US 6867110

Patent Overview: US 6,867,110 B2

Title: Separating apparatus and processing method for plate member
Patent number: US 6,867,110 B2
Application number: US 10/152,690
Assignee: Canon Inc. (Canon Kabushiki Kaisha)
Inventors: Kazutaka Yanagita, Mitsuharu Kohda, Kiyofumi Sakaguchi, Akira Fujimoto
Priority date: 2001-05-25
Filing date: 2002-05-23
Publication date (grant): 2005-03-15
Status listed: Expired – Fee Related, adjusted expiration 2022-07-10
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6867110/en

Purpose and plain-language scope (per the supplied excerpt):
The patent concerns a separating apparatus and processing method for a plate member, such as a bonded substrate stack, and related semiconductor substrate and semiconductor device manufacturing methods. The background discusses SOI (Silicon On Insulator) substrates, in which a single-crystal Si layer sits on an insulating layer, and a known technique (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-21338) in which a first substrate bearing a porous layer and a non-porous single-crystal layer is bonded to a second substrate, then separated at the porous layer to transfer the non-porous layer.

The excerpt describes separation approaches including pulling substrates apart, shearing or pressing at the bonding interface, ultrasonic wave energy, inserting a sharp blade, and exploiting expansion energy within the porous layer. It cites Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45840, where a fluid is injected into the side surface of a bonded substrate stack held by a pair of holders smaller than the stack, while rotating it, to separate the stack at the porous layer. The excerpt notes a problem: distortion in the bonded substrate stack or holding it with uncorrected distortion can cause fluid to be injected at a position deviated from the intended separation layer. FIG. 13 is referenced as showing a largely distorted stack being separated at a separation layer.

What the excerpt does not establish:
It does not set out the actual claims, the full written description, or FIG. 13's content beyond the brief reference. It does not establish litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or the state of the prior art. The legal status shown is an assumption, not a legal conclusion.