Ebara Corporation

Hiroyuki Osawa

Seiji Katsuoka

Manabu Tsujimura

Kunihiko Sakurai

Norio Kimura

Kazuo Shimizu

Hideji Isobe

Tetsuji Togawa

Nobuyuki Takada

This invention pertains to a polishing apparatus for polishing a semiconductor wafer. The apparatus comprises a storage section that is capable of receiving a workpiece to be polished and a polished workpiece. The polishing unit that polishes the workpiece includes a primary polishing table and a secondary polishing table, wherein the polishing surface of the secondary polishing table is constructed to be arranged such that at least a portion of a surface of the workpiece being polished by the polishing surface of the secondary polishing table extends beyond an edge of the polishing surface of the secondary polishing table. Also provided is a film thickness measuring device, which measures the thickness of a film formed on a polished workpiece while the polished workpiece is held by a top ring above a pusher.

Polishing apparatus

A polishing apparatus is used for polishing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, and has a sensor capable of continuously detecting the thickness of an electrically conductive layer. The polishing apparatus includes a polishing table having a polishing surface, and a top ring for holding and pressing the substrate against the polishing surface to polish the surface of the substrate. A sensor such as an eddy-current sensor is disposed below the polishing surface of the polishing table for measuring the thickness of a conductive layer formed on the surface of the substrate.

A polishing apparatus is used for polishing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer to a flat mirror finish. The polishing apparatus includes a turntable having a polishing surface, a top ring for supporting the workpiece to be polished and pressing the workpiece against the polishing surface, and a transferring device for transferring the workpiece between the top ring and the transferring device. The transferring device includes a stage having a support surface for supporting the workpiece, an actuating unit for moving the stage in a vertical direction, and a guide member disposed radially outwardly of the stage and having a guide surface of an inverted conical shape. The centering of the workpiece is conducted by bringing a periphery of the workpiece into contact with the guide surface, and then the workpiece is transferred from the transferring device to the top ring by raising the stage.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Hiroyuki Osawa