Claims
- 1. A carrier for a polishing apparatus, comprising:a biasing member to press a substrate against a polishing surface, the biasing member including a pressurizable chamber and a flexible membrane that defines at least a lower boundary of the chamber, a lower surface of the flexible membrane providing a substrate receiving surface; and a plate positioned inside the chamber above the substrate receiving surface.
- 2. The carrier of claim 1 wherein the biasing member includes a housing and wherein the flexible membrane extends across an opening in a bottom side of the housing.
- 3. The carrier of claim 2 wherein the housing includes an upper portion connectable to a drive shaft and a generally cylindrical wall extending downwardly from the upper portion.
- 4. The carrier of claim 2 wherein the plate is rigidly connected to an inner wall of the housing.
- 5. A carrier head comprising:a housing; a flexible membrane connected to the housing to define a chamber, a surface of the flexible membrane providing a substrate receiving surface; and a rigid member inside the chamber above the substrate receiving surface.
- 6. A carrier head for a polishing apparatus, comprising:a chamber having at least a lower boundary defined by an inner surface of a flexible membrane, an outer surface of the flexible membrane providing a substrate receiving surface, the flexible membrane being deflectable towards a polishing surface when a pressure in the chamber is increased and away from the polishing surface when a pressure in the chamber is decreased; and a rigid member inside the chamber.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/090,647, filed Jun. 4, 1998 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,671, which is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/835,070, filed Apr. 4, 1997 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,718, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/205,276, filed Mar. 2, 1994 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,053, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/173,846, filed Dec. 27, 1993 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,534.
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Foreign Referenced Citations (6)
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DE |
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DE |
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Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/090647 |
Jun 1998 |
US |
Child |
09/456889 |
|
US |
Parent |
08/205276 |
Mar 1994 |
US |
Child |
08/835070 |
|
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/173846 |
Dec 1993 |
US |
Child |
08/205276 |
|
US |