A method of processing a plate-shaped workpiece includes a workpiece supporting step of placing a plate-shaped workpiece on an upper surface of a sheet whose area is larger than that of the plate-shaped workpiece through a liquid resin interposed therebetween and supporting the plate-shaped workpiece on only the liquid resin that has solidified and the sheet, a processing step of processing the plate-shaped workpiece to divide the plate-shaped workpiece into a plurality of chips, and a pick-up step of picking up the chips from the sheet.

A subring for holding tape connected to semiconductor dies and spanning a passage in a frame having a first diameter includes a base. An opening extends through the base and has a second diameter at least as large as the first diameter. A projection extends from the base to ends positioned on opposite sides of the base. The projection is adapted to clamp the tape to the frame and adapted to prevent relative movement between the tape, the subring, and the frame.

In a pickup apparatus of a semiconductor die, a suction surface sucking a wafer sheet is a curved surface which is curved convexly upward, and after raising a stage to push up the wafer sheet, a control part creates a vacuum inside the stage to suck the wafer sheet to the suction surface, and after sucking the wafer sheet to the suction surface, the control part protrudes a moving element from the suction surface, and picks up a semiconductor die from the wafer sheet by a collet.

A tape expanding apparatus for expanding an expandable tape of a frame unit in which a workpiece is supported through the expandable tape to an annular frame includes a frame holding unit for holding the annular frame, a chuck table surrounded by the frame holding unit and having a holding surface for holding the workpiece through the expandable tape, and a position adjusting unit for adjusting a position of the workpiece with respect to the holding surface. The position adjusting unit includes a position detecting unit for detecting the position of the workpiece held on the holding surface and a position control unit having an abutting unit adapted to abut against an outer circumference of the annular frame supported by the frame holding unit and a moving mechanism for moving the abutting unit according to the position of the workpiece detected by the position detecting unit.

A dividing method of a substrate includes a close contact step of bringing an expanding tape into close contact with a substrate after execution of a modified layer forming step and before execution of a chip interval expansion step. Therefore, when the expanding tape is expanded in the chip interval expansion step, it is possible to favorably form plural chips with use of modified layers as the origin and to favorably widen the interval between the plural chips.

A method of picking up a die may include classifying a pickup region of a diced wafer, in which targeted pickup dies are placed, into first to n-th regions and performing a pickup step on dies in the first to n-th regions. The first region may include first dies, which are outermost dies of the targeted pickup dies. An (x+1)-th region may include regions, occupied by dies adjacent to at least one of x-th dies in an x-th region and proximate to a center of the pickup region in relation to the x-th region, n may be a natural number, and x may be an arbitrary natural number that is smaller than the n. The n-th region may have a rectangular shape, and a quantity of n-th dies in the n-th region in contact with a short side of the n-th region may be one or two.

The invention relates to methods of processing a wafer, having on one side a device area with a plurality of devices. In particular, the invention relates to a method which comprises providing a protective film, and applying the protective film to the side of the wafer being opposite to the one side, so that at least a central area of a front surface of the protective film is in direct contact with the side of the wafer being opposite to the one side. The method further comprises applying an external stimulus to the protective film during and/or after applying the protective film to the side of the wafer being opposite to the one side, so that the protective film is attached to the side of the wafer being opposite to the one side, and processing the one side of the wafer and/or the side of the wafer being opposite to the one side.

A first component with a first sidewall and a second component with a second sidewall may be mounted onto an expandable film such that an original distance X is the distance between the first sidewall and the second sidewall. The expandable film may be expanded such that an expanded distance Y is the distance between the first sidewall and the second sidewall and expanded distance Y is greater than original distance X. A first sidewall material may be applied within at least a part of a space between the first sidewall and the second sidewall. The expandable film may be expanded such that a contracted distance Z is the distance between the first sidewall and the second sidewall, and contracted distance Z is less than expanded distance Y.

An accelerated test for applying a high voltage is performed without reducing a manufacturing yield of a semiconductor device using a wide gap semiconductor material. The technical idea in the embodiment is, for example, an idea of performing the accelerated test in the state of a semiconductor wafer to distinguish a latent defect as illustrated in FIG. 4. That is, the technical idea in the embodiment is to perform the accelerated test on a semiconductor chip containing a wide bandgap semiconductor material as a main component not in the state of a semiconductor chip but in the state of the semiconductor wafer.

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.