A peel-off layer is finally formed in an area, i.e., a first inner area or a second inner area, in a workpiece that is closer to the center of the workpiece among a plurality of areas. The workpiece has a cylindrical shape, so that the second inner area is wider than the other areas, e.g., the second outer area, in which the peel-off layers are formed. Consequently, when the peel-off layer is finally formed in the second inner area, the internal stresses in the workpiece are dispersed in a wider range than when the peel-off layer is finally formed in the second outer area. Thus, large cracks thicknesswise of the workpiece are prevented from being developed from modified regions contained in the peel-off layer. Therefore, the amount of workpiece material to be disposed of in subsequent steps is reduced, resulting in increased manufacturing productivity.

A hammer (1) for use in shape processing of a silicon block is a hammer for crushing a silicon block so as to carry out shape processing with respect to the silicon block, the hammer including: a handle (10) made of a resin; and a hammer head (20) fixed to the handle (10).

A method for processing a silicon wafer, the method including cutting an ingot to form a wafer, extracting from measured shape data a cross-sectional profile, the cross-sectional profile passing through the center of the wafer and being aligned with a cutting direction of an ingot, interpolating the shape data with a fixed and pre-determined step size, fitting a first second-degree polynomial to the cross-sectional profile, determining a residual profile by subtracting the polynomial from the cross-sectional profile, fitting a second second-degree polynomial to the residual profile using a sliding window of pre-determined width to determine a position, height, and curvature of each peak and valley of the residual profile, determining a waviness parameter based on the position, height, and curvature of each peak and valley of the residual profile, and further processing the wafer based on the waviness parameter and a predetermined waviness threshold.

A processing apparatus includes a holding table for holding a workpiece, a cutting unit including a spindle and a mount, a blade changer unit for mounting a cutting blade on or dismounting a cutting blade from the mount, and a control unit. The blade changer unit includes a blade chuck for holding the cutting blade and a moving unit. The cutting unit includes a vibration detecting sensor. The control unit includes a calculator for calculating the central axis of the mount from a position where the vibration detecting sensor detects vibrations caused upon contact between the mount and the blade chuck, and a mounting/dismounting controller for aligning the central axis of the blade chuck with the central axis of the mount and mounting the cutting blade on and dismounting cutting blade from the mount.

A peeling apparatus includes a holding table that holds an ingot, a water supply unit that forms a layer of water on an upper surface of the ingot, an ultrasonic unit that applies an ultrasonic wave to the upper surface of the ingot through the layer of water, a peeling confirmation unit that confirms peeling-off of a wafer to be manufactured, a wafer delivery unit that lowers a suction pad having a suction surface facing the upper surface of the ingot, to hold the wafer to be manufactured on the suction surface under suction, and delivers the wafer from the ingot, and a controller. After the peeling-off of the wafer is confirmed by the peeling confirmation unit, the controller positions the water supply unit, the ultrasonic unit, and the peeling confirmation unit at retracted positions and operates the wafer delivery unit to deliver the wafer from the ingot.

A substrate dividing method which can thin and divide a substrate while preventing chipping and cracking from occurring. This substrate dividing method comprises the steps of irradiating a semiconductor substrate 1 having a front face 3 formed with functional devices 19 with laser light while positioning a light-converging point within the substrate, so as to form a modified region including a molten processed region due to multiphoton absorption within the semiconductor substrate 1, and causing the modified region including the molten processed region to form a starting point region for cutting; and grinding a rear face 21 of the semiconductor substrate 1 after the step of forming the starting point region for cutting such that the semiconductor substrate 1 attains a predetermined thickness.

A substrate dividing method which can thin and divide a substrate while preventing chipping and cracking from occurring. This substrate dividing method comprises the steps of irradiating a semiconductor substrate 1 having a front face 3 formed with functional devices 19 with laser light while positioning a light-converging point within the substrate, so as to form a modified region including a molten processed region due to multiphoton absorption within the semiconductor substrate 1, and causing the modified region including the molten processed region to form a starting point region for cutting; and grinding a rear face 21 of the semiconductor substrate 1 after the step of forming the starting point region for cutting such that the semiconductor substrate 1 attains a predetermined thickness.

Methods and systems for imaging and cutting semiconductor wafers and other microelectronic device substrates are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a system for singulating microelectronic devices from a substrate includes an X-ray imaging system having an X-ray source spaced apart from an X-ray detector. The X-ray source can emit a beam of X-rays through the substrate and onto the X-ray detector, and X-ray detector can generate an X-ray image of at least a portion of the substrate. A method in accordance with another embodiment includes detecting spacing information for irregularly spaced dies of a semiconductor workpiece. The method can further include automatically controlling a process for singulating the dies of the semiconductor workpiece, based at least in part on the spacing information. For example, individual dies can be singulated from a workpiece via non-straight line cuts and/or multiple cutter passes.

A method of machining a diamond includes using a pulsed laser. The diamond is placed in a container containing a transparent liquid. The liquid level is at least 100 microns above a surface of the diamond to be machined, and the transparent liquid can further contain a surfactant additive in an amount of at least 2% and 10% by mass. Next, a laser source is activated such that a laser beam with pulse durations of no longer than one microsecond at a repetition frequency of no more than 5 kHz is applied to the surface to be machined, and relative scanning is performed between the diamond and the laser source, cross-wise to the laser beam and axially in depth, with an amplitude and orientations that are determined by the shape to be machined in the diamond.

A brittle object cutting apparatus and the method thereof are disclosed. Wherein, the brittle object cutting apparatus comprises a first heating laser unit, a second heating laser unit, a scribing laser unit, two cooling units and a processing module. A heating laser from the heating laser units respectively located on opposite sides of a scribing laser from the scribing laser unit, and a coolant of the cooling unit followed behind the heating laser. In the moving process of the brittle object, the processing module controls the scribing laser for a scribing operation, and controls one of the heating lasers and the coolant form one of the cooling units to heat and cool the brittle object. As a result, the machining time of dicing the brittle objects may be effectively reduced.