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 center (Z) of the donor substrate (2), in particular in order to produce a peripheral indentation (6).

The invention relates to a method for separating solid-body slices (1) from a donor substrate (2). The method comprises the following steps: providing a donor substrate (2), producing at least one modification (10) within the donor substrate (2) by means of at least one LASER beam (12), wherein the LASER beam (12) penetrates the donor substrate (2) via a planar surface (16) of the donor substrate (2), wherein the LASER beam (12) is inclined with respect to the planar surface (16) of the donor substrate (2) such that it penetrates the donor substrate at an angle of not equal to 0? or 180? relative to the longitudinal axis of the donor substrate, wherein the LASER beam (12) is focused in order to produce the modification (10) in the donor substrate (2) and the solid-body slice (1) detaches from the donor substrate (2) as a result of the modifications (10) produced or a stress-inducing layer (14) is produced or arranged on the planar surface (16) of the donor substrate (2) and mechanical stresses are produced in the donor substrate (2) by a thermal treatment of the stress-inducing layer (14), wherein the mechanical stresses produce a crack (20) for separating a solid-body layer (1), which crack propagates along the modifications (10).

A crystal cutting method includes a step of preparing a crystal structure body constituted of a hexagonal crystal, a first cutting step of cutting the crystal structure body along a [1-100] direction of the hexagonal crystal and forming a first cut portion in the crystal structure body and a second cutting step of cutting the crystal structure body along a [11-20] direction of the hexagonal crystal and forming a second cut portion crossing the first cut portion in the crystal structure body.

A method for separating a solid-body layer from a donor substrate includes providing a donor substrate having a planar surface, a longitudinal axis orthogonal to the planar surface, and a peripheral surface, and producing modifications within the donor substrate using at least one LASER beam. The at least one LASER beam penetrates the donor substrate via the peripheral surface at an angle not equal to 90? relative to the longitudinal axis of the donor substrate. The method further includes producing a stress-inducing polymer layer on the planar surface of the donor substrate, and producing mechanical stresses in the donor substrate by a thermal treatment of the stress-inducing polymer layer. The mechanical stresses produce a crack for separating the solid-body layer, and wherein the crack propagates along the modifications.

A wafer processing method includes: a holding step of holding a wafer on a chuck table through a dicing tape; and a dividing step of cutting the wafer along division lines by a cutting blade. In the dividing step, cleaning water including pure water mixed with carbon dioxide is supplied to the front surface of the wafer, and cutting water including pure water alone or pure water mixed with carbon dioxide in a concentration lower than that of the cleaning water is supplied to the cutting blade. During cutting, therefore, the cleaning water and the cutting water are always shielded by each other. Consequently, the cutting blade can be prevented from being corroded or excessively worn due to the cleaning water, and the cutting water can be prevented from contacting the front surface of the wafer to cause electrostatic discharge damage to the devices.

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.

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).

Disclosed herein is an SiC ingot slicing method including: an initial separation layer formation step for scanning a focal point of a laser beam parallel to an end face of the SiC ingot along a scheduled separation plane, and forming a separation layer at a position at a distance from the end face; a repetition step for sequentially moving, after the initial separation layer formation step, the focal point by the distance equal to the thickness of an SiC plate from the separation layer toward the end face, scanning the focal point parallel to the end face, repeating the formation of the separation layer, and forming the plurality of separation layers; and a separation step for applying an external force to the plurality of separation layers formed by the repetition step, peeling off the SiC plates starting from the separation layers, and acquiring the plurality of SiC plates.

The controllability of modified spots is improved. A laser processing apparatus 100 comprises a first laser light source 101 for emitting a first pulsed laser light L1, a second laser light source 102 for emitting a second pulsed laser light L2, half-wave plates 104, 105 for respectively changing directions of polarization of the pulsed laser light L1, L2, polarization beam splitters 106, 107 for respectively polarization-separating the pulsed laser light L1, L2 having changed the directions of polarization, and a condenser lens 112 for converging the polarization-separated pulsed laser light L1, L2 at an object to be processed 1. When the directions of polarization of the pulsed laser light L1, L2 changed by the half-wave plates 104, 105 are varied by a light intensity controller 121 in the laser processing apparatus 100, the ratios of the pulsed laser light L1, L2 polarization-separated by the polarization beam splitters 106, 107 are altered, whereby the respective intensities of the pulsed laser light L1, L2 are adjusted.

The present invention is for the recovery of maximum silicon value of kerf silicon waste, produced during the manufacture of silicon wafers by wire saw, diamond saw and chemical mechanical polishing, as high purity metallurgical silicon. This recovery is achieved by a process scheme that effects an initial removal of minor extrinsic metallic impurities but not the major silicon compound impurities, and followed, preferentially, by a direct metallurgical process to form elemental silicon. The recovered silicon is for use as feedstock for polysilicon manufacturing, as high purity polysilicon for PV application, and in metallurgical alloy manufacture.