JP2003318134A - Dicing device and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dicing device for mass production and a method thereof that suppresses the wafer of a highly brittle material such as Si (silicon) and LT (lithium-tantalate) at a minimum chipping and stably performs groove and cut machining. <P>SOLUTION: The vibration parameter of a vibrator (a vibration generating means) 51 are stored into a plurality of storing means 62 for vibrating work in advance, and a machining program is generated with the program generating means 64 of a controller 60 by calling an optimum vibration parameter responding to the kind of the work. Consequently, the wafer of the highly brittle material such as Si (silicon) and LT (lithium-tantalate) is stably machined for groove and cutting with suppressing chipping at a minimum, independently on the intuition of an operator. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

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 dicing method for grooving and cutting a workpiece such as a semiconductor or an electronic component material, and particularly to grooving or cutting while applying vibration to the workpiece. The present invention relates to a dicing device and a dicing method to be performed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a dicing device for grooving or cutting a work such as a semiconductor or electronic component material, a work is processed by applying a grinding water or a cooling water with a thin grindstone called a blade rotating at a high speed. In this dicing device, the spindle holding the blade is index-feeded in the Y-axis direction and cut-feeded in the Z-axis direction, and the work table on which the work is placed is ground-feeded in the X-direction.

On the other hand, wafers such as Si (silicon), which is a material for semiconductor devices, and LТ (lithium tantalate), which is a material for filters used in mobile phones and the like, are highly brittle materials, and therefore, they are grooved or cut. When processing, chipping is likely to occur at the edge of the processed groove. The chipping causes problems such as deterioration of processing quality, defective dicing chips, and deterioration of processing yield.

Therefore, conventionally, the vibration of the spindle holding the blade is suppressed as much as possible, and the vibration of the work table on which the work is placed is also suppressed as much as possible, depending on the kind of work, the work thickness or the cut amount, and the cut width. , The number of revolutions of the spindle, the grinding speed, the flow rate of grinding water, and other grinding conditions were cut and tried while searching for the best combination.

On the contrary, a method of grinding while applying ultrasonic vibration to the blade or the work has been attempted.

[0006]

However, since the method for applying this vibration has not been systematically studied, the operator still has to use cut and try, depending on the intuition.
I did not get out of the area to process while searching.

In addition, each item of the grinding conditions as described above is such that each of them acts critically, and the machining with a small amount of chipping can be performed at one time, but the chipping will occur again at the next time. However, it was not a device and method for mass production.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is capable of stably grooving a wafer of a highly brittle material such as Si (silicon) or LТ (lithium tantalate) while suppressing chipping as much as possible. An object of the present invention is to provide a mass-production dicing device and a dicing method capable of performing cutting processing.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is a dicing apparatus for carrying out groove processing and cutting processing on a work by means of a rotating blade, wherein the work is Alternatively, in a dicing device that performs the processing while applying vibration to a blade, a vibration generation unit that generates the vibration, a storage unit that stores a plurality of vibration parameters, and a vibration parameter is selected according to the type of work, and this selection is made. And a controller for vibrating the vibration generating means based on the generated vibration parameter.

The invention according to claim 2 is the dicing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vibration parameters are a vibration direction, a vibration frequency, and a vibration intensity.

Further, a third aspect of the present invention is a dicing method for performing groove processing or cutting processing on a work with a rotating blade, wherein the dicing method performs the processing while applying vibration to the work. Is stored in the storage means, a vibration parameter corresponding to the type of work is selected from the plurality of vibration parameters, and the vibration generating means is vibrated based on the selected vibration parameter. It is characterized in that the work is processed.

According to the present invention, a plurality of vibration parameters for vibrating the work are stored in advance, and the optimum vibration parameter is called according to the type of the work to vibrate the vibration generating means. It is possible to perform stable grooving and cutting processing on a wafer made of a highly brittle material such as Si (silicon) or LT (lithium tantalate) without depending on the above, while suppressing chipping as much as possible.

This is because the inventor of the present application measured the vibration of the work while processing the work with the dicing device and analyzed it by Fourier analysis, showing that the range and strength of the vibration frequency and the direction of the vibration were There is a condition that is closely related to chipping that occurs in the processed part and that produces better results than when suppressing vibration as much as possible, that is, chipping occurs by adding vibration of a certain specific frequency with appropriate strength. It was discovered that the above can be controlled, and the present invention was created.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of a dicing apparatus and a dicing method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each drawing, the same members are given the same numbers or reference numerals.

First, the structure of the dicing apparatus according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a processing portion of a dicing apparatus according to the present invention. Dicing machine 1
In addition to the processing unit shown in FIG. 1, 0 is composed of a spin cleaning device, a transfer device, a load port, a microscope, an alignment device, a monitor TV, an operation / display unit, an indicator lamp, a controller shown in FIG. Has been done.

The processing portion is a portion for performing groove processing and cutting processing on the work. The spin cleaning device is a device for cleaning the processed work, and sprays cleaning water while rotating the work to remove contaminants adhering to the work. The transfer device is a device that transfers a work to each part of the dicing device, and the load port is a part that transfers a cassette containing a large number of works to the outside of the dicing device.

The microscope is a member for observing the surface of the work in order to evaluate the alignment and processing state of the work, and the observed image can be observed on the screen of the monitor television via the CCD camera. The alignment device processes the pattern image on the surface of the work to automatically align the work. The operation / display unit is provided with switches and display means for operating each unit of the dicing device 10. The controller is a part that controls each operation of the dicing device 10, and is composed of a microprocessor, a memory, an input / output circuit and the like, and is stored inside a pedestal (not shown) of the dicing device 10. The indicator light is for displaying the operation of the dicing device 10, the end of processing, the standby, an alarm, etc., and is provided at a high position so that it can be seen from a distance.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the processing portion of the dicing apparatus 10, a blade 21 for performing groove processing and cutting processing of a work is attached to an air bearing spindle (hereinafter referred to as a spindle) 22 incorporated in a high frequency motor.
It is rotated at a high speed of 000 rpm to 60,000 rpm. This blade 21 is a thin disk shape, and is an electrodeposition blade in which diamond abrasive grains or CBN abrasive grains are electrodeposited with nickel,
Resin-bonded resin blades are used. Further, grinding water is supplied to the blade 21 from a grinding nozzle (not shown) at a processing point.

Further, the Y guide base 31 is provided in this processing portion.
There is a Y guide rail 32 on the Y guide base 31,
32 is provided, the Y table 33 is guided in the Y direction by the Y guide rails 32, 32, and is index-fed in the Y direction by a drive mechanism (not shown). Furthermore, the Z guide rail 4 is attached to the Y table 33.
A Z table 42 is provided which is guided by Nos. 1 and 41 and is cut and fed in the Z direction by a drive mechanism (not shown). The spindle 22 is attached to the Z table 42 via a gripping mechanism 26. With such a mechanism, the blade 21 attached to the spindle 22 rotates,
Index feed in the Y direction and cut feed in the Z direction are performed.

Below the spindle 22, there is provided an X table 25 which is ground and fed in the X direction by a mechanism which will be described later. On the X table 25, there is mounted a θ table 24 which rotates in the θ direction in the figure. A work table 23 is attached to the. The workpiece to be processed is adsorbed and fixed on the upper surface of the work table 23, and
Is rotated by .theta., And is fed by grinding by the X table 25 in the direction of arrow X in the figure.
An oscillator 51 is attached to the X table 25 as a vibration generating means for vibrating the work table 23 on which the work is placed.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a drive mechanism of the X table 25. As shown in FIG. 2, the X table 25
Are linear guides 27A, 27A attached to the four corners,
Is guided in the X direction along the guide rails 27, 27 by. In addition, the X table 25 includes a ball screw 29 connected to the AC servo motor 28 via a coupling.
(In FIG. 2, the ball screw 29 is not visible because it is covered with a bellows) and a ball nut (not shown) are connected,
The AC servo motor 28 is driven to feed by grinding in the X direction. The AC servomotor 28 is rotationally driven by the driver 52.

The oscillator 51 mounted on the upper surface of the X table 25 is, for example, an ultrasonic oscillator, and has a vibration frequency (H
z) and the strength of vibration (dB) are controlled arbitrarily.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the controller 60 of the dicing apparatus 10. The controller 60 is composed of a CPU 61, a storage unit 62, a data input / output unit 63, a program generation unit 64, a control unit 65, etc., and each is connected by a bus line. Further, the control unit 65 includes a spindle control unit 65A and an X control unit 65.
It is composed of B, Y control means 65C, Z control means 65D, θ control means 65E and the like.

The CPU 61 has a central processing function of the controller 60 and performs various kinds of processing. The storage unit 62 stores a plurality of vibration parameters such as the vibration direction of the oscillator 51, the vibration frequency (Hz), and the vibration intensity (dB), and also stores various data. The data input / output unit 63 inputs data from the outside and transmits the data to the outside. The program generation means 64 creates a machining program including vibration parameters. The control unit 65 includes a spindle control unit 65A, an X control unit 65B, and a Y control unit 65.
The operation of each part of the dicing device 10 is controlled via the C, Z control means 65D, the θ control means 65E and the like.

FIG. 4 schematically shows three vibration patterns A, B and C in which an acceleration sensor is attached to the X table 25, vibration is measured, and the obtained data is Fourier analyzed. The horizontal axis represents the vibration frequency (Hz), and the vertical axis represents the vibration intensity (dB). For example, the vibration pattern A is optimal for processing Si (silicon), and the vibration pattern B
Is used as an optimum pattern for processing LТ (lithium tantalate). In addition, this graph is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a vibration pattern, and the number of vibration patterns is not limited to three,
The optimum pattern is experimentally sought according to the type of work.

Next, the operation of the processing portion of the dicing apparatus 10 thus constructed will be described. Since the operation of the entire dicing device 10 is known, the description thereof will be omitted. First, prior to machining, the operator inputs the machining conditions such as the type of the workpiece, the size of the workpiece, the machining depth, the index size, the spindle rotation speed, the grinding feed speed, and the alignment condition from the operation / display unit.

In the controller 60 of the dicing apparatus 10, the machining program is generated by the program generating means 64 from the inputted machining conditions. With respect to the vibration parameter for vibrating the work, an optimum vibration pattern is selected according to the type of the work, is called from the storage unit 62, and is incorporated into the machining program.

With respect to this vibration pattern, optimum vibration parameters having a high chipping suppressing effect on various works are experimentally obtained, and are stored in the storage means 62 in advance. When the work is Si (silicon), for example, the vibration direction is the X direction (grinding feed direction), the vibration frequency is 200 KHz,
The strength of vibration is stored as 3.0 dB.

When the machining program is generated, the operation of each unit of the dicing device 10 is controlled by the control unit 65 in accordance with the machining program.

First, the work to be processed is placed on the work table 23 by suction, and is aligned by an alignment device (not shown) so that the processing line coincides with the X direction. Next, the blade 21 is rotated at a high speed by the spindle 22 and positioned at the processing position by the index feed of the Y table 33.
It is positioned at the required cutting position by the cutting feed of.

The work processed here is the X table 25.
By means of grinding feed in the direction of arrow X in the figure, and processing is performed along the processing line. At this time, the oscillator 51 attached to the X-table 25 vibrates in a programmed vibration pattern, and vibrates the work placed on the work table 23 by suction. Next, the blade 21 is index-fed to the next processing position and the next groove is processed.

When all the lines are processed in this way, the work is rotated 90 ° by the θ table 24,
A line orthogonal to the above line is processed in the same manner. The above is the operation in the processing part, but since the processed work is ground while being vibrated in an optimum vibration pattern, chipping that occurs at the peripheral edge of the processing groove is suppressed as much as possible.

In this embodiment, the work is vibrated by the vibration of the oscillator 51 attached to the X table 25. However, the vibration generating means is not limited to this, and the AC servo motor 28 for driving the X table 25 is used. The vibration may be generated by controlling the speed correction gain, which is the drive parameter of No. 2, or the optimum vibration may be generated by controlling the control parameter of the drive motor of the θ table 24.

Further, instead of vibrating the work, the blade may be vibrated, and both the work and the blade may be vibrated.

[0035]

As described above, the occurrence of chipping can be controlled by applying vibration of a specific frequency to the work with appropriate strength in the dicing machine.
According to the present invention, a plurality of vibration parameters for vibrating the workpiece are stored in advance, and a machining program is generated by calling the optimal vibration parameter according to the type of the workpiece, without depending on the intuition of the operator. Wafers made of highly brittle materials such as Si (silicon) and LT (lithium tantalate) can be stably subjected to groove processing and cutting processing while suppressing chipping as much as possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a structure of a processing portion of a dicing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a drive mechanism of an X table.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a controller of the dicing device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic graph showing a vibration pattern.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Dicing device, 21 ... Blade, 22 ... Spindle, 23 ... Work table, 25 ... X table, 51
... Oscillator (vibration generating means), 60 ... Controller, 62
... storage means, 64 ... program generation means

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Noriaki Ebisu             9-7 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka City, Tokyo Stocks             Company Tokyo Seimitsu

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A dicing apparatus for performing groove processing or cutting processing on a work with a rotating blade, wherein the dicing apparatus performs the processing while applying vibration to the work or blade, and a vibration generating unit for generating the vibration. A storage unit that stores a plurality of vibration parameters, and a controller that selects a vibration parameter according to the type of work and vibrates the vibration generation unit based on the selected vibration parameter. Characteristic dicing equipment. 2. The dicing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vibration parameters are a vibration direction, a vibration frequency, and a vibration intensity. 3. A dicing method for grooving or cutting a workpiece with a rotating blade, wherein the dicing method performs the machining while applying vibration to the workpiece, wherein a plurality of vibration parameters are stored in a storage means in advance. A vibration parameter corresponding to the type of work is selected from the plurality of vibration parameters, and the vibration generating means is vibrated based on the selected vibration parameter to machine the work. And dicing method.