Claims
- 1. Apparatus for polishing a wafer comprising:
- a. a lower polishing plate assembly having an axis of rotation and dimensioned to have an outer diameter at least twice that of a wafer being polished, said lower polishing plate assembly including a lower polishing plate defining a polishing position for a single wafer on an upper surface thereof and having a spirally extending cooling water passageway formed therein, a polishing pad secured to said upper surface of said lower polishing plate, a porous sheet of a thickness of 0.5 to 3 millimeters formed of a forming resin and interposed between said lower polishing plate and said polishing pad, and a circulating means coupled to said lower polishing plate for supplying cooling water to said cooling-water passageway;
- b. a first rotating mechanism attached to said lower polishing plate assembly for rotating said lower polishing plate assembly about said axis of rotation;
- c. an upper polishing plate assembly for holding said single wafer, including,
- an upper polishing plate having an axis of rotation and disposed generally parallel to said lower polishing plate so as to be opposed to said polishing position on said lower polishing plate, said upper polishing plate having a vacuum passageway formed therein to open to a lower surface thereof,
- a plate-like chuck secured to said lower surface of said upper polishing plate, and a backing pad secured to said chuck, each of said chuck and said backing pad having a plurality of apertures communicating with said vacuum passageway,
- a pressure reducing means attached to said lower polishing plate for reducing pressure in said vacuum passageway, and
- a cleaning means attached to said upper polishing plate for blasting cleaning water containing gas into said vacuum passageway to clean said chuck and said backing pad;
- d. a second rotating mechanism attached to said upper polishing plate assembly for rotating said upper polishing plate assembly about said axis of rotation, said second rotating mechanism including a supporting mechanism for permitting rotation of said upper polishing plate for tilting movements;
- e. a pressing mechanism for pressing said upper polishing plate assembly against said lower polishing plate assembly;
- f. a conveying mechanism for bringing a wafer into said polishing position;
- g. wherein said porous sheet is constructed such that when the wafer is held between said lower polishing plate and said upper polishing plate, a portion of the porous sheet opposing the wafer sinks while a portion of the porous sheet of a predetermined width extending outwardly from the outer periphery around the opposing portion is recessed smoothly to facilitate half-polishing of the wafer;
- h. a wafer pick-up mechanism arranged adjacent to said lower polishing plate assembly for picking up a single wafer from a wafer cassette receiving a plurality of wafers and moving the wafer into a chucking position including,
- a cassette pedestal for receiving the wafer cassette, said wafer cassette having a side opening for inserting the wafer thereinto and removing the wafer therefrom, said cassette pedestal having a cut-out formed at a position corresponding to said side opening,
- a conveyer belt means extending to run under said cut-out of said cassette pedestal,
- a moving means for moving said cassette pedestal to permit the single wafer from the wafer cassette to be placed on the conveyer belt means being activated,
- a push-up member disposed adjacent to said conveyer belt for pushing up the wafer being conveyed by said conveyer belt means, and
- a holding claw means for releasably holding the wafer pushed up by said push-up member to effect centering of the wafer;
- i. a preliminary cleaning mechanism for preliminarily cleaning the polished wafer with cleaning water;
- j. a spinning mechanism having a brushing mechanism to brush the preliminarily cleaned wafer and rotate the preliminarily cleaned wafer to dry the wafer by removing water;
- k. a discharging device for discharging the dried wafer; and
- wherein said conveying mechanism moves said upper polishing plate assembly to a position wherein said chuck can chuck the wafer at said chucking position and to a position above said preliminary cleaning mechanism.
- 2. Apparatus for polishing a wafer comprising:
- a. a lower polishing plate assembly having an axis of rotation and dimensioned to have an outer diameter at least twice that of a wafer being polished, said lower polishing plate assembly including a lower polishing plate defining a polishing position for a single wafer on an upper surface thereof and having a spirally extending cooling water passageway formed therein, a polishing pad secured to said upper surface of said lower polishing plate, a porous sheet of a thickness of 0.5 to 3 millimeters formed of a forming resin and interposed between said lower polishing plate and said polishing pad, and a circulating means coupled to said lower polishing plate for supplying cooling water to said cooling-water passageway;
- b. a first rotating mechanism attached to said lower polishing plate assembly for rotating said lower polishing plate assembly about said axis of rotation;
- c. an upper polishing plate assembly for holding said single wafer, including,
- an upper polishing plate having an axis of rotation and disposed generally parallel to said lower polishing plate so as to be opposed to said polishing position on said lower polishing plate, said upper polishing plate having a vacuum passageway formed therein to open to a lower surface thereof,
- a plate-like chuck secured to said lower surface of said upper polishing plate, and a backing pad secured to said chuck, each of said chuck and said backing pad having a plurality of apertures communicating with said vacuum passageway,
- a pressure reducing means attached to said lower polishing plate for reducing pressure in said vacuum passageway, and
- a cleaning means attached to said upper polishing plate for blasting cleaning water containing gas into said vacuum passageway to clean said chuck and said backing pad;
- d. a second rotating mechanism attached to said upper polishing plate assembly for rotating said upper polishing plate assembly about said axis of rotation, said second rotating mechanism including a supporting mechanism for permitting rotation of said upper polishing plate for tilting movements;
- e. a pressing mechanism for pressing said upper polishing plate assembly against said lower polishing plate assembly;
- f. a conveying mechanism for bringing a wafer into said polishing position;
- g. wherein said porous sheet is constructed such that when the wafer is held between said lower polishing plate and said upper polishing plate, a portion of the porous sheet opposing the wafer sinks while a portion of the porous sheet of a predetermined width extending outwardly from the outer periphery around the opposing portion is recessed smoothly to facilitate half-polishing of the wafer;
- h. a preliminary cleaning mechanism for preliminarily cleaning the polished wafer with cleaning water including,
- a pan,
- a mobile support (136) disposed above said pan so as to be movable horizontally,
- a support member attached to said mobile support so as to be movable up and down,
- a reversing shaft rotationally secured to said support member and having a wafer-holding member mounted at a distal end thereof, and
- a water nozzle arranged adjacent to said wafer-holding member for directing cleaning water against the wafer held by the wafer-holding member.
- 3. Apparatus for polishing a wafer comprising:
- a. a lower polishing plate assembly having an axis of rotation and dimensioned to have an outer diameter at least twice that of a wafer being polished, said lower polishing plate assembly including a lower polishing plate defining a polishing position for a single wafer on an upper surface thereof and having a spirally extending cooling water passageway formed therein, a polishing pad secured to said upper surface of said lower polishing plate, a porous sheet of a thickness of 0.5 to 3 millimeters formed of a forming resin and interposed between said lower polishing plate and said polishing pad, and a circulating means coupled to said lower polishing plate for supplying cooling water to said cooling-water passageway;
- b. a first rotating mechanism attached to said lower polishing plate assembly for rotating said lower polishing plate assembly about said axis of rotation;
- c. an upper polishing plate assembly for holding said single wafer, including,
- an upper polishing plate having an axis of rotation and disposed generally parallel to said lower polishing plate so as to be opposed to said polishing position on said lower polishing plate, said upper polishing plate having a vacuum passageway formed therein to open to a lower surface thereof,
- a plate-like chuck secured to said lower surface of said upper polishing plate, and a backing pad secured to said chuck, each of said chuck and said backing pad having a plurality of apertures communicating with said vacuum passageway,
- a pressure reducing means attached to said lower polishing plate for reducing pressure in said vacuum passageway, and
- a cleaning means attached to said upper polishing plate for blasting cleaning water containing gas into said vacuum passageway to clean said chuck and said backing pad;
- d. a second rotating mechanism attached to said upper polishing plate assembly for rotating said upper polishing plate assembly about said axis of rotation, said second rotating mechanism including a supporting mechanism for permitting rotation of said upper polishing plate for tilting movements;
- e. a pressing mechanism for pressing said upper polishing plate assembly against said lower polishing plate assembly;
- f. a conveying mechanism for bringing a wafer into said polishing position;
- g. wherein said porous sheet is constructed such that when the wafer is held between said lower polishing plate and said upper polishing plate, a portion of the porous sheet opposing the wafer sinks while a portion of the porous sheet of a predetermined width extending outwardly from the outer periphery around the opposing portion is recessed smoothly to facilitate half-polishing of the water;
- h. a wafer pick-up mechanism arranged adjacent to said lower polishing plate assembly for picking up a single wafer from a wafer cassette receiving a plurality of wafers and moving the wafer into a chucking position;
- i. a preliminary cleaning mechanism for preliminarily cleaning the polished wafer with cleaning water;
- j. a spinning mechanism having a brushing mechanism to brush the preliminarily cleaned wafer and rotate the preliminarily cleaned wafer to dry the wafer by removing water, and including
- a rotary table for receiving the wafer thereon,
- means attached to said rotary table for holding the wafer by vacuum on said rotary table,
- drive means attached to said rotary table for rotating the rotary table, and
- a push-up means disposed adjacent to said rotary table for pushing up the wafer held to the rotary table;
- k. a discharging device for discharging the dried wafer; and
- l. wherein said conveying mechanism moves said upper polishing plate assembly to a position wherein said chuck can chuck the wafer at said chucking position and to a position above said preliminary cleaning mechanism.
- 4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said brushing mechanism includes:
- a. a mobile support arranged to be movable horizontally;
- b. a mounting means attached to said mobile support so as to be movable up and down; and
- c. first and second brushes attached to said mounting means, wherein said first brush is for use with detergent and said second brush is for use with water.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
4-250125 |
Sep 1992 |
JPX |
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Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/104,336 filed on Aug. 9, 1993, and now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
451471 |
Oct 1991 |
EPX |
246502 |
Jun 1987 |
DEX |
5-152262 |
Jun 1993 |
JPX |
2072550 |
Oct 1981 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
104336 |
Aug 1993 |
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