JP2997766B2 - Dicing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a dicing apparatus, and more particularly to a dicing apparatus for cutting a semiconductor wafer (work) into dice.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional dicing apparatus has a work cutting section, a cassette accommodating section, and a conveying means in a main body of the apparatus. A cassette containing a large number of wafers is stored in the cassette storage section. The wafers stored in the cassette are pulled out one by one by the transfer means and transferred to the work cutting section. After the wafer is positioned at a predetermined cutting position in the work cutting section, the wafer is cut into a dice by a cutting blade (blade) of the work cutting section. Then, the cut wafer is transferred to the cassette storage section by the transfer means and stored in a predetermined shelf of the original cassette. The above is the flow of the process of processing one wafer by the conventional dicing apparatus.

Incidentally, the cassette applied to the conventional dicing apparatus is a large-sized cassette capable of storing a large number of wafers. Since this cassette usually handles wafers of the same model number, it is advantageous when a large number of wafers of the same model number are continuously processed.

[0004]

However, in the conventional dicing apparatus, even when interrupt processing of one or a small number of wafers of different model numbers is required, it must be handled by the large-sized cassette, which is very troublesome. There is a disadvantage that this is the case. Further, in the dicing apparatus, replacement or installation of the cassette during continuous operation is restricted on the device side for the reason of danger prevention or the like. For this reason, the conventional dicing apparatus has a drawback that, when successively processing wafers of different model numbers in a single wafer, the dicing apparatus must be stopped every time the wafer is set, resulting in poor efficiency. In addition, even when it is desired to take out a cut work from the cassette for extraction inspection of processing quality or the like during operation, the dicing apparatus must be temporarily stopped, so that there is a disadvantage that operating efficiency is deteriorated.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, it is possible to easily perform the interrupt processing of the work, and to perform the continuous single-wafer processing of the work and the extraction inspection of the work without stopping the dicing apparatus. Provided is a dicing apparatus that can perform the dicing.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a work cutting section having a cutting blade for cutting a work, and a cassette storage section for storing a cassette containing a large number of works. And a conveying means for conveying a work between the cassette storage section and the work cutting section, wherein the dicing apparatus main body stores at least one work, and has a smaller size than the cassette. A plurality of storage sections for storing the cassettes are provided, the work can be transported between the plurality of storage sections and the work cutting section, and the work is taken out of the cassette storage section and cut by the work cutting section. It is characterized in that the work can be transported to a storage section for storing the compact cassette.

According to the present invention, a plurality of special cassette storage sections for storing special cassettes are provided in addition to the cassette storage section for storing normal cassettes. This special cassette is a cassette of a compact size that accommodates one or a small number of works, so that handling is simple and work interruption processing is easy. Further, according to the present invention, since a plurality of special cassette storage sections are provided, the next single work can be set in the special cassette storage section while cutting a single work. Thus, the present invention can efficiently perform the continuous single-wafer processing of the work.

Further, in the present invention, the work taken out of the cassette storage section and cut by the work cutting section is conveyed toward the special cassette storage section, stored in the special cassette, and taken out. As in the prior art, when the cut work is stored in the original cassette storage unit, the dicing device must be temporarily stopped in order to extract and inspect the work, but in the present invention, since the work is stored in the special cassette,
Extraction inspection of a workpiece can be performed without stopping the dicing apparatus.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A dicing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a semiconductor wafer dicing apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof. As shown in FIG.
The dicing apparatus 1 mainly includes a cutting section 10, a cleaning section 20, a cassette storage section 30, an elevator section (transporting means).
40, and a transport device (transport unit) 50 and the like.

The process of cutting the wafer W by the dicing apparatus 1 will be described. First, a plurality of unprocessed wafers W stored in the cassette storage unit 30 are sequentially pulled out by the elevator unit 40 and then drawn out. The wafer W is set at the position P4 shown in FIG. Next, the wafer W is transferred to the position P1 by the transfer device 50.
Is placed on the cutting table (position P2) of the cutting unit 10 via the preload stage of (1). Here, the wafer W is held by suction on the cutting table. The wafer W held by suction is subjected to image recognition of the pattern on the wafer W by the alignment units 18 and 19, and is aligned based on the image. Then, in the aligned wafer W, two streets are cut at the same time by the movement in the Y-axis direction indicated by arrows A and B of the cutting unit 10 and the movement in the X-axis direction indicated by arrows C and D on the cutting table. . When the first two streets are cut, the spindle of the cutting section 10 is moved in the Y-axis direction by the pitch of the streets, and the cutting table is moved again in the X-axis direction. As a result, the next two streets are cut. Repeat this cutting operation,
When the cutting of all the streets in one direction (X direction) is completed, the cutting table is rotated by 90 °, and the other direction orthogonal to the cut street (Y direction in FIG. 2).
Cut the streets in sequence. Thereby, the wafer W
Is finally cut into dies. In the present embodiment, the alignment units 18 and 19 are provided on the upstream side of the cutting unit 10, but the present invention is not limited to this.
May be provided on each of the carriages 72 and 74.

After the cut wafer W is returned to the position P2 by the cutting table, the transfer device 50
Is transported to the spinner table of the cleaning unit 20 at the position P3. Here, the wafer W is dried by the air blow after being washed with the washing water. The dried wafer W is transferred to the position P4 by the transfer device 50, transferred to the cassette unit 30 by the elevator unit 40, and stored in a predetermined cassette. The above is the flow of the process of cutting one wafer W by the dicing apparatus 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cutting section 10 of the dicing apparatus 1 has a pair of cutting apparatuses 14 and 16, and the cutting apparatuses 14 and 16 include motors 60 and 62 and a spindle 6
4, 66, and blades 68, 70 mounted on the tips of the spindles 64, 66. The cutting device 1
4 and 16 are independently moved in the Y-axis direction by a spindle moving mechanism. In the present embodiment, a linear motor is applied as the spindle moving mechanism. The principle and the detailed structure of the linear motor are well known and will not be described here.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
Has a four-stage structure.
The inspection cassette storage section (special cassette storage section) 32, the first cassette storage section 34, the second cassette storage section 36, and the utility cassette storage section (special cassette storage section) 38 are arranged in this order from the top. The first and second cassette storage sections 34 and 36 are storage sections for storing normal cassettes. The cassettes stored in these cassette storage sections 34, 36 are provided with respective doors 35, 3
By opening the doors 35, 37 with the handles 35A, 37A provided on the 7, the user can take it out of the dicing apparatus body. The normal cassette is a large cassette in which a large number of wafers of the same model number are stored.

FIG. 3 shows a utility cassette (special cassette) 80 of the present embodiment stored in the utility cassette storage section 38. The utility cassette 80 includes two side plates 82, 82, a top plate 84, and a back plate 86, and has a compact size compared to a normal cassette that stores a large number of wafers. The upper portions of the two side plates 82 are connected by a top plate 84, and the lower portions are open. The rear portions of the two side plates 82 are connected by the back plate 86. Further, shelves 88, 88 for accommodating a small number of wafers W are provided on inner wall surfaces of the two side plates 82, 82 facing each other.
Are formed at equal intervals in the horizontal direction. These shelves 8
8 is formed in five stages in the present embodiment since it is sufficient to have the number of stages that accommodates a small number of wafers W to be subjected to interrupt processing. The number of shelves is not limited to five.

On the upper surface of the top plate 84, a mounting surface 85 on which the wafer W is mounted is formed. This mounting surface 85
Is formed in the same size as the shelf 88 so that the placed wafer W does not largely shift on the top plate 84. Therefore, the wafer W set on the mounting surface 85 described above is set from above the utility cassette 80 and then stored in the utility cassette storage section 38 to be cut into the cutting section 1.
Transported to 0. Note that the wafer W forms one work in a state where the wafer W is attached to the adhesive tape 92 on the frame 90.

The utility cassette 80 constructed as described above is stored by opening the shelf 39 of the utility cassette storage section 38 shown in FIG. 1 with the handle 39A. Therefore, the wafer W set on the mounting surface 85 in FIG.
Simply by opening the shelf 39, it is set on the utility cassette 80. As described above, the dicing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is provided with the utility cassette storage 38 for storing the utility cassette 80 shown in FIG. 3 in addition to the cassette storages 34 and 36 for storing normal cassettes. Further, a mounting surface 85 for the wafer W is formed on the top plate 84 of the utility cassette 80. Therefore, the dicing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment pulls out the utility cassette 80 from the utility cassette storage section 38 and mounts the wafer W to be interrupted on the mounting surface 85 of the top plate 84 by simply loading the wafer W. Can be set. Therefore, according to the dicing apparatus 1, interrupt processing of the wafer W can be easily performed.

Also, since the shelves 88, 88 capable of storing a small number of wafers W are formed in the utility cassette 80, the utility cassette 80 can be used also as a cassette for handling a small number of lots. Furthermore,
In the present embodiment, the first and second cassette storage units 34, 3
The elevator unit 40 is controlled so that the wafer W taken out of the work 6 and cut by the work cutting unit 10 is transported toward the utility cassette storage unit 32 and stored in the utility cassette 80. In conventional equipment,
Since the elevator unit is controlled to store the cut wafer W in the original cassette storage unit, the wafer W
The dicing apparatus must be temporarily stopped in order to extract and inspect the sample. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since the cut wafer W is stored in the utility cassette 80, the extraction inspection of the wafer W can be performed without stopping the dicing apparatus 1.

The one set on the mounting surface 85 of the utility cassette 80 is a wafer W for cutting.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a dressing work for the blades 68 and 70 or an inspection work for inspecting the cutting state of the blades 68 and 70. by this,
The setting and handling of the dressing work and the inspection work are greatly simplified.

On the other hand, the inspection cassette storing section 32 shown in FIG. 1 stores an inspection cassette 100 for storing wafers W for single-wafer processing shown in FIG. This inspection cassette 100 includes 1
It stores one wafer W, and is configured to be more compact than the utility cassette 80 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the inspection cassette 100 is formed in a tray shape, and a mounting surface 102 for a wafer W is formed on an upper surface thereof. Therefore, the wafer W for single wafer processing is stored in the inspection cassette 100 simply by opening the shelf 33 of the inspection cassette storage section 32 with the handle 33A. In addition,
In the present embodiment, the inspection cassette 100 for storing one wafer W has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a small number of shelves 88 are provided similarly to the utility cassette 80 shown in FIG. The configuration may be such that a small number of wafers W can be stored. By using both the inspection cassette storage section 32 and the utility cassette storage section 38, the next single wafer W can be set in the inspection cassette storage section 32 or the utility cassette storage section 38 during cutting of the single wafer W. Can be. Thus, in the present embodiment, the continuous single wafer processing of the wafer W can be efficiently performed.

[0021]

As described above, according to the dicing apparatus according to the present invention, the size of the dicing apparatus is smaller than that of the cassette accommodating portion accommodating at least one work and accommodating the cassette accommodating a large number of works. Since a plurality of storage sections for storing the cassettes are provided, the interruption processing of the work becomes easy, and the continuous single-wafer processing of the work can be efficiently performed.

Further, according to the present invention, the work can be transported between a plurality of storage sections for storing a cassette having a compact size and the work cutting section, and the cassette in which a large number of works are stored is provided. The work taken out from the cassette housing section to be housed and cut by the work cutting section,
Since it is possible to carry the cassette to the storage section for storing the cassette having the compact size, it is possible to perform the extraction inspection of the work without stopping the dicing apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dicing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the dicing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an inspection cassette accommodated in a dicing device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a utility cassette stored in the dicing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Dicing apparatus 10 ... Cutting part 32 ... Inspection cassette storage part 34 ... First cassette storage part 36 ... Second cassette storage part 38 ... Utility cassette storage part 80 ... Utility cassette 100 ... Inspection cassette

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/301

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A work cutting section having a cutting blade for cutting a work, a cassette storage section for storing a cassette containing a large number of works, and a work between the cassette storage section and the work cutting section. in the dicing device having a conveying means for conveying, on the dicing apparatus main body, for accommodating at least one workpiece, mosquito compact size than the cassette
A plurality of storage sections for storing sets are provided, and the work can be transported between the plurality of storage sections and the work cutting section, and the work taken out of the cassette storage section and cut by the work cutting section is removed. The compact size
A dicing apparatus capable of being transported to a storage section for storing sets .