JP2009260094A - Spinner cleaning device and working device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the adverse effect of mist on other equipment and components arranged in a working device by sufficiently preventing mist leakage and evacuation. <P>SOLUTION: A spinner cleaning device 1 performs cleaning by holding a wafer (workpiece) W on a spinner table 30 arranged in a cleaning chamber 21 inside a casing 20, closing the upper opening of the casing 20 with a flap 25, rotating the spinner table 30 while the cleaning chamber 21 is tightly closed, and supplying cleaning water from a cleaning water supply nozzle 50 onto the upper surface of the rotating wafer W. Air is injected downward in a direction along the rotary direction of the spinner table 30 from an air blower 70 which is arranged at a higher part compared with the holding surface 30A of the spinner table 30 inside the cleaning chamber 21, thereby forcing the mist to be generated down. Then, the mist is discharged to an external part through an evacuation tube 60 connected to the lower part of the casing 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a spinner cleaning apparatus of a type that supplies cleaning water to a rotated work and performs cleaning, and various processing apparatuses equipped with the cleaning apparatus. Examples of the workpiece to be used in the present invention include a thin plate-like workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer or a substrate of an electronic component.

  For example, in the semiconductor device manufacturing process, a large number of rectangular regions are defined on the surface of a disk-shaped semiconductor wafer by grid-like division lines, and electronic circuits such as IC and LSI are formed on the surface of these rectangular regions, and then After the necessary processing such as polishing after the back surface is ground, all the divided lines are cut and cut, that is, diced to obtain a large number of semiconductor chips. The semiconductor chip thus obtained is packaged by resin sealing and widely used in various electric / electronic devices such as mobile phones and PCs (personal computers).

  As a device for dicing a semiconductor wafer, a blade-type cutting device is generally used in which a thin disc-shaped cutting blade rotated at high speed is cut into a semiconductor wafer adsorbed and held on a chuck table. (For example, patent document 1). Since a semiconductor wafer diced by a blade-type cutting device needs to be cleaned in order to remove adhering cutting waste and the like, a cutting device provided with a cleaning means is provided (for example, Patent Document 2). ).

  As described in Patent Document 2, the cleaning means provided in the semiconductor wafer cutting apparatus sucks and holds a work (semiconductor wafer) on a spinner table, rotates the spinner table, and rotates the work. Cleaning is performed by ejecting and supplying cleaning water from a cleaning water supply nozzle. Then, the supply of the washing water is stopped, and the spinner table is continuously rotated, so that the water is removed by centrifugal force and the drying is performed.

JP-A-8-25209 JP 2003-229382 A

  Such a cleaning means is effective because it can be performed in a series of operations until the processed workpiece is cleaned and dried. However, in this type of cleaning means, the spinner table is rotated at a high speed, so that dirty mist is generated when cleaning water is supplied to the workpiece. Therefore, in order to prevent dirty mist from splashing around, measures such as covering the spinner table with a casing have been considered. However, there are new problems such as it is difficult to sufficiently suppress mist scattering, and water droplets adhering to the inner surface of the casing are dripped onto a dry workpiece, and more effective measures to prevent mist scattering. Was requested.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a spinner cleaning device capable of reliably discharging mist generated by cleaning and effectively preventing adverse effects on the periphery, and such cleaning It aims at providing the processing apparatus provided with the apparatus.

  The present invention includes a spinner table that has a holding surface for holding a workpiece and is rotatably provided, a cleaning water supply nozzle that supplies cleaning water to the workpiece held on the spinner table, and a spinner table. An enclosure member forming the cleaning chamber, an opening / closing means provided on the enclosure member for opening and closing the cleaning chamber, and a position in the cleaning chamber sandwiching the holding surface between the opening and closing means, and exhausting the cleaning chamber And at least an air blowing means that is disposed in the cleaning chamber and ejects air toward the exhaust means toward the space between the holding surface and the opening / closing means.

  The workpiece in the present invention is not particularly limited. For example, a wafer such as the above semiconductor wafer, an adhesive member such as DAF (Die Attach Film) provided on the back surface of the wafer for chip mounting, a semiconductor product package, a glass system Alternatively, silicon-based substrates, and various processed materials that require micron-order accuracy can be used.

  According to the spinner cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the work is cleaned by supplying the cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle toward the rotating work while rotating the spinner table holding the work on the holding surface. And if rotation of a spinner table is continued and supply of washing water is stopped, washing water adhering to a work will be blown off by centrifugal force, and also a work will be dried.

  Mist generated when the cleaning water is supplied to the workpiece is prevented from leaking and spreading from the cleaning chamber to the outside by the surrounding member, and discharged to a predetermined processing facility by the exhaust means. The air blown out from the air blowing means flows in the direction of the exhausting means so as to cover the work held on the holding surface of the spinner table, whereby the mist is promptly introduced into the exhausting means without flowing in the direction of the opening / closing means. . As a result, the generated mist can be reliably discharged by the exhaust means. Since the mist is efficiently discharged in this way, there is no possibility that the mist remaining in the cleaning chamber leaks outside from the cleaning chamber when the opening / closing means is opened after the end of the cleaning operation. Can be prevented.

  In the present invention, the opening / closing means is provided on one side of the work holding surface of the spinner table, and the exhaust means is provided on the opposite side. In this positional relationship, air is directed from the air blowing means toward the exhaust means. As described above, the mist can be smoothly introduced toward the exhaust means, and the mist is difficult to leak to the outside even when the opening / closing means is opened. As a specific example of such a structure, the opening / closing means is disposed above the holding surface, the exhaust means is disposed below the holding surface, and the ejection direction of the air blown from the air blowing means is downward from the horizontal direction. The form set to is mentioned.

  According to this aspect, the mist that is going to fly up from the work can be quickly introduced into the exhaust means after being held in by the air blown downward from the air blow means. Further, it is possible to prevent the mist from adhering to the inner surface of the opening / closing means above the cleaning chamber, and for this reason, when water droplets aggregated with mist adhere to the inside of the opening / closing means, for example, when the opening / closing means is opened, It is possible to prevent such a problem that the water drops fall on the cleaned workpiece and cause contamination.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the ejection direction of the air blow means and the exhaust direction of the exhaust means are set in a direction along the rotation direction of the spinner table. When the spinner table rotates, an air flow along the direction of rotation may be generated around the spinner table. If air is ejected in the same direction as this air flow and exhausted, the spiral air flow And the flow can be promoted. The mist is entrained in the spirally flowing air and flows, so that the rising of the mist can be effectively suppressed and the mist can be discharged more efficiently.

  Next, the processing apparatus of the present invention is characterized by including the above-described spinner cleaning apparatus of the present invention. Due to the above-described effects, the mist adversely affects various devices included in the processing apparatus. Is prevented. Specific processing apparatuses of the present invention include workpiece dicing processing (including dicing by a cutting blade or laser beam irradiation), drilling processing using laser light, grinding processing, polishing processing, and expanded division processing. A processing apparatus that performs at least one of these processes may be used.

  According to the present invention, the contaminated mist generated by cleaning the workpiece leaks to the outside of the cleaning chamber, and the mist is discharged to the outside of the cleaning chamber by the exhaust means reliably and efficiently. As a result, there is an effect that an adverse effect on the periphery of the mist can be effectively prevented.

Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a spinner cleaning apparatus 1 according to an embodiment. The spinner cleaning apparatus 1 is provided in a processing apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter abbreviated as a wafer) and cleans the processed wafer. Examples of the processing apparatus include a wafer dicing process (including dicing by a cutting blade or laser beam irradiation), drilling using a laser beam, grinding process, polishing process, and expanding division process. . The spinner cleaning apparatus 1 is supported via a support table 10 at a predetermined position on the base of such a processing apparatus.

  The support base 10 includes a horizontal plate 11 fixed to the base of the processing apparatus, a plurality of leg portions 12 erected on the plate 11, and a receiving portion 13 fixed to the upper ends of the leg portions 12. It is composed of The receiving part 13 is provided with an annular outer frame 13a on the periphery of a circular bottom plate (not shown), and a cylindrical casing (enclosure member) 20 which forms the main body of the spinner cleaning device 1 is provided on the receiving part 13. Is inserted and supported.

  The casing 20 supported by the receiving portion 13 has a state in which the axis is substantially along the vertical direction. The inside of the casing 20 is a cleaning chamber 21, and a disc-shaped spinner table 30 is disposed concentrically with the casing 20 in the cleaning chamber 21 as shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the spinner table 30 is obtained by fitting a disk-shaped adsorption part 32 made of a porous body on the upper surface of a disk-shaped frame 31.

  The suction part 32 is concentric with the frame 31 and occupies most of the upper surface of the spinner table 30, and the upper surface of the suction part 32 and the upper surface of the surrounding annular frame 31 are the same plane, The holding surface 30A is a flat holding surface. A vacuum device is connected to the spinner table 30 through a pipe for sucking air (both not shown), and when the vacuum device is operated, air above the suction portion 32 is sucked, and this air suction action causes the spinner table to spin. The wafer placed on the table 30 is sucked and held by the sucking unit 32.

  The spinner table 30 is rotatably supported on the upper end of a post 35 that extends through the bottom plate of the receiving portion 13 in the vertical direction. The post 35 has a telescopic structure such as a telescope structure in which a plurality of cylindrical bodies are combined, for example, and is disposed at the center of the casing 20. When the post 35 extends, the spinner table 30 comes out above the casing 20 and is raised to the wafer delivery position. When the post 35 contracts, the spinner table 30 is lowered to a predetermined cleaning position set in the cleaning chamber 21. Lifting means 41 having a motor or the like that lifts and lowers the spinner table 30 by expanding and contracting the post 35 is fixed on the plate 11.

  A motor 42 that rotates the spinner table 30 is fixed on the plate 11. A rotation transmission mechanism (not shown) that transmits the rotation of the motor 42 is connected to the frame 31 of the spinner table 30, and when the motor 42 is operated, the frame 31, that is, the spinner table 30 rotates. Yes. As described above, the spinner table 30 moves up and down by the expansion and contraction of the post 35. However, the spinner table 30 only needs to be rotatable when it is lowered and positioned at the cleaning position. Therefore, a configuration is adopted in which the rotation transmission mechanism is connected to the frame 31 of the spinner table 30 when the spinner table 30 is positioned at the cleaning position.

  Of course, the rotation transmission mechanism may always be connected to the spinner table 30 regardless of whether the spinner table 30 is raised or lowered. The raising / lowering mechanism and the rotating mechanism of the spinner table 30 are not limited to the above embodiment, and any structure can be selected as long as it can be raised and lowered and rotated.

  FIG. 4A shows the wafer W to be cleaned by the spinner cleaning apparatus 1. Depending on the type of processing of the processing apparatus provided with the spinner cleaning apparatus 1, the wafer W is processed in a single state, and the inside of the annular frame 61 as shown in FIG. May be processed in a state of being supported via the adhesive tape 62. After the wafer W is processed, it is provided to the spinner cleaning apparatus 1 in any state. The frame 61 has rigidity made of a plate material such as metal. The pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 62 has a single-sided adhesive surface, and the frame 61 and the wafer W are attached to the adhesive surface.

  A plurality of clamps 34 are provided around the spinner table 30 to detachably hold the frame 61. When the wafer W is held on the frame 61 via the adhesive tape 62, the frame 61 is clamped 34. It is gripped and held. Each clamp 34 is fixed to the frame 31 of the spinner table 30.

  The upper opening of the casing 20 is opened and closed by a winding-type flap (opening / closing means) 25. The flap 25 is formed in a band shape with a flexible material, and when the flap 25 is pulled out from the winding portion 26 disposed on the side above the casing 20, the upper opening of the casing 20 is closed. It has become. The state in which the flap 25 is closed is held by means such as hooking and engaging the front end of the flap 25 with the casing 20. When the flap 25 is closed, the cleaning chamber 21 is hermetically sealed. In order to increase the sealing degree of the cleaning chamber 21, it is desirable that the hole or the like of the bottom plate of the casing 20 through which the post 35 passes is closed with a hermetic seal.

In the cleaning chamber 21, two cleaning water supply nozzles 50 are provided in this case for spraying and supplying cleaning water to the upper surface of the wafer W held on the holding surface 30 </ b> A of the spinner table 30. As the cleaning water, pure water or pure water containing CO ₂ is used to prevent static electricity. The cleaning water supply nozzle 50 is provided at the tip of the pipe 51 so as to eject the cleaning water downward. The pipe 51 is supported by a rotating shaft 52 mounted in the casing 20 so as to be able to turn horizontally. By reciprocatingly turning, the cleaning water is sprayed evenly onto the upper surface of the wafer W held and rotated by the spinner table 30. It has become. Although not shown, a drain port connected to the drain port and a drain port for guiding the wash water to the outside of the casing 20 and discharging it to a predetermined treatment facility is provided at the bottom of the casing 20. Yes.

  One end of an exhaust pipe (exhaust means) 60 for guiding the air in the cleaning chamber 21 to the outside of the casing 20 and exhausting it is connected to the lower part of the casing 20 from the outside. As shown in FIG. 3, the exhaust pipe 60 is connected horizontally to the exhaust port 20a formed in the casing 20, but as shown in FIG. 2, the outer peripheral surface of the casing 20 close to the connected portion. Extends in a direction parallel to the tangent line L extending from. In other words, an extension line extending straight from the exhaust pipe 60 toward the inside of the cleaning chamber 21 extends so as to be positioned between the spinner table 30 and the inner surface of the casing 20. Such an extending direction of the exhaust pipe 60 can be said to be a direction along the rotation direction of the spinner table 30 (indicated by an arrow R in FIGS. 1 and 2).

  The exhaust pipe 60 extends to a predetermined processing facility (not shown), and an exhaust fan (not shown) that draws air in the cleaning chamber 21 into the exhaust pipe 60 in the middle of the exhaust pipe 60 or into the processing equipment. Is equipped. The exhaust port 20 a of the casing 20 to which the exhaust pipe 60 is connected is formed at a position below the holding surface 30 </ b> A of the spinner table 30.

  A plurality (four in this case) of air blowers (air blow means) 70 are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction at a position above the holding surface 30A in the upper portion of the cleaning chamber 21. The air blower 70 is close to the inner surface of the casing 20 and is supported on the inner surface of the casing 20 via a bracket (not shown). An air supply pipe (not shown) is connected to the air blower 70 through the casing 20 in an airtight manner, and air is ejected at a predetermined pressure from a plurality of jet outlets 71 arranged in the lateral direction.

  As for the ejection direction of the air ejected from these air blowers 70, the lateral direction is set to the tangential direction of the outer peripheral edge of the spinner table 30 as shown in FIG. Yes. The vertical direction is set obliquely downward as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the air blower 70 is disposed above the periphery of the spinner table 30, and air is ejected from the air blower 70 toward the upper surface of the wafer W held on the spinner table 30. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the flap 25 is disposed above the holding surface 30A of the spinner table 30, and the exhaust port 20a to which the exhaust pipe 60 is connected is disposed below the holding surface 30A. ing. The air blower 70 is disposed between the holding surface 30A and the flap 25 so that air is ejected toward the holding surface 30A below the space between the holding surface 30A and the flap 25 and thus toward the exhaust port 20a. It is configured.

The above is the configuration of the spinner cleaning apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. Next, the operation and operation effects of the apparatus 1 will be described.
The wafer W that has finished the processing step in the processing apparatus is delivered to the spinner table 30 of the spinner cleaning apparatus 1. The delivery of the wafer to the spinner table 30 is performed in a state where the spinner table 30 is lifted by the lifting / lowering means 41 from the state in which the flap 25 is opened and positioned at the delivery position above the casing 20.

  In the spinner table 30, the vacuum device is operated in advance, and the wafer W is concentrically placed on the holding surface 30 </ b> A by the conveying means provided in the processing device, and at the same time is sucked and held. When the wafer W is supported on the frame 61 via the adhesive tape 62 as shown in FIG. 4B, the frame 61 is held by the clamp 34. When the wafer W is processed alone as shown in FIG. 4A, the wafer W is held on the spinner table 30 only by the action of being sucked by the suction portion 32.

  The spinner table 30 holding the wafer W is lowered into the cleaning chamber 21 by the elevating means 41 and positioned at the cleaning position. Subsequently, the flap 25 is closed, and further, air is ejected from the air blower 70 and the exhaust fan is operated to discharge the air in the cleaning chamber 21 to the outside through the exhaust pipe 60. In this state, preparation for cleaning is completed. Next, the spinner table 30 rotates at a speed of, for example, about 800 rpm, and cleaning water is ejected from the cleaning water supply nozzle 50 while the pipe 51 reciprocates. The cleaning water is sprayed and supplied evenly on the upper surface of the rotating wafer W, whereby dirt components (for example, cutting waste and grinding waste) adhering to the wafer W are washed away with the cleaning water.

  When a predetermined cleaning time has elapsed, the supply of the cleaning water is stopped, the spinner table 30 is continuously rotated, the cleaning water is blown off from the wafer W by centrifugal force, and further dried. In this drying process, the rotation speed of the spinner table 30 is increased to, for example, about 3000 rpm so as to be quickly dried.

  In this embodiment, the cleaning water is supplied from the two nozzles 50, but the cleaning water is ejected from one of the two nozzles 50, and the air is ejected from the other nozzle. The cleaning water may be ejected from one of the cleaning water supply nozzles during cleaning, and the air may be ejected from the other air supply nozzle by switching during drying. Further, both of the two nozzles 50 may be configured such that cleaning water is ejected during cleaning and air is ejected during drying. In this way, it is preferable to blow air from the nozzle during drying because the wafer W can be dried more quickly.

  When a predetermined drying time has elapsed, the rotation of the spinner table 30 is stopped, the flap 25 is opened, the spinner table 30 is raised to the delivery position, and the operation of the vacuum device is stopped. Thereafter, the wafer is picked up from the spinner table 30 by a robot hand or the like provided in the processing apparatus, and stored in a predetermined storing means.

  In the above-described cleaning and drying process, cleaning water is supplied to the rotating wafer W, so that a mist containing a dirt component is generated from the wafer W. The mist is prevented from leaking and spreading to the outside of the cleaning chamber 21 by the casing 20 and the flap 25 and discharged from the exhaust port 20a through the exhaust pipe 60 by the air suction action from the exhaust pipe 60.

  By the way, although the mist tends to fly upward as the particles become finer, it is difficult for the mist to reach the exhaust pipe 60. The mist is held down by this blown air, so that the mist rises upward and flows downward. For this reason, mist is rapidly and efficiently introduced into the exhaust pipe 60 from the exhaust port 20a. Further, since the mist is sufficiently exhausted, there is no possibility that the mist remaining in the cleaning chamber 21 leaks outside when the flap 25 is opened after the end of the cleaning operation. Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent adverse effects due to mist on other equipment and parts included in the processing apparatus. In order to surely obtain the effect of suppressing the mist caused by the air blown from the air blower 70, the oblique downward angle of the blown air from the air blower 70 is blown from the upper surface of the wafer W held on the holding surface 30A of the spinner table 30. The angle is set at a moderately gentle angle so that the air bounces off, thereby preventing an upward flow.

  Further, since the mist rises due to the air jet from the air blower 70, the phenomenon that the mist adheres to the inner surface of the flap 25 and aggregates to generate water droplets does not occur. When water droplets are generated on the inner surface of the flap 25, for example, when the cleaning is finished and the flap 25 is opened, the water droplets fall on the cleaned wafer W and cause contamination. Such a problem does not occur, and the cleaned wafer W can be kept clean.

  In the present embodiment, the air blowing direction of the air blower 70 and the exhausting direction of the air in the cleaning chamber 21 by the exhaust pipe 60 are set in a direction along the rotation direction of the spinner table 30. When the spinner table 30 rotates, an air flow along the rotation direction is generated around the spinner table 30. Therefore, if air is ejected from the air blower 70 in the same direction as the air flow and exhaust is performed from the exhaust pipe 60, a spiral air flow is generated and the flow can be promoted. The mist is entrained in the spirally flowing air and flows into the exhaust pipe 60. Therefore, the rise of the mist is effectively suppressed and the mist can be discharged more efficiently.

  By the way, if the wafer W is cleaned while evacuating the sealed cleaning chamber 21 with the flap 25 closed as described above, air does not easily enter the cleaning chamber 21 and the exhaust efficiency is lowered, and the flap 25 is opened after cleaning. In such a case, it is considered that the remaining mist leaks to the outside. However, in the present embodiment, since air is jetted from the air blower 70 into the cleaning chamber 21, the cleaning chamber 21 is sufficiently evacuated, and thus the mist can be sufficiently exhausted while the cleaning chamber 21 is sealed. As a result, there is no problem that the mist remaining when the flap 25 is opened after cleaning leaks to the outside.

  5 and 6 show a modification of the above-described embodiment. In this modification, an annular air blower 75 is provided as an air blowing means instead of the air blower 70. The air blower 75 is in the form of a pipe and is fixed to the inner surface of the casing 20 above the holding surface 30 </ b> A of the spinner table 30 in the upper part of the cleaning chamber 21. An air supply pipe (not shown) is connected to the air blower 75 through the casing 20 in an airtight manner.

  A plurality of jet openings 76 are formed at equal intervals on the inner peripheral portion of the air blower 75. The jet direction of the air jetted from these jet ports 76 is set to a direction along the radial direction of the casing 20 and the spinner table 30 as shown in FIG. Further, the vertical direction is set obliquely downward as shown in FIG. The angle of jetting obliquely downward is set to an angle at which the air bounces off the holding surface 30A of the spinner table 30 and no upward flow occurs.

  According to this modification, air is ejected from the air blower 75 toward the center of the wafer W held on the spinner table 30, and the ejected air flows so as to cover the entire cleaning chamber 21 from above. For this reason, the rise of mist generated from the wafer W is suppressed, and the mist is quickly introduced into the exhaust pipe 60. Also according to this modification, it is possible to sufficiently prevent and discharge the mist.

It is a partially cutaway perspective view of a spinner cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the spinner washing | cleaning apparatus of one Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the spinner washing | cleaning apparatus of one Embodiment. (A) is a perspective view of a single wafer (work) to be cleaned by the spinner cleaning apparatus of one embodiment, and (b) is a perspective view showing a state in which the wafer is held on a frame via an adhesive tape. It is a top view which shows the modification of the spinner washing | cleaning apparatus of one Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the modification.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Spinner washing | cleaning apparatus, 20 ... Casing (enclosure member), 21 ... Cleaning chamber, 25 ... Flap (opening-closing means), 30 ... Spinner table, 30A ... Holding surface, 50 ... Washing water supply nozzle, 60 ... Exhaust pipe (exhaust) Means), 70, 75 ... Air blower (air blow means), R ... Rotational direction, W ... Semiconductor wafer (workpiece)

Claims (4)

A spinner table having a holding surface for holding a workpiece and provided rotatably;
A cleaning water supply nozzle for supplying cleaning water to the work held by the spinner table;
A surrounding member surrounding the spinner table to form a cleaning chamber;
Opening and closing means provided on the surrounding member to open and close the cleaning chamber;
An exhaust unit disposed in a position sandwiching the holding surface between the opening and closing means in the cleaning chamber and exhausting the cleaning chamber;
A spinner cleaning apparatus, comprising at least air blow means disposed in the cleaning chamber and configured to eject air toward the exhaust means with respect to a space between the holding surface and the opening / closing means.   The opening / closing means is disposed above the holding surface, the exhaust means is disposed below the holding surface, and the ejection direction of the air blown from the air blowing means is set to be lower than the horizontal direction. The spinner cleaning apparatus according to claim 1.   The spinner cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an ejection direction of the air blow unit and an exhaust direction of the exhaust unit are set in a direction along a rotation direction of the spinner table.   A spinner according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the spinner performs at least one of workpiece dicing, drilling using laser light, grinding, polishing, and expanded division. A processing apparatus comprising a cleaning device.

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