JP3415069B2 - Dicing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dicing device, and more particularly to a dicing device for cutting a plurality of chips packaged on a substrate or a wafer into individual chips.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A packaging process for covering a semiconductor chip such as an IC (integrated circuit) or a memory with a container has been conventionally performed by an IC.
It was carried out after the silicon wafer on which the above was formed was cut into chips by a dicing device. However, in recent years, from the viewpoint of downsizing semiconductor devices, shortening manufacturing time, and reducing costs, chip-size packaging (CSP)
A technology (wafer level CSP) for performing [chip size package]) on a semiconductor wafer at a time has been developed and put into practical use. In this method, first, a wiring film is stacked on a silicon wafer having an IC formed therein, and then a lead wire is formed by connecting a through hole between the film and the wafer. Next, a solder ball, which serves as a connection point with a circuit formed on the printed board, is attached on the film, a functional test is performed to check whether the IC operates normally, and the chip is cut into chips with a dicing device. According to this method
Since the work can be performed on the wafer at one time, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing time and the manufacturing cost.

By the way, in a dicing apparatus, when a wafer is cut into chips, the wafer is attached to a wafer sheet (adhesive resin sheet) and cut so as to hold the cut chips. On the other hand, in the case of the wafer level CSP, the semiconductor chip is completed as a product when it is cut out by the dicing device. Therefore, in order to recover the individual semiconductor chips cut out, it is necessary to remove the individual semiconductor chips attached to the wafer sheet from the wafer sheet.

[0004]

However, in the past, since the dicing wafer was conveyed to the next mounting step while being attached to the wafer sheet, the dicing device has a function of collecting the cut chips. It wasn't equipped. For this reason, in the case of the wafer level CSP, it is necessary to convey the diced semiconductor wafer to another device and collect the cut semiconductor chips. In addition, the device for collecting the semiconductor chips must also be provided with a cassette for accommodating an empty frame, resulting in an increase in size of the device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a dicing apparatus capable of collecting individual cut chips.

[0006]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In order to achieve the above object, in a dicing apparatus for cutting a plurality of chips packaged on one substrate or wafer into individual chips, the substrate or wafer is
A cassette that stores the frame placed via the adhesive sheet.
And a cassette part that stores the
Remove the frame from the cassette
The supply and recovery unit that stores the frame in the set, and the frame
Substrate or wafer mounted on the wafer is cut into individual chips
And the individual cutting chips to be removed from the adhesive sheet of the frame without transporting them to other devices.
The transfer section for transferring onto the tray and the supply / collection section.
Transport the frame taken out from the set to the cutting section
And the substrate cut into individual chips at the cutting section
Or, put the frame on which the wafer is placed in front of the cutting section.
And a transfer section that transfers the transfer section to the transfer section .

According to the present invention, the wafer Ru is cut or
The frame on which the substrate is placed via the adhesive sheet
After being taken out from the cassette in the collection section, it is transported to the cutting section.
The substrate or wafer is cut into individual chips. So
Then, the frame on which the cut chips are placed
From the transfer section to the transfer section, where individual chips are transferred.
Ru is transferred onto a tray. Therefore, the cut chips can be collected by the dicing device without being transported to another device. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 2 is a dicing apparatus for cutting a plurality of chips packaged on one substrate or wafer into individual chips, and the substrate or wafer is an adhesive sheet. A cassette part for accommodating a cassette for storing a frame placed via the cassette, a supply / recovery part for taking out the frame from the cassette installed in the cassette part and accommodating the frame in the cassette, and a mounting part for mounting on the frame. A cutting unit that cuts the placed substrate or wafer into individual chips, a transfer unit that removes the cut individual chips from the adhesive sheet of the frame and transfers them onto a tray, and a cassette at the supply and recovery unit. The frame taken out is conveyed to the cutting section, and the substrate or wafer cut into individual chips by the cutting section is mounted. A transport unit that transports the frame from the cutting unit to the transfer unit, and transports an empty frame in which chips are transferred on the tray at the transfer unit from the transfer unit to the supply and recovery unit, It is characterized by consisting of.

According to the present invention, the frame on which the wafer or substrate to be cut is placed via the adhesive sheet is taken out from the cassette in the supply / recovery section, and then transferred to the cutting section so that the substrate or wafer is individually cut. Be cut into chips.
Then, the frame on which the cut chips are placed is conveyed from the cutting unit to the transfer unit, and the individual chips are transferred onto the tray by the transfer unit. The empty frame on which the chips are transferred to the tray is conveyed from the transfer section to the supply / recovery section, and is stored in the cassette of the cassette section at the supply / recovery section. As described above, according to the present invention, the cut chips can be collected by the dicing device without being conveyed to another device, and the empty frame in which the chips are collected can be stored in the original cassette. Therefore, the entire apparatus can be made compact.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a dicing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the dicing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the dicing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is composed of a dicing unit 10 and a pickup & place unit 80. First, the configuration of the dicing unit 10 will be described.
The dicing unit 10 cuts a chip packaged in a chip size on a wafer into individual chips. The dicing unit 10 mainly includes the cassette unit 20, the elevator device 30, and the first transfer device 4.
0, a cutting unit 50, a cleaning unit 60, and a UV device 70.

The wafer W to be cut is attached to the wafer sheet attached to the wafer frame F. A wafer frame cassette in which a predetermined number of wafer frames F are stored is set in the cassette unit 20. The elevator device 30 includes the cassette unit 2
The wafer frame F is taken out from the wafer frame cassette set to 0, and the wafer frame F is transferred to the position P4 shown in FIG. Further, the wafer frame F transported to the position P4 is stored in the wafer frame cassette. In addition, the wafer frame F transferred to the position P4 is transferred to the UV device 70, and
The wafer frame is transferred from the position to the position P4.

The first transfer device 40 transfers the wafer frame F to four positions P1, P2, P3 and P4 as shown in FIG. Here, the position P1 is a position for preloading the wafer frame F, and the position P2 is a position for loading / unloading the wafer frame F on the cutting table. The position P3 is a position for loading / unloading the wafer frame F on the cleaning unit 60,
The position P4 is a position where the wafer frame F is loaded / unloaded on the elevator apparatus 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first transfer device 40 is provided with a slide arm 42 movably mounted in the front-rear direction (Y-axis direction), and a swing arm mounted on the tip of the slide arm 42. It is composed of a swivel arm 44, and two chucks 46 and 48 are rotatably attached to both ends of the swivel arm 44. The wafer frame F is gripped by the chucks 46 and 48 and transported to the positions P1, P2, P3 and P4.

The cutting unit 50 includes a cutting table 52, a cutting device 54 and an alignment device 56. The cutting table 52 holds the wafer frame F and can rotate and move in the X and Y directions in FIG. The cutting device 54 is a cutting table 52.
The wafer of the wafer frame F held by is cut into each chip C. This cutting device has a spindle 54B equipped with a blade 54A and can move in the Y direction in FIG. The alignment device 56 performs alignment by recognizing an image of the pattern of the wafer to be cut.

The cleaning unit 60 spin-cleans the chip C cut by the cutting unit 50 while being placed on the wafer frame F. The washed chip C is dried by air blow. The UV device 70 irradiates the cleaned and dried chip C with ultraviolet rays (UV) to generate the chip C.
Decrease the adhesive strength of the wafer sheet to which is attached.

In the dicing unit 10 configured as described above, the wafer is cut as follows. First, one wafer frame F is taken out from the wafer frame cassette of the cassette unit 20 by the elevator device 30 and is transported to the position P4. The wafer frame F transferred to the position P4 is transferred to the position P2 by the first transfer device 40, placed on the cutting table 52 of the cutting unit 50 at this position P2, and held on the cutting table 52.

The wafer frame F held on the cutting table 52 is subjected to image recognition of the pattern on the wafer W by the alignment device 56 and is aligned based on this. At this time, light (infrared rays, etc.) that passes through the resin that is the packaging material is used for the image recognition optical system.
Is used. And the aligned wafer W
Are cut into individual chips C by the cutting device 54.

The wafer frame F whose chips have been cut is returned to the position P2 by the cutting table 52, and then transferred by the first transfer device 40 to the cleaning section 60 at the position P3. Then, the chips C cut by the cleaning unit 60 are cleaned and dried. The wafer frame F in which the chips C have been cleaned by the cleaning unit 60 is transferred to the position P4 by the first transfer device 40. Then, the elevator device 30 transfers the UV to the UV device 70.
Ultraviolet rays are emitted by the device 70.

Wafer frame F irradiated with ultraviolet rays
Is transported to the position P4 again by the elevator device 30. The above is the flow of the cutting process of one wafer W by the dicing unit 10. Next, the configuration of the pickup & place unit 80 will be described. The pickup & place unit 80 removes the individual chips C cut by the dicing unit 10 from the wafer frame F and collects them in the tray T. The pickup & place unit 80 mainly includes a tray supply unit 90, a tray supply elevator device 100, a conveyor device 110, a tray recovery unit 120, a tray recovery elevator device 130, a second transfer device 140, and a moving table 15.
0 and a pickup & place device 160.

A tray cassette (not shown) is set in the tray supply section 90. A predetermined number of empty trays T are stored in this tray cassette. The tray supply elevator apparatus 100 takes out the tray T from the tray cassette set in the tray supply section 90 and transfers it onto the conveyor belt of the conveyor device 110.

The conveyor device 110 comprises the conveyor belt 1
The tray T placed on 12 is conveyed in the X direction in FIG. The tray T is conveyed to a predetermined chip C receiving position by this conveyor device 110. The individual chips C removed from the wafer frame F by the pickup & place device 160 at the chip C receiving position.
To receive. In addition, after the chips C are collected, the chips C are conveyed again to the conveyor device 110, and are conveyed to a predetermined tray collecting position.

A tray cassette (not shown) is set in the tray collecting section 120. A tray T from which chips C have been collected by the pick-up and place device 160
Is transported to the tray collecting position by the conveyor device 110, and then stored in the tray cassette by the tray collecting elevator device 130. As shown in FIG. 2, the second transfer device 140 moves the wafer frame F to the P
It is transported to two positions of 4 and P5. Here, the position P4 is a position for loading / unloading the wafer frame F on the elevator apparatus 30, and the position P5 is a position for loading / unloading the wafer frame F on the moving table 150. As shown in FIG. 2, the second transfer device 140 has a rotatable arm 142, and a chuck 144 is rotatably attached to the tip of the arm 142. The wafer frame F is gripped by the chuck 144 and transported to the positions P4 and P5.

The moving table 150 holds the wafer frame F and can rotate and move in the X and Y directions in FIG. The moving table 150 receives the wafer frame F at the position P5, and then moves to a predetermined chip C delivery position to collect the chips C. Then, after all the chips C have been collected, the chip is moved to the position P5 again and the wafer frame F is collected.

The pickup and place device 160
Is a guide rail 16 arranged along the Y direction in FIG.
Have two. A carriage 164 is provided on the guide rail 162 so that the carriage 164 can travel freely.
4, a cylinder 166 is arranged vertically downward. The pad 1 is attached to the rod tip of the cylinder 166.
68 is provided, and the chip C attached to the wafer frame F is pulled up by the pad 168.

The pick-up and place unit 80 constructed as described above collects the individual chips C cut in the following manner in the tray T. First, the tray supply elevator apparatus 100 takes out one empty tray T from the tray cassette set in the tray supply section 90 and places it on the conveyor belt 112 of the conveyor apparatus 110. The conveyor device 110 conveys the tray T to the chip receiving position.

On the other hand, the second transfer device 140 transfers the wafer frame F on which the ultraviolet irradiation of the chip C is completed from the position P4 to the position P5 and transfers it to the moving table 150. The moving table 150 conveys the received wafer frame F to the chip delivery position. As described above, when the tray T and the wafer frame F are transported to predetermined positions, the chips C are transferred from the wafer frame F to the tray T by the pickup & place device 160.

Here, the pickup & place device 16
0 transfers the chip C from the wafer frame F to the tray T as follows. Pick-up & place device 1
The pad 168 of 60 always collects the chip C at a fixed position P6 (hereinafter referred to as "pickup position"). Therefore, in order to collect the chips C on the pad 168, the moving table 150 moves to
It is necessary to position the chip C to be collected at the pickup position P6. In addition, the pickup and place device 160
Since the pad 168 of moves only in the Y direction in FIG.
In order to collect the picked-up chips C on the tray T, it is necessary to move the tray T in the X direction in FIG. Specifically, it is collected as shown in FIG.

Here, as shown in FIG. 3 (a),
Chips C ₁₁ formed on the wafer W in three rows and three columns
A case will be described in which ~ C ₁₃ is collected on the tray T at the positions T _{11 to} T ₁₃ in three columns and three rows. As described above, the wafer frame F is located at the chip delivery position,
The tray T is located at the chip receiving position.

First, as shown in FIG. 3A, a chip C
_The moving table 150 moves so that ₁₁ is located at the pickup position P6. On the other hand, this pickup position P6
Pat 168 is waiting above. Pat 168
Is the chip C ₁₁ is positioned at the pickup position, picking the chips C _11. The pad picking up the chip C ₁₁ moves in the Y direction in the drawing by a predetermined distance and stops at the position T ₁₁ on the tray T. Then, the chip C ₁₁ is placed at the position T ₁₁ by descending a predetermined distance at that position.

Pat 1 with chip C ₁₁ placed at position T ₁₁
After rising, 68 moves in the Y direction in the figure and returns to above the pickup position P6 again. On the other hand, the moving table 15
As shown in FIG. 3B, 0 positions the chip C ₁₂ to be picked up next to the pickup position P6. Then, the putt 168 picks up the chip C ₁₂ located at the pickup position similarly to the above, moves in the Y direction in the drawing, and places the chip C ₁₂ at the position T _{12 of the} tray T. The same applies to the case of collecting the chip C ₁₃ .

As described above, the chip C _{11 in} the first row
After the collection of C ₁₃ to C ₁₃ is completed, the conveyor device 110 is driven and the tray T moves in the X direction in the figure by a predetermined distance as shown in FIG. Then, the chips C _{21 to} C ₂₃ in the second row are transferred to the tray T moved by the predetermined distance in the same procedure as described above. The same applies to the case of collecting the chips C _{31 to} C ₃₃ in the third row.

As described above, all the chips C _{11 to} C _{13 are}
When is collected, the moving table 150 moves to the position P5 shown in FIG. On the other hand, the tray T from which the chips were collected
Is conveyed to a predetermined tray collection position by the conveyor device 110. Then, the tray collecting elevator device 1
It is stored in the tray cassette set in the tray collecting section 120 by 30.

The above is the flow of the process of collecting the chips C held on one wafer frame F by the pickup & place unit 80. Next, the operation of the dicing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, the operator stores the wafer frame F on which the wafer W to be cut is stretched in the wafer frame cassette, and sets the wafer frame cassette in the cassette unit 20 of the dicing unit 10.

Further, the tray cassette storing the empty tray T is set in the tray supply section 90 of the pickup & place unit 80, and the empty tray cassette is set in the tray collecting section 120. When the above preparatory work is completed, the device is operated. First, one wafer frame F is taken out from the wafer frame cassette of the cassette unit 20 by the elevator device 30 and is transported to the position P4. The wafer frame F transferred to the position P4 is transferred to the position P2 by the first transfer device 40 and transferred to the cutting table 52 of the cutting unit 50. The wafer frame F transferred to the cutting table 52 is aligned by the alignment device 56 and then cut into individual chips C by the cutting device 54.

The wafer frame F whose chips have been cut is returned to the position P2 by the cutting table 52, and then transferred by the first transfer device 40 to the cleaning section 60 at the position P3. Then, the chip C is cleaned and dried by the cleaning unit 60. The wafer frame F in which the chips C have been cleaned by the cleaning unit 60 is transferred to the position P4 by the first transfer device 40. Then, the elevator device 30
Is conveyed to the UV device 70 and is irradiated with ultraviolet rays. The wafer frame F irradiated with the ultraviolet rays is transported to the position P4 again by the elevator device 30.

With the above, the dicing step of cutting into individual chips is completed. On the other hand, while the wafer is being cut by the dicing unit 10 as described above, in the pickup & place unit 80, the tray supply elevator device 100 causes the tray cassette of the tray supply unit 90 to empty one empty tray T. Take out, conveyor device 1
10 is placed on the conveyor belt 112. Conveyor device 1
10 conveys the tray T to the chip receiving position.

When the ultraviolet irradiation is completed and the wafer frame F is transferred to the position P4, the second transfer device 140 transfers the wafer frame F from the position P4 to the position P5. Then, it is delivered to the moving table 150 of the pickup & place unit 80. The moving table 150 carries the received wafer frame F to the chip delivery position.

When the wafer frame F is moved to the chip delivery position, the pickup & place device 160 picks up the chip C from the wafer frame F located at the chip delivery position and is transported to the chip reception position.
Reprinted to. Here, while the individual chips C are being collected by the pickup & place device 160, the dicing unit 10 is cutting the next wafer.

When all the chips attached to the wafer frame F have been collected, the tray T in which the chips are collected is collected.
Is conveyed to the tray collection position by the conveyor device 110. Then, it is stored in the tray cassette of the tray recovery unit 120 by the tray recovery elevator device 130. On the other hand, the moving table 150 holding the wafer frame F returns to the same position P5 as when the wafer frame F was received. And this moving table 150
Returns to the position P5, the second transfer device 140 transfers the empty wafer frame F to the elevator device 30 of the dicing unit 10 from the position P5 to the position P4. The elevator apparatus 30 stores the received empty wafer frame F in the wafer frame cassette of the cassette unit 20.

The above is the flow of processing one wafer W by the dicing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. Thereafter, the wafers stored in the wafer frame cassette of the cassette unit 20 of the dicing unit 10 are processed in the same procedure. As described above, according to the dicing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the individual chips C packaged in a chip size on the wafer can be cut into individual chips C, and the cut individual chips can be cut. Can be collected in the tray T. As a result, the efficiency of the chip cutting and recovery process can be improved, and the production efficiency can be improved.

Further, in the dicing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the wafer frame F from which the chips C have been collected is returned to the original wafer frame cassette, so that the entire apparatus can be made compact. In the present embodiment, the wafer frame F is returned to the original wafer frame cassette, but a wafer frame cassette for recovery is separately installed in the dicing unit or the pickup & place unit 80, and the chip recovery is performed here. The wafer frame F that has been completed may be stored.

Further, in the present embodiment, the tray from which the chips are collected is stored in the tray cassette of the tray collection unit 120, but it may be stored in the tray cassette of the tray supply unit 90. As a result, the tray recovery unit 120 and the tray recovery elevator device 130 are provided.
Since it is not necessary to install the device, the entire device can be made more compact.

In this embodiment, the case where a work in which individual chips are packaged in a chip size on a wafer is cut is described. However, individual chips are packaged in a chip size on a substrate. The dicing apparatus according to the present embodiment can be applied to the work as well. Further, in the present embodiment, all the cut chips are collected in the tray, but only good products may be selected and collected in the tray.
That is, before cutting with the dicing device 1 of the present embodiment, the quality of each chip is inspected in advance,
The information is input to a control unit (not shown) of the dicing device 1. The control unit drives and controls the pickup & place device 160 based on the information, and collects only good chips in the tray. As a result, it is possible to further improve the production efficiency.

As another method, a CCD camera may be installed on the carriage 162 of the pickup & place device 160, and chips to be collected may be selected based on the image data. That is, the quality of each chip is inspected in advance, and a fail mark is previously attached to the defective chip. Then, when the fail mark is confirmed by the CCD camera when the pickup and place device 160 collects the chip, the chip is not collected. Further, a defective chip may be determined by determining a chip outer shape defect due to chipping or the like that occurs during cutting. This method can also improve the production efficiency.

[0045]

As described above, according to the dicing device of the present invention, since the dicing device is provided with the transfer section for transferring the cut individual chips onto the tray, the dicing device is cut. Chips can be collected by a dicing device without being transported to another device. This allows
The production efficiency can be improved. Further, since the frame after the chips are transferred is stored in the original cassette, the device can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a dicing apparatus according to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of a dicing device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of a pickup & place unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Dicing device, 10 ... Dicing unit, 20
... cassette part, 30 ... elevator device, 40 ... first transfer device, 50 ... cutting part, 60 ... cleaning part, 70 ... UV device,
80 ... Pick-up & place unit, 90 ... Tray supply unit, 100 ... Elevator device for tray supply, 110
... conveyor device, 120 ... tray recovery unit, 130 ... tray recovery elevator device, 140 ... second transfer device, 15
0 ... Moving table, 160 ... Pick-up & place device, 168 ... Pat

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-6-112313 (JP, A) JP-A-11-330103 (JP, A) JP-A-5-152432 (JP, A) JP-A-5- 218178 (JP, A) JP-A-5-175256 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/301

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A dicing apparatus for cutting a plurality of chips packaged on a single substrate or wafer into individual chips, wherein the substrate or the wafer is mounted via an adhesive sheet.
The cassette section that stores the cassette that stores the frames and the frame installed from the cassette installed in the cassette section
Supply to store the frame in the cassette as well as to eject
The recovery unit and the substrate or wafer placed on the frame are individually separated.
The cutting part for cutting into chips and the individual chips that have been cut are not transported to other devices.
Remove the adhesive sheet from the frame and transfer it to the tray.
The transfer part to be placed and the frame taken out from the cassette in the supply and recovery part
While transporting to the cutting section, individual chips are cut at the cutting section.
Frame on which substrates or wafers cut into chips are placed
From a transport unit that transports from the cutting unit to the transfer unit,
This is a dicing device. 2. A dicing device for cutting a plurality of chips packaged on one substrate or wafer into individual chips, wherein a cassette for storing a frame on which the substrate or wafer is mounted via an adhesive sheet is provided. A cassette unit to be stored, a frame is taken out from the cassette installed in the cassette unit, and a supply / recovery unit that stores the frame in the cassette, and a substrate or wafer placed on the frame is cut into individual chips. A cutting unit, and a transfer unit that removes the cut individual chips from the adhesive sheet of the frame and transfers them onto a tray, and conveys the frame taken out from the cassette in the supply and recovery unit to the cutting unit, The frame on which the substrate or wafer, which has been cut into individual chips by the cutting unit, is placed, is transferred from the cutting unit. Transported in parts, a dicing device comprising a conveying unit chips on a tray to transport the empty frames are transferred to the supply and recovery unit from the transfer unit, in that it consists in 該移 mounting portion. 3. The dicing device includes a control unit that controls the transfer unit, and the control unit transfers only a specific chip to a tray based on previously input information. The dicing device according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The transfer section includes image pickup means for picking up an image of a chip transferred to the tray, and a judging means for judging whether the chip is good or bad based on image data picked up by the image pickup means. 3. The dicing device according to claim 1, wherein only the chips that are determined to be non-defective are transferred to the tray.