JP6144095B2 - Cutting equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus that cuts a plate-shaped workpiece using a cutting blade.

  The cutting device cuts a plate-shaped workpiece by attaching a cutting blade to the tip of the spindle, rotating it at high speed, and bringing it into contact with a plate-shaped workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer to be cut and fed. In such a cutting apparatus, the cutting blade is clogged or crushed due to the cutting speed being too high, the amount of cutting water being insufficient, or the plate-like workpiece being a difficult-to-cut material. May occur. When a blade failure occurs, it leads to a cutting failure. For example, the blade failure is eliminated by dressing the cutting blade.

  In Patent Document 1, in pre-cutting for stabilizing the cutting ability of a new cutting blade, it is determined whether or not pre-cutting is sufficiently performed by detecting the processing load applied to the chuck table by cutting the cutting blade into the test substrate. How to do is described.

JP 2006-303367 A

  In the method described in Patent Document 1, when it is determined that the pre-cut is not sufficient, it is determined that a cutting defect such as chipping has occurred. However, if this is applied during machining of an actual workpiece, cutting failure may already have occurred when a blade failure is detected. If a defective product is generated due to a cutting defect, the yield decreases. Therefore, it is desirable to detect a blade defect before the cutting defect actually occurs.

  The present invention has been considered in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to detect a blade defect before a cutting defect actually occurs and to prevent the occurrence of a cutting defect.

A cutting apparatus according to the present invention includes a holding means for holding a plate-like workpiece, a cutting means for mounting a cutting blade for cutting the plate-like workpiece held by the holding means, a support means for supporting the cutting means, A cutting feed means for relatively moving the support means and the holding means in the cutting feed direction, a cutting feed means for relatively moving the support means and the holding means in the cutting feed direction, and the support means. And a load detecting means for detecting a cutting load applied to the cutting blade by cutting feed by the cutting feed means. The load detecting means has a plurality of piezoelectric elements, and the plurality of piezoelectric elements detect the plurality of piezoelectric elements. if the difference value is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, and a determination unit and blade failure.

  According to the cutting apparatus of the present invention, since the load detection means disposed on the support means detects the cutting load applied to the cutting blade, the blade failure can be detected before the cutting failure occurs.

  If the difference between the values detected by multiple piezoelectric elements is greater than or equal to the threshold value, it is determined that the blade is defective. Therefore, it is possible to detect that the force balance has been lost due to the blade failure, and the blade failure is detected before cutting failure occurs. can do.

The front view which shows the cutting device. The perspective view which shows arrangement | positioning of a load detection means. The perspective view which shows another arrangement | positioning of a load detection means.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the cutting apparatus 10 includes a main body 11, a holding unit 12 that holds a plate-like workpiece 21 such as a wafer, a cutting unit 13 (13 a, 13 b) that mounts a cutting blade 22, and a cutting unit 13. A support means 14 (14a, 14b) for supporting the support, a cutting feed means 15 (15a, 15b) for relatively moving the support means 14 and the holding means 12 in the cutting feed direction (± Z direction), and a support means 14 And moving means 16 (16a, 16b) for moving the holding means 12 relative to each other in the ± Y direction, and the supporting means 14 and the holding means 12 relative to the cutting feed direction (± X perpendicular to the YZ plane) Cutting feed means 17 that is moved in the direction), load detection means 18 (18a, 18b) disposed on the support means 14, and a determination unit 19 that determines blade failure.

  The main body 11 includes a base 111 and a frame 112 fixed to the base 111.

  The holding means 12 is, for example, a chuck table, and holds the plate-like workpiece 21 placed on the cylindrical holding table 121 by sucking it with a suction source 122.

  The cutting means 13 attaches the cutting blade 22 to the tip of the spindle 131 and the plate 132 is cut by the motor 132 rotating the spindle 131 at a high speed. The axis of the spindle 131 is disposed in parallel with the ± Y direction.

  The support means 14a supports the cutting means 13a, and the support means 14b supports the cutting means 13b. One end of the support means 14 is fixed to the cutting means 13 that is a support target.

  The cut feed means 15a moves the support means 14a in the ± Z direction, and the cut feed means 15b moves the support means 14b in the ± Z direction. When the motor 152 rotates the screw shaft 151 made of, for example, a ball screw and parallel to the ± Z direction, the movable portion 153 engaged with the screw shaft 151 moves in the ± Z direction. Support means 14 that is a target to be moved is fixed to the movable portion 153. When the cutting feed means 15 moves the support means 14 in the ± Z direction, the cutting means 13 supported by the support means 14 moves in the ± Z direction.

  The moving means 16a moves the cutting feed means 15a in the ± Y direction, and the moving means 16b moves the cutting feed means 15b in the ± Y direction. When the motor 162 rotates a screw shaft 161 made of, for example, a ball screw and parallel to the ± Y direction, the moving unit 16 moves the movable portion 163 engaged with the screw shaft 161 in the ± Y direction. The movable portion 163 is fixed with a cutting feed means 15 that is a target to be moved. The moving means 16 is fixed to the rack portion 112. When the moving means 16 moves the cutting feed means 15, the support means 14 and the cutting means 13 are moved in the ± Y direction accordingly.

  The cutting feed means 17 moves the holding table 121 in the ± X direction. When the motor (not shown) rotates a screw shaft 171 made of, for example, a ball screw and parallel to the ± X direction, the cutting feed means 17 is guided by the rail 174 to the movable portion 173 engaged with the screw shaft 171. Move in the direction. A holding table 121 that is a target to be moved is fixed to the movable portion 173. The cutting feed means 17 is fixed to the base 111.

  The cutting means 13 and the support means 14 are moved in the ± Z direction and the ± Y direction with respect to the main body 11 by the cutting feed means 15 and the moving means 16, and the holding table 121 is moved in the ± X direction with respect to the main body 11 by the cutting feed means 17. By moving to, the cutting means 13 and the support means 14 and the holding table 121 move relatively.

  The load detection means 18a detects the cutting load applied to the cutting blade 22 attached to the cutting means 13a. The load detection means 18b detects the cutting load applied to the cutting blade 22 attached to the cutting means 13b.

  The determination unit 19 determines whether or not a blade failure such as clogging or crushing has occurred in the cutting blade 22 based on the cutting load detected by the load detection unit 18.

Next, the operation of the cutting apparatus 10 will be described.
First, the holding means 12 holds the plate workpiece 21 so that the scheduled cutting line on the plate workpiece 21 is parallel to the ± X direction.
Next, the motor 132 of the cutting means 13a and 13b rotates the cutting blade 22 at high speed. The motor 132 continues to rotate until the cutting is completed.
Then, the moving means 16a moves the cutting means 13a so that the cutting blade 22 is positioned immediately above the first scheduled cutting line. Similarly, the moving means 16b moves the cutting means 13b so that the cutting blade 22 is positioned immediately above the second scheduled cutting line.

Next, the cutting feed means 15a moves the cutting means 13a in the -Z direction so that the cutting blade 22 approaches the holding table 121 to a position where the cutting blade 22 cuts into the plate workpiece 21 at a predetermined depth. Similarly, the cutting feed means 15b moves the cutting means 13b in the -Z direction so that the cutting blade 22 approaches the holding table 121 to a position where the cutting blade 22 cuts into the plate-like workpiece 21 at a predetermined depth.
Next, the cutting feed means 17 moves the holding table 121. Thereby, the cutting blade 22 cut into the plate-like workpiece 21 moves relative to the plate-like workpiece 21 along the planned cutting line, and cutting is performed.

  After the cutting of the first and second scheduled cutting lines is finished, the cutting feed means 15a and 15b move the cutting means 13a and 13b in the + Z direction, and the cutting blade 22 is separated from the holding table 121.

  During the cutting feed in which the cutting feed unit 17 moves the holding table 121, the load detection unit 18 detects the cutting load, and the determination unit 19 determines whether the blade is defective. When the determination unit 19 determines that there is a blade failure, the cutting device 10 notifies the worker that the blade failure has occurred, for example, by turning on a warning lamp or displaying a warning on the display unit. Moreover, the structure which interrupts a cutting process may be sufficient as the cutting apparatus 10 after the cutting about the cutting scheduled line in cutting or the plate-shaped workpiece | work 21 is complete | finished. Alternatively, the cutting apparatus 10 may be configured to continue the cutting process using only the cutting means 13 determined not to be defective, without using the cutting means 13 determined to be defective. Further, the cutting device 10 may be configured to start the dressing process and automatically eliminate the blade defect.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the load detecting means 18 has three piezoelectric elements 181 (181a to 181c). The piezoelectric element 181 is located between, for example, the cutting means 13 supported by the support means 14 and the support means 14, detects the pressure in the ± Z direction transmitted from the cutting means 13 to the support means 14, and detects the detected pressure. A voltage proportional to is output. When a cutting load is generated by cutting the cutting blade 22 into the plate-like workpiece 21, the pressure detected by the piezoelectric element 181 changes.

  The three piezoelectric elements 181 are arranged in a triangular shape. For example, the piezoelectric element 181c is disposed at a predetermined distance in the + Y direction with respect to the piezoelectric element 181a, and the piezoelectric element 181b is disposed at a predetermined distance in the + X direction from the middle point of the two piezoelectric elements 181a and 181c. Has been placed.

  When a blade failure such as clogging or crushing occurs in the cutting blade 22, the direction of the force received by the cutting blade 22 from the plate workpiece 21 is inclined. When this inclination increases, cutting defects such as the cutting blade 22 meandering and deviating from the planned cutting line occur. When the direction of the force received by the cutting blade 22 from the plate-shaped workpiece 21 is inclined, the balance of pressure detected by the three piezoelectric elements 181 changes. Accordingly, the determination unit 19 determines that the blade is defective when the difference in pressure detected by the three piezoelectric elements 181 is equal to or greater than the determination threshold. For example, the determination unit 19 calculates the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value among the pressures detected by the three piezoelectric elements 181, and compares the calculated difference with a predetermined determination threshold value to thereby determine the blade. It is determined whether it is defective.

  The determination threshold is, for example, measured by performing a cutting test and measuring a pressure detected by the piezoelectric element 181 when a blade defect does not occur and a pressure detected by the piezoelectric element 181 when a blade defect occurs. It is determined in advance based on the measurement result.

In this way, whether or not the blade is defective is determined based on the pressure difference detected by the plurality of piezoelectric elements 181 instead of the magnitude of the cutting load. Can be detected.
Further, since the load detecting means 18 is disposed on the support means 14, it is possible to detect a subtle change in the direction of the force applied to the cutting blade 22 from the plate-like workpiece 21, and before the cutting defect actually occurs, the blade defect is detected. Can be detected.
Since a blade defect can be detected before a cutting defect actually occurs, the occurrence of a defective product due to a cutting defect can be prevented, and the yield is improved.

  The number of piezoelectric elements 181 is not limited to three, but may be two or four or more, but three is most desirable. For example, if only the two piezoelectric elements 181a and 181c are provided and the piezoelectric element 181b is not provided, the force received by the cutting blade 22 from the plate-like workpiece 21 can be detected when tilted in the ± Y direction. If the force received by the cutting blade 22 is inclined in the ± X direction, it may not be detected. On the other hand, if the three piezoelectric elements 181a to 181c are provided, not only the inclination in the ± Y direction but also the inclination in the ± X direction can be detected, so that the detection accuracy is improved. If four or more piezoelectric elements 181 are provided, the detection accuracy is further improved, but the manufacturing cost and maintenance cost of the cutting apparatus 10 are increased.

As another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the piezoelectric elements 181 a to 181 c are positioned between the support means 14 and the movable portion 153 of the cutting feed means 15 and are transmitted from the support means 14 to the movable portion 153 ±. It may be configured to detect pressure in the X direction.
Similarly, in this case, the determination unit 19 determines that the blade is defective when the difference in pressure detected by the three piezoelectric elements 181 is equal to or greater than the determination threshold.
Thereby, a blade defect can be detected before a cutting defect actually occurs.

Embodiment described above is an example and does not limit this invention. For example, the configuration of the non-essential part may be replaced with another configuration within a consistent range.
The number of cutting means 13 is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more. The cutting feed means 15, the moving means 16, and the cutting feed means 17 may be any one that relatively moves the holding table 121, the cutting means 13, and the support means 14.

10 cutting device, 11 body, 111 base, 112 frame,
12 holding means, 121 holding table, 122 suction source,
13 cutting means, 131 spindle, 132, 152, 162 motor,
14 support means, 15 cutting feed means, 151, 161, 171 screw shaft,
153, 163, 173 movable part, 16 moving means,
17 Cutting feed means, 174 rails,
18 load detecting means, 181 piezoelectric element, 21 plate-like workpiece, 22 cutting blade.

Claims (1)

Holding means for holding a plate-like workpiece;
Cutting means for mounting a cutting blade for cutting the plate-like workpiece held by the holding means;
Supporting means for supporting the cutting means;
Cutting feed means for relatively moving the support means and the holding means in the cutting feed direction;
A cutting feed means for relatively moving the support means and the holding means in the cutting feed direction;
Load detecting means disposed on the support means and detecting a cutting load applied to the cutting blade by cutting feed by the cutting feed means;
The load detecting means has a plurality of piezoelectric elements,
A cutting apparatus comprising a determination unit that determines that a blade is defective when a difference between values detected by the plurality of piezoelectric elements is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold .

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