Patent ID: 7108589

Claim:
An outer periphery polishing apparatus for polishing an outer peripheral portion of a substrate, comprising: a substrate holder for holding a substrate so as to allow an outer peripheral portion of the substrate to be exposed; a polishing unit having an outer periphery polishing surface that is located so as to surround the outer peripheral portion of the substrate while the substrate is held by said substrate holder; a rotational shaft connected to said polishing unit; a polishing liquid passage extending through said rotational shaft and being in communication with a liquid supply port; a moving mechanism for moving at least one of said substrate holder and said polishing unit to bring said substrate holder and said polishing unit into engagement with each other and to separate said substrate holder and said polishing unit from engagement with each other; and a rotating mechanism for rotating said polishing unit about an axis of said rotational shaft, such that when said rotating mechanism rotates said rotational shaft the polishing liquid is supplied to said outer periphery polishing surface via centrifugal force caused by rotation of said polishing unit about said axis, upon the polishing liquid exiting said supply port after having passed through said polishing liquid passage.