JP2015050401A - Cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cassette facilitating the determination with respect to at which position of the cassette a plate-like body is housed.SOLUTION: A cassette capable of housing a plurality of plate-like bodies includes: a cassette body which includes a plurality pairs of housing grooves on a pair of facing side walls, the housing grooves housing plate-like bodies and being paired with each other, the cassette body having a front opening for inserting/removing the plate-like bodies in/from the housing grooves; and stage number display displaying the stage number of the housing grooves and formed on the side walls.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cassette that can accommodate a plurality of plate-like objects.

  A plurality of plate-like objects (plate-like workpieces) such as a wafer with a surface protection tape attached to the front surface, a wafer unit, or a wafer unit with a dicing tape attached to the back surface and supported by an annular frame It is accommodated and supplied to various processing devices such as a cutting device and a grinding device.

  In such a cassette, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-91411, a plurality of pairs of housing grooves are formed on a pair of left and right side walls, and a pair of housing grooves facing each other. One plate is supported and accommodated in a cassette.

  On the other hand, a plurality of types of plate-like objects may be accommodated in the cassette. When the processing conditions of the processing apparatus differ depending on the type of the plate-shaped object, the position (number of stages) of the cassette that stores the plate-shaped object is designated and the processing is performed under the processing conditions corresponding to the type of the plate-shaped object.

JP 2000-91411 A

  However, if plate-like objects are stored in all the receiving grooves of the cassette, it is difficult to determine at a glance where the plate-shaped objects are stored in the cassette, and the number of steps may be wrong. In particular, when storing multiple types of plate-shaped objects in a cassette, it is difficult to determine what type of plate-shaped objects are stored in which position of the cassette, and different types of plate-shaped objects are processed. There is a risk of setting conditions.

  The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cassette in which it is possible to easily determine in which position of the cassette a plate-like object is housed.

  According to the present invention, the cassette is capable of accommodating a plurality of plate-like objects, and a plurality of pairs of accommodating grooves for accommodating the plate-like objects are formed on a pair of opposing side walls, and the accommodation grooves are plate-shaped. There is provided a cassette comprising a cassette body having a front opening for taking in and out an object, and a step number display formed on the side wall for displaying the number of steps of the receiving groove.

  Preferably, a first color portion formed on the pair of side walls at a position corresponding to the first accommodation groove pair among the plurality of pairs of accommodation grooves, and a second accommodation groove pair adjacent to the first accommodation groove pair. And a second color portion formed on the pair of side walls at corresponding positions.

  Since the cassette of the present invention has a step number display, it is possible to determine at a glance at which position of the cassette the plate-like object is stored.

  According to invention of Claim 2, since it has a coloring part in a pair of side wall which opposes, respectively, the possibility that a plate-shaped object may be accommodated over the accommodation groove | channel of a different level in each side wall can be reduced.

It is a perspective view of a cutting device. It is a perspective view of a wafer unit. It is a perspective view of the cassette concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of the cassette of a first embodiment. It is a front view of the cassette of a second embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, a perspective view of a cutting device 2 as an example of a processing device is shown. On the front side of the cutting apparatus 2, an operation panel 4 is provided for an operator to input instructions to the apparatus such as machining conditions. In the upper part of the apparatus, a display monitor 6 such as a CRT on which a guidance screen for an operator and an image captured by an imaging unit described later are displayed is provided.

  A plurality of semiconductor wafers 11 to be cut by the cutting apparatus 2 are accommodated in the cassette 8 shown in FIG. The cassette 8 is placed on a cassette elevator 9 that can move up and down. Behind the cassette 8 is disposed a loading / unloading unit 10 for unloading the wafer 11 before cutting from the cassette 8 and loading the wafer after cutting into the cassette 8.

  Between the cassette 8 and the carry-in / out unit 10, a temporary placement area 12, which is an area in which the wafer 11 to be carried in / out, is temporarily placed, is provided, and the wafer 11 is placed in the temporary placement area 12. An alignment mechanism 14 for aligning at a certain position is provided.

  A transport unit 16 having a swivel arm that sucks and transports the wafer 11 is disposed in the vicinity of the temporary placement area 12, and the wafer 11 that has been transported to the temporary placement area 12 and aligned is transported by the transport unit 16. Is sucked and conveyed onto the chuck table 18 and sucked and held by the chuck table 18.

  The chuck table 18 is configured to be rotatable and reciprocally movable in the X-axis direction by a machining feed mechanism (not shown). An area to be cut of the wafer 11 is formed above the movement path of the chuck table 18 in the X-axis direction. An alignment unit 22 for detection is provided. Reference numeral 20 denotes a clamp for clamping the annular frame F.

  The alignment unit 22 includes an imaging unit 24 that images the surface of the wafer 11, and can detect a region to be cut by processing such as pattern matching based on an image acquired by imaging. The image acquired by the imaging unit 24 is displayed on the display monitor 6.

  On the left side of the alignment unit 22, a cutting unit 26 for cutting the wafer 11 held on the chuck table 18 is disposed. The cutting unit 26 is configured integrally with the alignment unit 22, and both move together in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction.

  The cutting unit 26 is configured by mounting a cutting blade 30 having a cutting edge on the outer periphery of the end of a rotatable spindle 28 and is movable in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction. The cutting blade 30 is located on the extended line of the imaging unit 24 in the X-axis direction. The movement of the cutting unit 26 in the Y-axis direction is achieved by an index feed mechanism (not shown).

  Reference numeral 34 denotes a spinner cleaning unit that cleans the wafer 11 that has been subjected to the cutting process. The wafer 11 that has been subjected to the cutting process is transported to the spinner cleaning unit 34 by the transport unit 32 and is spin cleaned and spin dried by the spinner cleaning unit 34. .

  The wafer 11 is loaded into the cutting apparatus 2 in the form of the wafer unit 17 shown in FIG. A plurality of division lines 13 are formed in a lattice pattern on the surface of the wafer 11, and devices 15 such as ICs and LSIs are formed in each area partitioned by the division lines 13.

  The wafer unit 17 includes an annular frame F, a dicing tape T having an outer peripheral portion attached to the annular frame F, and a wafer 11 having a back surface attached to the dicing tape T. The wafer unit 17 is provided in the cassette 8. Are accommodated and supplied to the cutting device 2.

  The wafer unit 17 or the wafer 11 alone is accommodated in the cassette 8 of the cutting apparatus 2. In the following description, the plate-like object (plate-like workpiece) accommodated in the cassette 8 is the wafer unit 17. It will be explained as a thing.

  Referring to FIG. 3, a perspective view of an example of the cassette 8 is shown. The cassette 8 is provided with a right side wall 36 and a left side wall 38 facing each other. The right side wall 36 and the left side wall 38 are connected to each other by a top plate 40 and a bottom connecting plate 42 to form a square shape. The right side wall 36, the left side wall 38, and the top plate 40 define the accommodating portion 8a.

  The cassette 8 has a front opening 8 b for taking the wafer unit 17 into and out of the cassette 8. In the present embodiment, the rear surface of the cassette 8 is also opened. A plurality of receiving grooves 44 extending in the front-rear direction are formed inside the right wall 30. Similarly, a plurality of receiving grooves 46 extending in the front-rear direction are also formed inside the left side wall 38. The accommodation groove 44 of the right side wall 36 and the accommodation groove 46 of the left side wall 38 are formed so as to face each other correspondingly.

  A stopper 48 that extends in a direction orthogonal to the accommodation groove 44 of the right side wall 36 and the accommodation groove 46 of the left side wall 38 is disposed in the rear opening of the cassette 8, and is accommodated in the cassette 8 by this stopper 48. The wafer unit 17 is prevented from falling off from the back side.

  In the cassette 8 of the present embodiment, the annular frame F of the wafer unit 17 is accommodated in the accommodation groove 44 of the right side wall 36 and the accommodation groove 46 of the left side wall 38, and the wafer unit 17 in a horizontal state in the accommodation portion 8 a of the cassette 8. Are accommodated. A handle 52 is attached to the top plate 4 so that the operator can carry the cassette 8 by holding the handle 52.

  Referring to FIG. 4, a partially broken front view of the cassette 8 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is shown. On the front side of the right side wall 36 and the left side wall 38, a step number display 55 indicating the number of steps of the housing grooves 44 and 46 is formed with arithmetic numbers. The stage number display 55 may be numbered sequentially from the bottom of the cassette 8. Further, the step number display 55 may be provided only on one of the right side wall 36 and the left side wall 38.

  The accommodation groove 44 formed on the right side wall 36 and the accommodation groove 46 formed on the left side wall 38 form an accommodation groove pair with the accommodation grooves 44 and 46 having the same height position, and a pair of accommodations having the same height. The annular frame F of the wafer unit 17 is accommodated in the grooves 44 and 46.

  In the cassette 8 of this embodiment, the stage number display 55 is provided on the front side of the cassette 8, so it is possible to determine at a glance at which position of the cassette 8 the wafer unit 17 is accommodated. In addition, it is possible to input the machining conditions from the operation panel 4 by designating the number of stages of the housing grooves.

  Referring to FIG. 5, a partially broken front view of the cassette 8A of the second embodiment of the present invention is shown. The same components as those in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted to avoid duplication. The cassette 8A of the present embodiment is characterized in that, in addition to the stage number display 55, a pair of opposing receiving grooves 44 and 46 are colored in the same color.

  For example, the housing grooves 44 and 46 of the stage number display 2 are colored by the first color portion 54, and the housing grooves 44 and 46 of the stage number display 3 are colored by the second color portion 56. The housing grooves 44 and 46 of the step number display 4 are colored by the first color portion 54. For example, the first color portion 54 is colored white and the second color portion 56 is colored red.

  Thus, by coloring the upper and lower receiving grooves 44 and 46 in different colors, the operator of the cutting apparatus stores the wafer unit 17 across the different receiving grooves 44 and 46 on the side walls 36 and 38. Fear can be reduced.

  The coloring may be different in all stages, and for example, multiple colors such as white → red → yellow → white →... May be repeated. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the front surfaces of the side walls 36 and 38 are colored portions, but the protruding portions forming the grooves 44 and 46 may be colored.

  In the embodiment described above, the example in which the wafer unit 17 is adopted as the plate-like object accommodated in the cassette 8 has been described. However, the plate-like object is not limited to the wafer unit 17 and may be a single wafer 11.

  In the above-described embodiment, the cassette 8 of the cutting device 2 has been described. However, the cassette 8 of the present invention can also be used as a cassette of a grinding device. In this case, the plate-like object accommodated in the cassette 8 is a wafer having a surface protection tape attached to the surface.

2 Cutting device 8, 8A Cassette 11 Wafer 17 Wafer unit 36 Right side wall 38 Left side wall 44, 46 Housing groove 54 First color portion 55 Stage number display 56 Second color portion

Claims (2)

A cassette that can accommodate a plurality of plate-like objects,
A cassette main body having a front opening for taking in and out the plate-like material, and a plurality of pairs of housing grooves for accommodating the plate-like material are formed on a pair of opposing side walls,
A step number formed on the side wall for displaying the step number of the receiving groove;
A cassette characterized by comprising A first color portion formed on the pair of side walls at a position corresponding to the first accommodation groove pair among the plurality of pairs of accommodation grooves;
A second color portion formed on the pair of side walls at a position corresponding to the second accommodation groove pair adjacent to the first accommodation groove pair;
The cassette according to claim 1, comprising:

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