Patent 7001257 was granted and assigned to Applied Materials on February, 2006 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A carrier head that has a base assembly and a flexible membrane. The flexible membrane has a generally circular main portion with a lower surface that provides a substrate-mounting surface and a plurality of concentric annular portions extending from the main portion and secured to the base assembly. The volume between the base assembly and the flexible membrane forming a plurality of pressurizable chambers.