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 cooling 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 power conversion device includes a plurality of semiconductor modules, a plurality of coolers, and a frame. The frame pressurizes and holds a stacked body in which the semiconductor modules and the coolers are alternately stacked. The frame includes a first frame and a second frame that sandwich the stacked body therebetween. The first frame is a plate material bent to surround the stacked body from three directions, and includes a pair of side walls extending in the stacking direction of the stacked body, and an abutting wall extending between the side walls and abutting the stacked body. The abutting wall is bent outward from the frame. Each of the side walls is bent inward from the frame.

A laser oscillator support table includes a base, a fixed plate supported over the base with intermediary of a Z-axis direction movement unit, and a Y-axis direction moving plate mounted on the fixed plate, movable orthogonal to an X-axis direction. An optical path direction of the beam emitted from a laser oscillator supported by the laser oscillator support table is defined as the X-axis direction. The laser oscillator support table further includes a rotating plate that is mounted on the Y-axis direction moving plate rotatably around a rotation center pin fixed to the Y-axis direction moving plate and supports the laser oscillator, a Y-axis direction movement unit that moves the Y-axis direction moving plate in the Y-axis direction, and a rotational movement unit that rotates the rotating plate around the rotation center pin in a plane parallel to a plane formed by the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

A method for bonding a first substrate with a second substrate at respective contact faces of the substrates with the following steps: holding the first substrate to a first sample holder surface of a first sample holder with a holding force F.sub.H1 and holding the second substrate to a second sample holder surface of a second sample holder with a holding force F.sub.H2; contacting the contact faces at a bond initiation point and heating at least the second sample holder surface to a heating temperature T.sub.H; bonding of the first substrate with the second substrate along a bonding wave running from the bond initiation point to the side edges of the substrates, wherein the heating temperature T.sub.H is reduced at the second sample holder surface during the bonding.

An alignment method for aligning two substrates to be stacked, comprising measuring a position of a mark selected from plurality of marks disposed on at least one substrate of the two substrates and aligning the two substrates based on the position of the measured mark, wherein the mark to be measured is selected based on information relating to distortion of the at least one substrate. The mark may be a mark disposed in a region having a smaller distortion amount of the at least one substrate than a threshold. The mark may be a mark disposed in a region having a higher reproducibility of distortion that occurs in the at least one substrate than a threshold.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a method for bonding a first wafer to a second wafer. The method includes aligning a first wafer with a second wafer, so the first and second wafers are vertically stacked and have substantially planar profiles extending laterally in parallel. The method further includes bringing the first and second wafers into direct contact with each other at an inter-wafer interface. The bringing of the first and second wafers into direct contact includes deforming the first wafer so that the first wafer has a curved profile and that the inter-wafer interface is localized to a center of the first wafer. The second wafer maintains its substantially planar profile throughout the deforming of the first wafer. The method further includes deforming the first wafer and/or the second wafer to gradually expand the inter-wafer interface from the center to an edge of the first wafer.

A bonding apparatus configured to bond a first substrate and a second substrate includes a first holder configured to hold the first substrate; a second holder configured to hold the second substrate; a first imaging device provided at the first holder and configured to image the second substrate held by the second holder; a first light irradiating device provided at the first holder and configured to irradiate light to the second substrate when the second substrate is imaged; a second imaging device provided at the second holder and configured to image the first substrate held by the first holder; and a second light irradiating device provided at the second holder and configured to irradiate light to the first substrate when the first substrate is imaged. Each of the first light irradiating device and the second light irradiating device is connected to a first light source configured to irradiate white light.

A processing apparatus includes a holding unit holding a workpiece, a processing unit processing the workpiece held by the holding unit, a feeding mechanism for feeding the holding unit, and a control unit controlling the feeding mechanism. The holding unit has a chuck table for holding the workpiece and a base for detachably supporting the chuck table. The chuck table includes a plurality of kinds of chuck tables, one of which being selected according to the size or shape of the workpiece. The base is capable of mounting the chuck table selected from the plural kinds of chuck tables. The control unit functions to set feeding conditions including acceleration of the feeding mechanism according to the kind of the chuck table mounted on the base and to control the feeding mechanism under the feeding conditions according to said chuck table.

An element chip manufacturing method including: preparing a semiconductor substrate including a first layer having a first principal surface, and a second layer having a second principal surface, the first layer provided with element regions, a dicing region, and an alignment mark, wherein the first layer includes a semiconductor layer, and the second layer includes a metal layer adjacent to the semiconductor layer; irradiating a first laser beam absorbed in the metal film and passing through the semiconductor layer, from the second principal surface side to a first region corresponding to the mark; imaging the semiconductor substrate from the second principal surface side with a camera, and then calculating a second region corresponding to the dicing region on the second principal surface; irradiating a second laser beam to the second region from the second principal surface side; and dicing the semiconductor substrate into a plurality of element chips.

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.