A bonding apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a first holder and a second holder. The first holder holds a first substrate. The second holder sucks a second substrate, opposes the second substrate to the first substrate, and bonds the second substrate to the first substrate. A first ring stage is provided on an outer circumference of the first holder and allows a first ring member provided on an outer edge of the first substrate to be mounted thereon. A second ring stage is provided on an outer circumference of the second holder and allows a second ring member provided on an outer edge of the second substrate to be mounted thereon. A first heater is provided in the first ring stage. A second heater is provided in the second ring stage.

Provided are a semiconductor element bonding apparatus and a semiconductor element bonding method that do not cause a bonding material to protrude and also ensure adhesion, even when there are variations in a thickness of a semiconductor element or a workpiece and even when there are projections and depressions on surfaces. A semiconductor element bonding apparatus includes disposing means for disposing a workpiece and a semiconductor element at positions facing each other, moving means for moving the workpiece or the semiconductor element in a vertical direction, displacement measuring means for measuring displacement of the workpiece or the semiconductor element in the vertical direction, load measuring means for measuring a contact load between the workpiece and the semiconductor element with the bonding material interposed therebetween, and elastic modulus calculating means for calculating an elastic modulus from results of the measurement by the displacement measuring means and the load measuring means.

An etching method including: a preparation step of preparing a resin layer and an electronic component supported thereby; and a resin etching step of etching the resin layer. The electronic component has a first surface covered with a protective film, a second surface opposite thereto, and a sidewall therebetween. The second surface is facing the resin layer. The resin layer is larger than the electronic component when seen from the first surface side. The resin etching step includes: a deposition step of depositing a first film, using a first plasma, on a surface of the protective film and a surface of the resin layer; and a removal step of removing, using a second plasma, the first film deposited on the resin layer and at least part of the resin layer. The deposition and removal steps are alternately repeated, with the protective film allowed to continue to exist.

A wafer separating apparatus is provided which includes a wafer supporting member having an upper surface on which a bonded wafer formed of two wafers bonded with each other is placed; an arm portion arranged outside of the wafer supporting member, the arm portion being movable closer to and away from a bonded portion of the bonded portion of the bonded wafer supported by the supporting portion; and an inflating portion provided in an distal end portion of the arm portion, the inflating portion being inflatable in a direction intersecting the upper surface of the wafer supporting member.

A bonding apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a first holder and a second holder. The first holder holds a first substrate. The second holder includes a plurality of suction portions that suck a second substrate and that are arranged on concentric circles about a center of the second substrate substantially evenly. The second holder bonds the second substrate to the first substrate while opposing the second substrate to the first substrate. A first gas supply portion has a plurality of first gas supply ports to supply gas toward a bonding position between the first substrate and the second substrate. The first gas supply ports are provided to correspond to at least a part of outermost suction portions that are farthest ones of the suction portions from a center of the second holder, and are concentrically arranged on a circle about the center substantially evenly.

A laser beam spot shape correcting method includes a laser beam irradiating step of irradiating a concave mirror with a laser beam, an imaging step of imaging reflected light by a beam profiler, an image forming step of forming an XZ plane image or a YZ plane image from an XY plane image imaged in the imaging step, and a comparing step of comparing the image formed in the image forming step with an XZ plane image or a YZ plane image of an ideal laser beam. A phase pattern displayed on a display unit of a spatial light modulator is changed such that the XZ plane image or the YZ plane image formed in the image forming step coincides with the XZ plane image or the YZ plane image of the ideal laser beam.

A workpiece processing method includes a holding step of holding a workpiece with a front surface of the workpiece directed downward so as to face an upper surface side of a base supplied with a fluid curable resin, a coating step of moving the workpiece downward to press the workpiece against the curable resin, thereby coating the whole of the front surface of the workpiece with the curable resin such that the curable resin enters gaps between bumps and the front surface and the bumps are embedded in the curable resin, a curing step of curing the curable resin to form a resin film, a laser beam applying step of removing the resin film on each street, and a dividing step of supplying a gas plasma to the workpiece to divide the workpiece along each street into individual device chips with the resin film as a mask.

A method of processing a workpiece with a disk-shaped blade containing abrasive grains includes the steps of placing an auxiliary plate made of a material having a modulus of elasticity higher than a material of which a front surface side of the workpiece is made, on the front surface side of the workpiece, causing the blade rotated to cut into the front surface side of the workpiece to cut the workpiece as well as the auxiliary plate, and removing the auxiliary plate from the workpiece that has been cut by the blade.

A processing method of a device wafer includes a mask coating step of coating a front surface of the device wafer with a water-soluble resin, a mask forming step of applying a laser beam along each division line, forming a groove, and removing a protective mask and a functional layer to expose a substrate, a plasma etching step of forming a division groove that divides the substrate along the groove by supplying a gas in a plasma condition, an expanding step of expanding a protective tape in a plane direction to expand a width of the division groove, an adhesive film dividing step of applying a laser beam along the division groove to divide the adhesive film that has been exposed due to the formation of the division groove, and a cleaning step of cleaning and removing the water-soluble resin.

A method of manufacturing a microelectronic device may include forming a wiring layer on a first surface of a wafer. The method may also include forming a modified layer along separation regions for each microelectronic device of the wafer by focusing a laser on an inside portion of the wafer. The method may also include removing material from the second surface of the wafer. The wafer may be cooled to a temperature where a low dielectric constant layer extending across the separation regions is brittle while the material is removed from the second surface of the wafer. The method may further include separating the wafer along the separation region to form separate microelectronic devices.