A polishing method using a polishing pad including a specific adsorption layer. The polishing pad has an adsorption layer including a silicone including linear polyorganosiloxane having vinyl groups only at both ends, and the like. The polishing pad is fixed to a surface plate, and a product to be polished is pressed against the polishing pad, and simultaneously slid to polish the product to be polished. In this case, the surface roughness (Ra) of the surface plate is set to 0.01 to 0.7 μm, and the adsorption layer of the polishing pad is then adsorbed and fixed to the surface plate to perform polishing work. By adjusting the surface roughness of the surface plate as described above, a surface of the product to be polished can be inhibited from being unpredictably scratched or roughened. The method for adjusting the surface roughness of the surface plate is preferably a method in which a film having a surface roughness as described above is bonded to a surface of the surface plate.

An inspecting apparatus for inspecting an ingot having a polished surface includes a holding table configured to hold the ingot with the polished surface of the ingot exposed, a light source configured to irradiate the polished surface of the ingot held by the holding table with light at a predetermined incidence angle, an imaging unit configured to condense and photograph reflected light reflected by the polished surface of the ingot, and form a photographed image emphasizing unevenness produced on the polished surface by a crack extending in the ingot, and a control unit including a determining section configured to determine the state of the ingot by comparing the formed photographed image with a preset condition.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor substrate manufacturing method including: forming a catalytic metal film composed of a transition metal on a main surface to be polished of a workpiece substrate composed of any one of diamond, silicon carbide, gallium nitride, and sapphire; and providing relative movement between the workpiece substrate on which the catalytic metal film has been formed and a polishing platen in an oxidant solution to remove a compound generated by chemical reaction of an active radical generated by reaction of the catalytic metal film and the oxidant solution and a surface atom on the main surface of the workpiece substrate to thereby polish the workpiece substrate. The manufacturing method further includes: bonding the polished workpiece substrate to a nitride semiconductor layer by room temperature bonding; and removing a support substrate and a resin adhesive layer.

A method for measuring a DIC defect shape on a silicon wafer, the method including steps of: detecting a DIC defect on a main surface of the silicon wafer with a particle counter; specifying position coordinates of the detected DIC defect; and measuring a shape including at least a height or depth of the detected DIC defect by utilizing the specified position coordinates according to phase-shifting interferometry. The method for measuring a DIC defect shape by which the shape including size of DIC defect generated on a main surface of a silicon wafer is easily and precisely measured.

According to the present invention, there is provided a polishing composition used for polishing a gallium compound-based semiconductor substrate. The polishing composition includes a silica abrasive; a compound C.sub.pho having a phosphoric acid group or a phosphonic acid group; and water. In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for polishing a gallium compound-based semiconductor substrate. The method includes a first polishing step in which polishing is performed using a slurry S1 containing an abrasive A1 and water; and a second polishing step in which polishing is performed using a slurry S2 containing an abrasive A2 and water, in this order. The abrasive A2 contains a silica abrasive. The slurry S2 further contains a compound C.sub.pho having a phosphoric acid group or a phosphonic acid group. The slurry S1 does not contain the compound C.sub.pho or a concentration [% by weight] of the compound C.sub.pho in the slurry S1 is lower than a concentration [% by weight] of the compound C.sub.pho in the slurry S2.

The present invention discloses a wafer polishing device, which comprises a second pressure medium cavity for detecting pressure changes; a porous disc with a plurality of through holes, and its lower surface is covered with a flexible single cavity film; a conduction valve unit for conduction or isolation between the second pressure medium cavity and the third pressure medium cavity, which at least includes a conduction valve seat, a conduction valve and an elastic part. The lower end of the conduction valve seat extends into the through hole, and protrudes from the lower end face of the conduction valve seat; The conduction valve seat, the porous disc and the covered flexible single cavity membrane combined to form the third pressure medium cavity; a first pressure medium cavity.

A silicon wafer single-side polishing method that can significantly improve the stepped minute defect occurrence rate is provided. The silicon wafer single-side polishing method comprises: a first polishing step of performing polishing on one side of a silicon wafer under a first polishing condition; and a second polishing step of performing polishing on the silicon wafer under a second polishing condition in which at least one of an applied pressure and a relative speed in the first polishing condition is changed, after the first polishing step, wherein a polishing rate ratio according to the first polishing condition is higher than a polishing rate ratio according to the second polishing condition.

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.

Provided is a polishing composition which contains a water-soluble polymer and is suitable for reducing LPDs. The polishing composition provided in this application includes an abrasive, a water-soluble polymer, and a basic compound. In the polishing composition, the content of a reaction product of a polymerization initiator and a polymerization inhibitor is 0.1 ppb or less of the polishing composition on a weight basis.

A fabrication method of a semiconductor substrate includes: performing a chemical mechanical polishing process on a silicon carbide wafer; and performing a heating process on the silicon carbide wafer to remove a naturally formed oxide layer, to remove contaminants, to obtain a scratch-free surface, and to planarize, wherein the heating process includes: heating a chamber of a furnace and the silicon carbide wafer to T degrees Celsius for a time t, and introducing hydrogen, argon, nitrogen, or/and hydrogen chloride into the chamber; and then cooling down the furnace.