In some examples, a device comprises a wafer chuck, a member having a surface facing the wafer chuck, a blade supported by the surface, a first vacuum nozzle extending through the member and having a first vacuum orifice facing a same direction as the surface, and a second vacuum nozzle extending through the member and having a second vacuum orifice facing the same direction as the surface. The first and second vacuum orifices are on opposing sides of the blade.

A method of processing a bonded wafer formed by bonding a first wafer and a second wafer to each other via a bonding layer includes a coordinate generating step of generating coordinates of an undersurface position of the first wafer, the undersurface position being to be irradiated with laser beams, such that an end position of a crack extending from modified layers formed within the first wafer is located at an outer circumference of the bonding layer, and a modified layer forming step of forming a plurality of modified layers in a ring shape by irradiating the coordinates generated in the coordinate generating step with the laser beams of a wavelength transmissible through the first wafer.

A free-standing substrate, for growing epitaxial crystal composed of a group 13 nitride crystal selected from gallium nitride, aluminum nitride, indium nitride or a mixed crystal thereof, includes a nitrogen polar surface and group 13 element polar surface. The nitrogen polar surface is warped in a convex shape, and a chamfer part is provided in an outer peripheral part of the nitrogen polar surface.

An example method includes providing a wide bandgap semiconductor workpiece. The example method includes exposing the wide bandgap semiconductor workpiece to one or more electrical discharges from an electrical discharge machining (EDM) system to reduce a surface roughness of the wide bandgap semiconductor workpiece. Exposing the wide bandgap semiconductor workpiece to the one or more electrical discharges may include submerging a surface of the wide bandgap semiconductor workpiece in a dielectric fluid; positioning an electrode head relative to the surface such that a gap is defined between an end of the electrode head and the surface; and generating an electrical discharge across the gap to create a plasma zone within the gap such that a material is removed from the surface.

A method for manufacturing an SiC semiconductor device includes a step of setting, on a main surface of an SiC wafer, a scheduled cutting line that demarcates a plurality of chip regions including a first chip region in which a functional device is formed and a second chip region in which a monitor pattern for performing process control of the first chip region is formed, a step of forming, on the main surface, a plurality of main surface electrodes respectively covering the chip regions such as to expose the scheduled cutting line and respectively forming a portion of the functional device and a portion of the monitor pattern, a step of irradiating laser light to the scheduled cutting line and forming a modified region, and a step of cleaving the SiC wafer with the modified region as a starting point.

A method to form a first diamond composite wafer, a second diamond composite wafer or a third diamond composite wafer with a predetermined diameter includes the following steps: preparing a plurality of diamond blocks, wherein each diamond block has a dimension smaller than the predetermined diameter; attaching the plurality of diamond blocks to a first semiconductor substrate with the predetermined diameter to form a first temporary composite wafer, wherein a thermal conductivity of the first semiconductor substrate is smaller than that of the diamond block; and filling gaps among the plurality of diamond blocks of the first temporary composite wafer to form the first diamond composite wafer; or attaching the first diamond composite wafer to a second semiconductor substrate with the predetermined diameter to form the second diamond composite wafer, or removing the first semiconductor substrate from the first diamond composite wafer to form the third diamond composite wafer.