JP7705240B2 - Holding method and holding device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a holding method and a holding device.

A holding method is known in which an object is held on a support surface (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2011-096929 A

In the semiconductor element manufacturing method (holding method) described in Patent Document 1, a cooling process (hardening process) is performed in which liquid 50 (fluid) supplied to the upper surface (support surface) of the temporary mounting table 3 is frozen (hardened) from the support surface side, and the semiconductor element chip 1A (object to be held) is held on the support surface. Therefore, the hardening process must be performed on the entire member having a support surface, such as the temporary mounting table 3, which has the disadvantage of causing unnecessary energy consumption.

The object of the present invention is to provide a holding method and device that can minimize the waste of energy.

The present invention employs the configuration described in the claims.

According to the present invention, the hardening treatment is applied to the fluid from the side of the object to be held that is supported on the support surface via the fluid, so that it is not necessary to apply the hardening treatment to the entire member having the support surface, and it is possible to minimize wasteful consumption of energy.
Furthermore, if the fluid pretreatment step is carried out, the fluid hardening time after the object to be held is supported on the support surface can be shortened.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a holding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In this embodiment, the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis are mutually orthogonal, the X-axis and Y-axis are axes within a specified plane, and the Z-axis is an axis orthogonal to the specified plane. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the view from the front direction of Fig. 1 parallel to the Y-axis is used as a reference, and when indicating directions, "up" is the direction of the Z-axis arrow, "down" is the opposite direction, "left" is the direction of the X-axis arrow, "right" is the opposite direction, "front" is the direction of the Y-axis arrow, and "rear" is the opposite direction.

The holding device EA of the present invention comprises a support means 10 that supports the object to be held WK on one side WK1 of the object to be held WK with a support surface 12A, a fluid supply means 20 that supplies water WT as a fluid to the support surface 12A, and a hardening means 30 that applies a cooling treatment as a hardening treatment to harden, i.e., freeze, the water WT, thereby freezing the water WT and holding the object to be held WK on the support surface 12A.
The object to be held WK is formed from a base material WKB, and an adhesive sheet AS is attached to the other surface WK2 of the base material WKB (object to be held WK) to form an integrated object UP.
In this embodiment, the holding device EA is positioned near a peeling means 40 that peels off the adhesive sheet AS from the holding object WK, and a spacing means 50 that applies tension to the adhesive sheet AS and forms multiple holding objects WK at a predetermined interval from the base material WKB.

The support means 10 includes a linear motor 11 as a driving device, and a table 12 as a support member supported by an output shaft 11A of the linear motor 11 and having a support surface 12A.
The table 12 has a flow path 12C that communicates with a recess 12B provided on the upper surface, and a porous member 12D that is arranged within the recess 12B and has an upper surface that serves as a support surface 12A and is made of resin, metal, etc.
As shown in the drawing marked with AA in Fig. 1(A) , hydrophobic portions 12E having hydrophobic properties are formed in a lattice pattern on the support surface 12A, and hydrophilic portions 12F are partitioned by the hydrophobic portions 12E. In the hydrophobic portions 12E, a water-repellent material such as resin or metal is disposed on the inner surface of grooves formed in a lattice pattern on the support surface 12A, and the hydrophilic portions 12F are subjected to a roughening treatment such as a roughening process or a blasting process to form a rough surface.

The fluid supply means 20 includes a tank 21 that stores water WT, a pressurizing means 22 such as a pressurizing pump or a turbine, a decompression means 23 such as a decompression pump or a vacuum ejector, a switching valve 24 that switches the communication state of the pressurizing means 22 and the decompression means 23 with respect to the tank 21, and a switching valve 25 that is connected to the flow path 12C via piping 25A and switches the communication state of the pressurized side piping 21A and the decompressed side piping 21B that are connected to the tank 21.

The hardening means 30 is composed of multiple arms, and is equipped with a so-called articulated robot 31 as a driving device that can displace what is supported by the tip arm 31A, which is the working part, to any position and any angle within its working range, a support plate 32 supported by the tip arm 31A, multiple guide members 33 that are inserted into through holes 32A formed in the support plate 32 and have flanges 33A on their upper ends, a cooling plate 34 that is supported on the lower end of the guide member 33 and can be cooled by cooling means (not shown), such as a Peltier element or the cooling side of a heat pipe, and multiple springs 35 as biasing means that bias the cooling plate 34 in a direction away from the support plate 32, and is configured to perform a cooling process on the water WT from the side of the held object WK supported on the support surface 12A via the water WT.

The peeling means 40 is equipped with a linear motor 11, which also serves as the support means 10.

The separation means 50 includes a plurality of linear motors 51 as driving devices, and a chuck cylinder 52 as a holding means having a pair of gripping members 52A, each supported by the output shaft 51A of each linear motor 51.

The operation of the above-mentioned holding device EA will now be described.
First, a user of the holding device EA (hereinafter, simply referred to as "user") inputs a signal to start automatic operation via an operation means (not shown) such as an operation panel or a personal computer to the holding device EA in which each member is arranged at the initial position shown by the solid line in Fig. 1 (A). Then, the fluid supplying means 20 drives the switching valves 24, 25, and as shown in Fig. 1 (B), the pressurizing means 22 communicates with the tank 21, and the tank 21 communicates with the recess 12B via the pressurizing side piping 21A. Then, the pressurizing means 22 is driven to increase the pressure in the tank 21 and supply water WT to the hydrophilic portion 12F of the support surface 12A (fluid supplying step). The water WT supplied to the hydrophilic portion 12F is monitored by a fluid detection means (not shown) composed of an imaging means such as a camera or a projector, and various sensors such as an optical sensor or an ultrasonic sensor, and the fluid supply means 20 adjusts the pressure in the tank 21 based on the monitoring state of the fluid detection means (not shown) so that the water WT supplied to the hydrophilic portion 12F does not overflow into the hydrophobic portion 12E. Next, before the hardening means 30 supports the holding object WK with the support means 10, a fluid pretreatment step is performed in which the water WT is cooled to a temperature that does not freeze. That is, the hardening means 30 drives the articulated robot 31 and the cooling means (not shown) to bring the cooling plate 34 close to the support surface 12A as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1B, and cools the water WT to a temperature of 2°C to 3°C, which is a temperature at which the water WT does not freeze (fluid pretreatment step). The temperature of the water WT on the support surface 12A is monitored by a temperature detection means (not shown), such as a thermocouple or an infrared sensor, and the hardening means 30 adjusts the temperature of the water WT based on the monitoring state of the temperature detection means (not shown). After that, the hardening means 30 stops driving the cooling means (not shown), and then drives the articulated robot 31 to return the cooling plate 34 to its initial position. Next, when a conveying means (not shown), such as an articulated robot or a belt conveyer, conveys the integrated object UP to a predetermined position above the table 12, as shown in FIG. 1(A), the separating means 50 drives the linear motor 51 and the chuck cylinder 52, and grips the adhesive sheet AS with a pair of gripping members 52A, as shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure. Then, the separating means 50 drives the linear motor 51 to pull the adhesive sheet AS to form a plurality of holding objects WK from the base material WKB (separating process). At this time, the mutual intervals between the objects to be held WK are increased so as to correspond to the respective hydrophilic portions 12F of the support surface 12A.

Next, the support means 10 drives the linear motor 11, and as shown in FIG. 1(C), the table 12 is raised to support the holding object WK on the support surface 12A (support process). At this time, each holding object WK is supported by each hydrophilic portion 12F via the water WT supplied to each hydrophilic portion 12F. After that, the hardening means 30 drives the articulated robot 31 and the cooling means (not shown), and as shown in FIG. 1(C), the cooling plate 34 is brought close to the adhesive sheet AS, so that the water WT is subjected to a cooling process from the holding object WK side to freeze the water WT, and the holding object WK is held on the support surface 12A (hardening process). At this time, the hardening means 30 may or may not abut the cooling plate 34 against the adhesive sheet AS. In addition, even if the water WT freezes and expands in volume, for example, and the object to be held WK is pressed against the cooling plate 34, the spring 35 provided between the water WT and the support plate 32 reduces the load on the object to be held WK. Next, the hardening means 30 stops driving the cooling means (not shown) and drives the articulated robot 31 to return the cooling plate 34 to its initial position. Then, the peeling means 40 drives the linear motor 11, and as shown in FIG. 1(D), the table 12 is lowered to peel the adhesive sheet AS from the object to be held WK (peeling process).

When the adhesive sheet AS has been peeled off from all the objects to be held WK and the table 12 has returned to its initial position, the peeling means 40 stops driving the linear motor 11, and then the separation means 50 drives the linear motor 51 and the chuck cylinder 52 to return the gripping member 52A to its initial position. The adhesive sheet AS that has lost support from the gripping member 52A is handed over to the user or a transport means (not shown) for disposal. The frozen water WT is then thawed by heating it with a heating means (not shown), such as a coil heater or the heating side of a heat pipe, or by natural thawing (fluidization process). At this time, each object to be held WK supported by the hydrophilic portion 12F is positioned at a predetermined position and angle by the action of the water WT. Thereafter, the fluid supply means 20 drives the switching valves 24 and 25, and as shown in FIG. 1(E), the pressure reducing means 23 communicates with the tank 21, and the tank 21 communicates with the recess 12B via the pressure reducing side piping 21B, and then the pressure reducing means 23 is driven to lower the pressure in the tank 21 (fluid recovery process). As a result, the water WT that was on the support surface 12A is recovered, and the held object WK is supported on the support surface 12A with the held object WK positioned at a predetermined position and a predetermined angle. Next, the user or a transport means (not shown) removes all of the held object WK from the support surface 12A (removal process), and the same process as above is repeated thereafter.

According to the above embodiment, the water WT is cooled from the side of the object to be held WK supported on the support surface 12A via the water WT, so there is no need to cool the entire member having the support surface 12A (table 12, porous member 12D), and unnecessary energy consumption can be reduced as much as possible.

As described above, the best configurations and methods for implementing the present invention have been disclosed in the above description, but the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the present invention has been illustrated and described mainly with respect to specific embodiments, but those skilled in the art can make various modifications to the above-described embodiments in terms of shape, material, quantity, and other detailed configurations without departing from the scope of the technical idea and purpose of the present invention. Furthermore, the descriptions limiting the shapes, materials, etc. disclosed above are provided as examples to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and do not limit the present invention. Therefore, descriptions of the names of components that remove some or all of the limitations on the shapes, materials, etc. are included in the present invention.

For example, after recovering the thawed water WT, the support means 10 may adsorb and hold the object WK to be held on the support surface 12A by the pressure reducing means 23 or another pressure reducing means independent of the fluid supply means 20, the linear motor 11 may not also serve as the peeling means 40, the hydrophilic portion 12F may have holes through which the water WT passes and the hydrophobic portion 12E may not have holes through which the water WT passes, both the hydrophilic portion 12F and the hydrophobic portion 12E may have holes through which the water WT passes, a sheet, film, tape, etc. having hydrophobic or hydrophilic properties may be attached to the support surface 12A, or a surface treatment or coating that exhibits hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity may be applied to the support surface 12A to form the hydrophobic portion 12E or the hydrophilic portion 12F, or the hydrophobic portion 12E or the hydrophilic portion 12F may not be formed on the support surface 12A.

The fluid supply means 20 may supply water WT to the support surface 12A from outside the table 12 using a supply member such as a nozzle or hose, or a recovery flow path separate from the flow path 12C may be provided in the table 12 and the water WT may be recovered from the recovery flow path, or, without using the switching valves 24, 25, the pressurizing means 22 and the depressurizing means 23 may be connected individually to the tank 21, or individually from the tank 21 to the recess 12B, for example.
The fluid supplied by the fluid supplying means 20 is not limited to water WT, but may be liquid such as alcohol solution or oil, gel, or gas such as a simple gas or mixed gas that sublimates by cooling treatment, specifically, for example, adhesive, dry ice, UV curing resin, cement, etc. Anything that hardens by hardening treatment is acceptable, and anything that can obtain a desired holding force for the object to be held WK by becoming harder than the state before the hardening treatment is applied is acceptable. Note that the "hardness" referred to in this application may refer to hardness expressed by Brinell hardness, Vickers hardness, Rockwell hardness, etc., or may refer to hardness expressed by Young's modulus, rigidity modulus, tensile strength, compressive strength, shear strength, etc.

The hardening means 30 may freeze the water WT using a cooling medium such as cooling air or cooling gas, or may employ a heating means such as a coil heater or the heating side of a heat pipe when the fluid is hardened by a heat treatment as a hardening process, such as a thermosetting resin or a heat hardener, or may employ a high pressure mercury lamp or LED (Light Emitting Diode) capable of emitting energy rays when the fluid is hardened by an energy ray irradiation process such as ultraviolet rays or X-rays, such as an energy ray hardening resin or an energy ray hardening agent. Alternatively, in the case of a fluid that hardens by a drying process as a hardening process, such as an adhesive or cement, a blower or heating means may be used. Any means may be used as long as it can harden the fluid taking into consideration various conditions such as the characteristics, properties, properties, material, composition and configuration of the fluid, atmospheric conditions, and other factors. In the above embodiment, the water WT is cooled from the other surface WK2 side (above) of the object to be held WK, but the water WT may be cooled from, for example, the left, front, right rear, left front, right upper, or left upper side of the object to be held WK.
The hardening means 30 may perform a fluid pretreatment step before supporting the object WK to be held with the support means 10 by directly cooling the water WT in the tank 21 or the water WT in the pipes 21A and 25A using the above-mentioned cooling means or cooling medium, or by indirectly cooling the water WT via at least one of the tank 21, the pipes 21A and 25A, and the support surface 12A. The hardening step and the fluid pretreatment step may be the same or different. In the case where the fluid pretreatment step is performed, the temperature at which the fluid does not harden may be 2° C. or lower or 3° C. or higher if the fluid is water WT, or may be heated to a temperature of, for example, 60° C. or 120° C. if the fluid is one that hardens by heat treatment. Any temperature may be used as long as the fluid does not harden, taking into consideration various conditions such as the characteristics, properties, properties, material, composition, and configuration of the fluid, the atmospheric conditions, and other factors.

The peeling means 40 may peel off the adhesive sheet AS from the holding object WK by raising the chuck cylinder 52 without lowering the table 12 or while lowering it, or may peel off the adhesive sheet AS from the holding object WK by rotating the holding object WK and the adhesive sheet AS relative to each other within the support surface 12A, or may vibrate the table 12 with a vibration means such as an ultrasonic vibration device or a vibrator to make it easier to peel off the adhesive sheet AS from the holding object WK, or may adopt a driving device that is not also used as the support means 10, or may be used in place of or in combination with the above-mentioned examples, by attaching a peeling tape such as a sheet or strip of adhesive tape or pressure-sensitive adhesive tape to the adhesive sheet AS and applying tension to the peeling tape to peel off the adhesive sheet AS from the holding object WK, or may be provided in the holding device EA of the present invention or may not be provided, and if the peeling means 40 is not provided, the adhesive sheet AS may be peeled off from the holding object WK by another device.

The spacing means 50 may apply tension in one or more directions within the plane of the adhesive sheet AS to widen the spacing between the objects to be held WK, or, if a frame member such as a ring frame integrated with the objects to be held WK via the adhesive sheet AS is used, the frame member may be supported to apply tension to the adhesive sheet AS to widen the spacing between the objects to be held WK, and may or may not be included in the holding device EA of the present invention, and if the spacing means 50 is not included, the spacing between the objects to be held WK may be widened by another device.

The holding device EA may employ a dust removal means such as a blade, wiper, or blower that blows away fluid to remove dust such as fluid remaining on the support surface 12A, and may remove dust from the support surface 12A before supplying fluid to the support surface 12A or after recovering fluid from the support surface 12A. The holding device EA may also be equipped with a base material cutting means such as a cutter blade or laser cutter that forms a cut that penetrates the base material WKB in the thickness direction, or a cut that does not penetrate the base material WKB in the thickness direction by applying tension, so that the base material WKB splits into multiple holding objects WK when tension is applied. The apparatus may be equipped with a fragile layer forming means such as a laser irradiation device or a chemical solution administration means that forms a fragile modified layer on the base material WKB, whereby the base material WKB splits and the base material WKB becomes a plurality of holding objects WK, or a grinding means such as a grinder or grindstone that grinds the base material WKB to reduce the thickness of the base material WKB, or a grinding individualization means such as a grinder or grindstone that grinds the base material WKB so as to form a plurality of holding objects WK from the surface opposite to the surface on which the notch is formed, until the notch is reached, for a base material WKB on which a notch that does not penetrate in the thickness direction is formed.
The holding device EA may perform a fluid supply step before the supporting step, may perform a fluid supply step after the supporting step, may perform a fluid supply step both before the supporting step and after the supporting step, or may not perform at least one of the fluid pretreatment step, separation step, peeling step, fluidization step, fluid recovery step and removal step.

The base material WKB may have a cut that penetrates in the thickness direction and a plurality of holding objects WK are formed by the cut, or it may have a cut that does not penetrate in the thickness direction and that splits when tension is applied to become a plurality of holding objects WK, or it may have a fragile modified layer that splits when tension is applied to become a plurality of holding objects WK, or it may not have an adhesive sheet AS attached.
The holding object WK may not have an adhesive sheet AS attached thereto, and may not be formed from a base material WKB, but may be arranged at a predetermined interval in advance.
The integrated body UP may have the adhesive sheet AS supported by a frame member.
The frame member may be a ring frame or may be a non-annular frame (not connected at the outer periphery) or may be a circular, elliptical, polygonal, or other shape.
In the above embodiment, a plurality of holding objects WK are exemplified as the holding object, but the number of holding objects may be one.

The means and steps of the present invention are not limited in any way as long as they can perform the operations, functions or steps described for those means and steps, and are in no way limited to the components and steps of a single embodiment shown in the above embodiment. For example, the supporting step may be any step that supports the object to be held with a supporting surface from one side of the object to be held, and is not limited in any way as long as it is within the scope of the technical common knowledge at the time of filing (the same goes for other means and steps).

The material, type, shape, etc. of the adhesive sheet AS, the base material WKB, the object to be held WK, and the peeling tape are not particularly limited. For example, the adhesive sheet AS, the base material WKB, the object to be held WK, and the peeling tape may be circular, elliptical, polygonal such as a triangle or a square, or other shape, and the adhesive sheet AS and the peeling tape may be pressure-sensitive adhesive, heat-sensitive adhesive, etc., and when a heat-sensitive adhesive is used, the adhesive sheet AS and the peeling tape may be adhered by an appropriate method such as providing a heating means such as a suitable coil heater or the heating side of a heat pipe for heating the adhesive sheet AS and the peeling tape. In addition, such adhesive sheet AS and peeling tape may be, for example, a single layer with only an adhesive layer, a layer with an intermediate layer between the substrate and the adhesive layer, a layer with three or more layers such as a cover layer on the upper surface of the substrate, or even a so-called double-sided adhesive sheet that can peel the substrate from the adhesive layer, and the double-sided adhesive sheet may be a single layer or a multi-layered one with a single or multi-layered intermediate layer, or a single or multi-layered one without an intermediate layer. The base material WKB and the object to be held WK may be, for example, a single object such as food, a resin container, a semiconductor wafer such as a silicon semiconductor wafer or a compound semiconductor wafer, a circuit board, an information recording substrate such as an optical disk, a glass plate, a steel plate, a ceramic, a wooden board, or a resin, or may be a composite formed of two or more of these, and may be any type of member or article. The adhesive sheet AS may be interpreted in terms of its function and use, and may be any sheet, film, tape, etc., such as an information label, a decorative label, a protective sheet, a dicing tape, a die attach film, a die bonding tape, or a recording layer-forming resin sheet.

The driving equipment in the above-described embodiments may be electric equipment such as a rotary motor, a linear motor, a single-axis robot, or a multi-joint robot having joints on two or more axes, or an actuator such as an air cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, a rodless cylinder, or a rotary cylinder, or a direct or indirect combination of these may also be used.
In the above-described embodiments, when a supporting (holding) means or a supporting (holding) member that supports (holds) a supported member (held member) is used, a configuration may be adopted in which the supported member is supported (held) by gripping means such as a mechanical chuck or a chuck cylinder, Coulomb force, adhesive (adhesive sheet, adhesive tape), pressure sensitive adhesive (adhesive sheet, adhesive tape), magnetic force, Bernoulli adsorption, suction adsorption, driving equipment, or the like. When a cutting means or a cutting member that cuts a member to be cut or forms an incision or cutting line in a member to be cut is used, a cutter blade, a laser cutter, an ion beam, fire, heat, water pressure, an electric heating wire, or a blowing of gas or liquid, or the like may be used instead of or in combination with the above-described examples. Alternatively, a combination of appropriate driving equipment may be used to move the cutting means to perform the cutting. When a biasing means is used, the biasing means may be composed of a spring, rubber, resin, driving equipment, or the like.

EA: Holding device 10: Supporting means 12A: Supporting surface 20: Fluid supplying means 30: Hardening means WK: Holding object WK1: One surface WT: Water (fluid)

Claims (2)

A supporting step of supporting the object to be held from one surface side of the object to be held with a supporting surface;
a fluid supplying step of supplying a fluid to the support surface before or after the supporting step;
A hardening process is carried out to harden the fluid, thereby holding the object to be held on the support surface;
The hardening process is a holding method characterized in that, before supporting the object to be held in the supporting process, a fluid pretreatment process is carried out in which the hardening treatment is applied to the fluid to an extent that the fluid does not harden, and the hardening treatment is applied to the fluid from the side of the object to be held supported on the supporting surface via the fluid. A support means for supporting the object to be held from one surface side of the object to be held with a support surface;
a fluid supply means for supplying a fluid to the support surface;
and hardening means for performing a hardening process to harden the fluid and hold the object to be held on the support surface,
The hardening means is a holding device characterized in that it performs a fluid pretreatment process in which the hardening treatment is performed on the fluid to a degree that the fluid does not harden before supporting the object to be held with the support means, and performs the hardening treatment on the fluid from the side of the object to be held supported on the support surface via the fluid.

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