METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY POLISHING MAGNETIC DISKS AND OTHER SUBSTRATES

摘要

A substrate polishing apparatus for sequentially polishing both sides of a substrate, such as a magnetic disk, and method therefor, are provided. The apparatus according to the present invention may be conveniently considered in terms of its subassemblies. The apparatus includes a cassette/disk handling robot, a disk flip and rinse station, an orbiter including disk polish heads, a main gantry robot and a magazine having a polish platen and supplying a polish tape or web tape on which the substrate is polished. The disk flip and rinse station receives a substrate from the cassette/disk handling robot and subsequently releases the substrate back to the cassette/disk handling robot. The main gantry robot moves the orbiter and the disk polish head to retrieve the substrate from the disk flip and rinse station for polishing and to release the substrate back to the disk flip and rinse station after polishing. The method according to the invention generally comprises the steps of polishing the first side of a substrate, automatically inverting the substrate and polishing the second side.