A wafer having on one side a device area with a plurality of devices is processed by providing a protective film and applying the protective film, for covering the devices on the wafer, to the one side of the wafer, so that a front surface of the protective film is in direct contact with the one side of the wafer. The protective film is heated during and/or after applying the protective film to the one side of the wafer, so that the protective film is attached to the one side of the wafer, and the side of the wafer opposite to the one side is processed. Further, the invention relates to a method of processing such a wafer in which a liquid adhesive is dispensed only onto a peripheral portion of a protective film and/or only onto a peripheral portion of the wafer.

Embodiments of bonded unified semiconductor chips and fabrication and operation methods thereof are disclosed. In an example, a method for forming a unified semiconductor chip is disclosed. A first semiconductor structure is formed. The first semiconductor structure includes one or more processors, an array of embedded DRAM cells, and a first bonding layer including a plurality of first bonding contacts. A second semiconductor structure is formed. The second semiconductor structure includes an array of NAND memory cells and a second bonding layer including a plurality of second bonding contacts. The first semiconductor structure and the second semiconductor structure are bonded in a face-to-face manner, such that the first bonding contacts are in contact with the second bonding contacts at a bonding interface.

A method grinds a semiconductor wafer by treating the semiconductor wafer so as to remove material by way of a grinding tool containing grinding teeth having a height h, with a coolant being supplied into a contact region between the semiconductor wafer and the grinding tool, in which, at any time of the grinding, a flushing fluid is applied onto a region on one side of the semiconductor wafer by way of a nozzle.

A method of cleaning and polishing a backside surface of a semiconductor wafer is provided. The method includes placing an abrasive brush, comprising an abrasive tape wound around an outer surface of a brush member of the abrasive brush, on the backside surface of the semiconductor wafer. The method also includes rotating the brush member to polish the backside surface of the semiconductor wafer by abrasive grains formed on the abrasive tape and to clean the backside surface of the semiconductor wafer by the brush member which is not covered by the abrasive tape.

A method of producing a wafer from a hexagonal single-crystal ingot includes the steps of planarizing an end face of the hexagonal single-crystal ingot, forming a peel-off layer in the hexagonal single-crystal ingot by applying a pulsed laser beam whose wavelength is transmittable through the hexagonal single-crystal ingot while positioning a focal point of the pulsed laser beam in the hexagonal single-crystal ingot at a depth corresponding to a thickness of a wafer to be produced from the planarized end face of the hexagonal single-crystal ingot, recording a fabrication history on the planarized end face of the hexagonal single-crystal ingot by applying a pulsed laser beam to the hexagonal single-crystal ingot while positioning a focal point of the last-mentioned pulsed laser beam in a device-free area of the wafer to be produced.

Provided is a method of evaluating a silicon wafer manufacturing process for mass-producing multiple silicon wafers. Lifetime measurement to silicon wafers mass-produced in the silicon wafer manufacturing process is performed in different locations within a surface of each of the silicon wafers and multiple measurement values are obtained. The representative value is determined for each of the silicon wafers from the multiple measurement values. The determination threshold is obtained for each wafer group including multiple silicon wafers using the representative value for each of the silicon wafers included in the wafer group. Whether the wafer group includes a silicon wafer having a lifetime outlier determined on the basis of the determination threshold among the multiple measurement values obtained for each of the silicon wafers is determined, and whether the manufacturing process may cause a defective product to be produced is determined.

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.

Provided is a laser mark printing method and a method of producing a laser-marked silicon wafer that can reduce the machining strain left around dots constituting a laser mark. In a method of printing a laser mark having a plurality of dots on a silicon wafer, the plurality of dots are formed using laser light having a wavelength in the ultraviolet region.

The occurrence of breaking and chipping at the wafer peripheral edge of a bonded wafer obtained by bonding a lamination wafer on a support wafer is suppressed. A lamination wafer to be bonded to a support wafer includes a large-diameter portion made of a silicon wafer whose peripheral edge is chamfered and a small-diameter portion, whose diameter is smaller than that of the large-diameter portion, formed on the large-diameter portion concentrically and integrally with the large-diameter portion, and the small-diameter portion includes a straight body portion whose side surface is perpendicular to the wafer surface, and a neck portion whose side surface is oblique with a predetermined angle to the wafer between the straight body portion and the large-diameter portion, and the small-diameter portion is formed such that the upper face of the straight body portion is to be bonded to the support wafer.

A method for cleaning a semiconductor wafer to clean a semiconductor wafer after polishing, including: performing a first ozone-water treatment step of cleaning the polished semiconductor wafer with ozone water to form an oxide film; performing a brush cleaning step of brush-cleaning the semiconductor wafer with carbonated water after the first ozone-water treatment step; and then performing a second ozone-water treatment step including cleaning the semiconductor wafer with hydrofluoric acid to remove the oxide film, followed by cleaning with ozone water to form an oxide film again. This second ozone-water treatment step is performed one or more times. The method for cleaning a semiconductor wafer achieves cleaning level equivalent to that with SC1, reduces or prevents defect generation on a wafer surface and surface roughness degradation which would otherwise occur when SC1 is used, and also results in cost reduction and environmental load reduction.