Abstract: A carrier and a polishing apparatus are designed to improve the mass producibility of wafers while using a retainer ring formed by a soft material. A rubber sheet 4 is bonded to the bottom surface of a carrier body 2 of the carrier 1 to define a pressure chamber R, a retainer ring 13 formed by a soft material such as EG is bonded to the bottom surface of the sheet 4. A margin block 40 is provided projecting out from the bottom side of the sheet 4, and the thickness of the retainer ring 13 is set to be substantially equal to the sum of the thickness L1 of the margin block 40 and the thickness L2 of the wafer W.

Abstract: A carrier comprising a disk-shaped body portion having fluid circulation holes, a ring-shaped diaphragm portion expanding outward from the outer peripheral surface of the body portion and having pliability, a ring-shaped edge portion projecting at least downward from an outer edge portion of the diaphragm portion and having an inner diameter of at least an outer diameter of a work piece, a pliable sheet having an outer peripheral portion affixed air tightly to a bottom end portion of said edge portion, the back surface of the sheet defining a single pressure chamber communicating with the fluid circulation holes, and a ring-shaped member surrounding the work piece affixed to the bottom surface of the sheet.

Abstract: The bottom of each collection groove for collecting a used abrasive slurry and a rinsing solution is formed like the letter V, an exhaust port is formed at the lowest position of the bottom of the groove, the collection pipe of a slurry supply unit and the collection pipe of a rinsing solution supply unit are connected to the exhaust port, and the collection pipe of the rinsing solution exhaust unit is connected to a suction pump for forcedly discharging the rinsing solution by suction.

Abstract: The present invention provides a polishing pad having a double-layer structure that allows a polishing liquid to permeate evenly throughout the pad while enabling a wafer to be evenly polished up to the neighborhood of its outer circumference.

Abstract: A carrier and CMP apparatus which improve the uniformity of polishing in a wafer or other workpiece and increase the margin of the amount of wear of the retainer ring to improve the operating rate of the CMP apparatus. A carrier 1 is constituted by a housing 10, a carrier base 11, a retainer ring 12, a sheet supporter 13, a hard sheet 18, and a soft backing sheet 19. The sheet supporter 13 is formed by a supporter body portion 14 having an air opening 14a communicating with an air outlet/inlet 11b of the carrier base 11, a flexible diaphragm 15, and an edge ring 16. Therefore, a wafer W is uniformly pressed by the air pressure in the pressure chamber R and fluctuation in the force pressing against the outer peripheral rim of the wafer W caused by the wear of the retainer ring 12 is countered by the diaphragm 15.