A protective film agent for laser dicing that includes a solution in which at least a water-soluble resin, an organic solvent, and an ultraviolet absorber are mixed and in which the content of sodium (Na) of the solution is equal to or lower than 100 ppb in weight ratio. Preferably, the solution further includes an antioxidant.

A method includes providing a semiconductor wafer that includes at least one optical waveguide extending in a longitudinal direction. Stealth dicing laser processing is applied to the semiconductor wafer by producing defect regions into the wafer along at least one cutting line. The cutting line is oblique to the longitudinal direction of the at least one optical waveguide. The wafer is expanded to induce fracture thereof at the at least one cutting line, thereby producing an end surface of the at least one optical waveguide. The end surface is oblique to the longitudinal direction of the at least one optical waveguide.

Techniques and mechanisms for forming a bond between two wafers. In an embodiment, a first wafer and a second wafer are positioned with respective wafer holders, and are deformed to form a first deformation of the first wafer and a second deformation of the second wafer. The first deformation and the second deformation are symmetrical with respect to a centerline which is between the first wafer and the second wafer. A portion of the first deformation is made to contact, and form a bond with, another portion of the second deformation. The bond is propagated along respective surfaces of the wafers to form a coupling therebetween. In another embodiment, one of the wafer holders comprises one of an array of elements to locally heat or cool a wafer, or an array of displacement stages to locally deform said wafer.

A sheet expanding apparatus includes: an adhering mechanism including an adhering roller by which a belt-shaped sheet wound in a roll form is adhered to a plate-shaped body, and a cutter adapted to cut the belt-shaped sheet into a rectangular sheet larger in size than the plate-shaped body; an expanding mechanism adapted to expand the rectangular sheet in a first direction and a second direction; and a transfer unit by which the plate-shaped body having the rectangular sheet adhered thereto is transferred to the expanding mechanism. The belt-shaped sheet can be supplied to the sheet expanding apparatus in the state of being wound in the roll form, and the plate-shaped body can be transferred by the transfer unit and the rectangular sheet can be expanded, after the belt-shaped sheet is adhered to the plate-shaped body and is cut into the rectangular sheet in the sheet expanding apparatus.

There is provided a conveyance system that conveys a workpiece to each of plural processing apparatuses. The conveyance system includes a conveyance passage, an automated workpiece conveying vehicle that travels on the conveyance passage, a stock unit, and a control unit. The conveyance passage is set in a space directly above the processing apparatus across the plural processing apparatuses. The stock unit includes a workpiece conveying part that conveys the workpiece between a workpiece stocker that houses the workpiece supplied to the processing apparatus and the automated workpiece conveying vehicle.

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 applying a laser beam to the wafer to form division grooves in the wafer, thereby dividing the wafer into individual device chips, and a pickup step of picking up each device chip from the polyolefin sheet.

A flexible membrane for a carrier head of a chemical mechanical polisher includes a main portion, an annular outer portion, and three annular flaps. The main portion has a substrate mounting surface with a radius R. The annular outer portion extends upwardly from an outer edge of the main portion and has a lower edge connected to the main portion and an upper edge. The three annular flaps include a first annular flap joined to an inner surface of the main portion at a radial position between 75% and 95% of R, a second inwardly-extending annular flap joined to the annular outer portion at a position between the lower edge and the upper edge, and a third inwardly-extending annular flap joined to the upper edge of the annular outer portion.

A method for aligning and contacting a first substrate with a second substrate using a plurality of detection units and a corresponding device for alignment and contact.

A method of manufacturing a light-emitting element includes: providing a wafer including: a substrate, and a semiconductor structure; forming a plurality of modified regions inside the substrate of the wafer by irradiating the substrate with a laser beam; and separating the wafer into a plurality of light-emitting elements after said irradiating the substrate with the laser beam. Said forming the plurality of modified regions includes: scanning the laser beam along a plurality of first lines, the plurality of first lines extending in a first direction and being arranged in a second direction, the first direction being parallel to the first surface, the second direction intersecting the first direction and being parallel to the first surface, and scanning the laser beam along a plurality of second lines, the plurality of second lines extending in the second direction and being arranged in the first direction.

A method and an apparatus for bonding semiconductor substrates are provided. The method includes at least the following steps. A first position of a first semiconductor substrate on a first support is gauged by a gauging component embedded in the first support and a first sensor facing towards the gauging component. A second semiconductor substrate is transferred to a position above the first semiconductor substrate by a second support. A second position of the second semiconductor substrate is gauged by a second sensor mounted on the second support and located above the first support. The first semiconductor substrate is positioned based on the second position of the second semiconductor substrate. The second semiconductor substrate is bonded to the first semiconductor substrate.