JP2005191078A - Method of supplying and recovering semiconductor wafer and apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform releasing treating of a surface protective tape in a single wafer without using a special purpose device by utilizing an existing wafer mount processing unit effectively. <P>SOLUTION: The processing apparatus 1 for mounting the wafer includes a control means for performing dicing tape laminating treating to a mounting frame, wafer attaching treating of adhering and holding a semiconductor wafer adhered with the surface protective tape on the dicing tape of the mounting frame, and surface protective tape releasing treating of releasing the surface protective tape from the semiconductor wafer held by the mounting frame in a predetermined sequence. A wafer supplying and recovering device for supplying and conveying the semiconductor wafers each adhered with the surface protective tape one by one is coupled to the processing apparatus 1, the wafer supplying and recovering device is controlled to be operated by communicating information with the main controller of the wafer mounting processing apparatus, and the surface protective tape of the supplied semiconductor wafer is processed to be released by a surface protective tape releasing mechanism in the wafer mounting processing apparatus 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for supplying and recovering a semiconductor wafer used in an apparatus for peeling off a surface protection tape attached to a pattern forming surface of a semiconductor wafer and an apparatus using the same.

Generally, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as “wafer”) is subjected to a pattern forming process on the wafer surface before a back surface polishing process (back grinding), and a back surface polishing process is performed after a surface protection tape is applied to the pattern forming surface. . The wafer subjected to the back surface polishing treatment is held on the ring frame via the dicing tape, and the surface protection tape is peeled off from the wafer held on the ring frame. A procedure is taken to send the wafer from which the surface protection tape has been peeled off to the next process (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-5-63077

  In recent years, even after the surface protective tape is peeled off from the back-polished wafer, a bump embedding process or a pattern forming process after the back surface polishing is performed in the same manner as the pattern forming process.

  However, in order to perform the above-described processing on the wafer after the surface protection tape is peeled off, it is necessary to peel off the surface protection tape as it is without holding the wafer on the ring frame. To that end, it is necessary to prepare a dedicated device that only peels off the surface protection tape, which not only requires equipment costs but also requires a space for installing the dedicated device, which is a problem in terms of economic and facility management. It has become.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by effectively using an existing wafer mount processing apparatus, the surface protection tape peeling process with a single wafer can be efficiently performed without using a dedicated apparatus. The main purpose is to make it possible.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, the semiconductor wafer supply and recovery method according to the first aspect of the present invention is a wafer mounting apparatus having a function of bonding a dicing tape to a semiconductor wafer and peeling the surface protection tape from the semiconductor wafer to which the dicing tape is bonded. A wafer supply / recovery device for supplying, transporting and recovering the semiconductor wafer with the surface protection tape attached thereto is connected or connected, and the wafer supply / recovery device is operated and controlled by exchanging information with the main controller of the wafer mount processing device, The supplied surface protective tape of the semiconductor wafer is peeled off by a surface protective tape peeling mechanism in the wafer mount processing apparatus, and then recovered by the wafer supply and recovery apparatus.

  [Operation / Effect] According to the semiconductor wafer supply / recovery method described above, when the wafer mount processing apparatus is operated in a standard form, it is used for supplying a wafer with a surface protection tape and supplying a ring frame. Along with this, the dicing tape bonding process to the ring frame, the wafer bonding process (wafer mount) to the dicing tape bonded to the ring frame, and the surface protection from the wafer held by the ring frame via the dicing tape. The tape peeling process and various processes accompanying these are sequentially executed based on the operation of the main control unit.

  When it is necessary to peel off the surface protection tape with a single wafer, the controller of the wafer supply and recovery apparatus is connected to the main controller of the wafer mount processing apparatus so that information can be exchanged between the two. . When both devices are activated in such a state, the main controller of the wafer mount processing apparatus targets only the surface protection tape peeling mechanism in the wafer mount processing apparatus and the wafer supply / recovery apparatus connected to the wafer mount processing apparatus. The wafers that are operated and supplied and transported from the wafer supply / recovery apparatus are loaded into the surface protection tape peeling mechanism of the wafer mount processing apparatus, undergo a predetermined peeling process, and are returned to the wafer supply / recovery apparatus after the processing and recovered. .

  Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated device for peeling the surface protective tape from the wafer alone to which the surface protective tape is attached, and it is not necessary to reduce the equipment cost and secure the installation space for the dedicated device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor wafer supply / recovery device comprising a wafer mounting device having a function of bonding a dicing tape to a semiconductor wafer and peeling the surface protection tape from the semiconductor wafer having the dicing tape bonded thereto. A semiconductor wafer supply / recovery device for carrying or supplying and collecting a semiconductor wafer to or from a wafer mount device in the vicinity or connection,
A mounting portion on which storage means for storing the semiconductor wafers to which the surface protection tape is attached in multiple stages;
A transport means for taking out the semiconductor wafer from the storage means placed in the placement section and placing it on a peeling table for peeling the surface protection tape in the wafer mount device;
It is provided with.

  [Operation and Effect] According to the semiconductor wafer supply and recovery apparatus described above, the wafer supply and recovery apparatus is close to or connected to the wafer mount processing apparatus. The transport means takes out the semiconductor wafer from the storage means placed on the placement portion of the wafer supply and recovery apparatus, and transports and places the wafer on the peeling table in the wafer mount apparatus. The wafer from which the surface protection tape has been peeled off by the peeling table is again held by the transfer means and collected in the storage means. Therefore, the semiconductor wafer supply and recovery method according to the first aspect of the present invention can be suitably realized.

  The transfer means may be configured to align while holding the upper surface of the wafer. In addition, an alignment stage for performing alignment by placing the wafer taken out by the transfer means may be provided. Further, the transfer means may be composed of a second transfer means that holds the upper surface of the wafer aligned by the alignment stage and places the wafer on the peeling table of the wafer mount apparatus. The semiconductor wafer supply according to the first aspect of the present invention is configured as described above, and is configured to drive and control each drive unit of the transfer means and the alignment stage by exchanging information with the main control unit of the wafer mount apparatus. A recovery method can be suitably realized.

  According to the semiconductor wafer surface protection tape peeling method according to the present invention, by effectively utilizing the tape peeling function of the existing wafer mount processing apparatus, the wafer surface protection tape can be used alone without using a dedicated apparatus. The peeling process can be performed efficiently.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a simplified overall configuration of the wafer mount processing apparatus 1. The wafer mount processing apparatus 1 includes a wafer supply unit 2 in which cassettes C1 containing multi-stage semiconductor wafers (hereinafter simply referred to as “wafers W”) that have undergone back surface polishing processing, and a wafer provided with a robot arm 3. A transfer mechanism 4, an alignment stage 5 for aligning the wafer W, an ultraviolet irradiation unit 6 for irradiating the wafer W placed on the alignment stage with ultraviolet light, a chuck table 7 for holding the wafer W by suction, Ring frame supply unit 8 in which ring frames F are accommodated in multiple stages, ring frame transport mechanism 9 for transferring the ring frame F onto the dicing tape, and dicing tape bonding for bonding the dicing tape DT from the back surface of the ring frame F The processing unit 10 and the ring frame F to which the dicing tape DT is bonded are moved up and down. A ring frame lifting / lowering mechanism 11 to be mounted, a mount frame forming portion 12 for forming a mount frame MF in which the wafer W is bonded and held on the ring frame F to which the dicing tape DT is bonded, and a first frame for transporting the formed mount frame MF. The mount frame transport mechanism 13, the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14 that peels off the surface protective tape PT attached to the wafer W, and the mount frame MF from which the surface protective tape PT is peeled off by the surface protective tape peeling mechanism 14 are transported. It comprises a two-mount frame transport mechanism 15, a turntable 16 that changes the direction and transport of the mount frame MF, and a mount frame collection unit 17 that inserts and stores the mount frame MF into the cassette C2 in multiple stages.

  In the cassette C1 loaded in the wafer supply unit 2, a large number of wafers W each having a surface protection tape PT made of an ultraviolet curable adhesive tape affixed to the pattern forming surface (front surface) are horizontal with the surface facing upward. It is housed in a posture. The wafers W are held at the tip of the robot arm 3 in the wafer transfer mechanism 4 and are carried out one by one and transferred to the alignment stage 5.

  The alignment stage 5 is provided with guide pins (not shown), and performs alignment based on the orientation flat or notch of the transferred wafer W and holds it by suction. Note that the alignment is not limited to this form, and may be a form in which alignment is performed by image processing using an optical system such as a camera.

  The wafer W, which has been transferred to the alignment stage 5 with the surface facing upward, is irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet irradiation unit 6, and the adhesive force of the attached surface protective tape PT is reduced. The wafer W that has been subjected to the ultraviolet irradiation process is sucked and held on the lower surface of the chuck table 7 and sent to the mount frame forming unit 12.

  The ring frame supply unit 8 stacks and carries a large number of ring frames F in a cart 21 which can be pushed and moved, and feeds the ring frame group up and supplies the ring frames in order from the top layer. It is sucked and held by the transport mechanism 9 and taken out, and transported to the dicing tape bonding position in the mount frame forming unit 12.

  The dicing tape laminating unit 10 scans the affixing unit 22 along the lower surface of the ring frame F that is loaded into and loaded at the dicing tape laminating position, so that the dicing tape DT fed from the supply roll 23 is removed from the ring frame F. Then, the dicing tape DT is cut into an annular shape along the ring frame F by the cutter mechanism 24, and unnecessary tape generated around the ring frame by this cutting is removed from the ring frame F by scanning the peeling unit 25. The unnecessary tape is peeled off, and the unnecessary tape is wound up and collected on the collecting roll 26.

  The ring frame F that has undergone the dicing tape bonding process is sucked and held by the ring frame lifting mechanism 11 and raised to the wafer mount position, and the chuck table 7 holding the wafer W on the lower surface is lowered to the wafer mount position. The wafer W is supplied to the upward adhesive surface of the dicing tape DT bonded to the lower surface of the ring frame F. When the wafer W is supplied onto the dicing tape, the attaching roller 27 rolls and scans along the lower surface of the dicing tape DT and presses the back surface of the wafer W, and the wafer W is attached to the upper surface of the dicing tape DT. A frame MF is formed.

  The formed mount frame MF is sucked and held by the first mount frame transport mechanism 13 and transported and transferred onto a peeling table (not shown) of the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14.

  In the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14, the narrow release tape TS led out from the raw fabric roll 28 is peeled off from the upper surface of the wafer W in the mount frame MF held on the release table, that is, the attached surface protection tape PT. After being attached via a roll or a release bar, the release tape TS is turned up, whereby the surface protection tape PT whose adhesiveness has been lowered by the previous ultraviolet irradiation is released from the wafer W. At the time of peeling, the peeling bar or the like may be moved in contact with the wafer W, or the peeling bar or the like may be fixed and the peeling table 34 may be moved.

  The mount frame MF that has been subjected to the peeling process of the surface protection tape PT is sucked and held by the second mount frame transport mechanism 15 and transferred to the turntable 16. The mount frame MF transferred to the turntable 16 is subjected to alignment processing based on the orientation flat of the wafer W, the positioning notch of the ring frame, and the like, and then the posture is changed by turning, and a pusher (not shown) is used. It is inserted and accommodated in the cassette C2 of the mount frame collection unit 17.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of a control device provided in the wafer cloak processing apparatus 1, and the series of control operations described above includes a program input and set in advance in the main control unit and various types of processing provided in each processing unit. It is executed based on information from sensors.

  In this embodiment, modification is made so that the surface protection tape peeling process can be performed on a single wafer using the wafer cloak processing apparatus 1 described above. FIG. 3 shows a schematic plan view of the entire modified processing apparatus. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the main part of the figure.

  In the modified processing apparatus, a wafer supply / recovery apparatus 31 is separately connected to a lateral portion near the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14 in the wafer cloak processing apparatus 1 having the above-described configuration.

  The wafer supply / recovery device 31 includes a wafer supply / recovery unit 32 in which cassettes C3 containing wafers W subjected to back surface polishing are loaded, a robot arm 33, an alignment stage 34, and a wafer transfer mechanism 35. I have. The configuration of each part of the wafer supply / recovery device 31 will be specifically described below. The cassette C3 corresponds to a storage unit of the present invention, the wafer supply / recovery unit 32 corresponds to a mounting unit, the robot arm 33 corresponds to a first transfer unit, and the wafer transfer mechanism 35 corresponds to a second transfer unit.

  In the cassette C3 loaded in the wafer supply / recovery unit 32, a large number of wafers W each having a surface protection tape PT attached to the pattern forming surface are inserted and accommodated in a horizontal posture with the surface facing upward.

  The robot arm 33 pivots and inserts its tip into the cassette C3, sucks and holds the wafers W from the lower surface, takes them one by one, transports them to the alignment stage 34, and transfers them.

  The alignment stage 34 includes guide pins (not shown), and performs alignment based on the orientation flat or notch of the transferred wafer W and holds it by suction. Note that the alignment is not limited to this form, and may be a form in which alignment is performed by image processing using an optical system such as a camera.

  The wafer transfer mechanism 35 moves up and down so as to suck and hold the surface of the wafer W that has been aligned by the alignment stage 34, and moves the wafer W to the peeling table 36 in the wafer mount apparatus 1 arranged on the left side shown in FIG. Are transferred in a straight line. Further, the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14 of the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 attracts the wafer W from which the surface protection tape PT has been peeled off from the peeling table 36 and conveys it to the alignment stage 34 of the wafer supply / recovery unit 32. ing.

  Next, operations and control operations when the wafer supply / recovery device 31 is electrically and mechanically connected to the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 as described above will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. In the case of this embodiment, the control operation for the surface protection tape peeling process of a single wafer is performed between the main control unit of the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 and the wafer supply / recovery unit 31 as shown in the block diagram of FIG. It is executed based on information exchange.

<Step S1> Function Selection When the wafer supply / recovery device 31 is connected to the wafer mount processing apparatus 1, the operation unit (not shown) of the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 is operated to supply a single wafer W and protect the surface from the wafer W. The function is selected so that the tape PT is peeled off and collected. Specifically, on the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 side, control is performed so that only the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14 is driven, and drive control on the wafer supply / recovery apparatus 31 side is also performed in conjunction. These drive controls are executed by a program according to the selected function. In other words, on the wafer mount treatment apparatus 1 side, the driving of the components other than the surface protective tape peeling mechanism 14 is suspended.

<Step S2> Wafer Removal / Transfer Processing From the cassette C3 loaded in the wafer supply / recovery unit 32, the lower surface is sucked and held on the alignment stage 34 while maintaining the horizontal posture with the surface of the surface protection tape PT facing the pattern forming surface. The robot arm 33 is driven and controlled so as to be transferred and transferred.

<Step S3> Positioning Process The alignment process is performed by detecting the orientation flat or notch of the wafer W transferred to the alignment stage 34.

<Step S4> First Transfer Process The surface of the wafer W is sucked and held so that the wafer W after the alignment process is transferred from the alignment stage 34 to the separation table 36 on the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 and transferred. Drive control of the wafer transfer mechanism 35 is performed so as to transfer the wafer.

<Step S5> Peeling Process The wafer W transferred to the peeling table 36 is aligned, and the surface of the surface protection tape PT attached to the surface of the wafer W is peeled off via a peeling bar (not shown). The driving of the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14 is controlled so that the surface protection tape PT is peeled off integrally with the peeling tape TS while being attached.

<Step S6> Second Transport Processing The wafer transport mechanism 35 is driven and controlled so that the wafer W from which the surface protective tape PT is peeled is sucked and transported from the stripping table 36 to the alignment stage 34.

<Step S7> Recovery Process The robot arm 33 is held so that the lower surface of the wafer W that has been subjected to the alignment process by the alignment stage 34 is sucked and held and stored in a predetermined position of the cassette C3 loaded in the wafer supply / recovery unit 32. Drive control

  Thus, a series of operations until the surface protection tape PT is peeled off from the surface of the single wafer supplied from the cassette C3 and collected again in the cassette C3 is completed. The main control unit of the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 controls the driving so that a series of operations from step S2 to step S7 is repeated until the processing of the predetermined number of wafers W stored in the cassette C3 is completed. (Step S8).

  As described above, the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 and the wafer supply / recovery apparatus 31 are mechanically and electrically connected, and the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14 of the wafer mount apparatus 1 is shared, so that The wafer W with the surface protective tape PT attached thereto is supplied to the surface protective tape peeling mechanism 14, and the surface protective tape PT is peeled off from the surface of the wafer W, and the wafer W is recovered again in the cassette C 3 of the wafer supply and recovery apparatus 31. Is done. The recovered wafer W can be transported and used in a state where it is accommodated again in an accommodation such as the cassette C3. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a surface protection tape peeling device for separating and collecting the surface protection tape PT from the wafer W separately from the wafer mount device 1, so that the equipment cost can be reduced and a dedicated installation space can be provided. There is no need to secure it.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified as follows.

  (1) The layout of each mechanism in the wafer mount processing apparatus 1 of the above embodiment is not limited to the layout of each mechanism, and the wafer mount apparatus 1 adjacent to or connected to the wafer supply and recovery apparatus 31 is connected to the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14. Each drive system of the wafer supply / recovery device 31 is linked via the main control unit, and the surface protection tape PT is peeled from the surface of the wafer W supplied from the wafer supply / recovery device 31 to the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14. Any layout may be used as long as the wafer W from which the protective tape PT is peeled off can be collected by the wafer supply and collection device 31.

  (2) In the above-described embodiment, the supply and recovery of the wafer W from the wafer supply / recovery device 31 to the surface protection tape peeling mechanism 14 of the wafer mount device 1 are performed by the robot arm 33 and the wafer transfer device 35. You may comprise as follows.

  a. As shown in FIG. 7, the wafer transfer mechanism 35 is used to perform alignment while adsorbing and holding the upper surface of the wafer W from the cassette C <b> 3, and is directly transferred to the peeling table 36 of the wafer mount apparatus 1. May be. Further, it may be configured to transfer to the second mount frame transfer device 15 and transfer the transferred wafer W to the peeling table 36.

  The alignment by the wafer transfer mechanism 35 in this configuration is performed by, for example, detecting the positions of notches and orientation flats formed on the wafer W using a non-contact optical sensor and aligning the wafer W. What is necessary is just to comprise.

  b. An alignment function of the wafer W is provided on the second mount frame transfer mechanism 15 side so that the wafer W is directly transferred by either the robot arm 33 or the wafer transfer device 35 and transferred to the second mount frame transfer mechanism 15. You may comprise.

  c. As shown in FIG. 8, the upper surface of the wafer W taken out from the cassette with the lower surface supported by the robot arm 35 is directly sucked and held by the wafer transfer device 35 and transferred to the peeling table 36 or the second mount frame transfer mechanism 15. You may comprise so that it may carry.

  In these cases b and c, the wafer W alignment function may be provided in at least one of the mount frame transport mechanism 15 and the peeling table 36. In the case of c, the wafer transfer mechanism 35 may be provided with an alignment mechanism as described in a.

  Note that the second mount frame transfer mechanism 15 is preferably configured so that transfer of both the wafer W and the mount frame F can be shared.

  (4) In the above-described embodiment, an ultraviolet curable adhesive tape is used for the surface protection tape PT. However, when a non-ultraviolet curable adhesive tape is used, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 6 may be omitted. .

  (5) In the embodiment described above, the same cassette C3 is used as the cassette for supplying the wafer W and the cassette for collecting the wafer W. However, a cassette for collection may be provided individually.

It is the whole perspective view which notched a part of wafer mount processing device. It is a control block diagram. 1 is an overall plan view of a modified wafer mount processing apparatus. It is a top view of the principal part. It is a control block diagram in the modified wafer mount processing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the control action in an Example apparatus. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the wafer conveyance of a modified example. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the wafer conveyance of a modified example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Wafer mount processing apparatus 14 ... Surface protection tape peeling mechanism 31 ... Wafer supply collection apparatus W ... Semiconductor wafer F ... Ring frame PT ... Surface protection tape DT ... Dicing tape

Claims (6)

  A dicing tape is bonded to a semiconductor wafer, and a wafer mounting apparatus having a function of peeling the surface protective tape from the semiconductor wafer to which the dicing tape is bonded is supplied, conveyed, and recovered. The wafer supply / recovery device is brought into proximity or connected, and the wafer supply / recovery device is controlled by exchanging information with the main controller of the wafer mount processing device, and the surface protection tape of the supplied semiconductor wafer is protected by the surface of the wafer mount processing device. A method for supplying and recovering a semiconductor wafer, wherein the wafer is recovered by a wafer supply / recovery device after being peeled by a tape peeling mechanism. A dicing tape is bonded to a semiconductor wafer, and the wafer mounting apparatus having a function of peeling the surface protection tape from the semiconductor wafer bonded with the dicing tape is connected to or connected to the wafer mounting apparatus. A semiconductor wafer supply and recovery device for recovery,
A mounting portion on which storage means for storing the semiconductor wafers to which the surface protection tape is attached in multiple stages;
A transport means for taking out the semiconductor wafer from the storage means placed in the placement section and placing it on a peeling table for peeling the surface protection tape in the wafer mount device;
A semiconductor wafer supply and recovery apparatus comprising: In the semiconductor wafer supply and recovery apparatus according to claim 2,
The semiconductor wafer supply / recovery device is characterized in that the transfer means is configured to align while holding the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer. In the semiconductor wafer supply and recovery apparatus according to claim 2,
An apparatus for supplying and collecting semiconductor wafers, comprising an alignment stage for placing and aligning a semiconductor wafer taken out by a conveying means. The semiconductor wafer supply / recovery device according to claim 4,
The transfer means supports and takes out the lower surface of the semiconductor wafer from the storage means, and places the first transfer means on the alignment stage;
2. A semiconductor wafer supply / recovery device comprising: a second transfer means for holding an upper surface of a semiconductor wafer placed and aligned on the alignment stage and placing it on a peeling table of a wafer mount device. In the supply and recovery device for a semiconductor wafer according to any one of claims 2 to 5,
The semiconductor wafer supply / recovery device is characterized in that the transfer system and the drive system of the alignment stage are driven and controlled by exchanging information with a main controller of the wafer mount device.

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