JP2023178621A - Washing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide washing equipment capable of eliminating adhesion of fine dust on a top surface of a wafer, the dust being generated when the wafer is rotated at a high speed to be dried.SOLUTION: Washing equipment 2 includes: a spinner table 22 rotating while holding a workpiece; a washing water supply nozzle 31 supplying washing water L to the workpiece; and a housing 30. The housing 30 includes an outer cylinder 33 having a first opening 33a surrounding the spinner table 22, and an inner cylinder 34 having, inside the outer cylinder 33, a second opening 34a surrounding the spinner table 22. The inner cylinder 34 can move up and down freely and rotates the spinner table 22. When washing is performed while washing water L is supplied trough the washing water supply nozzle 31 to the workpiece, the inner cylinder 34 is elevated to be positioned on the side of the spinner table 22 and receives scattered washing water L, and when the supply of washing water L is stopped and the workpiece is rotated at a high speed to be dried, the inner cylinder 34 is lowered to be positioned at a position lower than the spinner table 22.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning a workpiece.

A wafer on which a plurality of devices such as ICs and LSIs are formed on the surface divided by division lines is divided into individual device chips by a dicing machine and used for electrical equipment such as mobile phones and personal computers.

The dicing apparatus includes a chuck table for holding a wafer, a cutting means for cutting the wafer held by the chuck table with a cutting blade while supplying cutting water, and a cleaning means for washing the cut wafer. wafers can be processed with high precision and divided into individual device chips (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-080180

In the conventional cleaning apparatus described above, a cut wafer is held on a spinner table that constitutes a cleaning means, and the spinner table is rotated while supplying cleaning water to the top surface of the wafer to clean the wafer, and then the supply of cleaning water is stopped. The spinner table is stopped and the spinner table is rotated at high speed to dry the wafer.

However, fine dust scattered during cleaning is attached to the inside of the member that covers the spinner table, along with the cleaning water, and when the spinner table is rotated at high speed to dry the wafer, the inside of the member A problem arises in that dust mixed in the cleaning water flies up together with the cleaning water adhering to the wafer and adheres to the upper surface of the wafer, degrading the quality of the device chips.

The present invention has been made in view of the above facts, and its main technical problem is to prevent fine dust mixed into the cleaning water from flying up when drying the wafer by rotating the spinner table at high speed, and to dry the wafer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device that can solve the problem of fine dust adhering to the upper surface and degrading the quality of device chips.

In order to solve the above-mentioned main technical problem, the present invention provides a cleaning device for cleaning a workpiece, comprising: a spinner table that holds and rotates the workpiece; and a spinner table that holds and rotates the workpiece; The housing includes a cleaning water supply nozzle that supplies cleaning water, and a housing, and the housing includes an outer cylindrical body having a first opening surrounding the spinner table, and an inner side of the outer cylindrical body. and an inner cylindrical body having a second opening surrounding the spinner table, and the inner cylindrical body is configured to be able to move up and down, and rotates the spinner table to supply the cleaning water supply nozzle to the workpiece. When cleaning while supplying cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle, the inner cylindrical body rises and is positioned on the side of the spinner table to catch the scattered cleaning water inside the inner cylindrical body and prevent water from flowing from the cleaning water supply nozzle. When the supply of cleaning water is stopped and the spinner table is rotated to dry the workpiece by centrifugal force, a cleaning device is provided that lowers the inner cylinder and positions it at a position lower than the spinner table. .

The cleaning device of the present invention includes a spinner table that holds and rotates a workpiece, a cleaning water supply nozzle that supplies cleaning water to the workpiece held on the spinner table, and a casing. The housing includes an outer cylinder having a first opening surrounding the spinner table, and an inner cylinder having a second opening surrounding the spinner table inside the outer cylinder. The inner cylindrical body is configured to move up and down, and when cleaning the workpiece while rotating the spinner table and supplying cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle to the workpiece, the inner cylindrical body rises. It is positioned on the side of the spinner table to catch the scattered cleaning water inside the inner cylinder, stops the supply of cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle, and rotates the spinner table to remove the workpiece. When drying with centrifugal force, the inner cylindrical body is lowered and positioned at a lower position than the spinner table, so even if the spinner table is rotated at high speed and dried with the outer cylindrical body to which washing water is not attached, Cleaning water mixed with fine dust does not fly up, and the problem of fine dust adhering to the top surface of the wafer and degrading the quality of device chips is solved.

(a) An overall perspective view of the cleaning device of the present embodiment, and (b) a side view showing a part of the cleaning device shown in (a) in cross section. (a) A perspective view showing a state in which the inner cylindrical body of the casing is lowered, and (b) a perspective view showing a state in which the inner cylindrical body of the casing is raised. (a) A perspective view showing an embodiment of a cleaning process, and (b) a side view showing a part of the embodiment of (a) in cross section. (a) A perspective view showing an embodiment of a drying process, and (b) a side view showing a part of the embodiment of (a) in cross section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a cleaning device constructed based on the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a cleaning device 2 of this embodiment. This cleaning device 2 is a device that cleans a wafer W (workpiece) that has been cut by a dicing device, for example, which is not shown. It is held at F. The cleaning device 2 includes a spinner table 22 that holds and rotates a wafer W, a cleaning water supply nozzle 31 that supplies cleaning water to the wafer W, and a housing 30 that surrounds the spinner table 22. In addition to the table mechanism 20 including the spinner table 22 and the casing 30, the cleaning device 2 of the present embodiment also includes a lid 10 that closes the upper opening of the casing 30. Note that in the drawings referred to in the following description, the front sides of the outer cylindrical body 33 and the inner cylindrical body 34 constituting the housing 30 are shown cut away for convenience of explanation, but in reality, both are formed in a cylindrical shape. has been done.

As understood from FIG. 1(a), the spinner table 22 holds the wafer W together with the frame F, and surrounds the suction chuck 22a and the suction chuck 22a formed of a porous member having air permeability. The suction chuck 22a is connected to suction means (not shown). The table mechanism 20 includes, together with the spinner table 22 described above, a shaft portion 24 and a drive source 25 that rotates the spinner table 22 via a rotating shaft (not shown) housed inside the shaft portion 24. 22 can be rotated at any rotational speed. A plurality of air pistons 26 are arranged on the lower surface of the drive source 25, and by moving the rod 26a back and forth in the vertical direction, the spinner table 22, the shaft portion 24, and the drive source 25 are integrally moved in the direction shown by the arrow R1. It can be raised and lowered. The spinner table 22 shown in FIG. 1 is raised by the action of the air piston 26 and positioned at a loading/unloading position for loading and unloading wafers W.

As understood from FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b), the housing 30 includes an outer cylindrical body 33 having a first opening 33a surrounding the spinner table 22, and an inner side of the outer cylindrical body 33. The spinner table 22 is provided with an inner cylindrical body 34 having a second opening 34a that surrounds the spinner table 22. The upper end of the inner cylindrical body 34 forming the second opening 34a is inclined inward over the entire circumference. A drain hole 33c is provided in the bottom wall 33b of the outer cylindrical body 33 for discharging liquid that has flowed inside the outer cylindrical body 33, and a drain hose 35 is connected to the drain hole 33c. A waste tank disposed outside the outer cylindrical body 33 is connected to the drain hose 35, and a suction pump is also connected to the drain hose 35 (both are not shown). On the bottom wall 33b of the outer cylindrical body 33 and inside the inner cylindrical body 34, there are provided a first rotation drive means (not shown) for supporting and rotationally driving the cleaning water supply nozzle 31, and an air injection nozzle. A second swing drive means (not shown) is provided to support and swing drive 32. By activating the first and second rotation driving means, the cleaning water supply nozzle 31 is rotated and positioned over the wafer W to inject cleaning water, and the air injection nozzle 32 is rotated to spray the cleaning water onto the wafer W. By positioning and injecting high-pressure air, the tip of each nozzle can be horizontally swung above the spinner table 22. Note that the cleaning water supply nozzle 31 and the air injection nozzle 32 shown in FIG.

The lid body 10 includes a circular top wall 11 and a cylindrical side wall 12 hanging from the outer periphery of the top wall 11. The lower opening 12a of the side wall 12 substantially matches the outer shape of the first opening 33a of the outer cylinder 33. A clean filter 13 is arranged in the central area of the ceiling wall 11. The clean filter 13 includes a plurality of fine through holes 13a and a filter body 13b disposed on the lower surface side of the ceiling wall 11 in which the through holes 13a are formed. The clean filter 13 purifies the air 42' existing above the ceiling wall 11 and discharges it below the lid 10 as clean air 42. Further, an ionizer 14 is disposed on the ceiling wall 11 at a position adjacent to the clean filter 13. The ionizer 14 has an ionized air generation function that generates ionized air 44 that has a static electricity removal function, and is connected to an air supply source (not shown) via a pipe 15. When cleaning the wafer W in the cleaning device 2 and then drying the wafer W, the ionized air 44 is injected from the ionizer 14 to prevent the wafer W from being charged with static electricity.

The vertical movement of the inner cylinder 34 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1(b), 2(a), and 2(b). Note that in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), the front side of the outer cylinder 33 and the inner cylinder 34 are cut out, and the table is shown for the convenience of explaining the lifting and lowering operation of the inner cylinder 34 by the lifting mechanism 36. The mechanism 20 is omitted. As shown in FIGS. 1(b), 2(a), and 2(b), the elevating mechanism 36 includes an air cylinder 36a attached to the lower surface of the bottom wall 33b of the outer cylinder 33, and An elongated rod 36b extends from the air cylinder 36a and protrudes from the upper surface of the bottom wall 33b, and the tip of the elongated rod 36b is connected to a protrusion 38 provided on the inner wall of the inner cylinder 34. As can be understood from FIG. 1(b), the lifting mechanism 36 is also arranged on the opposite side with the table mechanism 20 in between, that is, on the front side, which is not cut out and omitted in FIG. 1(a). It is set up. As shown in FIG. 2(a), the inner cylindrical body 34 is lowered by operating the elevating mechanism 36 to lower the extension rod 36b in the direction indicated by arrow R2. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the inner cylindrical body 34 is raised by operating the elevating mechanism 36 to raise the extension rod 36b in the direction shown by arrow R3.

The cleaning device 2 of this embodiment has the configuration generally as described above, and its function and operation will be described below.

When cleaning the wafer W by the cleaning device 2 described based on FIG. 1, the wafer W supported by the frame F is transported to the cleaning device 2, placed on the suction chuck 22a of the spinner table 22, and held by suction. Next, the upper part of the outer cylindrical body 33 is closed with the lid 10, and the inside is sealed. Next, the air piston 26 is actuated to lower the spinner table 22, as shown by arrow R4 in FIG. 3(a), to a washing/drying position lower than the carrying-in/out position.

Next, the above-mentioned elevating mechanism 36 is operated to raise the inner cylinder 34, and as shown in FIG. By positioning the inner cylindrical body 34 at substantially the same position as the section 34a, the inner cylinder body 34 is positioned at the cleaning position on the side of the spinner table 22, which is positioned at the cleaning/drying position. Next, the first rotation driving means described above is activated to rotate the cleaning water supply nozzle 31 to position the nozzle tip 31a above the center position of the wafer W. Note that in FIG. 3A showing a state in which the wafer W is cleaned, the lid 10 is omitted for convenience of explanation.

Once the cleaning water supply nozzle 31 is positioned as described above, the nozzle tip 31a of the cleaning water supply nozzle 31 is horizontally swung in the direction shown by arrow R5 while a predetermined period of time elapses (not shown). A cleaning process is performed in which the cleaning water supply source is activated to spray the cleaning water L, and the drive source 25 is activated to rotate the spinner table 22 at a predetermined speed in the direction shown by arrow R6. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3(b), the cleaning water L is sprayed onto the wafer W suctioned and held by the spinner table 22, and the fine dust on the wafer W is washed away by the cleaning water L, and the spinner table 22 The cleaning water L is scattered to the side of the table 22. Here, the inner cylindrical body 34 is positioned at a cleaning position where it is raised by the action of the lifting mechanism 36 and covers the sides of the spinner table 22, and can receive the cleaning water L splashed on the sides of the spinner table 22. can. The cleaning water L containing fine dust that has reached the inner cylindrical body 34 flows downward inside the inner cylindrical body 34, accumulates on the bottom wall 33b of the outer cylindrical body 33, and drains into the drain hole 33c (FIG. 3(a)). )) and is discharged through a drain hose 35 to a waste tank (not shown). As can be understood from FIG. 3(b), when the cleaning device 2 is in the cleaning process, since the inner cylinder body 34 is positioned on the side of the spinner table 22, the cleaning water L containing fine dust is prevented from adhering to the inner wall of the outer cylindrical body 33. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, since the second opening 34a of the inner cylinder body 34 is inclined toward the center of the second opening 34a, the wafer W rotated by the spinner table 22 can be scattered. The cleaning water L is suppressed from flying upward from the second opening 34a, and is effectively prevented from adhering to the outer cylinder 33.

As described above, once the cleaning process has been carried out, the supply of the cleaning water L from the cleaning water supply nozzle 31 is stopped and the cleaning water supply nozzle 31 is moved to the retracted position (see FIG. 1(a)). Next, a drying step is performed to dry the wafer W. When carrying out the drying step, as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), the above-mentioned elevating mechanism 36 is operated to lower the inner cylinder 34 to the drying position in the direction indicated by arrow R2. The height of the drying position of the inner cylinder 34 is set such that the height of the second opening 34a of the inner cylinder 34 is lower than the height of the holding surface of the spinner table 22. Ru. Once the inner cylindrical body 34 has been lowered to the drying position, the second rotation driving means described above is activated to rotate the air injection nozzle 32 to position the nozzle tip 32a above the center position of the wafer W. position. Note that in FIG. 4A showing a mode of drying the wafer W, the lid 10 is omitted for convenience of explanation, similarly to the above.

Once the air injection nozzle 32 is positioned on the wafer W as described above, the drive source 25 is activated to rotate the spinner table 22 at a predetermined speed in the direction indicated by arrow R8, and an air supply source (not shown) is activated. The drying process is performed by injecting high-pressure air 40 onto the wafer W while horizontally swinging the air injection nozzle 32 in the direction shown by arrow R9 for a predetermined period of time.

In the drying process described above, the inner cylindrical body 34 is lowered, and the second opening 34a is positioned at a position lower than the height of the spinner table 22. As a result, the high-pressure air 40 injected onto the upper surface of the wafer W spreads laterally on the upper surface of the wafer W rotating at high speed and collides with the inner wall of the outer cylinder 33. However, in this embodiment, when performing the above-described cleaning process, the cleaning water L is attached to the inner cylinder 34 that covers the side of the spinner table 22, and the cleaning water L is not attached to the inside of the outer cylinder 33. Not yet. In other words, since the above drying step is carried out with the spinner table 22 surrounded by the outer cylinder 33 to which no contaminated cleaning water L has adhered, cleaning water containing fine dust does not fly up and the wafer This eliminates the problem of fine dust adhering to the top surface of the device and degrading the quality of the device chip.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3(b) and 4(b), while the above-mentioned cleaning process and drying process are being carried out, the ionized air 44 from the ionizer 14 is sealed by the lid 10. At the same time, the above-mentioned suction pump connected to the drain hose 35 is operated to suck the air inside the cleaning device 2 through the drain hole 33c of the bottom wall 33b of the outer cylinder 33. This prevents the wafer W from being charged with static electricity during the cleaning and drying process, and even if the cleaning water L adhering to the inner wall of the inner cylinder body 34 separates from the inner cylinder body 34, the drain It is prevented from being sucked through the hole 33c and adhering to the upper surface of the wafer W. Furthermore, by suctioning the air inside the cleaning device 2 through the drain hose 35, the pressure inside the cleaning device 2 is reduced, but the outside air 42' is purified by the cleaning filter 13 disposed on the lid body 10. Since the clean air 42 is introduced into the cleaning apparatus 2, the wafer W is prevented from being contaminated by dust or the like contained in the external air 42'.

Although the cleaning device 2 of the above-described embodiment has been described as being installed independently from other processing devices, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, it may be provided integrally with a dicing device (not shown) that cuts a wafer, and the wafer cut by the dicing device as a workpiece may be directly cleaned by the cleaning device constructed based on the present invention. Furthermore, the processing apparatus to which the cleaning apparatus of the present invention is applied is not limited to a dicing apparatus, but may be installed in a grinding apparatus that grinds a wafer to clean and dry the wafer after being ground. Alternatively, the present invention may be installed in an apparatus that performs chemical mechanical polishing called CMP on wafers to clean and dry the wafers after polishing.

2: Cleaning device 10: Lid body 11: Top wall 12: Side wall 12a: Lower side opening 13: Clean filter 13a: Through hole 13b: Filter body 14: Ionizer 15: Piping 20: Table mechanism 22: Spinner table 22a: Adsorption Chuck 22b: Frame 24: Shaft 25: Drive source 26: Air piston 30: Housing 31: Cleaning water supply nozzle 31a: Nozzle tip 32: Air injection nozzle 32a: Nozzle tip 33: Outer cylinder 33a: No. First opening 33b: Bottom wall 33c: Drain hole 34: Inner cylinder 34a: Second opening 35: Drain hose 36: Lifting mechanism 36a: Air cylinder 36b: Extension rod 40: High pressure air 42': External air (Before purification)
42: External air (after purification)
44: Ionized air L: Cleaning water W: Wafer

Claims (1)

A cleaning device for cleaning a workpiece,
A spinner table that holds and rotates a workpiece, a cleaning water supply nozzle that supplies cleaning water to the workpiece held on the spinner table, and a casing.
The housing includes an outer cylinder having a first opening surrounding the spinner table, and an inner cylinder having a second opening surrounding the spinner table inside the outer cylinder. The inner cylindrical body is configured to be movable up and down,
When cleaning the workpiece while rotating the spinner table and supplying cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle to the workpiece, the inner cylinder rises and is positioned on the side of the spinner table to direct the scattered cleaning water to the workpiece. It is received inside the inner cylinder,
When stopping the supply of cleaning water from the cleaning water supply nozzle and rotating the spinner table to dry the workpiece using centrifugal force, lower the inner cylinder to a position lower than the spinner table. Positioning cleaning equipment.

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