Patent ID: 7976362

Claim:
A substrate polishing apparatus for polishing a rectangular-shaped substrate, said apparatus comprising: a substrate holding mechanism including a head for holding a substrate to be polished; and a polishing mechanism including a polishing table having a polishing tool, the substrate held by said head being pressed against said polishing tool on said polishing table to polish the substrate by relative movement of the substrate and said polishing tool; said head including a substrate holder having a substrate attracting surface for attracting the substrate, and a head body; said substrate holder having an outer circumferential edge vertically movably mounted on said head body by an elastic member, said elastic member having a constant width from an outer circumferential edge of said substrate holder to said head body around a circumference of said substrate holder; said head body including a pressurization and depressurization chamber behind said substrate holder for bringing the substrate, which is to be polished or which has been polished, held by said substrate holder into or out of contact with said polishing tool by changing a pressure in said pressurization and depressurization chamber; a first stopper for limiting the movement of said substrate holder with respect to said head body in an X direction and a Y direction to a certain distance; and a second stopper for limiting the movement of said substrate holder with respect to said head body in an intermediate direction to the certain distance, the intermediate direction being oblique to the X direction and the Y direction, wherein a lower surface of said head body is of a shape which is substantially the same as the substrate, and wherein said elastic member extends around an entire circumference of said substrate holder.