JPH05243374A - Method and apparatus for dicing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a dicing method and a dicing apparatus wherein cuttings which are collected in a diced groove can be removed sufficiently regarding a dicing operation in which the diced groove is formed in a wafer by using a turning cutter in a wafer working operation in the manufacture of a semiconductor device. CONSTITUTION:A dicing method is constituted in the following manner: a circular flat boardlike cutter 1 being turned is moved while it is cutting a wafer 3; a dicing operation which forms a diced groove 4 in the wafer 3 is performed; cooling water 8 is supplied to a part where the wafer 3 is being cut by means of the cutter 1 and to the part of the diced groove 4 which is continued to the part. A dicing apparatus is constituted so as to provide the following: the cutter 1; and a cooling-water discharge pipe 6A which supplies the cooling water 8 to the part being cut by means of the cutter 1 of the wafer 3 and to the part of the diced groove 4 continued to it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dicing method and a dicing apparatus for performing dicing as a wafer process for manufacturing a semiconductor device.

The above-mentioned dicing is a process performed to divide a wafer that has undergone a wafer process into chips, and normally, a rotating circular flat plate-shaped cutter is moved while cutting the wafer so that the wafer is diced. This is a work for forming a groove.

With the miniaturization of semiconductor devices, it is important to sufficiently remove the chips generated in this dicing.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art Dicing for forming a dicing groove on a wafer by using the above-mentioned cutter includes a half cut for making the depth of the dicing groove halfway of the thickness of the wafer and a full cut for making the dicing groove more than the thickness of the wafer. . In either case, the wafer is pasted on a plastic sheet, and when full cut, the bottom of the dicing groove is located inside the plastic sheet and the wafer is completely divided into chips. In the process of 1, the wafer is cracked by external force and divided into chips.

Further, depending on the relationship between the rotating direction of the cutter and the moving direction with respect to the wafer, there are downcuts in which the blade edge of the cutter bites into the inside from the upper surface of the wafer, and upper cuts in which the blade edge that bites out upward from the upper surface.

The movement of the cutter with respect to the wafer is relative, and the wafer may be moved with the position of the cutter fixed. Then, in such dicing, in order to suppress the temperature rise when the cutter cuts the wafer, cooling water is supplied to the cut portion of the wafer.

FIG. 2 is a side view and a plan view of an essential part for explaining the conventional example. In FIG. 2, the cutter 1 has a diameter of, for example, about 50 mmφ and a thickness of 15 μm to 100 μm.
It is fixed to the spindle shaft 2 that rotates at a high speed, rotates at a speed of several tens of thousands rpm, and moves while making a cut with respect to the wafer 3 to form a dicing groove 4 in the wafer 3.

A flange cover 5 which moves with the cutter 1 is arranged outside the cutter 1, and a portion of the flange cover 5 in front of the cutter 1 is provided along a side surface of the cutter 1 and an upper surface of the wafer 3. In addition, the bases of the cooling water discharge pipes 6 arranged on both sides of the cutter 1 are fixed, and the hose 7 for sending the cooling water is connected to the cooling water discharge pipe 6.

The cooling water discharge pipe 6 is closed at its tip and has three discharge holes 6a arranged in a line in the longitudinal direction on its side surface.
Cooling water 8 is applied to the part of the cutter 1 where the wafer 3 is cut.
Is supplied in the injection state.

When the upper cut is performed, surface chipping of the wafer 3 occurs frequently and the yield is lowered.
Often down cut. However, cutting powder tends to accumulate in the dicing groove 4 in down cutting. Needless to say, the cutting powder accumulated in the dicing groove 4 is difficult to be removed even if the supplied cooling water 8 flows on the surface of the wafer 3. For this reason, in the half-cutting, the cutting chips fly out at the time of cracking and stain the surface of the chips, resulting in a decrease in yield. Further, even in the full cut, when picking up the chip from the underlying sheet, cutting chips often come out and stain the surface of the chip.

As a measure for preventing the above-mentioned frequent occurrence of surface chipping and preventing chips from accumulating in the dicing groove 4, there is a down upper cut in which half cutting is performed by down cutting and then full cutting is performed by upper cutting. However, in that case, there is a drawback that the throughput is almost halved because the cutting is performed twice.

There is also a method in which carbonated water is used as the cooling water 8 to remove the chips adhering to the surface of the wafer 3 by air bubbles, but the chips accumulated in the dicing groove 4 cannot be removed.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention relates to wafer processing for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and relates to dicing for forming a dicing groove in a wafer by a rotating cutter, and to sufficiently remove chips accumulated in the dicing groove. It is an object of the present invention to provide a dicing method and a dicing apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, a dicing method according to the present invention is a wafer processing for manufacturing a semiconductor device, in which a rotating circular flat plate-shaped cutter is moved while cutting the wafer. Then, when performing dicing to form a dicing groove in the wafer, cooling water is supplied to a portion of the wafer cut by the cutter as well as a portion of the dicing groove following the portion.

The dicing device is a device for performing dicing as a wafer process for manufacturing a semiconductor device,
A circular flat plate-shaped cutter that rotates and moves while cutting with respect to the wafer to form a dicing groove in the wafer,
It is characterized in that it has a portion cut by the cutter of the wafer and a cooling water discharge pipe for supplying cooling water to the portion of the dicing groove following the portion.

[0016]

[Function] The part where the cutting chips collected in the dicing groove is
This is the part of the dicing groove that follows the part where the cutter cuts. Therefore, when the cooling water is supplied to the portion of the dicing groove which is the portion, the cooling water pushes away the cutting chips accumulated in the dicing groove and sufficiently removes them.

Further, in the dicing apparatus, since the cooling water is also supplied to the portion of the dicing groove following the portion where the cooling water discharge pipe is cut by the cutter, the cutting powder accumulated in the dicing groove can be sufficiently removed. it can.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the side view of FIG. Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same objects.

In FIG. 1, this figure corresponds to FIG. 2 for explaining the conventional example. In this embodiment, the cooling water discharge pipe 6 of the conventional example is replaced with a cooling water discharge pipe 6A. The cooling water discharge pipe 6A is formed by extending the tip side of the cooling water discharge pipe 6 to
The discharge holes 6a arranged in a line are also provided in the extended portion to double the number thereof. Therefore, the cooling water 8 is supplied in a jet state to the portion of the wafer 3 cut by the cutter 1 as well as the portion of the dicing groove 4 following the portion. As a result, the swarf accumulated in the portion of the dicing groove 4 is washed away by the cooling water 8 and is sufficiently removed.

That is, in the conventional example, when the upper cut is used, surface chipping frequently occurs and causes a decrease in yield,
When down-cutting, the cutting powder was accumulated in the dicing groove 4, and the cutting powder soiled the surface of the chip in the subsequent process, causing a reduction in yield. Then, the portion where the cutting powder is accumulated in the dicing groove 4 by the down-cut is the portion of the dicing groove 4 following the portion cut by the cutter 1. From this, when down-cutting is performed in the embodiment, the chips can be sufficiently removed while avoiding frequent occurrence of surface chipping, and a good yield can be secured.

The present inventor has increased the number of the discharge holes 6a from the conventional three to six to increase the number of the discharge holes 6a as described above to include the chips scattered on the surface of the wafer 3 and the dicing groove 4 as well.
It was confirmed that the cutting chips inside were sufficiently removed. The flow rate of the cooling water 8 at that time was about 9 liters / minute, which was about twice the flow rate of the conventional one.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the wafer processing for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the dicing for forming the dicing groove in the wafer by the rotating cutter, the cutting powder accumulated in the dicing groove is sufficiently removed. A dicing method and a dicing apparatus that can be used are provided, and there is an effect that it is possible to improve the yield in semiconductor device manufacturing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view and a plan view of main parts for explaining an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view and a plan view of main parts for explaining a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Cutter 2 Spindle Shaft 3 Wafer 4 Dicing Groove 5 Flange Cover 6,6A Cooling Water Discharge Pipe 6a Discharge Hole 7 Hose 8 Cooling Water

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wafer for manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein a rotating circular flat plate-shaped cutter is moved while cutting into the wafer to perform dicing to form a dicing groove in the wafer. The dicing method is characterized in that the dicing groove is supplied to the portion of the wafer cut by the cutter as well as the portion of the dicing groove following the portion. 2. A device for performing dicing as a wafer process for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the cutter being a circular flat plate-shaped cutter that rotates and moves while cutting into the wafer to form a dicing groove in the wafer, and the cutter of the wafer. And a cooling water discharge pipe for supplying cooling water to the portion of the dicing groove following the cut portion.