A substrate polishing apparatus includes a processing station including a plurality of polishing platens having a polishing pad thereon, and a substrate support configured to hold a substrate therein, wherein the substrate support is positionable to simultaneously position a substrate supported therein against polishing pads on at least two of the plurality of polishing platens. The processing station can form a standalone polishing system, or be one of at least two processing statins in a polishing tool, where at least one other polishing station includes a polishing platen to support a polishing pad thereon.

A method and apparatus for dispensing polishing fluids and onto a polishing pad within a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system are disclosed herein. In particular, embodiments herein relate to a CMP system with a first fluid delivery arm and a second fluid delivery arm disposed over the polishing pad to dispense liquid, such as a polishing fluid or water. The first fluid delivery arm is disposed over at least 50% of the radius of the polishing pad, while the second fluid delivery arm is disposed over less than 50% of the radius of the polishing pad. The second fluid delivery arm is configured to dispense either a polishing fluid or a water onto the polishing pad to effect the polishing rate at the edge of the substrate.

A learning device includes a learning unit that executes learning of determining a corrected polishing condition by updating an action value function based on state information including at least one polishing condition and a calculation result calculated based on at least one measured value during polishing.

A method and system for polishing a plurality of workpieces is disclosed. The method and system comprises providing a polishing tool with multiple polishing heads; and providing a substrate tray that can hold the plurality of work pieces in a fixed position on a tray underneath the polishing heads. The system and method includes moving the tray within the polisher. Finally, the method and system includes configuring the multiple polishing heads with the appropriate pad/slurry combinations to polish the workpieces and to create a finished polished surface on the plurality of work pieces.

A system and method for sequential single-sided CMP processing of opposite facing surfaces of a silicon carbide (SiC) substrate are disclosed. A method includes urging a first surface of a substrate against one of plurality of polishing pads, wherein the plurality of polishing pads are disposed on corresponding ones of a plurality of rotatable polishing platens. The method includes transferring, using the first side of the end effector, the substrate from the substrate carrier loading station to a substrate alignment station. The method includes transferring, using the first side of the end effector, the substrate from the substrate alignment station to a substrate carrier loading station. The method includes urging a second surface of the substrate against one of the plurality of polishing platens.

Semiconductor wafers, are processed using minimally three processing operations: a first double-sided polishing operation, a second chemical-mechanical polishing operation and an epitaxial coating operation. A control system for conducting the method defines at least one operating parameter for the processing operations specifically based on at least one wafer parameter measured on the semiconductor wafer after processing in at least one processing operation, based on an actual state of a processing apparatus with which the respective processing operation is conducted, and based on optimizing wafer parameters for flatness after the wafer has undergone all three processing operations instead of optimizing each individual processing step for optimal flatness.

A chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) system includes a head, a polishing pad, and a magnetic system. The slurry used in the CMP process contains magnetizable abrasives. Application and control of a magnetic field, by the magnetic system, allows precise control over how the magnetizable abrasives in the slurry may be drawn toward the wafer or toward the polishing pad.

A dressing apparatus includes a bus member which is equipped with a ceiling plate and a circular or polygonal cylindrical skirt portion provided at a bottom surface of the ceiling plate and which is configured to accommodate a polishing pad from thereabove. The bus member includes a dual fluid nozzle configured to jet a cleaning liquid and a gas onto a polishing surface of the polishing pad; a dress board configured to come into contact with the polishing surface of the polishing pad; and a rinse nozzle configured to supply a rinse liquid onto a contact surface between the polishing surface of the polishing pad and the dress board. A cleaning liquid, a fragment of a grindstone or a sludge is suppressed from being scattered around by the skirt portion.

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.

An apparatus and a method which can perform different processes, such as polishing and cleaning, on a surface of a substrate, such as a wafer, with a single processing head, and can process the surface of the substrate efficiently are disclosed. The apparatus includes: a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate and rotate the substrate; and a processing head configured to bring scrubbing tapes into contact with a first surface of the substrate to process the first surface. The processing head includes: pressing members arranged to press the scrubbing tapes against the first surface of the substrate; position switching devices configured to be able to switch positions of the pressing members between processing positions and retreat positions; tape feeding reels configured to feed the scrubbing tapes, respectively; and tape take-up reels configured to take up the scrubbing tapes, respectively.