Polishing apparatus and polishing method, and method of manufacturing semiconductor device and method of manufacturing thin film magnetic head

Abstract

A polishing apparatus comprises a plurality of (three, for example) polishing portions and a cleaning portion. First, roughing is performed in a first polishing portion by a platen made of a hard grinder. The polishing surface of the platen is hard so that the wafer on the polishing surface exhibits no pattern dependence. Next, scratches and polishing distortion slightly generated on the wafer in the platen are removed (medium polishing) by a hard abrasive pad with a single-layered structure in a second polishing portion. Further, finishing is performed in a third polishing portion by an abrasive pad with a two-layered structure. At last, the contamination left by the micro scratches or slurry generated in the prior process is completely cleaned by a cleaning pad in the cleaning portion.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A polishing apparatus for polishing and planarizing a subject of polishing with a base having at least one layer, comprising: 
 a pedestal; and    a plurality of polishing portions each having a rotatable platen, provided on the pedestal and being moveable relative to the pedestal, for performing polishing of different degrees on at least one layer of the one subject of polishing, wherein    the rotatable platen of the plurality of polishing portions is formed with a resin defined by a base having a thickness with essentially no distortion.    
     
     
         2 . The polishing apparatus according to    claim 1   , wherein the rotatable platen has a thickness of about 0.5 to about 5.0 mm.  
     
     
         3 . The polishing apparatus according to    claim 2   , wherein the rotatable platen has a ring shape and a thickness of about 1.0 mm or less.  
     
     
         4 . The polishing apparatus according to    claim 2   , wherein the rotatable platen has a ring shape.  
     
     
         5 . The polishing apparatus according to    claim 1   , wherein the resin includes diamond grains.  
     
     
         6 . The polishing apparatus according to    claim 1   , wherein the resin is comprised of at least one of a phenolic resin and an epoxy resin.  
     
     
         7 . The polishing apparatus according to    claim 1   , wherein the resin is a glass resin.  
     
     
         8 . The polishing apparatus according to    claim 1   , wherein the resin is polyurethane foam.  
     
     
         9 . The polishing apparatus according to    claim 1   , wherein the rotatable platen has a ring shape and a thickness of about 1.0 mm or less.