An apparatus for chemical mechanical polishing includes a platen having a surface to support a polishing pad, a carrier head to hold a substrate against a polishing surface of the polishing pad, a pad conditioner to hold a conditioning disk against the polishing surface, an in-situ polishing pad thickness monitoring system, and a controller. The controller is configured to store data associating each of a plurality of conditioner disk products with a respective threshold value, receive an input selecting a conditioner disk product from the plurality of conditioner disk products, determine a particular threshold value associated with the selected conditioner disk product, receive a signal from the monitoring system, generate a measure of a pad cut rate from the signal, and generate an alert if the pad cut rate falls beyond the particular threshold value.

Methods for strengthening edges of a laminated glass article comprising a glass core layer positioned between a first glass clad layer and a second glass clad layer are disclosed. The methods may comprise polishing the cut edges of the laminated glass article with a slurry of polishing media applied to the edges of the laminated glass article with brushes. An edge strength of the laminated glass article is greater than or equal to about 400 MPa after polishing.

Methods for strengthening edges of a laminated glass article comprising a glass core layer positioned between a first glass clad layer and a second glass clad layer are disclosed. The methods may comprise polishing the cut edges of the laminated glass article with a slurry of polishing media applied to the edges of the laminated glass article with brushes. An edge strength of the laminated glass article is greater than or equal to about 400 MPa after polishing.

An automatic machine and an automatic method for grinding the edges of glass sheets are disclosed. The machine is provided with a machine body with motorized support and conveyance rollers or belts, an input conveyor with motorized support and conveyance rollers or belts, an output conveyor with motorized support and conveyance rollers and belts. There are at least two elements for conveying the glass sheets, a lower one and an upper one, which actuate respectively the synchronous motions about a lower axis and an upper axis, which engage and convey the glass sheets, which are interfaced alternately, for example the odd sheets with the lower conveyance elements and the even sheets with the upper conveyance.

A modular apparatus (10) for machining flat sheets, in particular glass, plate glass, or mirror sheets or sheets made from stone materials or the like, comprising machining moduli consisting of a first store (16) suitable for receiving sheets to be machined (25) and a second store (18) suitable for receiving machined sheets (27), a first grinding machine (12), and a second grinding machine (14) suitable for performing grinding machinings along the peripheral edges of said sheets (25), one or more further moduli for machining said flat sheets, if any, of the corner cutting, drill, or washing machine types, possibly associated with said first and second grinding machines (12, 14), and interface means for transferring said flat sheets between said machining moduli.

A modular apparatus (10) for machining flat sheets, in particular glass, plate glass, or mirror sheets or sheets made from stone materials or the like, comprising machining moduli consisting of a first store (16) suitable for receiving sheets to be machined (25) and a second store (18) suitable for receiving machined sheets (27), a first grinding machine (12), and a second grinding machine (14) suitable for performing grinding machinings along the peripheral edges of said sheets (25), one or more further moduli for machining said flat sheets, if any, of the corner cutting, drill, or washing machine types, possibly associated with said first and second grinding machines (12, 14), and interface means for transferring said flat sheets between said machining moduli.

A polishing apparatus capable of forming a step-shaped recess having a right-angled cross section in an edge portion of a substrate, such as a wafer, is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a substrate rotating device configured to rotate the substrate about a rotation axis; a first roller having a first circumferential surface configured to press a polishing tape against the edge portion of the substrate; and a second roller having a second circumferential surface in contact with the first circumferential surface. The second roller has a tape stopper surface that restricts movement of the polishing tape in a direction away from the rotation axis. The tape stopper surface is located radially outward of the first circumferential surface.

Processes and devices by which a brittle material substrate may be edge formed and finished to simultaneously remove corresponding damage remaining on the edges in the areas formed by cutting and separation while imposing a desired edge profile and achieving a desired mechanical edge strength. Processes of the present disclosure may include a chemical and mechanical brush polishing process configured to shape and/or polish a surface of one or more thin substrates. A plurality of substrates may be arranged in a stacked configuration, and engineered interposer devices may be arranged between the stacked substrates. The interposers may provide between the substrates and may direct filament placement during brushing so as to guide material removal on the substrate edges. Substrate edge profile shapes, including symmetric and asymmetric profiles, may be formed by strategic manipulation of interposer properties including dimensions, mechanical features, material properties, and positioning.

Processes and devices by which a brittle material substrate may be edge formed and finished to simultaneously remove corresponding damage remaining on the edges in the areas formed by cutting and separation while imposing a desired edge profile and achieving a desired mechanical edge strength. Processes of the present disclosure may include a chemical and mechanical brush polishing process configured to shape and/or polish a surface of one or more thin substrates. A plurality of substrates may be arranged in a stacked configuration, and engineered interposer devices may be arranged between the stacked substrates. The interposers may provide between the substrates and may direct filament placement during brushing so as to guide material removal on the substrate edges. Substrate edge profile shapes, including symmetric and asymmetric profiles, may be formed by strategic manipulation of interposer properties including dimensions, mechanical features, material properties, and positioning.

A decoating method for the edge decoating of glass sheets, the glass sheets having at least on one of their two glass surfaces a protective coating in the form of a peel-off protective film or in the form of a polymer protective layer that cannot be peeled off, and preferably having a functional coating situated under the protective coating, the protective film being partially mechanically removed, in particular ground away, for the edge decoating, in the form of at least one film strip, laser traces being introduced into the protective film before the mechanical removal of the film strip, and the laser traces being introduced in such a way that the film strip is removed in the form of individual film strip partial pieces separated from one another by the laser traces; or the polymer protective layer being removed using laser radiation.