There is provided a processing method of grinding a workpiece. The processing method includes a holding step of holding the workpiece on a side of its front surface on a chuck table, a coarse grinding step of grinding the workpiece on a side of its back surface with first grinding stones until the workpiece has a predetermined thickness, an auxiliary grinding step of grinding the workpiece on the side of its back surface with the first grinding stones such that an unground region remains at an outer peripheral portion of the workpiece, an unground region grinding step of grinding the unground region with second grinding stones having an average abrasive grain size smaller than that of the first grinding stones, and a finish grinding step of grinding the workpiece on the side of its back surface with the second grinding stones until the workpiece has a predetermined finish thickness.

A processing apparatus configured to process a substrate includes a substrate holder having a substrate holding surface configured to attract and hold the substrate thereon; and an edge cleaning device configured to clean an edge portion of the substrate holding surface. Further, a processing method of processing a rear surface of the substrate by using the processing apparatus includes processing the rear surface of the substrate while a front surface of the substrate is attracted to and held by a substrate holding surface of a substrate holder; and cleaning an edge portion of the substrate holding surface.

A method and an apparatus for smart automation of robotic surface finishing of a three-dimensional surface of a work piece is described. A three-dimensional motion path is created along the surface of the work piece. A variable contact force profile is specified along the three-dimensional motion path. The three-dimensional motion path is modified based on the specified variable contact force profile. The surface of the work piece is finished using one or more surface finishing tools along the modified three-dimensional motion path. The surface of the work piece includes at least a flat region and a curved region.

In order to respond flexibly to various processing modes, such as forming curved surface shapes, when cutting a workpiece using a wire saw, this wire saw device (1) is provided with: a single robot arm (2) that is capable of moving freely by means of multi-axis control; a wire saw unit (3) that is detachably connected to the robot arm (2) via a tool changer (7); a wire (8) that spans a plurality of pulleys supported within the wire saw unit (3); and a workpiece cutting zone (20) that is established between the pulleys. The workpiece is cut to a prescribed shape by moving the robot arm (2) in a preset direction while running the wire (8) of the wire saw unit (3) and pressing the wire (8) against the supported workpiece.

A vacuum suction pad capable of making it more difficult to separate a substrate when the substrate is held by vacuum suction, the vacuum suction pad 8 including: a pad main body 37 having a lower surface adhered to a stage 5 of a substrate holder 2; and a plurality of circular arc-shaped substrate holding convexities 38, provided on a top surface of the pad main body 37, for holding a substrate W attracted by vacuum suction to the top surface of the pad main body 37, wherein the substrate holding convexities 38 are arranged concentrically with the circular pad main body 37, and width W1 in a radial direction of the substrate holding convexity 38 located on a radially outer side among the plurality of substrate holding convexities 38 is narrower than width W2 in the radial direction of the substrate holding convexity 38 on a radially inner side.

A carrying platform and an exposure method are provided. The carrying platform includes: a plurality of sub-stands, configured to co-carry an object. Each sub-stand includes: a platform having a first carrying surface; and a position adjusting unit disposed on a side of the platform away from the first carrying surface and configured to adjust at least one of height or inclined angle of the platform.

Provided is a technique that allows suppressing disengagement of a fitting portion of a band from a groove during the use of a top ring.

In a top ring 10 of a polishing apparatus 100, at least one of an outer peripheral wall 11 of a retainer member 30 and an outer peripheral wall 11 of a pressing mechanism 40 is provided with a groove 15 in which fitting portions 71a, 71b of a band 70 are fitted. The groove is a dovetail groove configured to have a groove opening, a groove bottom opposed to the groove opening, a first groove side wall connecting the groove opening to the groove bottom, and a second groove side wall connecting the groove opening to the groove bottom and opposed to the first groove side wall, in cross-sectional view, and the dovetail groove is configured such that an interval between the first groove side wall and the second groove side wall widens as the interval approaches the groove bottom. The fitting portion is configured to be in contact with the first groove side wall and the second groove side wall in a state where the fitting portion of the band is fitted in the dovetail groove.

A machine for processing a screen printing frame includes an upstream end and an opposed downstream end, a grinding assembly located between the upstream and downstream locations, wherein the grinding assembly includes a first grinder configured to grind a first pattern into the screen printing frame and a second grinder configured to grind a second pattern into the screen printing frame different from the first grinding pattern.

A wafer grinding method for grinding, by a grindstone, a reverse side of a wafer formed on a face side thereof with devices includes a protective member forming step of covering a whole area of the face side of the wafer with a protective member, a holding step of holding the wafer by a chuck table with the protective member therebetween, and a grinding step of grinding the reverse side of the wafer by the grindstone while supplying grinding water containing a surfactant to the grindstone and the wafer.

The invention relates to a method for the multi-stage grinding of workpieces (20) made of hard mineral materials using a robot (10). To this end, the workpiece (20) is moved into a processing region (21) and measured and/or oriented there by the robot (10). The robot (10) comprises a grinding head (11) by way of which it then takes up a first abrasive (14) preferably from a storage container (30) and starts a first grinding process. After the first grinding process is complete, the robot (10) releases the first abrasive (14) again and then takes up a second abrasive (14), preferably from the same or some other storage container (30). Then the robot (10) starts a second grinding process, and after the latter is complete, releases the second abrasive (14) again. One or more further grinding processes may be provided, but the grinding method can also be finished after the second grinding process. If further grinding processes are provided, the robot (10) first of all takes up the respective abrasive (14), carries out the grinding process and releases the abrasive (14) again. After the final grinding process is complete, the workpiece (20) is removed from the processing region (21). Furthermore, the invention also comprises a plant (26) for carrying out the method and a stripping device (40), a storage container (30) and a vacuum table (50), by means of which the method can be carried out.