There is provided a processing apparatus that polishes the back surface side of a wafer on which devices are formed on the front surface side. The processing apparatus includes a chuck table that holds the wafer and rotates and a polishing unit that forms scratches on the back surface side of the wafer while polishing the back surface side of the wafer. The processing apparatus includes also a scratch determining unit that determines whether or not the scratches exist on the back surface side of the wafer polished by the polishing unit and an informing unit that informs that a region in which the scratches do not exist is included in the wafer when a region for which it has been determined that the scratches do not exist by the scratch determining unit is included in the wafer.

There is provided a processing apparatus that polishes the back surface side of a wafer on which devices are formed on the front surface side. The processing apparatus includes a chuck table that holds the wafer and rotates and a polishing unit that forms scratches on the back surface side of the wafer while polishing the back surface side of the wafer. The processing apparatus includes also a scratch determining unit that determines whether or not the scratches exist on the back surface side of the wafer polished by the polishing unit and an informing unit that informs that a region in which the scratches do not exist is included in the wafer when a region for which it has been determined that the scratches do not exist by the scratch determining unit is included in the wafer.

A polishing head system capable of precisely controlling a pressing force of a retainer member, such as a retainer ring, against a polishing pad. The polishing head system includes: a polishing head including an actuator configured to apply a pressing force to the workpiece, a retainer member arranged outside the actuator, and piezoelectric elements coupled to the retainer member; and a drive-voltage application device configured to apply voltages independently to the piezoelectric elements.

Provided is a polishing unit that can reduce penetration of a polishing slurry into a base material layer and that can prevent impairment in polishing performance. A polishing unit (10a) in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention includes: a polishing pad (100a) that includes a polishing layer (101) and a base material layer (103); and a surface plate (150), the base material layer (103) having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the polishing layer (101) and greater than a diameter of the surface plate (150).

A wafer polishing apparatus includes a base support; a polishing pad on the base support; a polishing head on an upper portion of the base support and configured to rotate; a polishing head support on the upper portion of the base support and connected to the polishing head, a retainer ring attached to a lower portion of the polishing head; an illumination device configured to provide light to at least a part of an inner surface of the retainer ring; and a camera device configured to capture an image of at least a part of the inner surface of the retainer ring while the polishing head rotates. The polishing head support may be configured to rotate on the base support such that the polishing head is on at least one of a treatment region or a maintenance region of the base support.

A CMP tool including a polisher head with an over-rotation restrictor mechanism is operative to counteract a rotational difference between an inner body of the polisher head and an outer body of the polisher head that are coupled by a rolling seal. In one arrangement, the over-rotation restrictor mechanism comprises a plurality of rotation lock pins provided with a rotational component of the polisher head, e.g., the outer body, and a corresponding plurality of restrictor receptacles provided with another rotational component of the polisher head, e.g., the inner body, wherein the rotation lock pins may be engaged with respective restrictor receptacles for arresting the rotational difference between the two rotational components.

The present invention relates to a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus for polishing a workpiece, such as a metal body, to a mirror finish. The chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes: a polishing pad (2) having an annular polishing surface (2a) which has a curved vertical cross-section; a workpiece holder (11) for holding a workpiece (W) having a polygonal shape; a rotating device (15) configured to rotate the workpiece holder (11) about an axis of the workpiece (W); a pressing device (14) configured to press a periphery of the workpiece (W) against the annular polishing surface (2a); and an operation controller (25) configured to change a speed at which the rotating device (15) rotates the workpiece (W) according to a rotation angle of the workpiece (W). The pressing device (14) is disposed more inwardly than the workpiece holder (11) in a radial direction of the polishing table (3).

The present invention relates to a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus for polishing a workpiece, such as a metal body, to a mirror finish. The chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes: a polishing pad (2) having an annular polishing surface (2a) which has a curved vertical cross-section; a workpiece holder (11) for holding a workpiece (W) having a polygonal shape; a rotating device (15) configured to rotate the workpiece holder (11) about an axis of the workpiece (W); a pressing device (14) configured to press a periphery of the workpiece (W) against the annular polishing surface (2a); and an operation controller (25) configured to change a speed at which the rotating device (15) rotates the workpiece (W) according to a rotation angle of the workpiece (W). The pressing device (14) is disposed more inwardly than the workpiece holder (11) in a radial direction of the polishing table (3).

An observation and photography apparatus that has a polishing mechanism attached thereto. The polishing mechanism is provided with a turntable with a perpendicular rotation shaft, a polishing cloth for polishing the surface of a sample attached to the bottom surface of the turntable, and a polishing-fluid spraying nozzle disposed below the polishing cloth for spraying polishing fluid containing polishing material upward to we the polishing cloth.

An observation and photography apparatus that has a polishing mechanism attached thereto. The polishing mechanism is provided with a turntable with a perpendicular rotation shaft, a polishing cloth for polishing the surface of a sample attached to the bottom surface of the turntable, and a polishing-fluid spraying nozzle disposed below the polishing cloth for spraying polishing fluid containing polishing material upward to we the polishing cloth.