Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd.

Shin-Etsu Handotai, Ltd.

Fumio Suzuki

Hisashi Masumura

Hiromasa Hashimoto

Kohichi Tanaka

Kouichi Okamura

Fumihiko Hasegawa

Makoto Kobayashi

Kouichi Tanaka

Naotaka Toyama

Kouzi Morita

Shigeki Shudo

Noboru Shimamoto

Kouji Kitagawa

Akira Matsuda

Makoto Tsukada

A workpiece holder for polishing includes a workpiece holder body having multiple perforated holes to hold a workpiece by vacuum suction. A holding surface of the workpiece holder body may be coated with resin. A coefficient of thermal expansion of the resin coating on the holding surface may be 1&#xd7;10/K or less. The resin coating on the holding surface may be epoxy resin filled with silica particles.

Workpiece holder for polishing, workpiece polishing apparatus and polishing method

A workpiece holder for polishing comprising a workpiece holder body which is provided with multiple perforated holes for holding a workpiece by vacuum suction and a holder back plate which is closely contacted with a back face of the holder body and has grooves for vacuum, wherein the holder back plate is composed of a synthetic resin and has an Asker C hardness of 70 or higher but lower than 98, and an apparatus for polishing a workpiece and a method for polishing a workpiece utilizing it. By improving the material of holder back plate of a workpiece holder for polishing that holds a workpiece by vacuum suction to enhance sealing with the holder body, thereby developing such a holder back plate that should not transfer deformation of the holder body to the workpiece surface, even if polishing agent slurry is introduced and solidified, to provide a workpiece holder for polishing having a workpiece holding surface of high precision, an apparatus for polishing a workpiece and a method for polishing a workpiece.

Workpiece holder for polishing, apparatus for polishing workpiece and method for polishing workpiece

There is disclosed a method of processing a work comprising polishing a work holding surface of a work holding plate by contacting and rubbing a work holding surface of a work holding plate with a polishing pad attached on a polishing turn table with providing polishing agent thereto, holding a wafer W on said work holding surface by vacuum-holding, and contacting and rubbing the wafer W with said polishing pad to polish the work with providing polishing agent wherein temperature of the polishing agent or the polishing turn table is controlled by temperature controller so that a temperature of said work holding surface when polishing said work holding plate and a temperature of said work holding surface when polishing the wafer w are controlled to be the same. Degradation of flatness due to thermal influence when polishing the holding plate and polishing the wafer can be prevented in a method of processing comprising polishing the work holding surface of the work holding plate to conform with the deformed shape of the polishing pad, holding a work with the work holding surface, and polishing the work.

Method and apparatus for polishing work

By improving the material of workpiece holder body of a workpiece holder for polishing that holds a workpiece by vacuum adsorption, and the material of resin film for coating a workpiece holding surface of the holder, and developing a method for coating the surface with a resin, which does not cause blocking of perforated holes of the holder body with the resin during the resin coating process, there are provided a workpiece holder for polishing having a workpiece holding surface of high precision, and a method for producing it. According to the present invention, there are provided a workpiece holder for polishing having a workpiece holder body provided with multiple perforated holes for holding a workpiece by vacuum adsorption, wherein a holding surface of the holder body is coated with a coating film formed by applying a thermosetting resin on the holding surface and curing it with heating, and a surface of the coating film is polished, and a method for producing it.

Workpiece holder for polishing, method for producing the same, method for polishing workpiece, and polishing apparatus

A polishing method and a polishing apparatus that are for making contact pressure between a work and a polishing pad substantially uniform within surfaces to obtain a work having good quality. A turn table (,) is supported by a grooved surface of a turn table receiving member (,), the grooved surface being provided with grooves (,) in a straight direction, a work (W) is pressed against a polishing pad (,) adhered to the turn table (,) while flowing polishing slurry, and a polishing is carried out by rotating the work (W) and the turn table (,).

Polishing method and polishing device

A workpiece holding mechanism is used for holding a wafer. The wafer is sandwiched between a holding plate of the workpiece holding mechanism and a polishing pad attached to a polishing turn table. The workpiece is pressed against the polishing pad with a predetermined pressure so that the bottom surface of the wafer is polished. Water is confined within a fluid confinement space defined between an elastic membrane and the holding plate so as to press the wafer via the elastic membrane. There is provided a volume adjustment screw that can be advanced toward the fluid confinement space and be retracted therefrom. Through adjustment of the screw, the elastic membrane is caused to have a flat surface, so that the elastic member is in close contact with the entire surface of the wafer. A holding membrane made of polyurethane foam is bonded to the surface of the elastic membrane, and a template is bonded to the surface of the holding membrane so as to improve the holding performance. Accordingly, a uniform pressure can be applied onto the wafer during polishing, and the wafer is prevented from shifting from a desired position even when polishing is performed at a high speed.

Workpiece holding mechanism

An apparatus for mirror-polishing a thin plate, wherein uniformity of tightness in a stretched condition across an elastic film can be achieved and a polishing pressure distribution on the thin plate is uniformalized, so that constant polishing stock removal is realized and high flatness polishing is made possible. In the apparatus, the thin plate is held on a thin plate support mounted on a rotatable press member and the thin plate is pressed to a polishing means by the press member, and the apparatus has features that a holding surface for the thin plate is formed by a flexible elastic film; the elastic film is fastened to the press member or a part mounted thereto in a condition that the elastic film is sandwiched between a spacer and a holding piece; and a pressure, which presses the thin plate held on the elastic film to the polishing means, is adjusted by applying a back pressure to the thin plate with a fluid feed means, while adjusting tightness of the elastic film by the space.

Apparatus for mirror-polishing thin plate

An apparatus for polishing wafers comprising a turn table with a polishing pad fixedly extended thereon, at least one polishing head positioned above a point on the turn table spaced by a distance from its center, a plate mounted on a lower surface of the at least one polishing head, and a carrier, which is used for retaining the wafers, mounted on the plate in a manner such that the carrier is freely rotatable relative to the plate, wherein a backing pad which is used to press the wafers is fixed on the plate and the wafers are rotated around their respective centers, while being revolved around the center of the plate. According to the apparatus, polished wafers with an excellent flatness are obtained in a reliable manner.

Apparatus for polishing wafers

A polishing machine for polishing a flat workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer has a rotatable reference table supporting an abrasive cloth disposed on a surface thereof, and a rotatable workpiece holder for holding a flat workpiece against the abrasive cloth. While the flat workpiece is being polished by the abrasive cloth, an abrasive compound is supplied between the abrasive cloth and the flat workpiece. The reference table has grooves defined therein for dissipating heat from the reference table and the abrasive cloth while the flat workpiece is being polished by the abrasive cloth. The grooves may be supplied with either the abrasive compound or a coolant.

Polishing machine and method of dissipating heat therefrom

A method of polishing semiconductor wafers and apparatus therefore are described. According to the present invention, a semiconductor wafer mounted on the lower side of a wafer mounting plate may be polished on a polishing pad by the front referenced polishing technique due to a flexibility of the wafer mounting plate to make the same to conform in detail with the backside contour of the wafer under polishing pressure and a selected flexibility differential between a wafer holding region and the outer moving region of the wafer mounting plate. An apparatus includes the wafer mounting plate that also works as a vacuum chuck plate is constructed out of a flexible thin disc of hard plastics, a central round region is used for a wafer holding region facing the backside of the wafer and the outside annular region is more flexible to work as a moving region, a pan-shaped rubber sheet is secured to a ring projection, the wafer mounting disc is adhered to the inner periphery of the rubber sheet at and along the periphery thereof to generate a sealed space, passes for vacuum communication and for a compressed air supply are formed through a rotary shaft, and vacuum chuck holes are communicated with the vacuum pass and the compressed air pass is in communication with a sealed space in the wafer holder.

Method of polishing semiconductor wafers and apparatus therefor

A polishing apparatus is provided which can effect surface-based polishing of a wafer without causing the wafer to produce an undulation or peripheral protrusion. A sheetlike polishing member 5 constructed by superposing a foam sheet 2 containing minute closed cells in a web of chloroprene rubber and a velour type non-woven fabric (polishing cloth 3) is attached fast to the surface of a polishing table 1. The polishing member is capable of polishing a given wafer while maintaining the uniformity of thickness of the wafer or an oxide film formed on the surface of the wafer because, during the application of pressure by a pressing member 14, the polishing pressure is uniformly distributed throughout the entire rear surface of the wafer and the polishing member is bent in conformity with the global rises and falls in the wafer surface.

Polishing member and wafer polishing apparatus

A method of chucking semiconductor wafers, in which a silicone elastic layer with high flatness is formed on the surface of a hard substrate having fine through-holes for vacuum chucking. Next fine through-holes in the silicone elastic layer, are provided, each through-hole communicating with the fine through-holes of the hard substrate. Next a semi-conductor wafer is held on the hard substrate by vacuum chucking from the back side of the substrate, so as to hold the semiconductor wafer securely on the substrate only by surface adhesion of the silicone elastic layer during polishing of the wafer. This method does not require wax or similar adhesive for holding the semiconductor wafer on the hard surface during the polishing process, and can realize a high-precision and high-quality surface polishing process for the semiconductor wafers.

Method of chucking semiconductor wafers

A semiconductor wafer handling apparatus and method for transferring a wafer, one of whose faces has been already polished, from a wafer holder, which holds the wafer with the wafer's polished face facing downward, to a wafer cassette submerged in water contained in a water tank; the apparatus includes a wafer receive assembly and a water tank and the wafer receive assembly has a flat surface and is adapted to swing between an up-facing position at which the flat surface faces upward and a down-facing position at which the flat surface faces downward, and the wafer receive assembly is provided with ejection nozzles which eject water with a force sufficient to keep the wafer floating, and the water tank contains a wafer cassette to receive the wafer, and is capable of forcing the wafer which is left to sink in the water to enter the wafer cassette; whereas the method comprises: dropping the wafer from the wafer holder with the polished face facing downward onto a thin water layer formed over the wafer receive assembly; swinging the wafer receive assembly together with the wafer through an angle of about 180.degree. so that the wafer is turned upside down and brought in the water tank, whereupon the wafer sinks through the water with the polished face facing upward; and forcing the wafer to enter the wafer cassette.

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Nishishirakawa-gun, Japan

Fumio Suzuki