JP2009274167A - Wire saw - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wire saw which can excellently cut a plurality of workpieces at the same time with uniform accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: The wire saw is formed of vertically arranged workpiece cutting sections 1A, 1B, wire reeling/unreeling devices 12A, 12B, and a workpiece feeding device 40. A wire W unreeled from one of the reeling/unreeling devices 12A is successively fed through the workpiece cutting sections 1A, 1B to the other reeling/unreeling device 12B, and then wound on guide rollers 10a, 10b of the respective workpiece cutting sections 1A, 1B, to thereby form a wire group in the workpiece cutting sections 1A, 1B. By driving a vertical table 41, the workpiece feeding device 40 feeds the two workpieces 44 for cutting from the outside the wire group wound on the guide rollers 10a, 10b of the respective workpiece cutting sections 1A, 1B, to the inside of the same, simultaneously and in the same direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wire saw that cuts a workpiece by cutting and feeding a workpiece such as a semiconductor ingot to a wire group constituted by cutting wires.

  Conventionally, a wire saw is known as means for cutting a workpiece into a wafer shape. The wire saw is stretched in a state where a large number of the wires are arranged by winding a cutting wire between a plurality of guide rollers, and the wire group is fast driven in the axial direction with respect to the wire group. By cutting and feeding the workpiece held in the workpiece holding portion in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the cutting wire, a large number of workpieces are cut out simultaneously in a wafer shape.

As one of the wire saws of this type, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes one that can simultaneously cut two workpieces. As shown in FIG. 3, the wire saw is formed by winding a cutting wire 51 around four guide rollers 50a to 50d supported in an arrangement of four corners. A cutting area is provided between each of the guide rollers 50c and 50d on the lower stage and between the lower guide rollers 50c and 50d. Then, the workpieces 52 and 52 held in the upper and lower two stages on the common workpiece holding unit are simultaneously cut and fed to the wire groups in the respective cutting regions, whereby the two workpieces 52 and 52 are simultaneously formed into a wafer shape. It is configured to be cut out.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-80546

  According to the wire saw of Patent Document 1, although the work 52 can be efficiently cut, there are the following problems. That is, in the lower cutting region, a downward force acts on the wire group during cutting, and the wire 51 bends as indicated by a broken line in the figure, thereby reducing the contact length between the guide rollers 50c and 50d and the wire 51. Thus, the holding force of the wire 51 by the lower guide rollers 50c and 50d is reduced. Therefore, in the lower cutting region, due to such a decrease in the holding force of the wire 51, the running stability of the wire 51 is more easily hindered than in the upper cutting region, and it is difficult to ensure cutting accuracy. is there. As a result, there is a problem that it is difficult to simultaneously cut workpieces having the same required accuracy in the upper and lower stages.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, and an object of the present invention is to allow a plurality of workpieces to be cut well at the same time with more uniform accuracy.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a wire saw for cutting a workpiece such as a semiconductor ingot by cutting and feeding the workpiece to a wire group constituted by cutting wires, and a plurality of guide rollers. A plurality of workpiece cutting units each including a wire feeding device that feeds the wire to the workpiece cutting unit, a wire winding device that winds the wires from the workpiece cutting unit, and a workpiece holding that holds a plurality of workpieces simultaneously The wire fed from the wire feeding device is sequentially wound around the winding device via each workpiece cutting unit, and wound around the plurality of guide rollers at each workpiece cutting unit. As a result, the wire group in which a plurality of wires are arranged between the guide rollers of each workpiece cutting part is formed, and the front In a state where the wire group is driven in the axial direction by the operation of each device, the plurality of workpieces held by the workpiece holding member are cut and fed to the wire group of each workpiece cutting unit. The workpiece cutting portions each include a pair of guide rollers as the plurality of guide rollers, and the alignment direction of the pair of guide rollers is parallel to each other between the workpiece cutting portions. And between the pair of guide rollers is a workpiece cutting region, and the workpiece holding member is configured to simultaneously apply the plurality of workpieces to the wire group in the cutting region of each workpiece cutting unit. The wire wound around the plurality of guide rollers is cut and fed in the same direction from the outside toward the inside.

  In this wire saw, a wire group is formed in each work cutting part by one wire drawn out from a wire feeding device and wound up in a winding device, and a plurality of workpieces simultaneously held by a workpiece holding member are By cutting and feeding to the wire group of the workpiece cutting unit, cutting is performed simultaneously. Therefore, a plurality of workpieces can be cut simultaneously with one wire. In addition, each workpiece cutting unit is configured to cut and feed each workpiece to the wire group from the outside to the inside of the wire wound around the plurality of guide rollers. The wire bends in the direction in which the contact length between the guide roller and the wire increases. Accordingly, it is possible to cut each workpiece while traveling the wire group stably without causing the disadvantage that the contact length between the guide roller and the wire decreases and the holding force of the wire decreases.

  When a guide roller having the same diameter is applied as the guide roller, the smaller the number of the contact lengths between the guide roller and the wire, the longer. Therefore, in order to secure the contact length between the guide roller and the wire and increase the holding force of the wire by the guide roller, each workpiece cutting portion is wound with the wire only between the pair of guide rollers. The configuration is preferred.

  The wire saw preferably includes adjusting means for adjusting the tension of the wire to a predetermined tension in a process from one work cutting part to another work cutting part.

  According to this configuration, the tension of the wire group of each workpiece cutting portion can be satisfactorily ensured while forming the wire group at the plurality of workpiece cutting portions with one wire as described above. Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent the wire holding force from being lowered by the guide roller at each workpiece cutting portion, and to improve the running stability of the wire group at each workpiece cutting portion.

  In the wire saw, the pair of guide rollers are provided so as to be aligned in a direction orthogonal to the alignment direction of the guide rollers, so that the cutting regions of the workpiece cutting portions are arranged along the orthogonal direction. The workpiece holding member holds the plurality of workpieces so that the workpieces are arranged along the arrangement direction of the cutting regions, and moves the workpieces in the arrangement direction at the same time. It is preferable that the plurality of workpieces be cut and fed simultaneously in the same direction.

  In this case, the workpiece holding member has a workpiece holding portion that holds the workpiece by being interposed between the wire group in the cutting area of one workpiece cutting portion and another workpiece cutting portion adjacent to the workpiece cutting portion. And it can comprise so that the workpiece | work hold | maintained at the said workpiece | work holding | maintenance part may be cut and sent with respect to the said wire group with the movement along the said arrangement direction.

  As described above, according to the configuration in which the cutting areas of the workpiece are gathered in a line and the workpiece is held in an arrangement along the cutting area, the overall configuration of the wire saw can be made compact.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously cut a plurality of workpieces while stably running the cutting wire without inconvenience such as a decrease in the holding force of the wire by the guide roller. Therefore, a plurality of workpieces can be cut well at the same time with more uniform accuracy.

  A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 schematically shows an entire wire saw according to the present invention. The wire saw shown in this figure includes upper and lower two-stage workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B (first workpiece cutting portion 1A and second workpiece cutting portion 1B), a pair of wire feeding and winding devices 12A and 12B, and a wire tension adjusting device 15A. , 15B, 18, guide pulleys 21 to 34, and the like.

  A pair of guide rollers 10a and 10b arranged in the horizontal direction are disposed in the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B, respectively. The pair of guide rollers 10a and 10b of the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B are arranged so that their alignment directions are parallel to each other and in a direction perpendicular to the alignment direction (vertical direction in the figure). And one side (guide roller 10a) of these guide rollers 10a and 10b is rotationally driven by the drive motors 11A and 11B.

  Each of the wire feeding / winding devices 10A and 10B includes bobbins 13A and 13B around which a cutting wire W is wound, and bobbin driving motors 14A and 14B that rotate the bobbins.

  Then, the wire W fed from the bobbin 13A of one wire feeding / winding device 12A is hung in the order of the guide pulleys 21 and 22, the pulley 16 of the wire tension adjusting device 15A, and the guide pulleys 23 to 26 to cut the workpiece. The guide roller 10a, 10b is inserted into a guide groove (not shown) on the outer peripheral surface of the guide roller 10a, 10b and is wound spirally between the guide rollers 10a, 10b. The pulley 27, the pulley 19 of the wire tension adjusting device 18 (corresponding to the adjusting means according to the present invention), the guide pulleys 28 and 29 are hung in this order, and the guide grooves on the outer peripheral surfaces of the guide rollers 10a and 10b of the workpiece cutting unit 1B. The guide rollers 10a and 10b were wound many times in a spiral manner while being fitted in (not shown). After that, the guide pulleys 30 to 32, the pulley 16 of the wire tension adjusting device 15B, and the guide pulleys 33 and 34 are applied in this order, and wound around the bobbin 13B of the other wire feeding / winding device 12B, and the wire tension. Appropriate tension is applied to the wire W by the adjusting devices 15A, 15B, and 18.

  Then, the rotational drive direction of the guide roller 10a by the drive motors 11A and 11B of the workpiece cutting units 1A and 1B and the rotational drive direction of the bobbins 13A and 13B by the bobbin drive motors 14A and 14B are switched between forward and reverse. The state is switched between a state in which the wire W is drawn out from the bobbin 13A on one side and wound around the bobbin 13B on the other side, and a state in which the wire W is drawn out from the bobbin 13B on the other side and wound on the one bobbin 13A. It is like that. With this configuration, a large number of wires W (appropriately referred to as wire groups) are stretched in parallel between the guide rollers 10a and 10b of the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B, and the wire groups are fast in the axial direction. It is designed to be driven back and forth.

  A workpiece feeding device 40 for moving a columnar workpiece 44 (ingot) is provided at a side portion of the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B. The work feeding device 40 includes a vertical table 41 (corresponding to a work holding member according to the present invention) having a pair of work holding portions 42A and 42B arranged in a line in the vertical direction, and a work feed motor 43.

  The work holding parts 42A and 42B hold the work 44 in an orientation in which a desired crystal orientation can be obtained based on the crystal axis via a slice base (not shown), and the upper work holding part 42A ( The first workpiece holding portion 42A) holds the workpiece 44 above the upper wire group among the wire groups formed between the guide rollers 10a and 10b of the first workpiece cutting portion 1A, and the lower workpiece holding portion 42B. Is interposed between the upper wire group formed between the guide rollers 10a and 10b of the first work cutting part 1A and the second work cutting part 1B, and holds the work 44 above the upper wire group. It is provided to do.

  On the other hand, the work feed motor 43 moves the work 44 together with the vertical table 41 in combination with a ball screw (not shown).

  That is, in this wire saw, the wire group formed between the guide rollers 10a and 10b of the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B is simultaneously driven at a high speed in the longitudinal direction, while the gap between the guide rollers 10a and 10b is used as a cutting region. From the outside of the wire group in which the workpieces 44 held by the workpiece holding portions 42A and 42B by the driving of the workpiece feeding device 40 are simultaneously wound around the wire groups in the cutting region and around the guide rollers 10a and 10b. By cutting and feeding in the same direction toward the inside (in the figure, from the upper side to the lower side), a large number of wafers (thin pieces) are simultaneously cut out from each workpiece 44 at the same time.

  According to the wire saw as described above, wafer pieces can be simultaneously cut out from the two workpieces 44 by one cutting wire W. Moreover, in this wire saw, as described above, in any of the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B, the workpiece 44 is directed from the outside to the inside (from the upper side to the lower side) of the wire group wound around the guide rollers 10a and 10b. Therefore, the traveling stability of the wire group is not impaired when the workpiece is cut. That is, in any workpiece cutting part 1A, 1B, as shown in FIG. 2, when the workpiece is cut, the wire W bends in the direction in which the contact length between the guide rollers 10a, 10b and the wire W increases. Thus, the contact length between the guide roller and the wire is not reduced, and the running stability of the wire is not impaired. Therefore, the wire W can be stably driven at a high speed in any state where the holding force of the wire W by the guide rollers 10a and 10b is kept good in any of the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B. Can be cut well at the same time with more uniform accuracy.

  In particular, in this wire saw, the wire tension adjusting devices 15A and 15B are provided between the wire feeding / winding devices 12A and 12B and the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B, and the first workpiece cutting portion 1A and the second workpiece are further provided. Since the wire tension adjusting device 18 is provided between the cutting part 1B and the tension of the wire W is adjusted, the first work cutting part 1A to the second work cutting part 1B (second work cutting part 1B) are configured. Generation of slack or the like of the wire W guided to the first workpiece cutting portion 1A) can be effectively prevented, and the tension of the wire W (wire group) in each workpiece cutting portion 1A, 1B can be kept good. it can. Accordingly, it is possible to avoid inconvenience that the holding force of the wire W by the guide rollers 10a and 10b is reduced due to the slack, and the advantage that the wire W can be stably driven at a high speed also in this respect. There is.

  By the way, the wire saw demonstrated above is an example of preferable embodiment of the wire saw which concerns on this invention, Comprising: The specific structure can be suitably changed in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

  For example, in the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B of this embodiment, a wire group is formed between the rollers 10a and 10b by winding the wire W only between the pair of guide rollers 10a and 10b. The work 44 is cut and fed to the group, but the wire group is formed between the guide rollers by winding the wire W around three or four or more guide rollers. There may be. However, in this case as well, it is necessary to cut and feed the workpiece from the outside to the inside of the wire wound around the plurality of guide rollers in order to prevent the holding force of the wire from being lowered by the guide roller when cutting the workpiece. Note that there are. Specifically, in the configuration in which the wire W is wound around three guide rollers, for example, the guide roller is arranged at the apex of an inverted triangle, and the upper pair of guide rollers is formed as a cutting region between the guide rollers. What is necessary is just to set it as the structure which cuts and feeds a workpiece | work from the upper direction to the downward direction with respect to the wire group performed.

  In the wire saw of the embodiment, the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B are arranged vertically (vertical direction), but of course, the workpiece cutting portions 1A and 1B may be arranged horizontally (horizontal direction). In this case, the workpiece feeding device 40 may be configured such that workpiece holding portions 42A and 42B are provided side by side with respect to the vertical table 41.

  Moreover, it is good also as a structure cut | disconnected and sent to a horizontal direction other than the structure which cut | disconnects the workpiece | work 44 to a vertical direction with respect to a wire group like embodiment.

  In the wire saw according to the embodiment, the two workpieces 44 are cut at the same time, but of course, three or four or more workpieces 44 may be cut at the same time. In this case, the workpiece cutting units corresponding to the number of workpieces 44 may be provided, and the same number of workpiece holding units may be provided in the workpiece feeding device 40.

It is the schematic which shows the whole structure of the wire saw which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the effect of a wire saw. It is a schematic diagram which shows schematic structure of the conventional wire.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1A 1st workpiece | work cutting | disconnection part 1B 2nd workpiece | work cutting | disconnection part 10a, 10b Guide roller 12A, 12B Wire feeding and winding apparatus 40 Work feeding apparatus 42A 1st workpiece holding part 42B 2nd workpiece holding part 43 Work feeding motor 44 Work W wire

Claims (5)

A wire saw that cuts a workpiece by cutting and feeding a workpiece such as a semiconductor ingot to a wire group constituted by cutting wires,
A plurality of workpiece cutting units each including a plurality of guide rollers, a wire feeding device for feeding the wire to the workpiece cutting unit, a wire winding device for winding the wire from the workpiece cutting unit, and a plurality of workpieces simultaneously. A workpiece holding member for holding,
The wire fed from the wire feeding device is sequentially wound around the winding device via each workpiece cutting unit, and wound around the plurality of guide rollers at each workpiece cutting unit, The wire group in which a plurality of wires are arranged between the guide rollers of each work cutting part is formed, and the wire group is axially driven by the operation of each device and is held by the work holding member. The plurality of workpieces are configured so that each workpiece is cut by being fed to the wire group of each workpiece cutting unit,
Each of the workpiece cutting portions includes a pair of guide rollers as the plurality of guide rollers, and the arrangement direction of the pair of guide rollers is configured to be parallel to each other between the workpiece cutting portions. The area between the guide rollers is the work cutting area.
The workpiece holding member is the same from the outside to the inside of the wire wound around the plurality of guide rollers at the same time with respect to the wire group in the cutting area of each workpiece cutting portion. A wire saw characterized by being cut and fed in a direction. The wire saw according to claim 1, wherein
Each of the workpiece cutting portions has a configuration in which the wire is wound only between the pair of guide rollers. The wire saw according to claim 1 or 2,
A wire saw comprising adjusting means for adjusting the tension of the wire to a predetermined tension in a process from one work cutting part to another work cutting part. The wire saw according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
By providing the pair of guide rollers so as to be aligned in a direction orthogonal to the alignment direction of the guide rollers, the cutting regions of the workpiece cutting portions are arranged along the orthogonal direction, and the workpiece holding member is Holding the plurality of workpieces so that the workpieces are aligned along the direction of arrangement of the cutting regions, and simultaneously moving the workpieces in the alignment direction, respectively, the plurality of workpieces with respect to the wire group of each cutting region A wire saw characterized by being simultaneously cut and fed in the same direction. The wire saw according to claim 4, wherein
The workpiece holding member has a workpiece holding portion that holds a workpiece interposed between a wire group in the cutting area of one workpiece cutting portion and another workpiece cutting portion adjacent to the workpiece cutting portion, A wire saw that cuts and feeds the workpiece held by the workpiece holding portion to the wire group in accordance with the movement along the arrangement direction.

Images