Abstract: A substrate holding apparatus is provided. The substrate holding apparatus includes a chuck yoke, a plurality of arm assemblies, and a plurality of gripper assemblies. A first end of each of the arm assemblies is connected to the chuck yoke and each of the arm assemblies has a spring. A second end of each of the arm assemblies is connected to a respective one of the plurality of grippers. The chuck yoke is capable of rotating so as to move each of the plurality of arm assemblies and respective plurality of gripper assemblies into either a closed position or an open position. A compression force from each of the springs is applied to a substrate when the grippers are moved to the closed position.

Abstract: A polishing head assembly for retaining an object that is subject to polishing with a polishing pad is disclosed. The polishing head assembly comprises a head retainer assembly movably coupled to a wafer carrier head. The head retainer assembly includes a gimbal post and a load suspension plate. The gimbal post and the load suspension plate are operable to transfer a loading force to the wafer carrier head during polishing. The gimbal post also provides gimballing to optimize the position of the object in parallel with the polishing pad. In addition, the load suspension plate provides distribution of the loading force to optimize the flatness of the object during polishing.