A method of producing a glass article includes holding a carrier having a circular shape, in which a glass substrate having a circular shape is retained, with an upper surface plate and a lower surface plate; and polishing the glass substrate by rotating the carrier with respect to the upper surface plate and the lower surface plate, to obtain the glass article. The glass substrate is disposed in the carrier such that, in a top plan view, a center of the carrier is included in a region of the glass substrate, and a center of the glass substrate is shifted from the center of the carrier.

A robotic sharpening system and method for rapidly and accurately sharpening or resharpening cutting tools is provided. The inventive system employs a robotic arm that grasps each cutting tool by its cutting blade instead of by its handle, thereby reducing flex during the sharpening process. This results in a more accurate and consistent sharpening by consistently providing an even bevel at the knife edge regardless of minor imperfections (i.e., a bend or warp) in the blade surface. In addition, it renders the system uninfluenced by the size or shape of the handle of the cutting tool.

A conditioner of a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus includes a conditioning part to polish a polishing pad, an arm to rotate the conditioning part, and a flexible connector connecting the conditioning part with the arm, the flexible connector being moveable to allow relative movements of the conditioning part with respect to the arm.

A chemical mechanical polishing system includes a platen to support a polishing pad having a polishing surface, and a pad cooling assembly. The pad cooling assembly has an arm extending over the platen, a nozzle suspended by the arm and coupled to a source of coolant fluid, the nozzle positioned to spray coolant fluid from the source onto the polishing surface of the polishing pad, and an opening in the arm adjacent the nozzle and a passage extending in the arm from the opening, the opening positioned sufficiently close to the nozzle that a flow of coolant fluid from the nozzle entrains air from the opening.

A grinding method includes a step of imaging a bonded workpiece by a camera in such a manner as to include the outer circumference of a workpiece and the outer circumference of a support component with a larger diameter than that of the workpiece before a step of holding the support component of the bonded workpiece by a holding surface. The grinding method also includes a step of recognizing the outer circumference of the support component and the outer circumference of the workpiece on the basis of the brightness difference between pixels adjacent to each other in a taken image and a step of recognizing the center of the support component from the recognized outer circumference of the support component and recognizing the center of the workpiece from the recognized outer circumference of the workpiece.

A grinding method includes a step of imaging a bonded workpiece by a camera in such a manner as to include the outer circumference of a workpiece and the outer circumference of a support component with a larger diameter than that of the workpiece before a step of holding the support component of the bonded workpiece by a holding surface. The grinding method also includes a step of recognizing the outer circumference of the support component and the outer circumference of the workpiece on the basis of the brightness difference between pixels adjacent to each other in a taken image and a step of recognizing the center of the support component from the recognized outer circumference of the support component and recognizing the center of the workpiece from the recognized outer circumference of the workpiece.

A method measures an edge of a workpiece by scanning. The scanning is performed by a scanning tool mounted on a moving head of an edge-facing machine while that moving head is moved along the edge to be measured before, during or after an edge facing tool of the edge-facing machine that faces the edge. The method can be performed by an edge-facing machine that includes at least one edge facing tool and that further includes a scanning tool mounted on a movable head of the machine, which head is movable along an edge of a workpiece.

A method of detecting a polishing endpoint includes storing a plurality of library spectra, measuring a sequence of spectra from the substrate in-situ during polishing, and for each measured spectrum of the sequence of spectra, finding a best matching library spectrum from the plurality of library spectra to generate a sequence of best matching library spectra. Each library spectrum has a stored associated value representing a degree of progress through a polishing process, and the stored associated value for the best matching library spectrum is determined for each best matching library spectrum to generate a sequence of values representing a progression of polishing of the substrate. The sequence of values is compared to a target value, and a polishing endpoint is triggered when the sequence of values reaches the target value.

A method of detecting a polishing endpoint includes storing a plurality of library spectra, measuring a sequence of spectra from the substrate in-situ during polishing, and for each measured spectrum of the sequence of spectra, finding a best matching library spectrum from the plurality of library spectra to generate a sequence of best matching library spectra. Each library spectrum has a stored associated value representing a degree of progress through a polishing process, and the stored associated value for the best matching library spectrum is determined for each best matching library spectrum to generate a sequence of values representing a progression of polishing of the substrate. The sequence of values is compared to a target value, and a polishing endpoint is triggered when the sequence of values reaches the target value.

A method of grinding a surface of a workpiece that has surface irregularities includes a first grinding step of grinding the surface of the workpiece by a predetermined amount of stock removal while keeping a measuring element of a height gauge out of contact with the surface of the workpiece, thereafter, a height difference measuring step of bringing the measuring element of the height gauge into contact with the surface of the workpiece and measuring a height difference of surface irregularities on the surface of the workpiece with the height gauge, and a second grinding step of, if the measured height difference is larger than a preset range, grinding the surface of the workpiece while keeping the measuring element of the height gauge in contact with the surface of the workpiece until the measured height difference falls within the preset range.