Disco Corporation

Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Corporation

Konica Minolta, Inc.

Komatsu Ntc Ltd.

Seiji Harada

Toru Taniguchi

Isoroku Ono

Yoshikazu Kobayashi

Naoya Sukegawa

Etsuro Morita

Fumihiko Yoshida

Satoshi Matagawa

Mitsuhiro Endo

Shinya Watanabe

Satoshi Kobayashi

Takatoshi Masuda

Setsuo Yamamoto

Keiichi Kajiyama

Hiroki Takeuchi

Yasuyoshi Yubira

Hirotoshi Hoshikawa

Daigo Shitabo

Shigehiko Aoki

Keiichi Nagasawa

Kensyo Miyata

A gettering layer forming method includes a coating step of applying a solution of metal salt to a back side of a wafer, and a diffusing step of heating the wafer after performing the coating step, thereby diffusing the metal salt on the back side of the wafer to form a gettering layer containing the metal salt on the back side of the wafer, in which the metal salt is diffused in the gettering layer.

Gettering layer forming method

A gettering layer forming method includes a coating step of applying a solution of metal salt to a back side of a wafer, and a drying step of drying the wafer after performing the coating step, thereby forming a gettering layer containing the metal salt on the back side of the wafer.

A workpiece evaluating method evaluates the gettering property of a device wafer having a plurality of devices formed on the front side of the wafer and having a gettering layer formed inside the wafer. The method includes the steps of applying excitation light for exciting a carrier to the wafer, applying microwaves to a light applied area where the excitation light is applied and also to an area other than the light applied area, measuring the intensity of the microwaves reflected from the light applied area and from the area other than the light applied area, subtracting the intensity of the microwaves reflected from the area other than the light applied area from the intensity of the microwaves reflected from the light applied area to thereby obtain a differential signal, and determining the gettering property of the gettering layer according to the intensity of the differential signal obtained above.

Workpiece evaluating method

Disclosed herein is a wafer processing method for processing the back side of a wafer having a plurality of devices formed on the front side so as to be separated by a plurality of crossing division lines. The wafer processing method includes a back grinding step of grinding the back side of the wafer to thereby reduce the thickness of the wafer to a predetermined thickness, a back polishing step of polishing the back side of the wafer after performing the back grinding step, thereby removing grinding strain, and a diamond-like carbon film deposition step of forming a diamond-like carbon film on the back side of the wafer after performing the back polishing step.

Wafer processing method and electronic device

An evaluation method of a device wafer on which plural devices are formed on a front surface and inside which a gettering layer is formed is provided. In the evaluation method, electromagnetic waves are radiated toward a back surface of the device wafer and excitation light is radiated to generate excess carriers. Furthermore, the gettering capability of the gettering layer formed in the device wafer is determined based on the damping time of reflected electromagnetic waves.

Evaluation method of device wafer

A method of processing a laminated wafer in which a first wafer is laminated on a second wafer, the method including: a laminated wafer forming step of forming the laminated wafer by laminating the first wafer on the second wafer; a modified layer forming step of forming a modified layer within the first wafer by positioning a focusing point of a laser beam within the first wafer and moving the first wafer in a horizontal direction relative to the focusing point while applying the laser beam, the modified layer forming step being performed before or after the laminated wafer forming step is performed; and a separating step of separating part of the first wafer from the laminated wafer with the modified layer as a boundary, the separating step being performed after the laminated wafer forming step and the modified layer forming step are performed.

Laminated wafer processing method

A software installing method for installing software to a computer includes searching printers that are installed in a network environment and displaying a list of found printers on a single searched printer screen. The found printers are listed in rows with each row comprising a checkbox and an identification name associated with the listed printers, and marking the checkbox in one of the rows and an operation for highlighting the identification name in the same row are independently acceptable. The method further includes displaying an image of at least one listed printer on the single searched printer screen whose identification name is highlighted on the single searched printer screen by a user and installing onto the computer the printer driver software that corresponds to the at least one listed printer where the checkbox associated with the printer is marked by the user.

Software installing method based on acquired equipment information and storage medium thereof

In a wafer processing method, the back side of a wafer having a plurality of devices on the front side thereof is ground, thereby reducing the thickness of the wafer to a predetermined thickness. The back side of the wafer is polished after performing the back grinding step, thereby removing a grinding strain, and a silicon nitride film is formed on the back side of the wafer. The thickness of the silicon nitride film to be formed in the silicon nitride film forming step is set to 6 to 100 nm. Thus, the silicon nitride film having a thickness of 6 to 100 nm is formed on the polished back side of the wafer from which a grinding strain has been removed. Accordingly, each device constituting the wafer can ensure a sufficient die strength and a sufficient gettering effect.

Wafer processing method

In a device processing method, a laser beam is applied to a wafer along division lines from the back side of the wafer, thereby forming a division start point inside the wafer along the division lines at a depth not reaching the finished thickness of each device. A protective member is attached to the front side of the wafer before or after performing the division start points are formed. An external force is applied through the protective member to the wafer, thereby dividing the wafer along the division lines to obtain the individual devices. The back side of the wafer is ground to remove the modified layers, and a silicon nitride film is formed on at least the side surface of each device. The silicon nitride film has a gettering effect and is formed on the side surface of each device, which surface is formed by a cleavage plane.

Device processing method

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor wafer, including a step of differentiating the glossiness of a front surface from that of a rear surface of the wafer by holding the semiconductor wafer in a wafer holding hole formed in a carrier plate, and simultaneously polishing a front and back surface of said semiconductor wafer by driving said carrier plate to make a circular motion associated with no rotation on its own axis within a plane parallel with a surface of said carrier plate between a pair of polishing members disposed to face to each other, by using an abrasive body with a semiconductor wafer sink rate different in polishing from that of an abrasive body for one of a polishing member on an upper surface plate and a polishing member on a lower surface plate so as to simultaneously polish both the front and rear surfaces of the semiconductor wafer, or differentiating by differentiating the rotating speed of the upper surface plate from that of the lower surface plate.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor wafer

A grinding method for a wafer having a plurality of devices on the front side, wherein the back side of the wafer is ground by a grinding wheel to suppress the motion of heavy metal in the wafer by a gettering effect and also to maintain the die strength of each device at about 1,000 MPa or more. The grinding wheel is composed of a frame and an abrasive member fixed to the free end of the frame. The abrasive member is produced by fixing diamond abrasive grains having a grain size of less than or equal to 1 &#x3bc;m with a vitrified bond. A protective member is attached to the front side of the wafer and the wafer is held on a chuck table in the condition where the protective member is in contact with the chuck table. The grinding wheel is rotated as rotating the chuck table to thereby grind the back side of the wafer by means of the abrasive member so that the average surface roughness of the back side of the wafer becomes less than or equal to 0.003 &#x3bc;m and the thickness of a strain layer remaining on the back side of the wafer becomes 0.05 &#x3bc;m.

Grinding method for wafer

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor wafer, comprising the step of differentiating the glossiness of a front surface from that of a rear surface of the wafer by using an abrasive cloth with a semiconductor wafer sink rate different in polishing from that of the other abrasive cloth for one of a polishing cloth () on an upper surface plate () and a polishing cloth () on a lower surface plate () so as to simultaneously polish both the front and rear surfaces of the semiconductor wafer (W), or differentiating by differentiating the rotating speed of the upper surface plate from that of the lower surface plate.

During polishing of the semiconductor wafer by using a double-sided polisher, a larger difference as compared to the prior art is created between a frictional resistance acting on a front surface of a silicon wafer from an upper surface plate side and a frictional resistance acting on a back surface of the silicon wafer from a lower surface plate side. Thereby, respective wafers can be rotated at as 0.1 - 1.0 rpm within corresponding wafer holding holes. Accordingly, the rotation of the wafer would not be suspended even if there were any defective condition induced during polishing. Further, partial variation or deviation in polishing volume particular in the outer periphery of the wafer would be hard to occur. Therefore, the polish-sagging is suppressed and thus the improved degree of flatness of the wafer could be obtained.

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Tokyo, Japan

Seiji Harada