JP2018067667A - Division method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To divide a processed object surely along a division scheduled line.SOLUTION: Provided is a division method for dividing a processed object having plural division scheduled lines arranged in lattice, along the division scheduled lines, the method including: a pasting step for pasting an expanded sheet on the processed object; a division start point forming step performed before or after the pasting step, for forming a division start point along the division scheduled line on the processed object; a division step performed after the division start point forming step and the pasting step, for expanding the expanded sheet to apply external force to the processed object and thereby dividing the processed object along the division start point; and a determination step performed during the division step, for imaging the processed object to form a captured image and on the basis of the captured image, determining a presence of non-divided region on the processed object. When the determination is made in the determination step that the non-divided region is present, the division step is continued, and when the determination is made in the determination step that the non-divided region is not present, the division step is terminated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a dividing method for dividing a workpiece such as a wafer.

  A chip having devices such as an IC and an LSI is formed by dividing a substantially disk-shaped wafer having a plurality of devices formed on the surface thereof. The device is formed in each of a plurality of regions defined by a plurality of division lines set in a lattice pattern on the surface of the wafer. The wafer is provided with a modified layer, a groove, or the like serving as a division start point along the division line. Further, an external force is applied to the wafer, and the wafer is divided along the division starting points to form chips having devices.

  In Patent Document 1, a laser beam having transparency to a wafer is irradiated along a division line, a modified layer serving as a division starting point is formed by multiphoton absorption, and the wafer is formed using the modified layer as a starting point. A technique for dividing is disclosed.

  When dividing a substantially disk-shaped workpiece such as a wafer on which a division starting point is formed along the division line, first, the workpiece is stuck on an expanded sheet stretched on an annular frame. . Then, by expanding the expanded sheet, an external force is applied to the workpiece, and a crack penetrating the workpiece in the thickness direction is generated from the division starting point and divided.

  For expanding the expanded sheet, an annular push-up member having a diameter larger than the diameter of the workpiece and smaller than the inner diameter of the annular frame is prepared. Then, the work piece is arranged on the push-up member together with the annular frame so that the work piece is accommodated inside the outer peripheral edge of the push-up member when viewed from above, and the push-up member is placed on the ring frame. The expanded sheet is expanded by relatively pushing up a predetermined amount. Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus that can divide a workpiece by expanding an expanded sheet.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a technique of dividing a workpiece having a film adhesive called DAF (Die Attach Film) on the back surface. Note that DAF is a film-like adhesive for die bonding made of an epoxy resin or the like, and is formed to have a thickness of about several μm to 100 μm, for example. When the workpiece is divided together with the DAF by expanding the expanded sheet, a chip with a DAF is formed. The chip is finally heated and bonded to a predetermined object via the DAF.

  Here, when the relative push-up of the push-up member is insufficient, expansion of the expanded sheet is insufficient. Then, since an external force cannot be appropriately applied to the workpiece, the workpiece is not sufficiently divided, and an undivided area is generated in some division lines. Here, the undivided region is a region that is not properly divided because there is no crack penetrating the workpiece in the thickness direction among the regions along the planned dividing line. On the other hand, if the relative push-up of the push-up member is excessive, the expanded sheet cannot withstand expansion and breaks.

  An appropriate value of the pushing-up amount of the pushing-up member relative to the annular frame varies depending on the size of each chip formed by dividing the workpiece, the type of the expanded sheet, and the like. Therefore, by performing an experiment or the like in advance, the value of the push-up amount suitable for the size of the chip or the type of the expanded sheet is obtained, and the relative push-up amount of the push-up member is set to the appropriate value so that the expand sheet Implement the extension.

Japanese Patent No. 3408805 JP 2010-206136 A JP 2009-272503 A

  When the push-up member is pushed up relative to the annular frame, the work piece can be divided along all the planned division lines of the work piece by setting the push-up amount to an appropriate value acquired by the above-mentioned experiment or the like. , No undivided area should be generated in the division line. However, due to insufficient sticking of the work piece to the expanded sheet or due to variations in the nature of the work piece or the expanded sheet, undivided areas may occur in some of the planned dividing lines. There is.

  In the first place, it is troublesome to obtain an appropriate push-up amount of the push-up member through experiments. In the experiment, it is necessary to expand the expanded sheet under a plurality of conditions by consuming a plurality of workpieces and a plurality of expanded sheets, and to investigate whether or not there are undivided areas of the workpiece, and the cost of the experiment Is not small. Even if values obtained by performing such an experiment are used, an undivided area may be generated in the planned division line.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and the object of the present invention is to divide the workpiece along the planned division line without leaving an undivided area, while the expanded sheet breaks. It is to provide a dividing method for suppressing occurrence.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a division starting point is formed along a predetermined division line of a workpiece provided with a plurality of division division lines arranged in a lattice shape, and the workpiece is penetrated in the thickness direction. A dividing method of dividing a workpiece by extending a crack from the division starting point, the bonding step of bonding an expanded sheet to the workpiece, and before or after performing the bonding step, After performing the division starting point forming step for forming the dividing starting point along the division planned line, the dividing starting point forming step, and the adhering step, an external force is applied to the work piece by expanding the expand sheet. A dividing step of providing and dividing the workpiece along the division start point; and during the execution of the dividing step, the workpiece is imaged to form a captured image, and the workpiece is formed based on the captured image Along the planned split line Determining whether or not there is an undivided area that is not properly divided, and if it is determined in the determining step that the undivided area exists, the dividing step is continued, and the determining step When it is determined that there is no undivided area, a dividing method is provided that ends the dividing step.

  According to the method for dividing a workpiece according to one aspect of the present invention, the workpiece is imaged to form a captured image during the division step of expanding the expanded sheet to which the workpiece is attached. And the determination step of determining whether there exists an undivided area | region along the division | segmentation scheduled line of a to-be-processed object from this captured image is implemented.

  If it is determined in the determination step that there is an undivided area, the dividing step is continued to promote the division of the workpiece in the undivided area. On the other hand, when it is determined in the determination step that there is no undivided region, it is not necessary to continue the division step thereafter, and thus the division step is terminated. Then, since the expanded sheet is not expanded more than necessary, the expanded sheet can be prevented from breaking.

  In addition, according to the dividing method according to one aspect of the present invention, the dividing step can be terminated in accordance with the processing state by performing the determination step during the dividing step without performing an experiment in advance. Therefore, it is not necessary to cost the experiment, and the work piece can be appropriately divided in accordance with the state of sticking of the work piece to the expanded sheet, variation in the nature of the work piece or the expanded sheet, and the like.

  Therefore, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dividing method in which a workpiece is divided along a planned division line without leaving an undivided region, while suppressing the occurrence of breakage of the expanded sheet.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view illustrating an example of a workpiece pasted on an expanded sheet stretched on an annular frame, and FIG. 1B illustrates a dividing method according to one embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the dividing device used. It is a fragmentary sectional view showing an example of a dividing device used for a dividing method concerning one mode of the present invention. It is a fragmentary sectional view explaining a division starting point formation step. It is a fragmentary sectional view explaining a division step and a judgment step. FIG. 5A is an example of a captured image in a case where there are undivided areas along some of the planned division lines, and FIG. 5B shows that there are no undivided areas along all the planned division lines. It is an example of the captured image in the case. It is a fragmentary sectional view explaining a division step and a judgment step.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described. First, the workpiece according to this embodiment will be described. The workpiece is a wafer in which devices such as IC and LSI are formed in each of a plurality of regions partitioned by a plurality of division lines (streets) arranged in a grid pattern. Finally, the workpiece is divided along the division lines, and a plurality of chips are formed.

  The workpiece is, for example, a substantially disk-shaped substrate made of a material such as silicon, sapphire, glass, or quartz. In the case of using a workpiece made of a semiconductor material, the device is formed using a part of the workpiece, for example. When the workpiece is not composed of a semiconductor material, for example, a semiconductor layer is provided on the surface of the workpiece, and the semiconductor layer is processed to form a device.

  Note that a film adhesive called DAF (Die Attach Film) may be provided in advance on the back surface of the workpiece. DAF is a film-like adhesive for die bonding made of an epoxy resin or the like, and is formed to a thickness of about several μm to 100 μm, for example. When the workpiece is divided along with the DAF by expansion of an expand sheet described later, a chip with the DAF is formed. The chip is finally heated and bonded to a predetermined object via the DAF.

  In the sticking step described later, an expanded sheet is stuck to the workpiece. As shown in FIG. 1A, a workpiece 1 in which a device 5 such as an IC or LSI is formed in each of a plurality of regions partitioned by a plurality of division lines 3 arranged in a grid pattern, for example, The expand sheet 7 is stuck to the front surface 1a side with the back surface 1b facing upward. The expand sheet 7 is stretched inside the annular frame 9.

  Here, the expanded sheet 7 is an adhesive sheet having a material such as polyolefin (PO) or polyvinyl chloride (PV), for example, and is used while being stretched on an annular frame 9 made of metal or the like. The expand sheet 7 can be expanded in a state where it is adhered to the workpiece 1, and when the expand sheet 7 is expanded in the radial direction by a splitting device described later, an external force directed in the radial direction is applied to the workpiece 1.

  When the expand sheet 7 is attached to the front surface 1a side so that the back surface 1b of the workpiece 1 is exposed, a laser beam for forming a modified layer serving as a split starting point is irradiated on the back surface 1b in a split starting point forming step described later. it can. On the other hand, in the division starting point forming step, when a groove serving as a division starting point is formed on the front surface 1a, the expand sheet 7 may be attached to the back surface 1b side so that the front surface 1a is exposed.

  Next, the dividing apparatus used for the dividing method according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 1B shows a perspective view of the dividing device 2. FIG. 2 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the dividing device 2.

  The dividing device 2 includes a frame fixing means (frame fixing mechanism) 4 for holding the annular frame 9 and a tape expansion means (tape expansion) for expanding the expanded tape 7 stretched on the annular frame 9 fixed to the frame fixing means 4. Mechanism) 6. The frame fixing means 4 has an upper frame fixing portion 8 and a lower frame fixing portion 10, and an annular frame 9 is sandwiched therebetween to fix the annular frame 9.

  The lower frame fixing portion 10 is a member having a flat upper surface, and has an opening 10a having the same size and shape as the opening of the annular frame 9 in the center. When the workpiece 1 is divided, the annular frame 9 is disposed on the flat upper surface and used. The upper frame fixing portion 8 is a member having a flat bottom surface, and has an opening 8a having the same size and shape as the opening 10a of the lower frame fixing portion 10 at the center. The upper frame fixing part 8 is fixed above the lower frame fixing part 10.

  The upper frame fixing portion 8 and the lower frame fixing portion 10 are formed so that the respective openings overlap, and the upper lower surface fixing portion 8 has a flat lower surface, the lower frame fixing portion 10 has a flat upper surface, Are arranged in parallel to each other.

  The lower frame fixing portion 10 of the frame fixing means 4 is connected to the upper end of a piston rod 14 for the lower frame fixing portion 10 that can be moved in the vertical direction by an air cylinder 12 for the lower frame fixing portion 10. The upper frame fixing portion 8 is fixed, and the lower frame fixing portion 10 on which the annular frame 9 is placed is raised by the operation of the air cylinder 12 for the lower frame fixing portion 10. The frame fixing means 4 fixes the annular frame 9 by raising the lower frame fixing part 10 and pressing the annular frame 9 against the upper frame fixing part 8.

  The tape expanding means 6 includes a push-up member 16 disposed inside the annular frame fixing means 4. The push-up member 16 is a disk-shaped member having an opening 16a in the center, and the outer diameter thereof is smaller than the diameter of the opening of the annular frame 9, and the inner diameter of the opening 16a is that of the disk-shaped workpiece 1. It is larger than the diameter. The push-up member 16 is arranged so as to fit inside the opening 8a of the upper frame fixing part 8 and the opening 10a of the lower frame fixing part 10 when viewed from above. A plurality of rollers 18 are arranged on the outer periphery of the upper surface of the push-up member 16.

  The push-up member 16 is connected to the upper end of the piston rod 22 for the push-up member 16 that can be moved in the vertical direction by the air cylinder 20 for the push-up member 16. The tape expanding means 6 expands the expanded sheet 7 by pushing up the expanded sheet 7 stretched on the annular frame 9 fixed to the frame fixing means 4 from below by a pushing member 16.

  The dividing device 2 further includes an imaging unit (camera) 24 and an irradiation unit (light) 26. The irradiation means 26 is arranged below the push-up member 16 and has a function of irradiating visible light, for example. The imaging unit 24 is disposed above the push-up member 16 and has a function of imaging the lower part to form a captured image and a function of sending the captured image to a controller (not shown) of the dividing device 2, for example. .

  The dividing device 2 further includes a controller (not shown) that controls each unit. In addition to the function of controlling the air cylinders, the imaging unit 24, and the irradiation unit 26 of the dividing device 2, the controller has a function of receiving the captured image from the imaging unit 24 and performing a determination step described later.

  The dividing method according to the present embodiment is performed using the dividing apparatus 2 configured as described above. Hereinafter, the division method according to the present embodiment will be described.

  First, the sticking step in the dividing method according to the present embodiment will be described. In the attaching step, for example, the expand sheet 7 stretched on the annular frame 9 is attached to the surface 1a side of the workpiece 1 on which the plurality of devices 5 are formed on the surface 1a. FIG. 1A shows the workpiece 1, the expanded sheet 7, and the annular frame 9 after performing the sticking step. Thereafter, the workpiece 1 is handled by the annular frame 9 until the division of the workpiece 1 is completed.

  In the attaching step, the back surface 1b side may be attached to the expanded sheet 7 so that the surface 1a side of the workpiece 1 is exposed. When the split starting point forming step described later is performed after the sticking step is performed, and when a groove is formed on the front surface 1a and used as the split starting point, the expand sheet is formed on the back surface 1b side of the workpiece 1 in this way. 7 may be attached.

  Next, a split starting point forming step for forming a split starting point on the workpiece 1 along the planned split lines 3 arranged in a grid pattern on the surface 1a of the workpiece 1 will be described with reference to FIG. This step is performed before or after the sticking step. In this step, for example, the modified layer which is the starting point of the division by irradiating the workpiece 1 with the laser beam from the back surface 1b side along the scheduled division line 3 and condensing it to a predetermined depth inside the workpiece. Form. As the laser beam, for example, a laser beam oscillated using Nd: YAG as a medium is used.

  First, the workpiece 1 is placed on the chuck table 30 of the laser processing apparatus 28 with the back surface 1b of the workpiece 1 facing upward. The chuck table 30 has a porous member (not shown) on its upper surface, and has a suction path (not shown) for connecting the porous member and a suction source (not shown) inside. When the workpiece 1 is stuck to the expanded sheet 7 stretched on the annular frame 9, the annular frame 9 is fixed by the clamp 32 of the laser processing device 28. Then, a negative pressure is applied from the chuck table 30 to suck and hold the workpiece 1 on the chuck table 30.

  Next, a laser beam is irradiated to the back surface 1 b of the workpiece 1 from the processing head 32 of the laser processing apparatus 28. The laser beam is condensed to a predetermined depth of the workpiece 1 to form a modified layer (division starting point) 11. Then, the workpiece 1 is processed and fed by moving the chuck table while irradiating the laser beam so that the modified layer 11 is formed along the planned division line 3 on the surface 1a side of the workpiece 1.

  After the modified layer 11 is formed along one division line 3, the workpiece 1 is indexed and fed to form the modified layers 11 one after another along the adjacent division line 3. Furthermore, the chuck table 30 is rotated and the direction in which the workpiece 1 is processed and fed is switched to irradiate the laser beam, and the modified layer 11 is formed along all the division lines 3.

  When a sufficient external force is applied to the workpiece 1 in which the modified layer 11 is formed, the modified layer 11 becomes a division starting point and cracks in the thickness direction of the workpiece 1 from the modified layer 11 Elongates, the crack penetrates the workpiece 1 and the workpiece 1 is divided.

  In the division starting point forming step, for example, the groove to be divided starting line 3 is divided by a method of cutting the cutting blade to a predetermined depth not reaching the back surface 1b from the front surface 1a side of the workpiece 1. You may form along. When an external force is applied to the workpiece 1 in which the groove as the division starting point is formed, a crack extends from the groove to the back surface 1b side, and the workpiece 1 is divided.

  Next, the division step will be described with reference to FIG. The dividing step is performed after the dividing starting point forming step and the attaching step. In the dividing step, an external force is applied to the workpiece 1 by expanding the expanded sheet 7, and, for example, a crack is extended from the modified layer 11 in the thickness direction of the workpiece 1 along the scheduled division line 3. Then, the workpiece 1 is divided. In the partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, the workpiece 1 and the dividing device 2 in the dividing step are schematically shown.

  First, the annular frame 9 is placed at a predetermined position on the lower frame fixing portion 10 of the frame fixing means 4 and the air cylinder 12 for the lower frame fixing portion 10 is operated to raise the lower frame fixing portion 10. Let Then, the annular frame 9 is fixed by pressing the annular frame 9 against the lower surface of the upper frame fixing portion 8.

  Next, the air cylinder 20 for the push-up member 16 is operated to raise the push-up member 16, and the push-up member 16 is applied to the expanded sheet 7. Then, the push-up member 16 is further raised. Then, the expand sheet 7 is expanded in the outer peripheral direction.

  As a result, the workpiece 1 attached to the expanded sheet 7 is also given a pulling force in the outer peripheral direction. When the force pulling in the outer circumferential direction is sufficiently strong, the workpiece 1 is divided by using the modified layer 11 formed along the planned dividing line 3 as a starting point of the division.

  If the pulling force in the outer peripheral direction is insufficient, the workpiece 1 is not divided along all the division lines 3 and an undivided region may remain in a part as shown in FIG. . On the other hand, if the force pulling in the outer peripheral direction is excessive, the expanded sheet 7 may be torn. Therefore, the expand sheet 7 must be appropriately pulled in the outer peripheral direction so as not to leave an undivided region and not to damage the expand sheet 7. Therefore, the determination step is performed during the division step.

  The determination step is performed during the execution of the dividing step. The determination step may be carried out while raising the push-up member 16 in the dividing step, or may be carried out after the raising of the push-up member 16 is temporarily stopped.

  In the determination step, the irradiation means (light) 26 of the dividing device 2 is operated to irradiate the workpiece 1 with light from below. In the workpiece 1, in the region divided by cracks penetrating in the thickness direction in the division step, the light passes through the gap generated by the division, and the light travels above the workpiece 1. On the other hand, in other areas, the light is blocked by the workpiece 1. For example, in an undivided area where the workpiece 1 is not properly divided, the light is above the workpiece 1. Not proceed.

  Therefore, when the imaging means (camera) 24 is operated to image the workpiece 1, an area corresponding to the gap in the formed captured image becomes bright. An example of the formed captured image is shown in FIGS. 5 (A) and 5 (B). FIG. 5A shows a captured image 13a obtained when the divided region 15 is not formed in some of the planned division lines 3 and the undivided region 17 remains. FIG. 5B is a captured image 13b obtained when the divided regions 15 are formed along all the planned division lines 3.

  The captured image captured by the imaging unit 24 is sent to the controller of the dividing device 2, for example. Then, the controller determines the presence or absence of the undivided area 17 based on the received captured image. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, when the captured image 13 a in which the undivided area 17 is reflected is received, the controller determines that the undivided area 17 exists. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, when the captured image 13b in a state in which the divided areas 15 are formed along all the division lines 3 is received, the controller determines that there is no undivided area 17. To do.

  In order to facilitate the determination, the controller may perform binarization processing on the received captured image. Since the captured image becomes clearer by the binarization processing, it is easy to determine the presence or absence of the undivided region 17.

  If it is determined in the determination step that there is an undivided region 17, the force applied to the workpiece 1 in the division step is insufficient, so the division step is continued to increase the force. For example, if the expansion of the expand sheet 7 has been temporarily stopped for the determination step, the expansion of the expand sheet 7 is resumed. If the expansion of the expand sheet 7 is not stopped, the expansion is continued as it is. Thereafter, the determination step is appropriately performed, and the division step is continued until there is no undivided region 17.

  In the determination step, when it is determined that there is no undivided area 17, it is not necessary to expand the expanded sheet 7 any more, so the division step is ended. For example, if the expansion of the expand sheet 7 has been stopped for the determination step, the expansion is not resumed. If the expansion of the expand sheet 7 is not stopped, the expansion is immediately stopped and the division step is terminated. .

  The determination step may be performed by periodically forming a captured image at a frequency of about several times per second, or may be monitored in real time by increasing the formation frequency of the captured image. .

  As described above, in the division method according to the present embodiment, the end timing of the division step can be determined by acquiring the captured image and performing the determination step. For this reason, an experiment for obtaining the rising amount of the push-up member or the like is not necessary, and the workpiece 1 can be reliably divided along the division line 3 of the workpiece 1 without depending on variations of the workpiece 1 or the like. . And the expanded sheet 7 is not damaged.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to description of the said embodiment, A various change can be implemented. For example, the dividing device 2 used in the above embodiment includes the imaging unit 24 above the push-up member 16 and the irradiation unit 26 below the push-up member 16, but the present invention is not limited to this. The dividing device 2 may include an irradiation unit 26 on the upper side and an imaging unit 24 on the lower side.

  Further, for example, the dividing device 2 used in the embodiment may include a cooling mechanism for cooling the workpiece 1 and the like. For example, when the workpiece 1 is attached to the expand sheet 7 via the DAF and the workpiece 1 is divided together with the DAF, the DAF can be easily divided by cooling the DAF. Therefore, the DAF may be cooled by operating the cooling mechanism. However, in that case, if the imaging means 24 is cooled, condensation or the like may occur in the optical parts of the imaging means 24. Therefore, the cooling mechanism may be provided in such a manner that the imaging means 24 is not cooled.

  Furthermore, in the dividing method according to the present embodiment, after a modified layer serving as a division starting point is formed by irradiating a laser beam having transparency to the wafer, before the wafer is divided using the modified layer as a dividing starting point. In addition, the present invention can be applied to DAF division when DAF is provided on the back surface of the wafer. That is, DAF may be a workpiece.

  In this case, an external force is applied to each chip by further expanding the expand sheet, and a force is applied to tear the DAF that overlaps the gap starting from the gap between the chips formed by dividing the wafer. Then, the DAF is divided. At this time, it is determined whether or not there is an undivided area along the DAF division planned line. If it is determined that there is an undivided area, the DAF division is further advanced. If it is determined that there is no undivided area, the DAF division ends.

  In addition, when applying the division | segmentation method which concerns on this embodiment for DAF as a to-be-processed object, DAF may be provided in each chip | tip formed by dividing | segmenting a wafer. For example, a wafer in which a modified layer is formed to a predetermined depth by a laser beam, or a wafer in which a groove having a depth that does not reach the back surface along the planned dividing line is ground from the back surface side. A plurality of chips are formed by dividing the wafer and dividing the wafer.

  Thereafter, a DAF is provided on the back surface of the formed plurality of chips, and a force is applied to the DAF as described above to divide the portion overlapping the gap between the chips. Also in this case, the division method according to the present embodiment determines whether or not there is an undivided area along the planned division line. If it is determined that there is an undivided area, the DAF division is further advanced. If it is determined that there is no divided area, the DAF division ends. Then, the DAF can be reliably divided without breaking the expanded sheet.

  Further, for example, the image pickup unit 24 may not pick up an image of the entire workpiece, and may pick up only the vicinity of the center of the workpiece. When the expanded sheet is expanded and divided by applying external force to the work piece, the area near the center of the work piece is less likely to be divided than the outer periphery, so it is determined that there is no undivided area by imaging only the area near the center. For example, it may be determined that there is no undivided region in the workpiece. If the area to be imaged becomes smaller, the data volume of the captured image becomes smaller, so that the captured image can be handled easily, and the number of times of imaging per unit time can be increased.

  In addition, the structure, method, and the like according to the above-described embodiment can be appropriately modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the object of the present invention.

1 Workpiece 1a Surface 1b Back 3 Line to be divided (street)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 Device 7 Expanded sheet 9 Annular frame 11 Modified layer 13a, 13b Captured image 15 Divided region 17 Undivided region 2 Dividing device 4 Frame fixing means 6 Tape expanding means 8 Upper frame fixing part 8a, 10a, 16a Opening 10 Lower frame Fixed part 12, 20 Air cylinder 14, 22 Piston rod 16 Push-up member 18 Roller 24 Imaging means 26 Irradiation means 28 Laser processing device 30 Chuck table 32 Clamp 34 Processing head

Claims (1)

A division starting point is formed along the planned division line of a workpiece having a plurality of division lines arranged in a grid pattern, and a crack penetrating the workpiece in the thickness direction is extended from the division starting point. A dividing method for dividing a workpiece,
An adhering step for adhering an expanded sheet to a workpiece;
A division starting point forming step for forming a dividing starting point along the planned dividing line of the workpiece before or after the attaching step;
A dividing step of dividing the workpiece along the dividing start point by applying an external force to the workpiece by expanding the expand sheet after performing the dividing starting point forming step and the attaching step; ,
During execution of the dividing step, the workpiece is imaged to form a captured image, and an undivided region that is not properly divided among regions along the planned division line of the workpiece based on the captured image A determination step for determining the presence or absence of
If it is determined in the determination step that there is an undivided region, the division step is continued,
If it is determined in the determination step that there is no undivided area, the division step is terminated.