JP2002110777A - Support frame of object processed - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the support frame of a processed object, capable of prolonging the service life two times longer than that of the conventional by usably constituting both the faces of the support frame. SOLUTION: On the support frame 9 supported via a tape 10 formed in the form of a circle and stuck on one side, a first positioning mechanism and a second positioning mechanism pairing first positioning parts 94 and second positioning parts 95 are formed linearly symmetrically on the outer periphery of the support frame.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a support frame for supporting a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer via an adhesive tape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, circuits such as ICs and LSIs are formed in a large number of regions arranged in a lattice on a surface of a semiconductor wafer having a substantially disk shape, and the circuits are formed. The individual semiconductor elements are manufactured by dicing the respective regions along predetermined cutting lines. As described above, when dicing a semiconductor wafer with a dicing apparatus, the semiconductor wafer is previously supported by a support frame via an adhesive tape so that the diced semiconductor elements do not fall apart.
The support frame is formed in an annular shape having an opening for accommodating the semiconductor wafer and a tape sticking portion to which the tape is stuck, and sticks and supports the semiconductor wafer on the tape located at the opening. In such a support frame, a positioning mechanism for aligning a notch indicating a crystal orientation called an orientation flat (a so-called orientation flat) formed on a semiconductor wafer in a predetermined direction and transporting the cutout is formed. The positioning mechanism includes a first positioning portion for positioning in a first direction and a second positioning portion for positioning in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.
And a positioning part. In a conventional support frame, the first positioning portion is formed in a V-shape, and the second positioning portion is formed in a straight line.

[0003]

In order to support a semiconductor wafer on a support frame via a tape, a tape sticking device as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-189694 is used. That is, in order to support the semiconductor wafer on the support frame via the tape, the support frame and the semiconductor wafer are set in a predetermined positional relationship, and the support frame and the semiconductor wafer are attached to a band-shaped adhesive tape. Then, the support frame and the semiconductor wafer are cut through the adhesive tape by pressing the cutting edge of the cutter against the tape-attached portion and cutting the band-shaped adhesive tape attached to the tape-attached portion of the support frame into a circular shape. It is integrated. As a result, when the support frame is used repeatedly, the tape affixed portion of the support frame is damaged by the cutter. Since the cutter is arranged at a predetermined position, the cutter acts on substantially the same position of the tape attachment portion of the support frame, so that the groove formed by the scratch formed by the cutter gradually becomes deeper, and the periphery of this groove rises. Becomes unusable. For this reason, there is a problem that the support frame must be discarded after being used a predetermined number of times, which is uneconomic.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned facts, and a main technical problem thereof is that a work piece whose life can be doubled as compared with the conventional one can be achieved by arranging both sides of a support frame to be usable. To provide a supporting frame.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a support frame for supporting a workpiece through a tape formed in an annular shape and attached to one surface thereof. A first positioning mechanism and a second positioning mechanism having a pair of a first positioning section and a second positioning section are formed on the outer periphery of the support frame in a line-symmetrical manner. An object support frame is provided.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a support frame for a workpiece constituted according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dicing apparatus as a cutting apparatus to which a support frame for a workpiece constituted according to the present invention is applied. The dicing apparatus in the illustrated embodiment has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped device housing 2.
Is provided. In the apparatus housing 2, a chuck table 3 for holding a workpiece is provided so as to be movable in a cutting feed direction indicated by an arrow X. The chuck table 3 includes a suction chuck support 31 and a suction chuck 32 mounted on the suction chuck support 31, and is a workpiece on a mounting surface, which is a surface of the suction chuck 32. For example, a disk-shaped semiconductor wafer is held by suction means (not shown). The chuck table 3 is configured to be rotatable by a rotation mechanism (not shown).

The dicing apparatus in the illustrated embodiment has a spindle unit 4 as cutting means. The spindle unit 4 is mounted on a moving base (not shown) and adjusted to move in a direction indicated by an arrow Y which is an indexing direction and a direction indicated by an arrow Z which is a cutting direction.
The rotary spindle 42 includes a rotary spindle 42 rotatably supported by a rotary drive mechanism (not shown) and a cutting blade 43 mounted on the rotary spindle 42.

The dicing apparatus according to the illustrated embodiment has a suction chuck 3 constituting the chuck table 3.
The imaging of the surface of the workpiece held on the surface of No. 2 detects the region to be cut by the cutting blade 43,
An imaging mechanism 5 for checking the state of the cutting groove is provided. The imaging mechanism 5 is composed of optical means such as a microscope and a CCD camera. Further, the dicing apparatus includes a display unit 6 that displays an image captured by the imaging mechanism 20.

The dicing apparatus in the illustrated embodiment includes a cassette 7 for stocking a semiconductor wafer 8 as a workpiece. The semiconductor wafer 8 is supported on a support frame 9 by a tape 10 and is accommodated in the cassette 7 while being supported by the support frame 9. The support frame 9 will be described later in detail. The cassette 7 has a cassette table 71 that can be moved up and down by lifting means (not shown).
Placed on top. The cassette 7 will also be described later in detail.

The dicing apparatus in the illustrated embodiment unloads a semiconductor wafer 8 (a state supported by a tape 10 on a support frame 9) as a workpiece housed in a cassette 7 to a workpiece mounting area 11. Workpiece unloading means 12; Workpiece transfer means 13 for transferring the semiconductor wafer 8 unloaded by the workload unloading means 12 onto the chuck table 3;
The cleaning unit 14 includes a cleaning unit 14 for cleaning the semiconductor wafer 8 cut by the above-described process, and a cleaning / conveying unit 15 for conveying the semiconductor wafer 8 cut by the chuck table 3 to the cleaning unit 14.

Next, the relationship between the workpiece mounting area 11 and the cassette 7 and the workpiece unloading means 12 is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The workpiece mounting area 11 is provided with a guide groove 16 formed at the center thereof, which is formed perpendicular to the cassette 7 and guides the movement of the workpiece unloading means 12. On both sides of the guide groove 16, a pair of workpiece placing members 17 a and 17 b are arranged in parallel with the guide groove 16.
The pair of workpiece placing members 17a and 17b are respectively provided with placing sections 171a and 171b for placing both sides of the support frame 9 supporting the workpiece, and the placing sections 171a and 171b.
The guide portions 172a and 172b are formed so as to stand upright from the outer edge of the support frame 71b and guide both sides of the support frame 9, and are arranged to face each other. Guide groove 1
Between the rear end of the pair of workpiece mounting members 17a and 17b (the end opposite to the cassette 7 and the end opposite to the cassette 7), a first position is regulated in the direction of the arrow X shown in FIG. Positioning pin 1
8 and a second positioning pin 19 for regulating the position in the arrow Y direction shown in FIG. A plurality of pairs of shelves 70 provided on both sides of the cassette 7 so as to face each other are provided in the vertical direction, and the semiconductor wafers supported on the support frames 9 via the tapes 10 on the shelves 70. 8 are stored.

Next, a semiconductor wafer 8 as a workpiece is processed.
An embodiment of the support frame 9 for supporting the support via the tape 10 will be described with reference to FIG. The support frame 9 in the embodiment of FIG. 3 is formed of a metal material such as stainless steel in an annular shape, and has an opening 91 for accommodating a semiconductor wafer and a tape attaching portion 92 to which a tape is attached.
It has. Four linear portions 93a, 93b, 93c and 93d are formed on the outer periphery of the support frame 9, and the two linear portions 93a and 93b and 93c and 93d facing each other are formed in parallel. Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the outer periphery of the support frame 9 is provided on both sides of two opposing linear portions 93a and 93b with a first positioning portion 94, 94 and a second positioning portion 9 respectively.
5 and 95 are formed at intervals corresponding to the interval between the first positioning pin 18 and the second positioning pin 19. The first positioning portions 94, 94 are formed by V-shaped grooves formed at an angle of approximately 60 degrees, and are engaged with the first positioning pins 18 so that the arrow X shown in FIG.
Restrict the direction. Second positioning portions 95, 95
Are formed in parallel with the linear portions 93a and 93b, and engage with the second positioning pins 19 to regulate the position in the direction of the arrow Y shown in FIG. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the first positioning portion 94 and the second positioning portion 95 formed on the side of the straight portion 93a and the first positioning portion 94 and the second positioning portion formed on the side of the straight portion 93b. Part 95,
It is provided symmetrically with respect to a line 90 a passing through the center of the annular support frame 9. In the illustrated embodiment, the first positioning portions 9 formed on both sides of the linear portion 93a are provided.
The pair consisting of 4 and the second positioning part 95 constitutes a first positioning mechanism, and the pair consisting of the first positioning part 94 and the second positioning part 95 formed on both sides of the linear part 93b This constitutes a second positioning mechanism.

A semiconductor wafer 8 as a workpiece is supported via a tape 10 on a support frame 9 in the embodiment of FIG. 3 as shown by a two-dot chain line. At this time, the tape 10 is attached to the tape attaching portion 92 on the back surface of the support frame 9 in the state of FIG. 3, and the semiconductor wafer 8 has the orientation flat (so-called orientation flat) 81 on the surface of the tape 10 in the state of FIG. It is positioned and adhered to the linear portion 93a side. The support frame 9 supporting the semiconductor wafer 8 in this manner is provided on the shelf 70 of the cassette 7 shown in FIG.
And is stored so as to face. Therefore, when the support frame 9 supporting the semiconductor wafer 8 stored in the cassette 7 is carried out to the work placing area 11, the work carrying-out means 12 grips the linear portion 93 a side of the support frame 9. Out. At this time, the linear portion 9 of the support frame 9
The first positioning portion 94 provided on the 3a side engages with the first positioning pin 18 to regulate the position in the direction of the arrow X shown in FIG. Arrow Y shown in FIG.
The position of the direction is regulated.

When the number of times the support frame 9 has supported the semiconductor wafer 8 in the state shown in FIG.
The support frame 9 is used upside down. At this time, the first positioning portion 94 and the second positioning portion 95 formed on the side of the linear portion 93a of the support frame 9 are connected to the linear portion 93b.
A first positioning portion 94 and a second positioning portion 95 formed on the annular support frame 9 form a line 90 passing through the center thereof.
Since the support frame 9 is provided in line symmetry with respect to a, the positional relationship between the first positioning portion 94 and the second positioning portion 95 does not change even if the support frame 9 is inverted in line symmetry. Therefore,
The support frame 9 can be used under the same conditions no matter which surface is used.

Next, another embodiment of the support frame constructed according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, about the support frame 9A of the embodiment of FIG. 4, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same part as each part of the support frame 9 in the said embodiment of FIG. 3, and the description is abbreviate | omitted. The support frame 9A in the embodiment of FIG.
On both sides of each of the straight portions 93a and 93c, a first positioning portion 94, 94 and a second positioning portion 95, 95 are provided at intervals corresponding to the interval between the first positioning pin 18 and the second positioning pin 19, respectively. It is formed with. And
The first positioning portion 94 and the second positioning portion 95 formed on the side of the linear portion 93a of the support frame 9A and the linear portion 9
A first positioning portion 94 and a second positioning portion 95 formed in 3c are provided symmetrically with respect to a line 90b passing through the center of the annular support frame 9A. Therefore, the support frame 9A can be used in a state where the state shown in FIG. 4 is turned upside down, similarly to the support frame 9 in the embodiment of FIG. In the illustrated embodiment,
A pair of a first positioning portion 94 and a second positioning portion 95 formed on both sides of the linear portion 93a constitute a first positioning mechanism, and a first positioning mechanism formed on both sides of the linear portion 93c. The positioning section 94 and the second positioning section 95 constitute a pair of second positioning mechanisms.

Next, the processing operation of the above dicing apparatus will be briefly described. The tape 10 is attached to the support frame 9 accommodated in a predetermined shelf 70 of the cassette 7 shown in FIG.
The semiconductor wafer 8 supported by the cassette table 71 is positioned at the carry-out position when the cassette table 71 is moved up and down by an elevating means (not shown). Next, the workpiece carrying-out means 12 advances toward the cassette 7 along the guide groove 16 and grips the linear portion 93a side (see FIG. 3) of the support frame 9 accommodated in the predetermined shelf 70, By retreating along the guide groove 16, the support frame 9 supporting the semiconductor wafer 5 via the tape 10 is moved to the work placement area 11.
To be carried out. At this time, the support frame 9 is provided with the guide portions 172a, 172b of the pair of workpiece placing members 17a, 17b.
And the linear portion 93a of the support frame 9
The first positioning portion 94 provided on the side engages with the first positioning pin 18 to regulate the position in the direction of the arrow X shown in FIG. By engaging with the positioning pin 19, the position is regulated in the direction of the arrow Y shown in FIG. Thus, the support frame 9
Are the first positioning pin 18 and the second positioning pin 1
9, the workpiece discharge means 7
Is released, the support frame 9 is placed on the mounting portion 171 of the pair of workpiece mounting members 17a and 17b.
a, 171b.

Continuing the description with reference to FIG. 1, the semiconductor wafer 8 supported via the tape 10 by the support frame 9 carried out on the pair of workpiece mounting members 17a and 17b as described above is The workpiece is transported to the mounting surface of the suction chuck 32 constituting the chuck table 3 by the turning operation of the workpiece transfer means 13 and is suction-held by the suction chuck 32. The chuck table 3 holding the semiconductor wafer 8 by suction in this manner is moved to a position immediately below the imaging mechanism 5. When the chuck table 3 is positioned directly below the imaging mechanism 5, the imaging mechanism 5 detects a cutting line (street) formed on the semiconductor wafer 8, and moves and adjusts the spindle unit 4 in the direction of the arrow Y which is the indexing direction of the spindle unit 4. Precision alignment work is performed.

Thereafter, the chuck table 3 holding the semiconductor wafer 8 by suction is moved in a direction indicated by an arrow X (a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the cutting blade 43), which is a cutting feed direction, so that the chuck table 3 is held by the chuck table 3. The semiconductor wafer 8 is cut by a cutting blade 43 along a predetermined cutting line (street). That is, the cutting blade 43 is mounted on the spindle unit 4 which is moved and adjusted in the direction indicated by the arrow Y which is the indexing direction and the direction indicated by the arrow Z which is the cutting direction, and is rotationally driven. Is moved along the lower side of the cutting blade 43 in the cutting feed direction, so that the semiconductor wafer 8 held on the chuck table 3 is cut by the cutting blade 43 along a predetermined cutting line (street). In this cutting, there are a case where a cutting groove such as a V-groove having a predetermined depth is formed and a case where cutting is performed along a cutting line (street). When the semiconductor wafer 8 is cut along a cutting line (street), the semiconductor wafer 8 is divided into semiconductor chips. The divided semiconductor chips do not fall apart by the action of the tape 10, and the state of the semiconductor wafer 8 supported by the frame 9 is maintained. After the cutting of the semiconductor wafer 8 is completed in this manner, the chuck table 3 holding the semiconductor wafer 8
Is first returned to the position where the semiconductor wafer 8 is suctioned and held, and the suction holding of the semiconductor wafer 8 is released here. Next, the semiconductor wafer 8 supported on the support frame 9 via the tape 10 is transported to the cleaning means 14 by the cleaning and transporting means 15 and is cleaned there. The support frame 9 supporting the semiconductor wafer 8 cleaned in this way via the tape 10 is provided on the workpiece mounting area 11 by the workpiece transport means 13, and a pair of workpiece mounting members 17 a,
17b. Then, the support frame 9 supporting the semiconductor wafer 8 via the tape 10 is accommodated in a predetermined shelf 70 of the cassette 7 by the work carrying-out means 12.

Although the example in which the support frame for a workpiece constituted according to the present invention is applied to a dicing apparatus has been described above, the support frame for a workpiece according to the present invention is applicable to other machine tools such as a grinding machine. Can be.

[0021]

The support frame for a workpiece according to the present invention is constructed as described above, and has the following effects.

That is, in the workpiece support frame according to the present invention, the first positioning mechanism and the second positioning mechanism having the first positioning section and the second positioning section as a pair are formed on the outer periphery in line symmetry. Therefore, even if the support frame is reversed, the positional relationship between the first positioning portion and the second positioning portion does not change. Therefore, the support frame can be used under the same conditions regardless of which surface is used, so that the life of the support frame can be doubled compared to the conventional case.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dicing device as a cutting device to which a support frame for a workpiece configured according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing a workpiece mounting area of the dicing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a support frame for a workpiece configured according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of a support frame for a workpiece configured according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2: Device housing 3: Chuck table 31: Suction chuck support base 32: Suction chuck 4: Spindle unit 41: Spindle housing 42: Rotating spindle 43: Cutting blade 5: Imaging mechanism 6: Display means 7: Cassette 70: Cassette shelf 71: Cassette table 8: Semiconductor wafer 9, 9A: Support frame 91: Opening of support frame 92: Tape attaching portion of support frame 94: First positioning portion of support frame 95: Second positioning portion of support frame 10: Tape 12: Workpiece mounting area 13: Workpiece transport means 14: Cleaning means 15: Cleaning transport means 16: Guide grooves 17a, 17b: Workpiece mounting members 171a, 171b: Workpiece mounting Member placement portions 172a, 172b: Guide portion for workpiece placement member 18: First position Determining pin 19: Second positioning pin

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A support frame for supporting a workpiece via a tape formed in an annular shape and attached to one surface thereof, wherein a first positioning portion and a second positioning portion are provided on an outer periphery of the support frame. A support frame for a workpiece, wherein a first positioning mechanism and a second positioning mechanism, which form a pair, are formed in line symmetry.