JP2015230917A - Wafer handling device and tweezers for wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wafer handling device and tweezers for a wafer, allowing an operator to handle the wafer without causing damage to a ground part.SOLUTION: A wafer handling device includes a handle part gripped by an operator, and the arc-shaped tip connected to the handle part. The arc-shaped tip includes: a first arc-shaped protrusion extending in the direction opposite to the handle part; a second arc-shaped protrusion which extends in the direction opposite to the handle part and is separated from the first protrusion; and a connection part which connects the first protrusion and the second protrusion. The outer edge of the wafer is housed between the first protrusion and the second protrusion, and the wafer is handled.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wafer handling apparatus and wafer tweezers used when an operator manually handles a wafer.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a tweezers having an arcuate tip. This arcuate tip grabs about a quarter to a sixth of the outer periphery of the wafer.

JP 2001-168181 A

  For example, in order to increase the power conversion efficiency of the power device, the wafer is sometimes ground to a thickness of several tens of μm. When a wafer having a diameter of more than 8 inches is ground, if an operator tries to handle the wafer manually, a large stress is applied to the wafer by the weight of the wafer. In this case, the wafer may be damaged.

  In order to prevent damage to the wafer, it is necessary to maintain the strength of the wafer. Therefore, only the central part of the wafer is used as a part to be ground, and the rim part (width of about 3 mm) of the wafer may be kept thick without being ground. Such a wafer is called a rim portion reinforcing wafer.

  However, if the rim portion reinforcing wafer is gripped by the tweezers disclosed in Patent Document 1, the tweezers may come into contact with the portion to be ground and cause damage to the portion to be ground.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a wafer handling device and a wafer tweezers that allow an operator to handle a wafer without damaging a portion to be ground. Objective.

  A wafer handling apparatus according to the present invention comprises a handle portion gripped by an operator, and an arcuate tip portion connected to the handle portion, the arcuate tip portion extending in an opposite direction to the handle portion. A first convex portion, an arc-shaped second convex portion extending in a direction opposite to the handle portion and separated from the first convex portion, and a connecting portion connecting the first convex portion and the second convex portion, An outer edge portion of the wafer is accommodated between the first convex portion and the second convex portion, and the wafer is handled.

  The tweezers for a wafer according to the invention of the present application includes a first tweezer piece having a first arc-shaped tip portion, a first straight portion connected to the first arc-shaped tip portion, a second arc-shaped tip portion, A second tweezer piece having a second straight portion connected to the two arc-shaped tip portions, the first straight portion and the second straight portion being connected, the first arc-shaped tip portion and the second A window is formed in the arcuate tip so that the wafer between the first arcuate tip and the second arcuate tip can be seen when the wafer is sandwiched between the arcuate tips.

  According to the present invention, since the wafer is accommodated between the two convex portions or the window is provided at the arcuate tip portion, the operator can handle the wafer without damaging the portion to be ground.

1 is a perspective view of a wafer handling device according to a first embodiment. It is sectional drawing of an arc-shaped front-end | tip part and a linear part. It is sectional drawing of the wafer handling apparatus holding the rim | limb part reinforcement | strengthening wafer. It is a top view of a wafer handling device and a rim section reinforcement wafer held by the wafer handling device. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a wafer handling device according to a second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a wafer tweezers according to a third embodiment. It is a top view of the tweezers for wafers which grasped the wafer. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a second tweezer piece of a wafer tweezers according to a fourth embodiment. It is a perspective view of the 1st tweezers piece. FIG. 10 is a front view of a wafer tweezers according to a fifth embodiment.

  A wafer handling apparatus and wafer tweezers according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The same or corresponding components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated description may be omitted.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wafer handling apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The wafer handling apparatus 10 includes a handle portion 12 that is held by an operator. An arcuate tip 16 is connected to the handle 12 via a straight line 14. The arcuate tip portion 16 is a portion that holds the rim portion of the rim portion reinforcing wafer. Therefore, the arcuate tip portion 16 is formed in an arc shape so as to have substantially the same curvature as the outer periphery of the rim portion reinforcing wafer. And the length of the arc of the arcuate tip 16 is 1/12 or more of the circumference of the rim portion reinforcing wafer.

  The arcuate tip portion 16 includes a first convex portion 16a, a second convex portion 16b, and a connecting portion 16c. The 1st convex part 16a and the 2nd convex part 16b are connected by the connection part 16c. The 1st convex part 16a and the 2nd convex part 16b are extended in the direction (x negative direction) opposite to the handle | steering-wheel part 12 seeing from the connection part 16c. The first convex portion 16a and the second convex portion 16b are formed in an arc shape.

  A vacuum suction hole 16d for vacuum-sucking a wafer (rim part reinforcing wafer) is formed in the first convex part 16a. The vacuum suction hole 16d is composed of a plurality of circular holes. A switch 18 is provided on the handle portion 12 so that the operator can switch the vacuum suction hole 16d from being vacuumed.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the arcuate tip 16 and the straight portion 14. The vacuum suction hole 16 d is connected to the exhaust path 30. The air in the exhaust path 30 is exhausted by a vacuum pump. The distance between the 1st convex part 16a and the 2nd convex part 16b is z1. This z1 is made to coincide with the thickness of the rim portion of the rim portion reinforcing wafer. The protrusion amount (x1) of the second convex portion 16b from the connecting portion 16c is 3 mm or less.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the wafer handling apparatus 10 when the rim portion reinforcing wafer 32 is held. The rim portion reinforcing wafer 32 includes a portion to be ground 32a that has been thinned by grinding, and a rim portion 32b that is an unground portion. A plurality of unfinished power devices are formed in the portion to be ground 32a. The rim portion 32 b is provided along the outer periphery of the rim portion reinforcing wafer 32. Since the rim portion 32b is not ground, it is sufficiently thicker than the portion to be ground 32a. In order to ensure the strength of the wafer 32, the width of the rim portion 32b is about 3 mm.

  An operator accommodates the rim portion 32b, which is the outer edge portion of the wafer (rim portion reinforcing wafer 32), between the first convex portion 16a and the second convex portion 16b and handles the wafer. At that time, the rim portion 32b is vacuum-sucked to the first convex portion 16a. Since the vacuum suction hole 16d is composed of a plurality of circular holes, the rim portion 32b can be prevented from being strongly sucked and deformed.

  FIG. 4 is a plan view of the wafer handling apparatus 10 and the rim portion reinforcing wafer 32 held by the wafer handling apparatus 10. Since the arc length of the arc-shaped tip portion 16 is 1/12 or more of the circumference of the rim portion reinforcing wafer 32, the rim portion can be held over 30 ° or more. Therefore, the rim portion reinforcing wafer 32 can be stably held.

  According to the wafer handling apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, since the rim portion 32b is supported by the second convex portion 16b in addition to the vacuum suction of the rim portion 32b by the first convex portion 16a, it is stable. Thus, the rim portion reinforcing wafer 32 can be held. Moreover, since the protrusion amount from the connection part 16c of the 2nd convex part 16b is 3 mm or less, the 2nd convex part 16b contacts only the rim | limb part 32b of width 3mm, and does not contact the to-be-ground part 32a. Therefore, the operator can handle the wafer without damaging the portion to be ground 32a.

  The amount of protrusion of the first convex portion 16a from the connecting portion 16c was not particularly defined. As is apparent from FIG. 3, due to the step between the rim portion 32b and the portion to be ground 32a, the first convex portion 16a does not contact the portion to be ground 32a even if the amount of protrusion of the first convex portion 16a is large. However, in FIG. 3, when the positions of the first convex portion 16a and the second convex portion 16b are reversed, the first convex portion 16a may come into contact with the portion to be ground 32a. Therefore, it is preferable that the protrusion amount from the connection part 16c of the 1st convex part 16a and the 2nd convex part 16b shall be 3 mm or less both. In this case, since the portion to be ground 32a is not hidden by the first convex portion 16a, inspection with the naked eye in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 3 is facilitated.

  The wafer handling apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention can be variously modified. For example, the vacuum suction hole 16d may be provided in the second convex portion 16b. Alternatively, the vacuum suction hole 16d may be omitted and the rim portion 32b may be mechanically held. Note that these modifications can be applied to the wafer handling apparatus according to the second embodiment as appropriate.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Since the wafer handling apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention has much in common with the first embodiment, the differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the wafer handling apparatus according to the second embodiment. The vacuum suction hole 16 e has a horizontally long shape along the arc of the arcuate tip 16.

  In order to prevent contact between the first convex portion 16a and the portion to be ground 32a, the amount of protrusion of the first convex portion 16a from the connection portion 16c is preferably small. Therefore, the area where the vacuum suction hole can be formed is narrow. If the total area (opening area) of the vacuum suction holes is small, there may be a case where sufficient suction power cannot be obtained. Therefore, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the total area of the vacuum suction holes 16e is made sufficiently large by making the vacuum suction holes 16e have a horizontally long shape along the arc of the arcuate tip portion 16. Therefore, sufficient adsorption force can be obtained while suppressing the protruding amount of the first convex portion 16a.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of wafer tweezers 50 according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The wafer tweezers 50 includes a first tweezer piece 52 and a second tweezer piece 60. The first tweezer piece 52 has a first arcuate tip 54 and a first straight portion 56 connected to the first arcuate tip 54. The second tweezer piece 60 has a second arcuate tip portion 62 and a second straight portion 64 connected to the second arcuate tip portion 62. The first straight part 56 and the second straight part 64 are connected.

  In the first arcuate tip 54, the wafer between the first arcuate tip 54 and the second arcuate tip 62 can be seen when the wafer is sandwiched between the first arcuate tip 54 and the second arcuate tip 62. Windows 58a, 58b, and 58c are formed.

  FIG. 7 is a plan view of the wafer and the tweezers 50 for the wafer holding the wafer. The operator can check whether the rim portion 32b is correctly grasped by the windows 58a, 58b, 58c. If the rim portion can be seen through all of the windows 58a, 58b, 58c, it is determined that the rim portion is correctly grasped. On the other hand, if the rim portion cannot be seen through all of the windows 58a, 58b, 58c, it is determined that the contact area between the rim portion 32b and the first arcuate tip portion 54 is insufficient.

  A plurality of windows may be provided along the arc of the first arcuate tip 54, and two or four or more windows may be provided. A window may be formed in the second arcuate tip 62.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
The wafer tweezers according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention has much in common with the third embodiment, so that the difference from the third embodiment will be mainly described. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the second tweezer piece 60 of the wafer tweezers according to the fourth embodiment. Stoppers 66a, 66b, and 66c are formed on the second arcuate tip 62 so that the second arcuate tip 62 contacts only a region 3 mm from the outer edge of the wafer. Specifically, the distance from the tip of the second arcuate tip 62 to the stoppers 66a, 66b, 66c (the distance indicated by a in FIG. 8) is 3 mm or less.

  When the operator uses the wafer tweezers to grip the wafer, the stoppers 66a, 66b, 66c come into contact with the outer edge of the wafer, and the ground portion 32a is prevented from coming into contact with the second arcuate tip portion 62. That is, when the wafer is taken out of the case, it is possible to prevent the portion to be ground 32a from coming into contact with the second arcuate tip portion 62 by inserting the wafer tweezers too deeply into the wafer.

  FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the first tweezer piece 52. Holes 59a, 59b, and 59c are formed in the first tweezer piece 52. The holes 59a, 59b, 59c are holes for receiving the stoppers 66a, 66b, 66c.

  In the wafer tweezers according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the contact state between the rim portion 32b and the first tweezer piece 52 can be known by the windows 58a, 58b and 58c, and the portion to be ground can be obtained by the stoppers 66a, 66b and 66c. The contact between the pin 32a and the tweezers for wafer is prevented.

  The distance indicated by a in FIG. 8 is not particularly limited as long as it is equal to or smaller than the width of the rim portion 32b. That is, the installation position of the stopper can be appropriately changed according to the width of the rim portion. The stopper may be formed at the first arcuate tip.

Embodiment 5 FIG.
The wafer tweezers according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention has much in common with the fourth embodiment, so that the difference from the fourth embodiment will be mainly described. FIG. 10 is a front view of the wafer tweezers according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The wafer tweezers includes a first tweezer piece 100 and a second tweezer piece 110. The first tweezer piece 100 includes a first straight portion 102 and a first arcuate tip portion 104. The first arcuate tip 104 is provided with a stopper 106.

  The second tweezer piece 110 includes a second straight portion 112 and a second arcuate tip 114. The second arcuate tip 114 is provided with a window 116. As with the windows 58a, 58b, and 58c of FIG. 6, a plurality of windows 116 are preferably provided in an arc shape. A spring 120 is provided between the first straight part 102 and the second straight part 112. The spring 120 exerts an elastic force in a direction in which the first straight portion 102 and the second straight portion 112 are separated.

When the operator does not apply a force to the spring 120, the elastic force of the spring 120 works to bring the first arcuate tip 104 and the second arcuate tip 114 closer to each other, and the spring 120 is contracted by applying a force to the spring 120. The first arcuate tip 104 and the second arcuate tip 114 are separated. That is, this wafer tweezers is a constantly fixed wafer tweezers that opens the rim portion reinforcing wafer 32 only when an operator applies a force to the wafer tweezers. Since the rim portion reinforcing wafer 32 can be held unless an operator intentionally applies force, it is convenient when checking the front and back surfaces of the wafer with the naked eye.

  Note that the features described in the embodiments described so far may be combined as appropriate.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Wafer handling apparatus, 12 Handle part, 14 Linear part, 16 Arc-shaped front-end | tip part, 16a 1st convex part, 16b 2nd convex part, 16c connection part, 16d, 16e Vacuum suction hole, 18 switch, 32 Rim part reinforcement wafer, 32a to-be-ground part, 32b rim part, 50 wafer tweezers, 52 first tweezer piece, 54 first arcuate tip, 56 first straight part, 58a, 58b, 58c window, 60 second tweezer piece, 62 second arcuate Tip portion, 64 Second linear portion, 66a, 66b, 66c Stopper, 100 First tweezer piece, 106 Stopper, 110 Second tweezer piece, 116 Window

Claims (9)

A handle portion gripped by the operator,
An arcuate tip connected to the handle portion,
The arcuate tip is
An arc-shaped first convex portion extending in a direction opposite to the handle portion;
An arcuate second convex portion extending in a direction opposite to the handle portion and separated from the first convex portion;
A connecting portion connecting the first convex portion and the second convex portion,
A wafer handling apparatus, wherein an outer edge portion of a wafer is accommodated between the first convex portion and the second convex portion to handle the wafer.   2. The wafer handling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a vacuum suction hole for vacuum-sucking the wafer is formed in the first convex portion or the second convex portion.   The wafer handling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the vacuum suction hole has a plurality of circular holes.   The wafer handling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the vacuum suction hole has a horizontally long shape along an arc of the arcuate tip.   The protrusion amount from the said connection part of the said 1st convex part or the protrusion amount from the said connection part of the said 2nd convex part is 3 mm or less, The any one of Claims 1-4 characterized by the above-mentioned. Wafer handling equipment.   6. The wafer handling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an arc length of the arcuate tip is 1/12 or more of a circumference of the wafer. A first tweezer piece having a first arcuate tip and a first straight portion connected to the first arcuate tip;
A second tweezer piece having a second arcuate tip and a second straight portion connected to the second arcuate tip;
The first straight part and the second straight part are connected;
A window is provided in the first arcuate tip so that the wafer between the first arcuate tip and the second arcuate tip can be seen when the wafer is sandwiched between the first arcuate tip and the second arcuate tip. A tweezers for a wafer, wherein   The first arc-shaped tip or the second arc-shaped tip has an outer edge of the wafer such that the first arc-shaped tip or the second arc-shaped tip touches only a region from the outer edge of the wafer to 3 mm. The wafer tweezers according to claim 7, further comprising a stopper that contacts the wafer tweezers. A spring provided between the first straight portion and the second straight portion;
When no force is applied to the spring, the elastic force of the spring works to bring the first arc-shaped tip and the second arc-shaped tip close to each other, and when the force is applied to the spring and the spring is contracted, the first 9. The tweezers for a wafer according to claim 7, wherein the arcuate tip portion and the second arcuate tip portion are separated from each other.

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