JP5573631B2 - Semiconductor substrate expander - Google Patents

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an expander for a semiconductor substrate, and more particularly, an expander that collectively performs braking (substrate cleavage) and expand (chip separation) of a semiconductor substrate (wafer) made of hard-to-cut hard material such as SiC (silicon carbide) or sapphire. Relates to the device.

  In the current mainstream method of manufacturing a semiconductor device made of Si (silicon), a semiconductor device in which a large number of patterns are formed on a semiconductor substrate is cut into a lattice shape by a technique called blade dicing to divide chips. Generally done.

  In recent years, SiC and sapphire, which have smaller switching loss than Si and can operate at high temperatures, have been attracting attention for the realization of a low-carbon society. However, in the case of a semiconductor device manufacturing method using a SiC substrate, a sapphire substrate, or the like as the substrate, the substrate is hard and difficult to cut. For this reason, with a SiC substrate or a sapphire substrate, the blade dicing method is very unsuitable for mass production because it is very poor in workability and takes time, and the degree of wear of the blade is so high that the tool wear frequency is high.

  Therefore, a laser processing method called stealth dicing is known as one of dicing techniques applied to sapphire substrates or the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Stealth dicing is a technique for forming a work-affected layer on a semiconductor substrate by irradiating a transmission laser beam with a stealth dicing laser irradiator, and forming an internal deteriorated layer on a scribe line. Since the altered layer inside the substrate is brittle, it serves as a cleavage starting point when the substrate is cleaved, and since it is cleaved along the altered layer, the substrate maintains linearity. It will be divided in the state.

  Since the stealth dicing is only for forming a starting point for cleaving the substrate, a cleaving process for the semiconductor substrate is required thereafter. As one of the cleavage techniques, there is known a spherical expanding system in which a substrate on which a dicing tape is attached is cleaved and separated by pressing with a spherical disk part (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In this spherical expanding method, after the chip separation is performed, the pressing by the spherical disk portion is released, but at this time, in order to prevent the separated chip from coming into contact with the dicing tape being loosened, the peripheral surface of the spherical disk portion is avoided. The dicing tape is re-tensioned with the provided ring. Thereby, since the stretched state of the dicing tape is maintained, the interval between the separated chips is maintained, and damage to the chips due to contact between the chips is prevented.

  Here, when the dicing tape is re-tensioned by the ring, if the spherical disk portion is completely retracted from the virtual plane including the end surface of the ring that contacts the dicing tape, the dicing tape inside the ring hangs down. As a result, there is a possibility of contact between chips. Therefore, the spherical disk portion is configured to stop at a position slightly protruding outside the virtual plane from the virtual plane so that the spherical central portion does not displace inside the ring from the virtual plane. The separated chips on the re-stretched dicing tape are then picked up one by one and sent to the inspection process.

JP 2006-43713 A JP 2010-177340 A

  However, the central part of the re-stretched dicing tape is pushed out of the virtual plane by the spherical disk part, and the separated chips are not arranged on the plane, so the device for picking up the chips on the dicing tape is complicated. In addition, there is a problem that it becomes expensive. In other words, the arrangement of the chips on the plane can be easily recognized by image processing, but in order to recognize the position in the height direction following the displacement state of the dicing tape, an imaging device and an image processing device are separately required. In addition, it takes time for image processing.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a semiconductor substrate expanding apparatus capable of maintaining a state in which chips separated by expanding at a spherical disk portion are arranged on a plane. For the purpose.

In the present invention, in order to solve the above-described problem, a dicing frame that is attached and fixed to the outer peripheral edge portion of a dicing tape to which a protective tape is attached so as to cover the cleavage start point processed substrate attached to the center. A dicing frame holding portion that holds the substrate, a spherical disk portion that cleaves and cleaves the cleaved starting point processed substrate by pressing and stretching the dicing tape with a surface having a spherical shape, and the dicing tape in a planar shape A flat disk part that puts the chips separated by pressing by the spherical disk part into a state of being arranged on a flat surface by pressing and stretching on the surface having the surface, the cleaved starting point processed substrate of the dicing tape, and the dicing A state in which the dicing tape is stretched by the flat disk portion while being sandwiched between frames Comprising a tape clamp portion for holding, and a driving mechanism for driving the spherical disc portion and the flat disk portion in a direction away from the direction and the dicing tape pressing the dicing tape, the spherical disc portion and the flat disc The unit is integrally formed and is reversibly attached in the vicinity of the opening end of the cylindrical tape expansion stage driven by the drive mechanism, and the cylindrical tape expansion stage is connected to the spherical disk portion from the opening end. There is provided a semiconductor substrate expanding apparatus characterized by having a structure capable of taking a state in which the protrusion protrudes and a state in which the open portion is flattened by the planar disk portion .

  According to such a semiconductor substrate expanding apparatus, after the cleavage starting point processed substrate is cleaved by the spherical expanding process by the spherical disk part and chip separation is performed, the planar expanding process by the planar disk part is performed. As a result, the dicing tape formed into a dome shape by the spherical expanding process is stretched to the plane by the plane expanding process and is fixed by the tape clamp unit, so that the separated chips are maintained in an arrayed state on the plane. Is possible.

  The semiconductor substrate expanding apparatus having the above-described configuration can stretch the slack dicing tape into a flat shape again by the planar expanding process by releasing the pressing of the spherical disk part after the spherical expanding process is completed. As a result, the separated chips are arranged on a plane, and the device for picking up the chips on the dicing tape does not need to recognize the position in the height direction, so that the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be configured at low cost. There is.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows the expanding apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment, (A) shows a spherical expansion process state, (B) has shown the planar expansion process state. It is a top view which shows the expansion apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment, Comprising: (A) is a figure which shows the operation state at the time of spherical expansion processing, (B) is a figure which shows the operation state at the time of plane expansion processing. It is a figure which shows operation | movement description of the expanding apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment, (A) shows the time of spherical expansion processing, (B) shows the time of descent | fall of a spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage, (C) Indicates the time of horizontal movement of the substrate, and (D) indicates the time of planar expansion processing. It is a top view which shows the expansion apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment, (A) is a figure which shows the operation state at the time of a spherical expansion process, (B) is a figure which shows the operation state at the time of a plane expansion process. It is a figure which shows operation | movement description of the expanding apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment, (A) shows the time of spherical expansion processing, (B) shows the time of descent | fall of a spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage, (C) Indicates the horizontal movement of the tape expansion stage, and (D) indicates the time of the plane expanding process.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to an example in which a semiconductor substrate made of a hard-to-cut hard material such as SiC that has been cleaved starting point processed in advance is applied to an apparatus that cleaves and separates along a scribe line. Details will be described with reference to FIG. In the following description, a semiconductor substrate processed by stealth dicing in which a work-affected layer is formed inside the substrate and an internal deteriorated layer is formed on the scribe line is used as the cleavage-start-point processed substrate.

1A and 1B are conceptual diagrams showing an expanding apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 1A shows a spherical expanding process state, and FIG. 1B shows a planar expanding process state.
The semiconductor substrate to be processed by this expanding apparatus is the stealth dicing processed substrate 1 that has been subjected to the stealth dicing process in advance. The stealth dicing processed substrate 1 is subjected to a stealth dicing process in a state of being attached to the center of an elastic dicing tape 3 attached to an annular dicing frame 2, and then a protective tape so as to cover the whole. 4 is provided in an affixed state.

  The expanding apparatus according to the first embodiment includes a dicing frame holding unit that holds the dicing frame 2. The dicing frame holding unit includes a dicing frame holding base 5 on which the dicing frame 2 is placed, a dicing frame holding cover 6, and O-rings 7 and 8. The dicing frame 2 is sandwiched between the dicing frame holding base 5 and the dicing frame holding cover 6 via O-rings 7 and 8. The O-rings 7 and 8 are for holding the dicing frame 2 so that the dicing frame 2 does not slip off when the dicing tape 3 is stretched.

  Inside the dicing frame holder 5, a cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 is disposed so as to be movable up and down in the vertical direction of the drawing by a driving mechanism (not shown). In the vicinity of the opening end of the tubular tape expansion stage 9, an integrally formed spherical disk portion 10 and flat disk portion 11 are attached in a reversible manner. Thereby, the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 has a configuration in which the spherical disk portion 10 protrudes from the upper opening end of the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 and a state in which the open portion is flattened by the flat disk portion 11. doing. The drive mechanism also includes a rotation drive mechanism (not shown), and when the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 is moved downward in the figure, the spherical disk portion 10 and the flat disk portion 11 rotate around the rotation axis. Thus, the outer shape of the upper end of the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 can be switched.

  An expansion holding ring 12 is installed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9. The extended holding ring 12 constitutes a tape clamp portion together with a tape clamp ring 13 installed so as to be movable up and down in the upper part of the drawing. That is, the extended holding ring 12 can hold the dicing tape 3 stretched by the flat disk portion 11 by fitting the tape clamp ring 13 with the dicing tape 3 interposed therebetween.

  The operation of the expanding apparatus having the above configuration will be described. First, before the stealth dicing processed substrate 1 is installed, the dicing frame holding cover 6 is moved upward in the figure, for example, and the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 and the expansion holding ring 12 are moved downward in the figure. Yes. In this state, the dicing tape 3 to which the stealth dicing-treated substrate 1 is attached is conveyed, and the dicing frame 2 is mounted on the dicing frame holding base 5 and fixed by being sandwiched by the dicing frame holding cover 6.

  Next, the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 with the spherical disk portion 10 protruding from the upper opening end is raised by the drive mechanism. Thereby, the top part of the spherical disk part 10 first hits the center part of the dicing tape 3 and presses the dicing tape 3. Then, the stealth dicing-treated substrate 1 is subjected to a bending force on the scribe line of the inner deteriorated layer formed in the vicinity of the center, and is cleaved along the line. Thereafter, when the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 is further raised and pressed by the spherical disk portion 10, the stealth dicing processed substrate 1 is sequentially cleaved from the center toward the periphery. Finally, the stealth dicing processed substrate 1 is separated into a plurality of chips as shown in FIG. 1A by the spherical expanding process by the pressing of the spherical disk portion 10 as shown in FIG.

  At this time, the dicing tape 3 is deformed in accordance with the outer shape of the spherical disk portion 10, so that a pulling force indicated by an arrow acts from the center to the peripheral direction, and the dicing tape 3 is stretched in all directions. As a result, the separated chips placed on the dicing tape 3 are arranged with an interval corresponding to the stretched chips.

  Next, the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 is lowered from the position shown in FIG. At this time, the dicing tape 3 is released from being pressed by the spherical disk portion 10, but has a three-layer structure of the chip and the protective tape 4, so that the dome shape is maintained without collapse.

  When the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 is lowered to its lower end position, the spherical disk portion 10 and the flat disk portion 11 are turned upside down by a rotation drive mechanism (not shown), and the cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 has an opening portion. It will be in the state planarized by the plane disk part 11. The cylindrical tape expansion stage 9 is raised again by the drive mechanism, and presses the dome-shaped dicing tape 3 from below with the flat disk portion 11. As a result, the dicing tape 3 is again stretched in all directions, and the chips separated by the spherical expanding process are arranged on a plane. In addition, since the dicing tape 3 is supported from below by a plane expanding process by pressing the plane disk portion 11, the state where the chips are arranged on the plane can be maintained.

  After this planar expansion process, the protective tape 4 is peeled off, and as shown in FIG. 1B, the tape clamp ring 13 is fitted into the expansion holding ring 12 with the dicing tape 3 interposed therebetween, whereby the dicing tape. 3 is fixed in the stretched state. As a result, since the separated chips are arranged on a plane, it is not necessary to consider the height position of the chip when picking up the chip from the dicing tape 3, thereby simplifying the configuration of the device for picking up the chip. be able to.

  2A and 2B are plan views showing an expanding apparatus according to the second embodiment, in which FIG. 2A is a diagram showing an operating state during spherical expansion processing, and FIG. 2B is a diagram showing an operating state during planar expanding processing. FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating the operation of the expanding apparatus according to the second embodiment, where FIG. 3A illustrates a spherical expanding process, and FIG. 3B illustrates a lowering of the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage. , (C) shows the time of horizontal movement of the substrate, and (D) shows the time of planar expansion processing. 2 and 3, the same or equivalent components as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the expanding apparatus according to the second embodiment includes a spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 and a planar disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 that can be moved up and down independently. And a substrate moving mechanism that reciprocates between the stages. The substrate moving mechanism includes a linear rail 16 installed between the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 and the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15, and a transport carriage that horizontally moves the dicing frame holding table 5 along the linear rail 16. And the cart drive motor. As a result, the dicing frame holding table 5 on which the substrate is mounted can be moved to the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 for the flat expansion process after the spherical expansion process is performed on the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 by the substrate moving mechanism. .

  Next, the operation of the expanding apparatus having the above configuration will be described. First, the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 and the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 are respectively lowered, and the dicing frame holder 5 is moved directly above the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14. The stealth dicing-treated substrate 1 is mounted on the dicing frame holder 5 at a position directly above the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 or is mounted at another position and moved to the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14. The

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3A, the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 is raised by the drive mechanism. As a result, the dicing tape 3 is pressed from below by the spherical top of the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14, whereby the stealth dicing-treated substrate 1 is cleaved and chips are separated.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 is lowered from the position of the spherical expansion process by the drive mechanism. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3C, the dicing frame holding base 5 is moved from a position directly above the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 to a position directly above the planar disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 by the substrate moving mechanism. Is moved horizontally.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 is raised by the drive mechanism. As a result, the dome-shaped dicing tape 3 is pressed from below by the upper surface having a planar shape, is subjected to a planar expansion process, and is stretched in all directions. In this way, the dicing tape 3 loosened by the lowering of the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 after the spherical expanding process is stretched and flattened again, and the chips separated by the spherical expanding process are arranged on the plane. Will come to be. When the dicing tape 3 is stretched, after the protective tape 4 is removed, the tape clamp ring 13 is fitted with the dicing tape 3 sandwiched between the expansion holding ring 12 provided around the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15. Can be maintained by.

  FIGS. 4A and 4B are plan views showing an expanding apparatus according to the third embodiment, in which FIG. 4A shows an operating state during spherical expanding processing, and FIG. 4B shows an operating state during planar expanding processing. FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating the operation of the expanding apparatus according to the third embodiment, where FIG. 5A illustrates a spherical expanding process, and FIG. 5B illustrates a lowering of a spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage. , (C) shows the time when the tape expansion stage is moved horizontally, and (D) shows the time when the flat expanding process is performed. 4 and 5, the same or equivalent components as those shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the expanding apparatus according to the third embodiment includes a spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 and a planar disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15, and a tape on which these are mounted. And a stage moving mechanism for horizontally moving the expansion stage 17. This stage moving mechanism moves the tape expansion stage 17 between the first position where the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 performs the spherical expansion process and the second position where the planar disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 performs the planar expansion process. Can be moved.

  Next, the operation of the expanding apparatus having the above configuration will be described. First, the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 and the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 are respectively lowered, and the tape expansion stage 17 is moved so that the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 is directly below the dicing frame holding table 5. The

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5A, the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 is raised by the drive mechanism. As a result, the dicing tape 3 is pressed from below by the spherical top of the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14, whereby the stealth dicing-treated substrate 1 is cleaved and chips are separated.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 is lowered from the position of the spherical expansion process by the drive mechanism. After that, as shown in FIG. 5C, the tape expansion stage 17 is horizontally moved by the stage moving mechanism so that the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 comes directly below the dicing frame holding table 5. .

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5D, the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 is raised by the drive mechanism. Thereby, the dome-shaped dicing tape 3 is pressed from below by the upper surface having a planar shape, is subjected to a planar expansion process, and is stretched in all directions. In this way, the dicing tape 3 loosened by the lowering of the spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 14 after the spherical expanding process is stretched and flattened again, and the chips separated by the spherical expanding process are arranged on the plane. Will come to be. When the dicing tape 3 is stretched, after the protective tape 4 is removed, the tape clamp ring 13 is fitted with the dicing tape 3 sandwiched between the expansion holding ring 12 provided around the flat disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15. Can be maintained by.

  In the embodiment described above, the case where the semiconductor substrate that has been subjected to the cleavage start point processing by stealth dicing is cleaved and chip-separated has been described as an example, but the cleavage start point processing is not limited to stealth dicing. For example, in addition to a semiconductor substrate that has been treated by stealth dicing, a semiconductor substrate that has been cleaved with a diamond blade on the substrate surface and cleaved at the starting point, and the substrate surface is cleaved by laser irradiation to be cleaved at the starting point. It may be a semiconductor substrate.

  When using a semiconductor substrate that has been cleaved with a diamond blade or laser irradiation to process the cleave starting point, fine dust scattered from the substrate surface during the cleave starting point processing in the cleaning process is used. It is necessary to remove it.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Stealth dicing processed board | substrate 2 Dicing frame 3 Dicing tape 4 Protection tape 5 Dicing frame holding stand 6 Dicing frame holding cover 7,8 O-ring 9 Cylindrical tape expansion stage 10 Spherical disk part 11 Planar disk part 12 Expansion holding ring 13 Tape Clamp ring 14 Spherical disk-shaped tape expansion stage 15 Planar disk-shaped tape expansion stage 16 Linear rail 17 Tape expansion stage

Claims (2)

A dicing frame holding unit for holding a dicing frame attached and fixed to the outer peripheral edge of a dicing tape to which a protective tape is attached so as to cover the cleavage start point processed substrate attached to the center;
A spherical disk portion that cleaves and cleaves the cleavage starting point processed substrate by pressing and stretching the dicing tape with a surface having a spherical shape;
A planar disk part that puts the chips separated by pressing by the spherical disk part by pressing and stretching the dicing tape with a plane having a planar shape; and
A tape clamp portion that holds the state where the dicing tape is stretched by the flat disk portion while sandwiching the substrate between the cleavage starting point processed substrate of the dicing tape and the dicing frame;
A driving mechanism for driving the spherical disk portion and the planar disk portion in a direction in which the dicing tape is pressed and in a direction away from the dicing tape;
With
The spherical disk portion and the flat disk portion are integrally formed and are reversibly attached in the vicinity of an opening end of a cylindrical tape expansion stage driven by the driving mechanism, and the cylindrical tape expansion stage is An expandable semiconductor substrate characterized by having a configuration in which the spherical disk portion protrudes from an opening end thereof and a state in which the open portion is flattened by the planar disk portion apparatus. The rotary drive mechanism for rotating the spherical disk portion and the flat disk portion about its rotation axis after the cylindrical tape expansion stage is driven in a direction away from the dicing tape. Item 14. A semiconductor substrate expanding apparatus according to Item 1.

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