A method includes receiving a carrier with a plurality of wafers inside; supplying a purge gas to an inlet of the carrier; extracting an exhaust gas from an outlet of the carrier; and generating a health indicator of the carrier while performing the supplying of the purge gas and the extracting of the exhaust gas.

A method and apparatus for planarizing a substrate are provided. A substrate carrier head with an improved cover for holding the substrate securely is provided. The cover may have a bead that is larger than the recess into which it fits, such that the compression forms a conformal seal inside the recess. The bead may also be left uncoated to enhance adhesion of the bead to the surface of the groove. The surface of the cover may be roughened to reduce adhesion of the substrate to the cover without using a non-stick coating.

A negative capacitance device includes a semiconductor layer. An interfacial layer is disposed over the semiconductor layer. An amorphous dielectric layer is disposed over the interfacial layer. A ferroelectric layer is disposed over the amorphous dielectric layer. A metal gate electrode is disposed over the ferroelectric layer. At least one of the following is true: the interfacial layer is doped; the amorphous dielectric layer has a nitridized outer surface; a diffusion-barrier layer is disposed between the amorphous dielectric layer and the ferroelectric layer; or a seed layer is disposed between the amorphous dielectric layer and the ferroelectric layer.

A semiconductor ingot is sliced to obtain a semiconductor slice with a front side surface and a rear side surface parallel to the front side surface. A passivation layer is formed directly on at least one of the front side surface and the rear side surface. A barrier layer including least one of silicon carbide, a ternary nitride, and a ternary carbide is formed on the rear side surface.

One or more semiconductor manufacturing methods and/or semiconductor arrangements are provided. In an embodiment, a silicon carbide (SiC) layer is provided. The SiC layer has a first portion overlying a second portion. The first portion has a first side distal the second portion and a second side proximal the second portion. The first portion is converted into a porous layer overlying the second portion. The porous layer has a first side distal the second portion and a second side proximal the second portion. The porous layer is removed to expose a first side of the second portion. After removing the porous layer, the first side of the second portion has a surface roughness less than a surface roughness of the first side of the first portion and/or less than a surface roughness of the first side of the porous layer.

A semiconductor ingot is sliced to obtain a semiconductor slice with a front side surface and a rear side surface parallel to the front side surface. A passivation layer is formed directly on at least one of the front side surface and the rear side surface. A barrier layer including least one of silicon carbide, a ternary nitride, and a ternary carbide is formed on the rear side surface.

Disclosed herein is an SiC wafer producing method for producing an SiC wafer from a single crystal SiC ingot. The SiC wafer producing method includes a wafer producing step of separating a part of the ingot along a separation layer as an interface. The wafer producing step includes the steps of immersing the ingot in a liquid and applying the ultrasonic wave from an ultrasonic vibrator through the liquid to the ingot, the ultrasonic wave having a frequency greater than or equal to a critical frequency close to the natural frequency of the ingot.

A surface oxidation method for a wafer, the method comprises: raising a temperature on the wafer in an oxidation atmosphere, the temperature is raised from a start temperature to a target temperature at a temperature raising rate greater than 5 C./min, the temperature is raised in a vertical furnace tube of an annealing furnace, the vertical furnace tube includes a gas intake conduit arranged on a side wall, the gas intake conduit includes a gas inlet arranged to be proximate to a bottom of the vertical furnace tube and a gas outlet arranged to be proximate to a top of the furnace tube, the wafer overlying the vertical furnace tube; and isothermally oxidizing the wafer at the target temperature in the oxidation atmosphere.

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a packaging method, a panel assembly, a wafer package and a chip package. The semiconductor device packaging method includes: providing at least one wafer including a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other and a side surface connecting the first surface and the second surface, the first surface being an active surface; forming a connection portion on the side surface of the at least one wafer around the wafer, the wafer and the connection portion forming a panel assembly, the connection portion includes a third surface on the same side of the first surface of the wafer and a fourth surface on the same side as the second surface of the wafer, the third surface and the first surface forming a to-be-processed surface of the panel assembly; and forming a first dielectric layer on the first surface of the wafer. The packaging method of the embodiments of the present disclosure may improve packaging efficiency and utilization of a wafer.

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a packaging method, a panel assembly, a wafer package and a chip package. The semiconductor device packaging method includes: providing at least one wafer including a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other and a side surface connecting the first surface and the second surface, the first surface being an active surface; forming a connection portion on the side surface of the at least one wafer around the wafer, the wafer and the connection portion forming a panel assembly, the connection portion includes a third surface on the same side of the first surface of the wafer and a fourth surface on the same side as the second surface of the wafer, the third surface and the first surface forming a to-be-processed surface of the panel assembly. The packaging method of the embodiments of the present disclosure may improve packaging efficiency and utilization of a wafer.