Ebara Corporation

Takuji Hayama

Kunihiko Sakurai

Tetsuji Togawa

Masahiko Sekimoto

Nobuyuki Takada

Kenichiro Saito

Satoshi Wakabayashi

Daisuke Koga

Masafumi Inoue

Hiroomi Torii

Tetsuya Yashima

Manabu Tsujimura

Tadakazu Sone

Soichi Isobe

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 polishing apparatus is used for polishing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer to a flat mirror finish. The polishing apparatus comprises a turntable having a polishing surface, a top ring for holding a workpiece and pressing the workpiece against the polishing surface to polish the workpiece, at least three cleaning apparatuses for cleaning polished workpieces, and a transfer structure for transferring the polished workpieces between at least three cleaning apparatuses. The polishing apparatus further includes a rotary transporter disposed in a position which can be accessed by said top rings and having a plurality of portions positioned on a predetermined circumference from a center of rotation of the rotary transporter for holding the workpieces.

A polishing apparatus has a polishing table () with a polishing surface () attached thereon, and a top ring () for pressing a workpiece (W) against the polishing surface (). The top ring () has a housing () and a retainer ring () vertically movable in the housing () for holding an outer circumferential edge of the workpiece (W). The polishing apparatus includes a vertically moving mechanism operable to vertically move the top ring (), a bracket () vertically movable together with the top ring (), a stopper () adjustable in vertical position to prevent downward movement of the bracket (), and a sensor () for detecting a distance between the stopper () and the bracket (). The polishing apparatus also includes a control unit () operable to adjust the stopper () in vertical position when the retainer ring () is brought into contact with the polishing surface () while a lower surface of the housing () of the top ring () is located at a predetermined height from the polishing surface () so that the distance between the stopper () and the bracket () is equal to a difference between a height of the lower surface of the housing () from the polishing surface () at the time of polishing and the predetermined height.

A polishing apparatus has a polishing table () with a polishing surface () attached thereon, and a top ring () for pressing a workpiece (W) against the polishing surface (). The top ring () has a housing () and a retainer ring () vertically movable in the housing () for holding an outer circumferential edge of the workpiece (W). The polishing apparatus includes a vertically moving mechanism operable to vertically move the top ring (), a bracket () vertically movable together with the top ring (), a stopper () adjustable in vertical position to prevent downward movement of the bracket (), and a sensor () for detecting a distance between the stopper () and the bracket (). The polishing apparatus also includes a control unit () operable to adjust the stopper () in vertical position when the retainer ring () is brought into contact with the polishing surface () while a lower surface of the housing () of the top ring () is located, at a predetermined height from the polishing surface () so that the distance between the stopper () and the bracket () is equal to a difference between a height of the lower surface of the housing () from the polishing surface () at the time of polishing and the predetermined height.

A polishing apparatus comprises: a housing defining a chamber wherein articles to be polished are subject to polishing and cleaning operations; partition walls for dividing the chamber of the housing into a plurality of sections; and, an air exhaust device. The exhaust device comprises: air exhaust conduits which are fluidly connected to the sections in the housing to exhaust air from the sections; valves for closing and opening the air exhaust conduits, respectively; and, a controller for independently controlling the valves to regulate air flows exhausted through the conduits. The conduits have inlet openings located in a vicinity of spaces where any air pollutant is generated in the sections in the housing.

Polishing system with air exhaust system

A polishing apparatus is used for polishing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer to a flat mirror finish. The polishing apparatus comprises a turntable having a polishing surface, a top ring for holding a workpiece and pressing the workpiece against the polishing surface to polish the workpiece, at least three cleaning apparatuses for cleaning polished workpieces, and a transfer structure for transferring the polished workpieces between at least three cleaning apparatuses. The transfer structure comprises a plurality of robots and is capable of changing transfer routes between the three cleaning apparatuses.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Takuji Hayama