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.

A wafer thinning method and a wafer structure are provided. In the wafer thinning method, a to-be-thinned wafer is provided, and the to-be-thinned wafer is grinded on a rear surface of the to-be-thinned wafer. Then, a first planarization process is performed on a rear surface of the grinded wafer to restore surface flatness of the grinded wafer, and a second planarization process is performed on a rear surface of the wafer obtained after the first planarization process is performed until a target thinned thickness is reached.

A polishing device has a substrate stage which holds a substrate Wf, a processing head which processes a surface of the substrate Wf, an indentation detecting system which detects a position of an indentation in the substrate Wf, a movement mechanism which moves the processing head in a radial direction of the substrate stage, and a rotation mechanism which rotates the substrate stage, and the indentation detecting system has a fluid injection nozzle configured to inject a fluid to a circumferential edge portion of the substrate Wf when the substrate Wf is held on the substrate stage, a fluid measuring device which measures a physical quantity which is pressure or a flow rate of the fluid, and a position detector which detects the position of the indentation formed in the circumferential edge portion of the substrate Wf based on a change in physical quantity.

Provided is a method of double-side polishing a silicon wafer using a double-side polishing apparatus, the method including in succession: a first polishing step of performing double-side polishing while supplying a first polishing agent that is an alkaline aqueous solution containing abrasive grains to the polishing cloths; a polishing agent switching step of stopping the supply of the first polishing agent and starting the supply of a second polishing agent that is an alkaline aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer with no abrasive grains, with the polishing cloths of the upper plate and the lower plate being in contact with the front surface and the back surface of the silicon wafer, respectively and with the upper plate and the lower plate being continuously rotated; and a second polishing step of performing double-side polishing while supplying the second polishing agent to the polishing cloths.

A thickness measuring apparatus for measuring the thickness of a workpiece held on a chuck table includes the followings: a light source configured to emit white light; an optical branching unit configured to branch, to a second optical path, reflected light applied from the light source to the workpiece held on the chuck table via a first optical path and reflected from the workpiece; a diffraction grating disposed in the second optical path; an image sensor configured to detect an optical intensity signal of light separated into each wavelength by the diffraction grating; and a thickness output unit configured to generate a spectral interference waveform on the basis of the optical intensity signal detected by the image sensor, determine the thickness on the basis of the spectral interference waveform, and output the thickness.

A seed crystal for single crystal 4H-SiC growth of the present invention is a disk-shaped seed crystal for single crystal 4H-SiC growth having a diameter of more than 150 mm and having a thickness within a range of more than or equal to 1 mm and less than or equal to 0.03 times of the diameter, in which one surface on which the single crystal 4H-SiC is grown is a mirror surface and an Ra of the other surface is more than 10 nm, and an absolute value of magnitude of waviness in a state where the seed crystal is freely deformed so that an internal stress distribution is reduced is less than or equal to 12 μm.

An origin determination method includes the steps of adjusting a positional relation between a chuck table and a grinding unit by a moving mechanism such that lower ends of grinding stones and a holding surface are brought apart along a moving direction, moving the chuck table and the grinding unit relative to each other by the moving mechanism such that the lower ends of the grinding stones and the holding surface are brought closer to each other by a predetermined distance, and determining whether a measurement value of a load applied to the holding surface has reached a threshold. If the measurement value is determined to have reached the threshold, a positional relation between the chuck table and the grinding unit at that time is determined to be an origin of the moving mechanism. Otherwise, the step of moving and the step of determining are then performed again.

A management method of a machining system includes a chuck table, a machining unit, a transfer unit that transfers a wafer onto the chuck table, a camera unit that acquires an image containing a pattern formed on a side of a front surface of the wafer, and an information recording section. The management method is applied when the pattern is recorded in association with machining conditions in the information recording section; and records in the information recording section new machining conditions to be used when machining a new type of wafer, causes an automatic machining program, which automatically machines the new type of wafer, to start, forms an image, which contains a new pattern of the new type of wafer, by the camera unit, and records the new pattern in association with the new machining conditions in the information recording section.

A method of manufacturing a substrate for an acoustic wave device includes: a substrate joining step of joining a piezoelectric material layer to a surface on one side of a support substrate; a grinding step of grinding the piezoelectric material layer; a removal amount map forming step of measuring in-plane thickness of the piezoelectric material layer by an optical thickness meter, and calculating a removal amount for the piezoelectric material layer for adjusting thickness variability of the piezoelectric material layer to or below a threshold on the basis of each coordinate in the plane, to form a removal amount map; a laser processing step of applying a pulsed laser beam of such a wavelength as to be absorbed in the piezoelectric material layer, to selectively remove the piezoelectric material layer, based on the removal amount map; and a polishing step of polishing the surface of the piezoelectric material layer.

The invention provides an electrochemical discharge-assisted micro-grinding device for micro-components of brittle and hard materials. The device includes a micro-grinding tool, grinding fluid, a workpiece, an auxiliary electrode, a processing groove, and a pulsed DC power supply; the processing groove is filled with grinding fluid; the micro-grinding tool, the workpiece, and the auxiliary electrode are immersed in the grinding fluid; the micro-grinding tool is composed of a conductive grinding tool base, an electroplating layer, and insulated superabrasives. The micro-grinding tool is connected to the negative electrode of the pulsed DC power supply; the grinding fluid is composed of H.sub.2O.sub.2, Na.sub.2CO.sub.3, EDTA-Fe-Na, and deionized water; the workpiece material is brittle and hard; a large number of micro structures need to be produced on the surface of the workpiece.