An LED wafer is formed from a sapphire substrate having a front side. A plurality of crossing division lines are formed on the front side of the sapphire substrate to thereby define a plurality of separate regions where a plurality of LEDs are respectively formed. An LED wafer processing method includes preparing a V-blade having an annular cutting edge whose outer circumferential portion has a V-shaped cross section, rotatably mounting the V-blade in a cutting unit, holding the LED wafer on a holding table with the back side of the LED wafer exposed upward, and then relatively moving the cutting unit and the holding table to form a chamfered portion on the back side of the LED wafer along an area corresponding to each division line formed on the front side of the LED wafer.

A crystalline material processing method includes forming subsurface laser damage at a first average depth position to form cracks in the substrate interior propagating outward from at least one subsurface laser damage pattern, followed by imaging the substrate top surface, analyzing the image to identify a condition indicative of presence of uncracked regions within the substrate, and taking one or more actions responsive to the analyzing. One potential action includes changing an instruction set for producing subsequent laser damage formation (at second or subsequent average depth positions), without necessarily forming additional damage at the first depth position. Another potential action includes forming additional subsurface laser damage at the first depth position. The substrate surface is illuminated with a diffuse light source arranged perpendicular to a primary substrate flat and positioned to a first side of the substrate, and imaged with an imaging device positioned to an opposing second side of the substrate.

A method for exposing a buried defect, the method may include illuminating, by a radiation source, an object that comprises the buried defect, with illuminating radiation that passes through radiation transparent part of a chuck, while the object is supported by the chuck; detecting, by a sensor, a detected radiation that passed through the object, to provide a visual indication about the buried defect, wherein the visual indication is indicative of a location of the buried defect; setting, based on the location of the buried object and a spatial relationship between a cleaving element and the sensor, a cleaving axis of a cleaving element to virtually cross the buried defect; and cleaving, by the cleaving element, the object to expose the buried object.

A method for the production of layers of solid material is contemplated. The method may include the steps of providing a solid body for the separation of at least one layer of solid material, generating defects by means of at least one radiation source, in particular a laser, in the inner structure of the solid body in order to determine a detachment plane along which the layer of solid material is separated from the solid body, and applying heat to a polymer layer disposed on the solid body in order to generate, in particular mechanically, stresses in the solid body, due to the stresses a crack propagating in the solid body along the detachment plane, which crack separates the layer of solid material from the solid body.

The present invention relates to a method for separating solid-body slices (1) from a donor substrate (2). The method comprises the steps of: producing modifications (10) within the donor substrate (2) by means of laser beams (12), wherein a detachment region is predefined by the modifications (10), along which detachment region the solid-body layer (1) is separated from the donor substrate (2), and removing material from the donor substrate (2), starting from a surface (4) extending in the peripheral direction of the donor substrate (2), in the direction of the centre (Z) of the donor substrate (2), in particular in order to produce a peripheral indentation (6).

Cleave systems for separating bonded wafer structures, mountable cleave monitoring systems and methods for separating bonded wafer structures are disclosed. In some embodiments, the sound emitted from a bonded wafer structure is sensed during cleaving and a metric related to an attribute of the cleave is generated. The generated metric may be used for quality control and/or to adjust a cleave control parameter to improve the quality of the cleave of subsequently cleaved bonded wafer structures.

In one embodiment, a method of singulating semiconductor die from a semiconductor wafer includes forming a material on a surface of a semiconductor wafer and reducing a thickness of portions of the material. Preferably, the thickness of the material is reduced near where singulation openings are to be formed in the semiconductor wafer.

A method for the production of layers of solid material is contemplated. The method may include the steps of providing a solid body for the separation of at least one layer of solid material, generating defects by means of at least one radiation source, in particular a laser, in the inner structure of the solid body in order to determine a detachment plane along which the layer of solid material is separated from the solid body, and applying heat to a polymer layer disposed on the solid body in order to generate, in particular mechanically, stresses in the solid body, due to the stresses a crack propagating in the solid body along the detachment plane, which crack separates the layer of solid material from the solid body.

A semiconductor device assembly is provided. The semiconductive device assembly includes a semiconductor die with a substrate having an engineered portion and a semiconductive portion. The engineered portion includes one or more of: a sintered material, a corrugated material, oriented strands of material compressed to form a solid structure, layers of material compressed to form a solid structure, or a material arranged to form one or more planar trusses. The semiconductive portion is adhered directly to the engineered portion. A layer of dielectric material is disposed at the semiconductive portion, and circuitry is disposed at the layer of dielectric material. In doing so, a cost-efficient and mechanically robust semiconductor device may be assembled.

A crystalline material processing method includes forming subsurface laser damage at a first average depth position to form cracks in the substrate interior propagating outward from at least one subsurface laser damage pattern, followed by imaging the substrate top surface, analyzing the image to identify a condition indicative of presence of uncracked regions within the substrate, and taking one or more actions responsive to the analyzing. One potential action includes changing an instruction set for producing subsequent laser damage formation (at second or subsequent average depth positions), without necessarily forming additional damage at the first depth position. Another potential action includes forming additional subsurface laser damage at the first depth position. The substrate surface is illuminated with a diffuse light source arranged perpendicular to a primary substrate flat and positioned to a first side of the substrate, and imaged with an imaging device positioned to an opposing second side of the substrate.