JP2011192863A - Storage cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a storage cassette that can suppress deflection of an annular frame and deflection of a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. <P>SOLUTION: The storage cassette stores a wafer unit comprising: the annular frame having an opening in which a wafer is stored; the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape having an outer periphery stuck on the annular frame so as to cover the opening of the annular frame; and the wafer stuck on the center of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. The storage cassette includes: an upper wall; a bottom wall; a pair of sidewalls connecting the upper wall and bottom wall to each other; and an opening in which the wafer unit is taken in and out. A plurality of pairs of guide rails for supporting the annular frame are formed inside the pair of sidewalls at predetermined intervals from the upper wall to the bottom wall. Each of the guide rails has: an outer support for supporting an outer side of the annular frame to which the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is not stuck; and an inner support for supporting an inner side to which the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is stuck. The inner support is formed so as to be lower than the outer support, by a step corresponding to the thickness of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a storage cassette for storing a wafer supported by an annular frame via an adhesive tape.

  A semiconductor wafer formed in a region where a plurality of devices such as IC, LSI, etc. are partitioned by a line to be divided is disposed on an annular frame via an adhesive tape, and a dicing apparatus equipped with a cutting blade, which irradiates a laser beam. The device is divided into individual devices by a processing device such as a laser processing device, and the divided devices are widely used in electric devices such as mobile phones and personal computers.

  A plurality of semiconductor wafers supported by an annular frame via an adhesive tape are accommodated in an accommodation cassette and set in a processing apparatus. The semiconductor wafer supported by the annular frame is unloaded from the accommodation cassette and divided into individual devices. Then, it is returned again into the storage cassette (see, for example, JP-A-8-80989).

JP-A-8-80989

  However, with the recent increase in wafer diameter (300 mm, 450 mm), the central portion of the annular frame accommodated in the accommodation cassette bends downward and the adhesive tape also bends downward. In addition, it is necessary to increase the interval between a plurality of pairs of guide rails formed in the vertical direction, resulting in a problem that the number of wafers stored in the storage cassette is reduced and productivity is poor.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a point, The place made into the objective is providing the accommodation cassette which can suppress the bending of an annular frame and the bending of an adhesive tape.

  According to the present invention, an annular frame having an opening for accommodating a wafer, an adhesive tape having an outer peripheral part attached to the annular frame so as to cover the opening of the annular frame, and attached to the center of the adhesive tape A storage cassette for storing a wafer unit composed of a plurality of wafers, wherein the storage cassette includes an upper wall, a bottom wall, a pair of side walls connecting the upper wall and the bottom wall, and a wafer unit. A plurality of pairs of guide rails that support the annular frame are formed on the inner side of the pair of side walls at a predetermined interval from the upper wall to the bottom wall. Each guide rail includes an outer support portion that supports an outer side of the annular frame to which the adhesive tape is not attached, and an inner support portion that supports an inner side to which the adhesive tape is attached. Outside support PSA accommodation cassette, characterized in that it is stepped fraction lower form corresponding to the thickness of the tape is provided for.

  Preferably, the inner support portion is formed to extend to a region for supporting the adhesive tape attached to the inner side of the annular frame.

  According to the present invention, the area for supporting the wafer unit is increased to suppress the bending of the central part, and the inner support part for supporting the inner side to which the adhesive tape is attached and the outer side to support the outer side to which the adhesive tape is not attached. A step corresponding to the thickness of the adhesive tape is formed between the support part and the adhesive tape so that no excessive load is applied to the adhesive tape when the wafer unit is unloaded from the storage cassette. It is possible to avoid peeling.

  In addition, the inner support portion is formed to extend to a region that supports the adhesive tape attached to the inner side of the annular frame, thereby further suppressing the bending of the adhesive tape.

It is a schematic perspective view of the cutting device which can apply the accommodation cassette of the present invention. It is a perspective view of a wafer unit. It is a back side perspective view near a storage cassette and carrying in / out means. It is a perspective view which shows the wafer unit accommodated in a storage cassette and a storage cassette. It is a fragmentary sectional view of the wafer unit accommodated in the accommodation cassette.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an external view of a cutting apparatus 2 to which a housing cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention, which can divide a semiconductor wafer into individual chips (devices), can be applied.

  On the front side of the cutting device 2, there is provided operating means 4 for an operator to input instructions to the device such as machining conditions. In the upper part of the apparatus, there is provided a display means 6 such as a CRT for displaying a guidance screen for an operator and an image taken by an imaging means described later.

  As shown in FIG. 2, on the surface of the wafer W to be diced, the first street S1 and the second street S2 are formed orthogonally, and the first street S1 and the second street S2 A plurality of devices D are partitioned and formed on the wafer W.

  The wafer W is attached to a dicing tape T that is an adhesive tape, and the outer peripheral edge of the dicing tape T is attached to an annular frame F to constitute a wafer unit 11. Thus, the wafer W is supported by the frame F via the dicing tape T, and a plurality of wafer units 11 (for example, 25 sheets) are accommodated in the accommodation cassette 8 shown in FIG. The accommodating cassette 8 is placed on a cassette elevator 9 that can move up and down.

  Behind the storage cassette 8 is provided a loading / unloading means 10 for unloading the wafer W before cutting from the storage cassette 8 and loading the wafer after cutting into the storage cassette 8. Between the storage cassette 8 and the loading / unloading means 10, a temporary placement area 12, which is an area on which a wafer to be loaded and unloaded is temporarily placed, is provided. Positioning means 14 for positioning at a certain position is provided.

  In the vicinity of the temporary placement area 12, a transport means 16 having a turning arm that sucks and transports the frame F of the wafer unit 11 is disposed. The wafer W carried out to the temporary placement area 12 is transported by the transport means 16. And is sucked by the chuck table 18 and sucked by the chuck table 18 and held on the chuck table 18 by fixing the frame F by a plurality of fixing means 19.

  The chuck table 18 is configured to be rotatable and reciprocally movable in the X-axis direction. Above the movement path of the chuck table 18 in the X-axis direction, an alignment unit 20 that detects a street to be cut of the wafer W is provided. It is arranged.

  The alignment unit 20 includes an imaging unit 22 that images the surface of the wafer W, and can detect a street to be cut by a process such as pattern matching based on an image acquired by imaging. The image acquired by the imaging unit 22 is displayed on the display unit 6.

  On the left side of the alignment means 20, a cutting means 24 for cutting the wafer W held on the chuck table 18 is disposed. The cutting means 24 is configured integrally with the alignment means 20, and both move together in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction.

  The cutting means 24 is configured by attaching a cutting blade 28 to the tip of a rotatable spindle 26 and is movable in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction. The cutting blade 28 is located on the extended line of the imaging means 22 in the X-axis direction.

  Referring to FIG. 3, a perspective view of the periphery of the storage cassette 8 and the loading / unloading means 10 is shown from the back side. As shown in the enlarged perspective view of FIG. 4, the storage cassette 8 has a bottom wall 8a, an upper wall 8b, and a pair of side walls 8c connecting the bottom wall 8a and the upper wall 8b. An opening 13 is formed on the front side of the storage cassette 8.

  A plurality of pairs of guide rails 30 that support the annular frame F are formed on the inner side of the side wall 8c of the storage cassette 8 from the upper wall 8b to the bottom wall 8a at a predetermined interval. As best shown in FIG. 5, each guide rail 30 supports an outer support 30 a that supports the outside of the annular frame F to which the dicing tape T is not attached, and the inner side to which the dicing tape T is attached. And an inner support portion 30b.

  A step 32 corresponding to the thickness of the dicing tape T is formed between the outer support portion 30a and the inner support portion 30b, and the inner support portion 30b is formed lower than the outer support portion 30a by this step. An R-shaped chamfer 34 is formed at the tip of the inner support portion 30b.

  As is apparent from FIG. 5, the inner support portion 30 b of the guide rail 30 is formed to extend to a region that supports the dicing tape T attached to the inner side of the annular frame F.

  When the wafer unit 11 is carried into or out of the storage cassette 8, the annular frame F of the wafer unit 11 is gripped by the loading / unloading means 10, and the annular frame F faces through the opening 13 of the storage cassette 8. The wafer unit 11 is carried into or out of the storage cassette 8 so as to be supported by the outer support portions 30 a of the pair of guide rails 30.

  In the wafer cassette 8 of the present embodiment, the annular frame F is supported by the outer support portion 30a of the guide rail 30, and the outer peripheral portion of the dicing tape T attached to the annular frame F is supported by the inner support portion 30b. The area | region which supports the unit 11 increases and the bending of a center part can be suppressed.

  Further, a step 32 corresponding to the thickness of the dicing tape T is formed between the outer support portion 30a and the inner support portion 30b of the guide rail 30, and the inner support portion 30b is stepped with respect to the outer support portion 30a. Since the wafer cassette 11 is formed so as to be lower, it is possible to prevent the dicing tape T from being peeled off from the annular frame F without excessively applying a load to the dicing tape T when the wafer cassette 11 is carried out and loaded from the storage cassette 8.

  Moreover, since the inner side support part 30b is extended and formed to the area | region which supports the dicing tape T stuck inside the annular frame F, the bending of the dicing tape T can further be suppressed.

W Semiconductor wafer F Ring frame T Dicing tape (adhesive tape)
2 Cutting device 8 Storage cassette 11 Wafer unit 24 Cutting means 28 Cutting blade 30 Guide rail 30a Outer support portion 30b Inner support portion 32 Step

Claims (2)

An annular frame having an opening for accommodating a wafer, an adhesive tape having an outer peripheral portion attached to the annular frame so as to cover the opening of the annular frame, and a wafer attached to the center of the adhesive tape A storage cassette for storing a configured wafer unit,
The storage cassette includes an upper wall, a bottom wall, a pair of side walls connecting the upper wall and the bottom wall, and an opening through which a wafer unit is inserted and removed.
Inside the pair of side walls, a plurality of pairs of guide rails that support the annular frame are formed with a predetermined distance from the top wall to the bottom wall,
Each of the guide rails includes an outer support portion that supports an outer side of the annular frame to which the adhesive tape is not attached, and an inner support portion that supports an inner side to which the adhesive tape is attached.
The accommodation cassette is characterized in that the inner support portion is formed lower than the outer support portion by a step corresponding to the thickness of the adhesive tape.   The accommodation cassette according to claim 1, wherein the inner support portion is formed to extend to a region for supporting the adhesive tape attached to the inner side of the annular frame.

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