A protective film applying apparatus includes a protective film forming and cleaning unit for forming a protective film on a surface of a wafer and cleaning the protective film away. A coverage state detector detects a coverage state of the protective film, and a controller determines whether or not the protective film has a film thickness falling within a predetermined range. If the controller decides that the thickness of the protective film does not fall in the predetermined range, the controller operates the protective film forming and cleaning unit to clean away the protective film, performs a pretreating process selected depending on the film thickness on the surface, and operates the protective film forming and cleaning unit to form a protective film again on the surface of the wafer.

Described herein is a method and a power semiconductor device produced by the method. The method includes: forming a structured metallization layer above a semiconductor substrate; forming a protective layer on the structured metallization layer; forming a first passivation over the structured metallization layer with the protective layer interposed between the first passivation and the structured metallization layer; structuring the first passivation to expose one or more regions of the protective layer; removing the one or more exposed regions of the protective layer to expose one or more parts of the structured metallization layer; and after structuring the first passivation and removing the one or more exposed regions of the protective layer, forming a second passivation on the first passivation and electroless plating the one or more exposed parts of the structured metallization layer.

Provided is a technology for efficiently obtaining a metal oxide film having good adhesiveness. A method of producing a metal oxide film includes: an application step of applying a solution containing an organic metal complex onto a substrate; an ozone exposure step of exposing the resultant coating film to ozone; and a heating step of heating the coating film.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device including: a process of applying a sealing composition for a semiconductor to a semiconductor substrate, to form a sealing layer for a semiconductor on at least the bottom face and the side face of a recess portion of an interlayer insulating layer, the sealing composition including a polymer having a cationic functional group and a weight average molecular weight of from 2,000 to 1,000,000, each of the content of sodium and the content of potassium in the sealing composition being 10 ppb by mass or less on an elemental basis; and a process of subjecting a surface of the semiconductor substrate at a side at which the sealing layer has been formed to heat treatment of from 200° C. to 425° C., to remove at least a part of the sealing layer.

A method for manufacturing an SOI wafer by performing a sacrificial oxidation treatment and reducing a thickness of an SOI layer of the SOI wafer, in which: the SOI wafer on which the sacrificial oxidation treatment is performed has a film thickness distribution with a one-way sloping shape; a thermal oxidation in the sacrificial oxidation treatment is performed by combining a non-rotating oxidation and a rotating oxidation, using a vertical heat treatment furnace; whereby a thermal oxide film having an oxide film thickness distribution with a one-way sloping shape canceling the film thickness distribution with a one-way sloping shape of the SOI layer, is formed on a surface of the SOI layer; and by removing the formed thermal oxide film, an SOI wafer having an SOI layer whose film thickness distribution with a one-way sloping shape has been resolved is manufactured.

An apparatus for cleaning a wafer includes a wafer station configured to hold the wafer, and a first and a second dispensing system. The first dispensing system includes a first swivel arm, and a first nozzle on the first swivel arm, wherein the first swivel arm is configured to move the first nozzle over and aside of the wafer. The first dispensing system includes first storage tank connected to the first nozzle, with the first nozzle configured to dispense a solution in the first storage tank. The second dispensing system includes a second swivel arm, and a second nozzle on the second swivel arm, wherein the second swivel arm is configured to move the second nozzle over and aside of the wafer. The second dispensing system includes a second storage tank connected to the second nozzle, with the second nozzle configured to dispense a solution in the second storage tank.

The present teachings relate to compositions for forming a negative-tone photopatternable dielectric material, where the compositions include, among other components, an organic filler and one or more photoactive compounds, and where the presence of the organic filler enables the effective removal of such photoactive compounds (after curing, and during or after the development step) which, if allowed to remain in the photopatterned dielectric material, would lead to deleterious effects on its dielectric properties.

A passivation layer and a method of making a passivation layer are disclosed. In one embodiment the method for manufacturing a passivation layer includes depositing a first silicon based dielectric layer on a workpiece, the first silicon based dielectric layer comprising nitrogen, and depositing in-situ a second silicon based dielectric layer on the first silicon based dielectric layer, the second dielectric layer comprising oxygen.

A method for fusion bonding a pair of substrates together with silane preconditioning is provided. A surface of a first oxide layer or a surface of a second oxide layer is preconditioned with silane. The first and second oxide layers are respectively arranged on first and second semiconductor substrates. Water is applied to the surface of the first or second oxide layer. The surfaces of the first and second oxide layers are brought in direct contact. The first and second oxide layers are annealed. A method for manufacturing a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) package using the fusion bonding is also provided.

A substrate processing method includes preparing a stacked substrate including a first substrate divided into multiple chips, a protective film divided for each of the multiple chips to protect the chip, a second substrate supporting the first substrate, and an adhesive film configured to attach the protective film and the second substrate; reducing adhesive strength of the adhesive film with a light beam configured to penetrate the second substrate; and picking-up, from the adhesive film by a pick-up device, the chip and the protective film with the reduced adhesive strength to the adhesive film.