A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes chucking in which a semiconductor device wafer is attached to an upper surface of a chuck mechanism with its device surface down; and edge trimming performed after the chucking, wherein the edge trimming comprises: rotating the semiconductor device water horizontally by the chuck mechanism; rotating a rotating blade horizontally by a vertical spindle to which an ultrasonic wave is applied and trimming a circumferential side surface of the semiconductor device wafer by the rotating blade.

In a method of manufacture, a displacement sensor is provided over a conditioner disk. The conditioner disk is rotated to perform a conditioning process on a polishing surface of a polishing pad. A displacement of the rotating conditioner disk is detected using the displacement sensor during the conditioning process. A height of the conditioner disk is calculated from the detected displacement. An end point of the conditioning process is determined on the polishing surface based on the calculated height.

A peeling layer is formed by applying a laser beam only to a central region of a workpiece other than a peripheral region extending inward from the peripheral edge of the workpiece by a predetermined distance. In this case, the application of the laser beam does not form the peeling layer in the peripheral region of the workpiece, and the formation of an ablation trace on the outer peripheral surface of the workpiece is prevented. As a result, it is possible to reduce a probability of occurrence of chipping in the peripheral region of a wafer peeled off from the workpiece when the wafer is subjected to a post-process.

The present invention provides a control method to epitaxial growth monolayer graphene, in which a monolayer graphene is epitaxially grown on a non-polar crystal face at arbitrary angle of a non-polar crystal face SiC substrate, thereby utilizing the non-polar crystal face to manipulate the electrical transport properties of graphene. A monolayer graphene having ballistic transport properties can be epitaxially grown at arbitrary angle of non-polar crystal face SiC substrate by the above-mentioned control method.

The present invention relates to a cleaning fluid containing components (A) to (C) and 0.001 mass % or less of a surfactant, in which component (A) is a compound represented by formula (1); component (B) is an alkaline compound; and component (C) is water,

##STR00001## in formula (1), R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 independently represent a hydroxyl group or a phenol group.

A method of processing a semiconductor wafer is provided. The method includes providing a semiconductor wafer having a front side and a back side, the semiconductor wafer provided with a circuit layer at the front side and a patterned surface at the back side, forming a sacrificial layer on the back side, mounting a tape on the sacrificial layer, the sacrificial layer isolating the patterned surface from the tape, wherein adhesion strength between the sacrificial layer and the patterned surface is larger than that between the sacrificial layer and the tape, dicing the semiconductor wafer at the back side through the tape, defining individual chips on the semiconductor wafer, and expanding the tape to separate the chips from each other.

A processing apparatus includes a holder configured to hold a substrate; a grinding device configured to perform a grinding on a processing surface of the substrate held on the holder; a transfer device configured to transfer the substrate to the holder; and a controller configured to control the holder, the grinding device and the transfer device. The controller controls the holder, the grinding device and the transfer device to perform performing initialization of the holder, initialization of the grinding device and initialization of the transfer device after the processing apparatus is stopped during an operation thereof and the processing apparatus is restarted; detecting the substrate on the holder; deciding whether the grinding on the detected substrate by the grinding device is required; and performing, by the grinding device, the grinding on the processing surface of the substrate on which the grinding is decided to be required.

A wafer thinning method and a wafer structure are provided. In the wafer thinning method, a to-be-thinned wafer is provided, and the to-be-thinned wafer is grinded on a rear surface of the to-be-thinned wafer. Then, a first planarization process is performed on a rear surface of the grinded wafer to restore surface flatness of the grinded wafer, and a second planarization process is performed on a rear surface of the wafer obtained after the first planarization process is performed until a target thinned thickness is reached.

A multi-modal diamond abrasive package or slurry is disclosed for polishing hard substrates. The multi-modal diamond abrasive package or slurry generally includes a plurality of diamond abrasives. Each one of the diamond abrasives of the plurality of diamond abrasives has a particle size. Wherein, the multi-modal diamond abrasive package or slurry includes a first diamond abrasive and a second diamond abrasive. The first diamond abrasive has a first particle size, and the second diamond abrasive has a second particle size. Where, the first particle size of the first diamond abrasive is smaller than the second particle size of the second diamond abrasive.

The invention relates to a method of producing a substrate. The method comprises providing a workpiece having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, and providing a carrier having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface. The method further comprises attaching the carrier to the workpiece, wherein at least a peripheral portion of the first surface of the carrier is attached to the first surface of the workpiece, and forming a modified layer inside the workpiece. Moreover, the method comprises dividing the workpiece along the modified layer, thereby obtaining the substrate, wherein the substrate has the carrier attached thereto, and removing carrier material from the side of the second surface of the carrier in a central portion of the carrier so as to form a recess in the carrier. The invention further relates to a substrate producing system for performing this method.