JP2000158309A - Transportion member array for peripheral-surface polishing portion in end-surface polishing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a moving distance and a moving time by arranging two transportation members in series, using one of them for receiving a wafer from a notch polishing portion and transporting it to an initial peripheral-surface polishing device of each system, and using another of them for receiving the wafer from a final peripheral- surface polishing device of each system and transporting it to a discharge portion. SOLUTION: Transportation members 51, 52 are arranged in series in the Y direction in a central part. The transportation member 51 receives a wafer from a wafer handling portion 21, and supplies it to a wafer inversion mechanism of a wafer inversion member. The transportation member 52 receives the polished wafer from the wafer inversion mechanism and transports it to a discharge portion. Therefore, the transportation member 51 is constituted just so that it can move between the wafer handling portion 21 and a handling portion to the wafer inversion mechanism, and the transportation member 52 is constituted just so that it can move between the receiving portion from the wafer inversion mechanism and a handling portion of the discharge portion. Widths of two transportation members 51, 52 are provided only with a width of one transportation member. Thus, a moving distance and a moving time can be reduced, and the width of a polishing portion itself can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an arrangement of conveying members for a peripheral surface polishing unit in an end surface polishing apparatus, and more particularly, to a method for arranging two or more conveying members in series.
The present invention relates to an arrangement of conveying members of a peripheral surface polishing unit in an end surface polishing device disposed on both sides.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a semiconductor wafer such as a silicon wafer is subjected to chamfering at a peripheral portion thereof in order to prevent edge chipping and crown during epitaxial growth. This chamfering is performed by grinding with a diamond grindstone, but a work-strained layer tends to remain after the grinding, and if such a work-strained layer remains, crystal defects occur when heat treatment is repeated in the device process. Sometimes. For this reason, the work-strained layer is usually removed by etching. However, the etched surface becomes wavy or scale-like irregularities, and dirt is apt to remain. Is a major cause of deterioration.

Therefore, in recent years, a technique for smoothing a chamfered edge of a wafer by mirror polishing has been established as a technique completely different from polishing of the wafer surface, and an apparatus for mirror polishing the edge of the wafer has been established. Various end face polishing apparatuses have been proposed.

[0004] In a wafer end surface polishing apparatus, the notch is first polished, and then the peripheral surface is polished. In the polishing step of polishing the peripheral surface, the notch transported by the transport member is gripped by the chuck portion of the reversing mechanism, received by the chuck portion of the reversing mechanism, passed to the peripheral surface polishing device, and the wafer is polished. The surface is polished in the state described above. Thereafter, the chuck portion of the reversing mechanism again grips and receives the wafer, inverts the wafer to the rear side, passes the wafer to another peripheral surface polishing device to polish the peripheral end surface, and transports the polished wafer again to the transfer member. And stored in the cassette of the discharge section.

That is, the transport member moves along the two peripheral polishing apparatuses and supplies the wafer to one peripheral polishing apparatus.
In addition, a polished wafer is received from another peripheral surface polishing apparatus and is transported into a cassette in a discharge unit.
Therefore, since the peripheral polishing apparatuses arranged in series as described above are arranged on both sides, two conveying members are disposed in parallel at the center in a state corresponding to the peripheral polishing apparatus on one side. Have been. For this purpose, the two transport members are connected in series and must move by the distance of the peripheral surface polishing apparatus, and the travel distance is long, which takes time, and the width of the two transport members is two peripheral surfaces. This is necessary in the direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the polishing apparatuses, and the width of the polishing section itself is widened, so that there is a problem that the entire end face polishing apparatus becomes large.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a peripheral polishing unit in which two peripheral polishing devices are arranged in series in an end polishing device, and the distance that a conveying member moves is reduced by a peripheral polishing device disposed on both sides. The time required for the movement can be shortened, and the width required for disposing the conveying member can be narrowed, so that the width of the peripheral surface polishing portion can be narrowed, thereby reducing the size of the entire end surface polishing apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide a conveying member arrangement of a peripheral surface polishing unit in an end surface polishing apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a cassette accommodating a plurality of wafers in a stacked state is mounted on a mounting table of a supply unit, and the wafers in the cassette are loaded. Are sequentially conveyed and the notch of the wafer is polished by the notch polishing unit, and the wafer polished by the notch polishing unit is provided with two peripheral surface polishing devices in series on both sides, one for surface polishing and the other for surface polishing. In an end face polishing apparatus in which polishing is performed in one of the polishing steps of one of the peripheral polishing sections having two polishing systems for back-facing polishing and then housed in a cassette of a discharge section, In the surface polishing section, two transfer members are arranged in series in a direction in which the peripheral surface polishing device is arranged in series, and one of the transfer members receives a wafer from the notch polishing section and starts the first of each system. For transport to peripheral polishing equipment, other The conveying member has a configuration in which the conveyance to the discharge unit receives the wafer from the peripheral surface polishing device at the end of each line. The two transfer members arranged in series have a configuration located between a pair of two peripheral surface polishing devices arranged in series.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the above means are adopted.
Since the transport members are arranged in series, the required width is narrower than in the case of parallel, and by determining the role of each transport member in series, the travel distance can be shortened and The time required for can be shortened.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below. The drawing shows the entirety of an edge polishing apparatus (edge polisher) for a wafer in which the transfer member arrangement of the peripheral surface polishing section according to the present invention is adopted.

This end face polishing apparatus includes a supply unit 10 for taking out wafers from a cassette in which wafers are stacked and housed therein, aligning the wafers in a predetermined direction, further turning the wafers back and forth, and transporting them to the next step. Notch polishing unit 2 for receiving a wafer from unit 10 and polishing a notch provided on the wafer
0, the wafer whose notch has been polished by the notch polishing unit 20 is received, the peripheral surface of the wafer is polished first in a face-up state, and further, the wafer is similarly polished in a face-down state with the front and back turned upside down. Of the peripheral surface, and the peripheral surface polishing section 50 having the conveying member arrangement according to the present invention.
And a discharge unit 100 having a cassette for accommodating a wafer whose polishing of the notch and the peripheral surface has been completed.

As shown in FIG. 12 in detail, the supply unit 10 has two cassettes 11, 11 in which wafers W are stacked and stored, and the wafers W in the cassette 11 are sequentially taken out and the peripheral surface is taken out. An aligner 12 for aligning the notches formed in the cassette 1 so as to be at a predetermined position;
1 to transfer the wafer from the aligner 12 to the aligner 12, and rotate the aligned wafer taken out of the aligner 12 by 180 ° in a horizontal state to invert the front and rear, and transport the wafer to the next notch polishing step with the front and back inverted And a transfer member 14 having the multi-joint arm 13.

The two cassettes 11, 11 and the aligner 12 are mounted on a mounting table 110. On the other hand, the transport member 14 is mounted on the side of the mounting table 110 so as to move along the mounting table 110. It is attached to the attached robot 111. The transfer member 14 is reciprocally movable between a position indicated by a solid line and a position indicated by a two-dot chain line, and the multi-joint arm 1 having a bifurcated portion 15 provided at a distal end thereof.
The wafer W is placed on the upper surface of the two forked portions 15 of the transfer member 14 so that the wafer W can be transferred according to the expansion and contraction of the articulated arm 13. I have.

A circle indicated by a two-dot chain line outside the conveying member 14 indicates a rotation range of the forked portion 15. further,
The aligner 12 is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2729297, and includes an articulated arm 13 of a transfer member 14.
The notch provided on the peripheral portion of the wafer W is aligned with the forked portion 15 of the multi-joint arm 13 at a predetermined position.

Accordingly, the transfer member 14 takes out the wafer W from the cassette 11 and transfers it to the aligner 12, and receives the wafer W aligned by the aligner 12 and transmits it to the wafer transfer sections 21 and 21. In this case, the wafer transfer portions 21 and 21 are formed at two locations as indicated by a two-dot chain line so as to correspond to a notch polishing device 22 provided in a notch polishing portion 20 described later (see FIG. 1).

A notch polishing section 20 is provided continuously from the supply section 10. This notch polishing part 20
As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of notch polishing devices 22, 22 which are opposed to each other across the two wafer transfer portions 21, 21 and are arranged in series in the Y direction, and as shown in FIG. It is located above the polishing devices 22, 22, and can move up and down, and can move between the wafer transfer portion 21 and the notch polishing device 22 along the rail 29 provided in the X direction, At the time, the wafer W is received at the wafer transfer section 21 and rises, and further moves in the X direction to be positioned above the notch polishing device 22, and then descends to move the suction disk 36 of the notch polishing device 22.
There is provided a three-claw member 23 which is adapted to be passed to the user.

That is, FIG. 3 shows a state viewed along the line CC of FIG. 1, and the three-claw member 23 has a claw portion 24 that hangs downward. The claw portion 24 has three claws. When the wafer W is gripped, one claw enters the notch of the wafer, and the other two claws press the peripheral end surface of the wafer. Each of the claws can be grasped and opened by a driving source, and the rotation of the wafer is prevented by positioning one of the claws at the notch at the time of grasping.

The claw portion 24 can be moved up and down by a drive source, can move in the X direction, and can rotate while maintaining the horizontal position. Notch polishing device 22, 2 as shown in
The two suction plates 36 are respectively located above.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the notch polishing device 22 is located at the lower position of the claw portion 24 of the three-claw member 23, adsorbs the wafer on the upper surface, and moves up and down with respect to the horizontal state. And a cover 31 capable of coming in contact with and separating from the wafer sucked by the suction portion 30 and opening a portion facing the notch.
A notch polishing pad 32 positioned inside the cover 31 so as to abut against the notch, and a polishing unit 34 including a drive source 33 for rotating the notch polishing pad 32. Have been.

The suction portion 30 has a circular suction hole 35 formed on the upper surface of the disk, and further has an end on the polishing portion 34 side, that is, a notch side, as shown by a two-dot broken line in FIG. It has a suction plate 36 that can be tilted as the center, and a vacuum source is connected to this suction plate 36.

The polishing section 34 is provided with a base 39 on a base 37 of the notch polishing apparatus 22 with a main shaft 38 disposed facing the suction section 30 penetrating therethrough. A cover 31 in which a notch polishing pad 32 is located is provided on the substrate 40 in an upright state.
A drive source 33 is provided below, and a belt 41 is stretched between the drive source 33 and the rotation axis of the notch polishing pad 32.

On the other hand, a connecting member 42 is provided on the base 39, a wire 43 is connected to the connecting member 42, and the weight 43 is connected to the wire 43 via a pulley 44 provided on the machine base.
5 are suspended. Therefore, the base 45 is moved along the main shaft 38 by the weight 45, and the notch polishing pad 32 provided on the substrate 40 provided on the base 39 is moved to the suction plate 3.
6 is pressed by the notch of the wafer W attracted to the wafer 6. It is to be noted that reference numeral 46 denotes an operation part 46a
The movable portion can be located at a position apart from the notch by the cylinder 46. Further, the notch polishing unit 20 is provided with two notch polishing devices 22 configured as described above with the wafer transfer unit 21 interposed therebetween.

Further, a peripheral surface polishing section 50 having a conveying member arrangement according to the present invention is provided continuously to the notch polishing section 20. The peripheral surface polishing section 50 is provided at the center portion in series in the Y direction, and has two transfer members 5 each including two articulated arms capable of reciprocating in the Y direction.
1 and 52, and two peripheral surface polishing devices 53 which are opposed to each other with the two transfer members 51 and 52 interposed therebetween and are arranged in series in the Y direction, respectively. A member 80 is provided.

That is, two peripheral surface polishing devices are disposed in series on both sides of the conveying members 51 and 52 disposed in series in the Y direction, and two systems of polishing processes are formed.

In the transport member arrangement according to the present invention, first, the transport members 51, 5
The transfer member 51 receives the wafer from the wafer transfer section 21 and transfers it to a wafer reversing mechanism 81 of a wafer reversing member 80 described later. And transports it to a discharge unit described later.

Therefore, the transfer member 51 moves only between the transfer section 21 and the transfer section to the wafer reversing mechanism 81, and the transfer member 52 moves only between the transfer section from the wafer reversal mechanism 81 and the transfer section of the discharge section. What is necessary is just to make it possible. The transport members 51 and 52 function for the wafer reversing mechanisms 81 on both sides. For this reason, the width of the two transport members 51 and 52 does not need to be in the direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the two peripheral surface polishing apparatuses, but only the width of one transport member is required. The width of itself can be reduced.

Next, the wafer reversing member 80 will be described. The wafer reversing member 80 is provided with a pair of wafer reversing mechanisms 81 that are movable in the Y direction along rails 82 provided along the upper portion of the peripheral surface polishing unit 50 and are capable of reversing the wafer. .

The wafer reversing mechanism 81 receives the wafer placed on the upper surface of each articulated arm 13 of the one transfer member 51, and transfers the wafer placed on the one articulated arm 13 to one circumference. The wafer on which the other articulated arm 13 is mounted is transferred to the suction pad 54 on one side of the surface polishing apparatus 53 and the suction pad 54 on the other side of the peripheral polishing apparatus 53, respectively. Further, after polishing the end face by the peripheral surface polishing apparatus 53 on the supply unit 10 side, the two wafers on the suction plate 54 are received and raised, and the reversal is performed.
It is delivered to both suction disks 54 of the other peripheral surface polishing device 53, and after being polished by the other peripheral surface polishing device 53 to the two articulated arms of the other transport member 52.

The two transport members 51 and 52 which are continuously arranged in the center in the Y direction have the same configuration as the transport member 14 used in the supply unit 10.

On the other hand, the peripheral surface polishing apparatus 53 has a pair of polishing drums 55 each having a drum pad 55a wound around a central portion thereof. A pressing mechanism 60 is provided. In this case, each wafer pressing mechanism 60 is in a direction inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the Y direction when viewed from a plane (A direction).
(See FIG. 10), and a suction plate 5 which can swing vertically between a horizontal state and an inclined state in the upper part.
4 are provided.

As shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, the wafer pressing mechanism 60 includes a first body 61 for holding a suction disk 54 for vacuum suction of a wafer, and a support shaft 62 for supporting the first body 61. And a second body 63 that is swingably held about the center of the rotary table 64. Are supported so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the radial direction, that is, in a direction parallel to a line connecting the centers of two adjacent polishing drums 55.

The support mechanism 65 includes a first rail 67 provided on a base plate 66 fixed to the lower surface of the rotary table 64 in a direction (A direction) that comes into contact with and separates from the polishing drum 55. First slide member 68 movable along
And the first rail 67 above the first slide member 68.
Second rail 69 provided in a direction (direction B) orthogonal to
And a second slide member 70 movable along a second rail 69, and the second body 63 is attached to the upper portion of the second slide member 70 by a leg 71.

A pulley 72 is provided on the lower surface of the base plate 66.
A wire 72a is stretched over the pulley 72, a rear end of the wire 72a is fixed to an arm 73 extending downward from the first slide member 68, and a weight 74 is provided at a tip of the wire 72a. Hanged. The weight 74 constantly urges the first slide member 68 on the first rail 67 toward the polishing drum 55.

A wire 91 having a weight 91 attached to an end of the second slide member 70 via a pulley 90 is provided.
The weight 91 urges the suction plate 54 to adsorb the wafer, and the two wafers are attached to the two polishing drums 55, 55.
Are configured to abut substantially uniformly.

This is to make the non-uniform abutting force on the two polishing drums 55, 55 caused by the rotation of the wafer itself when the wafer abuts on the rotating polishing drums 55, 55 substantially uniform. It is.

An air cylinder 75 is provided on the lower surface of the base plate 66.
The tip of the rod 75a of the air cylinder 75 contacts the arm 73, and the air cylinder 75 causes the first slide member 68 to oppose the weight 74 and the polishing drum 55
It is configured to be urged in a direction away from.

It should be noted that, as shown in FIG.
Has a plurality of suction holes formed in the surface thereof, and the suction holes are connected to a vacuum source (not shown) through ports and pipes 77 provided in the first body 61 and the second body 63 and the like. ing. The suction disk 54 is rotated at a very slow speed during polishing by a driving source provided on the first body 61.

Also, as described above, the first body 61
Can rotate about the support shaft 62 between a state in which the suction plate 54 is horizontally oriented and a state in which the suction board 54 is inclined by the rotary actuator 78. Deliver or receive.
When the suction plate 54 is inclined, the polishing force is applied to the two polishing drums 55, that is, the drum pads 55 a wound around the two polishing drums 55 by the action force of the weight 74. Places are polished at the same time.

When the first body 61 is in the horizontal state at the non-polishing position, the first body 61 is retracted by the cylinder 75 in a direction away from the polishing drum 55 against the weight 74. Further, the polishing drum 55 is configured to be rotatable by a driving source 76 provided on a base of the polishing apparatus. Further, at the time of polishing the wafer W attached to the suction plate 54, an abrasive (slurry) is jetted out, and this abrasive is collected and reused.

The wafer reversing member 80 is shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 and, as described above, the two peripheral surface polishing devices 53 on one side.
Is provided so as to be movable above. That is, the wafer reversing member 80 includes a rail 82 provided in the Y direction above the two peripheral surface polishing apparatuses 53 on one side, and a pair of the rails 82 attached to the rail 82 and opposed to each other across the polishing drum 55. And a pair of wafer reversing mechanisms 81 having an interval corresponding to the suction disk 54 of FIG.

The wafer reversing mechanism 81 of the wafer reversing member 80 is located above a position corresponding to the suction plate 54 in a horizontal state facing the polishing drum 55 of the peripheral surface polishing device 53. Then, the wafer reversing mechanism 81
Can be gripped by the drive source, and can rotate in the vertical direction, from a pair of bay-shaped arms that can turn the front and back of the wafer by rotating while holding the wafer A bay-shaped claw portion 83, an elevating arm 84 capable of moving the bay-shaped claw portion 83 up and down by a member such as a cylinder,
And a mobile stand 85 to which the lifting arm 84 is fixed.

The movable base 85 can be moved in the Y direction along the rail 82 by a driving source provided on the movable base 85.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the wafer reversing mechanisms 81 (81a, 81a,
81b) a horizontal suction plate 54 facing the polishing drum 55 of the peripheral surface polishing device 53 on the supply unit 10 side;
From above, the polishing drum 5 of another peripheral surface polishing device 53
The rails 82 disposed above are located between the suction plates 54 in a horizontal state facing each other with the position 5 therebetween and up to the position located above the suction plates 54.
Can be moved in the Y direction.

In this case, the suction disk 5 of the both peripheral surface polishing device 53
4, the same wafer reversing mechanism 81 (81a) faces the upper side of the suction plate 54a on the supply unit 10 side. The same wafer reversing mechanism 81 (81b) also faces above the suction plate 54b on the opposite side. As a result, the suction disk 5 on the supply unit 10 side of the both-surface polishing device 53
The same wafer W is supplied to 4a and the suction plate 54b on the side opposite to the supply unit 10 side. The rail 82 and the wafer reversing member 80 are
It is also provided above the other two peripheral surface polishing devices 53 that are provided facing each other with the two transport members 51 and 52 as boundaries.

As a result, the conveying members 51 and 52 that are continuous in the Y direction are shared, and two peripheral surface polishing devices 53 that are continuous in the Y direction on both sides of the conveying members 51 and 52, respectively.
And peripheral surface polishing section 50 provided with wafer reversing member 80
Is formed.

A discharge unit 100 is provided adjacent to the peripheral polishing unit 50 for storing the polished wafers in a cassette. In the discharge unit 100, two cassettes 11 similar to the cassette 11 provided in the supply unit 10 are provided. The front end of the cassette 11 in the insertion direction is closed, and further insertion is prevented. Have been.

The positions where the respective cassettes 11 are provided are positions where the polished wafers W can be stored by the two articulated arms of the transfer member 52 provided in the peripheral surface polishing section 50. Further, both cassettes 11 are mounted on a base 101, and the base 101 is
02 is fixed to the upper surface of the substrate 103 which can swing up and down between a horizontal position and a vertical position.
When the substrate 103 is in the vertical position, a water storage section 104 is formed in the discharge section 100 so that the cassette 11 provided on the upper surface is submerged (see FIG. 2).

Since the front ends of the cassettes 11 in the insertion direction of the wafers are closed so as to prevent further insertion of wafers, the drive source 102 is set so that the front ends of the cassettes 11 in the insertion direction are downward. Even when the substrate 103 is rotated and submerged in water, there is no possibility that the wafers in the cassette 11 will jump out.

When the cassette 11 is submerged, the polished wafers housed therein are submerged from its end face, and can be submerged smoothly without the action of water resistance. It has the effect of washing the surface.

Next, the operation of the end face polishing apparatus configured as described above will be described. The wafer W is unloaded from the cassette 11 placed on the mounting table 110 by the transfer member 14 and transmitted to the aligner 12, and the aligner 12 positions the wafer W so that the notch is at a fixed position.

Thereafter, the articulated arm 1 of the transport member 14
3 transports the wafer W and reverses the front and rear of the wafer W. On the other hand, the claw portion 24 of the three-claw member 23 grasps the wafer and transfers it to the suction plate 36 of the notch polishing device 22, and the notch polishing device 22
Polish the notch with. The wafer whose notch has been polished is transferred by the transfer member 51 to the suction plate 54 facing the peripheral surface polishing device 53, and the peripheral surface polishing device 53 polishes the end face with two polishing drums 55.

Since this polishing is performed in a state of being inclined by a predetermined angle in the vertical direction with respect to the horizontal direction, the polishing is first performed by the first peripheral polishing device 53, and then the wafer is polished by the next peripheral polishing device 53. Transported to Since the wafer reversing member 80 is provided between the first peripheral surface polishing device 53 and the next peripheral surface polishing device 53, the wafer polished by the first peripheral surface polishing device 53 is turned over. It is turned over by the member 80 and is conveyed to the next peripheral surface polishing device 53 to be polished again. That is, the end face of the wafer W is pressed twice by the polishing drum 55 in an inclined state and polished.

Since the end face of the wafer is chamfered at the time of this polishing, the center part of the end face and the chamfered end face of the front side are polished at the front side polishing, and the center part of the end face and the chamfered end face at the back side are polished at the back side polishing. Will be polished.

The wafer W polished on the front and back sides is transferred to the discharge unit 100 by the arm of the transfer member 52 and stored in the cassette 11 located there. Therefore, the cassette 1 of the discharge unit 100
1 has a notch and a peripheral end face polished wafer W
Are stored in a stacked state, and the polishing operation in the peripheral surface polishing apparatus is completed.

[0054]

According to the present invention, as described above, the peripheral surface polishing section is capable of performing two systems of polishing steps.
Two transfer members are arranged in series, one transfer member is used to receive the wafer from the notch polishing section and transfer it to the first peripheral polishing apparatus of each system, and the other transfer member is used at the end of each system. By receiving the wafer from the peripheral surface polishing apparatus and transferring the wafer to the discharge unit, the moving distance of each conveying member can be shortened, and the moving time can be shortened. In addition, when two conveying members are arranged in parallel, a width corresponding to two in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction is required, whereas a width corresponding to one is sufficient, and thereby, a width of the peripheral surface polishing portion is obtained. Can be narrowed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an entire end face polishing apparatus provided with a conveying member array of a peripheral surface polishing section according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing the entire end face polishing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view taken along line CC of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of a notch polishing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view of a notch polishing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view taken along line DD of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a schematic front view of a peripheral surface polishing apparatus arranged in a peripheral surface polishing section.

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view of a peripheral surface polishing apparatus arranged in a peripheral surface polishing section.

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view showing the vicinity of an adsorbing section of the peripheral surface polishing apparatus disposed in the peripheral surface polishing section.

FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view showing one side of a peripheral surface polishing section arranged in the end surface polishing apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a schematic front view showing one side of a peripheral surface polishing unit arranged in the end surface polishing apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a schematic plan view showing a supply unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 supply section 11 cassette 12 aligner 13 articulated arm 14, 51, 52 transfer member 15 bifurcated section 20 notch polishing section 21 wafer transfer section 22 notch polishing Apparatus 23 Three-claw member 24 Claw part 29, 82 Rail 30 Suction part 31 Cover 32 Notch polishing pad 33, 76, 102 Driving source 34 Polishing part 35 ... Suction holes 36, 54 (54a, 54b) ... Suction plate 37 ... Machine 38 ... Spindle 39 ... Base 40, 103 ... Substrate 41 ... Belt 42 ... Connecting members 43, 72a, 92 ... Wires 44, 72, 90 Pulleys 45, 74, 91 Weights 46, 75 Cylinder 46a Working unit 50 Peripheral surface polishing unit 53 Peripheral surface polishing device 55 Polishing drum 55a Drum pad 60 Wafer pressing mechanism 61 First body 62 Support shaft 63 Second body 64 Rotary table 65 Support mechanism 66 Base plate 67 First rail 68 First slide Member 69 Second rail 70 Second slide member 71 Leg 73 Arm 75a Rod 77 Pipe 78 Rotary actuator 80 Wafer reversing member 81 (81a, 81b) Wafer Reversing mechanism 83... Bay-shaped claw portion 84... Elevating arm 85... Mobile unit table 100... Discharge unit 101.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cassette in which a plurality of wafers are stored in a stacked state is mounted on a mounting table of a supply unit, and the wafers in the cassette are sequentially conveyed, and the notch of the wafer is polished by a notch polishing unit. A peripheral polishing unit having two polishing systems in which two peripheral polishing apparatuses are arranged in series on both sides of a wafer polished by a polishing unit, one of which is for front-side polishing and the other is for back-side polishing. Polishing in one of the polishing steps, and thereafter, in an end surface polishing apparatus that is housed in a cassette of a discharge section, in the peripheral surface polishing section, in a direction in which the peripheral surface polishing apparatus is arranged in series. Two transfer members are arranged in series, one of the transfer members is used for receiving the wafer from the notch polishing unit and transferring the wafer to the first peripheral polishing apparatus of each system, and the other transfer member is used for the transfer of the respective systems. Receiving wafer from end peripheral polishing machine A conveying member array of a peripheral surface polishing unit in the end surface polishing apparatus, wherein the conveying member is used for conveying to a discharge unit. 2. The peripheral surface of the edge polishing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the two transport members arranged in series are located between a pair of two peripheral surface polishing devices arranged in series. Conveyor member arrangement of the polishing section.