A device and method for cleaving a sample includes: creating an indentation on a top surface of the sample by applying a downward force along a vertical axis, the axis arranging perpendicularly to the top surface of the sample; providing a breaking pin and arranging the breaking pin under the sample to touch the bottom surface of the sample at a position that is directly opposite from the indentation; and, applying a downward force on the sample by providing a left side and right side breaker pin wherein the downward force comprises a left-side downward force extended through the left-side breaker pin and right-side downward force through the right side breaker pin, further the pins that provide the left-side and right-side downward force are disposed on a breaker bar and arranged to be on opposite sides of a vertical axis that extends through the indentation on the top surface.

The present invention relates to a method, according to claim 1, for separating at least one solid body layer (1), particularly a solid body disk, from a donor substrate (2). The method according to the invention comprises preferably at least the following steps: providing a donor substrate (2); producing or arranging a stress-producing layer (4) on a particularly flat surface (5) of the donor substrate (2) which axially defines the donor substrate (2); pressing at least one pressure application element (6) of a pressure application device (8) onto at least one pre-determined portion of the stress-producing layer (4), in order to press the stress-producing layer (4) onto the surface (5); separating the solid body layer (1) from the donor substrate (2) by thermally applying the stress-producing layer (4), thereby producing mechanical stress in the donor substrate (2), the mechanical stress creating a crack for separating a solid body layer (1), and the pressure application element (6) being pressed onto the stress-producing layer (4) during the thermal application of the stress-producing layer (4).

A wafer group facilitates securing uniformity of products manufactured from the wafer group whose composition varies among wafers. A technique excludes uncertain factors in forming OF, forming OF with extremely high probability and extremely high accuracy, the wafer group being constituted by a plurality of wafers obtained from the same ingot, with all wafers having an orientation flat (OF), wherein the wafer group is constituted by 70 or more wafers, and in the OF orientation accuracy of the wafer group represented by an angle, the OF orientation accuracy in each wafer is within 0.010.

Controllable cleavage of a work piece is achieved through the use of capacitive clamps and application of a large tensile force. Capacitive clamps are used to secure the ends of a work piece with strong electrostatic forces. The capacitive clamps secure the ends of the work piece by creating electrostatic forces like those experienced by the plates in a parallel plate capacitor. After introduction of a crack along a side surface of the work piece, the application of a tensile force along the central axis of the work piece causes the crack to rapidly propagate and cleave the work piece into two or more pieces.

A device and method for cleaving a sample includes: creating an indentation on a top surface of the sample by applying a downward force along a vertical axis, the axis arranging perpendicularly to the top surface of the sample; providing a breaking pin and arranging the breaking pin under the sample to touch the bottom surface of the sample at a position that is directly opposite from the indentation; and, applying a downward force on the sample by providing a left side and right side breaker pin wherein the downward force comprises a left-side downward force extended through the left-side breaker pin and right-side downward force through the right side breaker pin, further the pins that provide the left-side and right-side downward force are disposed on a breaker bar and arranged to be on opposite sides of a vertical axis that extends through the indentation on the top surface.

This invention concerns cleaving of silicon carbide (SiC) wafers from boule to reduce the cost of manufacturing SiC substrates. We use Vickers diamond tips to initiate a crack, similar to a hardness tester, and a chisel type wedge to drive the crack at a depth of 500 micron. We use the same machine to initiate and propagate the crack. We do not use either a wire saw or a laser or ion implantation to transfer a layer. We prevent the crack from deviating from its plane and we reduce the consumption of diamond and extend the lifetime of Vickers indenters while machining SiC under high load. The rate of diamond consumption is on par or even less than the multi-wire saw. We use parallel indentation in conjunction with fast motors and actuators to speed up the cleavage process and increase the throughput which makes it competitive with the multi-wire saw.

A dividing apparatus is provided with a second camera that forms a second image to be used for determining whether or not a wafer is divided at a first projected dicing line. That is, in the dividing apparatus, whether or not the wafer is divided at the first projected dicing line can be checked in reference to the second image. Hence, in the dividing apparatus, even in a case where part of the wafer remains at the first projected dicing line and the wafer is not divided, a dividing unit can be operated again to divide the wafer at the first projected dicing line. Consequently, in the dividing apparatus, the wafer can reliably be divided at the first projected dicing line.