JP7679207B2 - Expansion Unit - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an expansion device.

A commonly known processing method is to irradiate a workpiece (wafer) with devices formed on its surface with a laser beam to form a modified layer inside along the intended dividing line, and then to expand an expandable sheet (dicing tape) to which the workpiece is attached, thereby dividing the workpiece into individual chips at the breaking point of the modified layer.

This type of processing method expands the expand sheet around the periphery of the wafer, so the expand sheet slackens after expansion, gradually narrowing the gap between the expanded chips, causing the expand sheet to shake during transportation and chips to rub against each other, resulting in chipping. As a result, processing technology and dividing equipment have been developed that heats the expanded and slackened expand sheet to cause it to shrink (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Patent No. 5791866

The slackness of the expandable sheet could be eliminated by heating the expanded and loosened expandable sheet to shrink it, but depending on the type of expandable sheet, heating it to a high enough temperature to cause it to shrink could generate gas, and if this gas adheres to the device, it could become a foreign object and cause the device to malfunction.

The present invention was made in consideration of these problems, and its purpose is to provide an expansion device that can reduce the risk of device failure due to gas generated by heating the expand sheet.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the expansion device of the present invention is an expansion device that expands an expandable sheet of a frame unit in which a workpiece having a planned division line is supported by the expandable sheet at an opening of an annular frame, and includes a frame fixing part that fixes the annular frame of the frame unit, a sheet expansion unit that presses an annular region of the expandable sheet between the outer periphery of the workpiece and the inner periphery of the annular frame in a direction perpendicular to the workpiece to expand the expandable sheet, a heating unit that heats the annular region of the expanded expandable sheet to contract it, a cover body having an inner concave space that covers the expanded workpiece, and a cover unit that supports the workpiece. The device comprises an advance/retract section for advancing and retracting the lid body between a shielding position where the edge of the lid body covering the workpiece is brought into contact with the annular region of the expanded sheet to shield the workpiece from the external space, and an open position where the workpiece is exposed from the lid body, and the lid body positioned at the shielding position shields the workpiece from gas generated by heating the expanded sheet.The device further comprises a sensor for detecting the type of the lid body, a processing condition memory section for registering the size of the workpiece or the type of the lid body, a determination section for determining whether the size of the workpiece or the type of the lid body stored in the processing condition memory section corresponds to the type of the lid body detected by the sensor, and an alarm section for alarming the determination result of the determination section .

The heating unit is fixed to the advance/retract part, the advance/retract part rotates to rotate the heating unit along the circumferential direction of the annular region, and the lid body fixed to the advance/retract part may be set so as to be able to be stopped independently of the rotating advance/retract part.

An exhaust unit may be provided to exhaust gas generated from the expandable sheet.

The present invention can reduce the risk of device failure due to gas generated by heating the expandable sheet.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of the configuration of an extension device according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state before the expansion sheet of the main part of the expansion device according to the first embodiment is expanded. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an expandable sheet of a main part of the expansion device according to the first embodiment is being expanded. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an expanding sheet of a main part of the expansion device according to the first embodiment is being heated. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the type of the cover body of the main part of the expansion device according to the second embodiment is being detected.

The following describes in detail the form (embodiment) for carrying out the present invention with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the contents described in the following embodiment. The components described below include those that a person skilled in the art can easily imagine and those that are substantially the same. Furthermore, the configurations described below can be combined as appropriate. Various omissions, substitutions, or modifications of the configuration can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[Embodiment 1]
The expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state before expansion of the expand sheet 105 of the main part of the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state during expansion of the expand sheet 105 of the main part of the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state during heating of the expand sheet 105 of the main part of the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment includes a frame fixing part 10, a sheet expansion unit 20, a forward/retract part 30, a heating unit 40, a lid body 50, an exhaust unit 60, a frame unit transport part 70, and a control unit 80.

In the first embodiment, the workpiece (wafer) 100 that is divided by the expansion device 1 expanding the expand sheet 105 is, for example, a disk-shaped semiconductor wafer or an optical device wafer made of silicon, sapphire, silicon carbide (SiC), gallium arsenide, glass, or the like. As shown in FIG. 1, the workpiece 100 has chip-sized devices (device chips) 103 formed in an area partitioned by a plurality of planned division lines 102 formed in a lattice shape on the surface 101. The workpiece 100 has an expand sheet (dicing tape) 105 attached to the back surface 104 on the back side of the surface 101, and an annular frame 106 attached to the outer edge of the expand sheet 105, thereby forming a frame unit 110 in which the workpiece 100 is supported by the expand sheet 105 at the opening 107 of the annular frame 106.

The workpiece 100 is irradiated with a laser beam along the planned division line 102, and a modified layer 120 (shown by a dashed line in FIG. 2) that is the starting point of division is formed inside along the planned division line 102. The modified layer 120 refers to a region in which the density, refractive index, mechanical strength, and other physical properties are different from those of the surrounding area, and examples of the modified layer 120 include a melting process region, a crack region, an insulation breakdown region, a refractive index change region, and a region in which these regions are mixed. In the first embodiment, the modified layer 120 has a lower mechanical strength than other parts of the workpiece 100.

As shown in FIG. 1, the frame fixing part 10 has a frame mounting part 11 on which the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 is mounted, and a frame pressing part 12 that presses the annular frame 106 from above. The frame mounting part 11 is square-shaped, and has a circular opening 13 in the center that is approximately the inner diameter of the annular frame 106. The frame mounting part 11 is connected to an air cylinder 15 on the lower side, and can be raised and lowered in the Z-axis direction in FIG. 1, which is parallel to the vertical direction, by expanding and contracting the air cylinder 15. The frame pressing part 12 is square-shaped like the frame mounting part 11, and has a circular opening 14 in the center that is approximately the inner diameter of the annular frame 106. The frame pressing part 12 can be moved in the Y-axis direction in FIG. 1, which is parallel to the horizontal direction, by a horizontal movement unit (not shown).

The frame fixing part 10 places the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 on the frame mounting part 11 so that the opening 13 of the frame mounting part 11 and the opening 107 of the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 overlap vertically, and then moves the frame pressing part 12 directly above the frame mounting part 11 using a horizontal movement unit (not shown) so that the opening 14 of the frame pressing part 12 overlaps vertically with the opening 13 of the frame mounting part 11 and the opening 107 of the annular frame 106. The frame mounting part 11 is then raised by the air cylinder 15, thereby clamping and fixing the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 between the frame mounting part 11 and the frame pressing part 12, as shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet expansion unit 20 has a chuck table 21, a push-up member 22, a roller member 23, and a lifting mechanism 24. The chuck table 21 is circular and is provided on the inner circumference and coaxially of the push-up member 22. The chuck table 21 is also provided on the inner circumference and coaxially of the opening 13 of the frame mounting portion 11. The chuck table 21 has a disk-shaped frame body with a recess formed therein and a disk-shaped suction portion fitted into the recess. The suction portion of the chuck table 21 is formed of porous ceramics or the like with a large number of porous holes, and is connected to a vacuum suction source (not shown) through a vacuum suction path (not shown). The upper surface of the suction portion of the chuck table 21 is a holding surface 25 that suction-holds the workpiece 100 of the frame unit 110, in which the annular frame 106 is fixed to the frame fixing portion 10, from the back surface 104 side via the expand sheet 105. The holding surface 25 and the upper surface of the frame of the chuck table 21 are arranged on the same plane and are formed along the XY plane that is parallel to the horizontal plane.

The push-up member 22 is cylindrical and is provided on the outer periphery of and coaxial with the chuck table 21. The push-up member 22 is also provided on the inner periphery of and coaxial with the opening 13 of the frame mounting portion 11. The roller member 23 is provided on the same plane as or slightly above the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21, and at the upper end of the push-up member 22, so as to be freely rotatable. The lifting mechanism 24 is provided connected below the chuck table 21 and the push-up member 22, and lifts the chuck table 21 and the push-up member 22 together.

With the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 fixed to the frame fixing part 10, the sheet expansion unit 20 uses the lifting mechanism 24 to raise the chuck table 21 and the push-up member 22 relative to the frame fixing part 10 as shown in FIG. 3, thereby pressing the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 between the outer periphery of the workpiece 100 and the inner periphery of the annular frame 106 in the thickness direction perpendicular to the front surface 101 and back surface 104 of the workpiece 100, thereby expanding the expand sheet 105 in the surface direction. The workpiece 100 is divided into devices 103 along the modified layer 120 by expanding the expand sheet 105 by the sheet expansion unit 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, the advance/retract unit 30 is a disk-shaped base that is disposed above the chuck table 21 and coaxially with the chuck table 21. The advance/retract unit 30 is connected to a drive unit 31 at its top, and is provided so that it can be raised and lowered in the vertical direction by the drive unit 31, and is provided so that it can rotate freely around a rotation shaft 32 that is parallel to the vertical direction. The rotation shaft 32 is formed in a cylindrical shape and is provided so that it is coaxial with the advance/retract unit 30.

As shown in FIG. 1, the heating units 40 are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the outer edge of the advancing/retreating section 30, and are arranged in an area corresponding to the annular region 108 of the expanding sheet 105. The heating units 40 are arranged in a position vertically facing the annular region 108 of the expanding sheet 105 of the frame unit 110 held by the frame fixing section 10 and the chuck table 21. The heating units 40 are attached so that their radial positions in the advancing/retreating section 30 can be adjusted. In the example shown in FIG. 1, four heating units 40 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the advancing/retreating section 30, but the present invention is not limited to four. For this reason, the driving unit 31 rotates the advancing/retreating section 30 so that the multiple heating units 40 rotate along the circumferential direction of the annular region 108 of the expanding sheet 105, as shown in FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the heating unit 40 heats the annular region 108 of the expanded expand sheet 105 to cause it to shrink. The heating unit 40 is of a type that irradiates infrared rays downward to heat the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105, for example, an infrared ceramic heater that is heated when a voltage is applied and emits infrared rays.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cover 50 is bowl-shaped and has a concave space 51 on the inside that covers the workpiece 100 of the frame unit 110 after the expansion of the expand sheet 105. The depth of the concave space 51 is greater than the thickness of the workpiece 100 and is 5 mm or less. The edge 52 of the cover 50 that forms the opening edge of the concave space 51 is circular, and the radial length is greater than the outer diameter of the workpiece 100 of the frame unit 110 after the expansion of the expand sheet 105 and smaller than the inner diameter of the rotation orbit of the heating unit 40. The outer diameter of the workpiece 100 of the frame unit 110 after the expansion of the expand sheet 105 is greater than the outer diameter of the workpiece 100 of the frame unit 110 before the expansion (before division) of the expand sheet 105, and changes depending on the degree of expansion of the expand sheet 105 by the sheet expansion unit 20.

The lid 50 is made of a material that blocks gas generated by heating the expand sheet 105, and is preferably made of a material that blocks heating by the heating unit 40. In the first embodiment, the lid 50 is made of aluminum, for example, which reflects infrared rays emitted by the heating unit 40.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 4, the lid body 50 is attached to the underside of the advance/retract section 30 by the attachment member 33, generally coaxially with the advance/retract section 30. The lid body 50 has a circular through hole 53 for attachment formed by the attachment member 33 at the central top, i.e., the bottommost part in the center of the concave space 51. The attachment member 33 is formed in a cylindrical shape with a smaller diameter than the through hole 53 at the central portion, and in a disk shape with both ends protruding radially from the central portion and having a larger diameter than the through hole 53, and both ends are disassembled. Therefore, the attachment member 33 is assembled by inserting the cylindrical central portion into the through hole 53 in a disassembled state, and is attached and fixed to the advance/retract section 30, thereby removably attaching the lid body 50. Since the lid body 50 is attached by such an attachment member 33, it is hung rotatably relative to the advance/retract section 30 and the attachment member 33, and movable in the Z-axis direction relative to the advance/retract section 30 and the attachment member 33 within the range of the cylindrical axial length of the central part of the attachment member 33. Note that the attachment member 33 is not limited to the above-mentioned form, and may be in any form as long as it is hung rotatably relative to the advance/retract section 30 and movable in the Z-axis direction relative to the advance/retract section 30.

The advance/retract unit 30 to which the lid body 50 is attached moves up and down vertically by the drive unit 31 to advance and retract the lid body 50 between the shielding position 58 and the open position 59. Here, the shielding position 58 is the position of the lid body 50 when the edge 52 of the lid body 50 contacts the part on the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 of the frame unit 110 that is inside the rotation orbit of the heating unit 40, as shown in FIG. 4. When the lid body 50 is positioned at such a shielding position 58, as shown in FIG. 4, the workpiece 100 of the frame unit 110 is sealed in the concave space 51, shielding the workpiece 100 from the external space including the part of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 heated by the heating unit 40, and shielding the workpiece 100 from the gas generated by the heating of the expand sheet 105. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the open position 59 is the position of the lid 50 when the edge 52 of the lid 50 moves upward from above the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 of the frame unit 110, and the workpiece 100 is exposed to the external space from the lid 50.

When the cover body 50 is positioned in the shielding position 58, the edge 52 is supported by the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 of the frame unit 110, and the through hole 53 is lifted slightly upward relative to the lower end of the mounting member 33, allowing it to stop on the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 of the frame unit 110 independently of the forward/backward part 30 which rotates together with the heating unit 40.

As shown in FIG. 4, the exhaust unit 60 is installed with its exhaust port facing the portion of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 heated by the heating unit 40, and exhausts gas generated from the portion of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 heated by the heating unit 40. In the example shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, the exhaust unit 60 is installed in two locations, but the present invention is not limited to this and the exhaust unit 60 may be installed in any number of locations. In addition, when the portion of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 is heated by the heating unit 40, the exhaust unit 60 may be used by moving the exhaust port so that it is closer to the portion of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 heated by the heating unit 40.

As shown in FIG. 1, the frame unit transport section 70 has a unit body 71, a suction holding section 72, and a sensor 73. The unit body 71 is connected to a drive section (not shown) and is provided so that it can be raised and lowered in the vertical direction by the drive section, and is provided so that it can rotate about a rotation axis 74 that is parallel to the vertical direction. The unit body 71 is moved from directly above the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21 to directly above the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21 by this drive section, and is retracted from directly above the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21.

The suction holding section 72 is attached to the lower surface of the unit body 71 facing downward, and suction-holds the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 from above. The frame unit transport section 70 transports the frame unit 110 onto the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21 by moving the unit body 71 directly above the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21 using the drive section while holding the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 with the suction holding section 72. The sensor 73 is attached to the upper surface of the unit body 71 facing upward. Although the sensor 73 is shown in FIG. 1, it is not involved in the operation processing of the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment described below, and therefore its function and operation will be described in the second embodiment described below.

The control unit 80 controls the operation of various components of the expansion device 1 to cause the expansion device 1 to perform a series of processes for dividing the workpiece 100 by expanding the expand sheet 105 of the frame unit 110. In the first embodiment, the control unit 80 includes a computer system. The computer system included in the control unit 80 includes an arithmetic processing device having a microprocessor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device having a memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM (Random Access Memory), and an input/output interface device. In the first embodiment, the function of the control unit 80 is realized by the arithmetic processing device of the computer system included in the control unit 80 executing a computer program stored in the storage device of the computer system included in the control unit 80. The arithmetic processing device of the control unit 80 performs arithmetic processing according to the computer program stored in the storage device of the control unit 80, and outputs a control signal for controlling the expansion device 1 to each component of the expansion device 1 via the input/output interface device of the control unit 80.

As shown in Fig. 1, the control unit 80 includes a processing condition storage unit 81, a judgment unit 82, and a notification unit 83. Although the processing condition storage unit 81, the judgment unit 82, and the notification unit 83 are illustrated in Fig. 1, they are not involved in the operation processing of the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment described below, and therefore their functions and operations will be described in the second embodiment described below.

Next, this specification describes the operation of the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment with reference to the drawings. First, the control unit 80 of the expansion device 1 transports the frame unit 110 onto the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21 by the frame unit transport section 70. Next, the control unit 80 clamps and fixes the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 placed on the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21 with the frame mounting section 11 and frame pressing section 12 of the frame fixing section 10, as shown in FIG. 2.

The control unit 80 clamps and fixes the annular frame 106 of the frame unit 110 with the frame fixing part 10, and then, as shown in FIG. 3, uses the lifting mechanism 24 of the sheet expansion unit 20 to raise the chuck table 21 and the push-up member 22 relative to the frame fixing part 10, and presses the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 in the thickness direction of the workpiece 100, thereby expanding the expand sheet 105 in the planar direction and dividing the workpiece 100 into devices 103 along the modified layer 120.

After expanding the expandable sheet 105, the control unit 80 introduces negative pressure from a vacuum suction source to the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21, and holds the workpiece 100 by suction through the expanded expandable sheet 105 on the holding surface 25, thereby maintaining the expanded state of the expandable sheet 105 in the area of the workpiece 100, and then uses the lifting mechanism 24 to lower the chuck table 21 and the push-up member 22 relative to the frame fixing part 10. This causes the portion of the annular region 108 of the expandable sheet 105 on the outer periphery side of the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21 to slacken.

The control unit 80 then uses the drive unit 31 to lower the advance/retract unit 30 as shown in FIG. 4 to position the lid body 50 at the shielding position 58, and at the same time moves the heating unit 40 closer to the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 on the outer periphery side of the holding surface 25. As a result, the lid body 50 seals the workpiece 100 of the frame unit 110 in the concave space 51, shielding the workpiece 100 from the external space including the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 that is heated by the heating unit 40. The lid body 50 is also supported by the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 at the edge 52, and the through hole 53 is lifted slightly upward relative to the lower end of the mounting member 33.

After positioning the lid body 50 at the shielding position 58, the control unit 80 starts heating by the heating unit 40 and exhaust by the exhaust unit 60, and rotates the advancing and retreating part 30 by the driving part 31. As a result, the heating unit 40 heats and contracts the expanded and loosened part of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 while rotating along the circumferential direction of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105. Meanwhile, the lid body 50 stops on the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 independently of the advancing and retreating part 30 that rotates with the heating unit 40, and shields the workpiece 100 from the gas generated by the heating of the expand sheet 105. The exhaust unit 60 exhausts the gas generated by the heating of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105.

After the control unit 80 heats and shrinks the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105, it terminates the rotation of the advance/retract part 30 by the drive part 31, the heating by the heating unit 40, and the exhaust by the exhaust unit 60, and positions the lid body 50 in the open position 59 by raising the advance/retract part 30 by the drive part 31, and removes the frame unit 110 after dividing the workpiece 100 by the frame unit transport part 70.

The expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment having the above-described configuration covers and seals the workpiece 100 with the lid 50, shielding the workpiece 100 from the gas generated by heating the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105, thereby achieving the advantageous effect of reducing the risk of failure of the device 103 due to the gas generated by heating the expand sheet 105.

In addition, in the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment, the heating unit 40 is fixed to the advance/retract section 30, the advance/retract section 30 rotates so as to rotate the heating unit 40 along the circumferential direction of the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105, and the lid body 50 fixed to the advance/retract section 30 is set to be able to be stopped independently of the rotating advance/retract section 30. Therefore, in the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment, while the heating unit 40 is evenly heating the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105, the lid body 50 stabilizes the state in which the workpiece 100 is covered and sealed, so that the risk of malfunction of the device 103 due to gas generated by heating the expand sheet 105 can be further reduced.

The expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment also includes an exhaust unit 60 that exhausts gas generated from the expand sheet 105. Therefore, the expansion device 1 according to the first embodiment more quickly and reliably removes gas generated by heating the annular region 108 of the expand sheet 105 from above the expand sheet 105, thereby further reducing the risk of malfunction of the device 103 due to gas generated by heating the expand sheet 105.

[Embodiment 2]
The expansion device 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the type of the cover 50 of the main part of the expansion device 1 according to the second embodiment is being detected. In Fig. 5, the same parts as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The sensor 73 detects the type of the lid body 50 from the lower side of the lid body 50. In the frame unit transport unit 70, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the drive unit moves the unit body 71 horizontally along the advance/retract unit 30 and the lower side of the lid body 50, while the sensor 73 emits light and detects reflected light from the edge 52 of the lid body 50 to detect the position of the edge 52 of the lid body 50, thereby detecting the radial length of the lid body 50 (the size of the lid body 50), which indicates the type of the lid body 50, and outputs the detected information to the control unit 80.

The processing condition storage unit 81 registers the size of the workpiece 100 to be divided by the expansion device 1, or the type of the lid body 50 corresponding to the size of the workpiece 100. Here, in the second embodiment, the size of the workpiece 100 is the radial length, and the type of the lid body 50 is the radial length of the edge 52 of the lid body 50 (the size of the lid body 50). The type of the lid body 50 corresponding to the size of the workpiece 100 refers to the type of the lid body 50 that can suitably seal the workpiece 100 of that size, specifically, the type of the lid body 50 that satisfies the condition that the size of the lid body 50 is larger than the outer diameter of the workpiece 100 of the frame unit 110 after the expansion sheet 105 is expanded, and is smaller than the inner diameter of the rotation orbit of the heating unit 40. The information registered by the processing condition storage unit 81 is registered in advance by being input by the operator via an input unit not shown, for example.

The determination unit 82 refers to the processing condition storage unit 81 and determines whether the size of the workpiece 100 or the type of the lid body 50 stored in the processing condition storage unit 81 corresponds to the type of the lid body 50 detected by the sensor 73. In other words, the determination unit 82 determines whether the type of the lid body 50 detected by the sensor 73 is the type of the lid body 50 that corresponds to the size of the workpiece 100 stored in the processing condition storage unit 81, or is the type of the lid body 50 stored in the processing condition storage unit 81. The determination unit 82 outputs the result of this determination to the notification unit 83.

The notification unit 83 notifies the operator of the judgment result of the judgment unit 82. For example, when the expansion device 1 is equipped with a display unit (not shown) composed of a liquid crystal display device or the like, the notification unit 83 notifies the operator of the judgment result of the judgment unit 82 in a visibly recognizable manner by displaying the judgment result of the judgment unit 82 on the display unit. When the expansion device 1 is equipped with a light-emitting unit (not shown) composed of a light-emitting diode or the like, the notification unit 83 may notify the operator of the judgment result of the judgment unit 82 in a recognizable manner by lighting, blinking, or the color of the light of the light-emitting unit. When the expansion device 1 is equipped with an audio unit (not shown) composed of a speaker or the like that emits audio, the notification unit 83 may notify the operator of the judgment result of the judgment unit 82 in a recognizable manner by the audio of the audio unit. Furthermore, when the extension device 1 is connected, either wired or wirelessly, to an information device such as a smartphone, tablet, wearable device, or computer, the notification unit 83 may notify the operator of the judgment result of the judgment unit 82 in a recognizable manner by displaying it on the display unit of the information device, or may notify the operator of the judgment result of the judgment unit 82 in a recognizable manner by using a light-emitting unit or a sound-generating unit of the information device.

The function of the processing condition storage unit 81 is realized by the storage device of the control unit 80. The function of the determination unit 82 is realized by the arithmetic processing device of the computer system included in the control unit 80 performing arithmetic processing according to a computer program stored in the storage device. The function of the notification unit 83 is realized by the input/output interface device of the control unit 80.

Next, this specification describes the operation of the expansion device 1 according to the second embodiment with reference to the drawings. In the second embodiment, the control unit 80 of the expansion device 1 places the frame unit 110 on the holding surface 25 of the chuck table 21, and clamps and fixes the annular frame 106 with the frame fixing part 10. As shown in FIG. 5, the control unit 80 detects the type of the lid body 50 with the sensor 73 while moving the unit body 71 along the horizontal direction of the forward/backward part 30 and the lower side of the lid body 50 with the drive part of the frame unit transport part 70. In the second embodiment, after detecting the type of the lid body 50 with the sensor 73, the control unit 80 determines with the determination part 82 whether the size of the workpiece 100 or the type of the lid body 50 stored in the processing condition storage part 81 corresponds to the type of the lid body 50 detected by the sensor 73, and notifies the determination result of the determination part 82 with the notification part 83.

In the second embodiment, when the control unit 80 determines in the determination unit 82 that the type of the lid body 50 detected by the sensor 73 corresponds to the size of the workpiece 100 or the type of the lid body 50 stored in the processing condition storage unit 81, the control unit 80 performs processing after the sheet expansion unit 20 expands the expand sheet 105, as in the first embodiment. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, when the control unit 80 determines in the determination unit 82 that the type of the lid body 50 detected by the sensor 73 does not correspond to the size of the workpiece 100 or the type of the lid body 50 stored in the processing condition storage unit 81, the control unit 80 stops processing after the sheet expansion unit 20 expands the expand sheet 105, and prompts the operator to change the type of the lid body 50 attached to the advance/retract unit 30 to one corresponding to the size of the workpiece 100 or the type of the lid body 50 stored in the processing condition storage unit 81 by the notification unit 83.

The expansion device 1 according to the second embodiment having the above configuration further detects the type of the lid body 50 by the sensor 73 in the first embodiment, and judges by the judgment unit 82 whether the size of the workpiece 100 or the type of the lid body 50 stored in the processing condition memory unit 81 corresponds to the type of the lid body 50 detected by the sensor 73, and notifies the judgment result by the judgment unit 82 by the notification unit 83. Therefore, the expansion device 1 according to the second embodiment encourages the workpiece 100 to be divided by the expansion device 1 to be sealed with a type of lid body 50 corresponding to the size of the workpiece 100, thereby further reducing the risk of failure of the device 103 due to gas generated by heating the expand sheet 105.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various modifications without departing from the gist of the invention.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 expansion device 10 frame fixing section 20 sheet expansion unit 30 advance/retract section 40 heating unit 50 lid body 51 concave space 52 edge 58 shielding position 59 open position 60 exhaust unit 73 sensor 81 processing condition storage section 82 determination section 83 notification section 100 workpiece 102 planned division line 105 expanded sheet 106 annular frame 107 opening 108 annular region 110 frame unit

Claims (3)

An expansion device for expanding an expandable sheet of a frame unit in which a workpiece having a planned dividing line is supported by an expandable sheet at an opening of an annular frame,
a frame fixing portion that fixes the annular frame of the frame unit;
A sheet expansion unit that expands the expand sheet by pressing the annular region of the expand sheet between the outer periphery of the workpiece and the inner periphery of the annular frame in a direction perpendicular to the workpiece;
A heating unit for heating and shrinking the annular region of the expanded sheet;
A cover body having a concave space therein for covering the workpiece after expansion;
a moving part for moving the lid body between a shielding position where the edge of the lid body covering the workpiece is brought into contact with the annular region of the expand sheet to shield the workpiece from an external space and an open position where the workpiece is exposed from the lid body;
The cover positioned at the shielding position shields the workpiece from gas generated by heating the expand sheet ,
A sensor for detecting the type of the lid;
A processing condition storage unit for registering the size of the workpiece or the type of the lid body;
a determination unit that determines whether or not the size of the workpiece or the type of the lid body stored in the processing condition storage unit corresponds to the type of the lid body detected by the sensor;
a notification unit that notifies the determination result of the determination unit;
The expansion device further comprises : The expansion device according to claim 1, characterized in that the heating unit is fixed to the advance/retract part, the advance/retract part rotates to rotate the heating unit along the circumferential direction of the annular region, and the lid body fixed to the advance/retract part is set so as to be able to be stopped independently of the rotating advance/retract part. The expansion device according to claim 1 or 2, which is provided with an exhaust unit that exhausts gas generated from the expand sheet.

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