Wafer production system and wafer manufacturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12486187-B2
Application number	US-202318296437-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2023
Priority date	Apr 18, 2022
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A water production system includes a filter unit that filters water to produce clear water, an ultraviolet light irradiator that irradiates, with ultraviolet light, the clear water produced by the filter unit, thereby degrading organic matter in the clear water, an ion exchange resin unit that purifies the clear water, in which the organic matter has been degraded by the ultraviolet light irradiator, into pure water, and a deaerated water production unit that deaerates the pure water to produce deaerated water.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A wafer manufacturing method for manufacturing a wafer from an ingot, comprising:
a separation starting point forming step of forming a separation starting point by forming modified layers through irradiation of the ingot with a laser beam having a wavelength transmittable through the ingot with a focal point of the laser beam positioned at a depth from an end face of the ingot, the depth corresponding to a thickness of the wafer to be manufactured; and a separation step of separating the wafer to be manufactured from the ingot, from the separation starting point, wherein, in the separation step, deaerated water produced by a water production system is supplied to the end face of the ingot to form a layer of the deaerated water, and ultrasonic waves are applied to the ingot via the layer of the deaerated water, thereby disrupting the separation starting point, the water production system including a filter unit that filters water to produce clear water, an ultraviolet light irradiator that irradiates, with ultraviolet light, the clear water produced by the filter unit, thereby degrading organic matter in the clear water, an ion exchange resin unit that purifies the clear water, in which the organic matter has been degraded by the ultraviolet light irradiator, into pure water, and a deaerated water production unit that deaerates the pure water to produce the deaerated water, the deaerated water production unit including a chamber that receives the pure water and a depressurizer that reduces pressure in the chamber.

2 . The wafer manufacturing method according to claim 1 , wherein the ingot is an SiC ingot.

3 . The wafer manufacturing method according to claim 2 ,
wherein the SiC ingot has a first surface, a second surface on an opposite side to the first surface, a c-axis extending from the first surface to the second surface, and a c-plane orthogonal to the c-axis, the c-axis is inclined with respect to a perpendicular to the first surface, and an off-angle is formed between the c-plane and the first surface, and the separation starting point forming step includes
a modified layer forming step of forming a linear modified layer by moving the focal point of the laser beam and the SiC ingot relative to each other in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the off-angle is formed, and
an indexing step of subjecting the focal point of the laser beam and the SiC ingot to index feeding by a predetermined amount by moving the focal point and the SiC ingot relative to each other in the direction in which the off-angle is formed.

4 . The wafer manufacturing method according to claim 1 , wherein the deaerated water production unit further includes a water receiving port through which the pure water is received into the chamber, an ultrasonic oscillator that applies ultrasonic waves to the pure water in the chamber, and a deaerated water outflow port through which the deaerated water flows out of the chamber.

5 . The wafer manufacturing method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
generating ultrasonic waves of 0.1 to 1.0 MHz with an ultrasonic oscillator, and reducing the pressure to 0.2 atm or lower in the chamber with the depressurizer.

6 . The wafer manufacturing method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
producing deaerated water having an oxygen content of 2.0 mg/L or lower with the deaerated water production unit.

7 . The wafer manufacturing method according to claim 1 , wherein the deaerated water production unit is arranged in a circulation route that supplies the deaerated water to a deaerated water use machine and receives used deaerated water drained from the deaerated water use machine.

Assignees

• Disco Corp

Inventors

• Hirata Kazuya

Classifications

• H10P54/00

  Cutting or separating of wafers, substrates or parts of devices · CPC title

• C02F1/36

  ultrasonic vibrations · CPC title

• C02F2101/30

  Organic compounds · CPC title

• C02F2103/04

  for obtaining ultra-pure water · CPC title

• C02F2209/02

  Temperature · CPC title