JPH0525640B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a method of attaching a protective film to a circular or other shaped thin plate, such as a silicon wafer that serves as a base for forming an integrated circuit, around the periphery of the thin plate. The present invention relates to a method for automatically cutting out along the line and an apparatus for carrying out the method.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, film was pasted onto a thin plate such as a silicon wafer by hand, and any film that protruded from the periphery of the thin plate was also manually cut off.

Further, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-42896 discloses an apparatus for cutting a lidding film attached to the opening of a cup-shaped container along the outer periphery of the opening. In this device, one end of a link is pivotally attached to the periphery of a rotating plate placed above the container, and a rotating blade is pivotally attached to the other end of the link, and the head of the rotating blade is attached to the cam groove of the cam frame. The lid material film is cut according to the shape of the cam groove while being guided.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Manual work as described above is time-consuming and requires considerable skill to cut cleanly and efficiently.

Furthermore, the device disclosed in the above-mentioned publication has the following problems.

One end of the link is pivotally connected to the rotating plate and rotates according to the rotating plate, while the other end of the link (rotating blade side) moves along the cam groove.
If the shape of the cam groove is steeply uneven, the rotary blade will not be able to move. Therefore, the shapes that can be cut are limited to simple structures that are close to circles.

Since the rotary blade is not biased inward at all, when cutting resistance is applied to the rotary blade, the position of the rotary blade fluctuates within the width of the cam groove, making it impossible to cut properly along the outer periphery of the container opening.

In addition to the cam groove that guides the rotary blade, it is necessary to provide a groove in the container holder (retainer) to receive the cutting edge of the rotary blade, making the structure complicated.

[Means to solve the problem]

The first means to solve the above problem is to cut out the protective film along the outer periphery of the thin plate using a pedestal that sucks and fixes the thin plate that is sent with a tape-shaped protective film attached to the top surface. In the method, an annular profile groove is provided in the pedestal shape along the outer periphery of the thin plate, a vertical rotating shaft that can be raised and lowered is provided above the pedestal, and a vertical rotating shaft that is movable in the radial direction is provided at the lower end of the rotating shaft. When performing edge-remaining cutting in which the protective film is cut outside the outer periphery of the thin plate by using a device in which a cutting member mounting base is provided and the cutting member is attached to this mounting base and is biased toward the rotation center direction, the outer periphery of the thin plate When performing edgeless cutting by placing the thin plate inside the trace groove and cutting out at a position that coincides with the outer circumference of the thin plate, after placing the outer circumference of the thin plate within the width of the trace groove, lower the mounting base and place the cutout member above the Make a cut into the protective film, then rotate the rotating shaft, and in the case of cutting out leaving an edge, align the cutting member along the inner circumference of the tracing groove,
In the case of edgeless cutting, the protective film is cut out along the outer periphery of the thin plate.

A second means is a thin plate protective film cutting device having a pedestal for adsorbing and fixing a thin plate sent with a tape-shaped protective film pasted on the upper surface, the thin plate is placed on the pedestal. An annular profile groove is provided along the outer periphery, a vertical rotating shaft that can be raised and lowered is provided above the pedestal, and a cutout is provided at the lower end of the rotating shaft that is movable in the radial direction and biased toward the center of rotation. A component mounting base is provided, and a cutout member is attached to this mounting base. This second
In the device according to the above means, when the thin plate with the protective film attached to the upper surface is transferred onto the pedestal, the rotating shaft above the thin plate and the cutting member mount integrated therewith are lowered, and the thin plate is placed on the mount. When the attached cutout member is cut into the protective film and the rotating shaft is rotated, the cutout member moves along the inner surface of the profiling groove or the outer circumference of the thin plate, and if there are irregularities on the profiling groove or the outer circumference of the thin plate, the mounting base moves forward and backward in the radial direction, and during this time the cutting member is urged toward the center of rotation, so that it cuts out the protective film while contacting the inner surface of the tracing groove or the outer periphery of the thin plate.

〔Example〕

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method of the present invention and an apparatus for carrying out the method will be explained below based on an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the figure, numeral 1 is a thin plate such as a silicon wafer, and in the embodiment, it is in the shape of a disk, with a part of it cut out in a straight line (see FIG. 5). Other shapes of the thin plate 1 include one in which a V-shaped notch is provided in a part of the disk.

A thin plate 1 like this is inserted into a magazine 2 as shown in Figure 1.
Stack them up at regular intervals. This magazine 2 is placed on a pedestal 3, and the pedestal 3 is lowered intermittently at a constant pitch by a unitized elevating mechanism 4 such as a screw jack type, rack and pinion type, or cylinder type. The sheets are taken out one by one by the feeding means 5.

The feeding means 5 has an endless belt 7 which is continuously driven by a drive pulley 6 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. However, mechanisms other than those shown may be used.

Although not shown, if the thin plate 1 has a V-shaped notch for direction determination, positioning means such as a plurality of vertical rotating rods may be provided in front of the magazine to direct the notch in a fixed direction such as forward. Fix it.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a machine base to which the first half lifting mechanism 4, delivery means 5, etc. are attached, and a machine box 11 is provided on the upper side thereof.

Further, the machine box 11 is provided with a winding shaft 15 and a winding shaft 16, a protective film 17 made of polyethylene film having an adhesive layer is wound around the winding shaft 15, and the protective film 17 pulled out from the winding shaft 15 is attached to the roller 12. It is wound downward and taken up on the take-up shaft 16, but
The roller 12 is attached to an elevating bearing provided in the machine box 11, and is pressed onto the lower roller 13 by a spring.

The thin plate 1 sent out by the sending means 5 is stuck between the rollers 12 and 13 on the lower surface of the protective film 17 with the adhesive layer facing down.

21 in Fig. 1 is a film stretching and peeling means;
This peeling means 21 has a pair of upper and lower rollers 20 attached to a moving table 19, and this moving table 19 is slidably attached to a guide rail 22 provided in the machine box 11, and is equipped with a power-driven feed screw, an air cylinder, etc. Move by.

Film 1 passed between the rollers 12 and 13
7 passes under the lower roller 20, then reverses and passes between the upper and lower rollers 20, and then reverses again and passes from above the upper roller 20 to the guide roller 23 attached to the machine box 11 below the winding shaft 16. It reaches the lower part, rotates around the outer periphery of this roller 23, and is wound up on the winding shaft 16. A pressure roller 25 provided at the lower end of a swinging lever 24 attached to the machine box 11 comes into contact with the guide roller 23, and this lever 24 is pressed against the air cylinder 2.
6 to press the pressure roller 25 against the guide roller 23 only when necessary. 30 is pedestal 3
The tape cutting means provided on 1, the details of which are shown in 2.
As shown in Figures 3 to 3.

That is, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 32 denotes a lifting platform that is attached to the machine box 11 so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and is raised and lowered by an air cylinder 34. A sliding frame 36 that slides laterally by an air cylinder 35 is mounted on this lifting stand 32. .

A vertical rotating shaft 38 driven by a motor 39 is attached to the sliding frame 36, and a horizontal frame 40 is fixed to the lower part thereof. Attached to this horizontal frame 40 is an adjustment stand 45 that slides left and right by a feed screw 42 that is rotated by a manual knob 41. A guide rail 46 is provided at the bottom of this adjustment table 45, and this guide rail 46
A slider 47 is attached to the slider 47 so that it can be moved freely by an air cylinder 48, and a cutout member mounting base 52 is attached to a bracket 51 of a slider 50 attached to a guide rail 49 provided on the slider 47 so as to be able to swing around a pin 53. Attachment is such that it can be fixed at any angle with a set screw 54 inserted into an arcuate hole provided in the bracket 51 and screwed into a threaded hole in the mounting base 52. Reference numeral 57 is a cutting member detachably attached to the mounting base 52, and may be a cutter or a heating wire. When using a knife, care must be taken to ensure that the cutting edge always points in the direction of travel, but in the case of a heating wire, the film 17 is melted and cut out, so if the wire is a round wire, there is no need to pay attention to the direction.

Further, an adjustment screw 55 attached to the sliding body 47
A tension spring 56 is attached between the slider 50 and the slider 50.

As shown in FIG. 1, the upper surface of the pedestal 31 is provided with a plurality of annular grooves 60 that conform to the outer peripheral shape of large and small wafers, and the pedestal 31 is removably fixed on the support 61. It is designed to be replaced. Further, the pedestal 31 is provided with a large number of vacuum suction holes, and these suction holes are communicated with a vacuum suction device (not shown) so that the thin plate 1 that has been moved onto the pedestal 31 can be fixed by suction.

When the thin plate 1 is fed between the rollers 12 and 13, the movable table 19 moves between the rollers 1 and 1 as shown by the chain line in FIG.
It is approaching 2.13. Rotation of the winding shaft 16;
The protective film 17 is removed by the rotation of the rollers 12 and 13.
is fed in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
When the moving table 19 moves to the position indicated by the solid line in the figure and stops, the thin plate 1 is exactly on the pedestal 31, and the film 1
7 is stretched between the lower parts of the rollers 12 and 20, the winding shaft 16 stops, the movable stage 19, the rollers 12 and 13, and the film 17 stop, and at the same time the vacuum suction device operates and the thin plate 1 is held in place. It is adsorbed onto the table 31.

Until this state is reached, the lifting platform 32, which has been in the raised position, is lowered by the cylinder 34, and the cutting member 57 attached to the mounting base 52 at the lower end of the platform
7 and its lower end is the profile groove 6 on the pedestal 31.
Insert into 0.

Next, the motor 39 is started and the rotating shaft 38 starts rotating, so the mounting base 52 also starts rotating and the cutting member 57 turns along the tracing groove 60, cutting the film 17 along the outer periphery of the thin plate 1. do. When the thin plate 1 is in the shape of a disc concentric with the rotating shaft 38, the mounting base 52 and the slider 50 rotate without moving relative to the sliding body 47, etc. When the thin plate 1 has a shape other than a circle, such as a notch, the mounting base 52 rotates together with the slider 50 and moves in the radial direction relative to the sliding body 47 to cut out the film 17 along the shape of the thin plate 1. Ku.

When the film is cut out in this way, the lifting platform 32
is raised, and the moving table 19 moves toward the rollers 12 and 13. At this time, by braking the winding shaft 15 and the winding shaft 16 so that they do not rotate, the cut out film 17 moves to the upper part of the roller 20, leaving the part stuck on the thin plate 1, and moves. When the stand 19 approaches the rollers 12 and 13 and stops, the winding shaft 1
5. The brake on the winding shaft 16 is loosened, the winding shaft 16 winds up the film 17, and the movable stage 19 begins to move, leading to the next process.

In the case of cutting out the film 17 larger than the entire circumference of the thin plate 1 in the above-mentioned cutting process, in other words, in the case of cutting out the film 17 leaving an edge, the inside of the groove 60 that does not look like that shown in FIG. It is moved along the inner periphery of the tracing groove 60 by the spring 56.

When cutting out the film 17 so as to match the outer circumference of the thin plate 1, that is, in the case of edgeless cutting, the outer circumference of the thin plate 1 is made larger than the inside of the groove 60, which does not look like the one shown in FIG. move it along the outer periphery of the

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the straight part 1' of the thin plate 1 is made to protrude into the straight part 60' of the trace groove 60, and the other circumferential part of the thin plate 1 is made to protrude into the trace groove 60,
If the cutting member 57 is made to follow the outer periphery of the thin plate 1 in the circumferential part and along the straight line part 60' of the tracing groove 60 in the direct part 1', the straight part of the thin plate 1 can be cut out as shown in FIG. The film 17 protrudes from 1' to form a cutout with an edge remaining, and in other parts, the film 17 and the periphery of the thin plate 1 coincide to form a cutout without an edge.

In the above method, when the cutting starts, the lifting platform 32
is lowered, and the cutout member 5 is removed from above as shown in FIG.
7 is inserted into the film 17, the member 57 is rotated as shown by the arrow to make a full rotation, and then the elevating table 32 is raised to remove the member 57 from the film 17. In this case, after inserting the member 57 at a position shifted from the thin plate 1 as shown at point a in FIG.
It is also possible to move the member 57 in a straight line up to the point and then rotate the member 57 from that position to cut it out.

In addition, if the cutting member 57 that cuts the film 17 by going around the circumference of the thin plate 1 is not pulled out as shown in FIG. However, the step of raising and lowering the cutout member 57 for each cutout is omitted.

However, in this way, the cutout member 57 is attached to the film 1.
If the film 17 is not pulled out from the film 7, the moving table 19 cannot be moved, so another means is required to peel off the film 17 after cutting.

When the size of the thin plate 1 is changed, the distance between the cutout member 57 and the axis of the rotating shaft 38 is adjusted by turning the knob 41 in FIG. 2 to move the adjustment table 45. Further, by moving the sliding frame 36 using the cylinder 35, the center of the rotating shaft 38 can be moved.

In order to allow the cutting member 57 to be inserted from a position shifted from an article such as a thin plate as described above, a linear guide groove communicating with the profile groove 60 of the pedestal 31 may be appropriately provided on the pedestal 31. .

In this case, the effect is that the cutting member 57 such as a knife
It becomes easier to guide objects such as thin plates in the body of the machine, and the movement from the circumferential part to the straight part becomes smooth, resulting in a beautiful cut surface.

The thin plate 1 remaining on the pedestal 31 with the cut-out film 17 attached to its upper surface as described above is sent onto the next delivery belt 72 by the transfer means 65.

This transfer means 65 moves along upper and lower guide rails 66 provided on the side surface of the machine box 11. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, an elevating frame 68 is attached to a mounting base 67 that is slidably engaged with a guide rail 66, and a suction device 70 is attached to the tip of an arm 69 at the upper end of this frame 68.

This adsorber 70 is of a vacuum suction type. That is, the adsorber 70 is formed into a hollow disk shape, a large number of small-diameter suction holes are provided on its lower surface, and the inside of the adsorber 70 is communicated with a vacuum suction device (not shown) through a flexible pipe using a solenoid valve or the like. Vacuum suction can be performed if necessary.

As another method, the suction holding table may be provided with an air blowing part and the air float may be performed.

Although not shown, the mounting base 67 is moved along the guide rail 66 by an arbitrary mechanism such as a cylinder mechanism, a rack and pinion mechanism, or a feed screw mechanism provided in the machine box 11, and the lifting frame 68 is moved from the mounting base. It is raised and lowered by a drive system installed at 67.

As described above, on the pedestal 31, the transfer means 65 moves onto the thin plate 1 from which the pasted film 17 has been cut out, and the elevating frame 68 descends, causing the lower surface of the suction unit 70 to hold the film 17 pasted. As soon as the suction device 70 comes into contact with the attached thin plate 1, vacuum suction by the suction device 70 is started, and at the same time, the vacuum suction by the pedestal 31 is released.

Then, the elevating frame 68 rises and the thin plate 1 is placed on the pedestal 3.
1, and when the moving means 65 moves to the next unloading means 71, the elevating frame 68 is lowered, lowering the thin plate 1 onto the endless unloading belt 72 of the unloading means 71, and the adsorber 7
0 stops vacuum suction and rises. Therefore, the thin plate 1 is carried out by the carrying-out belt 72.

Reference numeral 75 in FIG. 1 is a magazine for storing the film 11 cut out on the thin plate 1 as described above. This magazine 75 is almost similar to the magazine 2, and is placed on a pedestal 77 that is raised and lowered by a suitable unitized lifting mechanism 76.
Each time one thin plate 1 that has been moved on the carry-out belt 72 enters the magazine 75, the pedestal 77 rises by one pitch.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The invention of the method for cutting out a protective film for a thin plate (the invention according to the above-mentioned first means) and the cutting device (the invention according to the above-mentioned second means) of this application both exhibit the following effects.

a. Since the cutout member mounting base is movable in the radial direction, the cutout member moves smoothly along the arbitrarily shaped groove or the shape of the thin plate.

b. Since the cutting member mounting base is biased in the direction of the rotation center, the cutting member can always cut out in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the tracing groove or the outer periphery of the thin plate.

(c) By appropriately selecting the shape and size of the profiling groove on the thin plate, it is possible to cut out with an edge or a mixture of edges and no edges.

In particular, in the case of edgeless cutting, the outer periphery of the thin plate can be positioned within the width of the tracing groove and the cut can be made along the outer periphery, resulting in a beautiful finish.

d) The structure is simplified because the profile groove not only guides the cutting member but also serves as a groove for receiving the cutting edge of the cutting member.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view of an apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view of the main parts of the above, Fig. 3 is an enlarged front view of the rotating part of the above, and Fig. 4, , are examples of cutout states. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a thin plate cut out with a part of the film sticking out, FIGS. 6 and 7 are plan views showing examples of the movement of the cutting member relative to the film, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the transfer means. 1... Thin plate, 17... Protective film, 31...
cradle, 38... rotary shaft, 52... cutting-out member mounting base, 56... tension spring, 57... cutting-out member, 60...
...Train groove.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a method of cutting out a protective film along the outer periphery of a thin plate using a holder that adsorbs and fixes a thin plate sent with a tape-shaped protective film attached to its upper surface, An annular profile groove is provided along the outer periphery of the thin plate, a vertical rotating shaft that can be raised and lowered is provided above the pedestal, and the lower end of the rotating shaft is movable in the radial direction and biased toward the center of rotation. When performing edge-remaining cutting outside the outer periphery of the thin protective film using a device with a cutting member attached to this mount, the outer periphery of the thin plate should be placed inside the tracing groove. When performing edgeless cutting at a position that coincides with the outer periphery of the thin plate, place the outer periphery of the thin plate within the width of the tracing groove, lower the mounting base, cut the cutting member into the protective film, and then The rotating shaft is rotated to cut out the protective film so that the cutting member is aligned along the inner periphery of the trace groove in the case of edgeless cutting, or along the outer periphery of the thin plate in the case of edgeless cutting. How to cut out protective film for thin plates. 2. In a thin plate protective film cutting device having a pedestal for sucking and fixing a thin plate sent with a tape-shaped protective film affixed to the top surface, an annular groove along the outer periphery of the thin plate is formed on the pedestal. A vertical rotating shaft that can be raised and lowered is provided above the cradle, and a cutting member mount that is movable in the radial direction and biased toward the center of rotation is provided at the lower end of the rotating shaft. A cutting device for protective film for thin plates, characterized in that a cutting member is attached to a mounting base.