In debonding a temporarily adhesive-bonded carrier-workpiece pair by a combination of chemical and mechanical methods, solvents or chemicals are used to remove the adhesives primarily through dissolution, and a thin wire, filament, or blade is used to exert a cutting or wedging action between the carrier and workpiece. The two methods are used together during the debonding process. In the carrier-workpiece pair, the workpiece can be a semiconductor wafer that has been thinned and processed. The carrier and the workpiece are temporarily bonded using an adhesive dissolvable in a selected chemical or solvent. The chemical and mechanical debonding (CMDB) method can be carried out in solvent immersion or in solvent spray to provide high throughput debonding. The dissolved adhesives can be recycled and later reused, thus lowering the cost of the whole bonding and debonding process.

A process includes the successive steps of: a) providing first and second substrates, each including a first surface and an opposite, second surface, lateral edges connecting the first and second surfaces, b) bonding the first substrate to the second substrate by direct bonding with the first surfaces of the first and second substrates so as to form a bonding interface (IC), and making the lateral edges of the first and second substrates hydrophobic on either side of the bonding interface (IC).

An electrostatic attachment chuck includes: a substrate; a synthetic resin sheet joined to one main surface of the substrate; and at least a pair of electrodes disposed in the synthetic resin sheet. The synthetic resin sheet includes a planarized and ground surface serving as a surface on which a semiconductor wafer is abutted.

A laser processing method includes a step of holding a film side of a workpiece which has been divided into chips and whose reverse side carries an adhesive film stuck thereto, a step of detecting widths of grooves in the workpiece at predetermined chip intervals and central coordinates of the widths of the grooves, a step of calculating laser beam irradiation lines based on the detected widths of the grooves and the detected central coordinates, a step of determining misalignment levels of the calculated laser beam irradiation lines according to misalignments of the grooves in widthwise directions thereof, and a step of processing the adhesive film with a laser beam by applying the laser beam to the adhesive film at bottoms of the grooves along the laser beam irradiation lines, thereby separating the adhesive film.

A substrate processing system configured to process a substrate includes a modification layer forming apparatus configured to form a modification layer within the substrate along a boundary between a peripheral portion of the substrate to be removed and a central portion of the substrate; and a periphery removing apparatus configured to remove the peripheral portion starting from the modification layer.

A back surface of a wafer is formed with a ring-shaped projecting portion. The wafer is cut with a blade from a side of a front surface of the wafer in a state where the projecting portion of the wafer with a back surface facing upward is supported.

A local deformation which is generated on bonded substrates can be reduced. A bonding apparatus includes a first holding unit configured to attract and hold a first substrate from above; a second holding unit configured to attract and hold a second substrate from below; a striker configured to bring the first substrate into contact with the second substrate by pressing a central portion of the first substrate from above; a moving unit configured to move the second holding unit between a non-facing position where the second holding unit does not face the first holding unit and a facing position where the second holding unit faces the first holding unit; and a temperature control unit disposed to face the second holding unit placed at the non-facing position and configured to locally adjust a temperature of the second substrate attracted to and held by the second holding unit.

A method of processing a plate-shaped workpiece that includes layered bodies containing metal which are formed in superposed relation to projected dicing lines, includes the steps of holding the workpiece on a holding table, and thereafter, cutting the workpiece along the projected dicing lines with an annular cutting blade, thereby separating the layered bodies. The cutting blade has a groove defined in a face side or a reverse side of an outer peripheral portion thereof that cuts into the workpiece in the step of cutting the workpiece. The step of cutting the workpiece includes the step of cutting the workpiece while supplying a cutting fluid containing an organic acid and an oxidizing agent to the workpiece.

A liquid supply mechanism is disposed on an upper portion of a holding unit of a laser processing apparatus. The liquid supply mechanism includes: a liquid chamber having a transparent plate positioned such that a gap is formed between the transparent plate and the top surface of a workpiece held on a holding table; a linear-motion mechanism configured to linearly move the transparent plate over the liquid chamber; a liquid supply nozzle configured to supply a liquid from one side of the liquid chamber to the gap; and a liquid discharge nozzle configured to discharge the liquid from another side of the liquid chamber. A laser beam irradiating unit includes a laser oscillator configured to irradiate the workpiece through the transparent plate and the liquid supplied to the gap.

A discrete piece forming device EA that forms discrete pieces CP by dividing a work WF into pieces includes: a sheet pasting unit 10 which pastes, on the work WF, an adhesive sheet AS containing swell grains SG that swell when predetermined energy IR is applied; a modified part forming unit 20 which forms modified parts MT in the work WF to form, in the work WF, predefined discrete piece areas WFP each surrounded by the modified parts MT; and a dividing unit 30 which divides the work WF into pieces by forming, in the work WF, cracks CK starting from the modified parts MT by applying external force to the work WF, to form the discrete pieces CP. The dividing unit 30 applies the energy IR to parts of the adhesive sheet AS to swell the swell grains SG contained in adhesive sheet parts ASP to which the energy IR has been applied, thereby displacing the predefined discrete piece areas WFP pasted on the adhesive sheet parts ASP to form the discrete pieces CP.