JP2016072277A - Wafer processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wafer processing method capable of suppressing a device on a surface of a silicon wafer from being damaged by transmitted light when forming a modified layer inside the wafer by irradiating the wafer with a pulse laser beam having the wavelength set within a range from 1300 nm to 1400 nm.SOLUTION: A wafer processing method comprises the steps of: setting a wavelength of a pulse laser beam having permeability to a wafer 11 within a range from 1300 nm to 1400 nm; positioning a condensing point of the pulse laser beam at the inside of the wafer, irradiating the wafer with the pulse laser beam from a rear surface of the wafer, and forming a modified layer inside the wafer by relatively processing and feeding holding means and laser beam irradiation means; and applying external force to the wafer and dividing the wafer along division schedule lines using the modified layer as a division start point. In the modified layer forming step, energy of a pulse laser beam per pulse is set to 10 to 25 μJ.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  In the present invention, after a modified layer is formed inside a wafer by irradiating a pulse laser beam having a wavelength that is transmissive to the wafer, an external force is applied to the wafer, and the wafer is made into a plurality of devices starting from the modified layer. The present invention relates to a method for processing a wafer to be divided into chips.

  A silicon wafer (hereinafter, simply referred to as a wafer) formed by dividing a plurality of devices such as ICs and LSIs on a surface by dividing lines is divided into individual device chips by a processing apparatus. Chips are widely used in various electric devices such as mobile phones and personal computers.

  A dicing method using a cutting device called a dicing saw is widely used for dividing the wafer. In the dicing method, a wafer is cut by cutting a wafer into a wafer while rotating a cutting blade having a thickness of about 30 μm by solidifying abrasive grains such as diamond with a metal or a resin at a high speed of about 30000 rpm. Divide into chips.

  On the other hand, in recent years, a condensing point of a pulse laser beam having a wavelength that is transmissive to the wafer is positioned inside the wafer corresponding to the division line, and the pulse laser beam is irradiated along the division line to be irradiated to the wafer. There has been proposed a method in which a modified layer is formed inside and then an external force is applied to divide the wafer into individual device chips (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4402708).

  The modified layer is a region where the density, refractive index, mechanical strength and other physical properties are different from the surroundings. In addition to the melt resolidification region, refractive index change region, dielectric breakdown region, A crack region and a region where these are mixed are also included.

  The optical absorption edge of silicon is in the vicinity of a light wavelength of 1050 nm corresponding to the band gap (1.1 eV) of silicon, and light having a shorter wavelength is absorbed by bulk silicon.

  In the conventional modified layer forming method, a Nd: YAG pulse laser doped with neodymium (Nd) that oscillates a laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm close to the optical absorption edge is generally used (for example, JP-A-2005-95952). reference).

  However, since the wavelength of 1064 nm of the Nd: YAG pulse laser is close to the optical absorption edge of silicon, a part of the laser beam is absorbed in the region sandwiching the condensing point, so that a sufficient modified layer is not formed, and the wafer is individually May not be divided into device chips.

  Therefore, the present applicant sets the energy per pulse to 5 μJ and sets the modified layer inside the wafer using, for example, a YAG pulse laser with a wavelength of 1342 nm set to a wavelength range of 1300 to 1400 nm. It has been found that absorption of a laser beam is reduced in a region sandwiching a condensing point so that a good modified layer can be formed, and a wafer can be smoothly divided into individual device chips (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-108459).

Japanese Patent No. 4402708 JP-A-2005-95952 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-108459

  However, if the laser beam is irradiated with the focused point of the pulse laser beam positioned inside the wafer adjacent to the modified layer formed immediately before the division line, the pulsed laser beam is formed. It has been found that a laser beam is scattered on the surface opposite to the surface irradiated with the laser beam, that is, the surface of the wafer, causing a new problem of attacking and damaging the device formed on the surface.

  When this problem was verified, fine cracks propagated from the modified layer formed immediately before to the surface side of the wafer, and the cracks refracted or reflected the transmitted light of the pulse laser beam to be irradiated next. It is inferred that they will attack.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and the object of the present invention is to irradiate a silicon wafer with a pulse laser beam having a wavelength set in a range of 1300 to 1400 nm to modify the inside of the wafer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wafer processing method capable of suppressing transmitted light from damaging a device on a wafer surface when forming a quality layer.

  According to the present invention, the holding means for holding the workpiece, and the modified layer is formed inside the workpiece by irradiating the workpiece held by the holding means with a pulse laser beam having a wavelength that is transmissive to the workpiece. A plurality of devices on the surface by a plurality of scheduled division lines by a laser processing apparatus comprising: a laser beam irradiating means for forming a laser beam; A wafer processing method for processing a wafer made of silicon formed by partitioning, a wavelength setting step for setting a wavelength of a pulse laser beam having transparency to the wafer in a range of 1300 nm to 1400 nm, and the wavelength After executing the setting step, the focusing point of the pulsed laser beam is positioned inside the wafer, and the planned splitting light is applied from the back side of the wafer. A modified layer forming step of irradiating a region corresponding to the laser beam with a pulse laser beam and relatively processing and feeding the holding unit and the laser beam irradiation unit to form a modified layer inside the wafer; A splitting step of applying an external force to the wafer after the layer forming step and splitting the wafer along the planned split line with the modified layer as a split starting point. In the modified layer forming step, The wafer processing method is characterized in that the energy of the pulse laser beam is set to 10 to 25 μJ.

  According to the wafer processing method of the present invention, since the energy of the pulse laser beam per pulse is set to 10 to 25 μJ in the modified layer forming step, the modification is performed by irradiation with a pulse laser beam having a relatively strong power. At the same time as the layer is formed, a melt is formed around the modified layer, and since the formation of fine cracks is suppressed by this melt, the next pulsed laser beam is affected by the cracks. Therefore, the problem of damaging a device formed on the surface of the wafer can be solved.

It is a perspective view of the laser processing apparatus suitable for implementing the processing method of the wafer of this invention. It is a block diagram of a laser beam generation unit. It is a surface side perspective view of a silicon wafer. It is a perspective view which shows a mode that the outer peripheral part sticks the surface side of a silicon wafer to the dicing tape stuck to the annular frame. It is a back surface side perspective view of the silicon wafer supported by the annular frame via the dicing tape. It is a perspective view explaining a modified layer formation step. It is sectional drawing which shows the modified layer formed in the inside of a wafer on predetermined processing conditions. It is a perspective view of a dividing device. It is sectional drawing which shows a division | segmentation step.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematic perspective view of a laser processing apparatus 2 suitable for carrying out the wafer processing method of the present invention.

  The laser processing apparatus 2 includes a first slide block 6 mounted on a stationary base 4 so as to be movable in the X-axis direction. The first slide block 6 is moved along the pair of guide rails 14 in the machining feed direction, that is, the X-axis direction, by the machining feed means 12 including the ball screw 8 and the pulse motor 10.

  A second slide block 16 is mounted on the first slide block 6 so as to be movable in the Y-axis direction. That is, the second slide block 16 is moved along the pair of guide rails 24 in the index feed direction, that is, the Y-axis direction, by the index feed means 22 constituted by the ball screw 18 and the pulse motor 20.

  A chuck table 28 is mounted on the second slide block 16 via a cylindrical support member 26. The chuck table 28 can be rotated, and can be rotated in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction by the processing feed means 12 and the index feed means 22. Can be moved to. The chuck table 28 is provided with a clamp 30 that clamps an annular frame that supports the wafer sucked and held by the chuck table 28.

  A column 32 is erected on the stationary base 4, and a laser beam irradiation unit 34 is attached to the column 32. The laser beam irradiation unit 34 includes a laser beam generation unit 35 shown in FIG. 2 housed in the casing 33 and a condenser 37 attached to the tip of the casing 33.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the laser beam generating unit 35 includes a laser oscillator 62 that oscillates a YAG pulse laser, a repetition frequency setting unit 64, a pulse width adjusting unit 66, and a power adjusting unit 68. In this embodiment, a YAG pulse laser oscillator that oscillates a pulse laser having a wavelength of 1342 nm is employed as the laser oscillator 62.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an image pickup unit 39 that detects a processing region to be laser processed in alignment with the condenser 37 and the X-axis direction is disposed at the tip of the casing 33. The imaging unit 39 includes an imaging element such as a normal CCD that images the processing area of the semiconductor wafer 11 with visible light.

  The imaging unit 39 further includes an infrared irradiation unit that irradiates the workpiece with infrared rays, an optical system that captures the infrared rays irradiated by the infrared irradiation unit, and an infrared ray that outputs an electrical signal corresponding to the infrared rays captured by the optical system. An infrared imaging means including an infrared imaging element such as a CCD is included, and the captured image signal is transmitted to a controller (control means) 40.

  The controller 40 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 42 that performs arithmetic processing according to a control program, a read-only memory (ROM) 44 that stores a control program, and a random read / write that stores arithmetic results. An access memory (RAM) 46, a counter 48, an input interface 50, and an output interface 52 are provided.

  A machining feed amount detection unit 56 includes a linear scale 54 disposed along the guide rail 14 and a reading head (not shown) disposed on the first slide block 6. These detection signals are input to the input interface 50 of the controller 40.

  Reference numeral 60 denotes an index feed amount detection unit composed of a linear scale 58 disposed along the guide rail 24 and a read head (not shown) disposed on the second slide block 16. The detection signal is input to the input interface 50 of the controller 40.

  An image signal captured by the imaging unit 39 is also input to the input interface 50 of the controller 40. On the other hand, a control signal is output from the output interface 52 of the controller 40 to the pulse motor 10, the pulse motor 20, the laser beam generation unit 35, and the like.

  Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a front side perspective view of a semiconductor wafer 11 to be processed by the processing method of the present invention. A semiconductor wafer 11 shown in FIG. 3 is composed of, for example, a silicon wafer having a thickness of 100 μm.

  The semiconductor wafer 11 has a plurality of first division planned lines (streets) 13a extending in the first direction on the surface 11a and a plurality of second division planned extending in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. A line 13b is formed, and a device 15 such as an IC or LSI is formed in each region partitioned by the first scheduled division line 13a and the second scheduled division line 13b. A notch 17 serving as a mark indicating the crystal orientation of the silicon wafer is formed on the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer 11.

  In the wafer processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter abbreviated as “wafer”) 11 has a surface 11a attached to a dicing tape T whose outer periphery is attached to an annular frame F as shown in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the processing is performed with the back surface 11b of the wafer 11 exposed.

  In the wafer processing method of the present invention, first, the wavelength of a pulsed laser beam having transparency to the silicon wafer 11 is set in the range of 1300 nm to 1400 nm (wavelength setting step). In this embodiment, a YAG laser oscillator that oscillates a pulse laser having a wavelength of 1342 nm is employed as the laser oscillator 62 of the laser beam generation unit 35 shown in FIG.

  Next, the wafer 11 is sucked and held by the chuck table 28 of the laser processing apparatus 2 via the dicing tape T, and the back surface 11b of the wafer 11 is exposed. Then, the wafer 11 is imaged from the back surface 11b side by the infrared imaging element of the imaging unit 39, and alignment is performed so that the region corresponding to the first scheduled division line 13a is aligned with the condenser 37 in the X-axis direction. For this alignment, well-known image processing such as pattern matching is used.

  After the alignment of the first scheduled division line 13a, after the chuck table 28 is rotated 90 degrees, the same alignment is performed for the second scheduled division line 13b extending in the direction orthogonal to the first scheduled division line 13a. To implement.

  After the alignment, the repetition frequency of the laser oscillated from the laser oscillator 62 is set to 100 kHz by the repetition frequency setting means 64 of the laser beam generation unit 35. Then, the average output of the pulse laser beam oscillated from the laser oscillator 62 by the power adjusting means 68 is set to 1.0 to 2.5 W. Therefore, the energy per pulse of the pulse laser beam is set to 10 to 25 μJ.

  After the pulse laser beam whose energy per pulse is set to 10 to 25 μJ in this way is reflected by the mirror 70 of the condenser 37, the pulse laser beam is condensed inside the wafer 11 by the condenser lens 72. While irradiating from the back surface 11 b side of the wafer 11, the chuck table 28 is processed and fed at a predetermined processing feed rate (for example, 300 mm / s) to form the modified layer 19 inside the wafer 11.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the condensing point of the pulse laser beam having the wavelength of 1342 nm and the energy per pulse of 10 to 25 μJ is positioned inside the wafer corresponding to the first divisional line 13a. Then, the modified layer 19 is formed inside the wafer 11 by irradiating the pulse laser beam from the back surface 11b side of the wafer 11 and processing and feeding the chuck table 28 in the direction of the arrow X1 (modified layer forming step).

  While the chuck table 28 is indexed and fed in the Y-axis direction, the modified layer 19 is formed inside the wafer 11 corresponding to all the first scheduled division lines 13a. Next, after the chuck table 28 is rotated by 90 °, a similar modified layer 19 is formed along all the second scheduled division lines 13b orthogonal to the first scheduled division line 13a.

  The modified layer 19 refers to a region where the density, refractive index, mechanical strength, and other physical characteristics are different from the surroundings. For example, it includes a melt resolidification region, a crack region, a dielectric breakdown region, a refractive index change region, and the like, and also includes a region in which these regions are mixed.

  The processing conditions of the modified layer forming step are set as follows, for example.

Light source: YAG pulse laser Wavelength: 1342nm
Average output: 1.0-2.5W
Repetition frequency: 100 kHz
Spot diameter: φ2.5μm
Feeding speed: 300mm / s

When the modified layer 19 is formed inside the wafer 11 under the above-described conditions, the distance between the adjacent modified layers 19 and 19 is 3 μm. In the modified layer forming step of the present embodiment, since the energy of the pulse laser beam per pulse is set to 10 to 25 μJ, the modified layer 19 is formed by irradiation with a relatively strong power pulse laser beam. At the same time, a melt is formed around the modified layer 19.

  Therefore, the formation of fine cracks propagating from the modified layer 19 is suppressed by this melt, and the pulse laser beam to be irradiated next is not affected by the cracks. Damage to the device 10 formed on the surface 11a is prevented.

  If the energy of the pulsed laser beam per pulse exceeds 25 μJ, the ratio of the melt is higher than that of the modified layer 19 and it becomes difficult to divide the wafer 11 into individual devices 15. The upper limit of the energy of the hit pulse laser beam is 25 μJ.

  After performing the modified layer forming step, the dividing step of dividing the wafer 11 into individual device chips 21 by applying an external force to the wafer 11 using the dividing device 80 shown in FIG. 8 includes a frame holding means 82 for holding the annular frame F, and a tape extending means 84 for extending the dicing tape T attached to the annular frame F held by the frame holding means 82. Yes.

  The frame holding means 82 includes an annular frame holding member 86 and a plurality of clamps 88 as fixing means arranged on the outer periphery of the frame holding member 86. An upper surface of the frame holding member 86 forms a mounting surface 86a on which the annular frame F is mounted, and the annular frame F is mounted on the mounting surface 86a.

  The annular frame F placed on the placement surface 86 a is fixed to the frame holding means 86 by a clamp 88. The frame holding means 82 configured as described above is supported by the tape extending means 84 so as to be movable in the vertical direction.

  The tape expansion means 84 includes an expansion drum 90 disposed inside the annular frame holding means 86. The upper end of the expansion drum 90 is closed with a lid 92. The expansion drum 90 is smaller than the inner diameter of the annular frame F and has an outer diameter larger than the outer diameter of the wafer 11 attached to the dicing tape T attached to the annular frame F.

  The expansion drum 90 has a support flange 94 integrally formed at the lower end thereof. The tape expanding means 84 further includes driving means 96 for moving the annular frame holding member 86 in the vertical direction. The driving means 96 is composed of a plurality of air cylinders 98 disposed on a support flange 94, and the piston rod 100 is connected to the lower surface of the frame holding member 86.

  The driving means 96 composed of a plurality of air cylinders 98 includes an annular frame holding member 86, a reference position where the mounting surface 86a is substantially the same height as the surface of the lid 92 which is the upper end of the expansion drum 90, and an expansion. It moves up and down between the extended position below the upper end of the drum 90 by a predetermined amount.

  The dividing steps of the wafer 11 performed using the dividing apparatus 80 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 9A, the annular frame F, in which the wafer 11 is supported via the dicing tape T, is placed on the placement surface 86 a of the frame holding member 86, and the frame holding member 86 is clamped by the clamp 88. Fix it. At this time, the frame holding member 86 is positioned at a reference position where the mounting surface 86a is substantially flush with the upper end of the expansion drum 90.

  Next, the air cylinder 98 is driven to lower the frame holding member 86 to the extended position shown in FIG. As a result, the annular frame F fixed on the mounting surface 86a of the frame holding member 86 is also lowered, so that the dicing tape T attached to the annular frame F comes into contact with the lid 92 with the upper end of the expansion drum 90 closed. Mainly expanded radially.

  As a result, a tensile force acts radially on the wafer 11 adhered to the dicing tape T. When a tensile force is applied to the wafer 11 in a radial manner in this way, the modified layer 19 formed along the first and second scheduled division lines 13a and 13b serves as a division starting point, and the wafer 11 becomes the first and second. Are divided along the scheduled division lines 13a and 13b, and divided into individual device chips 21.

  According to the above-described embodiment, the energy of the pulse laser beam per pulse is set to 10 to 25 μJ, so that the modified layer 19 is formed at the same time as the modified layer 19 is formed by the irradiation of the pulse laser beam with a relatively strong power. Since a melt is formed around the material layer 19 and the formation of fine cracks is suppressed by the melt, the pulse laser beam to be irradiated next is not affected by the crack, and the pulse laser beam is The problem of damaging the device 15 formed on the surface 11a of the wafer 11 by being scattered by cracks can be solved.

2 Laser processing apparatus 11 Silicon wafer 13a First scheduled division line 13b Second scheduled division line 15 Device 19 Modified layer 21 Device chip 28 Chuck table 34 Laser beam irradiation unit 35 Laser beam generating unit 37 Condenser 39 Imaging unit 62 Laser oscillator 64 Repetitive frequency setting means 72 Condensing lens 80 Dividing device T Dicing tape F Annular frame

Claims (1)

A holding means for holding a workpiece, and a laser beam for forming a modified layer inside the workpiece by irradiating a pulse laser beam having a wavelength that is transmissive to the workpiece held by the holding means A plurality of devices are defined on the surface by a plurality of division lines on a surface by a laser processing apparatus including an irradiation unit, and a processing feed unit that relatively processes and feeds the holding unit and the laser beam irradiation unit. A wafer processing method for processing a wafer made of pure silicon,
A wavelength setting step for setting the wavelength of the pulse laser beam having transparency to the wafer to a range of 1300 nm to 1400 nm;
After carrying out the wavelength setting step, the focusing point of the pulse laser beam is positioned inside the wafer, and the pulse laser beam is irradiated from the back surface of the wafer to the region corresponding to the division line, and the holding means and the laser beam irradiation means And a modified layer forming step for forming a modified layer in the wafer by relatively processing and feeding
A splitting step for applying an external force to the wafer after the reformed layer forming step and dividing the wafer along the planned split line with the reformed layer as a split starting point; and
In the modified layer forming step, the energy of the pulse laser beam per pulse is set to 10 to 25 μJ.