JP2000036475A - Dicing apparatus and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically control a cutting speed, based on the shape of a cutting groove and to improve the productivity of a dicing process, while keeping the shape of the cutting groove within an allowable range. SOLUTION: This dicing apparatus 1 is constituted of a dicing main body 2 and a control means 3. The dicing main body 2 is provided with a fixing part 4 for fixing a semiconductor substrate, a cutting part 5 for cutting the semiconductor substrate, a driving part 6 for moving the cutting part 5 relative to the fixing part 4 and making it cut the semiconductor substrate and a chipping measurement part for detecting the cutting groove of the semiconductor substrate and measuring the chipping maximum value of the cutting groove. The control means 3 is constituted of a chipping deciding part 11 and a cutting speed instruction part 12. Then, the cutting speed in the next prescribed section is reduced, when the chipping maximum value exceeds a chipping reference set beforehand, the cutting speed in the next prescribed section is increased, when the chipping maximum value becomes lower than the chipping reference and the cutting speed is automatically controlled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dicing apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly to a dicing apparatus for automatically controlling a cutting speed when cutting a semiconductor substrate and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a semiconductor device is subjected to a process of manufacturing a plurality of semiconductor chips on a semiconductor substrate (including a semiconductor wafer), a process of cutting the semiconductor substrate for each semiconductor chip (dicing process), and a cutting process. And a process of assembling the semiconductor chip.

In this dicing step, after a semiconductor substrate is fixed to a dicing apparatus, for example, a diamond blade is rotated at a high speed, and a cutting process is performed along a dicing line between semiconductor chips.

The cut semiconductor substrate is inspected for the quality of the cut groove (dicing line check), and the position of the diamond blade, the increase or decrease of the cutting speed, etc. are corrected based on the result of the inspection. ing.

The inspection items include, for example, chipping at both ends of the cutting groove (chipping) and confirmation of whether the cutting groove cuts a line to be diced (off center). Of these,
For off-center items, automatic off-center control is performed by measuring the amount of deviation from the planned dicing line and correcting the amount of movement sent to the next planned dicing line.

[0006]

However, automatic control is not performed for the chipping item, and the operator manually increases or decreases the feed amount (cutting speed) of the diamond blade from the maximum value of the chipping of the cutting groove. For example, if the maximum chipping value is near the allowable chipping value, the cutting speed is reduced.If the maximum chipping value is significantly smaller than the allowable chipping value, the cutting speed of the diamond blade is increased, and the maximum chipping value is within the allowable chipping range. To improve the productivity of the dicing process.

As described above, for the chipping item, the operator increases or decreases the cutting speed each time according to the value of the maximum chipping value, and the work is troublesome.

In addition, the increase or decrease of the cutting speed changes the set value of the cutting speed according to the experience of the operator, and the work of setting the cutting speed requires skill.

Further, since the worker checks the value of the maximum chipping value and sets the cutting speed on the basis of this value, this operation takes a long time and improves the productivity of the dicing process. I couldn't do that.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a dicing apparatus capable of automatically controlling a cutting speed based on a shape of a cutting groove and a control method thereof. Is to do.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a dicing apparatus capable of improving the productivity of a dicing process while keeping the shape of a cutting groove within an allowable range, and a control method thereof.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a fixing portion for fixing a semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor substrate are cut along a dicing line of the substrate. A cutting section, a chipping measurement section for measuring chipping of a cutting groove formed along a line to be diced on the semiconductor substrate to obtain a maximum chipping value in a predetermined section, and a chipping criterion in which the chipping maximum value is set in advance. Control means for decreasing the cutting speed in the next predetermined section when the cutting speed exceeds the maximum value, and increasing the cutting speed in the next predetermined section when the maximum chipping value falls below the chipping criterion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the control means is configured to compare the maximum chipping value with the chipping criterion, and to perform a determination based on a result of the chipping determination section. And a cutting speed instruction unit for setting a cutting speed in the next predetermined section.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a cutting step of cutting the semiconductor substrate by relatively moving a fixing portion for fixing the semiconductor substrate and a cutting portion for cutting the semiconductor substrate along a dicing line. And, a chipping measurement step of measuring the maximum chipping value by image recognition of the cutting groove of the semiconductor substrate, and a chipping determination step of comparing a chipping maximum value calculated in the chipping measurement step with a preset chipping reference, A cutting speed increasing / decreasing step of increasing / decreasing a cutting speed of the semiconductor substrate based on a result of the chipping determining step.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the maximum chipping value in a predetermined section is measured by the chipping measurement section. When the maximum chipping value exceeds the chipping reference, the cutting speed of the semiconductor substrate in the next predetermined section decreases. When the maximum chipping value falls below the chipping criterion, the cutting speed of the semiconductor substrate in the next predetermined section increases.

According to the invention described in claim 2, according to claim 1
In addition to the operation of the invention described in the above, the chipping maximum value measured by the chipping measurement unit and the chipping criterion are compared by the chipping determination unit. As a result of this comparison, an increase or decrease in the cutting speed is instructed by the cutting speed instructing section, and the cutting speed is changed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the image of the cut semiconductor substrate is recognized, and image data of the cut groove is created. The maximum chipping value of the cutting groove is measured from the image data, and is compared with a chipping reference. Then, as a result of this comparison, the cutting speed of the semiconductor substrate is changed.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a dicing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the dicing apparatus 1 comprises:
It comprises a dicing main body 2 and a control means 3.

The dicing body 2 includes a fixed portion 4 and a cutting portion 5.
, A driving unit 6 and a chipping measuring unit 7.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the vicinity of the cutting portion 5 of the dicing body.

As shown in FIG. 2, the fixing portion 4 is formed in a table shape, and is fixed with the semiconductor substrate 8 placed on the table. The fixing portion 4 may be any as long as it can fix the semiconductor substrate 8, and may be formed in a chuck shape for holding the semiconductor substrate 8, for example, in addition to a table shape.

The cutting section 5 is composed of a disk-shaped rotary blade,
In the present embodiment, a diamond blade is used. Then, by moving the diamond blade while rotating, the semiconductor substrate 8 is cut, and a cutting groove 9 is formed in the semiconductor substrate 8.

The driving section 6 is a driving source for moving the fixed section 4 or the cutting section 5, and moves the cutting section 5 relative to the fixed section 4. The semiconductor substrate 8 is moved along the planned dicing line 10 by the relative movement of the cutting part 5. Thus, the semiconductor substrate 8 is cut on the planned dicing line 10, and a cut groove 9 is formed on the planned dicing line 10.

The chipping measuring section 7 is constituted by a device for detecting the shape of the cut groove 9 of the semiconductor substrate 8, and in the present embodiment, an image processing device is used. The shape of the cutting groove 9 is recognized by the chipping measurement unit 7, and the image data is created. In the present embodiment, chipping measurement is performed for each of the lines 10 to be diced. FIG. 3 shows the shape of the cutting groove 9 recognized by the chipping measuring unit 7. As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of fine notches are formed in the cutting groove 9. The chipping measurement section 7 measures the maximum value of the chipping at both ends of the cutting groove 9, that is, the maximum chipping value X from the image data.

The control means 3 comprises a chipping determining section 11 and a cutting speed instructing section 12.

In the chipping determination section 11, a chipping reference value Y as a chipping reference is set in advance.
The chipping reference value Y is set within an allowable range of the chipping value of the cutting groove 9. Then, the magnitude of the maximum chipping value X from the chipping measurement unit 7 and the value of the chipping reference value Y are compared.

The cutting speed instructing unit 12 issues an instruction to increase or decrease the cutting speed based on the result of the chipping determining unit 11. Specifically, the maximum chipping value X is determined for each of the lines 10 to be diced, and the maximum chipping value X is calculated.
Is instructed so that the cutting speed of the next scheduled dicing line 10 decreases when the value exceeds the chipping reference value Y, and when the maximum chipping value X falls below the chipping reference value Y, the next scheduled dicing line 10 Is instructed to increase the cutting speed of the drive unit 6. Then, the moving speed changes according to the instruction from the cutting speed instruction unit 12, and the cutting speed of the semiconductor substrate 8 changes.

Next, a method of controlling the dicing apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of the dicing apparatus according to the present embodiment. This flow chart shows a control method for one scheduled dicing line 10, and the same control method is performed for each scheduled dicing line 10.

As shown in FIG. 4, first, a cutting process of the semiconductor substrate 8 is performed, and a cutting groove 9 is formed in the semiconductor substrate 8 (STEP 21). Here, the semiconductor substrate 8 is fixed to the fixing portion 4, the cutting portion 5 moves on the planned dicing line 10, the semiconductor substrate 8 is cut on the planned dicing line 10, and the cutting groove 9 is formed on the planned dicing line 10. It is formed.

Next, chipping measurement processing of the cutting groove 9 is performed, and the maximum chipping value X is measured (STEP 2).
2). The cutting groove 9 is converted into image data by image recognition, and a chipping maximum value X is obtained from the image data.

Then, a chipping determination process for comparing the maximum value of the chipping value X with the value of the chipping reference value Y is performed (STEP 23).

As a result, when the maximum chipping value X is smaller than the chipping reference value Y (when X ≦ Y), the set value of the cutting speed is increased (STEP 24). On the other hand, when the maximum chipping value X is larger than the chipping reference value Y (X
> Y), the set value of the cutting speed is reduced (STE
P25). The setting value of the cutting speed is changed by an instruction from the cutting speed instruction unit 12 to the driving unit 6 to change the moving speed of the cutting unit 5.

Then, on the next scheduled dicing line 10, the semiconductor substrate 8 is cut at the changed cutting speed.

Here, in general, the maximum chipping value X increases as the set value of the cutting speed increases, and the maximum chipping value X decreases as the set value of the cutting speed decreases. For this reason, the chipping maximum value X of the cutting groove 9 is controlled so as to approach the chipping reference value Y, and the chipping value of the cutting groove 9 can be kept within an allowable range.

According to this embodiment, the cutting speed can be automatically controlled based on the shape of the cutting groove, that is, the magnitude of the maximum chipping value X and the standard chipping value Y. For this reason, the labor of the operator in the dicing process can be reduced. Further, the operator does not need to check the maximum chipping value X and set the cutting speed based on this value, so that the productivity of the dicing process can be improved.

According to the present embodiment, the maximum chipping value X is controlled so as to approach the chipping reference value Y, and the chipping value of the cutting groove 9 can be reliably maintained within an allowable range.

According to the present embodiment, when the maximum chipping value X is smaller than the chipping reference value Y, the set value of the cutting speed is increased, so that the chipping value of the cutting groove 9 is kept within an allowable range. The cutting speed can be increased, and the productivity of the dicing step can be improved.

The embodiment is not limited to the above. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a control device 13 is provided separately from the dicing device 1, and the chipping determination portion 1 is provided in the control device 13.
1 and a cutting speed indicating unit 12 may be accommodated. At this time, the chipping measurement section 7 is divided into an image recognition section 7a for producing image data, an image measurement section 7b for measuring the maximum chipping value X from the image data, and an image measurement data holding section 7c. Is stored in the control device 13. In addition, a transmitting / receiving unit 14 is accommodated in the dicing apparatus 1, and transmission and reception between the dicing apparatus 1 and the control device 13 are performed. In this case, the effect of the present invention can be obtained only by arranging the control device 13 and the transmission / reception unit 14 in an existing dicing device.

The chipping reference value Y is provided with a first chipping reference value Y1 and a second chipping reference value Y2. When the chipping reference value Y exceeds the first chipping reference value Y1, the cutting speed on the next scheduled dicing line 10 is reduced. When the maximum chipping value falls below the second chipping reference value Y2, the cutting speed at the next scheduled dicing line 10 may be increased. In this case, the cutting speed is not changed for each of the planned dicing lines 10, and the control of the dicing apparatus 1 is facilitated.

[0041]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
A fixing portion for fixing the semiconductor substrate, a cutting portion for cutting the semiconductor substrate along a line to be diced on the substrate, and measuring chipping of a cutting groove formed along the line to be diced on the semiconductor substrate to measure a chipping in a predetermined section. A chipping measuring unit for determining a chipping maximum value, and when the chipping maximum value exceeds a preset chipping criterion, reduces the cutting speed in the next predetermined section, and when the chipping maximum value falls below the chipping criterion, the next predetermined section. Since the control means for increasing the cutting speed in the above is provided, the cutting speed can be automatically controlled based on the shape of the cutting groove.
Further, the productivity of the dicing step can be improved while keeping the shape of the cutting groove within an allowable range.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a dicing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the vicinity of a cutting part according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a cutting groove in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of the dicing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a dicing apparatus according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Dicing device, 3 ... Control means, 4 ... Fixed part, 5 ... Cutting part, 7 ... Chipping measuring part, 8 ... Semiconductor substrate, 9 ... Cutting groove, X ... Maximum chipping, Y
... Chipping reference value as chipping reference.

Claims (3)

[Claims] A fixing section for fixing the semiconductor substrate; a cutting section for cutting the semiconductor substrate along a line to be diced on the substrate; and chipping of a cutting groove formed along the line to be diced on the semiconductor substrate. And a chipping measurement unit for measuring a chipping maximum value in a predetermined section, and when the chipping maximum value exceeds a preset chipping criterion, reduces a cutting speed in a next predetermined section, and the chipping maximum value is reduced by the chipping. A dicing apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to increase a cutting speed in a next predetermined section when a value falls below a reference. 2. The control unit includes: a chipping determination unit that compares the maximum chipping value with the chipping reference; and a cutting speed instruction unit that sets a cutting speed in a next predetermined section based on a result of the chipping determination unit. The dicing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: 3. A cutting step of cutting the semiconductor substrate by relatively moving a fixing portion for fixing the semiconductor substrate and a cutting portion for cutting the semiconductor substrate along a line to be diced, and cutting the semiconductor substrate. The chipping measurement step of measuring the maximum chipping value by image recognition of the groove, the chipping determination step of comparing the chipping maximum value calculated in the chipping measurement step with a preset chipping reference, and the result of the chipping determination step And a cutting speed increasing / decreasing step of increasing / decreasing a cutting speed of the semiconductor substrate.