A laser processing method for a wafer that is segmented by plural planned dividing lines set on a surface in a lattice manner uses a laser processing apparatus including a laser beam irradiation unit that irradiates, through a collecting lens, the wafer held by a chuck table, with plural laser beams formed by being oscillated by a laser beam oscillator and being split by a laser beam splitting unit. The method includes a processed groove forming step of irradiating the wafer with the plural laser beams along the planned dividing lines and forming a processed groove along the planned dividing lines. The plural laser beams split by the laser beam splitting unit are arranged in a line manner along a direction that is non-parallel to an extension direction of the planned dividing line irradiated with the plural laser beams.

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.

Disclosed are a supercritical process chamber and an apparatus having the same. The process chamber includes a body frame having a protrusion protruding in an upward vertical direction from a first surface of the body frame and a recess defined by the protrusion and the first surface of the body frame; a cover frame; a buffer chamber arranged between the body frame and the cover frame; and a connector. The buffer chamber includes an inner vessel detachably coupled to the body frame providing a chamber space in the recess and an inner cover detachably coupled to the cover frame. The inner cover is in contact with a first surface of the inner vessel enclosing the chamber space from surroundings. The connector couples the body frame and the cover frame having the buffer chamber arranged therebetween such that the enclosed chamber space is transformed into a process space in which the supercritical process is performed.

A substrate bonding apparatus that bonds a first substrate and a second substrate together, comprising a joining section that joins the first substrate and second substrate together aligned to each other for stacking; a detecting section that detects an uneven state on at least one of the first substrate and second substrate prior to joining by the joining section; and a determining section that determines whether the uneven state detected by the detecting section satisfies a predetermined condition, wherein the joining section does not join the first substrate and the second substrate if it is determined by the determining section that the uneven state does not satisfy the predetermined condition.

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.

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.

A processing apparatus includes a chuck table configured to hold a workpiece by a holding surface, a processing unit configured to process the workpiece held by the chuck table, a moving mechanism configured to move the chuck table and the processing unit relative to each other along a direction parallel with the holding surface of the chuck table, an angle control mechanism disposed on the moving mechanism and on a lower side of the chuck table, the angle control mechanism controlling an angle of the chuck table, and an imaging unit configured to image the workpiece held by the chuck table, the chuck table including a holding member formed by a transparent body and holding the workpiece and a supporting member supporting a part of the holding member and connected to the angle control mechanism.

A processing method for a workpiece, which includes a stacking step of stacking a sheet and a flat plate on a front side of the workpiece to form a stack, a thermocompression bonding step of thermocompression bonding the sheet to the workpiece while planarizing the sheet with the flat plate by heating the sheet and applying an external force to the stack, a holding step of holding the workpiece via the sheet by a holding table having a transparent portion, an alignment step of performing an alignment by imaging the workpiece through the transparent portion and the sheet, and a processing step of processing the workpiece by a processing unit.

A manufacturing method of chips from a workpiece including plural planned dividing lines on a front surface includes a cutting step of causing a cutting blade to cut into the workpiece for which a side of the front surface of the workpiece is held by a holding table in such a manner that a side of a back surface of the workpiece is exposed and forming a cut groove that does not reach the front surface of the workpiece on the side of the back surface of the workpiece along each planned dividing line, a sticking step of sticking an expanding sheet to the workpiece, and a dividing step of dividing the workpiece along each planned dividing line by expanding the expanding sheet to form the chips from the workpiece after the sticking step and the cutting step.

A dividing apparatus includes a table having a transparent plate having a holding surface for holding a workpiece thereon and a lower illumination unit for illuminating the holding surface from below, a first storage section for storing a first image including a white portion where illumination light from the lower illumination unit is transmitted through the workpiece and displayed as white and a black portion where the illumination light is blocked by the workpiece and displayed as black when an image of a kerf defined by a dividing unit in the workpiece held on the holding surface is captured by an image capturing unit with the lower illumination unit being energized, and a white pixel detecting section for detecting whether or not there are pixels in the white portion of the first image in directions perpendicular to directions along which a street extends.