Method of producing epitaxial wafer

1. A method of adjusting conditions for obtaining an epitaxial wafer, the method comprising:

(A) measuring a thickness profile of an adjusting wafer with a flatness measurement system before an epitaxial film is formed on a top surface of the adjusting wafer;

(B) forming an epitaxial film on the top surface of the adjusting wafer to form an adjusting epitaxial wafer;

(C) measuring a thickness profile of the adjusting epitaxial wafer with the flatness measurement system and a film thickness profile of the epitaxial film with a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer after forming the epitaxial film and before polishing the adjusting epitaxial wafer;

(D) simultaneously polishing a surface of the epitaxial film and a rear surface of the epitaxial wafer after the measuring of (C) to form a polished adjusting epitaxial wafer;

(E) measuring a thickness profile of the polished adjusting epitaxial wafer with the flatness measurement system and a film thickness profile of the epitaxial film with a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer after the polishing of (D);

(F) adjusting conditions for forming an epitaxial film on a top surface of an other wafer of the same type as the adjusting wafer using the thickness profiles and the film thickness profiles measured in (A), (C), and (E); and

(G) forming an epitaxial film on the top surface of the other wafer using the adjusted conditions of (F) to obtain an epitaxial wafer having a different epitaxial film thickness profile than the film thickness profile of the epitaxial film measured in (C).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting conditions for forming an epitaxial film on a top surface of an other wafer of (F) comprises:

calculating a removal thickness profile of the epitaxial wafer associated with the polishing by comparing the thickness profile measured in (C) with the thickness profile measured in (E);

calculating a removal film thickness profile of the epitaxial film associated with the polishing by comparing the film thickness profile measured in (C) with the film thickness profile measured in (E);

calculating a removal thickness profile of the epitaxial film side of the epitaxial wafer and a removal thickness profile of the rear surface side of the epitaxial wafer associated with polishing based on the calculated removal thickness profile and the calculated removal film thickness profile; and

adjusting the conditions for epitaxial growth based at least on the removal thickness profile of the epitaxial film side of the epitaxial wafer associated with the polishing and the thickness profile of the wafer before the formation of the epitaxial film, whereby obtaining an epitaxial wafer having a target thickness profile after the polishing step.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting conditions for forming an epitaxial film on a top surface of an other wafer of (F) comprises adjusting the film thickness profile of the epitaxial film.

4. A method of producing an epitaxial wafer, comprising:

forming an epitaxial film on a top surface of a wafer to form an epitaxial wafer based on an adjusted condition by the adjusting method of claim 1 ; and

polishing a surface of the epitaxial film on the top surface of the epitaxial wafer under the polishing conditions used to polish the surface of the epitaxial film to form the polished adjusting epitaxial wafer in (D).

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein:

the forming of the epitaxial film of (B) is performed on a (110) plane of the adjusting wafer; and

the forming of the epitaxial film on the top surface of the wafer to form the epitaxial wafer based on the adjusted condition is performed on a (110) plane of the wafer.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the film thickness profile of the epitaxial film is adjusted such that the thickness profile of the epitaxial wafer after the forming of the epitaxial film of (G) and before polishing comprises a raised peripheral portion.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a deposit on an end portion of a rear surface of the adjusting epitaxial wafer is removed by the polishing in (D).