ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,551,973, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to DISCO Corp. (Tokyo).
"Wafer processing method" was invented by Satoshi Kobayashi (Tokyo), Kai Minamizaki (Tokyo) and Akira Mizutani (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A wafer processing method includes emitting a laser beam along an annular line that is a predetermined distance inward of the outer circumferential edge of the first wafer to form, in the first wafer, an annular first modified layer and a first crack extending from the first modified layer to make an appearance on the front surface, thereby causing the first wafer to become warped at an outer circumferential region thereof that...