A substrate holder capable of preventing an increase in a polishing rate of an edge portion of a substrate, even when polishing a plurality of substrates successively, is disclosed. The substrate holder includes: a top ring body configured to hold the substrate; and a retaining ring disposed so as to surround the substrate held by the top ring body. The retaining ring includes a pad pressing structure in an annular shape which is to be brought into contact with the polishing pad, and the pad pressing structure has a width in a range of 3 mm to 7.5 mm.

A polishing apparatus capable of enabling a user to know a frequency and a trend of a retry operation of retrying a substrate release operation is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a substrate holder configured to press a substrate against a polishing pad; a fluid ejection system configured to eject a fluid into a gap between the substrate and a flexible membrane for releasing the substrate from a substrate holding surface; an operation controller configured to instruct the fluid ejection system to perform a retry operation of ejecting the fluid again in a case where the release of the wafer has failed; and a monitoring device configured to store a historical information of the retry operation.

The invention suppresses generation of noises attributable to rotation of a rotary joint. A rotary joint includes a rotating body that rotates on a rotating axis A, a housing disposed so as to surround the rotating body, and at least one bearing disposed between the rotating body and the housing and adapted to support rotation of the rotating body. The rotary joint supplies fluids through fluid connection ports formed in the housing and fluid passages formed inside the rotating body to a polishing table having attached thereto a polishing pad for polishing a substrate or a holding portion that is adapted to hold the substrate while pressing the substrate against the polishing pad. At least one elastic member is interposed at least either between the rotating body and the at least one bearing or between the housing and the at least one bearing.

A polishing apparatus includes: a polishing table 12 for holding a polishing pad; a first electric motor 14 that rotationally drives the polishing table 12; a first rotary joint 40 that has a rotating body 41 that is rotationally driven by the first electric motor 14, a housing 42 provided around the rotating body 41, and a seal portion 44 that seals between the rotating body 41 and the housing 42; a second current sensor 31 that detects a current which is correlated with driving load of the first electric motor 14; a friction detecting unit 50 that detects sliding friction in the seal portion 44 of the first rotary joint 40; and an end point detecting apparatus 60 that detects a polishing end point of the polishing target on the basis of the current and the sliding friction.

A method of polishing a SiC substrate by supplying a polishing liquid and bringing a polishing pad into contact with the SiC substrate is provided. The polishing liquid contains a permanganate, inorganic salts having an oxidizing ability, and water. The method includes: a first polishing step of polishing the SiC substrate by use of a first polishing pad; and a second polishing step of polishing the SiC substrate by use of a second polishing pad softer than the first polishing pad after the first polishing step.

Embodiments of apparatus and method for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) are disclosed. In an example, an apparatus for CMP includes a platen, a slurry supply, and at least one scraping fixture. The platen is configured to rotate a pad thereon about a central axis of the pad. The slurry supply is configured to supply a slurry onto the pad while the pad rotates. The at least one scraping fixture is configured to scrape the slurry off the pad when the slurry travels a distance between the slurry supply and the at least one scraping fixture in a circumferential direction of the pad as the pad rotates.

There is provided a device and method for accurately positioning a substrate on a stage by a simple method using power of a movement mechanism provided for a movable stage. A substrate holding device for holding a substrate is provided. The substrate holding device includes a substrate stage for supporting the substrate, a stage drive mechanism for causing the substrate stage to move, positioning pin for positioning the substrate on the substrate stage, first urging members each urging the positioning pin, and a stopper member capable of applying a force against the urging member to the positioning pin. The positioning pin is configured to move together with the substrate stage by the stage drive mechanism. The positioning pin moving together with the substrate stage allows the substrate to be positioned on the substrate stage.

A chemical mechanical polishing apparatus includes a rotatable platen to hold a polishing pad, a carrier to hold a substrate against a polishing surface of the polishing pad during a polishing process, and a temperature control system including a source of heated or coolant fluid and a plenum having a plurality of openings positioned over the platen and separated from the polishing pad for delivering the fluid onto the polishing pad, wherein at least some of the openings are each configured to deliver a different amount of the fluid onto the polishing pad.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate holder, a first cleaning body, a first moving mechanism, a second cleaning body, a second moving mechanism, and a controller. The first cleaning body cleans one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder by ejecting fluid thereto or by coming into contact therewith. The second cleaning body cleans the other one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder by coming into contact therewith. The controller controls the first moving mechanism and the second moving mechanism to perform a both-surface cleaning processing in which the first cleaning body which ejects the fluid to one surface or is in contact with the upper surface and the second cleaning body which is in contact with the lower surface are horizontally moved in synchronization with each other.

A method for CMP includes following operations. A dielectric structure is received. The dielectric structure includes a metal layer stack formed therein. The metal layer stack includes at least a first metal layer and a second metal layer, and the first metal layer and the second metal layer are exposed through a surface of the dielectric structure. A first composition is provided to remove a portion of the first metal layer from the surface of the dielectric structure. A second composition is provided to form a protecting layer over the second metal layer. The protecting layer is removed from the second metal layer. A CMP operation is performed to remove a portion of the second metal layer. In some embodiments, the protecting layer protects the second metal layer during the removal of the portion of the first metal layer.