JP2016035965A - Plate-like member dividing device and plate-like member dividing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plate-like member dividing device and method that can accurately adjust the thicknesses of divided plate-like member pieces even when the size of the plate-like member is increased.SOLUTION: A plate-like member dividing device 10 has: first supporting means 20 for supporting one surface of a wafer WF as a plate-like member; reformed layer forming means 30 for forming a reformed layer 11 along one surface or the other surface of the wafer WF so as to make the wafer WF fragile; second support means 40 for supporting the other surface of the wafer WF; and dividing means 50 for relatively moving the first support means 20 and the second support means 40 and dividing the wafer WF into plural pieces along the reformed layer 11. A plate-like member dividing method comprises: a reformed layer forming step of forming the reformed layer 11 along one surface or the other surface of the wafer WF so as to make the wafer WF fragile; and a dividing step of dividing the plate-like member into plural pieces along the reformed layer 11.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a plate-shaped member dividing device and a plate-shaped member dividing method.

  A plate-like member such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as “wafer”) has a diameter of 300 mm so that a half of a diameter of 200 mm is 725 μm, for example, according to SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) standard. Is defined to have a thickness of 775 μm. Since such a wafer is formed with a large number of electronic circuits such as ICs and LSIs (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as circuits), it is ground to, for example, about 50 μm to form semiconductor chips (individual pieces). More than 90% of them will be thrown away.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a step of diffusing impurities on both sides of a semiconductor substrate (plate-like member) to form a diffusion region, a step of dividing the semiconductor substrate into two in the thickness direction, and a semiconductor substrate divided into two. And a step of polishing the opposite surface of the diffusion region to make a mirror surface.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-114044

  However, in such a conventional method for dividing a plate-shaped member, the cutting member (diamond blade 17 in the slicing device) in the cutting means has to be enlarged as the diameter of the plate-shaped member (wafer) increases. As this increases, the cutting member is greatly shaken and distorted, and the thickness of the divided plate-like member cannot be accurately adjusted.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a plate member dividing apparatus and a plate member dividing method capable of accurately adjusting the thickness of a divided plate member even when the plate member becomes large. .

  In order to solve the above object, a plate-like member dividing device according to the present invention includes a first support means for supporting one surface of a plate-like member, and one surface or the other surface of the plate-like member. A modified layer forming means for forming a modified layer in which the plate-like member becomes brittle; a second support means for supporting the other surface of the plate-like member; the first support means and the second support means; Dividing means for dividing the plate-like member into a plurality of pieces along the modified layer.

  The plate member dividing method of the present invention includes a modified layer forming step of forming a modified layer in which the plate member becomes brittle along one surface or the other surface of the plate member, and the modified layer And a dividing step of dividing the plate-like member into a plurality of pieces.

  You may have the molded article formation process which forms a molded article in the at least one surface of the said plate-shaped member.

  You may have the modification | reformation line formation process which forms the modification | reformation line in which the said plate-shaped member becomes weak along the circumference | surroundings of the said molded article.

  The plate-shaped member may be cut along the periphery of the modeled object and separated into a plurality of individual pieces.

According to the present invention, a modified layer in which the plate member becomes brittle is formed along one surface or the other surface of the plate member, and the plate member is divided into a plurality along the modified layer. Therefore, even if the cutting member is not shaken or distorted as in the prior art, and the plate member becomes large, the thickness of the divided plate member can be adjusted accurately.
By having a modeling object formation process, a desired modeling object can be arbitrarily formed to a plate-like member after division or before division.
By having the reforming line forming step, the plate-like member can be arbitrarily separated.
By having an individualization step, the plate-like member can be arbitrarily individualized.

The side view of the division apparatus of the plate-shaped member which concerns on this embodiment. The fragmentary front view of the division apparatus of the said plate-shaped member. Explanatory drawing of the process of the division method of the plate-shaped member which concerns on the said embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the process of the division | segmentation method of the plate-shaped member of a modification. Explanatory drawing of the process of the division | segmentation method of the plate-shaped member of a modification. Explanatory drawing of the process of the division | segmentation method of the plate-shaped member of a modification. Explanatory drawing of the process of the division | segmentation method of the plate-shaped member of a modification. Explanatory drawing of the process of the division | segmentation method of the plate-shaped member of a modification.

  Hereinafter, a plate-like member dividing device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this specification, the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis are orthogonal to each other, the X axis and the Y axis are axes in a predetermined plane, and the Z axis is an axis orthogonal to the predetermined plane. To do. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, when viewed from the near side of FIG. 1 parallel to the Y axis, when indicating the direction, “up” is the arrow direction of the Z axis, “down” is the opposite direction, “ “Left” is the X-axis arrow direction, “Right” is the opposite direction, “Front” is the Y-axis direction and is the front direction orthogonal to the paper surface, and “Back” is the opposite direction.

  In FIG. 1, a plate-shaped member dividing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a first support means 20 that supports one surface of a wafer WF as a plate-shaped member, and one surface or the other surface of the wafer WF. A modified layer forming means 30 for forming the modified layer 11 along which the wafer WF becomes brittle, a second support means 40 for supporting the other surface of the wafer WF, a first support means 20 and a second support means. Dividing means 50 that divides the wafer WF into a plurality of pieces along the modified layer 11 by relatively moving 40.

  The first support means 20 is supported by a linear motor 21 as a driving device and a slider 21A of the linear motor 21, and is capable of adsorbing and holding the wafer WF on the upper surface 22A by decompression means (not shown) such as a decompression pump or a vacuum ejector. And a support plate 22.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the modified layer forming unit 30 includes a laser irradiation device 31 that can irradiate a strip laser beam 31 </ b> A having a width longer than the diameter of the wafer WF in the Y-axis direction. The laser irradiation device 31 can focus on a predetermined position inside the wafer WF and make the focused position fragile.

  The second support means 40 is supported by a linear motion rotation motor 41 as a drive device and an output shaft 41A of the linear motion rotation motor 41, and the wafer WF on the lower surface 42A by a decompression means (not shown) such as a decompression pump or a vacuum ejector. And a second support plate 42 capable of adsorbing and holding.

  The dividing means 50 includes a linear motor 51 as a driving device that supports the linear motion rotation motor 41 by the slider 51A, and vibration applying means such as an ultrasonic vibration device or an eccentric motor provided in the second support plate 42. 52. Note that the rotating portion of the linear motion rotating motor 41 is a component of the dividing means 50.

Next, a plate member dividing method using the plate member dividing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described.
First, with respect to the plate-like member dividing apparatus 10 in the state indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1 in which each member is arranged at the initial position, a conveying means (not shown) such as an operator or an articulated robot or a belt conveyor is provided with the first support plate 22. A wafer WF is placed on the upper surface 22A of the substrate (plate-like member preparation step). Next, after the first support unit 20 drives a decompression unit (not shown) and sucks and holds the wafer WF on the upper surface 22A, the linear motor 21 is driven to move the first support plate 22 to the right. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the wafer WF is formed with a large number of circuits CA such as ICs and LSIs on one surface, and streets ST are arranged between the circuits CA. It is formed in a shape. In the case of the present embodiment, the wafer WF is first supported so that a surface protection member (not shown) such as an adhesive sheet or a resin is laminated on one surface where the circuit CA is formed, and the surface protection member abuts on the upper surface 22A. It is placed on the plate 22.

  When the right end portion of the wafer WF reaches the laser irradiation position of the laser irradiation device 31 (a position directly below the laser irradiation device 31) during the movement of the first support plate 22 to the right, the modified layer forming unit 30 moves the laser irradiation device. 31 is driven, and irradiation of the strip-shaped laser beam 31A is started with a focus on the center in the vertical direction on the wafer WF. Thereafter, when the first support plate 22 continues to move to the right, the planar modified layer 11 along one surface or the other surface of the wafer WF is formed at the center position in the vertical direction of the wafer WF. (Modified layer forming step). When the left end portion of the wafer WF passes through the laser irradiation position and the wafer WF reaches just below the second support plate 42, the first support means 20 stops driving the linear motor 21.

  Next, the second support means 40 drives the linear motion rotation motor 41, lowers the second support plate 42 and brings the lower surface 42A into contact with the upper surface of the wafer WF, and then drives the decompression means (not shown), The wafer WF is sucked and held by the lower surface 42A. The dividing unit 50 drives the vibration applying unit 52 and also drives the linear motion rotation motor 41 to rotate the second support plate 41 in the lower surface 42A. Thus, the wafer WF is divided into two along the modified layer 11 and is divided into a lower half wafer WF 1 supported by the first support plate 22 and an upper half wafer WF 2 supported by the second support plate 22. (Division process). Thereafter, the dividing unit 50 drives the linear motor 51 to move the upper half wafer WF2 to the right, stops driving the decompression unit (not shown), and transfers the upper half wafer WF2 to the transfer unit (not shown). Further, when the second support means 40 also stops driving the decompression means (not shown) and transfers the lower half wafer WF1 to the transfer means (not shown), the first support means 20 and the dividing means 50 drive the linear motors 21, 51. The first and second support plates 22 and 42 are returned to the initial positions. Thereafter, the same operation as described above is repeated.

According to the embodiment as described above, the modified layer 11 that makes the wafer WF fragile is formed along one surface or the other surface of the wafer WF, and a plurality of wafers WF are formed along the modified layer 11. Therefore, even if the wafer WF becomes larger, the thickness of the divided wafer WF (lower half, upper half wafers WF1, WF2) can be accurately adjusted. Can do.
Moreover, according to the present invention, the wafer WF can be divided faster than the conventional cutting member.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, the modified layer 11 whose vertical width is narrower than the cut formed by the conventional cutting member can be formed, so that one wafer WF can be formed compared to the conventional cutting member. It can be divided into a number of divided wafers.

  The means and steps in the present invention are not limited in any way as long as the operations, functions, or steps described for these means and steps can be performed. The process is not limited at all. For example, if the modified layer forming means can form a modified layer that makes the plate-like member fragile along one surface or the other surface of the plate-like member, it is in light of the common general technical knowledge at the time of filing. If it is in the range, it will not be limited at all (explanation about other means and processes is omitted).

In the plate-like member preparation step, a wafer WF having no circuit CA formed on both surfaces is prepared, and as shown in FIG. 4A, before the wafer WF is placed on the first support plate 22, The circuit CA may be formed on at least one surface of the wafer WF by the circuit forming unit 60 as the modeled object forming unit (modeled object forming step).
The modeled object is not limited to a circuit pattern CA, a predetermined pattern, a picture, a pattern, a character, a number, a three-dimensional diagram, a concavo-convex pattern, or a combination thereof. There is no limitation as long as it can be formed.

  After dividing the wafer WF into lower and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2, as shown in FIG. 4B, a circuit is formed on at least one surface of the lower and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2 by the circuit forming means 60. You may form (modeling object formation process).

  After the wafer WF is divided into the lower half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2, as shown in FIG. 5A, the reforming line forming means 70 lowers them along the periphery of the circuit CA (along the street ST). A modified line 12 in which the half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2 become fragile may be formed (modified line forming step). The reforming line forming means 70 includes a laser irradiation device 71 that irradiates a laser beam 71A, and is provided so as to be movable in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction by a driving device (not shown). The laser irradiation device 71 can focus on a predetermined position inside the wafer WF and make the focused position fragile. The reforming line forming means 70 defines the reforming line 12 from the surface of the lower half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2 where the circuit CA is formed or from the surface where the circuit CA is not formed. Can be formed. Alternatively, the reforming line 12 may be formed by stopping the movement of the laser irradiation device 71 and moving the lower and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2 or by moving both of them. The lower half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2 on which the reforming line 12 is formed are held by holding means 80 such as a deformable adhesive sheet or suction member as shown in FIG. As a result of being pulled, the reforming line 12 is divided into a plurality of individual semiconductor chips CP (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as “chips”) CP. Further, the lower half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2 in which the reforming line 12 is formed may be bent into individual chips CP.

After the wafer WF is divided into the lower half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2, as shown in FIG. 6, the lower half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2 are cut along the periphery of the circuit CA (along the street ST). It may be cut by a cutting means BL such as a blade, a laser irradiation device, etching, etc., and divided into a plurality of chips CP (single piece process). The cutting means BL is provided on the lower half and upper half wafers WF1, WF1, WF2 from the surface where the circuit CA is formed or from the surface where the circuit CA is not formed. WF2 can be cut.
After the reforming line 12 is formed by the reforming line forming means 70 as described above, the lower half and upper half wafers WF1, WF2 may be cut along the reforming line 12 by the cutting means BL.

  After the wafer WF is divided into the lower half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2, or after the lower half and upper half wafers WF1 and WF2 are separated into a plurality of chips CP, as shown in FIG. The dividing surface of the lower half and upper half wafers WF1, WF2 or the plurality of chips CP may be ground by a grinding means 90 such as a laser irradiation device or etching, and then ground to a predetermined thickness of 30 μm or 50 μm (grinding) Process).

The first support means 20 may be configured to support the wafer WF with a support member such as an adhesive or a mechanical chuck.
The first support means 20 may move to form the modified layer 11 by moving the modified layer forming means 30 without moving, or both may move to form the modified layer 11.
The first support means 20 may support the wafer WF from the surface where the circuit CA is not formed.

The laser irradiation device 31 can change the width in the Y-axis direction of the strip-shaped laser light 31A according to the diameter of the wafer WF.
When the width in the Y-axis direction of the wafer WF at the laser irradiation position changes due to relative movement with the wafer WF, the laser irradiation device 31 changes the width in the Y-axis direction of the strip-shaped laser light 31A according to the change in the width. You may have a Y-axis direction irradiation area change means.
As shown in FIG. 8, instead of the modified layer forming means 30, a laser that irradiates a belt-like laser beam 102 </ b> A that is supported by a linear motor 101 as a driving device and a slider 101 </ b> A of the linear motor 101 and extends in the X axis direction You may employ | adopt the modified layer formation means 100 provided with the irradiation apparatus 102. FIG. The laser irradiation apparatus 102 can also focus on a predetermined position inside the wafer WF and make the focused position fragile. In this case, the first support means 20 drives the linear motor 21 and intermittently feeds the first support plate 22. Then, while the first support plate 22 is stopped, the modified layer forming means 100 drives the linear motor 101 to move the laser irradiation device 102 in the Y-axis direction and have a predetermined width in the X-axis direction. 11 is formed. Thereafter, the first support means 20 drives the linear motor 21 to move the first support plate 22 to the right by the width of the belt-like laser beam 102A in the X-axis direction and stop. Next, the modified layer forming means 100 drives the linear motor 101 to move the laser irradiation device 102 in the Y-axis direction to form the modified layer 11 having a predetermined width in the X-axis direction. Repeated. Note that the width in the X-axis direction of the belt-shaped laser beam 102A in the laser irradiation apparatus 102 is made larger than the diameter of the wafer WF, and the laser irradiation apparatus 102 is moved once or twice in the Y-axis direction to modify the modified layer 11. May be formed. At this time, when the width in the X-axis direction of the wafer WF at the laser irradiation position changes due to relative movement with the wafer WF, the laser irradiation apparatus 102 changes the width in the X-axis direction of the belt-shaped laser light 102A in accordance with the change in the width. X axis direction irradiation area changing means for changing
The modified layer forming means 30 may form the modified layer 11 from the side where the circuit CA is formed, or may form the modified layer 11 from both sides of the wafer WF.

  The second support means 40 may be configured to support the wafer WF with a support member such as an adhesive or a mechanical chuck.

The dividing unit 50 may not include the vibration applying unit 52.
The dividing means 50 moves the first support plate 22 to the left, moves the second support plate 42 to the right, or moves both of them away from each other without rotating the second support plate 42. Thus, the wafer WF may be divided.
The dividing means 50 may rotate the first support plate 22 without rotating the second support plate 42 to divide the wafer WF, rotate both of them in the opposite direction, or both of them in the same direction. However, the wafer WF may be divided by varying the rotation amount.
The dividing unit 50 may divide the wafer WF by driving the vibration applying unit 52 without rotating the second support plate 42.
As long as the wafer WF can be divided, the dividing unit 50 may be provided with at least one of the rotating portions of the linear motor 51, the vibration applying unit 52, and the linear motion rotating motor 41.

As the plate-like member, in addition to a semiconductor wafer, for example, a circuit board, a base board, a lead frame, a glass plate, a steel plate, ceramics, a wooden plate, or a resin plate may be used. It is not a thing. Therefore, the individual piece may be cut from any member or article in any form, and is not limited at all.
Examples of the wafer WF include a disk-shaped silicon semiconductor wafer, a SiC (silicon carbide) wafer, a sapphire wafer, and a compound semiconductor wafer. Examples of the compound semiconductor wafer include a GaP (gallium phosphide) wafer, a GaA (gallium arsenide) wafer, an InP (indium gallium phosphide) wafer, and a GaN (gallium nitride) wafer.
The circuit CA may be anything, for example, the circuit CA may have a through electrode (or only have a through electrode). In this case, a step of embedding the through electrode can be provided, and the wafer WF in which the through electrode is embedded in the dividing step can be divided into two within the thickness to form a plurality of wafers with the through electrode.
The wafer WF may have any thickness such as 725 μm and 625 μm, and may have any diameter such as 300 mm and 450 mm.
The shape of the wafer WF may be any shape such as a circle, a D shape, an ellipse, a rectangle, and other polygons.
The wafer WF may have the circuit CA formed in advance on at least one surface thereof, or the street CA may not be formed on both surfaces.
The circuit formed on the wafer WF may have a different size and pattern on one surface and the other surface.
The surface protection member may be laminated on at least one surface of the wafer WF, or the surface protection member may not be laminated on both surfaces.
The plate-shaped member dividing apparatus 10 may further form the modified layer 11 on the two-divided wafer WF to divide the wafer WF into three or more.

  The drive device in the embodiment employs an electric device such as a rotation motor, a linear motion motor, a linear motor, a single-axis robot, and an articulated robot, an actuator such as an air cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, a rodless cylinder, and a rotary cylinder. In addition, it is possible to adopt a combination of them directly or indirectly (some of them overlap with those exemplified in the embodiment).

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Plate-like member dividing device 11 Modified layer 12 Modified line 20 First support means 30, 100 Modified layer forming means 40 Second support means 50 Dividing means WF Semiconductor wafer (plate-like member)
CA circuit (molded article)
CP semiconductor chip (single piece)

Claims (5)

First support means for supporting one surface of the plate-like member;
A modified layer forming means for forming a modified layer in which the plate member becomes brittle along one surface or the other surface of the plate member;
Second support means for supporting the other surface of the plate-like member;
A plate-like member splitting device, comprising: a splitting device that splits the plate-like member into a plurality of pieces along the modified layer by relatively moving the first support means and the second support means. . A modified layer forming step of forming a modified layer in which the plate member becomes brittle along one surface or the other surface of the plate member;
And a dividing step of dividing the plate-like member into a plurality along the modified layer.   The method for dividing a plate-shaped member according to claim 2, further comprising: a molded object forming step of forming a molded object on at least one surface of the plate-shaped member.   The plate member dividing method according to claim 3, further comprising a reforming line forming step of forming a reforming line in which the plate member becomes brittle along the periphery of the modeled article.   5. The plate-shaped member according to claim 3, further comprising an individualizing step of cutting the plate-shaped member along the periphery of the modeled object to form a plurality of individual pieces. Split method.

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