The present disclosure provides a bonding method for a semiconductor substrate, which may improve flatness of a bonded substrate. The present disclosure further provides a bonded semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate is thermally treated prior to bonding, and oxygen precipitates in the semiconductor substrate are partially or totally converted to interstitial oxygen atoms in the thermal treatment.

A bonded structure is disclosed. The bonded structure can include a first element that has a first bonding surface. The bonded structure can further include a second element that has a second bonding surface. The first and second bonding surfaces are bonded to one another along a bonding interface. The bonded structure can also include an integrated device that is coupled to or formed with the first element or the second element. The bonded structure can further include a channel that is disposed along the bonding interface around the integrated device to define an effectively closed profile The bonded structure can also include a getter material that is disposed in the channel. The getter material is configured to reduce the diffusion of gas into an interior region of the bonded structure.

Various semiconductor chips with gettering regions and methods of making the same are disclosed. In one aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes a semiconductor chip that has a first side and a second side opposite the first side. The first side has a plurality of laser ablation craters. Each of the ablation craters has a bottom. A gettering region is in the semiconductor chip beneath the laser ablation craters. The gettering region includes plural structural defects. At least some of the structural defects emanate from at least some of the bottoms of the laser ablation craters.

A semiconductor device according to the present disclosure includes: a semiconductor substrate with a first main surface and a second main surface; a drift layer of a first conductivity type formed in the semiconductor substrate; a first impurity diffusion layer of a second conductivity type formed on the drift layer to be closer to the first main surface; and a buffer layer of the first conductivity type formed on the drift layer to be closer to the second main surface and higher in peak impurity concentration than the drift layer. The drift layer has a first trap, a second trap, and a third trap, whose energy level each is lower than energy at a bottom of a conduction band by 0.246 eV, 0.349 eV, and 0.470 eV. The second trap has trap density of equal to or greater than 2.0×10.sup.11 cm.sup.−3.

A semiconductor structure and a method for forming a semiconductor structure are provided. A sacrificial gate layer is removed to form a gate trench exposing a sacrificial dielectric layer. An ion implantation is performed to a portion of a substrate covered by the sacrificial dielectric layer in the gate trench. The sacrificial dielectric layer is removed to expose the substrate from the gate trench. An interfacial layer is formed over the substrate in the gate trench. A metal gate structure is formed over the interfacial layer in the gate trench.

There is provided a peeling method capable of preventing a damage to a layer to be peeled. Thus, not only a layer to be peeled having a small area but also a layer to be peeled having a large area can be peeled over the entire surface at a high yield. Processing for partially reducing contact property between a first material layer (11) and a second material layer (12) (laser light irradiation, pressure application, or the like) is performed before peeling, and then peeling is conducted by physical means. Therefore, sufficient separation can be easily conducted in an inner portion of the second material layer (12) or an interface thereof.

A method includes: providing a semiconductor body having a generation plane and crystal lattice planes which intersect the generation plane at intersecting lines; generating modifications in the semiconductor body by multiphoton excitation and which are spaced apart from one another, the modifications altering a physical property of the semiconductor body so as to form subcritical cracks in the generation plane; and separating a solid-state layer from the semiconductor body by connecting the subcritical cracks in the generation plane.

An exposure apparatus includes an illumination optical system for illuminating an original including a periodic pattern, a projection optical system for forming an image of the original on a substrate, a controller configured to cause light from the illumination optical system to be obliquely incident on the original such that a light intensity distribution which is line-symmetric with respect to a line, passing through an origin of a pupil region of the projection optical system and orthogonal to a periodic direction of the periodic pattern, is formed in the pupil region by diffracted light beams including diffracted light of not lower than 2nd-order from the periodic pattern, and to control exposure of the substrate such that each point in a shot region of the substrate is exposed in not less than two focus states.

A method includes forming a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). The Method includes performing an implantation to form a pre-amorphization implantation (PAI) region adjacent to a gate electrode of the MOSFET, forming a strained capping layer over the PAI region, and performing an annealing on the strained capping layer and the PAI region to form a dislocation plane. The dislocation plane is formed as a result of the annealing, with a tilt angle of the dislocation plane being smaller than about 65 degrees.

Semiconductor structures including electrical isolation and methods of forming a semiconductor structure including electrical isolation. Shallow trench isolation regions extend from a top surface of a semiconductor substrate into the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate contains single-crystal semiconductor material, and the shallow trench isolation regions are positioned to surround an active device region of the semiconductor substrate. A polycrystalline layer is formed in the semiconductor substrate. The polycrystalline layer has a first section beneath the active device region and a second section beneath the plurality of shallow trench isolation regions. The first section of the polycrystalline layer is located at a different depth relative to the top surface of the semiconductor substrate than the second section of the polycrystalline layer.