter ratio ranging from 1:50 to 1:5.

An end point detection method is provided for detecting an end point based on a drive current supplied to a drive unit that rotates and drives one of a polishing table and a holding unit. The end point detection method includes: a step (S102) of determining whether a polishing condition of a polishing process to be executed coincides with a preset specific polishing condition; a step (S103) of adjusting a current control parameter in a drive control unit that controls the drive current, the current control parameter related to a change in the drive current with respect to a change in a driving load of the drive unit, if it is determined that the polishing condition coincides with the specific polishing condition; and a step (S105) of detecting the drive current supplied to the drive unit based on the adjusted current control parameter.

A backgrind (BG) tape includes an adhesive material having a thinner tape region with a first thickness having an area sized to accommodate a substrate therein including an active semiconductor top side surface including a plurality of chips each including at least one transistor and at least one metallization level with bond pads connected to nodes of the transistor and bumps on or coupled to the bond pads. The BG tape also includes a thicker tape region along at least a periphery of the BG tape having a second thickness that is greater than the first thickness.

A magnetic polishing machine includes a container which accommodates a polishing target and a plurality of polishing pieces, a plurality of rotation plates which are rotatably disposed below the container while a magnet is attached to the rotation plate, and a first rotation mechanism which rotates each rotation plate about a rotation axis of the rotation plate. The adjacent rotation plates are disposed at a position in which rotation areas thereof partially overlap each other.

The present disclosure describes an apparatus and a method for a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process that recycles used slurry as another slurry supply. The apparatus includes a pad on a rotation platen, a first feeder and a second feeder where each of the first and the second feeder is fluidly connected to a respective flow regulator and configured to dispense a first and a second slurry on the pad, a flotation module configured to provide a recycled slurry, and a detection module configured to detect a polishing characteristic associated with polishing the substrate. The flotation module further includes an inlet configured to provide a fluid sprayed from the pad and a tank configured to store chemicals that include a frother and a collector configured to chemically bond with the fluid.

A RAMO.sub.4 substrate is formed from single crystal represented by a formula of RAMO.sub.4 (in the formula, R indicates one or a plurality of trivalent elements selected from a group consisting of Sc, In, Y, and a lanthanoid element, A indicates one or a plurality of trivalent elements selected from a group consisting of Fe(III), Ga, and Al, and M indicates one or a plurality of bivalent elements selected form a group consisting of Hg, Mn, Fe(II), Co, Cu, Zn, and Cd). An epitaxially-grown surface is provided on at least one surface of the RAMO.sub.4 substrate. The epitaxially-grown surface includes a plurality of cleavage surfaces which are regularly distributed, and are separated from each other.

Disclosed herein are an etching apparatus and method that are capable of performing an etching process in the state where a flexible film is wound around a drum-type jig, and a flexible film etched by the etching method. The etching apparatus includes a process tank containing an etchant therein, a drum-type jig rotatably provided in the process tank to be immersed into the etchant in a state where a flexible film on which a thin film is formed is wound around the drum-type jig, and a drum-type jig driver configured to rotate the drum-type jig. The etching apparatus has a compact structure to efficiently perform the etching process on the large area flexible film on which the thin film is formed.

Containment and exhaust systems for substrate polishing components are disclosed. In one aspect, a substrate carrier head, includes a polishing pad, a substrate carrier head configured to retain a wafer against the polishing pad, an atomizer configured to atomize a liquid and spread a layer of the atomized liquid over a surface area of the polishing pad, and a chamber configured to contain and exhaust the atomized liquid.