JP2599712B2 - Wafer peeling device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a wafer peeling apparatus for peeling a wafer mounted on a carrier plate by wax.

"Prior art" Generally, semiconductor wafers such as silicon wafers need to have a mirror-finished surface, and for this purpose, a plurality of semiconductor wafers are bonded on a carrier plate by wax and polished by a polishing device. I have. Therefore, after the polishing step, the semiconductor wafer must be peeled off from the carrier plate.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, when a semiconductor wafer is peeled off from a carrier plate, the operator has conventionally relied on manual labor to peel off a plurality of semiconductor wafers on the carrier plate one by one. In addition, there is a problem that in order to handle a semiconductor wafer which is easily damaged, the work requires careful attention and skill.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to enable a plurality of wafers to be sequentially and smoothly peeled off from a carrier plate, and to perform a peeling operation continuously. An object of the present invention is to provide a wafer peeling device.

"Means for solving the problem" By the time the above object is achieved, the present invention provides a transport path for transporting a carrier plate having a wafer adhered to its upper surface,
A rotary table that is provided to be able to protrude and retract in the transport passage, and on which the carrier plate is placed,
A stopper body provided so as to be freely retractable on the downstream side of the rotary table and stopping the carrier plate at the position of the rotary table; and a carrier plate provided above the rotary table and mounted on the rotary table. A wafer detection sensor for detecting the position of the upper wafer, a separation and transfer means for separating the wafer detected by the wafer detection sensor from the carrier plate, and transferring the separated wafer to a predetermined position, and the transferred wafer And carrying means for carrying out.

[Operation] In the wafer peeling apparatus of the present invention, the carrier plate moving on the transport path is stopped by the stopper body, and is placed on the rotary table, and then the carrier is detected by the wafer detection sensor while rotating the rotary table. A state in which the position of the wafer on the plate is detected, the wafer is positioned and stopped at a predetermined position, the wafer is peeled from the carrier plate by the peeling and transferring means, and the peeled wafer is placed on the peeling and transferring means. Is transferred to a predetermined position, and is carried out by the carrying means.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 16.

1 to 8 show an example of a wafer peeling apparatus according to the present invention. This wafer peeling apparatus has a base B
In FIG. 2, an inclined table 1 is provided to be inclined from right to left in FIG. 2, a carrier plate intermittent feed mechanism 2 provided at a right portion and an intermediate portion of the inclined table 1, and A carrier plate mounting mechanism 3 provided on the left side of the table 1, a stopper mechanism 4 provided downstream of the carrier plate mounting mechanism 3, and a wafer provided above the carrier plate mounting mechanism 3. A detection mechanism 5, a peeling robot (peeling transfer means) 6 installed on one side of the carrier plate mounting mechanism 3, and a transport conveyor 7 installed on the other side of the carrier plate mounting mechanism 3. And a control device 8 for controlling the mechanisms 2, 3, 4, and 5, the peeling robot 6, and the transport conveyor 7.

The tilt table 1 has a longitudinal direction (a tilt direction).
A pair of parallel transport roller rows 10 is provided along the line, and guide rollers 11 are provided at appropriate positions on the sides of the two transport roller rows 10. The transport path 12 for transporting the carrier plate CP to which the wafer W is bonded by the wax is provided by the transport roller row 10 and the guide rollers 11.
Is configured. The plurality of wafers W on the carrier plate CP are bonded after the mirror finishing (polishing) process, and are bonded at equal intervals around the center of the carrier plate CP. Wafers W of the same lot having the same diameter are bonded. In addition, of the two transport roller rows 10, the part of the carrier plate placement mechanism 3 that has a wide width is provided avoiding the carrier plate placement mechanism 3. In addition, the carrier plate intermittent feed mechanism 2 has an upper and lower cylinder 20 installed on the tilt table 1, and one end of a synthetic resin stopper plate 21 attached to a piston rod of the upper and lower cylinder 20. One end of the stopper plate 21 is fixed to the inclined table 1 via a mounting member 22, and one end of the stopper plate 21 projects above the transfer passage 12 to temporarily move the carrier plate CP. It is designed to stop temporarily.

The stopper mechanism 4 includes a shock absorber 40 and a pair of stoppers 41 installed on a lift plate 42,
42 is supported by an elevating cylinder 43 and a pair of guide mechanisms 44 installed on the base B, and by raising the piston rod of the elevating cylinder 43, the shock absorber 40 and the stopper 41 on the elevating plate 42 It protrudes above the transport passage 12.

The carrier plate setting mechanism 3 includes a cylinder 31 installed on the lower surface of the base B via a mounting member 30, and a vertically rotating shaft rotatably connected to a piston rod of the cylinder 31 via a bearing member 32. A shaft 33, a sliding mechanism 34 mounted on the base B, and supporting the vertically rotating shaft 33 so as to be slidable up and down; a rotating table 35 fixed to the upper end of the vertically rotating shaft 33; A large gear 36 fixed to the shaft 33 below the rotary table 35, a small gear 37 meshed with the large gear 36, and a small gear 37
And a rotation mechanism 38 such as a motor, which is mounted on a rotation shaft. The rotary table 35 projects above the transport passage 12 by the cylinder 31, and a protrusion 35a formed at the center of the upper surface of the rotary table 35 fits into the center hole C of the carrier plate CP, so that the carrier plate CP Are positioned.

The wafer detection mechanism 5 includes a horizontal cylinder 50 installed horizontally above the transfer passage 12 on the side of the tilt table 1, and a mounting seat 51 mounted on the tip of a piston rod of the horizontal cylinder 50. , Consisting of three reflective photoelectric tube sensors 52 attached to the mounting seat 51,
These three reflection-type photoelectric tube sensors 52 detect wafers W having different diameters (for example, 4 inches, 5 inches, and 6 inches), and the center line 1 of each wafer W coincides with the unloading direction P. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 6, it is disposed on the mounting seat 51 at an angle. The horizontal cylinder 50 is operated by a solenoid valve SV, and detectors LS1 and LS2 for detecting the forward and backward ends of the piston rod of the horizontal cylinder 50 are mounted on the horizontal cylinder 50, respectively.

The peeling robot 6 has an arm 60 having three joints.
A peeling spatula 61 is attached to the tip of the blade. The tip of the peeling spatula 61 is sharply formed, and a thin blade (razor) 62 is attached to the top surface of the tip. The transfer conveyor 7 drives the pair of parallel belts 70 to place and transfer the wafer W. Further, the control device 8 controls the sequence of the intermittent movement of the carrier plate CP on the tilt table 1, the separation of the wafer W on the rotary table 35, and the unloading of the wafer W and the carrier plate CP.

Next, the wafer W after polishing is completed from above the carrier plate CP using the wafer peeling apparatus configured as described above.
Will be described.

First, the carrier plate CP in a state in which the wafer W after the polishing process is adhered to the upper surface is supported by the pair of transport roller rows 10 and guided by the guide rollers 11 on both sides according to the inclination of the inclination table 1, 2, when the shock absorber 40 and the pair of stoppers 41 are protruded above the transport passage 12 by the lifting cylinder 43 of the stopper mechanism 4 in advance, these shock absorbers are moved. The carrier plate CP comes into contact with the stopper 40 and the stopper 41, and the positioning is stopped above the rotary table 35. At this time, the pair of upper and lower cylinders 20 is operated to raise one end of each stopper plate 21 in order to prevent the subsequent carrier plate CP from contacting the carrier plate CP located above the rotary table 35. This causes the carrier plate CP to wait at the position of each stopper plate 21.

On the other hand, the carrier plate CP stopped above the rotating table 35 is operated by operating the cylinder 31 of the carrier plate setting mechanism 3 together with the lifting / lowering rotating shaft 33.
By raising 35, it is placed on turntable 35 and lifted from transport path 12. At this time, with the raising and lowering rotary shaft 33 being raised, the large gear 36 smoothly rises while being engaged with the small gear 37.

Next, the small gear 37, the large gear 36,
The rotary table 35 is rotated via the elevating rotary shaft 33 to stop the carrier plate CP at the initial position. In the initial position stop processing, for example, the carrier plate CP is stopped at the initial position by detecting an initial position mark marked on the outer circumferential surface or the lower surface of the carrier plate CP.

Subsequently, the wafer W is sequentially peeled from the carrier plate CP stopped at the initial position. This process will be described with reference to FIG. 1. First, the solenoid valve SV is operated to move the piston rod of the horizontal cylinder 50 forward. And let this be a detector
After confirming in LS1, the rotating table is rotated by the rotating mechanism. Then, of the three reflection-type phototube sensors 52 at the tip of the piston rod, a reflection-type phototube sensor corresponding to the diameter of the wafer W of the carrier plate CP.
The position of the wafer W is detected by 52. That is, the surface of the carrier plate CP and the mirror-finished wafer W
The difference (shade) in the reflectance with the surface of the wafer W
Is detected to have reached the predetermined position. In this way,
When the reflection type photoelectric tube sensor 52 detects the position of the wafer W, the rotation mechanism 38 is operated to stop the rotary table 35, and the wafer W to be separated is stopped at a predetermined position (separation, transfer position).

Next, the piston rod of the horizontal cylinder 50 is retracted by the solenoid valve SV, and after confirming by the detector LS2 that the piston rod has been retracted from the moving path of the peeling spatula 61 of the peeling robot 6, the peeling operation is performed by the peeling robot 6. In this operation, for example, as shown in FIGS. 9 to 16, first, the separation spatula 61 inclined at a predetermined angle is brought close to the wafer W to be separated from the center of the carrier plate CP (FIG. 9). ),
After inserting the thin blade 62 at the tip of the separating spatula 61 between the wafer W and the carrier plate CP (FIG. 10), the separating spatula 61
The lower surface (inclined surface) 61a of the wafer is made to align with the surface of the carrier plate CP (FIG. 11), and the peeling spatula 61 is advanced outside the carrier plate CP to peel the wafer W from the carrier plate CP ( (Figure 12). Further, the peeled wafer W is lifted while being placed on the upper surface of the peeling spatula 61 (FIG. 13), and is transferred onto the transport conveyor 7 (FIG. 14). The wafer W is lowered between the belts 70, and the wafer W is placed on both belts 70 (FIG. 15). The wafer W is transported by the transport conveyor 7, and the peeling spatula 61 is returned above the carrier plate CP (FIG. 15). (Figure 16).

Then, when the peeling and unloading processing of one wafer W is completed, the horizontal cylinder 50 is again operated to cause the reflection type photoelectric tube sensor 52 to protrude above the carrier plate CP, and the wafer detection and peeling operations as described above are performed. repeat. In this manner, when all the wafers W on the carrier plate CP are peeled and carried out, the rotary table 35 is lowered by the cylinder 31 of the carrier plate setting mechanism 3 and the shock absorber 43 is lifted by the lifting cylinder 43 of the stopper mechanism 4. By lowering 40 and stopper 41,
The carrier plate CP from which the peeling has been completed is returned onto the transport passage 12, and is carried out according to the inclination. Then, tilt table 1
The carrier plate CP in a standby state, which has been stopped by the stopper plate 21 in the middle part of the above, is transported to the rotary table 35 side, and the above-described processing is repeated.

In the above embodiment, the wafer W is peeled by the peeling operation shown in FIGS. 9 to 16 using the peeling spatula 61 having the thin blade 62 attached to the tip, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the peeling spatula 61 without the thin blade 62 is used, and the spatula spatula is inclined from the beginning at an angle corresponding to the upper surface of the carrier plate CP of the lower surface (inclined surface) 61a of the tip of the spatula 61 The wafer W may be peeled off at once by advancing the 61.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention provides a transport path for transporting a carrier plate having a wafer adhered to an upper surface thereof, and a rotary table which is provided in the transport path so as to be freely retractable and mounts the carrier plate. A stopper body that is provided on the downstream side of the rotary table in the transport path so as to be freely retractable and stops the carrier plate at the position of the rotary table; and a stopper body that is provided above the rotary table, and A wafer detection sensor that detects the position of the wafer on the mounted carrier plate, and a separation transfer unit that separates the wafer detected by the wafer detection sensor from the carrier plate and transfers the separated wafer to a predetermined position. Transport means for unloading the transferred wafer. After stopping the carrier plate that has moved on the feed path by the stopper body and placing it on the turntable, the position of the wafer on the carrier plate is detected by the wafer detection sensor while rotating the turntable, and the wafer is set at the predetermined position. Stopping the positioning, peeling off the wafer from the carrier plate by the peeling transfer means, transferring the peeled wafer to a predetermined position, and unloading the wafer by the transfer means, so that a plurality of wafers can be sequentially and smoothly transferred from the carrier plate. In addition, there is an excellent effect that the peeling operation can be performed reliably and the peeling operation can be continuously performed. Further, by the peeling and transferring means, the wafer is peeled from the carrier plate, and the peeled wafer is transferred to a predetermined position. Therefore, both the peeling step and the transferring step can be continuously performed by one means, There is no risk of scratching the wafer between these steps, and the steps can be shortened and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 16 show one embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a peeling operation, FIG. 2 is a plan view of an inclined table portion, FIG. 3 is a front view of a stopper plate portion,
4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the turntable, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the same, and FIGS.
The figure shows an example of a spatula for peeling, FIG. 7 is a plan view,
FIG. 8 is a front view, FIGS. 9 to 16 show an example of a wafer peeling operation, FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a state where a peeling spatula is approached to a carrier plate, and FIG. Explanatory diagram of the state where the thin blade at the tip of the spatula is inserted between the wafer and the carrier plate, FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which a spatula is spun, FIG. FIG. 13 is an explanatory view of a transport state of a wafer by a peeling spatula, FIG. 14 is an explanatory view of a peeling spatula located above a transport conveyor, and FIG. 15 is an explanatory view of a state where a wafer is placed on the transport conveyor. FIG. 16 is an explanatory view showing a state where the peeling spatula is returned to the carrier plate. 6: peeling robot (peeling mechanism), 7: transport conveyor (transfer means), 12: transport path, 35: rotary table,
40: Shock absorber (stopper body), 41: Stopper (stopper body), 52: Reflective photoelectric tube sensor (wafer detection sensor), CP: Carrier plate, W ...
... wafers.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Agency reference number FI Technical indication location H01L 21/68 H01L 21/68 L N (72) Inventor Keiichi Ishii Noda City Nishi-Migao Kinuchi 314 Nippon Silicon Co., Ltd. Noda Factory (56) Reference JP-A-61-178172 (JP, A) JP-A-56-47836 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A wafer peeling device for peeling a wafer adhered to a carrier plate, comprising: a transport passage for transporting the carrier plate; A rotary table, a stopper body that is provided on the downstream side of the rotary table in the transport passage so as to be able to protrude and retract, and that stops the carrier plate at a position of the rotary table; and a stopper body that is provided above the rotary table. A wafer detection sensor for detecting the position of a wafer on a carrier plate placed on a rotary table, and separation for separating the wafer detected by the wafer detection sensor from the carrier plate and transferring the separated wafer to a predetermined position Transfer means and transfer means for unloading the transferred wafer. Wafer peeling apparatus characterized by Bei was.