Ebara Corporation

Hiroomi Torii

Soichi Isobe

Hideo Aizawa

Satoshi Wakabayashi

Daisuke Koga

Hiroyuki Kaneko

Takashi Mitsuya

Takuji Hayama

Takamasa Nakamura

Hiroaki Nishida

Tetsuya Yashima

Misao Date

Hiroshi Kojima

Nobuyuki Takahashi

Tadakazu Sone

Suguru Ogura

Takuji Kobayashi

A method of operating a substrate processing apparatus, upon the occurrence of a nonfatal failure in the apparatus, makes it possible to continue part of the apparatus operations for substrates to clean and recover a substrate or to easily discharge a substrate from the apparatus, without stopping an entire apparatus, thereby reducing the risk of a substrate becoming unprocessable. The method of operating a substrate processing apparatus having a polishing section, a cleaning section and a transferring mechanism, includes: classifying substrates, upon detection of a malfunction in any of the polishing section, the cleaning section and the transferring mechanism, according to the site of the malfunction and to the positions of the substrates in the substrate processing apparatus; and carrying out an operation for each of the substrates after the detection of the malfunction, the operation varying depending on the classification of the substrate.

Method of operating substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing apparatus

A wafer transferring apparatus includes a top ring for holding a wafer on a lower end surface thereof and a pusher mechanism for transferring the wafer to and from the top ring. The pusher mechanism has a wafer rest for placing the wafer thereon and is arranged to allow the wafer released from the lower end surface of the top ring to be seated on the wafer rest. The pusher mechanism also has a sensor mechanism for detecting when the wafer is properly seated on the wafer rest. The sensor mechanism is adapted to block sensor light emitted from a light-emitting device by the wafer seated on the wafer rest.

Wafer transferring apparatus, polishing apparatus, and wafer receiving method

A polishing apparatus has a top ring configured to hold a semiconductor wafer on a substrate holding surface, and a pushser configured to deliver the semiconductor wafer to the top ring and receive the semiconductor wafer from the top ring. The pushser includes a push stage having a substrate placement surface on which the semiconductor wafer is placed and an air cylinder configured to vertically move the push stage. The pushser also includes a high-pressure fluid port configured to eject a high-pressure fluid toward the semiconductor wafer.

Polishing apparatus

A substrate delivery mechanism comprises a top ring, a substrate loader for loading a substrate, and a pusher mechanism, wherein the substrate loader comprises a top ring guide and the pusher mechanism comprises a top ring guide lifting table, in which the top ring guide and the top ring guide lifting table together form a sealed space below the substrate held by the top ring in a condition where the substrate loader is moved up by the pusher mechanism, wherein the substrate is detached from the top ring by exhausting the sealed space while at the same time injecting a fluid from through-holes provided in a substrate holding surface of the top ring.

Substrate delivery mechanism

A polishing apparatus comprises a polishing table having a polishing surface thereon, a top ring for pressing a workpiece to be polished against the polishing surface, and a dresser for dressing the polishing surface on the polishing table. The dresser comprises a dressing element provided on a surface of the dresser for dressing the polishing surface by sliding contact with the polishing surface, and an ejection nozzle provided on the surface of the dresser for ejecting a fluid supplied from a fluid source toward the polishing surface.

The present invention relates to a polishing method and apparatus for polishing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer to a flat mirror finish. A polishing liquid is supplied onto a polishing cloth attached on a turntable, and a semiconductor wafer to be polished is held by a top ring. The turntable and the top ring are rotated, respectively. A surface, to be polished, of the semiconductor wafer held by the top ring is pressed against the polishing cloth on the turntable to polish the semiconductor wafer. When a polished semiconductor wafer held by the top ring is to be removed from the polishing cloth on the turntable, a relative speed of the turntable and the top ring is increased as compared with a relative speed of the turntable and the top ring at a period of polishing.

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Tokyo, Japan

Hiroomi Torii