A polishing apparatus capable of preventing wear of rollers which are to transmit a load to a retainer ring and capable of preventing wear particles from escaping outside is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a retainer ring disposed so as to surround the substrate and configured to press the polishing surface while rotating together with a head body; a rotary ring secured to the retainer ring and configured to rotate together with the retainer ring; a stationary ring disposed on the rotary ring; and a local-load exerting device configured to apply a local load to a part of the retainer ring through the rotary ring and the stationary ring. The rotary ring has rollers which are in contact with the stationary ring.

A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes providing a polishing pad which includes a first region and a second region separated from each other by a fence, loading a wafer onto the first region, providing a slurry solution onto the first region, providing an ultrapure water onto the second region, turning the polishing pad to polish a surface of the wafer, and unloading the wafer from the polishing pad after polishing on the surface of the wafer is completed, wherein the fence includes a first fence extending from a center of the polishing pad toward an edge of the polishing pad in a first horizontal direction, and a second fence extending from the center of the polishing pad toward the edge of the polishing pad in a second horizontal direction different from the first horizontal direction.

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.

Polishing systems and methods are described. An exemplar polishing system includes: (i) a jig designed to secure mobile device; (ii) a polishing head designed to contact and polish a mobile device surface; (iii) a spindle disposed above the jig and fitted with the polishing head; (iv) a slurry dispenser arranged adjacent to the spindle and designed to store and dispense polishing slurry on the mobile device surface; and (v) a central controller programmed to control operation of the jig, the spindle, and the slurry dispenser such that during an operative state of the jig and the spindle, and under control of the central controller, the slurry dispenser dispenses polishing slurry to facilitate polishing of the mobile device surface.

A polishing apparatus which is an index system polishing apparatus which includes a polishing head for holding a wafer, a plurality of turn tables to which polishing pads for polishing the wafer are attached, and a loading/unloading stage for loading the wafer to the polishing head or unloading the wafer from the polishing head, and which polishes the wafer while switching the turn tables to be used for polishing the wafer held at the polishing head by causing the polishing head to perform rotation movement, the polishing apparatus including a turn table upward and downward movement mechanism which allows the turn table to move upward and downward. With this polishing apparatus, it is possible to reduce an amount of displacement caused when moment load is applied on the polishing head during polishing.

A SiC wafer is processed by a laser beam having a wavelength that transmits SiC to form a peeling plane in a region of the wafer which corresponds to a device area of a first surface of the wafer. A plurality of devices demarcated by a plurality of intersecting projected dicing lines in the device area are formed on the first surface. An annular groove is formed on a second surface of the wafer which is opposite the first surface, in a boundary region of the wafer between the device area and an outer peripheral excessive area surrounding the device area. A portion of the wafer which is positioned radially inwardly of the annular groove is peeled from the peeling plane, thereby thinning the device area and forming an annular stiffener area on a region of the second surface which corresponds to the outer peripheral excessive area.

We describe an apparatus for controlling a thickness of a workpiece element, the apparatus comprising: a lapping machine having a lapping plate; and a holder to hold a workpiece element; wherein said holder comprises: a workpiece element mount to mount a workpiece element to be lapped such that a surface of said workpiece element lies substantially flush with a lower face of said holder; an adjustable actuator to controllably move said surface of said workpiece element so that it remains substantially flush or projects beyond said lower face of said holder during lapping; means for urging said holder towards said lapping plate; and a sensor for sensing a displacement of the workpiece element towards said lapping plate.

Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to planarization of surfaces on substrates and on layers formed on substrates, including an apparatus for in-situ temperature control during polishing, and methods of using the same. More specifically, implementations of the present disclosure relate to in-situ temperature control with a condensed gas during a chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) process. In one implementation, the method comprises polishing one or more substrates against a polishing surface in the presence of a polishing fluid during a polishing process to remove a portion of a material formed on the one or more substrates. A temperature of the polishing surface is monitored during the polishing process. Carbon dioxide snow is delivered to the polishing surface in response to the monitored temperature to maintain the temperature of the polishing surface at a target value during the polishing process.

An article that includes a substrate and an amorphous, covalently-bonded layer on the surface of the substrate. The substrate may be a crystalline ceramic and/or may have a surface with a first surface roughness (Ra) of at least 100 angstroms, and the amorphous, covalently-bonded layer has a second surface roughness (Ra) of up to 15 angstroms. The substrate may have a dimension of at least 50 mm, and the amorphous, covalently-bonded layer may have a thickness of at least five micrometers. A method of making an article is also disclosed. The method includes forming an amorphous, covalently-bonded layer on the surface of the substrate by plasma deposition and, in some embodiments, polishing the amorphous, covalently-bonded layer to a second surface roughness (Ra) of up to 15 angstroms. The amorphous, covalently-bonded layer in the article and method includes silicon, oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen atoms.

A polishing apparatus includes a chuck table, a rotation mechanism that rotates the chuck table around a predetermined rotation axis, a polishing unit that has a spindle and in which a polishing pad for polishing the wafer sucked and held by the holding surface is mounted on a lower end part of the spindle, a slurry supply unit, and a cleaning unit that cleans the holding surface. The cleaning unit has a cleaning abrasive stone for removing the slurry that adheres to the holding surface through getting contact with the holding surface and a positioning unit that positions the cleaning abrasive stone to a cleaning position at which the cleaning abrasive stone gets contact with the holding surface and an evacuation position at which the cleaning abrasive stone is separate from the holding surface. Hardness of the cleaning abrasive stone is lower than the hardness of the holding surface.