Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd.

Fujikoshi Machinery Corp.

Other

Toshihiro Tsuchiya

Fumihiko Hasegawa

Yasuo Inada

Koichiro Ichikawa

Tsutomu Takaku

Koichi Tanaka

Koji Morita

Yasuyoshi Kuroka

Yasuyoshi Kuroda

Kouji Morita

Kouichi Tanaka

Hitoshi Misaka

Kiromasa Hashimoto

The present invention provides a wafer polishing method and a polishing apparatus which are capable of preventing peripheral sags of a wafer due to polishing and then manufacturing the wafer, especially an SOI wafer at a high flatness level. There is provided a wafer polishing method using a polishing apparatus which comprises a rotatable table having a polishing cloth adhered thereon and a polishing head equipped with a wafer holding plate opposing to the table and in which the back surface of the wafer is held by a holding surface of the wafer holding plate and the front surface of the wafer is pressed to and polished by the polishing pad, comprising a polishing step of polishing the front surface of the wafer to a predetermined total polishing stock removal without changing the polishing apparatus, wherein the polishing step is divided into plural sub-steps and a holding position of the wafer in a subsequent sub-step is different from a holding position of the wafer in a previous sub-step.

Wafer polishing method and apparatus

A method for chamfer mirror-like polishing a wafer having an orientation flat by rotating the wafer in a state of being pressed by a rotating buffering wheel with a predetermined pressure, is disclosed. Mirror-surface polishing a stable wafer chamfer can be obtained with a relatively simple control system. The invention is predicated in the fact that the wafer rotation speed N,has low inertial mass and low rotation speed so that the wafer rotation speed control can be obtained with high response property and high accuracy compared to pressing pressure control and buffering wheel control, and it features detecting intrinsic peripheral part, corners and orientation flat part of wafer according to a detection signal of detection means for detecting the wafer mirror-like polishing position and controlling the wafer rotation speed N,according to the detected wafer mirror-like polishing position.

Method of and apparatus for mirror-like polishing wafer chamfer with orientation flat

A method for chamfer mirror-like polishing a wafer having an orientation flat by rotating the wafer in a state of being pressed by a rotating buffering wheel with a predetermined pressure, is disclosed. Mirror-surface polishing a stable wafer chamfer can be obtained with a relatively simple control system. The invention is predicated in the fact that the wafer rotation speed N.sub.s has low inertial mass and low rotation speed so that the wafer rotation speed control can be obtained with high response property and high accuracy compared to pressing pressure control and buffering wheel control, and it features detecting intrinsic peripheral part, corners and orientation flat part of wafer according to a detection signal of detection means for detecting the wafer mirror-like polishing position and controlling the wafer rotation speed N.sub.s according to the detected wafer mirror-like polishing position.

Method of and apparatus for mirror-like polishing wafer chamfer with

A method and an apparatus, for polishing a thin plate. The method comprises the steps of: rotating a holding plate on one surface of which the thin plate is held to adhere; and bringing the thin plate held on the rotating holding plate into contact with a polishing pad mounted on a surface of a rotating turn table, to polish the thin plate. The step of polishing the one surface of the holding plate is carried out by using the polishing pad for polishing the thin plate before the thin plate is held to adhere on the one surface of the holding plate.

Method for polishing thin plate and apparatus for polishing

A polishing apparatus of a peripheral chamfered portion of a semiconductor wafer is disclosed. The polishing apparatus comprises: a rotary drum around the periphery of which a tape having an abrasive layer thereon is wound; a first motor for rotating the rotary drum; a wafer holding mechanism which comprises a wafer holding member for holding a wafer, a second motor for rotating the wafer holding member, a supporting member for supporting the wafer holding member and the second motor, and a wafer inclining member for changing the tilt angle of the wafer with respect to the rotary drum by reciprocally rotating the supporting member on a first axis which is substantially parallel with the main surface of the wafer; and a moving member for bringing the wafer held on the supporting member into contact with or separating it from the tape wound around the rotary drum.

Apparatus for polishing peripheral portion of wafer

The invention seeks to provide a method of producing slices, such as semiconductor wafers, from a rod-like ingot, which does not require any cutting margin for slicing so that less material is consumed, and also is free from warping or denatured layer of the slices, as well as being free from operating environment deterioration with high quality. A cylindrical ingot is obtained by cutting or grinding the outer periphery of a rod-like ingot, and it is then formed with a plurality of annular grooves at a predetermined pitch in its longitudinal direction to obtain a cylindrical work with annular grooves. The work is then severed in the section defined by the bottom of each annular groove by generating a stress in excess of the rupture strength of the slice in the groove. After the heating of the cylindrical work with annular grooves, the under-process end face of the work is suitably cooled quickly by cooling water jet from a jet nozzle from the outer periphery toward the center of the work.

Method of producing slices

A polishing system for polishing a wafer or the like, comprises: a vacuum system comprising a vacuum pump and a vacuum passage connected thereto; a fluid supply system comprising a fluid source and a fluid passage connected thereto; a polishing head comprising a holding member for holding the wafer or the like on the lower surface thereof which has at least one through hole in communication with the vacuum passage and the fluid passage; and a polishing member. Polishing of the wafer or the like is performed by pressing the wafer or the like held on the lower surface of the holding member, against the polishing member while providing relative motion between the holding member and the polishing member and supplying an abrasive slurry to the polishing member. Separation of the wafer or the like from the polishing head is performed by injecting a fluid from the fluid supply system to the object through the through hole of the holding member. A gelation suppression member for suppressing gelation of the abrasive slurry sucked into the through hole or the vacuum passage is provided in the course of the vacuum passage.

Polishing system

The invention concerns a process of polishing wafers, in which a silicon wafer held on a wafer support plate rotatable under a predetermined applied pressure, is polished by mechanochemical polishing in a plurality of polishing steps with an abrasive material interposed between the wafer and a polishing pad cloth applied to a polishing surface plate moved relative to the wafer support plate at a predetermined relative speed. Quality comparable to that of wafers obtainable by a prior art three-step polishing process can be obtained with a two-step wafer polishing step comprising a primary polishing step and a final polishing step. The primary polishing step is performed by setting a high polishing pressure of 300 to 700 g/cm.sup.2 and a reference relative speed of 50 to 150 m/min., and quick increase of the relative speed to 2 to 4 times and quick reduction of the polishing pressure down to 1/2 to 1/10 are caused in a final stage of the primary polishing step. The final polishing step is performed by setting a reference polishing pressure of 100 to 400 g/cm.sup.2 and a reference relative speed of 50 to 150 m/min., and in its final stage the relative speed is quickly reduced to 1/2 to 1/5.

Growing community of inventors

Nishigou-mura, Japan

Toshihiro Tsuchiya