# US 12,191,213 B2 · Inspection method

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- Number: US 12,191,213 B2
- Document ID: US12191213B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/818,410
- Filed: 2022-08-09
- Published: 2023-03-02
- Granted: 2025-01-07
- Earliest claimed: 2021-08-30
- Assignees: Disco Corporation
- Applicants: Disco Corporation
- Inventors: Naoko Yamamoto
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12191213B2

## CPC

- H10P 74/203: {Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects}
- H10P 72/74: {using temporarily an auxiliary support}
- H10P 95/11: {Separation of active layers from substrates}
- H10P 54/00: Cutting or separating of wafers, substrates or parts of devices
- H10W 46/00: Marks applied to devices, e.g. for alignment or identification
- H10W 46/201: {located on the periphery of wafers, e.g. orientation notches or lot numbers}
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H10W: GENERIC PACKAGES, INTERCONNECTIONS, CONNECTORS OR OTHER CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10

## Abstract

An inspection method for a divided wafer includes a wafer lamination step of stacking a transfer wafer on top of a wafer that has been divided into a plurality of chips, a particle transfer step of, after the wafer lamination step is carried out, positioning the transfer wafer on a lower side and the divided wafer on an upper side and applying a vibration to the wafer stacked on the transfer wafer, to drop particles adhering to side surfaces of the chips onto the transfer wafer, and an inspection step of, after the particle transfer step is carried out, inspecting the particles on the transfer wafer.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An inspection method for a divided wafer, the inspection method comprising:
a wafer lamination step of stacking a transfer wafer on top of a wafer that has been divided into a plurality of pieces;
a particle transfer step of, after the wafer lamination step is carried out, positioning the transfer wafer on a lower side and the divided wafer on an upper side and applying a vibration to the wafer stacked on the transfer wafer, to drop particles adhering to side surfaces of the divided pieces onto the transfer wafer; and
an inspection step of, after the particle transfer step is carried out, inspecting the particles on the transfer wafer.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The inspection method according to claim 1,
wherein at least any of positions, the number, and size of the particles on the transfer wafer is inspected in the inspection step.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The inspection method according to claim 1,
wherein the wafer and the transfer wafer each have a mark indicating a crystal orientation,
the wafer and the transfer wafer are stacked on top of each other with the marks of the wafer and the transfer wafer as references in the wafer lamination step, and
the mark of the transfer wafer is used as a reference in the inspection step.