A blade holding jig for holding a washer-type cutting blade via an annular retainer flange includes an annular flange holding portion configured to hold a first annular surface of the retainer flange under suction, and an annular non-contact suction portion arranged on an outer peripheral portion of the flange holding portion and configured to produce a negative pressure by ejection of a fluid toward the outer peripheral portion of the retainer flange held by the flange holding portion and to draw up the cutting blade toward the retainer flange. The cutting blade drawn up toward the retainer flange by the non-contact suction portion is held on the retainer flange by a suction force acting from the flange holding portion via a plurality of through holes disposed extending from a second annular surface to the first annular surface of the retainer flange.

A cutting apparatus cuts a workpiece by a cutting blade. The cutting apparatus includes a mount flange on which the cutting blade is mounted and a replacement apparatus that replaces the cutting blade mounted on the mount flange with the cutting blade for replacement. The replacement apparatus includes a rotating part, a first holding part that holds the cutting blade mounted on the mount flange on a front surface side, a second holding part that holds the cutting blade for replacement on a front surface side, and a nut rotation part that has a nut holding part that holds a nut for fixing the cutting blade to the mount flange and rotates the nut held by the nut holding part. The rotating part is coupled to the first holding part, the second holding part, and the nut rotation part.

An edge alignment method includes (a) calculating coordinates of points having a possibility of corresponding to an edge of the workpiece, (b) forming an approximate circle by using a least squares method on all the coordinates, (c) calculating deviations between the approximate circle and respective ones of all the points, and if plural ones of the points have deviations greater than or equal to a preset threshold, respectively, then determining the point, the deviation of which is greatest, to be a false detection position, and excluding from consideration candidates the point determined to be the false detection position, and (d) estimating a position of the edge of the workpiece from the coordinates of three or more of the points still remaining without exclusion, and based on the estimated position of the edge, deriving a machining area at the outer peripheral portion of the workpiece.

A method of grinding a workpiece includes a holding step of holding the workpiece on a flat holding surface of a holding table and a grinding step of rotating a grinding wheel to turn grindstones along an annular track while rotating the holding table, and bringing the grindstones into grinding contact with an upper surface of the workpiece to thereby grind the workpiece. The grinding step includes the step of bringing the grindstones into grinding contact with the upper surface of the workpiece in a state where the annular track is closest to the holding surface in an area between a point above a center of the holding surface and a point above an outer circumferential end of the holding surface.

A wafer processing method includes a polyester sheet providing step of positioning a wafer in an inside opening of a ring frame and providing a polyester sheet on a back side of the wafer and on a back side of the ring frame, a uniting step of heating the polyester sheet as applying a pressure to the polyester sheet to thereby unite the wafer and the ring frame through the polyester sheet by thermocompression bonding, a dividing step of cutting the wafer by using a cutting apparatus to thereby divide the wafer into individual device chips, and a pickup step of blowing out air to push up each device chip and picking up each device chip from the polyester sheet.

An apparatus and method of manufacturing silicon seed rod in which two silicon seeds are joined into one long silicon seed rod by mechanical coupling. A mechanical seed coupler is a body in having an outer wall, an upper surface with an upper aperture, a lower surface with a lower aperture, and an inner wall surrounding an inner space. The mechanical seed couple can be of a shape including a cylinder shape, an elliptical tube shape, a rectangular tube shape and a square tube shape. Furthermore the mechanical seed coupler can be of unitary construction, made from one solid piece of material, or it can be composed of subparts.

A cutting blade mounting mechanism for mounting a cutting blade to a tip portion of a spindle includes: a blade mount mounted to the tip portion of the spindle; and an air supply unit supplying air to the blade mount. The blade mount includes: a columnar boss section inserted into a through-hole provided in an annular base of the cutting blade; a flange section projecting in a radial direction from a side of a base end of the boss section and having a support surface supporting the cutting blade; and an ejector type blade suction section having a first air passage connecting a supply port supplied with air from the air supply unit and a discharge port discharging air, and a second air passage connecting a suction port opening to a side of the support surface of the flange section and the first air passage.

A processing apparatus includes a holding table for holding a workpiece, a cutting unit including a spindle and a mount, a blade changer unit for mounting a cutting blade on or dismounting a cutting blade from the mount, and a control unit. The blade changer unit includes a blade chuck for holding the cutting blade and a moving unit. The cutting unit includes a vibration detecting sensor. The control unit includes a calculator for calculating the central axis of the mount from a position where the vibration detecting sensor detects vibrations caused upon contact between the mount and the blade chuck, and a mounting/dismounting controller for aligning the central axis of the blade chuck with the central axis of the mount and mounting the cutting blade on and dismounting cutting blade from the mount.

A method for manufacturing a pattern structure includes preparing a wafer that has a plurality of fine patterns, generating a first trench by processing the wafer from a first surface to a first depth, and generating a second trench connected to the first trench by processing the wafer from a second surface which is opposite to the first surface to a second depth, thereby cutting the wafer.

A method of processing a plate-shaped workpiece that includes layered bodies containing metal which are formed in superposed relation to projected dicing lines, includes the steps of holding the workpiece on a holding table, and thereafter, cutting the workpiece along the projected dicing lines with an annular cutting blade, thereby separating the layered bodies. The cutting blade has a groove defined in a face side or a reverse side of an outer peripheral portion thereof that cuts into the workpiece in the step of cutting the workpiece. The step of cutting the workpiece includes the step of cutting the workpiece while supplying a cutting fluid containing an organic acid and an oxidizing agent to the workpiece.