A grinding apparatus including a chuck table for holding a wafer, a grinding unit having a spindle for rotating a grinding wheel, an inclination adjusting unit for adjusting the inclination of the rotation axis of the chuck table with respect to the rotation axis of the spindle, a touch panel, and a control portion. The control portion is adapted to compare the information regarding the target sectional shape input into a target shape input field with the information regarding the present sectional shape input into a present shape input field and then control the inclination adjusting unit to change the inclination of the rotation axis of the chuck table so that the wafer is ground to obtain the target sectional shape of the wafer.

Included are a polishing table provided with an eddy current sensor, the polishing table configured to rotate; a polishing head configured to face the polishing table, the polishing head configured to rotate, the polishing head having a surface which faces the polishing table and to which a substrate is configured to be attached; and a processor configured to generate preprocessed data on a target substrate by executing predetermined preprocessing on an output signal when the eddy current sensor is at each position facing a target substrate during polishing processing of a target substrate to determine a metal line height at at least one position of the target substrate by inputting preprocessed data on the target substrate to a learned machine learning model using a learning data set in which data after predetermined preprocessing is executed on an output signal when the eddy current sensor is at each position facing a substrate is set as an input and a metal line height at at least one position of the substrate is set as an output.

A polishing apparatus capable of obtaining a desired film thickness profile is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a polishing unit; a film thickness measuring device for measuring a film thickness profile of a substrate; and a controller for controlling at least operations of the polishing unit and the film thickness measuring device. The controller stores in advance a response model which is created by taking into consideration variation in an amount of polishing between monitored areas of the substrate due to variations in a pressure of a pressurized fluid supplied to each of pressure chambers. Further, the controller obtains a film thickness profile of the substrate before polishing by use of a film thickness measuring device, and causes the substrate to be polished with an optimized polishing recipe created based on the response model and a target polishing amount, which is a difference between the film thickness profile of the substrate before polishing and the target film thickness of the substrate. A next substrate is polished with a new optimized polishing recipe which is created based on a target polishing amount of the next substrate and a response model corrected by use of the optimized polishing recipe and film thickness profiles of the substrate before and after polishing.

A polishing apparatus capable of obtaining a desired film thickness profile is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a polishing unit; a film thickness measuring device for measuring a film thickness profile of a substrate; and a controller for controlling at least operations of the polishing unit and the film thickness measuring device. The controller stores in advance a response model which is created by taking into consideration variation in an amount of polishing between monitored areas of the substrate due to variations in a pressure of a pressurized fluid supplied to each of pressure chambers. Further, the controller obtains a film thickness profile of the substrate before polishing by use of a film thickness measuring device, and causes the substrate to be polished with an optimized polishing recipe created based on the response model and a target polishing amount, which is a difference between the film thickness profile of the substrate before polishing and the target film thickness of the substrate. A next substrate is polished with a new optimized polishing recipe which is created based on a target polishing amount of the next substrate and a response model corrected by use of the optimized polishing recipe and film thickness profiles of the substrate before and after polishing.

A wafer grinding method includes grinding a central portion of a wafer by using a plurality of abrasive members annularly arranged so as to form a circular ring, thereby forming a circular recess at the central portion of the wafer and simultaneously forming an annular projection around the circular recess, recognizing a height of a grinding unit after grinding the center by using a height recognizing unit and next storing the height recognized above, and grinding an upper surface of the annular projection to a predetermined value for a height of the annular projection previously set by a setting section as a grinding end height where the grinding of the annular projection by the grinding unit is ended.

A processing apparatus used in processing a workpiece having a device in each of a plurality of regions that includes a chuck table holding the workpiece, positioning means positioning the workpiece before grinding, resin coating means including a rotatable spinner table for coating the workpiece with a resin, cleaning means, a grinding unit, and a transfer unit. The transfer unit includes a first transfer unit transferring the workpiece from the positioning means to the spinner table and from the spinner table to the chuck table, a second transfer unit transferring the workpiece from the chuck table to the cleaning means, and a front/back surface inversion transfer unit taking over the workpiece from the cleaning means to the second transfer unit.

A processing apparatus used in processing a workpiece having a device in each of a plurality of regions that includes a chuck table holding the workpiece, positioning means positioning the workpiece before grinding, resin coating means including a rotatable spinner table for coating the workpiece with a resin, cleaning means, a grinding unit, and a transfer unit. The transfer unit includes a first transfer unit transferring the workpiece from the positioning means to the spinner table and from the spinner table to the chuck table, a second transfer unit transferring the workpiece from the chuck table to the cleaning means, and a front/back surface inversion transfer unit taking over the workpiece from the cleaning means to the second transfer unit.

An apparatus for automated polishing of an object with multiple facets includes a polishing wheel, a robotic arm, a sensor and a controller. The robotic arm positions the object in contact with the polishing wheel. The sensor senses a polishing related parameter during polishing of the object with the polishing wheel. The controller operates the robotic arm to rotate the object about an axis perpendicular to the polishing wheel, receives a sensing signal from said sensor at different orientations of said object during polishing and selects a polishing orientation from the different orientations based on said sensing signal.

There is provided a polishing amount estimation device which can facilitate the setting of parameters of teaching trajectory or force control in a polishing operation. A polishing amount estimation device for estimating a polishing amount in a polishing operation which is performed by bringing a polishing tool mounted on a robot manipulator into contact with a target workpiece by force control includes a memory which stores a motion program, and a polishing amount estimation part configured to estimate the polishing amount based on at least one of a motion trajectory of the polishing tool, a movement speed of the polishing tool, and a pressing force of the polishing tool against the target workpiece, which are obtained based on the motion program.

There is provided a polishing amount estimation device which can facilitate the setting of parameters of teaching trajectory or force control in a polishing operation. A polishing amount estimation device for estimating a polishing amount in a polishing operation which is performed by bringing a polishing tool mounted on a robot manipulator into contact with a target workpiece by force control includes a memory which stores a motion program, and a polishing amount estimation part configured to estimate the polishing amount based on at least one of a motion trajectory of the polishing tool, a movement speed of the polishing tool, and a pressing force of the polishing tool against the target workpiece, which are obtained based on the motion program.