A processing apparatus includes a chuck table for sucking and holding a workpiece and a camera unit imaging the workpiece. The chuck table includes a light passing portion that passes light. The light passing portion includes a first region that overlaps with the workpiece and has a first mirror face that reflects light that advances from the first region into the light passing portion. The camera unit can image the workpiece by detecting light reflected by the first mirror face after having been reflected by the workpiece held by the chuck table and advanced into the light passing portion.

A protective member forming method for forming a protective member on the top surface of a substrate having projections and depressions on the top surface covers the top surface of the substrate with a resin film, adheres the resin film to the substrate so as to conform to the projections and depressions, supplies a curable liquid resin to a region superimposed on the substrate on the upper surface of the resin film, presses the liquid resin by a flat pressing surface via a cover film, thus spreads the liquid resin and cures the liquid resin, and thereby forms the protective member including the resin film, the cured liquid resin, and the cover film on the top surface of the substrate.

A wafer processing method includes preparing a holding table having a blade clearance portion formed therein so as to correspond to a notch of a wafer, holding the wafer by the holding table so as to make the notch of the wafer correspond to the blade clearance portion of the holding table, reducing the diameter of the wafer by cutting the wafer by a cutting blade along an outer peripheral edge of the wafer in a state in which an end of the cutting blade is positioned below the holding surface of the holding table and therefore removing at least a part of the notch portion, and forming a second notch in the wafer by cutting the wafer in a thickness direction by the cutting blade along the blade clearance portion of the holding table.

A micro-transfer printing system comprises a source substrate having a substrate surface and components disposed in an array on, over, or in the substrate surface Each component has a component extent in a plane parallel to the substrate surface. A stamp comprises a stamp body and stamp posts extending away from the stamp body disposed in an array over the stamp body. Each of the stamp posts has (i) a post location corresponding to a component location of one of the components when the stamp is disposed in alignment with the source substrate, and (ii) a post surface extent on a distal end of the stamp post. The post surface extent is greater than the component extent.

A substrate bonding apparatus includes a lower chuck that receives a lower substrate and an upper chuck disposed above the lower chuck. An upper substrate is fixed to the upper chuck. The upper chuck and the lower chuck bond the upper substrate to the lower substrate. The upper chuck has an upper convex surface toward the lower chuck. The upper convex surface includes a plurality of first ridges and a plurality of first valleys disposed alternately along an azimuthal direction.

A flattening apparatus includes a mold holding unit configured to suck and hold a mold including a flat portion, a substrate holding unit holding a substrate, an exposure unit irradiating a light curing composition supplied onto the substrate with light at least via the mold to cure the composition, the composition being irradiated with the light and cured in a state where the flat portion of the mold is in contact with the composition on the substrate, a gas suction unit sucking gas from a spatial region between the mold and the mold holding unit, a gas supply unit supplying the gas to the spatial region, and a control unit controlling the gas suction unit and the gas supply unit to perform temperature adjustment processing for supplying the gas to the spatial region in a state where the mold is sucked and held onto the mold holding unit.

An LED wafer is formed from a sapphire substrate having a front side. A plurality of crossing division lines are formed on the front side of the sapphire substrate to thereby define a plurality of separate regions where a plurality of LEDs are respectively formed. An LED wafer processing method includes preparing a V-blade having an annular cutting edge whose outer circumferential portion has a V-shaped cross section, rotatably mounting the V-blade in a cutting unit, holding the LED wafer on a holding table with the back side of the LED wafer exposed upward, and then relatively moving the cutting unit and the holding table to form a chamfered portion on the back side of the LED wafer along an area corresponding to each division line formed on the front side of the LED wafer.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a substrate bonding apparatus including a first suction stage, a second suction stage, and a pressing member. The first suction stage sucks a first substrate. The second suction stage is arranged so as to face the first substrate. The second suction stage sucks the second substrate. The pressing member is capable of deforming the first substrate sucked on the first suction stage so as to be convex toward the second suction stage side. The pressing member has a marking structure on a distal end side.

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 or a front 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 shield tunnels in the wafer, thereby dividing the wafer into individual device chips, and a pickup step of blowing air to each device chip from the polyolefin sheet side to push up each device chip through the polyolefin sheet and picking up each device chip from the polyolefin sheet.

According to one embodiment, a substrate holding plate includes an inorganic material layer that has through holes and pores therein. The inorganic material layer has a first surface to which a flat surface of a substrate can be adhered for subsequent processing, such as polishing or the like. The pores of the inorganic material layer have an average diameter that is smaller than an average diameter of the through holes of the inorganic material layer.