JP5064181B2 - Substrate cutting device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate cutting apparatus.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a substrate cutting apparatus including a chuck table that holds and holds a substrate, and a cutting unit that cuts the substrate into a plurality of pieces. Generally, before the substrate is cut by the cutting means, the position of the substrate sucked and held on the chuck table is recognized. Based on the recognized position data of the substrate, the cutting means is controlled to cut the substrate.

  As position recognition means for recognizing the position of the substrate, for example, there is one having one camera. Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of this position recognition means will be described in detail.

  5A is a plan view of the chuck table 300, and a substrate 100 such as a semiconductor wafer is sucked and held on the illustrated chuck table 300. FIG. Positioning marks M1, M2, and M3 are respectively attached to predetermined three locations on the substrate 100, specifically, three corner portions.

  The chuck table 300 is configured to be capable of reciprocating in the X direction in the figure. Further, the substrate 100 is carried into the chuck table 300 on the right side of the drawing, and the substrate 100 sucked and held on the chuck table 300 is cut on the left side of the drawing.

  One camera 200 is disposed in the middle of the movement path along which the chuck table 300 moves from the substrate loading position on the right side of the drawing to the substrate cutting position on the left side of the drawing. The camera 200 is configured to be capable of reciprocating in the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction of the chuck table moving direction.

5A, when the chuck table 300 that holds the substrate 100 by suction is moved from the right side to the left side in the drawing, the first positioning mark M1 among the three positioning marks on the substrate 100 is the camera 200. To reach below. At this time, the camera 200 recognizes the first positioning mark M1. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the chuck table 300 is moved to the left side of the drawing, the second positioning mark M2 reaches below the camera 200, and the second positioning mark M2 is reached. Is recognized. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5C, the chuck table 300 is temporarily stopped and the camera 200 is moved upward in the drawing to recognize the third positioning mark M3. In this way, the position of the substrate 100 is recognized by relatively moving the camera 200 between the three positioning marks.
Japanese Patent No. 3530483

In recent years, in the substrate cutting apparatus, in order to improve productivity, it is required to further reduce the time required for each process or each apparatus.
However, in the structure in which the three positioning marks are recognized by one camera as described above, the camera must move relatively between the three positioning marks, and the time required for the substrate position recognition is long. There was a drawback.

  In addition, the transfer means for loading the substrate into the chuck table loads the next substrate into the chuck table after the substrate is loaded into the chuck table and the position of the substrate is recognized or cut on the chuck table. Since it is not possible, it is in a standby state. As one means for improving the productivity, it is effective to increase the operating rate of the apparatus constituting the transfer means and the like.

  Therefore, in view of the above problems, the present invention provides a substrate cutting apparatus capable of improving productivity.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a chuck table for sucking and holding a substrate, position recognition means for recognizing the position of the substrate sucked and held on the chuck table, and a plurality of substrates sucked and held on the chuck table and recognized. In the substrate cutting apparatus provided with a cutting means for cutting into pieces, the position recognition means has two recognition portions for recognizing three positioning marks respectively attached to predetermined three positions of the substrate, The recognizing unit recognizes the two positioning marks by relatively moving between the two positioning marks among the three positioning marks, and recognizes the remaining one positioning mark by the other recognizing unit. configured to, the chuck table, said cutting means, and said position recognition means as a unit, two of the unit parallel The transfer means is configured to alternately carry substrates and / or unload individual pieces onto the chuck tables of the two units by one transfer means, and carry substrates and / or individual pieces by the transfer means. At least a part of each transfer area where the chuck tables are arranged when unloading is disposed so as to overlap .

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when recognizing the position of the substrate, one recognizing portion only needs to move relatively between the two positioning marks. That is, since the remaining one positioning mark is recognized by the other recognition unit, it is not necessary to relatively move the one recognition unit to the remaining one positioning mark. Therefore, unlike the prior art, it is not necessary to move one recognition unit (for example, a camera) relatively between the three positioning marks. As a result, the time required for substrate position recognition can be shortened, and productivity can be improved .

In addition, after the transfer means carries the substrate into and / or removes the individual piece from one chuck table, the substrate is placed on the other chuck table while the position of the substrate of the chuck table is recognized and cut. Can be carried in and / or carried out individually. Thereby, the operation rate of a transfer means increases and productivity improves. In addition, since the transfer means can be shared, the cost can be reduced .

Further, the substrate cutting apparatus can be made compact by disposing at least a part of the delivery area of each chuck table so as to overlap each other.

According to a second aspect of the invention, the substrate cutting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cutting means comprises a pair of blades, as well as attached integrally the recognition unit in each blade, cutting of the substrate cut by each blade The position where the position of the line is recognized by the recognition unit, the position of the cutting line recognized by the blade recognized by the recognition unit is compared with the predetermined cutting position on the substrate, and the amount of deviation is calculated The apparatus includes a deviation amount calculation unit and a correction unit that corrects the position of the blade relative to the substrate at the time of cutting based on the deviation amount calculated by the position deviation amount calculation unit.

  As a result, when the substrate is cut, the blade can be disposed and cut at an appropriate position on the substrate, and the product quality can be improved.

  According to the substrate cutting apparatus of the present invention, the time required for substrate position recognition can be shortened, thereby improving productivity. In addition, since the substrate is alternately carried into and / or out of the two chuck tables by one transfer means, the operation rate of the transfer means can be increased and the productivity can be improved. It becomes possible.

Hereinafter, a substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a partial configuration of an embodiment of a substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention. Substrate cutting device this is recognized as the chuck table 2 for attracting and holding the substrate 1, by cutting the substrate 1 held by suction on the chuck table 2 and the cutting means 3 for dividing into a plurality of pieces, the position of the substrate 1 Position recognition means 4, a substrate supply device 5 for supplying the substrate 1, an individual piece transfer device 6 for collecting and transferring the pieces 11 obtained by cutting the substrate 1, and a chuck table 2 from the substrate supply device 5. And a transfer means 7 for carrying the substrate 1 to the piece conveying device 6 from the chuck table 2. In this embodiment, a semiconductor wafer on which a plurality of semiconductor elements are formed is applied as the substrate 1.

  The chuck table 2 is disposed so as to be horizontal, and a plurality of suction ports for sucking and holding the substrate 1 are formed on the upper surface of the chuck table 2 (not shown). A pair of guide rails 12, 12 are arranged extending in the left-right direction in the figure, and the chuck table 2 is movable along the guide rails 12, 12. Specifically, the chuck table 2 is configured to reciprocate in the X direction between a P position on the right side of the drawing and a Q position on the left side of the drawing. Further, the chuck table 2 is configured to rotate in a circumferential direction within a horizontal plane by a rotation mechanism (not shown).

  The cutting means 3 has a blade 8 attached to a spindle 9 and capable of rotating at high speed. The blade 8 and the spindle 9 are disposed symmetrically on both sides in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 12.

  The blade 8 and the spindle 9 are configured to reciprocate in the horizontal direction (the Y direction in the figure) perpendicular to the moving direction (X direction) of the chuck table 2. Further, the blade 8 and the spindle 9 are movable in the vertical direction, so that the blade 8 can approach / separate the substrate 1 on the chuck table 2.

  A positioning mark for recognizing the position of the substrate 1 is attached in advance to the substrate 1 carried into the chuck table 2. Specifically, as shown in the substrate 1 on the chuck table 2 in FIG. 1, among the four corner portions of the rectangular substrate 1, positioning marks M1, M2, and M3 are respectively attached to predetermined three corner portions. . In addition, although the positioning mark is similarly attached | subjected also to the board | substrate 1 arrange | positioned at the board | substrate supply apparatus 5, illustration is abbreviate | omitted.

  The position recognition unit 4 includes two cameras 10 and 10 as a recognition unit for recognizing the positioning marks M1, M2, and M3. The position data of the substrate 1 recognized by the camera 10 is transmitted to a control unit (not shown) for controlling the operation of the blade 8. The cameras 10 are each attached integrally to the case of the spindle 9 and are configured to move together with the blade 8.

  The transfer means 7 is, for example, an apparatus having a robot arm with a hand portion that holds a substrate and individual pieces attached to the tip. By turning the robot arm, the hand unit can be moved above the chuck table 2, the substrate supply device 5, and the piece transfer device 6. The transfer means 7 carries the substrate into and out of the chuck table 2 when the chuck table 2 is at the P position.

  Further, the individual piece conveying device 6 has a placement plate 13 for receiving and placing the individual piece 11 from the transfer means 7, and the placement plate 13 is configured to be movable along the guide rail 14. Yes.

Next, the overall configuration of the embodiment according to the substrate cutting apparatus of the present invention will be described. A plan view of the overall configuration is shown in FIG. FIG 1 shows to Ji Yakkuteburu 2, the cutting means 3 and the position recognizing section 4, is when one of the units U, in the present embodiment, as those two juxtaposed symmetrically this unit U in the lateral direction ing. On the other hand, the substrate supply device 5, the individual piece transfer device 6, and the transfer means 7 are arranged one by one as in the first embodiment.

  The chuck tables 2 and 2 included in the two units U and U are disposed so as to be movable along the pair of guide rails 12 and 12. Of the two chuck tables 2, 2, one chuck table 2 reciprocates in the X direction on the guide rail 12 in the left half region of the drawing, specifically between the P1 position and Q1 position of the drawing. The other chuck table 2 is configured to reciprocate in the X direction on the guide rail 12 in the right half region of the drawing, specifically, between the P2 position and the Q2 position of the drawing.

Further, in the present embodiment, the one transfer means 7 carries the substrate into and out of the chuck tables 2 and 2 individually. The transfer means 7 carries substrates into and out of the two chuck tables 2 and 2 at positions P1 and P2 near the center on the guide rail 12, respectively. When the substrate is carried in and the individual pieces are carried out, the area where each chuck table 2 is disposed is called a delivery area. The delivery areas of the chuck tables 2 and 2 partially overlap each other. It is arranged like this. In this way, it is possible to reduce the size of the apparatus by partially or entirely overlapping the respective transfer areas of the two chuck tables 2 and 2.

In addition, two cameras 10 for recognizing the position of the substrate 1 attracted and held on the chuck table 2 are arranged in correspondence with each chuck table 2, two in total, four. Each camera 10 is attached to the blade 8 integrally.

Hereinafter, the operation of the substrate cutting apparatus of the present invention will be described.
First, the basic operation of the one unit U will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the chuck table 2 is in a standby state at the P position on the right side of the drawing. The substrate 1 conveyed by the substrate supply device 5 is picked up by the transfer means 7, and the substrate 1 is placed on the chuck table 2. The substrate 1 placed on the chuck table 2 is sucked and held on the upper surface of the chuck table 2. Then, the chuck table 2 is moved to the Q position on the left side of the drawing along the guide rails 12 and 12.

  In the middle of moving the chuck table 2 to the Q position, the three positioning marks M1, M2, and M3 attached to the substrate 1 pass below the pair of cameras 10 and 10. At this time, the positioning marks M1, M2, and M3 are recognized by the camera 10. The operation of recognizing the position of the substrate will be described in detail later.

  After moving the chuck table 2 to the Q position, the operation of the pair of blades 8 and 8 is controlled based on the position data of the substrate 1 acquired by the camera 10 to cut the substrate 1. The blade 8 is lowered onto the substrate 1 and the chuck table 2 is moved in the X direction to cut in one direction. Then, by moving the blade 8 in the Y direction and repeatedly performing the cutting operation in one direction, the substrate 1 is cut into a plurality of rows. When the cutting in one direction of the substrate 1 is completed, the chuck table 2 is rotated 90 ° in the circumferential direction, and the substrate 1 is similarly cut into a plurality of rows by the blade 8 again. Thus, the substrate 1 is cut into a plurality of rows in a direction orthogonal to the cut one direction, and is divided into a plurality of pieces.

  In addition, on the upper surface of the chuck table 2, an escape groove for allowing the blade 8 to escape is formed so that the chuck table 2 is not cut by the blade 8 at the time of cutting (not shown).

  After dividing the substrate 1 into a plurality of pieces, the chuck table 2 is moved from the Q position to the P position. Then, the transfer means 7 picks up the individual pieces on the chuck table 2 and places them on the placement plate 13 of the individual piece transfer device 6, picks up a new substrate 1 from the substrate supply device 5, and chucks it. Place on the table 2. Moreover, the mounting plate 13 that has received the individual pieces is moved along the guide rails 14 to convey the individual pieces to a storage unit or the like. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated.

Hereinafter, the operation of recognizing the position of the substrate will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
FIGS. 3A and 3B show the chuck table 2 being moved to the Q position in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3A, by moving the chuck table 2 to the left side of the figure, the positioning mark M1 attached to the substrate 1 on the chuck table 2 is a pair of cameras 10, 10 indicated by a two-dot chain line. Among these, it reaches below the camera 10 on the lower side of the figure. At this time, the positioning mark M1 is recognized by the camera 10 on the lower side of the drawing.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, when the chuck table 2 is further moved to the left side of the figure, the positioning marks M2 and M3 attached to the substrate 1 are respectively changed to the lower camera 10 and the upper side of the figure. It reaches below the camera 10. Then, the positioning marks M2 and M3 are recognized by the lower and upper cameras 10 and 10. As described above, in the configuration of the present invention, when the position of the substrate 1 is recognized, the substrate 1 is moved in one direction (X direction in FIG. 1) without moving the camera 10, so that the three positioning marks M1, M2 and M3 can be recognized.

  Since the conventional substrate position recognition mechanism shown in FIG. 5 has only one camera, in addition to moving the substrate in the X direction in the figure, the camera has to be moved in the Y direction in the figure. In contrast, according to the present invention, since it is not necessary to move the camera in the Y direction, the time required to recognize the position of the substrate can be shortened, and productivity can be improved.

  In the embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 3, the three positioning marks are recognized by moving the substrate 1 without moving the camera 10, but one camera 10 is positioned, for example, without moving the substrate 1. You may comprise so that it may recognize by moving from the mark M1 to M2.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, three cameras 10 may be provided. If the three cameras 10 are configured to recognize one of the three positioning marks M1, M2, and M3 attached to the substrate 1 one by one, the position of the substrate 1 is recognized. There is no need to move the substrate 1 or the camera 10. Thereby, it is possible to further reduce the time required for the position recognition of the substrate.

Next, the operation of both units U and U will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the chuck table 2 in the left side of the figure is in the P1 position near the center, the chuck table 2 on the right side of the figure is moved to the right of Q2 position away with it. Conversely, when the chuck table 2 on the right side of the figure moves to the P2 position near the center, the chuck table 2 on the left side of the figure moves to the Q1 position on the left side away from it. The transfer means 7 carries in the substrate and carries out the individual pieces on the chuck table 2 moved to the P1 position or the P2 position.

That is, in this embodiment, the single transfer means 7 alternately carries substrates into and out of the two chuck tables 2 and 2. While the substrate 1 is being carried in and the individual pieces are being carried out to one chuck table 2, the position recognition work and the cutting work of the substrate 1 are performed on the other chuck table 2.

Thus, in the present embodiment, the transfer means 7, after unloading of the loading and pieces of substrate in one of the chuck table 2 is performed the position recognition and cleavage of the substrate of the chuck table 2 In the meantime, it is possible to carry in the substrate and carry out the individual pieces on the other chuck table 2. Thereby, the operation rate of the transfer means 7 can be increased and productivity can be improved.

Note that the right side of the chuck table 2 in FIG. 2, operation for unloading the loading and pieces of substrate, the operation to perform position recognition and cleavage of the substrate, the description is the same as the operation of the left chuck table 2 Omitted.

  The blade 8 is controlled so as to cut a preset cutting position on the substrate 1 based on the position data of the substrate 1 recognized by the camera 10. However, the position of the cutting line of the substrate 1 cut by the blade 8 may deviate from a preset scheduled cutting position of the substrate 1 due to mechanical displacement or various environmental conditions during cutting. is there.

  Therefore, the camera 10 may be integrated with each blade 8 so that the camera 10 recognizes the position of the cutting line of the substrate 1 cut by the blade 8. . Then, a position deviation amount calculating means for comparing the position of the cutting line recognized by the camera 10 with the blade 8 and a predetermined cutting position on the substrate 1 to calculate the amount of deviation, and a position deviation amount calculation Correction means for correcting the position of the blade 8 with respect to the substrate 1 at the time of cutting is provided based on the deviation amount calculated by the means (not shown). As a result, when the substrate 1 is cut, the blade 8 can be disposed and cut at an appropriate position (scheduled cutting position) of the substrate 1, thereby improving the product quality.

As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, Of course, a various change can be added in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. In the above-described embodiment, two units U each including the chuck table 2, the cutting unit 3, and the position recognition unit 4 are arranged side by side. However, the cutting ability of the blade 1 for the substrate 1 and the chuck of the transfer unit 7 are included. It is also possible to arrange three or more units U in parallel according to the board carrying ability to the table 2 or the like. In the above-described embodiment, the camera is used as the recognition unit that recognizes the positioning mark attached to the substrate. However, a sensor other than the camera may be used. The configuration of the present invention is not limited to a cutting device that cuts a semiconductor wafer, but can also be applied to a printed board on which electronic components are mounted, a glass substrate, or a device that cuts other substrates.

It is a top view showing some composition of an embodiment concerning a substrate cutting device of the present invention. It is a top view which shows the whole structure of embodiment which concerns on the board | substrate cutting device of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation | movement which recognizes the position of a board | substrate, Comprising: (a) And (b) is a top view which shows the principal part of the said board | substrate cutting device. It is a figure which shows a reference example . It is a figure for demonstrating the operation | movement which recognizes the position of the conventional board | substrate, Comprising: (a)-(c) is a top view which shows the principal part of the conventional board | substrate cutting device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Chuck table 3 Cutting means 4 Position recognition means 8 Blade 10 Camera M1 Positioning mark M2 Positioning mark M3 Positioning mark

Claims (2)

Chuck table for sucking and holding the substrate, position recognition means for recognizing the position of the substrate sucked and held by the chuck table, and cutting means for cutting the substrate sucked and held by the chuck table into a plurality of pieces In a substrate cutting apparatus comprising:
The position recognizing means has two recognizing portions for recognizing three positioning marks respectively attached to predetermined three positions of the substrate, and one recognizing portion is configured to position two positioning portions of the three positioning marks. Recognizing the two positioning marks by relatively moving between the marks, and configuring the remaining one positioning mark to be recognized by the other recognition unit ,
The chuck table, the cutting means, and the position recognition means are used as one unit, and two such units are arranged side by side, and a substrate is alternately loaded onto each chuck table of the two units by one transfer means. And / or configured to carry out individual pieces,
A substrate cutting apparatus characterized in that at least a part of each transfer region in which each chuck table is arranged when the substrate is carried in and / or carried out by the transfer means is arranged to overlap. . The cutting means has a pair of blades, and the recognition unit is integrally attached to each blade, and the position of the cutting line of the substrate cut by each blade is recognized by the recognition unit. A positional deviation amount calculating means for comparing the position of the recognized cutting line by the blade with a predetermined cutting scheduled position on the substrate and calculating the deviation amount, and the deviation amount calculated by the positional deviation amount calculating means. The substrate cutting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a correcting unit that corrects a position of the blade with respect to the substrate at the time of cutting.

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