Abstract: A semiconductor wafer chamfer polishing method for polishing chamfers formed on the edges of semiconductor wafers includes rotating a semiconductor wafer; pressing a polishing cloth against a chamfer of the semiconductor wafer with sufficient pressure to elastically deform the polishing cloth, while supplying polishing fluid to the chamfer; sliding the polishing cloth along an incline of the chamfer from an outer edge toward a center of the semiconductor wafer so as to form a bulge portion of the polishing cloth which contacts an outer surface of the semiconductor wafer, thereby polishing the outer surface along with the chamfer of the semiconductor wafer.

Abstract: A heat treatment system is fabricated from a loading section, a heat treatment section and a outlet section integrated with one another, and the heat treatment section comprises a transfer mechanism provided between the loading section and the outlet section for successively transferring silicon wafers, a heating unit provided along the transfer mechanism for heating the silicon wafers, and a cooling unit provided along the transfer mechanism and closer to the outlet section than the heating section for cooling the silicon wafers so that the silicon wafers are continuously treated with heat for annihilating thermal donors produced from oxygen during the growth of a silicon crystal without any handling by operators.

Abstract: A dressing apparatus comprises a head movably mounted on a tip portion of a body, the head having a tip having formed therein a cut-out which opens in the direction of the movement of the head and into which one of outer and inner peripheral cutting edges formed on a cut-off wheel in the form of a disc is adapted to be inserted, a tape traveling device mounted on the head and the body for causing a tape having a layer of abrasive grain on a side thereof to travel across the cut-out in the head, and an actuator disposed between the head and the body for moving the head. The dressing apparatus and a dressing method are arranged such that the one peripheral cutting edge is inserted into the cut-out in the head, and the one peripheral cutting edge and the side of the tape are brought into contact with each other while causing the tape to travel by the tape traveling device, to apply the dressing to the one peripheral cutting edge.