JP2008192682A - Dicing method and dicing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem, wherein when a semiconductor wafer is up-cut, chipping or crack may be more easily generated than when it is down cut, and this causes the deterioration in quality of dicing and quality of a semiconductor chip. <P>SOLUTION: The dicing method according to an embodiment comprises a method for dicing a semiconductor wafer 90, by making a blade 10 undergo reciprocating motion along the same scribe line on the semiconductor wafer 90. First, the semiconductor wafer 90 is down cut, while the blade 10 is moved in the forward direction along the scribe line. Then, the semiconductor wafer 90 is down cut, while moving the blade 10 in the reverse direction along the scribe line. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a dicing method and a dicing apparatus.

  In manufacturing a semiconductor device, a semiconductor wafer on which semiconductor elements such as transistors are formed is diced to obtain individual semiconductor chips. As one method of dicing, there is a method of cutting the scribe line by reciprocating a blade along the same scribe line on the semiconductor wafer.

  A conventional dicing method using such a method will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b). FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are cross-sectional views showing a state in which the blade is moving in the forward direction and the reverse direction, respectively. Arrows A1 and A2 indicate the moving direction and the rotating direction of the blade 102, respectively. As can be seen from these figures, the rotation direction of the blade 102 is constant throughout the reciprocation. Therefore, the semiconductor wafer 101 is down-cut while the blade 102 is moving in the forward direction, and is up-cut while moving in the reverse direction.

  Here, the down cut means that when the blade is above the wafer, the blade cuts the semiconductor wafer in a downward direction in front of the moving direction. On the other hand, up-cutting means that the blade cuts the semiconductor wafer in an upward direction in front of the moving direction.

  Further, in this dicing method, cutting water is supplied to the blade 102 through the nozzle 103 as indicated by an arrow A3. This nozzle 103 is provided only on one side of the blade 102. That is, the nozzle 103 is positioned in front of the moving direction of the blade 102 while the blade 102 is moving in the forward direction (see FIG. 5A) and is moving in the reverse direction (see FIG. 5B). Is located behind the moving direction of the blade 102.

Patent Document 1 is given as a prior art document related to the present invention.
JP 2005-129741 A

  By the way, when the semiconductor wafer is up-cut, chipping and cracks are more likely to occur than when the semiconductor wafer is down-cut. Therefore, in the dicing method described in FIGS. 5A and 5B, chipping and cracks are likely to occur while the blade 102 is moving in the reverse direction. This leads to a reduction in dicing quality, and consequently a reduction in the quality of the semiconductor chip obtained by dicing.

  The dicing method according to the present invention is a method of dicing the semiconductor wafer by reciprocating the blade along the same scribe line on the semiconductor wafer, the blade being moved in a first direction along the scribe line. The semiconductor wafer is moved while moving the blade in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction along the scribe line, and a first step of down-cutting the semiconductor wafer while moving the blade. And a second step of down-cutting.

  In this dicing method, the semiconductor wafer is down-cut regardless of whether the blade is moving in the forward direction (first direction) or in the reverse direction (second direction). As a result, it is possible to maintain a state in which chipping and cracks are unlikely to occur through the reciprocation of the blade.

  A dicing apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for dicing the semiconductor wafer by reciprocating a blade along the same scribe line on the semiconductor wafer, and the dicing apparatus according to the present invention extends in the first direction along the scribe line. A first moving means for moving the blade; a second moving means for moving the blade in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction along the scribe line; and the first direction. Reversing means for reversing the rotation direction of the blade so that the rotation direction of the blade moving in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the blade moving in the second direction is opposite to each other. And

  This dicing apparatus is provided with reversing means for reversing the rotation direction of the blade. By this reversing means, the rotation direction of the blade moving in the forward direction and the rotation direction of the blade moving in the opposite direction can be opposite to each other. Therefore, according to this apparatus, it is possible to down-cut the semiconductor wafer regardless of whether the blade is moving in the forward direction or moving in the reverse direction. Thereby, it is possible to maintain a state in which chipping and cracks are hardly generated through the reciprocation of the blade.

  According to the present invention, a dicing method and a dicing apparatus capable of obtaining excellent dicing quality are realized.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same elements, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a dicing apparatus according to the present invention. The dicing apparatus 1 includes a blade 10, a stage 20, a moving mechanism 30, a rotating mechanism 40, and a control unit 50. The dicing apparatus 1 dices the semiconductor wafer 90 placed on the stage 20 by reciprocating the blade 10 along the same scribe line on the semiconductor wafer 90. In the present embodiment, a dicing sheet 92 is provided on the back surface of the semiconductor wafer 90.

  The moving mechanism 30 is a moving unit that moves the blade 10 relative to the semiconductor wafer 90 by displacing the stage 20 along the X direction (the left-right direction in the drawing). Thereby, the blade 10 can move in the forward direction (the direction of the arrow A41) or the reverse direction (the direction of the arrow A42). The moving mechanism 30 is configured by, for example, a linear motor. The moving direction, the moving amount, the moving speed, and the like by the moving mechanism 30 are controlled by the control unit 50. The control unit 50 is constituted by, for example, a CPU and a memory.

  The rotation mechanism 40 is a rotation unit that rotates the blade 10. The rotating mechanism 40 also has a function of a reversing unit that reverses the rotation direction of the blade 10. The rotation mechanism 40 is configured by, for example, a spindle with a built-in motor. The rotation direction and the rotation speed by the rotation mechanism 40 are controlled by the control unit 50. The controller 50 rotates the blade 10 when switching the movement direction of the blade 10 so that the rotation direction of the blade 10 moving in the forward direction is opposite to the rotation direction of the blade 10 moving in the opposite direction. Reverse the direction.

  Further, the dicing apparatus 1 is provided with nozzles 52 and 54. The nozzle 52 is located in front of the blade 10 moving in the forward direction. On the other hand, the nozzle 54 is positioned in front of the blade 10 moving in the reverse direction. These nozzles 52 and 54 are connected to a cutting water supply device (not shown). The nozzles 52 and 54 and the cutting water supply device constitute supply means for supplying cutting water to the blade 10. This supply means supplies cutting water through the nozzle 52 or the nozzle 54. Which nozzle is used to supply the cutting water is controlled by the control unit 50.

  Specifically, while the blade 10 is moving in the forward direction, cutting water is supplied through the nozzle 52 as indicated by an arrow A61. On the other hand, while the blade 10 is moving in the opposite direction, cutting water is supplied through the nozzle 54 as indicated by an arrow A62. Accordingly, the cutting water is supplied from the front in the moving direction of the blade 10 regardless of whether the blade 10 is moving in the forward direction or moving in the reverse direction.

  An example of the operation of the dicing apparatus 1 will be described as an embodiment of the dicing method according to the present invention with reference to FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b). This method is a method of dicing the semiconductor wafer 90 by reciprocating the blade 10 along the same scribe line on the semiconductor wafer 90. First, the semiconductor wafer 90 is down-cut while moving the blade 10 in the forward direction along the scribe line. At this time, the cutting water is supplied from the nozzle 52 (FIG. 2A).

  After the blade 10 reaches the end of the scribe line, the rotation direction of the blade 10 is reversed. Thereafter, the semiconductor wafer 90 is down-cut while moving the blade 10 in the opposite direction along the scribe line. At this time, the cutting water is supplied from the nozzle 54 (FIG. 2B). Thus, in this embodiment, the semiconductor wafer 90 is down-cut and the cutting water is supplied from the front in the moving direction of the blade 10 regardless of whether the blade 10 is moving in the forward direction or moving in the reverse direction. Is done.

  The effect of this embodiment will be described. The dicing apparatus 1 is provided with reversing means (rotating mechanism 40) for reversing the rotation direction of the blade 10. By this reversing means, the rotation direction of the blade 10 moving in the forward direction and the rotation direction of the blade 10 moving in the opposite direction can be opposite to each other. Therefore, according to the dicing apparatus 1, the semiconductor wafer 90 can be down-cut regardless of whether the blade 10 is moving in the forward direction or moving in the reverse direction. Actually, in the above-described dicing method, the semiconductor wafer 90 is always down-cut. As a result, it is possible to maintain a state in which chipping and cracks are unlikely to occur through the reciprocation of the blade 10. Therefore, the dicing method and the dicing apparatus 1 that can obtain excellent dicing quality are realized.

  The semiconductor wafer 90 is diced by reciprocating the blade 10 along the same scribe line. By cutting one scribe line in two steps in this way, the semiconductor wafer 90 is less likely to be damaged than in the case of cutting once.

  On the other hand, as a method of dicing the same scribe line in two steps, a method of moving the blade 10 twice in the same direction along the scribe line can be considered. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, this is a method of repeating the movement of the blade 10 from the end a to the end b of the scribe line L1 twice. However, in this method, it is necessary to return the blade 10 from the end b to the end a after the first movement. Therefore, there is a problem that the throughput is lowered.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the cutting water is supplied from the front in the moving direction of the blade 10 regardless of whether the blade 10 is moving in the forward direction or moving in the reverse direction. For this reason, as can be seen from FIGS. 2A and 2B, the cutting water is supplied in a direction that promotes the rotation of the blade 10 through the reciprocation of the blade 10.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, when cutting water is supplied in a direction that prevents the rotation of the blade 10, rotation of the blade 10 (running of the rotation shaft) occurs due to the pressure of the cutting water, As a result, the blade 10 may meander. In this case, scraping of dicing waste generated from the semiconductor wafer 90 is also hindered by the cutting water. For this reason, the efficiency of removing dicing waste is reduced. In this regard, according to the present embodiment, the cutting water is always supplied in a direction that promotes the rotation of the blade 10, so that these problems can be avoided.

  The dicing apparatus 1 is provided with a nozzle 52 positioned in front of the blade 10 moving in the forward direction and a nozzle 54 positioned in front of the blade 10 moving in the reverse direction. Thereby, supplying cutting water from the front of the moving direction of the blade 10 through the reciprocation of the blade 10 can be realized with a simple device configuration.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, the method of down-cutting the semiconductor wafer 90 through reciprocation by inverting the rotation direction of the blade 10 has been exemplified. However, the semiconductor wafer 90 may be down-cut through reciprocation by rotating the blade 10 180 degrees about the axis perpendicular to the semiconductor wafer 90 as a rotation axis.

  In the above embodiment, the cutting water is supplied through the nozzle 52 and the nozzle 54 while the blade 10 is moving in the forward direction and the reverse direction, so that the cutting water is supplied from the front in the moving direction of the blade 10 through reciprocation. An example is shown. However, the cutting water may be supplied from the front in the moving direction of the blade 10 through reciprocation using one nozzle. For example, a nozzle that is movable with respect to the blade 10 is provided so that the nozzle is positioned in front of the moving direction of the blade 10 regardless of whether the blade 10 is moving in the forward direction or moving in the reverse direction. That's fine.

It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of the dicing apparatus by this invention. (A) And (b) is sectional drawing for demonstrating one Embodiment of the dicing method by this invention. It is a top view for demonstrating the effect of embodiment. It is sectional drawing for demonstrating the effect of embodiment. (A) And (b) is sectional drawing for demonstrating the conventional dicing method.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dicing apparatus 10 Blade 20 Stage 30 Moving mechanism 40 Rotating mechanism 50 Control part 52 Nozzle 54 Nozzle 90 Semiconductor wafer 92 Dicing sheet

Claims (6)

A method of dicing the semiconductor wafer by reciprocating a blade along the same scribe line on the semiconductor wafer,
A first step of down-cutting the semiconductor wafer while moving the blade in a first direction along the scribe line;
A second step of down-cutting the semiconductor wafer while moving the blade in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction along the scribe line;
A dicing method comprising: The dicing method according to claim 1,
A dicing method including a third step of inverting the rotation direction of the blade between the first step and the second step. The dicing method according to claim 1 or 2,
The dicing method in which cutting water is supplied from the front in the moving direction of the blade in both the first step and the second step. An apparatus for dicing the semiconductor wafer by reciprocating a blade along the same scribe line on the semiconductor wafer,
First moving means for moving the blade in a first direction along the scribe line;
Second moving means for moving the blade in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction along the scribe line;
Reversing means for reversing the rotation direction of the blade so that the rotation direction of the blade moving in the first direction and the rotation direction of the blade moving in the second direction are opposite to each other;
A dicing apparatus comprising: The dicing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein
Supply means for supplying cutting water to the blade,
The supply means is a dicing apparatus that supplies the cutting water from the front in the moving direction of the blade regardless of whether the blade is moving in the first direction or in the second direction. The dicing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
The supply means includes
A first nozzle located in front of the blade moving in the first direction and a second nozzle located in front of the blade moving in the second direction;
A dicing apparatus that supplies the cutting water through the first nozzle and the second nozzle, respectively, while the blade is moving in the first direction and the second direction.

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