Abstract: A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers utilizes multiple wafer carriers to polish a corresponding number of semiconductor wafers on a single polishing pad in parallel. In one embodiment, the wafer carriers are used to transfer semiconductor wafers between one or more wafer transfer stations and the polishing pad. In other embodiments, one or more wafer transfer arms are used to transfer the semiconductor wafers between the wafer transfer station(s) and the wafer carriers. The CMP apparatus is configured to sequentially process semiconductor wafers to increase the throughput of the apparatus. In addition, the components of the CMP apparatus are arranged such that the footprint of the apparatus is minimized.

Abstract: A system and method for chemically and mechanically polishing surfaces of semiconductor wafers utilizes multiple polishing pads having diameters that are smaller than the diameter of the wafers to simultaneously polish a given semiconductor wafer. The use of these smaller-sized polishing pads can significantly reduce the footprint of the system. Furthermore, the simultaneous polishing of the wafers by the multiple smaller-sized polishing pads can significantly increase the throughput for short period planarization. In addition, by independently controlling the lateral movement, the vertical movement and the rotational speed of each of the polishing pads during polishing, the system and method can more precisely control the amount of polishing at different regions of a wafer surface.