Semiconductor substrate, method of manufacturing semiconductor substrate

Abstract

There are provided a method of inspecting and evaluating semiconductor substrates, good quality semiconductor substrates, a method of manufacturing good quality semiconductor substrates, and a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices using good quality semiconductor substrates. A semiconductor substrate is processed with aqueous basic solution. In this process, the substrate is dipped in the aqueous solution or exposed to a vapor of the aqueous solution. With this process, the surface of the substrate is selectively etched. The substrate surface after the etching process is radiated with a laser beam to measure a light scattered point density. The quality of the substrate can be judged in accordance with the measured density. A thermal treatment may be carried out before or after processing the substrate with the aqueous basic solution. The thermal treatment considerably changes the fine defect density on the surface of the substrate. In accordance with such a change, the quality of the substrate may be judged. If a substrate judged as having a good quality is used, a semiconductor device having a good quality substrate can be obtained.