A method produces wafers from a cylindrical ingot of semiconductor material having an axis and an indexing notch in an outer surface of the cylindrical ingot and parallel to the axis. The method includes, in the order specified: (a) simultaneous removal of a multiplicity of sliced wafers from the cylindrical ingot by multi-wire slicing in the presence of a cutting agent; (b) etching of the sliced wafers with an alkaline etchant in an etching bath at a temperature of 20 C. to 50 C. and for a residence time, such that the material removed from each of the sliced wafers is less than 5/1000 of an initial wafer thickness; and (c) grinding of the etched wafers by simultaneous double-disk grinding using an annular abrasive covering.

A semiconductor substrate includes a surface having a groove. The groove includes an inner bottom surface and an inner wall surface. The inner wall surface has a depression. The depression has a depth from a direction along a surface of the inner wall surface to a width direction of the groove. The substrate being exposed to the inner wall surface.

Methods and structures relating to bonding wafers using an aluminum nitride bonding layer with embedded metallization features. In some embodiments, the method may comprise forming a bonding layer on a first wafer where the bonding layer is formed of epitaxially grown aluminum nitride and where the first wafer is a silicon-based material and forming one or more metal features into the bonding layer on the first wafer. The first wafer may be hybrid bonded to a second wafer or die with one or more second metal features surrounded by a diffusion barrier layer. The one or more second metal features of the second wafer or die bonds to the one or more metal features of the first wafer. The diffusion barrier layer of the second wafer or die bonds, at least, to the bonding layer of the first wafer.

Methods and structures relating to bonding wafers using an aluminum nitride bonding layer. In some embodiments, the method may comprise forming a bonding layer of aluminum nitride on a first wafer where the aluminum nitride is grown epitaxially onto the first wafer and bonding the first wafer to a second wafer or die using a low temperature bonding process of less than 400 degrees Celsius. The aluminum nitride may be epitaxially grown using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process, a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process, or a molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) process. The carrier wafer may be silicon with a (111) crystal structure orientation or 4H-silicon carbide with a (001) crystal structure orientation at the interface with the bonding layer.

Semiconductor processing methods and apparatuses are provided. Some methods include providing a first wafer to a processing chamber, the first wafer having a thickness, a beveled edge, a first side, and a plurality of devices formed in a device area on the first side, the device area having an outer perimeter, depositing an annular ring of material on the first wafer, the annular ring of material covering a region of the beveled edge and the outer perimeter of the device area, and having an inner boundary closer to the center point of the first wafer than the outer perimeter, bonding a second substrate to the plurality of devices and to a portion of the annular ring of material, and thinning the thickness of the first wafer.

In a method for preparing silicon-on-insulator, the first etching stop layer, the second etching stop layer, and the device layer are formed bottom-up on the p-type monocrystalline silicon epitaxial substrate, where the first etching stop layer is made of intrinsic silicon, the second etching stop layer is made of germanium-silicon alloy, and the device layer is made of silicon. After oxidation, bonding, reinforcement, and grinding treatment, selective etching is performed. Through a first selective etching to p+/intrinsic silicon, the thickness deviation of the first etching stop layer on the second etching layer is controlled within 100 nm, and then through the second etching and the third etching, the thickness deviation and the surface roughness of the finally prepared silicon-on-insulator film can be optimized to less than 5 nm and less than 4 , respectively, so as to realize the flatness of the silicon-on-insulator film.