A support plate for a flexible tool that is to be rotated for surface fine machining by grinding or polishing has a plate body with a bottom side that is provided with a circumferentially extending circular contact surface for the flexible tool. A fixation device is arranged at the bottom side and detachably fixes the flexible tool to the contact surface. The plate body has a top side with a drive connector that is axially oriented in a direction of an axis of rotation of the support plate and frictionally connects the support plate to a drive. One or more fatigue markings are provided on or in the top side of the support plate.

In a chemical mechanical polishing system, a platen shield cleaning assembly is installed on a rotatable platen in a gap between the rotatable platen and a platen shield. The assembly includes a sponge holder attached to the platen and a sponge. The sponge is held by the sponge holder such that an outer surface of the sponge is pressed against an inner surface of the platen shield.

A double-side polishing method for a work includes: a pre-polishing index calculation step of calculating an index Xp for a work having been subjected to double-side polishing in the last batch; a target polishing time calculation step of calculating a target polishing time of the current batch using a predetermined prediction formula; and a double-side polishing step of performing double-side polishing of a work using the target polishing time. A double-side polishing apparatus for a work includes: a measurement unit for measuring thicknesses of a work having been subjected to double-side polishing in the last batch; a first calculation unit calculating an index Xp; a second calculation unit calculating a target polishing time Tt of the current batch using a predetermined prediction formula; and a control unit controlling double-side polishing of the work using the calculated target polishing time Tt.

A double-side polishing method including: disposing a wafer between a polishing pad attached to an upper surface of a lower turn table and a polishing pad attached to a lower surface of an upper turn table provided above the lower turn table; and polishing both sides of the wafer. An absolute value of a difference between a gap at inner circumferential portions of the two polishing pads and a gap at outer circumferential portions thereof is defined as a pad gap. The pad gap is larger when the both sides of the wafer are polished than when the two polishing pads are dressed. This provides a double-side polishing method that simultaneously achieves enhancement of quality level (processing precision) and extension of cloth life.

One object is to improve the uniformity of polishing of a substrate. The present application discloses, as one embodiment, a substrate polishing device for a quadrilateral-shaped substrate, the device including: a surface plate; a substrate support mechanism that is attached to the surface plate and that supports the substrate; a polishing head mechanism for attaching a polishing pad, the polishing head mechanism opposing the surface plate; and an orbital drive mechanism for orbitally driving the polishing head mechanism. The substrate support mechanism includes: a base plate; a plate flow passage provided to the base plate; and a plurality of substrate support chambers that are connected to the plate flow passage, wherein each substrate support chamber independently applies a vertical direction force to the substrate, and the vertical direction force applied to the substrate corresponds to an internal pressure of the substrate support chamber.

One object is to improve the uniformity of polishing of a substrate. The present application discloses, as one embodiment, a substrate polishing device for a quadrilateral-shaped substrate, the device including: a surface plate; a substrate support mechanism that is attached to the surface plate and that supports the substrate; a polishing head mechanism for attaching a polishing pad, the polishing head mechanism opposing the surface plate; and an orbital drive mechanism for orbitally driving the polishing head mechanism. The substrate support mechanism includes: a base plate; a plate flow passage provided to the base plate; and a plurality of substrate support chambers that are connected to the plate flow passage, wherein each substrate support chamber independently applies a vertical direction force to the substrate, and the vertical direction force applied to the substrate corresponds to an internal pressure of the substrate support chamber.

The present disclosure includes barrier devices for use in an apparatus used to form lapping plates. The barrier devices can contain liquid on the surface of the lapping plate platen. The present disclosure also involves related methods.

The present disclosure includes barrier devices for use in an apparatus used to form lapping plates. The barrier devices can contain liquid on the surface of the lapping plate platen. The present disclosure also involves related methods.

A method of operating a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) tool includes attaching a polishing pad to a first surface of a platen of the CMP tool using a glue; removing the polishing pad from the platen, wherein after removing the polishing pad, residue portions of the glue remain on the first surface of the platen; identifying locations of the residue portions of the glue on the first surface of the platen using a fluorescent material; and removing the residue portions of the glue from the first surface of the platen.

A method of operating a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) tool includes attaching a polishing pad to a first surface of a platen of the CMP tool using a glue; removing the polishing pad from the platen, wherein after removing the polishing pad, residue portions of the glue remain on the first surface of the platen; identifying locations of the residue portions of the glue on the first surface of the platen using a fluorescent material; and removing the residue portions of the glue from the first surface of the platen.