A wafer processing method includes a close contact making step of pressing a protective film against the front side of a wafer in a radially outward direction starting from the center of the wafer to thereby bring the protective film into close contact with the front side of the wafer, a protective member fixing step of covering the protective film with a protective member formed by curing a liquid resin to thereby fix the protective member through the protective film to the front side of the wafer, a grinding step of grinding the back side of the wafer to reduce the thickness of the wafer, and a peeling step of peeling the protective film and the protective member from the wafer thinned by the grinding step.

A gettering layer forming method includes a coating step of applying a solution of metal salt to a back side of a wafer, and a drying step of drying the wafer after performing the coating step, thereby forming a gettering layer containing the metal salt on the back side of the wafer.

A wafer processing method includes a modified layer forming step of applying a laser beam so as to focus the laser beam inside the wafer, and form a modified layer along each division line, a wafer supporting step of attaching an expandable dicing tape to the back side of the wafer and mounting the peripheral portion of the dicing tape to an annular frame before or after performing the modified layer forming step, a tape expanding step of expanding the dicing tape attached to the back side of the wafer, and an air blowing step of blowing air against the wafer in the condition where the dicing tape is expanded, thereby dividing the wafer into individual device chips along each division line where the modified layer is formed and also increasing the spacing between any adjacent ones of the device chips.

A semiconductor wafer has a base material with a first thickness and first and second surfaces. A wafer scribe mark is disposed on the first surface of the base material. A portion of an interior region of the second surface of the base material is removed to a second thickness less than the first thickness, while leaving an edge support ring of the base material of the first thickness and an asymmetric width around the semiconductor wafer. The second thickness of the base material is less than 75 micrometers. The wafer scribe mark is disposed within the edge support ring. The removed portion of the interior region of the second surface of the base material is vertically offset from the wafer scribe mark. A width of the edge support ring is wider to encompass the wafer scribe mark and narrower elsewhere around the semiconductor wafer.

A method for fabricating handling wafer includes providing a substrate, having a front side and a back side. The front side of the substrate is disposed on a supporting pin. A first oxide layer is formed surrounding the substrate. A portion of the first oxide layer is removed to expose the front side of the substrate. An alignment mark is formed on the front side of the substrate.

A semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the semiconductor device are disclosed. The method includes: providing a device wafer and a carrier wafer, the device wafer including an SOI substrate comprising, stacked from the bottom upward, a lower substrate, a buried insulator layer and a semiconductor layer; bonding the device wafer at a front side thereof to the carrier wafer; removing at least the lower substrate through thinning the device wafer from a backside thereof, wherein the backside of the device wafer opposes the front side thereof; and providing a high-resistance substrate and bonding the device wafer at the backside thereof to the high-resistance substrate, the high-resistance substrate having a resistivity higher than that of the lower substrate. With the present disclosure, lower signal loss and improved signal linearity can be achieved while avoiding a significant cost increase.

Methods of processing a substrate having one side and an opposite side include providing a protective film having a front surface and a back surface, and applying a water-soluble material to at least a central area of the front surface of the protective film and/or applying a water-soluble material to at least a central portion of the one side of the substrate. The protective film is applied to the one side of the substrate, wherein the front surface of the protective film faces the one side of the substrate and no adhesive is between at least the central area of the front surface of the protective film and the one side of the substrate. An external stimulus is applied to the protective so that the protective film is attached to the one side of the substrate, and the substrate can be processed.

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 is formed using laser light having a wavelength in the ultraviolet region.

Methods and designs are provided for a vertical power semiconductor switch having an IGBT-with-built-in-diode bottom-side structure combined with a SJMOS topside structure in such a way as to provide fast switching with low switching losses (MOSFET), low on-resistance at low currents (SJMOS), low on-resistance at high currents (IGBT), and high current-density capability (IGBT).

A carrier or manufacturing unit includes a combination of a flexible semiconductor device package, adhesive disposed on the flexible semiconductor device package and a rigid substrate disposed on the adhesive. The flexible semiconductor device package may be protected during transport and/or assembly by the rigid substrate. In a method of manufacturing an electronic product such as wearable technology that requires a flexible semiconductor device package, the unit can be transported to a work station and physically and/or electrically connected to another/other component(s) of the technology. Then the rigid substrate is removed.