A grinding apparatus conveys a wafer from a first rough grinding unit and a first finish grinding unit to a first laser beam irradiation unit by a turntable. Thus, in one grinding apparatus, the wafer can be ground and damage of the wafer caused due to the grinding can be repaired easily and rapidly. Therefore, it is possible to execute the grinding of the wafer and the repair of the damage efficiently and favorably.

A grinding apparatus includes a chuck table that holds a workpiece through a protective tape, where the protective tape is attached to one surface of an annular frame so as to cover an opening of the annular frame and the workpiece is attached to the protective tape on an inner side of an inner circumferential edge of the opening of the annular frame; a grinding unit for grinding the workpiece; and a frame cleaning unit that cleans the other surface located on a side opposite to the one surface of the annular frame obtained after grinding of the workpiece, and wherein the frame cleaning unit has either: (i) a first cleaning member configured and arranged for making contact with the other surface of the annular frame and having flexibility, or (ii) a second cleaning member that jets at least either gas or liquid from above the other surface of the annular frame.

A workpiece has a device area and a peripheral area surrounding the device area on a front surface side thereof. A workpiece grinding method includes a groove forming step of performing grinding feed of a grinding unit while a spindle is rotated, and grinding a predetermined area on a back surface side of the workpiece, the predetermined area corresponding to the device area, in a state in which a chuck table holding the workpiece is not rotated, thereby forming a groove on the back surface side, a groove removing step of starting rotation of the chuck table while the spindle is kept rotating, thereby grinding side walls of the groove and removing the groove, and a recess forming step of performing grinding feed of the grinding unit while the spindle and the chuck table are rotated, thereby grinding the predetermined area and forming a recess and a ring-shaped reinforcement part.

A chuck table includes a holding plate having a holding surface for holding the wafer under suction, and a frame body that supports the holding plate thereon and transmits a negative pressure or a positive pressure to the holding surface. The holding plate is formed such that a plurality of cleaved portions are included through cleavage of the holding plate into a plurality of blocks along a plurality of modified layers formed by applying a laser beam of a wavelength, which has transmissivity through the holding plate, with a focal point thereof positioned inside the holding plate, and the negative pressure or the positive pressure is transmitted from the cleaved portions to the holding surface. A grinding machine and a manufacturing method of the chuck table for holding the wafer are also disclosed.

A second relative speed of a grinding wheel and a wafer along a second direction in a grinding step is set such that a relative movement of the grinding wheel and the wafer along a first direction and a relative movement of the grinding wheel and the wafer along the second direction are concurrently initiated and are concurrently finished. Specifically, this second relative speed is set taking into consideration parameters which are optionally set, and an expected wear thickness of multiple grinding stones as known before or in a course of the grinding step, in other words, the absolute value of an expected variation in thickness of the grinding stones through the grinding step.

A processing device that alleviates the influence of rough grinding and performs fine grinding and processes the work with a satisfactory precision. An index table includes a plurality of chucks for holding a work and transports the work to a rough grinding stage with a rough grinding means for rough grinding the work, a medium grinding stage with a medium grinding means for medium grinding the work, and a fine grinding stage with a fine grinding means for fine grinding the work. A first column extends over the index table and one of the rough grinding means or the fine grinding means is installed. A second column extends over the index table and is independent from the first column, and the medium grinding means is installed and the other one of the rough grinding means or the fine grinding means is arranged parallel to the medium grinding means.

An annular grindstone includes a grindstone portion including a binding material, and abrasive grains which are dispersed into the binding material to be fixed, in which the binding material contains a nickel-iron alloy. Preferably, a contained ratio of iron in the nickel-iron alloy is in a range of 5 wt % or more to less than 60 wt %. More preferably, a contained ratio of iron in the nickel-iron alloy is in a range of 20 wt % or more to 50 wt % or less. Preferably, the annular grindstone includes the grindstone portion only. In addition, the annular grindstone further includes an annular base including a grip portion, in which the grindstone portion is exposed at an outer peripheral edge of the annular base.

An annular grindstone includes a grindstone portion including a binding material, and abrasive grains which are dispersed into the binding material to be fixed, in which the binding material contains a nickel-iron alloy. Preferably, a contained ratio of iron in the nickel-iron alloy is in a range of 5 wt % or more to less than 60 wt %. More preferably, a contained ratio of iron in the nickel-iron alloy is in a range of 20 wt % or more to 50 wt % or less. Preferably, the annular grindstone includes the grindstone portion only. In addition, the annular grindstone further includes an annular base including a grip portion, in which the grindstone portion is exposed at an outer peripheral edge of the annular base.

A substrate-cleaning apparatus may include a tilting arm to which a roll brush and a motor are coupled, a support arm positioned on the tilting arm, a first spring and a second spring coupling the tilting arm to the support arm, a first air bag and a second air bag mounted between the tilting arm and the support arm, and a controller configured to adjust an internal pressure of each of the first air bag and the second air bag. The controller may adjust a difference in internal pressure between the first air bag and the second air bag to control the inclination of the roll brush, and may adjust the internal pressure of each of the first air bag and the second air bag to move the roll brush vertically.

A composition for semiconductor processing comprises: polishing particles; a thiazolinone compound; and a solvent, wherein a logarithmic reduction factor of a microorganism in the composition, as calculated by Formula 1, is at least 4:
Logarithmic reduction factor=log(CFU.sub.0/CFU.sub.X)  Formula 1 where CFU.sub.0 is an initial concentration (CFU/mL) of the microorganism, CFU.sub.X is a concentration (CFU/mL) of the microorganism remaining after standing at room temperature for X days, and X is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.