Patent ID: 7850817

Claim:
A polishing apparatus comprising: a plurality of polishing sections, each of said polishing sections having at least two polishing units, each of said polishing units including (i) a polishing table with a polishing surface, (ii) a top ring for pressing a workpiece against said polishing surface, and (iii) a moving mechanism for moving said top ring between a polishing position on said polishing surface and a workpiece receiving/delivering position associated with said each of said polishing units; a linear transferring mechanism arranged linearly, said linear transferring mechanism including a plurality of transfer stages, each of said plurality of transfer stages being configured to transfer the workpiece between a plurality of transferring positions including the workpiece receiving/delivering position associated with said each of said plurality of polishing units, with at least two of said plurality of transfer stages being moved by a common driving mechanism so as to be linearly moved integrally and simultaneously, both of said at least two of said plurality of transfer stages being configured both to load and unload a workpiece, so that said linear transferring mechanism is capable of transferring at least two workpieces simultaneously; and a receiving/delivering mechanism, at the workpiece receiving/delivering position associated with said each of said polishing units, for receiving and delivering the workpiece between one of said transfer stages and said top ring of said each of said polishing units.