A cutting apparatus includes a cutting unit that cuts a workpiece included in a frame unit, an ultraviolet ray irradiation unit that irradiates the frame unit with ultraviolet rays, and a control unit. The control unit includes a processing mode registration section in which commands to be output to components. The processing mode registration section registers therein a command in a cutting apparatus mode that causes the cutting unit to cut the workpiece and a command in an ultraviolet ray irradiation apparatus mode that causes the ultraviolet ray irradiation unit to irradiate the frame unit with ultraviolet rays.

A tape film lamination apparatus may include a housing, a substrate holder disposed in the housing and positioned to receive a substrate, a film holder disposed on the housing and positioned to support a tape film, and an air removal unit connected to a portion of the housing below the film holder to remove and/or exhaust air from the housing resulting to attach the tape film to the substrate.

A chuck table having a holding portion for holding a workpiece and a frame for supporting the holding portion. The holding portion includes a substrate having a plurality of fine holes arranged like a matrix at given intervals and a plurality of acoustic emission sensors arranged like a matrix on the substrate and spaced from each other so that each fine hole of the substrate is located between any adjacent ones of the acoustic emission sensors. The plurality of fine holes are connected through the frame to a vacuum source, thereby holding the workpiece on the acoustic emission sensors under suction. An elastic wave generated from the workpiece in processing the workpiece is collected at a plurality of positions by the plurality of acoustic emission sensors.

A cutting blade for cutting a workpiece includes a base and a cutting edge fixed to a peripheral portion of the base. The cutting edge is formed by bonding a mixture of abrasive grains and photocatalyst particles with a binder. In cutting the workpiece by using the cutting blade, a cutting water is supplied to the cutting blade and light is applied to the cutting blade to excite the photocatalyst particles. The cutting water supplied to the cutting blade comes into contact with the photocatalyst particles excited, so that the cutting water is given an oxidizing power due to hydroxy radicals.

A method of processing a plate-shaped workpiece that includes on a reverse side thereof a layered body containing metal which is formed in superposed relation to projected dicing lines includes the steps of holding the reverse side of the workpiece on a holding table, thereafter, applying a laser beam having a wavelength that is absorbable by the workpiece to a face side thereof along the projected dicing lines to form laser-processed grooves in the workpiece which terminate short of the layered body, and thereafter, cutting bottoms of the laser-processed grooves with a cutting blade to sever the workpiece together with the layered body along the projected dicing lines. The step of cutting bottoms of the laser-processed grooves includes the step of cutting bottoms of the laser-processed grooves while supplying a cutting fluid containing an organic acid and an oxidizing agent to the workpiece.

A workpiece processing method includes: a dresser preparing step of preparing a dresser of a predetermined thickness; a fixing step of fixing the workpiece and the dresser on a support member adjacently to each other in a first direction; a holding step of holding the support member by a holding table, after the fixing step is performed; and a cutting step of positioning a tool edge of the cutting blade at a predetermined height and cutting the workpiece and the dresser in the first direction by a cutting blade, after the holding step is performed.

A processing apparatus includes: a holding unit that holds a workpiece; a processing mechanism that processes the workpiece held by the holding unit; a processing liquid supplying mechanism that supplies a processing liquid containing an oxidizing agent to at least the workpiece held by the holding unit at the time of processing the workpiece by the processing means; a processing waste liquid recovery section that recovers a processing waste liquid containing the processing liquid supplied from the processing liquid supplying mechanism to the workpiece; a discharge passage through which the processing waste liquid is discharged from the processing waste liquid recovery section to the outside of the processing apparatus; and a waste liquid treatment mechanism that is disposed in the discharge passage and that decomposes the processing liquid contained in the processing waste liquid while the processing waste liquid flows through the discharge passage.

Cutting apparatus includes a chuck table for holding a workpiece, a cutting unit for cutting the workpiece held on the chuck table, and a feeding mechanism for relatively moving the chuck table and the cutting unit. The cutting unit includes a spindle adapted to be rotationally driven, a rotatable cutting blade mounted on the spindle and having a peripheral cutting edge, a cutting water nozzle for supplying a cutting water to the cutting blade, a photocatalyst member provided so as to come into contact with the cutting water supplied from the cutting water nozzle, and a light applying unit for exciting the photocatalyst member to thereby give an oxidizing power due to hydroxy radicals to the cutting water.

A controller of a cutting apparatus includes: a storage section configured to preliminarily store as a threshold an arbitrary value based on a load current value of a motor detected when a cutting blade is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed while supplying a predetermined quantity of cutting water in a state in which a cutting water supply nozzle is positioned in an appropriate position; and a judgment section configured to judge normality or abnormality according to the result of comparison between a load current value detected when the cutting blade is rotated at the predetermined rotational speed while supplying the predetermined quantity of cutting water and the threshold stored in the storage section.

A workpiece support jig includes a support plate supporting a workpiece on a first surface while covering a support surface of a chuck table with a second surface opposite to the first surface and a retainer plate including an area sufficient to cover the whole of the workpiece and sandwiching the workpiece, held on the first surface of the support plate, between the support plate and itself. The support plate includes a plurality of groove parts corresponding to projected division lines of the supported workpiece and a plurality of through holes formed in chip-holding regions demarcated and divided by the intersecting groove parts. When the workpiece divided by a processing unit into chips is unloaded from the chuck table, the workpiece is unloaded while being sandwiched between the support plate and the retainer plate.