Abstract: A wafer etching method wherein hydrogen gas, ammonia gas or mixed gas containing one of these gases is added to sulfur hexafluoride gas to suppress the occurrence of white turbidity on the surface of the wafer at the time of etching and to enable high quality mirror polishing of the wafer. In one embodiment, a mixed gas obtained by mixing SF6 gas G1 of a bomb 31 and H2 gas G2 of a bomb 32 in a predetermined ratio is fed to a discharge tube 2 and a microwave M is generated from a microwave oscillator 4 to cause plasma discharge. Further, the entire surface of the silicon wafer W can be flattened by locally etching the surface of the silicon wafer W by an activated species gas G sprayed from the nozzle portion 20.

Abstract: The present invention provides a processing method of outermost periphery edge part of silicon wafer comprising, etching the outermost periphery edge of silicon wafer by activated species gas generated in plasma. The plasma activated species gas can be generated by dissociation of, for example, sulfur hexafluoride gas in a discharge tube 8. Further, provides a processing apparatus for etching of outermost periphery edge of silicon wafer by means of plasma etching method comprising, a means to hold and rotate a silicon wafer 1, a container 5 which covers all surface of silicon wafer except a part of outermost periphery edge, a vacuum chamber 10 which contain said container and a plasma generating means 11.

Abstract: A single-side polishing method, and an apparatus therefor, for the upper surface and the end face of a substrate edge with a polishing strip are provided. The apparatus comprises a substrate holding member rotatably holding the substrate and a supporting a member capable of coming into contact with and retreating from the substrate holding member; a moving section pressed by a force imparting member against a single side and an end face of the substrate edge via the polishing strip is arranged so that the polishing strip polishes the side and the end face of the substrate edge upon rotation of the substrate.

Abstract: A wafer flattening system is provided to consecutively and automatically remove the natural oxide film from a wafer and flatten and smooth the wafer so as to improve the surface roughness of the wafer and improve the work efficiency. A step of immersing the wafer in an aqueous solution of hydrofluoric acid of a natural oxide film removing device is performed so as to remove the natural oxide film, then followed by a step of locally etching the surface of the wafer at a local etching apparatus by an activated species gas produced from SF6 gas to flatten the surface. Then, a step of giving a mirror finish to the wafer surface by a CMP apparatus is performed to smooth it.

Abstract: A local etching apparatus and local etching method improving the throughput of the local etching apparatus by preheating a discharge tube before ignition of the plasma discharge. The local etching apparatus is provided with a plasma generator 1, an alumina discharge tube 2, and a heater 6. The heater 6 is constituted by a heating wire 60, a power source 61 for supplying voltage to the heating wire 60, and a voltage regulator 62 for controlling the voltage supplied from the power source 61 to the heating wire 60. Due to this, it is possible to heat the alumina discharge tube 2 to the desired temperature by the heater 6 immediately before the plasma discharge by the plasma generator 1. As a result, there is no need to wait with the local etching work until the alumina discharge tube 2 rises in temperature to the desired temperature due to the heat by the plasma discharge, that is, it is possible to perform the local etching work immediately after the plasma discharge.

Abstract: A wafer flattening process for improving the micro-roughness of a wafer by local etching while maintaining a distance between a plasma discharge location and the wafer surface at a predetermined value. By executing a plasma generating step, SF6 gas in a gas cylinder 31 is fed to the inside of an alumina discharge tube 2, then plasma discharge of the SF6 gas is caused by a plasma generator 1 to produce an activated species gas G and which is locally sprayed from a nozzle portion 20 of the alumina discharge tube 2 to the surface of the silicon wafer W. In this state, by performing a local etching step, the surface of the silicon wafer W is flattened. At this time, the distance from the approximate center of the plasma discharge location to the surface of the silicon wafer W is set to a distance larger than 3000 times the mean free path of the ions in the activated species gas G and smaller than 6000 times.

Abstract: A lapping or polishing machine which processes the surface of silicon wafer or other work piece by rotating a platen with constant supply of lapping or polishing compound. Said platen of the lapping or polishing machine is connected directly to a direct drive motor and driven by the direct drive motor, and the point to point control of said platen is carried out by a rotary encoder.

Abstract: The present invention is a polishing compound comprising a colloidal solution of silicon oxide to which an alkaline component and an acid component are added in order to have a buffering action, wherein said alkali component is a quaternary ammonium whose carbon number per one molecular is smaller than 12, and said acid component is at least one selected from the group composed by carbonic acid, boric acid and silicic acid.