Patent ID: 6875076

Claim:
A system for polishing at least one wafer, the system comprising: a machine base; a frame associated with the machine base; at least one platen mechanically associated with the machine base; at least one polishing unit associated with the frame, the polishing unit having means for accommodating at least one polishing head; at least two independent heads for accommodation of the at least one wafer per head; means for coupling/decoupling mechanically associated with the at least one polishing unit wherein at least one of the at least two independent heads can be interchangeably, temporarily and removably coupled to the polishing unit for a duration of at least one process step but less than one process cycle; means for connect/disconnect controlling said means for coupling/decoupling; and at least one head transfer mechanism associated with the frame for transfer of heads decoupled from the at least one polishing unit; whereby the means for coupling/decoupling automatically couple and decouple at least one head of the at least two heads to and from the at least one polishing unit and the at least one decoupled head is transferred between the at least one polishing unit and a second location.