JP2012104580A - Wafer storage cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wafer storage cassette which has no fear of breaking a wafer and/or carrying means.SOLUTION: A wafer storage cassette 32 capable of storing a plurality of wafers, comprises a cassette body 33 which is formed with plural pairs of storage shelves 56 having equal height on right and left sides and storing the wafers, on inner surfaces of a pair of opposite side walls 33a and 33b, and has an opening portion 54 for taking the wafers into/out from the storage shelves 56 on a front surface; a wafer storage auxiliary plate 62 which is detachably attached to the cassette body 33 to cover the opening portion 54, and has a plurality of penetrating slits 64 corresponding to the plural pairs of the storage shelves 56; and engaging means for detachably engaging the cassette body 33 and the wafer storage auxiliary plate 62.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wafer storage cassette that can store a plurality of wafers.

  For example, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a plurality of circuit elements such as ICs and LSIs are formed on the surface of a semiconductor wafer. Wafers on which a plurality of circuit elements are formed have their back surfaces ground and thinned to a predetermined thickness by a grinding device, and then are cut and divided by a cutting device, whereby individual semiconductor devices are manufactured. .

  As disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-74228 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200545, a cutting device and a grinding device are held by a chuck table for sucking and holding a workpiece such as a wafer. Processing means such as a cutting blade and a grinding wheel are provided for performing cutting and grinding on the workpiece.

  A plurality of wafers are supplied to a processing apparatus such as a cutting apparatus or a grinding apparatus in a state where a plurality of wafers are accommodated in a wafer accommodating cassette as disclosed in JP-A-8-80989 or JP-A-2003-110014.

  The wafer housing cassette has a plurality of housing portions for housing one wafer, and has an opening on the front surface that allows the wafer to be taken in and out of the housing portion. Specifically, each accommodating portion is formed of a plurality of pairs of accommodating shelves formed on the inner surfaces of a pair of side walls facing each other so as to support only the outer peripheral portion of the accommodated wafer.

JP-A-11-74228 JP 2002-200545 A JP-A-8-80989 JP 2003-110014 A

  However, when the operator stores the wafer into the storage cassette having such a structure, there is a problem that the wafer is easily inserted by mistake across the wafer storage shelves on the left and right side walls.

  If the wafer is stored across the wafer storage shelves on the left and right side walls, the wafer and / or the conveyance means may be damaged by the collision of the conveyance means such as a conveyance robot with the wafer when the wafer is unloaded. .

  The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer storage cassette that does not cause damage to the wafer and the conveying means.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a wafer storage cassette capable of storing a plurality of wafers, wherein a plurality of pairs of storage shelves having a uniform height on the left and right sides are formed on the inner surfaces of a pair of opposing side walls, A cassette main body having an opening on the front surface for inserting / removing a wafer into / from the storage shelf, a wafer which is detachably mounted on the cassette main body to cover the opening and has a plurality of through slits corresponding to the plurality of pairs of storage shelves There is provided a wafer storage cassette comprising an insertion auxiliary plate, and engaging means for detachably engaging the cassette body and the wafer insertion auxiliary plate.

  The wafer storage cassette of the present invention is detachably attached to the cassette body to cover the opening of the cassette body, and has a plurality of through slits corresponding to each pair of storage shelves for placing the wafer into the cassette body. A wafer insertion aid is provided.

  Accordingly, when the operator inserts the wafer into the cassette body, the wafer is inserted through the through slits of the wafer insertion auxiliary plate, so that the wafer can be stored across the wafer storage shelves on the left and right side walls. And there is no risk of damaging the wafer and / or the conveying means.

1 is an external perspective view of a grinding apparatus to which a wafer storage cassette of the present invention is applied. It is a disassembled perspective view of the wafer accommodation cassette of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of 1st Embodiment of the state which mounted | wore the cassette main body with the wafer insertion auxiliary | assistant board. It is a perspective view of the state where a wafer insertion auxiliary plate was removed and a plurality of wafers were stored in a cassette body. It is a disassembled perspective view of the wafer accommodation cassette of 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of a grinding apparatus 2 that is suitable for application of the wafer storage cassette of the present invention. Reference numeral 4 denotes a base of the grinding apparatus 2, and a column 6 is erected on the rear side of the base 4. A pair of guide rails (only one is shown) 8 extending in the vertical direction is fixed to the column 6.

  A grinding unit (grinding means) 10 is mounted along the pair of guide rails 8 so as to be movable in the vertical direction. The grinding unit 10 is attached to a moving base 12 whose housing 20 moves in the vertical direction along a pair of guide rails 8.

  The grinding unit 10 includes a housing 20, a spindle (not shown) rotatably accommodated in the housing 20, a motor 22 that rotationally drives the spindle, a wheel mount 24 fixed to the tip of the spindle, and a detachable attachment to the wheel mount 24. And a grinding wheel 25 to which a plurality of grinding wheels 26 are fixed at a tip which can be mounted.

  The grinding unit 10 includes a grinding unit feed mechanism 18 including a ball screw 14 and a pulse motor 16 that move the grinding unit 10 up and down along a pair of guide rails 8. When the pulse motor 16 is pulse-driven, the ball screw 14 rotates and the moving base 12 is moved in the vertical direction.

  A chuck table mechanism 28 having a chuck table 50 is disposed at an intermediate portion of the base 4, and the chuck table 50 is moved in the Y-axis direction by a chuck table moving mechanism (not shown). A bellows 30 covers the chuck table mechanism 28.

  The front portion of the base 4 includes a first wafer storage cassette 32, a second wafer storage cassette 34, a wafer transfer robot 36 (transfer means), a positioning mechanism 38 having a plurality of positioning pins 40, a wafer A loading mechanism (loading arm) 42, a wafer unloading mechanism (unloading arm) 44, and a spinner cleaning unit 46 are provided.

  Further, a cleaning water spray nozzle 48 for cleaning the chuck table 50 is provided at the approximate center of the base 4. The cleaning water spray nozzle 48 sprays cleaning water toward the chuck table 50 in a state where the chuck table 50 is positioned in the wafer loading / unloading area on the front side of the apparatus. Reference numeral 52 denotes a grinding water supply nozzle that ejects the grinding water from the jet outlet 53 at the tip toward the workpiece held on the grinding stone 26 and the chuck table 50.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 2 thru | or FIG. 4, the wafer accommodation cassette 32 of 1st Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. Since the first wafer storage cassette 32 and the second wafer storage cassette 34 shown in FIG. 1 have the same configuration, the first wafer storage cassette 32 will be representatively described in the following description.

  The wafer housing cassette 32 includes a cassette body 33 having a pair of side walls 33a and 33b, a back wall 33c, a bottom wall 33d, and an upper wall 33e. An opening 54 is formed on the front surface of the cassette body 33.

  A plurality of pairs of storage shelves 56 are formed on the inner surfaces of the pair of opposing side walls 33a and 33b so as to accommodate the wafer on the left and right sides. A pair of engagement pins 58 are disposed on the upper front surface of the cassette body 33, and a handle 60 is fixed to the upper wall 33 e of the cassette body 33.

  A wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62 is detachably attached to the cassette main body 33 to cover the opening 54 of the cassette main body 33 and has a plurality of through slits 64 corresponding to each pair of storage shelves 56. A pair of fitting holes 66 into which the engaging pins 58 are fitted are formed at the upper end portion of the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62.

  In order to attach the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62 to the cassette main body 33, the wafer insertion is performed so that the engagement pins 58 of the cassette main body 33 are fitted into the fitting holes 66 of the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62 from the front side of the cassette main body 33. The auxiliary plate 62 is attached to the cassette body 33 as indicated by an arrow A.

  A state in which the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62 is mounted on the cassette body 33 is shown in FIG. Since each through slit 34 is formed to correspond to each pair of storage shelves 56 having the same height on the left and right, in this state, the operator can insert the cassette body 33 through the through slit 64 of the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62. When the wafer W is inserted into the housing W, the wafer W is completely prevented from being stored on the storage shelves 56 at different levels on the left and right side walls 33a and 33b.

  When the desired number of wafers W are accommodated in the cassette body 33, the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62 is removed from the cassette body 33. FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the wafer insertion assisting plate 62 removed from the cassette body 33. As shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each storage shelf 56 supports only the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W. In the wafer storage cassette 32 of the present embodiment, the cassette body 33 has the back wall 33c. However, if a stopper is provided on the inner surface of the left and right side walls 33a, 33b corresponding to each storage shelf 56, the back surface The wall 33c can also be omitted. In the present embodiment, the engaging pin 58 and the fitting hole 66 constitute the engaging means.

  Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown an exploded perspective view of a wafer storage cassette 32A according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the description of this embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted to avoid duplication.

  This embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the configuration of the engaging means for engaging the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62A with the cassette body 33a. In the present embodiment, a protruding portion 68 is formed by protruding the left and right side walls 33a and 33b to the front side. Then, a guide groove 70 extending in the vertical direction is formed on the inner surface of each protruding portion 68, and the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62A is used as an engaging means for engaging with the cassette body 33A.

  In this embodiment, in order to attach the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62A to the cassette body 33A, the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62A is inserted into the guide groove 70 from above the cassette main body 33A as indicated by an arrow B.

  In the state where the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62A is mounted on the cassette body 33A, each of the through slits 64 corresponds to the pair of storage shelves 56 having the same height as in the first embodiment, so that the wafer W has left and right side walls 33a. , 33b is completely prevented from being stored across the different storage shelves 56.

  After the desired number of wafers W are accommodated in the cassette main body 33A, the wafer insertion auxiliary plate 62A is removed from the cassette main body 33A as in the first embodiment, and the base 4 of the grinding apparatus 2 is removed as shown in FIG. Place on the front part.

  The wafers W accommodated in the wafer accommodating cassettes 32 and 32A include a wafer unit, a wafer having a protective tape attached to the surface of the wafer W, or a wafer unit in which the wafer W is supported by an annular frame via a dicing tape.

2 Grinding device 4 Base 10 Grinding unit 25 Grinding wheel 32 First wafer housing cassette 33 Cassette main body 33a, 33b Side wall 54 Opening portion 56 Housing shelf 58 Engaging groove 62 Wafer insertion auxiliary plate 64 Through slit 66 Fitting hole 70 Guide groove

Claims (1)

A wafer storage cassette capable of storing a plurality of wafers,
A cassette body having a plurality of pairs of storage shelves with the same height on the left and right sides for accommodating the wafers on the inner surfaces of a pair of opposing side walls, and having an opening on the front surface for loading and unloading the wafers,
A wafer insertion auxiliary plate that is detachably attached to the cassette body and covers the opening, and has a plurality of through slits corresponding to the plurality of pairs of storage shelves;
Engagement means for detachably engaging the cassette body and the wafer insertion auxiliary plate;
A wafer containing cassette characterized by comprising:

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