A method for decontaminating support surfaces of a wafer chuck, such as a wafer chuck, entails lightly passing a treatment tool having a nominally flat contacting surface over the regions of the chuck where contaminants are to be removed. The treatment tool and the chuck surface may have about the same hardness. The treatment tool may be minimally constrained so that it may conform to the surface being processed. When the treatment tool is contacted to a flat surface, the locust of contact may be in the form of a circle, ring or annulus. At higher application pressures, the treatment tool will abrade the chuck, which here is to be avoided, or at least minimized. Thus, the instant inventors have discovered that the same treatment tool that is used to engineer the elevation or profile of the surface, and its roughness, at lower application pressures can be used to remove grinding debris and other contaminants from the surface.

A leak checking method which is capable of detecting a leak of compressed gas supplied to a polishing head without removing the polishing head from a polishing apparatus is disclosed. The leak checking method includes: supplying a compressed gas into a pressure chamber, which is formed by a membrane of a polishing head, with the membrane placed in contact with a stationary surface; measuring a flow rate of the compressed gas during supplying of the compressed gas into the pressure chamber, while regulating a pressure of the compressed gas by use of a pressure regulator; deciding whether or not the flow rate measured when a variation in the pressure of the compressed gas is within an allowable range of variation, is within a reference range; and generating a leak-detection signal when the flow rate is outside of the reference range.

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 method for bonding a first component to a second component includes placing the first and second components in a cavity. Each of the first and second components has a bonding portion, and the bonding portion of the first component faces the bonding portion of the second component. A supercritical fluid is then introduced into the cavity with a temperature of 40-400 C. and a pressure of 1,500-100,000 psi, and a pressure of 4-100,000 psi is applied on both the first and second components, assuring the bonding portion of the first component bond to the bonding portion of the second component. Moreover, a method for separating a first component from a second component includes placing a composite in a cavity. The composite includes the first component, the second component and a connecting layer by which the first component joins to the second component. The supercritical is then introduced into the cavity.

A cutting apparatus is provided. The cutting apparatus includes a processing chamber, a chuck table, a transferring mechanism, and a cleaning member. The chuck table is disposed in the processing chamber and configured to hold a workpiece on a chuck surface of the chuck table during a cutting process. The transferring mechanism is configured to transfer the workpiece to the chuck surface before the cutting process or transfer the workpiece away from the chuck surface after the cutting process. The cleaning member is disposed in the processing chamber, and is configured to move across and clean the chuck surface, driven by the transferring mechanism.

A solar cell includes a portion of a Germanium layer having a first side and a second side. The second side has properties consistent with a grinding and etching operation to thin a Germanium wafer to form the Germanium layer. Edges of the portion of the Germanium layer may have properties consistent with dicing using a diamond-coated saw. The portion of the Germanium layer may have a thickness of less than 150 micrometers. Compound semiconductor materials and circuitry are coupled to the first side of the portion of the Germanium layer to define a multijunction solar cell. A fused silica cover glass is coupled to the multijunction solar cell via a silicone-based adhesive.

A conveyance system for conveying a workpiece to each of a plurality of processing apparatuses includes a conveyance passage, an automated conveying vehicle for travelling on the conveyance passage, the automated conveying vehicle including a workpiece storage member, travelling mechanisms, and a receiver, a stock unit including a storage member holding base and a receiver, and a storage member conveying unit for conveying the workpiece storage member between a region of the conveyance passage above the stock unit and the storage member holding base or between a region of the conveyance passage above the processing apparatus and the inside of the processing apparatus.

A cleaning apparatus capable of effectively removing dirt attached to a bottom surface of a heat exchanger, is disclosed. The cleaning apparatus cleans the heat exchanger for regulating a surface temperature of a polishing pad. This cleaning apparatus includes: a moving mechanism configured to move the heat exchanger between a temperature-regulating position in which the heat exchanger can exchange heat with the polishing pad, and a retreat position in which the heat exchanger is separated from a surface of the polishing pad; and a cleaning mechanism configured to clean a bottom surface of the heat exchanger moved to the retreat position The retreat position is located on a side of the polishing pad. The cleaning mechanism includes at least one cleaning nozzle for ejecting a cleaning liquid to the bottom surface of the heat exchanger, or a cleaning tank in which the bottom surface of the heat exchanger can be immersed.

A method for processing a wafer in which patterns including a metal layer are formed on streets. The method includes: a step of applying a laser beam along the streets formed with the patterns to form laser processed grooves while removing the patterns; a step of forming cut grooves having a depth in excess of a finished thickness of the wafer, inside the laser processed grooves; a step of grinding the back surface side of the wafer to thin the wafer to the finished thickness and to expose the cut grooves to the back surface of the wafer, thereby dividing the wafer into a plurality of device chips; a step of removing a crushed layer formed on the back surface side of the wafer; and a step of forming a strain layer on the back surface side of the wafer by plasma processing using an inert gas.

To improve the throughput of substrate bonding. A substrate bonding apparatus that bonds first and second substrates so that contact regions in which the first and second substrates contact are formed in parts of the first and second substrates and the contact regions enlarge from the parts, the apparatus including: a detecting unit detecting information about the contact regions; and a determining unit determining that the first and second substrates can be carried out based on the information detected at the detecting unit. In the substrate bonding apparatus, the information may be information, a value of which changes according to progress of enlargement of the contact regions, and the determining unit may determine that the first and second substrates can be carried out if the value becomes constant or if a rate of changes in the value becomes lower than a predetermined value.