A grinding apparatus includes a chuck table for holding a wafer having a modified layer near the front side or a groove on the front side, the groove having a depth not less than a finished thickness of the wafer, a grinding unit for grinding the back side of the wafer to divide the wafer into a plurality of chips, a die strength measuring unit for measuring the die strength of any one of the chips, and a control unit for controlling each component according to a measured value of die strength. The control unit determines that grinding is not to be performed on the remaining wafers stored in the cassette when the measured value is less than a threshold value, and determines that grinding is to be performed on the remaining wafers when the measured value is greater than or equal to the threshold value.

Abrasive grains according to the present invention are abrasive grains in which the surfaces thereof are coated with an additive and that are formed of inorganic abrasive particles having a positive zeta potential at pH 8 or lower. Also, it is preferable that the additive be picolinic acid or glutamic acid. It is preferable that the inorganic abrasive particles be cerium oxide particles. The present invention provides abrasive grains in which the surfaces thereof are coated with picolinic acid or glutamic acid and that are formed of cerium oxide particles having a positive zeta potential at pH 8 or lower, wherein the abrasive grains are manufactured by means of an abrasive grain manufacturing method including a step for performing wet grinding of cerium oxide in the presence of picolinic acid or glutamic acid.

A method for raising a polishing pad for polishing a silicon wafer, wherein a polishing pad made of foamed urethane resin is attached to a polishing machine, after dressing is performed, dummy polishing is performed, after processing to remove the polishing residues that have built up in the polishing pad by the dummy polishing is then performed, an amount of polishing residues in the polishing pad is measured, and a rise of the polishing pad subjected to the dummy polishing is judged based on the measured amount of polishing residues. As a result, a method for raising a polishing pad can improve the particle level in the polishing pad life early stage.

A method for raising a polishing pad for polishing a silicon wafer, wherein a polishing pad made of foamed urethane resin is attached to a polishing machine, after dressing is performed, dummy polishing is performed, after processing to remove the polishing residues that have built up in the polishing pad by the dummy polishing is then performed, an amount of polishing residues in the polishing pad is measured, and a rise of the polishing pad subjected to the dummy polishing is judged based on the measured amount of polishing residues. As a result, a method for raising a polishing pad can improve the particle level in the polishing pad life early stage.

A chemical-mechanical planarization device and a method for using a chemical-mechanical planarization device in conjunction with a semiconductor substrate is provided. In accordance with some embodiments, the device includes: a pad disposed over a rotatable platen; a carrier head disposed over the pad and configured to retain a semiconductor substrate between the pad and the carrier head; a tank configured to retain a liquid containing composition; at least one tube fluidly coupled with the tank, the at least one tube comprising a photocatalyst therein; a nozzle fluidly coupled with the tank through the at least one tube and configured to supply the liquid containing composition onto the pad; and a light source configured to provide light to irradiate the photocatalyst, and the liquid containing composition passing through the at least one tube.

Cleaning chambers may include a substrate support having a substrate seating position. The cleaning chambers may include a plurality of fluid nozzles facing the substrate support. Each fluid nozzle of the plurality of fluid nozzles may define a fluid port characterized by a leading edge and a trailing edge. Each fluid nozzle of the plurality of fluid nozzles may be angled relative to the substrate seating position of the substrate support to produce an interior angle of greater than or about 90? at an intersection location across the substrate seating position for a fluid delivered from each fluid nozzle at the leading edge of the fluid port.

The present invention provides a polishing liquid which has a good polishing speed and reduces the occurrence of dishing on a surface to be polished of an object to be polished having a cobalt-containing film after polishing in a case where the polishing liquid is applied to CMP of the object to be polished, and makes it possible to manufacture a semiconductor product having excellent reliability. The present invention also provides a chemical mechanical polishing method using the polishing liquid. The polishing liquid of an embodiment of the present invention is a polishing liquid used for chemical mechanical polishing of an object to be polished having a cobalt-containing film, the polishing liquid including colloidal silica, one or more specific compounds selected from the group consisting of glycine, alanine, sarcosine, and iminodiacetic acid, a passivation film forming agent, hydrogen peroxide, sodium, and ammonia, in which a mass ratio of a content of ammonia to a content of sodium is 1?10.sup.3 to 1?10.sup.6, and a pH is 5.5 to 8.0.

Disclosed is a silica-based composite fine particle dispersion including a silica-based composite fine particle which comprises a mother particle containing amorphous silica as a main component with a child particle containing crystalline ceria as a main component on a surface thereof. Features of the silica-based composite fine particle include a silica to ceria mass ratio of 100:11 to 316, and when subjected to X-ray diffraction, only the crystalline phase of ceria is detected, and when subjected to X-ray diffraction for measurement, the crystalline ceria has a crystallite diameter of 10 to 25 nm.

Provided are an abrasive, a polishing composition, and a polishing method capable of polishing the surface of an alloy or metal oxide at a sufficient polishing removal rate and providing a high-quality mirror surface. The abrasive contains alumina having an -conversion rate of 80% or more and having a 50% particle diameter, in a volume-based cumulative particle diameter distribution, of 0.15 m or more to 0.35 m or less. The polishing composition contains this abrasive and has a pH of 7 or less. These abrasive and polishing composition are used for polishing polishing objects containing at least one of an alloy and a metal oxide.

A method for producing a wafer from a hexagonal single crystal ingot includes: planarizing an upper surface of the hexagonal single crystal ingot; applying a laser beam of such a wavelength as to be transmitted through the ingot, with a focal point positioned in an inside of a region not to be formed with devices of a wafer to be produced from the upper surface of the ingot which has been planarized, to form a production history; and applying a laser beam of such a wavelength as to be transmitted through the hexagonal single crystal ingot with a focal point of the laser beam positioned at a depth corresponding to a thickness of the wafer to be produced from the upper surface of the hexagonal single crystal ingot which has been planarized, to form an exfoliation layer.