The present disclosure provides a method and system for manufacturing solar cells and shingled solar cell modules. The method as provided by the present disclosure includes performing scribing and dividing of the solar cells, sorting the obtained solar cell strips, and packaging the cell strips in the solar cell manufacturing process. The solar cell strips can be assembled directly after dismantling the package in the solar module manufacturing process. Therefore, the method can accomplish a smooth flow of manufacturing solar cells and shingled solar cell modules, reduce repeated processing steps, lower the risk of cracking and costs thereof, and optimize the current matching and the color consistency of the cell strips in the shingled solar cell modules.

A discrete piece forming device EA that forms discrete pieces CP by dividing a work WF includes: a modified part forming unit 10 which forms modified parts MT in the work WF having a pre-pasted adhesive sheet AS containing swell grains SG that are swollen by the application of predetermined energy IR, to form, in the work WF, predefined discrete piece areas WFP each surrounded by the modified parts MT; and a dividing unit 20 which divides the work WF into pieces by forming, in the work WF, cracks CK starting from the modified parts MT by applying external force to the work WF, to form the discrete pieces CP. The dividing unit 20 applies the energy IR to parts of the adhesive sheet AS to swell the swell grains SG contained in adhesive sheet parts ASP to which the energy IR has been applied, thereby displacing the predefined discrete piece areas WFP pasted on the adhesive sheet parts ASP to form the discrete pieces CP.

Operating a substrate processing system includes receiving a plurality of sets of training data, storing a plurality of machine learning models, storing a plurality of physical process models, receiving a selection of a machine learning model from the plurality of machine learning models and a selection of a physical process model from the plurality of physical process models, generating an implemented machine learning model according to the selected machine learning model, calculating a characterizing value for each training spectrum in each set of training data thereby generating a plurality of training characterizing values with each training characterizing value associated with one of the plurality of training spectra, training the implemented machine learning model using the plurality of training characterizing values and plurality of training spectra to generate a trained machine learning model, and passing the trained machine learning model to a control system of the substrate processing system.

A wafer processing method includes a polyolefin sheet providing step of positioning a wafer in an inside opening of a ring frame and providing a polyolefin sheet on a back side of the wafer and on a back side of the ring frame, a uniting step of heating the polyolefin sheet as applying a pressure to the polyolefin sheet to thereby unite the wafer and the ring frame through the polyolefin sheet by thermocompression bonding, a dividing step of cutting the wafer by using a cutting apparatus to thereby divide the wafer into individual device chips, and a pickup step of heating the polyolefin sheet, pushing up each device chip through the polyolefin sheet, and then picking up each device chip from the polyolefin sheet.

An expanding method includes a plate cooling step of cooing a plate of a cooling/heating unit, which includes the plate for contact with a workpiece and a Peltier element for cooling or heating the plate, a workpiece cooling step of bringing the plate into contact with the workpiece through the expansion sheet to cool the workpiece, after the plate cooling step is performed, an expanding step of expanding the expansion sheet, after the workpiece cooling step is performed, a plate heating step of heating the plate, after the expanding step is performed, and a workpiece heating step of bringing the plate into contact with the workpiece through the expansion sheet to heat the workpiece, after the plate heating step is performed.

A calculating section of a control unit calculates a vertical position Defocus for a condensing lens using a height value H1 of a modified layer in a wafer that is set by a setting section according to the equation (1) below.

Defocus=(thickness T1 of waferheight value H1b)/a(1)

The calculating section calculates an appropriate vertical position for the condensing lens according to the equation (1) depending on the height value H1 of the modified layer that is set by the setting section. Therefore, the vertical position of the condensing lens in laser processing operation can be determined more easily, and a time-consuming and tedious experiment for fine adjustment of the vertical position of the condensing lens does not need to be conducted.

A wafer processing method includes a polyester sheet providing step of positioning a wafer in an inside opening of a ring frame and providing a polyester sheet on a back side or a front side of the wafer and on a back side of the ring frame, a uniting step of heating the polyester sheet as applying a pressure to the polyester sheet to thereby unite the wafer and the ring frame through the polyester sheet by thermocompression bonding, a dividing step of applying a laser beam to the wafer to form modified layers in the wafer, thereby dividing the wafer into individual device chips, and a pickup step of applying an ultrasonic wave to the polyester sheet in each of the plurality of separate regions corresponding to each device chip, pushing up each device chip through the polyester sheet, then picking up each device chip from the polyester sheet.

A wafer processing method includes a polyolefin sheet providing step of positioning a wafer in an inside opening of a ring frame and providing a polyolefin sheet on a back side or a front side of the wafer and on a back side of the ring frame, a uniting step of heating the polyolefin sheet as applying a pressure to the polyolefin sheet to thereby unite the wafer and the ring frame through the polyolefin sheet by thermocompression bonding, a dividing step of applying a laser beam to the wafer to form modified layers in the wafer, thereby dividing the wafer into individual device chips, and a pickup step of applying an ultrasonic wave to the polyolefin sheet in each of the plurality of separate regions corresponding to each device chip, pushing up each device chip through the polyolefin sheet, then picking up each device chip from the polyolefin sheet.

An industrial-scale apparatus, system, and method for handling precisely aligned and centered semiconductor wafer pairs for wafer-to-wafer aligning and bonding applications includes an end effector having a frame member and a floating carrier connected to the frame member with a gap formed therebetween, wherein the floating carrier has a semi-circular interior perimeter. The centered semiconductor wafer pairs are positionable within a processing system using the end effector under robotic control. The centered semiconductor wafer pairs are bonded together without the presence of the end effector in the bonding device.

The present disclosure relates to a debonding apparatus. In some embodiments, the debonding apparatus comprises a wafer chuck configured to hold a pair of bonded substrates on a chuck top surface. The debonding apparatus further comprises a pair of separating blades including a first separating blade and a second separating blade placed at edges of the pair of bonded substrates. The first separating blade has a first thickness that is smaller than a second thickness of the second separating blade. The debonding apparatus further comprises a flex wafer assembly configured to pull the pair of bonded substrates upwardly to separate a second substrate from a first substrate of the pair of bonded substrate. By providing unbalanced initial torques on opposite sides of the bonded substrate pair, edge defects and wafer breakage are reduced.