Washing transfer station in a system for chemical mechanical polishing

摘要

An apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers and other workpieces that includes a polishing pads mounted on respective platens at multiple polishing stations. A transfer and washing station is disposed similarly to the polishing pads. The carousel simultaneously positions one of the heads over the transfer and washing station while the remaining heads are located over polishing stations for wafer polishing so that loading and unloading of wafers and washing of wafers and wafer heads can be performed concurrently with wafer polishing. A robot positioned to the side of the polishing apparatus automatically moves cassettes filled with wafers into a holding tub, and transfers individual wafers vertically held in the cassettes between the holding tub and the transfer and washing station. The transfer and washing station operates to not only transfer the wafers between the robot and the polishing heads, but also to wash the wafer and the polishing heads, for example, by liquid nozzles locate to the side of the station.