Shin-Etsu Handotai Co., Ltd.

Mamoru Okada

Hisashi Masumura

Tadahiro Kato

Makoto Kobayashi

Teruaki Fukami

Tsutomu Takaku

Masayoshi Sekizawa

Hisashi Kijima

Yukio Nakajima

The present invention is a method for producing a semiconductor wafer, comprising: at least a double-side polishing step; and a chamfered-portion polishing step; wherein as a first chamfered-portion polishing step, at least, a chamfered portion of the wafer is polished so that a chamfered surface of each of main surface sides in the chamfered portion is in contact with a polishing pad; then the double-side polishing is performed; as a second chamfered-portion polishing step, at least, the chamfered portion of the wafer is polished so that an end surface of the chamfered portion is in contact with a polishing pad and so that both main surfaces of the wafer are not in contact with a polishing pad. Thereby, when a semiconductor wafer is produced, scratch and such generated in the chamfered portion in a double-side polishing process can be removed and, excessive polishing in a peripheral portion of a main surface can be prevented from being caused in polishing a chamfered portion. Therefore, a method for producing a semiconductor wafer having a high flatness even in the vicinity of a chamfered portion, and the semiconductor wafer are provided.

Method for producing semiconductor wafer and semiconductor wafer

In a method for thinning a semiconductor wafer by grinding a back surface of the semiconductor wafer in which semiconductor devicesare formed on its surface, the surface of the semiconductor waferis adhered to a supportvia an adhesive layer, the back surface of the semiconductor wafer is ground while holding the support, and then the thinned semiconductor wafer is released from the support. Preferably, a semiconductor wafer is used as the support, a thermal release double-sided adhesive sheet is used as the adhesive layer, and they are separated by heating after grinding. Thus, there are provided a method for thinning a semiconductor wafer, which enables production of semiconductor wafers having a thickness of about 120 &#x3bc;m or less without generating breakage such as cracking or chipping during the processing step and so forth as much as possible at a low cost, and a semiconductor wafer thinned further compared with conventional products in spite of a large diameter of 6 inches (150 mm) or more.

Semiconductor wafer thinning method, and thin semiconductor wafer

There is disclosed a polishing pad for mirror-polishing a semiconductor wafer, especially in a finish polishing process, by use of a polishing machine which includes a turn table on which a polishing pad is attached, a unit for feeding a polishing agent onto a surface of the polishing pad, and a mechanism for pressing a semiconductor wafer onto the surface of the polishing pad. The polishing pad includes a top layer formed of a porous soft material, a bottom layer formed of a rubber elastomer, and an intermediate layer formed of a hard plastic sheet. The hard plastic sheet is disposed between the top layer and the bottom layer and is bonded to the bottom layer. In the polishing pad, undulation produced in the bottom layer due to a horizontal force generated during polishing is prevented from being transferred to the top layer of the polishing pad, and unevenness in polishing stock removal stemming from warpage or undulation of a wafer itself can be mitigated.

Polishing pad, polishing method, and polishing machine for mirror-polishing semiconductor wafers

Growing community of inventors

Nagano, Japan

Mamoru Okada