Patent 7534364 was granted and assigned to Applied Materials on May, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A substrate is maintained beneath a substrate mounting surface with a retaining ring that includes a generally annular lower portion having a bottom surface for contacting the polishing surface during polishing, and a generally annular upper portion having a bottom surface joined to the lower portion and a top surface fixed to and abutting the base. The lower portion is made of a plastic and the upper lower portion is made of a metal which is more rigid than the plastic.