A method includes placing a first wafer on a first wafer stage, placing a second wafer on a second wafer stage, and pushing a center portion of the first wafer to contact the second wafer. A bonding wave propagates from the center portion to edge portions of the first wafer and the second wafer. When the bonding wave propagates from the center portion to the edge portions of the first wafer and the second wafer, a stage gap between the top wafer stage and the bottom wafer stage is reduced.

There is provided a method of processing a wafer having devices formed in respective areas on a face side thereof that are demarcated by a plurality of crossing projected dicing lines on the face side. The method of processing a wafer includes a wafer unit forming step of forming a wafer unit having a wafer, a tape, and an annular frame, a dividing step of dividing the wafer along the projected dicing lines into a plurality of device chips, a pick-up step of picking up one at a time of the device chips from the wafer unit, and a measuring step of measuring the device chip picked up in the pick-up step. The method also includes a distinguishing step, before the pick-up step, of inspecting properties of the devices to distinguish acceptable devices and defective devices among the devices and storing distinguished results.

A device for wafer bonding alignment includes: a first fixing apparatus, configured to fix a first wafer, a first alignment mark being disposed on the first wafer; a second fixing apparatus, configured to fix a second wafer, a second alignment mark being disposed on the second wafer, the second fixing apparatus being disposed opposite to the first fixing apparatus; a reflection apparatus, located between the first fixing apparatus and the second fixing apparatus; and a mark reader, reading position information of the first alignment mark and the second alignment mark using the reflection apparatus to align the first wafer fixed on the first fixing apparatus and the second wafer fixed on the second fixing apparatus.

A method for bonding a contact surface of a first substrate to a contact surface of a second substrate comprising of the steps of: positioning the first substrate on a first receiving surface of a first receiving apparatus and positioning the second substrate on a second receiving surface of a second receiving apparatus; establishing contact of the contact surfaces at a bond initiation site; and bonding the first substrate to the second substrate along a bonding wave which is travelling from the bond initiation site to the side edges of the substrates, wherein the first substrate and/or the second substrate is/are deformed for alignment of the contact surfaces.

Some embodiments relate to a processing tool for processing a singulated semiconductor die. The tool includes an evaluation unit, a drying unit, and a die wipe station. The evaluation unit is configured to subject the singulated semiconductor die to a liquid to detect flaws in the singulated semiconductor die. The drying unit is configured to dry the liquid from a frontside of the singulated semiconductor die. The die wipe station includes an absorptive drying structure configured to absorb the liquid from a backside of the singulated semiconductor die after the drying unit has dried the liquid from the frontside of the singulated semiconductor die.

A cutting apparatus includes a table including a support plate transparent in a visible region, a cutting unit, a first feeding mechanism that includes a first moving section for supporting the table and a first motor, a second feeding mechanism that includes a second moving section for supporting the cutting unit and a second motor, a first camera disposed on the side of a first surface of the support plate, a second camera disposed on the side of a second surface opposite to the first surface of the support plate, and a storage section that stores positional deviation amounts in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction between an imaging region at a reference position of the first camera and an imaging region at a reference position of the second camera.

Wafer bonding apparatus and method are provided. A method includes performing a first plasma activation process on a first surface of a first wafer. The first plasma activation process forms a first high-activation region and a first low-activation region on the first surface of the first wafer. A first cleaning process is performed on the first surface of the first wafer. The first cleaning process forms a first plurality of silanol groups in the first high-activation region and the first low-activation region. The first high-activation region includes more silanol groups than the first low-activation region. The first wafer is bonded to a second wafer.

In one aspect, a highly scalable diffusion-couple apparatus includes a transfer chamber configured to load a wafer into a process chamber. The process chamber is configured to receive the wafer substrate from the transfer chamber. The process chamber comprises a chamber for growth of a diffusion material on the wafer. A heatable bottom substrate disk includes a first heating mechanism. The heatable bottom substrate disk is fixed and heatable to a specified temperature. The wafer is placed on the heatable bottom substrate disk. A heatable top substrate disk comprising a second heating mechanism. The heatable top substrate disk is configured to move up and down along an x axis and an x prime axis to apply a mechanical pressure to the wafer on the heatable bottom substrate disk. While the heatable top substrate disk applies the mechanical pressure a chamber pressure is maintained at a specified low value. The first heating mechanism and the second heating mechanism can be independently tuned to any value in the working range.

A substrate bonding apparatus includes a substrate susceptor to support a first substrate, a substrate holder over the substrate susceptor to hold a second substrate, the substrate holder including a plurality of independently moveable holding fingers, and a chamber housing to accommodate the substrate susceptor and the substrate holder.

A method and an apparatus for bonding semiconductor substrates are provided. The apparatus includes a first support configured to carry a first semiconductor substrate and a second semiconductor substrate bonded to each other, a gauging component embedded in the first support and comprising a fiducial pattern, and a first sensor disposed proximate to the gauging component, and configured to emit a light source towards the fiducial pattern of the gauging component.