JPH07169720A - Dicing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a dicing device capable of sharpening a blade without removing a wafer from a moving table. [Structure] A moving table 2 for mounting a wafer 10 and moving it to a predetermined position, a blade 3 for cutting the wafer 10 mounted on the moving table 2 along a street, and a sharpening of the blade 3. In the dicing device 1 provided with a setting means for performing, as the setting means,
This moving table 2 is provided adjacent to the moving table 2.
It is also a dicing apparatus 1 including a holding table 21 that interlocks with the table 21 and a dressing substrate 22 mounted on the holding table 21.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dicing apparatus for cutting a wafer along a street and dividing it into chips.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, various thin films are formed to form a plurality of semiconductor elements on a wafer, and then a dicing device is used to cut the wafer to divide it into chips. Is going. The dicing device is mainly provided with a moving table that moves to a predetermined position with the wafer placed thereon, and a blade for cutting the wafer along the streets. For example, the moving table can be used while rotating the blade. The wafer is cut by moving it in a predetermined direction.

The blade used in the dicing machine is
For example, it is composed of a diamond grindstone and has a thickness of 10
It is formed in a disk shape of about 30 μm to 30 μm.
The wafer is cut into a predetermined size by contacting the wafer while rotating this blade.

In recent years, the density of elements in a chip has been increased, and it is difficult to deal with so-called semi-full-cut dicing which cuts the wafer halfway in the dicing process, and so-called full-cut dicing which completely cuts the wafer. Is a common cutting method. 4A and 4B are views for explaining a conventional example, FIG. 4A is a sectional view showing a dicing state, and FIG. 4B is a plan view showing cutting grooves.

FIG. 4A shows a state in which the so-called full-cut dicing for completely cutting the wafer 10 by using the rotating blade 3 is performed. The wafer 10 is adhered to the resin tape 12 via the adhesive 12a so as not to separate the divided chips when dicing, and is placed on the moving table 2 in this state. Then, the blade 3 is brought into contact with the wafer 10 while rotating, and the moving table 2 is moved in a predetermined direction to change the relative position between the wafer 10 and the blade 3 so that the wafer 1
0 is cut off sequentially. The wafer 10 is divided into square chips by forming the cutting grooves 10a by this cutting in a grid pattern.

[0006]

However, when the wafer is subjected to so-called full cut dicing in such a dicing process, as shown in FIG.
It is necessary to cut the tape 12 for adhesively holding the tape halfway. For this reason, the blade 3 enters the middle of the tape 12, and the adhesive 12a of the tape 12 adheres to the surface of the blade 3 to cause clogging. If the blade 3 is clogged, the cutting ability of the wafer 10 is significantly reduced, and chipping 10b as shown in FIG. 4B occurs. The chipping 10b is the cutting groove 10 of the wafer 10.
This is a so-called chipping that occurs in a, and especially when the blade 3 is heavily clogged, the chipping 10b becomes large, leading to cracking of the wafer 10 and damage to the blade 3 itself.

Therefore, when the blade 3 is clogged, it is necessary to temporarily stop the operation of the dicing device to dress the blade 3. The sharpening of the blade 3 is
For example, since the blade 3 is regenerated by cutting a dressing substrate such as a mirror wafer, it is necessary to mount the dressing substrate on the moving table 2, and a cutting process different from normal dicing is performed. There must be.

When the blade 3 is clogged during the cutting of one wafer 10, the wafer 10 under cutting must be temporarily removed from the moving table 2 and the dressing substrate must be placed there. No, wafer 1 being cut again
Even if 0 is placed on the moving table 2, it is very difficult to align the wafers 10 that are divided halfway.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a dicing device that can sharpen a blade without removing a wafer to be cut from a moving table.

[0009]

The present invention is a dicing apparatus made to solve such problems. That is, this dicing device is a dicing device that cuts a wafer along the streets formed on the wafer, and includes a moving table for mounting the wafer and moving it to a predetermined position, and a wafer mounted on the moving table. And a blade for cutting the blade along the street and a sharpening means for sharpening the blade. Further, it is also a dicing apparatus which is constituted by a holding table provided adjacent to the moving table and interlocking with the moving table as the setting means, and a setting substrate mounted on the holding table.

[0010]

Since the dicing apparatus of the present invention is provided with the moving table and the blade as well as the sharpening means for sharpening the blade, it is possible to perform the sharpening without removing the wafer to be cut from the moving table. become.
Further, the holding mechanism forming the dressing means is provided adjacent to the moving table, and the moving mechanism can be shared by interlocking with the movement of the moving table. In addition, during the cutting of the wafer, the setting process can be performed by only slightly moving the moving table.

[0011]

Embodiments of the dicing apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B are views for explaining a dicing apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 1A is an external perspective view, FIG. 1B is a schematic view of a working unit, and FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a moving table. As shown in FIG. 1A, the dicing apparatus 1 stores a wafer 10 to be cut in a cassette 11 and takes out the wafer 10 with the cassette 11 placed at a predetermined position to remove the wafer 10 in the working unit 1a. Then, the wafer 10 is cut.

As shown in FIG. 1B, a moving table 2 for placing the wafer 10 and moving it to a predetermined position, and a blade 3 for cutting the wafer 10 are mainly provided in the working unit 1a. The movable table 2 is provided with a holding table 21 adjacent to the moving table 2 and a dressing substrate 22 placed on the holding table 21. Further, a supply cassette elevator 4 for guiding the wafer 10 at a predetermined position from the cassette 11 into the working unit 1a, a pre-alignment stage 5 for the wafer 10, a spinner unit 6 for drying the wafer 10, and the transfer of the wafer 10. Transport arm 7 for
Is also provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, this dicing apparatus 1
The moving table 2 is provided with a holding table 21 for placing the setting board 22 adjacent thereto, and the holding table 21 can also be moved in association with the moving table 2 which is moved by a moving mechanism (not shown). It is like this.

Next, the cutting process of the wafer 10 using the dicing apparatus 1 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the wafer 10 to be cut is stored in the cassette 11 and mounted on the supply cassette elevator 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the wafer 10 accommodated in the cassette 11 is in a state of being adhered and held on the tape 12 pulled by the frame 13 via an adhesive agent, and together with the frame 13, the inside of the cassette 11 is held. Is stored in.

Next, the supply cassette elevator 4 is driven to control the height of the cassette 11, and a predetermined wafer 10 is transferred to the pre-alignment stage 5 by using a transfer belt or the like (not shown). That is, the wafer 10 is transferred from the position A shown in FIG. 1B to the position B. After the rough alignment of the wafer 10 is performed on the pre-alignment stage 5, the transfer arm 7 is used to move the wafer 10 to the position shown in FIG.
It is arranged on the moving table 2 at the position of C, and accurate alignment is performed here.

Next, the moving table 2 is moved to the position D shown in FIG. 1B, and the street on the wafer 10 is automatically detected by using an image processing apparatus (not shown). Then, based on this detection result, for example, the position of the moving table 2 is controlled to match the relative positions of the blade 3 and the street. In this state, the motor 3 is driven to rotate the blade 3, and the moving table 2 is moved in the X direction while bringing the blade 3 and the wafer 10 into contact with each other, thereby cutting the wafer 10 along the streets.

When cutting an adjacent street, the blade 3 is moved in the Y direction by a predetermined amount, and the blade 3 and the wafer 10 are brought into contact with each other at that position to cut. Then, after the cutting of the street in one direction is completed, the moving table 2 is rotated by 90 ° in the θ direction, and the street in the direction orthogonal to the cut street is cut.

In this way, the cutting is performed in a grid pattern at a predetermined pitch. After the cutting is completed, the moving table 2 is moved from the position D to the position C shown in FIG. 1B, and the wafer 10 is transferred from the position C to the position E. The position of E is the spinner unit 6, and the wafer 1
The wafer 10 is washed and spin-dried by rotating 0. After spin drying, the transfer arm 7 transfers the wafer 10 from the spinner unit 6 to the position B shown in FIG. 1B, and further to the position A to cut the wafer 10. Put it back in the cassette 11.

Next, a description will be given of a dressing method when the blade 3 is clogged during such a series of cutting processing steps. First, in order to determine whether or not the blade 3 is clogged, for example, the image processing apparatus used when the street of the wafer 10 is detected is used. That is, the cutting groove 10a formed along the street during the cutting of the wafer 10 by the blade 3 (see FIG. 4).
The image of (b)) is captured by the image processing apparatus. Then, the size of the chipping 10b (see FIG. 4B) is determined based on the detection result of the captured image to determine whether the dressing is necessary.

When it is judged that the sharpening is necessary,
The movable table 2 is slightly moved to adjoin the holding table 21.
The relative position of the dressing substrate 22 mounted on the blade and the blade 3 is adjusted. Then, the blade 3 is dressed by cutting the dressing substrate 22 made of, for example, a mirror wafer. Cutting for sharpening is, for example, 0.3 m
The pitch may be about m. In addition, the setting board 22
Is arranged adjacent to the moving table 2, it is not necessary to remove the wafer 10 from the moving table 2 for dressing. Moreover, even if the wafer 10 is being cut, dressing can be performed as needed.

After the blade 3 is sharpened, the height of the blade 3 is detected by using, for example, a non-contact sensor 32, and a predetermined adjustment is performed so that the height of the tip of the blade 3 is always constant. Leave. Blade 3
The clogging of the wafer 10 is eliminated, and the reliable cutting of the wafer 10 can be continued.

As described above, the blade 3 is dressed by cutting the dressing substrate 22 at a pitch of, for example, about 0.3 mm. Since such cutting with a fine pitch is sufficient, it is not always necessary to use a large dressing substrate 22, and for example, a mirror wafer of about 3 to 4 inches is sufficient.

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view for explaining the structure of the holder 21 for mounting the dressing substrate 22. That is, the holding table 21 is provided with a suction hole 21a, and the dressing substrate 22 can be sucked onto the holding table 21 by drawing air from the suction hole 21a. Therefore, the setting substrate 22 can be freely attached and detached depending on whether or not air is drawn in from the suction holes 21a, which facilitates the replacement work of the setting substrate 22.

In this embodiment, the holding table 21 is provided adjacent to the moving table 2 and interlocks with the moving table 2. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the moving table 2 and the holding table 21 are not limited thereto. And may be independently movable.

[0025]

As described above, the dicing apparatus of the present invention has the following effects. That is, even if the blade is clogged during the cutting of the wafer, the blade can be sharpened without removing the wafer from the moving table. Moreover, the blade can be sharpened even during the cutting of one wafer. For this reason, dressing can be performed as needed during a series of wafer cutting processes, and productivity in the dicing process can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the present invention, in which (a) is an external perspective view,
(B) is a schematic diagram in a working part.

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a moving table.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a holding table.

4A and 4B are views for explaining a conventional example, FIG. 4A is a sectional view showing a dicing state, and FIG. 4B is a plan view showing a cutting groove.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dicing device 1a Working part 2 Moving table 3 Blade 10 Wafer 11 Cassette 21 Holding stand 22 Substrate for dressing

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A dicing device for cutting a wafer along a street formed on the wafer, the moving table being for mounting the wafer and moving the wafer to a predetermined position, and being mounted on the moving table. A dicing apparatus comprising: a blade for cutting the wafer along the streets; and a sharpening means for sharpening the blade. 2. The setting means includes a holding table provided adjacent to the moving table and interlocking with the moving table, and a setting board mounted on the holding table. 1. The dicing device according to 1.