A grinding apparatus has a hermetically sealed chamber defined by a portion of a holding surface which extends radially outwardly from a wafer, an outer wall surface of a first annular packing, a lower surface of a plate, and an inner wall surface of a second annular packing. A negative pressure is developed by suction forces applied from the holding surface, allowing the atmospheric pressure to press the plate toward the holding surface and causing the first annular packing to press an outer circumferential portion of the wafer against the holding surface. Since the outer circumferential portion of the wafer is pressed against the holding surface under the suction forces from the holding surface and the atmospheric pressure, the forces pressing the outer circumferential portion of the wafer against the holding surface are increased easily at a low cost without increasing the size and weight of the grinding apparatus.

A method of processing a wafer having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface is provided. The method includes the steps of: holding the second surface of the wafer such that the first surface thereof is exposed; processing an exposed first surface side of an outer circumferential edge portion of the wafer with a processing tool including a grinding stone made of abrasive grains bound together by a bonding material, thereby forming on the outer circumferential edge portion a slanted surface that is inclined to the first surface so as to be progressively closer to the second surface in a direction from a central area of the wafer toward an outer circumferential edge thereof; and coating the first surface of the wafer with a liquid material according to a spin coating process, thereby forming a resist film on the first surface of the wafer.

A workpiece fixing device for fixing a workpiece by vacuum for machining thereof includes a support device on which the workpiece can be laid for fixing, and at least one vacuum chamber which is formed starting from the support device. The workpiece fixing device has a first fixing region and a second fixing region different from the first fixing region. The support device has a first support channel profile in the first fixing region and a second support channel profile different from the first support channel profile in the second fixing region.

Stored is a height of a grinding mechanism when lower surfaces of grinding stones have come into contact with an upper surface of a wafer held on a holding surface, through lowering of the grinding mechanism from above the wafer. Based on this height, an origin point height which is a height of the grinding mechanism when the lower surfaces of the grinding stones have come into contact with the holding surface is then determined.

A NMQL grinding device of ultrasonic vibration assists grinding fluid micro-channel infiltration, and solves the problem that nanofluids are difficult to fully infiltrate the grinding zone in the prior art. Fully considers the impact of thickness of undeformed grinding debris on the grinding process and the lubrication state of single grains during material removal in the grinding process, the advantage of ultrasonic vibration assistance on improving the lubri-cooling performance of NMQL grinding is effectively achieved. According to the solution, the device includes an ultrasonic vibration mechanism capable of adjusting the spatial position of ultrasonic vibrators, the mechanism being arranged on a worktable; a NMQL grinding mechanism, arranged above a workpiece fixing table; and a grinding force measuring mechanism, including a dynamometer and a grinding force controller connected with the dynamometer, the dynamometer being arranged at the bottom of the ultrasonic vibration mechanism.

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.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a high-flatness substrate holding table. According to a first aspect, a substrate processing apparatus is provided, and such a substrate processing apparatus includes a table for holding a substrate, a resin film attached to a top surface of the table and a heater provided inside the table, and the top surface of the table is formed of ceramics, the top surface of the table includes an opening connectable to a vacuum source, the resin film is formed of polyimide, and a through hole is formed at a position corresponding to the opening of the table when attached to the top surface of the table.

A vacuum chuck includes: a vacuum chuck stage having a circular vacuum surface; a vacuum protection pad provided to the vacuum surface; an annular or arc-shaped concave portion dividing the vacuum surface into a central region located closer to a center of the vacuum surface and an outer circumferential region located on an outer circumferential side; and radially-extending concave portions formed in the central region. The vacuum protection pad has through holes in communication with the radially-extending concave portions, and the vacuum protection pad is bonded to the vacuum surface at the central region excluding the radially-extending concave portions.

A support base supports a plate-shaped workpiece. The support base includes a flat plate-shaped box member having a support face for supporting a workpiece and a placement face that is a face on the opposite side to the support face and is placed on a holding face of a chuck table, a temperature measurement unit accommodated in the box member, and a battery accommodated in the box member and serving as a power supply for the temperature measurement unit. The temperature measurement unit includes a temperature measuring instrument that measures a temperature at the support face, and a recording unit that records the temperature measured by the temperature measuring instrument.

In a machine and in a method for processing lateral edges of glass plates, plates of stone material, and plates of synthetic material, there is a group of gripping members of the plate configured to hold a plate in a horizontal position. The plate is caused to advance in a conveying longitudinal direction, in such a way as to bring a lateral edge of the plate to engage in succession an aligned series of grinding tools forming part of a stationary machining unit. In one example, the group of gripping members of the plate is rotatably carried around a vertical axis by a carriage, which is movable in the conveying longitudinal direction and in a transverse direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. The gripping members are carried by the carriage in such a way as to be adjustable in position, by means of electronically-controlled actuator devices, with respect to the carriage and relative to each other.