JP3053256B2 - Wafer slice-based peeling / cleaning method and apparatus, and wafer processing / transporting apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for peeling and cleaning a wafer cut by a slicing apparatus from a work such as a semiconductor ingot, and further, to transfer the wafer from the slicing apparatus to a peeling / cleaning apparatus. The present invention also relates to a wafer processing / transporting apparatus that carries out a wafer from a peeling / cleaning apparatus and stores the wafer in a predetermined storage container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, thin wafers have been cut out by slicing a work such as a semiconductor ingot (for example, silicon single crystal), which is a highly brittle material, with a slicing apparatus. The wafer cut out in this way is supplied to the market as a product through various processes such as chamfering.

However, when the cutting of the work is completed, the cutting resistance acting on the cutting blade is suddenly released, and the final cut portion of the work is easily chipped. In order to prevent this, a slice base made of carbon or the like is provided on the work in order to prevent this. In many cases, the slice base adhered to the cut wafer needs to be peeled off from the wafer before moving to the chamfering step. Also, since this chamfering process requires precise precision,
In order to accurately position the reference surface of the wafer, it is necessary to perform a cleaning operation for removing fine foreign matter attached to the surface of the wafer.

Therefore, conventionally, a plurality of wafers cut out together with the slice base are stored in a dedicated storage container such as a cassette, and the cassette is immersed in a water tank and subjected to ultrasonic vibration to give a surface of the wafer. After removing foreign matter adhering to the wafer, an operation of pulling up the wafer from the water tank and separating the slice base from the wafer is performed.

[0005]

In the conventional method as described above, the wafer peeling step and the cleaning step are performed completely independently, so that the process time is long by that much, and the peeling apparatus and the cleaning apparatus are separately provided. The space required for the entire processing apparatus to be provided also becomes large.

Further, in the above-mentioned method, it is necessary to manually insert wafers cut by a slicing device one by one into a cassette before peeling and cleaning the wafers, and even after peeling and cleaning are completed. Since each wafer must be manually transferred to the chamfering apparatus, the burden on humans is large, and automation of the work is a major issue.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a method and apparatus capable of reducing the time required for peeling and cleaning a wafer and the installation space for the apparatus.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus capable of saving labor and manpower by automatically processing and transferring a wafer.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for peeling a slice base adhered to a peripheral portion of a wafer from a wafer cut by a slicing apparatus, and for cleaning the wafer. The wafer is placed in hot water, and the slice base provided in the hot water is placed in the hot water.
A peeling step of peeling the slice base from the wafer by the peeling means, and a cleaning step of cleaning the wafer by applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water (claim 1).

The present invention also provides a hot water tank containing hot water, a wafer holding means for holding the wafer in a substantially horizontal state, and an apparatus for carrying out the above method. Elevating means for raising and lowering between an underwater position in the water and a water position above the hot water tank, and a slice base separating means for separating the slice base from the wafer while the wafer and the wafer holding means are in the underwater position, A vibration generating means for applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water tank is provided (claim 2).

[0010] The slice base separating means is provided in the hot water tank, and contacts the vicinity of the boundary between the wafer and the slice base from below with the wafer and the wafer holding means lowered to the underwater position. It is preferable that the apparatus further comprises a boundary portion support member that contacts, and pressing means that presses the slice base from above while the boundary portion support member is in contact with the vicinity of the boundary portion (claim 3).

The present invention also relates to the above-mentioned slice-based peeling method.
A cleaning device, a wafer carrying means for receiving the wafer cut by the slicing device, and carrying the wafer into the wafer holding means located at the water position in the slice base peeling / cleaning device; There is provided a wafer storage / transportation unit that unloads the wafer from the located wafer holding unit and puts the wafer into the wafer storage container.

Further, in such a wafer processing / transporting apparatus, by providing a wafer drying means for blowing dry air to the wafer transported by the wafer storing / transporting means, more excellent effects as described later can be obtained ( Claim 5).

[0013]

According to the method of the first aspect, a slice base peeling step of placing a wafer with a slice base in a hot water tank to soften the adhesive and peel the slice base, The wafer cleaning step of cleaning the wafer surface by applying sonic vibration can be performed in a single hot water tank.

Specifically, according to the apparatus of claim 2,
While holding the wafer horizontally by the wafer holding means, the wafer holding means is lowered to the underwater position in the hot water tank, and in this state, the slice base can be peeled off from the wafer by the slice base peeling means. The surface of the wafer can be cleaned by applying ultrasonic vibration to the water tank by the vibration generating means, and thereafter, the wafer can be taken out of the hot water by raising the wafer holding means to the water position.

More specifically, in the apparatus according to the third aspect, the boundary support member comes in contact with the vicinity of the boundary between the wafer and the slice base from below with the wafer and the wafer holding means lowered to the underwater position. Therefore, by pressing the slice base from above by the pressing means in this state, the slice base can be broken off from the wafer with the boundary member supporting member as a fulcrum.

Further, according to the apparatus of the present invention, the wafer cut out by the slicing device is automatically loaded into the wafer holding device located at the water position in the slice base peeling / cleaning device by the wafer loading device. can do. Then, after the slice base is peeled off and the wafer is cleaned by this apparatus, the wafer is transferred from the wafer holding means to the wafer storage container by the wafer storage and transfer means in a state where the wafer holding means is returned to the water position. Can be stored inside. The wafer stored in this way can be carried into a chamfering device or the like together with the wafer storage container.

Further, according to the apparatus of the fifth aspect, the wafer is dried by blowing dry air on the wet wafer carried out of the hot water tank by the wafer drying means during the storage and transfer of the wafer. Thus, the wafer can be stored in the wafer storage container.

[0018]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, reference numeral 10 denotes a slicing device, and a wafer processing transfer device is provided near the slicing device 10. The wafer processing and transporting device includes a wafer transporting device (constituting a wafer loading unit) 12 and a wafer processing device 14.

The slicing device 10 includes a blade 16 made of a donut-shaped thin plate having a circular through hole in the center.
It has. The blade 16 is mounted on the periphery of a tension disc (not shown), and is rotated at high speed in the direction of arrow A0 in FIG. 5 together with the tension disc. An inner peripheral blade 17 made of particles or the like is fixed.

The slicing apparatus 10 includes a slide table 18 extending in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the blade 10. This slide table 1
A work holding member 20 is slidably supported on 8 (arrow A1 in FIG. 6), and a work 22 made of a silicon semiconductor ingot or the like is held by the work holding member 20. Then, while the work 22 is held by the work holding member 20, the work 22 is sent out to a position where it slightly penetrates the center through hole of the blade 16. In this state, the slide table 18 and the work holding member are rotated while rotating the blade 16 at high speed. 20 as the blade 1
The wafer W can be cut out from the workpiece 22 by the inner peripheral blade 17 by moving the workpiece W in the radial direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 5).

Here, the outer peripheral portion of the work 22 on the downstream side in the cutting and feeding direction, that is, the inner peripheral blade 17
The slice base SB made of carbon or the like is adhered to the portion to be finally cut by an adhesive, and the cutting resistance acting on the blade 16 at the end of the cutting of the work 22 is suddenly caused by the fixation of the slice base SB. To prevent the last cut portion of the work 22 from being chipped. Therefore, when the wafer W is cut out, the slice base SB sliced adheres to a specific portion of the peripheral portion of the wafer W.

On the side of the slide table 18, a wafer collecting device 24 is provided in parallel therewith. The wafer collecting device 24 includes a base 26 which is transferred together with the slide table 18 in the cutting and feeding direction (that is, the left and right direction in FIG. 5). A support plate 28 is erected,
A pair of upper and lower guide rods 30 are provided over both support plates 28. And the slide member 32 is arrange | positioned in the state penetrated by these rods 30. FIG. The tip of a rod 35 of a slide drive cylinder 34 fixed to the rear support plate 28 is fixed to the slide member 32. The extension and contraction of the slide drive cylinder 34 causes the slide member 32 to move to the guide rod 30. Is slid along.

A wafer recovery cylinder 36 extending in the radial direction of the blade 16 is provided on a side surface of the slide member 32, and a wafer recovery arm 37 is connected to a tip of the rod. The wafer collection arm 37 has a shape that goes from the wafer collection cylinder 36 to the back side (the left side in FIG. 6) of the blade 16 through the central through hole of the blade 16. The wafer collection pad 38 is fixed to the portion.

The wafer collection pad 38 has a U-shaped front view as shown in FIG. 5, and a plurality of air suction holes 39 are formed on the surface of the wafer collection pad 38 facing the wafer W. Is provided. When the air is sucked from the air suction holes 39, the wafer W is sucked to the wafer recovery pad 38.

The procedure for collecting a wafer by the wafer collecting apparatus 24 will be described later in detail.

The wafer transfer device 12 includes a column 41 erected on a base 40, and a beam 42 extending in a horizontal direction, specifically, a direction parallel to the blade 16 is provided at an upper end of the column 41. I have. A support bracket 44 projecting toward the blade 16 is fixed to both ends of the beam 42, and both ends of a rodless cylinder 46 and a guide rod 48 are fixed to both support brackets 44. The operation of the rodless cylinder 46 causes the entire wafer transfer member 50 to move into the guide rod 4.
5 is driven in the direction of the arrow A3 in FIG.

The wafer transfer member 50 includes a moving block 51 driven by the rodless cylinder 46 while being pierced by the rodless cylinder 46 and the guide rod 48. An upper end of a vertically extending support plate 52 is fixed to the moving block 51, and a vertically movable rodless cylinder 53 is fixed to a lower half of the support plate 52. This rodless cylinder 53
A lifting plate 54 extending in the up-down direction is connected to the rodless cylinder 53. The lifting plate 54 is driven up and down by the rodless cylinder 53 (see arrow A4 in FIG. 5). A work holding device 56 is provided.

The structure of the work holding device 56 is shown in FIGS.
Shown in In the drawing, a turning cylinder 58 is mounted in a horizontal state at a lower end portion of an elevating plate 54 via a bracket 57, and a wafer suction device 60 is fixed to a turning rod 59 of the turning cylinder 58. This wafer suction device 60
Is provided with a suction pad 62, and the suction pad 62 sucks the wafer W by sucking air from the center of the suction pad 62. Then, by turning the turning rod 59, the wafer suction device 60
State in which the suction pad 62 of FIG.
The direction is switched between a state shown by a solid line in FIG. 8) and a state where the suction pad 62 faces downward (a state shown by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. 7 and 8).

The procedure for transferring the wafer W by the wafer transfer device 12 will be described later in detail.

Next, the wafer processing apparatus 14 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The wafer processing apparatus 14 includes, in order from the upstream side in the wafer transfer direction (the right side in FIGS. 1 and 2), a wafer carry-in section (constituting a wafer carry-in means) 66, a peeling / cleaning section (slice base peeling / cleaning apparatus). ) 67, and a wafer storage / transport section 68, and the sections 66 to 68 are installed on the same substrate 70.

The wafer loading section 66 includes a pair of left and right guide plates 72 erected on the substrate 70. The two guide plates 72 are installed in parallel with each other at a distance smaller than the diameter of the wafer W, and the upper end of each guide plate 72 may be made of a synthetic resin or the like to damage the wafer W. A guide portion 71 made of a material having a degree of softness is fixed.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the guide plate 72 on the near side (the lower side in FIG. 1) is removed for convenience.

A rodless cylinder 76 is arranged between the two guide plates 72 in parallel with them, and guide rods 78 are arranged on both sides of the rodless cylinder 76. Both front and rear ends (left and right ends in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the rodless cylinder 76 and the guide rod 78 are fixed to a support plate 74 erected on the substrate 70.

The rodless cylinder 76 and the guide rod 78 are provided with an advance / retreat block 84 as shown in FIG. 3 so as to penetrate the rodless cylinder 76 and the guide rod 78, and the advance / retreat block 84 operates the rodless cylinder 76. Is slid along the guide rod 78. An extruding member 82 is connected to the upper surface of the reciprocating block 84 via a connecting plate 80. The extruding member 80 slides forward (in the direction of arrow A5 in FIG. 1) integrally with the reciprocating block 84, The wafer W placed on the guide section 71 is introduced into the peeling / cleaning section 67 along the guide section 71.

As shown in FIG. 4, the peeling / cleaning section 67 includes a hot water tank 86 provided on the substrate 70, and hot water 88 is accommodated in the hot water tank 86. At the bottom of the hot water tank 86, an ultrasonic device 90 for applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water tank 86 is mounted. In the hot water tank 86, the hot water 88 is always kept at a constant temperature. The hot water is supplied each time the processing operation is performed.
The temperature of the hot water 88 is set to a temperature sufficient to clean the wafer W as described later and to soften the adhesive used for bonding the slice base SB to the wafer W. Is set. Specifically, when a heat-softening resin such as an epoxy resin is used as the adhesive, the temperature of the hot water is preferably 30 to 60 ° C.

A wafer handling device 92 is provided near the hot water tank 86. Specifically, a rodless cylinder 96 extending from the hot water tank 86 to the entrance of the wafer storage / transport section 68 is disposed on one side (left side in FIG. 4) of the hot water tank 86. Guide rods 98 are arranged above and below the tube 96 in parallel, and both front and rear ends of the rodless cylinder 96 and the guide rod 98 are fixed to a support plate 94 erected on the substrate 70. The rodless cylinder 96 and the guide rod 98 have the moving block 1
The movable block 100 is slid along the guide rod 98 by the operation of the rodless cylinder 96.

One end of a beam 102 extending over substantially the entire area of the substrate 70 in the width direction is fixed to the upper surface of the moving block 100. A lifting drive cylinder (lifting means) is provided at a substantially central portion of the beam 102. 104 is mounted downward. The lifting drive cylinder 10
A wafer holding member (wafer holding means) 106 is fixed to the lower end of the telescopic rod 105.

The wafer holding member 106 includes a horizontal upper member 108 and a lower member 110, and a connecting member 109 for connecting the two members 108 and 110 in the vertical direction, and a distance between the upper member 108 and the lower member 110. Is set sufficiently larger than the thickness dimension of the wafer W.

The upper member 108 has one vertical member 108b extending in the width direction of the apparatus and two vertical members 108b orthogonal to the vertical member 108b.
It has an H-shaped plan view shape including the horizontal member 108a. Similarly, the lower member 110 has the same shape as the vertical member 110b and the horizontal member 110a.
As shown in FIG. 7, the upper surface of each horizontal member 110a is formed in a cylindrical shape to support the wafer W by point contact. As shown in FIG. 4, the connecting member 109 has a U-shape in a side view, and the vertical members 108 a and 1 near the moving block 100.
10a are connected to each other.
08a and 110a are connected to each other from the rear side (the right side in FIG. 1) of the vertical member 108b.

In such a structure, when the elevating drive cylinder 104 expands and contracts, the entire wafer holding member 106 is positioned above the hot water tank 86 as shown by a solid line in FIG. It is driven up and down between a water position at a height level equivalent to 71 and a water position in a hot water tank 86 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.

Further, in the hot water tank 86, at a position corresponding to the vicinity of the boundary between the wafer W held by the wafer holding member 106 and the slice base SB, a boundary member support plate 87 is protrudingly provided. The above wafer holding member 10
The upper end of the boundary member support plate 87 comes in contact with the vicinity of the boundary portion from below in a state where 6 is in the underwater position.

On the other hand, a slice base peeling cylinder (pressing means) 112 is fixed downward at the tip of the beam 102 and directly above the slice base of the wafer W. When the exfoliation cylinder 112 is in the most extended state,
The stroke of the cylinder 112 is set such that the lower end of the cylinder 14 pushes down the slice base SB from above.

The wafer storage and transport section 68 includes a pair of left and right belt conveyors 116, the rear ends of both belt conveyors 116 being connected to each other via a horizontal shaft 118, and the wafer held by the wafer holding member 106. The W is transported together with the beam 102 to the rear end of the belt conveyor 116. On the other hand, a conveyor elevating cylinder 120 is placed upward at a position corresponding to a lower portion of the center of the horizontal shaft 118 on the substrate 70, and the upper end of an extendable rod 121 of the conveyor elevating cylinder 120 is attached to the horizontal shaft 118. And a wafer pick-up position in which the upper surfaces of both belt conveyors 116 are slightly lower than the wafers W in the wafer holding member 106 at the above-water position due to the expansion / contraction operation of the conveyor lifting / lowering cylinder 120; The upper surface of both belt conveyors 116 can be switched to a wafer picking position where the upper surface is slightly higher than the wafer W.

On the substrate 70, at a position immediately in front of the conveyor elevating cylinder 120, a turning telescopic cylinder 122 is placed upward. The turning telescopic cylinder 122 includes a turning telescopic rod that performs both a telescopic operation and a turning operation, and a wafer supporting member 1 having a shape for supporting a wafer W from below at the upper end of the turning telescopic cylinder.
24 is fixed. Then, by the operation of the swiveling telescoping rod, the position of the wafer support member 124 is switched between a standby position lower than the upper surface of the belt conveyor 116 and a wafer lift position higher than the upper surface of the belt conveyor 116, and is at this wafer lift position. When the turning telescopic rod performs a turning operation in this state, the wafer support member 124 is driven to reciprocate and turn within a range of 90 °.

A cassette (wafer container) 126 is disposed at a position where the front ends of both belt conveyors 116 face each other.
The cassette 126 is driven up and down by an elevator device (not shown). In the cassette 126, a plurality of shelves for storing one wafer W are provided vertically, and each shelf is provided with a shelf for avoiding interference between the cassette 126 and the belt conveyor 116 when the cassette 126 is raised. A notch 128 is provided.

Further, air blow pipes 131, 1 extending in the width direction of the apparatus are located immediately upstream of the cassette 126 and at positions sandwiching both belt conveyors 116 from above and below.
32 are provided. In the upper air blow pipe 131, the position on the lower rear side of the lower side, and the lower air blow pipe 13
In FIG. 2, an air injection port is provided at a position on the obliquely upper rear side, from which dry air is blown toward the wafer W on the belt conveyor 116.

Next, the operation of the above-described slicing apparatus and wafer processing transfer apparatus will be described.

First, in the slicing device 10,
A columnar work 22 held by the holding member 20 is indexed forward (to the left in FIG. 6) along the slide table 18, and the front end of the work 22 slightly penetrates the central through hole of the blade 16. The work 22 is positioned at the position.
Then, with the blade 16 rotated, the blade 1
When the slide table 18 moves to the left in FIG.
A slicing operation for cutting the wafer W from the front end is started.

When the slicing progresses and the inner peripheral blade 17 of the blade 16 reaches the slice base SB adhered to the work 22, the cutting and feeding is temporarily stopped, and the wafer collecting pad 38 operates in this state. As a result, the front side surface (left side surface in FIG. 6) of the wafer W being cut out is attracted to the wafer collection pad 38.

After that, the cutting and feeding is resumed, and after the slice base SB is completely cut, the wafer collecting cylinder 36 contracts, so that only the wafer W with respect to the work 22 is moved together with the wafer collecting pad 38. It is conveyed in the direction opposite to the cutting feed (rightward in FIG. 5), and is positioned at a position corresponding to the central through hole of the blade 16. When the slide driving cylinder 34 contracts in this state, the wafer W held by the wafer recovery pad 38 passes through the central through hole of the blade 16 and is located on the front side (right side in FIG. 6) of the blade 16. Transported to

Next, with the wafer holding pad 62 of the wafer holding device 56 facing the blade 16, the wafer transport member 50 is driven in the direction of arrow A3 in FIG. 5, and the elevating plate 54 is driven up and down. Thereby, the wafer holding pad 62 is positioned at a position facing the wafer W held by the wafer collection pad 38, and in this state, the wafer holding device 56 is operated to attract the wafer W to the wafer holding pad 62, By releasing the suction by the wafer collection pad 38, the wafer W is transferred from the wafer collection pad 38 to the wafer holding pad 62.

Then, the operation of the rodless cylinder 53 raises the elevating plate 54 and the wafer holding device 56 integrally (at the position indicated by the two-dot chain line on the right side in FIG. 5). The whole is driven to the left in FIG.
4 (the position indicated by a solid line in FIGS. 5, 7, and 8). From this state, the swivel cylinder 58 operates and the wafer holding pad 62 faces downward (FIGS. 5, 7, and 8).
The state is changed to the two-dot chain line), and the rodless cylinder 53 is operated to lower the elevating plate 54 and the entire wafer holding device 56 (arrows A4 in FIGS. 7 and 8). Are placed on the guide portion 71 of the guide member 72 at the position (the rightmost two-dot chain line position in FIG. 1 and the solid line position in FIG. 3).

Next, when the rodless cylinder 76 operates, the entire moving block 84, the connecting plate 80, and the pushing member 82 are slid forward. By the pushing member 82, the wafer W is pushed out along the guide part 71 toward the wafer peeling / cleaning part 67.
Wafer holding member 1 waiting at the above-water position indicated by a solid line
06.

In the wafer peeling / cleaning section 67,
First, the elevating drive cylinder 104 is extended and the wafer holding member 106 is lowered from the above water position to the underwater position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
The wafer W is immersed in the hot water 88 while being held at 06, and the vicinity of the boundary between the wafer W and the slice base SB contacts the upper end of the boundary portion support plate 87 in the hot water tank 86. Since the adhesive for bonding the slice base is softened by immersion in the hot water 88, the slice base peeling cylinder 112 is extended in this immersed state, and the elastic rod 1
By pushing down the slice base SB at the lower end of 14, the slice base SB can be cut off from the wafer W using the boundary portion support plate 87 as a fulcrum. Further, in this state or in a state where the wafer holding member 106 is further lowered to the bottom of the hot water tank 86 from this state, the ultrasonic device 90 is operated, and the hot water tank 86 and the hot water
By applying ultrasonic vibration to 8, the minute foreign matter on the surface of the wafer W can be removed.

After the slice base peeling step and the wafer cleaning step are completed, the elevation drive cylinder 104 is operated again to activate the wafer W and the wafer holding member 10.
6 is raised to the above-mentioned water position. Then, by operating the rodless cylinder 96, the moving block 1 is moved.
The wafer W is transported together with the beam 102, the beam 102, and the wafer holding member 106 toward the wafer storage transport section 68.

On the other hand, in the wafer storage / transport section 68, the conveyer elevating cylinder 120 and the revolving / contracting cylinder 122 are both contracted, the rear end of the belt conveyor 116 is at the wafer pick-up position, and the wafer support member 124 is at the standby position. Keep each one in position. Then, the wafer W held by the wafer holding member 106 is moved to both belt conveyors 11.
6, the rotating telescopic cylinder 122 extends in a state where the wafer W has reached a position above the rear end, that is, in a state where the central portion of the wafer W has been transported to a position immediately above the wafer supporting member 124. Cross member 11 of beam 102
The wafer W is lifted from 0a and placed on the wafer support member 124, and the turning telescoping cylinder 122 is turned by 90 ° from this state, whereby the direction of the wafer W is also turned by 90 °. That is, the turning telescopic cylinder 122 and the wafer support member 124 adjust the direction in which the wafer W is stored in the cassette 126. Then, the turning telescopic cylinder 122
Is contracted, and the wafer W is moved to the horizontal member 110 of the beam 102.
Place on a. In the case where such an orientation adjustment is not necessary, the turning telescopic cylinder 122 and the wafer support member 124
Can be omitted.

Next, the conveyor elevating cylinder 120
And the rear ends of both belt conveyors 116 are raised from the wafer pick-up position to the wafer pick-up position, so that the wafers W are scooped up at the rear ends of both belt conveyors 116. 106
The transfer of the wafer W from the to the belt conveyor 116 is completed. If the revolving and retracting cylinder 122 is extended and the wafer holding member 106 is retracted when the wafer W is placed on the wafer support member 124, then the wafer W can be retracted only by contracting the revolving and retracting cylinder 122.
Can be passed on a belt conveyor 116.

After the wafer W is transferred to the belt conveyor 116 in this way, the belt conveyor 116 is driven to transfer the wafer W to the cassette 126. During this transfer, dry air is blown onto the upper and lower surfaces of the wafer W from the upper and lower air blow pipes 131 and 132, so that the wet wafer W is dried in the cassette 1
26.

Each time one wafer W is loaded, the cassette 126 is moved up by one shelf by the drive of an elevator (not shown). By repeating such an operation, each stage in the cassette 126 is stored in the cassette 126. Wafer W one by one in order from the top
Will be stored. Full cassette 1
The wafer 26 is conveyed to the chamfering apparatus with the wafer W accommodated therein, and the next chamfering step is advanced.

As described above, according to this method and apparatus, the wafer W is immersed in the hot water 88 while the wafer W is held by the wafer holding member 106, the adhesive is softened, and the slice base SB is moved to the wafer. Since the slice base peeling step of peeling off from the W and the cleaning step of cleaning the wafer W by applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water 88 are performed in the same hot water tank 88, the peeling as in the related art is performed. Process and cleaning process are performed by different apparatuses, respectively.
Transport time and the like can be greatly reduced, and the required space of the entire apparatus can be significantly reduced.

Further, the wafer processing / transporting apparatus shown here converts the wafer W cut by the slicing apparatus 10 into one wafer.
The sheet is automatically fed to the peeling / washing unit 67 one by one, and is automatically fed into the cassette 126 after the processing.
26 can be carried out automatically with almost no manual intervention, so that labor and labor can be greatly reduced. It is possible to perform quality control accurately and automatically. Further, in this apparatus, since the dry air is blown before the wafer W is carried into the cassette 126, the wafer W is automatically immersed in the hot water tank 88 even after the wafer W is immersed in the hot water tank 88. Can be carried into the cassette 126 in a dry state.

The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, but may take the following forms as examples.

(1) In the above embodiment, the wafer holding member 10
After holding and immersing the wafer W in the hot water 88 in step 6, the method of first peeling the slice base SB and then cleaning the wafer W has been described. Regardless of the order of the wafer cleaning process,
Therefore, the wafer W may be immersed in the hot water 88, cleaned first by ultrasonic vibration, and then the slice base SB may be peeled off.

(2) In the above embodiment, the slicing device 10 for slicing the work 22 in the horizontal direction and slicing in the vertical direction is used, and the wafer W in the vertical state cut by the slicing device 10 is operated by the rotation cylinder 58. Although it is shown that the workpiece 22 is introduced into the wafer processing apparatus 14 after being corrected to a horizontal state, in the case of using a slicing apparatus for slicing the work 22 in the vertical direction and slicing in the horizontal direction, the cut wafer W is Since the swivel cylinder 58 and the like are unnecessary because they are already in a horizontal state,
Therefore, the wafer W is peeled off as it is.
What is necessary is just to advance to a washing process.

[0067]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

In the method according to the first aspect, the wafer is placed in a hot water tank, and the slice base separating means provided in the hot water.
The peeling step of peeling the slice base from the wafer and the cleaning step of cleaning the wafer by applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water tank are performed in the same hot water tank. This eliminates the need to transport the wafer, thereby greatly reducing the time required for processing the wafer, and significantly reducing the space required for installing an apparatus for performing the peeling step and the cleaning step. This has the effect of contributing to a reduction in product cost.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, while the wafer is held by the wafer holding means, the slice base can be peeled off from the wafer and the wafer can be cleaned in the hot water tank without manual intervention.

More specifically, according to the apparatus of the third aspect, the slice is formed by a simple structure having only the boundary portion support member in the hot water tank and the pressing means for pressing the slice base from above. There is an effect that the base can be easily peeled.

Further, according to the apparatus of the fourth aspect, the wafer cut by the slicing device is carried into the peeling / cleaning device, and further, after the peeling / cleaning process, is carried out until it is carried into the predetermined wafer storage container. Work can be performed automatically, thereby achieving significant labor and labor savings, and by enabling the automatic handling of wafers one by one, There is an effect that quality control for each wafer can be automatically and reliably performed.

In particular, according to the apparatus of the fifth aspect, even though the wafer is immersed in hot water, the wafer is automatically dried in a dry state by blowing dry air during the subsequent transfer of the wafer. There is an effect that it can be carried into the storage container.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of a wafer processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall side view of the wafer processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a wafer processing and transporting apparatus including the wafer processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the wafer processing and transporting apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a positional relationship between the wafer transfer device and the wafer processing device in the wafer transfer device.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a positional relationship between the wafer transfer device and the wafer processing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Slicing device 12 Wafer transfer device (constituting wafer transfer means) 14 Wafer processing device 22 Work 66 Wafer transfer portion (constituting wafer transfer device) 67 Peeling / cleaning unit (slice base peeling / cleaning device) 68 Wafer storage transfer unit 86 Hot water tank 87 Boundary part support plate 88 Hot water 90 Ultrasonic device (vibration generating means) 104 Cylinder for driving up and down (elevating means) 106 Wafer holding member (wafer holding means) 112 Slice base peeling cylinder (pressing means) 126 Cassette (wafer) Storage container) W Wafer SB Slice base

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-219526 (JP, A) JP-A-3-58807 (JP, A) JP-A-54-101661 (JP, A) (58) Investigation Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/304 622 H01L 21/304 642 B08B 3/10

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for peeling a slice base adhered to a peripheral portion of a wafer from a wafer cut by a slicing apparatus and cleaning the wafer, the wafer being placed in hot water, In this hot water, the heat
A wafer, comprising: a peeling step of peeling a slice base from the wafer by a slice base peeling means provided in water; and a cleaning step of cleaning the wafer by applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water. Slice base peeling and cleaning method. 2. An apparatus for peeling a slice base adhered to a peripheral portion of a wafer from a wafer cut by a slicing apparatus and for cleaning the wafer, comprising: a hot water tank containing hot water; Wafer holding means for holding the wafer in a substantially horizontal state, elevating means for elevating the wafer holding means between an underwater position in the hot water tank and a water position above the hot water tank, A slice base separating unit for separating the slice base from the wafer while the wafer holding unit is at the underwater position; and a vibration generating unit for applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water tank. Cleaning equipment. 3. The slice base peeling means is provided in the hot water tank, and a boundary abutting from below on a vicinity of a boundary between the wafer and the slice base in a state where the wafer and the wafer holding means are lowered to an underwater position. A partial support member;
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising pressing means for pressing said slice base from above in a state where said boundary portion support member is in contact with said vicinity of said boundary portion. 4. A wafer slice-based peeling / cleaning apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, and a wafer cut out by a slicing apparatus, and received in a wafer holding means located at a water position in the slice-base peeling / cleaning apparatus. Wafer carrying means for carrying in,
A wafer processing / transporting apparatus, comprising: a wafer storing / transporting means for unloading a wafer from a wafer holding means located at a water position in a cleaning apparatus and placing the wafer in a wafer receiving container. 5. The wafer processing and transporting device according to claim 4, further comprising a wafer drying unit that blows dry air onto the wafer transported by the wafer storage and transporting unit.