A cleaving system is described. The system can include a holding apparatus to retain a photovoltaic structure at a center section of a cleaving platform. The system can further include a contact apparatus to make contact with the photovoltaic structure and separate it into a plurality of strips. During operation, the system can activate an actuator to move the contact apparatus against the photovoltaic structure, thereby separating the photovoltaic structure into strips.

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.

A substrate manufacturing method of manufacturing a substrate from a workpiece is disclosed. A laser beam is first split and condensed to form a plurality of focal points aligned side by side along a first direction, and with the focal points positioned inside the workpiece, the focal points and the workpiece are moved relative to each other along a second direction orthogonal to the first direction such that a separation layer is formed. A region of the focal points and the workpiece are then moved relative to each other along the first direction. These relative movements are alternately and repeatedly performed. The splitting and condensation of the laser beam are performed such that a volume expansion of the workpiece associated with the formation of the modified regions is relatively small in the vicinity of at least one focal point formed on a center side.

A peeling layer is formed in a workpiece in a state in which a laser beam is condensed so as to have a larger length along an indexing feed direction than a length along a processing feed direction. In this case, cracks included in the peeling layer extend along the indexing feed direction easily. It is consequently possible to increase a relative moving distance (index) between a place where the laser beam is condensed and the workpiece in an indexing feed step. As a result, it is possible to improve the throughput of a substrate manufacturing method using the laser beam.