Patent 10438918 was granted and assigned to Tokyo Electron on October, 2019 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Deformation of substrates after the substrates are bonded can be suppressed. A bonding apparatus includes a first holding unit configured to attract and hold a first substrate from above; a second holding unit provided under the first holding unit and configured to attract and hold a second substrate from below; and a striker configured to press a central portion of the first substrate from above and bring the first substrate into contact with the second substrate. The first holding unit is configured to attract and hold a partial region of a peripheral portion of the first substrate, and the first holding unit attracts and holds the region which intersects with a direction, among directions from the central portion of the first substrate toward the peripheral portion thereof, in which a bonding region between the first substrate and the second substrate is expanded fastest.