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US 2013/0280922 A1Published application
Methods for fabricating and orienting semiconductor wafers
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChin-Ming LIN, Wan-Lai CHEN, Chia-Hung HUANG, Chi-Ming YANG, Chin-Hsiang LIN
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Abstract
A method of orienting a semiconductor wafer. The method includes rotating a wafer about a central axis; exposing a plurality of edge portions of the rotating wafer to light having a predetermined wavelength from one or more light sources; detecting a subsurface mark in one of the plurality of edge portions of the rotating wafer; and orienting the wafer using the detected subsurface mark as a reference.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- positioning a semiconductor wafer in or on a wafer retaining device;
- irradiating a predetermined first portion of the wafer proximate a circumferential edge of the wafer, so as to alter a crystalline structure of at least part of the first portion of the wafer to form a subsurface mark, wherein the subsurface mark is detectable using light.
A method of orienting a semiconductor wafer, comprising:
- rotating a semiconductor wafer about a central axis;
- exposing at least one edge portion of the rotating wafer to light having a predetermined wavelength from one or more light sources;
- detecting a subsurface mark in one of the at least one edge portion of the rotating wafer;
- and
- orienting the wafer using the detected subsurface mark as a reference.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a wafer retaining device to retain a semiconductor wafer;
- a light source to emit light toward the wafer;
- a lens to direct and focus the emitted light at a subsurface portion of the wafer such that a crystalline structure of the subsurface portion of the wafer is altered to form a subsurface mark, wherein the subsurface mark is detectable using light of a predetermined wavelength.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.