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.

An ultrasonic wave is applied to an upper surface of an ingot via a liquid layer, in a state in which an outer circumferential region of a lower surface of the ingot is sucked. A lower side around an outer circumferential arc-shaped portion of the lower surface of the ingot is open so that liquid that serves as a medium of the ultrasonic wave does not collect around the outer circumferential arc-shaped portion of the lower surface of the ingot. As a result, a peel-off layer formed in the ingot is not immersed in liquid when an ultrasonic wave is applied to the upper surface of the ingot via the liquid layer. Consequently, even when the ingot becomes thin, the ingot can be separated at the peel-off layer, and a wafer can be peeled off from the ingot.

In order to respond flexibly to various processing modes, such as forming curved surface shapes, when cutting a workpiece using a wire saw, this wire saw device (1) is provided with: a single robot arm (2) that is capable of moving freely by means of multi-axis control; a wire saw unit (3) that is detachably connected to the robot arm (2) via a tool changer (7); a wire (8) that spans a plurality of pulleys supported within the wire saw unit (3); and a workpiece cutting zone (20) that is established between the pulleys. The workpiece is cut to a prescribed shape by moving the robot arm (2) in a preset direction while running the wire (8) of the wire saw unit (3) and pressing the wire (8) against the supported workpiece.

A wafer producing apparatus detects a facet area from an upper surface of an SiC ingot, sets X and Y coordinates of plural points lying on a boundary between the facet area and a nonfacet area in an XY plane, and sets a focal point of a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to SiC inside the SiC ingot at a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the SiC ingot. The predetermined depth corresponds to the thickness of the SiC wafer to be produced. A control unit increases the energy of the laser beam and raises a position of the focal point in applying the laser beam to the facet area as compared with the energy of the laser beam and a position of the focal point in applying the laser beam to the nonfacet area, according to the X and Y coordinates.

A dividing apparatus includes a table having a transparent plate having a holding surface for holding a workpiece thereon and a lower illumination unit for illuminating the holding surface from below, a first storage section for storing a first image including a white portion where illumination light from the lower illumination unit is transmitted through the workpiece and displayed as white and a black portion where the illumination light is blocked by the workpiece and displayed as black when an image of a kerf defined by a dividing unit in the workpiece held on the holding surface is captured by an image capturing unit with the lower illumination unit being energized, and a white pixel detecting section for detecting whether or not there are pixels in the white portion of the first image in directions perpendicular to directions along which a street extends.

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.

Provided is a cutting method of cutting a workpiece by using a cutting apparatus including a chuck table configured to hold the workpiece and a cutting unit having a cutting blade configured to cut the workpiece held by the chuck table and an ultrasonic vibrator configured to ultrasonically vibrate the cutting blade in a radial direction of the cutting blade. The cutting method includes a holding step of holding the workpiece by the chuck table, and a cutting step of performing ultrasonic cutting that cuts the workpiece by the cutting blade vibrated ultrasonically and normal cutting that cuts the workpiece by the cutting blade not vibrated ultrasonically on the same cutting line of a plurality of cutting lines set on the workpiece.

An Si substrate manufacturing method includes a separation band forming step of forming a separation band through positioning a focal point of a laser beam with a wavelength having transmissibility with respect to Si to a depth, equivalent to a thickness of an Si substrate to be manufactured, from a flat surface of an Si ingot and irradiating the Si ingot with the laser beam while relatively moving the focal point and the Si ingot in a direction <110> parallel to a cross line at which a crystal plane {100} and a crystal plane {111} intersect or a direction [110] orthogonal to the cross line, and an indexing feed step of executing indexing feed of the focal point and the Si ingot relatively in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the separation band is formed.

The invention discloses a multi-set clamping fixture for diamond machining, which is used for machining diamonds. The clamping fixture includes a base shell, a lip ring, and a sealing ring. The upper end of the base shell is opened, the lip ring is arranged at the inner ring position of the base shell, an embedding groove is arranged at the inner ring position of the lip ring, the sealing ring is arranged in the embedding groove, a vacuum cavity is formed in the base shell, and the base shell is externally connected with a vacuum pumping pipeline. After the pavilion portion of a diamond to be machined is inserted into the lip ring and supported by the sealing ring, a vacuum cavity is formed in the base shell, the vacuum cavity is vacuumized by the external pipeline, and then the diamond is limited at the position of the lip ring to complete the clamping process. The lip ring is connected with the base shell in a detachable structure. An annular air pressure cavity is arranged on the outer edge of the upper portion of the base shell, one ends of a plurality of auxiliary clamping rods are located in the air pressure cavity, and one ends of the auxiliary clamping rods radially pass through the inner annular surface of the air pressure cavity and the lip ring to be in contact with the diamond. Shaft seals are arranged at the positions where the auxiliary clamping rods pass through the inner annular surface of the air pressure cavity, and the clamping fixture further includes a cavity cover that is mounted on the upper portion of the base shell and covers and wraps the air pressure cavity. The air pressure cavity is internally connected with an external pressure air source pipeline.

A peeling apparatus includes: an ingot holding unit holding an ingot with an ingot portion corresponding to a wafer being faced up; an ultrasonic wave oscillating unit which has an end face facing the ingot portion corresponding to the wafer and oscillates an ultrasonic wave; a water supplying unit supplying water to an area between the ingot portion corresponding to the wafer and the end face of the ultrasonic wave oscillating unit; and a peeling unit that holds the ingot portion corresponding to the wafer with suction and peels off the wafer from the ingot.