The invention relates to an epitaxially coated semiconductor wafer, processed by a method in which the semiconductor wafer is disposed on a susceptor in a coating apparatus and processed, wherein an etching gas is passed through the coating apparatus in an etching step. A first side of the semiconductor wafer which has been subjected to a polishing operation by CMP, or a second side of the semiconductor wafer opposite the first side, is coated with a protective layer before processing. The resulting wafer has exceptional geometry, as reflected by low ESFQR values.

The present disclosure provides a method for fabricating a semiconductor structure, including placing a wafer on a chuck, wherein the wafer is surrounded by a focus ring, the focus ring is supported by a first actuator, wherein the first actuator is in a cavity defined by the chuck and the edge ring, wherein the first actuator includes an outer ring disposed in the cavity, a piezoelectric layer apart from a top surface of the cavity, wherein an edge of the piezoelectric layer is fixed by the outer ring, and an inner ring disposed in the chamber at a center portion of the piezoelectric layer, performing plasma etch on a surface of the wafer, and controlling a distance between a gas distribution plate and a top surface of the focus ring to be less than a threshold value by the first actuator.

A method and an apparatus for determining expansion compensation in a photoetching process, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device are provided. A relative vector misalignment value of a first wafer and a second wafer after being bonded is obtained based on a relative position relationship between a first alignment pattern of the first wafer and a second alignment pattern of the second wafer in a boding structure. A relative expansion value of the first wafer and the second wafer is obtained based on the relative vector misalignment value. A developing expansion compensation value in the photoetching process is obtained. The expansion compensation value is used to the photoetching process of a first conductor layer including the first alignment pattern of the first wafer and/or a second conductor layer including the second alignment pattern of the second wafer.

There are provided a semiconductor memory device and a manufacturing method thereof. The semiconductor memory device includes: a cell stack structure surrounding a first channel structure and a second channel structure; a first source select line overlapping with a first region of the cell stack structure and surrounding the first channel structure; and a second source select line overlapping with a second region of the cell stack structure and surrounding the second channel structure. Each of the first source select line and the second source select line includes a first select gate layer overlapping with the cell stack structure, a second select gate layer disposed between the first select gate layer and the cell stack structure, and a third select gate layer disposed between the first select gate layer and the second select gate layer.

One or more embodiments are directed to methods of removing a sacrificial layer from semiconductor wafers during wafer processing. In at least one embodiment, the sacrificial layer is removed from a wafer during an O.sub.2 plasma etch step. In one embodiment, the sacrificial layer is poly(p-phenylene-2, 6-benzobisoxazole) (PBO) or polyimide. The O.sub.2 plasma etch step causes a residue to form on the wafer. The residue is removed by immersing the wafer a solution that is a mixture of the tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) and water.

An etching composition for silicon nitride layers and a method of etching a silicon nitride layer using the composition, the etching composition including an inorganic acid or a salt thereof; a solvent; an acid-modified silica or an acid-modified silicic acid; and a cyclic compound containing four or more nitrogen atoms.

An apparatus and method are provided to: determine a unique profile to etch each wafer, execute that etch, and determine and deliver the proper chemical addition in order to maintain etch rate within tight tolerances.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting device, including arranging a plurality of particles in a monolayer on a substrate, dry etching the plurality of particles arranged to provide a void between the particles in a condition IN which the particles are etched while the substrate is not substantially etched; and dry etching the substrate using the plurality of particles after the particle etching step as an etching mask, thereby forming an uneven structure on one surface of the substrate.

A method for producing mirror-polished wafer, the method produces a plurality of mirror-polished wafers by performing, on plurality of silicon wafers obtained by slicing a silicon ingot, slicing strain removing step of removing strain on a surface caused by slicing, etching step of removing strain caused by the slicing strain removing step, and double-side polishing step of performing mirror polishing on both surfaces of the silicon wafers subjected to etching, each step being performed by batch processing, wherein silicon wafers which are processed in double-side polishing step by batch processing are selected from silicon wafers processed in same batch in the slicing strain removing step and the number of silicon wafers to be selected is made to be equal to the number of silicon wafers processed in the slicing strain removing step or submultiple thereof. As a result, a method that can produce mirror-polished wafers having high flatness is provided.

A method includes: in a semiconductor wafer having a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer adjoining the first semiconductor layer, forming a porous region extending from a front surface into the first semiconductor layer; and removing the porous region by an etching process, wherein a doping concentration of the second semiconductor layer is less than 10.sup.−2 times a doping concentration of the first semiconductor layer and/or a doping type of the second semiconductor layer is complementary to a doping type of the first semiconductor layer, wherein forming the porous region comprises bringing in contact a porosifying agent with the front surface of the first semiconductor layer and applying a voltage between the first semiconductor layer and a first electrode that is in contact with the porosifying agent, wherein applying the voltage comprises applying the voltage between the first electrode and an edge region of the first semiconductor layer.