A peeling apparatus includes a holding table that holds an ingot, a water supply unit that forms a layer of water on an upper surface of the ingot, an ultrasonic unit that applies an ultrasonic wave to the upper surface of the ingot through the layer of water, a peeling confirmation unit that confirms peeling-off of a wafer to be manufactured, a wafer delivery unit that lowers a suction pad having a suction surface facing the upper surface of the ingot, to hold the wafer to be manufactured on the suction surface under suction, and delivers the wafer from the ingot, and a controller. After the peeling-off of the wafer is confirmed by the peeling confirmation unit, the controller positions the water supply unit, the ultrasonic unit, and the peeling confirmation unit at retracted positions and operates the wafer delivery unit to deliver the wafer from the ingot.

A substrate dividing method which can thin and divide a substrate while preventing chipping and cracking from occurring. This substrate dividing method comprises the steps of irradiating a semiconductor substrate 1 having a front face 3 formed with functional devices 19 with laser light while positioning a light-converging point within the substrate, so as to form a modified region including a molten processed region due to multiphoton absorption within the semiconductor substrate 1, and causing the modified region including the molten processed region to form a starting point region for cutting; and grinding a rear face 21 of the semiconductor substrate 1 after the step of forming the starting point region for cutting such that the semiconductor substrate 1 attains a predetermined thickness.

A brittle object cutting apparatus and the method thereof are disclosed. Wherein, the brittle object cutting apparatus comprises a first heating laser unit, a second heating laser unit, a scribing laser unit, two cooling units and a processing module. A heating laser from the heating laser units respectively located on opposite sides of a scribing laser from the scribing laser unit, and a coolant of the cooling unit followed behind the heating laser. In the moving process of the brittle object, the processing module controls the scribing laser for a scribing operation, and controls one of the heating lasers and the coolant form one of the cooling units to heat and cool the brittle object. As a result, the machining time of dicing the brittle objects may be effectively reduced.

A wafer processing method is disclosed to divide a wafer of glass substrate into individual chips along division lines. In the shield tunnel forming step, a pulsed laser beam of a wavelength, which transmits through the wafer, is irradiated with its focal point positioned at a region corresponding to each division line so that a plurality of shield tunnels which are each formed of perforations and affected regions surrounding the perforations are formed along the division lines, respectively. In the modified layer forming step, another pulsed laser beam of a wavelength, which transmits through the wafer, is irradiated with its focal point positioned at the region corresponding to each division line so that modified layers are formed in addition to the shield tunnels along the division lines, respectively. In the dividing step, an external force is applied to the wafer to divide the wafer into individual chips.

Provided is: a method of manufacturing plate-like members and an intermediate body for plate-like members whereby the occurrence of shape defects in the plate-like members can be prevented; and a plate-like member in which shape defects are prevented. The method includes the steps of: providing a first breaking groove 12a in a first principal surface of a base material for plate-like members, the base material having the first principal surface and a second principal surface opposed to each other, and then providing a second breaking groove 13a in the second principal surface of the base material in a direction crossing the first breaking groove 12a in plan view to form an intermediate body 11 for wavelength conversion members (plate-like members); and breaking the intermediate body 11 for wavelength conversion members into separate parts along one of the first breaking groove 12a and the second breaking groove 13a and then breaking the intermediate body 11 for wavelength conversion members into separate parts along the other breaking groove, wherein in breaking the intermediate body 11 for wavelength conversion members into separate parts along the first breaking groove 12a, the intermediate body 11 is broken into separate parts along the first breaking groove 12a by pressing the intermediate body 11 from the second principal surface 11b side, and in breaking the intermediate body 11 for wavelength conversion members into separate parts along the second breaking groove 13a, the intermediate body 11 is broken into separate parts along the second breaking groove 13a by pressing the intermediate body 11 from the first principal surface 11a side.

A method is disclosed for dividing a composite material in which a brittle material layer and a resin layer are laminated, including: irradiating the resin layer with a laser beam L1 oscillated from a CO.sub.2 laser source along scheduled dividing lines DL of the composite material to form a processing groove along the scheduled dividing lines; and irradiating the brittle material layer with a laser beam L2 oscillated from an ultrashort pulsed laser source along the scheduled dividing lines to form a processing mark along the scheduled dividing lines. In the resin removing step, in a region IS where the scheduled dividing lines intersect, the laser beam oscillated from the CO.sub.2 laser source is not irradiated multiple times, or an irradiation amount of the laser beam is decreased relative to an irradiation amount in a region other than a region where the scheduled dividing lines intersect.

A method for creating a detachment zone in a solid includes: providing a solid which is to be processed; providing a laser light source; subjecting the solid to laser radiation from the laser light source so that laser beams penetrate into the solid via a surface of the solid portion that is to be cut off; applying the laser radiation in a defined manner to a predefined portion of the solid inside the solid such that a detachment zone or a plurality of partial detachment zones is formed; wherein a number of modifications are successively created in the crystal lattice by the applied laser radiation, and the crystal lattice fissures at least partially in the regions surrounding the modifications as a result of the modifications, the fissures in the region of the modifications predefining the detachment zone or the plurality of partial detachment zones.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor light-emitting device includes: (a) forming a semiconductor layer including a light-emitting layer on the first surface of a substrate; (b) forming a first trench and a second trench in the semiconductor layer, the first trench extending in a first direction that is parallel to a principal plane of the substrate, and the second trench being disposed inside and parallel to the first trench; (c) forming a third trench parallel to the first trench in the second surface of the substrate opposite to the first surface of the substrate; and (d) forming a semiconductor light-emitting device by dividing the substrate. In (d), an end of at least one divided side of the semiconductor light-emitting device is in the second trench. The first trench has a first width, and the second trench has a second width. The second width is less than the first width.

There is provided a laser processing method for cutting a semiconductor object along a virtual plane facing a surface of the semiconductor object in the semiconductor object. The laser processing method includes a first step of forming a plurality of first modified spots along the virtual plane by causing laser light to enter into the semiconductor object from the surface, and a second step of forming a plurality of second modified spots along the virtual plane so as not to overlap the plurality of first modified spots, by causing laser light to enter into the semiconductor object from the surface.

A wafer producing method includes a facet area detecting step of detecting a facet area from an upper surface of an SiC ingot, a coordinates setting step of setting the X and Y coordinates of plural points lying on the boundary between the facet area and a nonfacet area in an XY plane, and a feeding step of setting a focal point of a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to SiC inside the SiC ingot at a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the SiC ingot, the predetermined depth corresponding to the thickness of the SiC wafer to be produced, next applying the laser beam from a focusing unit in a laser processing apparatus to the SiC ingot, and relatively moving the SiC ingot and the focal point in an X direction parallel to the X axis in the XY plane, thereby forming a belt-shaped separation layer extending in the X direction inside the SiC ingot.