JP5964548B2 - Wafer processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wafer processing apparatus including a plurality of independent processing machines for processing a wafer such as a semiconductor wafer or an optical device wafer.

  For example, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, devices such as IC and LSI are formed in a plurality of regions partitioned by planned cutting lines called streets formed in a lattice shape on the surface of a semiconductor wafer having a substantially disk shape, Individual semiconductor devices are manufactured by dividing each region in which the devices are formed along the streets.

  As a dividing device for dividing a semiconductor wafer, a cutting device is generally used. The cutting apparatus includes a wafer holding means for holding a wafer, a cutting means for cutting a wafer held by the wafer holding means, a cassette placement area for placing a cassette containing a plurality of wafers, and the cassette placement Wafer unloading means for unloading a wafer housed in a cassette placed in the placement area, temporary placing means for temporarily placing and aligning the wafer unloaded by the wafer unloading means, and alignment in the temporary placing means Wafer transport means for transporting the processed wafer to the wafer holding means is provided. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.)

  In addition, as described above, in order to reduce the size and weight of the devices that are individually divided, the wafer is usually ground on the back surface before the wafer is cut along the streets and divided into individual devices. To a predetermined thickness. A grinding apparatus for grinding a back surface of a wafer includes a wafer holding means for holding a wafer, a grinding means for grinding a wafer held by the wafer holding means, and a cassette placement for placing a cassette containing a plurality of wafers. An area, a wafer unloading means for unloading a wafer housed in a cassette placed in the cassette placement area, a temporary placing means for temporarily placing and aligning the wafer unloaded by the wafer unloading means, Wafer transporting means for transporting the wafer aligned in the temporary placing means to the wafer holding means is provided. (For example, see Patent Document 2.)

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-66865 JP 2005-153090 A

  Processing devices such as the cutting device and the grinding device are installed in a clean room where the unit price per unit area is high. However, even if an attempt is made to increase the number of processing apparatuses installed in the clean room in order to increase the production quantity, the processing apparatus processes the wafer held by the holding means and the wafer held by the holding means as described above. A cassette placement area for placing a cassette containing a plurality of wafers, and a wafer carry-out means for carrying out the wafer contained in the cassette placed in the cassette placement area. Temporary placing means for temporarily placing and aligning the wafer unloaded by the wafer unloading means and wafer transport means for transporting the wafer aligned by the temporary placing means to the wafer holding means are provided. There is a limit to the number of processing equipment that can be installed in a clean room, and productivity cannot be improved. There is.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described facts, and a main technical problem thereof is to provide a wafer processing apparatus capable of increasing the production quantity per unit area in a clean room.

In order to solve the above technical problem, according to the present invention, a processing machine including a wafer holding means for holding a wafer and a processing means for processing the wafer held by the wafer holding means, and a plurality of wafers are accommodated. A cassette placement area for placing the cassette placed thereon, a carry-out means for carrying out the wafer accommodated in the cassette placed in the cassette placement area, and a temporary placement means for temporarily placing the wafer carried out by the carry-out means A wafer unloading machine comprising: a wafer unloading machine, and a wafer transfer machine including a transfer means for transferring the wafer temporarily placed on the temporarily placing means of the wafer unloading machine to the wafer holding means of the processing machine. The wafer unloader, the wafer unloader, and the wafer transfer machine are configured independently of each other. By appropriately selecting the number of wafer transport apparatus is disposed, the wafer transfer device is disposed outside the footprint of the machine, provided with a suction holding pad for sucking holding the wafer, the machine and the wafer unloading machine The wafer temporarily placed on the temporary placing means of the wafer unloader is sucked and held by the suction holding pad, and is moved along the guide rail. There is provided a wafer processing apparatus characterized in that the wafer is transferred to the wafer holding means of two or more processing machines by moving.

A wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention mounts a processing machine having a wafer holding means for holding a wafer and a processing means for processing the wafer held by the wafer holding means, and a cassette containing a plurality of wafers. A wafer unloader comprising: a cassette placement area; a carry-out means for carrying out a wafer accommodated in a cassette placed in the cassette placement area; and a temporary placement means for temporarily placing a wafer carried out by the carry-out means. And a wafer transfer machine comprising transfer means for transferring the wafer temporarily placed on the temporary placement means of the wafer unloader to the wafer holding means of the processing machine, and includes a processing machine, a wafer unloader, and a wafer transfer machine Are configured independently, and select at least two processing machines, wafer unloaders and wafer transporters as appropriate. Arrangement, and the wafer conveying device is arranged outside the footprint of the machine, provided with a suction holding pad for sucking holding the wafer, movable along the processing machine and the laid guide rails along the wafer unloading machine A wafer holding means of two or more processing machines is configured by sucking and holding the wafer temporarily placed on the temporary placing means of the wafer unloader by a suction holding pad and moving along the guide rail. Since the wafer can be supplied to a plurality of processing machines by the wafer unloader and the wafer transfer machine, the installation area of the entire apparatus can be reduced, The production quantity per unit area can be increased. In addition, since the wafer unloader and the wafer transfer machine are shared by a plurality of processing machines, all the processing machines can be configured at a lower cost than a wafer processing apparatus equipped with a wafer unloading mechanism and a wafer transfer mechanism. it can. By setting the number and layout of the processing machine, the wafer unloader, and the wafer transfer machine, a wafer processing apparatus with good productivity can be configured according to the characteristics of the wafer.

The perspective view of the processing apparatus comprised according to this invention. The top view which shows other embodiment of the processing apparatus comprised according to this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a wafer processing apparatus configured according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wafer processing apparatus constructed according to the present invention.
A wafer processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes two or more cutting machines 2 a and 2 b, a wafer unloader 3, and a wafer transfer machine 4. The cutting machines 2a and 2b are configured independently of each other, and each include a machine body housing 20 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. A chuck table 21 serving as a wafer holding means for holding a wafer that is a workpiece is disposed in the machine housing 20 so as to be movable in the direction indicated by an arrow X that is a cutting feed direction. The chuck table 21 includes a suction chuck support base 211 and a suction chuck 212 disposed on the suction chuck support base 211, and a wafer (not shown) is sucked on a holding surface which is the upper surface of the suction chuck 212. The suction is held by operating the means. Further, the chuck table 21 is configured to be rotatable by a rotation mechanism (not shown). The chuck table 21 is provided with a clamp 213 for fixing an annular frame that supports the wafer via a dicing tape. The chuck table 21 configured as described above can be moved in a cutting feed direction indicated by an arrow X by a cutting feed means (not shown).

  The cutting machines 2a and 2b shown in FIG. 1 include a spindle unit 22 as cutting means. The spindle unit 22 is moved in the index feed direction indicated by an arrow Y in FIG. 1 by an index feed means (not shown), and is moved in the cut feed direction indicated by an arrow Z in FIG. 1 by a notch feed means (not shown). ing. The spindle unit 22 is mounted on a moving base (not shown) and is adjusted to move in a direction indicated by an arrow Y that is an indexing direction and a direction indicated by an arrow Z that is a cutting direction, and the spindle housing 221 is freely rotatable. And a cutting blade 223 attached to the front end portion of the rotating spindle 222. The cutting blade 223 includes a disk-shaped base made of, for example, aluminum, and an annular cutting blade formed by agglomerating diamond abrasive grains on the outer peripheral side surface of the base with nickel plating to a thickness of 15 to 30 μm. It is made up of.

  The cutting machines 2a and 2b shown in FIG. 1 include an image pickup means 23 for picking up an image of the surface of the wafer held on the chuck table 21 and detecting an area to be cut by the cutting blade 223. . The imaging means 23 is composed of optical means such as a microscope and a CCD camera. Further, the cutting machines 2a and 2b shown in FIG. 1 have cleaning means 24 for cleaning the wafer cut on the chuck table 21 and cleaning for transporting the wafer cut on the chuck table 21 to the cleaning means 24. Conveying means 25 is provided.

  The wafer unloader 3 is disposed adjacent to the cutting machine 2a in the illustrated embodiment. The wafer unloader 3 in the illustrated embodiment includes a body housing 30 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. A cassette placement area 31a is set in the machine housing 30, and a cassette that accommodates a wafer as a workpiece is placed in the cassette placement area 31a. The cassette mounting table 31 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction by lifting means (not shown). On the cassette mounting table 31, a cassette 32 for storing the wafer 10 as a workpiece is placed. The wafer 10 accommodated in the cassette 32 has a grid-like street formed on the surface thereof, and devices such as IC and LSI are formed in a plurality of rectangular areas partitioned by the grid-like street. The wafer 10 formed in this way is accommodated in the cassette 32 with the back surface adhered to the front surface of the dicing tape T mounted on the annular support frame F.

  Moreover, the wafer unloader 3 in the illustrated embodiment is supported by a wafer 10 (an annular frame F supported by a dicing tape T) accommodated in a cassette 32 placed on a cassette placement table 31. ) Is carried out to the temporary placing means 33. The temporary placement means 33 performs center position alignment of the wafer 10 carried out from the cassette 32 by the carry-out means 34.

  The wafer transfer machine 4 includes a machine body housing 40 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The machine housing 40 is laid along guide feeds 41 and 41 on the front side of the cutting machines 2a and 2b and the wafer unloader 3 along the cutting feed direction indicated by the arrow X, and is guided by a moving mechanism (not shown). It is configured to be movable along the rails 41 and 41. The wafer transport machine 4 in the illustrated embodiment includes a pulse motor 42 disposed in a body housing 40, a rotation shaft 43 rotated by the pulse motor 42, and a moving mechanism (not shown) on the rotation shaft 43. The transfer arm 44 is mounted so as to be movable in the horizontal direction, and a suction holding pad 46 is mounted on the tip of the transfer arm 44 via a vertical movement mechanism 45. The wafer transfer machine 4 configured as described above sucks and holds the annular frame F that supports the wafer 10 carried out to the temporary placing means 33 via the dicing tape T by the suction holding pad 46, and the transfer arm 44. The wafer 10 supported on the annular frame F via the dicing tape T is moved to the chuck table 21 of the cutting machines 2a and 2b by moving the machine housing 40 along the guide rails 41 and 41. Transport. Note that the wafer unloader 3 in the illustrated embodiment conveys the wafer cleaned by the cleaning means 24 of the cutting machines 2 a and 2 b to the temporary placement means 33 of the wafer unloader 3.

The wafer processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is configured as described above, and the operation thereof will be described below.
First, the wafer 10 before processing (supported on the annular frame F via the dicing tape T) accommodated in a predetermined position of the cassette 32 placed on the cassette placement table 31 of the wafer unloader 3. ) Is positioned at the unloading position when the cassette mounting table 31 moves up and down by lifting means (not shown). Next, the unloading means 34 moves forward and backward to unload the wafer 10 positioned at the unloading position onto the temporary placing means 33. The wafer 10 placed on the temporary placing means 33 is center-aligned here.

  Next, the wafer conveyance device 4 is operated, and the annular frame F supporting the wafer 10 carried out to the temporary placing means 33 via the dicing tape T is sucked and held by the suction holding pad 46, and the transfer arm 44. The wafer 10 supported by the annular frame F via the dicing tape T is conveyed to, for example, the chuck table 21 of the cutting machine 2a by moving the machine housing 40 along the guide rails 41 and 41. To do.

  When the wafer 10 is placed on the chuck table 21, suction means (not shown) is operated to suck and hold the wafer 10 on the chuck table 21. An annular frame F that supports the wafer 10 via the dicing tape T is fixed by the clamp 213. In this way, the chuck table 21 holding the wafer 10 is moved to just below the image pickup means 23. When the chuck table 21 is positioned immediately below the image pickup means 23, the street formed on the wafer 10 is detected by the image pickup means 23, and the spindle unit 22 is moved and adjusted in the arrow Y direction as an indexing direction to adjust the street and the cutting blade. A precision alignment operation with 223 is performed.

  Thereafter, the chuck table 21 is moved to a cutting region below the cutting blade 223, the cutting blade 223 is rotated in a predetermined direction, and a predetermined amount is cut and fed in the direction indicated by the arrow Z. Position it at the position where it reaches the dicing tape T. Then, the chuck table 21 that sucks and holds the wafer 10 is moved at a predetermined cutting feed speed in a direction indicated by an arrow X that is a cutting feed direction. As a result, the wafer 10 held on the chuck table 21 is cut along a predetermined street by the cutting blade 223 (cutting process).

  When the wafer 10 is cut along a predetermined street as described above, the chuck table 21 is indexed and fed in the direction indicated by arrow Y in FIG. 1 to perform the above cutting process. When the cutting process is performed along all the streets extending in the predetermined direction of the wafer 10, the chuck table 21 is rotated 90 degrees so that the streets extend in a direction perpendicular to the predetermined direction of the wafer 10. By performing the cutting process along the whole, all the streets formed in a lattice shape on the wafer 10 are cut and divided into individual devices. The divided individual devices are not separated by the action of the dicing tape T, and the state of the wafer supported by the annular frame F is maintained.

  As described above, when the cutting process is completed along the street of the wafer 10, the chuck table 21 holding the wafer 10 is first returned to the position where the wafer 10 is sucked and held. Then, the suction holding of the wafer 10 is released. Next, the processed wafer 10 is transferred to the cleaning unit 24 by the cleaning transfer unit 25. The processed wafer 10 conveyed to the cleaning means 24 is cleaned and dried here (cleaning and drying step).

  When the cutting process is performed by the above-described cutting machine 2a, the wafer unloader 3 is supported by the wafer 10 before processing (which is supported by the annular frame F via the dicing tape T) in the cassette 32. The temporary storage means 33 is carried out and the centering operation of the wafer 10 is performed by the temporary placement means 33. Then, the wafer conveyance device 4 is operated to convey the unprocessed wafer 10 centered in the temporary placement means 33 to the chuck table 21 of the cutting machine 2b. As described above, the unprocessed wafer 10 transferred to the chuck table 21 of the cutting machine 2b is subjected to the cutting process described above by the cutting machine 2b.

  On the other hand, the processed wafer 10 subjected to the cutting process and the cleaning / drying process by the cutting machine 2a is conveyed to the temporary placing means 33 of the wafer unloader 3 by the wafer conveying machine 4. Then, the processed wafer 10 conveyed to the temporary placing means 33 is stored in a predetermined position of the cassette 32 by the unloading means 34. Next, the unloading means 34 is operated to unload the unprocessed wafer 10 (supported on the annular frame F via the dicing tape T) accommodated in the cassette 32 onto the temporary placing means 33, The center positioning operation of the wafer 10 is executed by the temporary placing means 33. Then, the wafer transfer machine 4 is operated to transfer the unprocessed wafer 10 centered in the temporary placement means 33 to the chuck table 21 of the cutting machine 2a. Thereafter, the wafer transfer machine 4 alternately transfers the unprocessed wafer 10 to the cutting machine 2b and the cutting machine 2a, and the processed wafer in which the cutting process and the cleaning / drying process are performed in the cutting machines 2a and 2b. 10 are alternately conveyed to the temporary placing means 33 of the wafer unloader 3.

  As described above, in the wafer processing apparatus 1 in the illustrated embodiment, two or more cutting machines 2a and 2b are mounted on the cassette mounting area for mounting the cassette in which the wafer is accommodated and the cassette mounting area. A wafer unloading mechanism comprising: a wafer unloading means for unloading a wafer contained in a cassette; and a temporary unloading mechanism for temporarily placing the wafer unloaded by the wafer unloading means; The above functions can be achieved by the independent wafer unloader 3 and the wafer conveyor even if the wafer transport mechanism having the transport means for transporting the processed wafer to the holding means of the cutting machines 2a and 2b is not provided. be able to. Therefore, the installation area of the wafer processing apparatus 1 as a whole can be reduced, and the production quantity per unit area in the clean room can be increased.

Next, another embodiment of the wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The wafer processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 2 includes eight independent cutting machines 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g, and 2h, two independent wafer unloaders 3a, 3b, and a wafer. It is comprised by the combination with the conveying machine 4. The cutting machines 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g, and 2h have the same configuration as the cutting machines 2a and 2b shown in FIG. 1, and four units are arranged in a straight line and face each other. Are arranged. The two wafer unloaders 3a and 3b have the same configuration as the wafer unloader 3 shown in FIG. 1, and the cutting machines 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d and 2e, 2f, 2g arranged in two rows, It is arranged opposite to both sides between 2h. The wafer transfer machine 4 has the same configuration as the wafer transfer machine 4 shown in FIG. 1, and is laid between the cutting machines 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d and 2e, 2f, 2g, 2h arranged in two rows. The guide rails 41 and 41 are movably disposed.

  In the wafer processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 2, two wafer unloaders 3a and 3b are provided for eight independent cutting machines 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g, and 2h. Since the wafer can be supplied by the wafer transfer device 4, the installation area of the entire apparatus can be reduced, and the production quantity per unit area in the clean room can be increased. In addition, since the wafer unloader and the wafer transfer machine are shared by a plurality of processing machines, all the processing machines can be configured at a lower cost than a wafer processing apparatus equipped with a wafer unloading mechanism and a wafer transfer mechanism. it can. By setting the number and layout of the processing machine, the wafer unloader, and the wafer transfer machine, a wafer processing apparatus with good productivity can be configured according to the characteristics of the wafer.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the illustrated embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention. In the illustrated embodiment, a wafer processing apparatus in which a plurality of cutting machines are combined is shown, but other processing machines such as a plurality of grinding machines may be combined with a wafer unloader and a wafer transfer machine.

1: Wafer processing device 2a, 2b: Cutting machine 21: Chuck table (holding means)
22: Spindle unit 223: Cutting blade 3: Wafer unloading machine 31: Cassette loading table 32: Cassette 33: Temporary placing means 34: Unloading means 4: Wafer transfer machine 41: Guide rail 42: Pulse motor 43: Rotating shaft 44 : Transfer arm 45: Vertical movement mechanism 46: Suction holding pad 10: Wafer
F: Annular support frame
T: Dicing tape

Claims (1)

A processing machine comprising a wafer holding means for holding a wafer and a processing means for processing the wafer held by the wafer holding means; a cassette placement region for placing a cassette containing a plurality of wafers; A wafer unloader comprising unloading means for unloading the wafer housed in the cassette placed in the mounting area and temporary placing means for temporarily placing the wafer unloaded by the unloading means; and the temporary unloader of the wafer unloader A wafer transfer machine provided with transfer means for transferring the wafer temporarily placed on the setting means to the wafer holding means of the processing machine,
The processing machine, the wafer unloading machine, and the wafer transfer machine are configured independently, and at least two or more of the processing machines, the wafer unloading machine, and the wafer transfer machine are appropriately selected and arranged. ,
The wafer transfer machine is disposed outside the processing machine installation area, has a suction holding pad for sucking and holding the wafer, and is movable along guide rails laid along the processing machine and the wafer unloader. The wafer temporarily placed on the temporary placing means of the wafer unloader is sucked and held by the suction holding pad, and moved along the guide rail to move the wafer to two or more of the processing machines. To the wafer holding means,
A wafer processing apparatus characterized by that.

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