JP5723612B2 - Plate member support device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a plate-shaped member support device, and more particularly to a plate-shaped member support device capable of positioning and supporting a plate-shaped member with high accuracy.

  Conventionally, a support device for supporting a plate-like member such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “wafer”) has been widely used. Such a support device is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1. Has been. The support device of Patent Document 1 includes three arms that can support a wafer, and a receiving portion on which the wafer W is placed is provided on the tip side of the arms. Each receiving portion is provided with a protrusion that stands in the vertical direction from the surface on which the wafer is placed, and the movement of the wafer in the surface direction is regulated via this protrusion.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the wafer W has an outer edge formed in an arc shape. The wafer W has an adhesive sheet S including a base sheet BS and an adhesive layer AD provided on one surface of the base sheet BS in order to perform a predetermined process such as back grinding. Affixed to the lower surface side of the figure. The adhesive sheet S is affixed so as to wrap around the arc-shaped portion of the outer edge of the wafer W in order to prevent the grinding powder, cooling water and the like from entering when the predetermined processing is performed. In such sticking, an adhesive sheet S having a size protruding from the outer edge of the wafer W is pasted, and then the adhesive sheet S is cut by inclining a cutting blade in the tangential direction of the arc portion of the wafer W.

JP 2000-211956 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, if the gap between the protrusion and the wafer is reduced in order to improve the accuracy of the position of the wafer to be supported, the wafer transferred to the support device is displaced in position. However, there is a disadvantage that the accuracy of the wafer position is rather lowered, for example, the wafer is likely to be tilted by riding on the protrusion.

  By the way, as shown in FIG. 2, when the adhesive sheet S attached to the wafer W is cut, the adhesive layer AD of the adhesive sheet S is exposed to the outer edge side of the wafer W. For this reason, in the protrusions of Patent Document 1, the protrusions and the adhesive layer AD are easily bonded to each other in a region corresponding to the width of the arm, so that the protrusions and the adhesive layer AD are easily bonded to each other. Cannot be unloaded, or the wafer W is damaged when unloaded.

  In addition, the adhesive of the adhesive layer AD may adhere to the chuck that sandwiches the wafer in the transfer device, and as a result, the chuck and the wafer W may be in a bonded state. As a result, when the wafer W is transported and placed, the wafer W cannot be separated from the chuck, and the placement position of the transport destination wafer W is shifted, or the chuck and the wafer W remain bonded. The transfer device shifts to the next operation, causing a disadvantage that the wafer W falls to an unexpected position and is damaged.

[Object of invention]
The objective of this invention is providing the support apparatus of the plate-shaped member which can support a plate-shaped member with a sufficient precision.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a support device for a plate-like member that can prevent the adhesive of the adhesive sheet affixed to the plate-like member from adhering to the guide means.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a support device for a plate- shaped member,
A mounting means having a mounting surface on which pre-Symbol plate member is placed, as well as positioned outside of the plate-like member to be placed on the mounting surface, projecting in a direction away from the mounting surface A guide means,
The placement means includes an adsorption / desorption means including a decompression means and a pressurization means connected to a hole formed in the placement surface, and the decompressed gas is decompressed by the decompression means through the hole. The plate-like member in contact with the mounting surface is provided so as to be capable of being adsorbed and supported, and the pressurized gas is blown onto the plate-like member by pressurizing the plate-like member through the hole. Can be levitated from the mounting surface,
The guide means includes an inclined guide portion that extends in a direction away from the center of the plate-like member in plan view as the distance from the placement surface increases .
By gradually reducing the amount of gas blown to the plate-like member by the pressurizing means through the hole, the plate-like member is slid down by the guide portion to guide the lowering of the plate-like member toward the mounting surface. It has a configuration of having a buffer means .

  In the present invention, the guide means is provided in a shape having a convex portion that bulges in the center direction of the plate-like member placed on the placement surface in a plan view, and the convex portion is provided on the plate-like member. You may take the structure of being provided in the outer edge side so that a point contact is possible.

  Also preferably, the tip of the guide means is set at a higher position than the plate-like member when the conveying device that conveys the plate-like member supports the plate-like member and releases the support. Adopted.

  Furthermore, the above-mentioned mounting surface can take the structure that it can be contact | abutted only to the predetermined width area | region adjacent to the outer edge of the said plate-shaped member.

  According to the present invention, since the guide portion extends in the above-described direction, a large gap can be set between the guide portion and the outer edge of the plate-like member above the guide means, and there is a slight shift in the position where the plate-like member is conveyed. Even if it occurs, the plate-like member can easily enter inside the guide means. In addition, by setting the gap between the guide portion and the outer edge of the plate-like member below the guide means to be small, the plate-like member carried from the upper side of the guide portion is set on the placement surface. Thus, it is possible to accurately position and support the plate member.

  In addition, since the convex portion capable of point contact is provided on the outer edge side of the plate-like member, the contact area between the outer edge side and the guide means is made as small as possible to prevent the plate-like member and the guide means from adhering. be able to. Thereby, at the time of carrying out a plate-shaped member, it becomes possible to avoid the damage of the plate-shaped member resulting from adhesion | attachment.

  Further, since the height of the guide means is set as described above, even if the chuck of the transport device and the plate-like member are bonded, the plate-like member is guided by the movement of the chuck at the time of loading. It is possible to reliably prevent the plate-like member from moving to the outside or being inclined when riding on the guide means. Thereby, it can avoid that the plate-shaped member scheduled to be mounted on the mounting surface at the time of carry-in remains adhered to the chuck, and it is possible to prevent the plate-shaped member from being damaged.

The schematic plan view of the support apparatus which concerns on embodiment. The partial schematic front view of the said support apparatus. The schematic plan view of the support apparatus which concerns on a modification. FIG. 4 is a partial schematic front view of the support device of FIG. 3. The schematic plan view of the guide means which concerns on another modification.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In this specification, “upper” and “lower” are used with reference to FIG. 2 unless otherwise specified.

  1 and 2, the support device 10 includes a mounting unit 11 on which a wafer W as a plate-like member is mounted, and an interval of about 120 ° in the circumferential direction of the wafer W mounted on the mounting unit 11. And three guide means 12 are provided.

  The wafer W is substantially circular in plan view, and the upper surface W1 in FIG. 2 is a circuit surface, and the wafer W is provided with a ring-shaped convex portion W3 on the outer edge side of the lower surface W2. The outer edge shape of the wafer W is formed in an arc shape when viewed in cross section in the radial direction. On the upper surface W1 of the wafer W, an adhesive sheet S including the base material sheet BS and the adhesive layer AD similar to the above is attached. The adhesive sheet S is pasted and then cut as described above, and the adhesive sheet S is pasted to a position where it reaches the outer edge of the wafer W, and the adhesive layer AD is exposed on the outer edge side of the wafer W.

  The placing means 11 includes a base 15, a cylindrical container-like table 16 that is provided on the base 15 and is formed in a circular shape that is substantially the same size as the wafer W in a plan view, and the table is open. 16 is provided with an adsorption / desorption means 17 provided at 16. The upper end surface of the table 16 is a mounting surface 19 on which the wafer W is mounted. The mounting surface 19 is formed in a circular closed loop shape and contacts only a predetermined width region adjacent to the outer edge of the wafer W. Can be supported.

  The suction / removal means 17 is provided with holes 20 formed on the mounting surface 19 at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction of the table 16, passages 21 extending from the holes 20 into the table 11, and connected to the passages 21. A decompression pump as a decompression means (not shown) and a pressurization pump as a pressurization means are provided. The adsorption / desorption means 17 is provided so as to be capable of adsorbing and supporting the wafer W by applying the depressurizing force of the depressurization pump to the wafer W in contact with the mounting surface 19 via the passage 21 and the hole 20 via a switching valve (not shown). Similarly, by applying a gas pressurized by a pressure pump to the wafer W, the wafer W can be floated from the mounting surface 19.

  Each guide means 12 is provided so as to be adjacent to the outer peripheral surface of the table 16, located on the outside of the wafer W placed on the placement surface 19, and placed upright on the base 15. It protrudes in a direction away from the surface 19, that is, upward. Each guide means 12 includes a guide portion 24 at an end portion on the table 16 side, and the guide portion 24 is inclined so as to extend in a direction away from the center of the wafer W in plan view as it goes upward. At the lower end of the guide portion 24 of each guide means 12, the movement in the surface direction of the wafer W is restricted in contact with the three positions of the outer edge of the wafer W placed on the placement surface 19. On the other hand, on the upper end side of the guide portion 24 of each guide means 12, a gap can be provided between the outer edge of the wafer W, and even if the wafer W is transported with some positional deviation, The wafer W can be transferred between them. The guide portion 24 is provided in a shape having a convex portion 25 that bulges in an arc shape toward the center of the wafer W on the mounting surface 19 in a plan view. Point contact is possible on the edge side. Here, the front end (upper end) of the guide unit 12 is set to a position higher than the upper surface W1 of the wafer W when a transfer device described later supports the wafer W and releases the support.

  The transfer of the wafer W to the support device 10 is performed using a transfer device B indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. The conveying device B includes an arm member B1 that is bifurcated and a chuck B2 that is provided on the lower surface side of the arm member B1 and is movable in the left-right direction in FIG. The arm member B1 is supported by an arm or the like of an articulated robot (not shown). The chuck B2 is provided at a position corresponding to the outer edge side of the wafer W, and is provided so as to be able to hold the wafer W by sandwiching the wafer W from the left and right directions in FIG.

  Next, a method for supporting the wafer W in the present embodiment will be described.

  The arm member B1 is moved above the table 16 by the operation of an arm of a multi-joint robot (not shown), and the wafer W held by the chuck B2 is placed inside each guide means 12 as shown in FIG. At this time, the positions of the wafer W and the mounting surface 19 are roughly coincident in plan view, and the upper surface W1 of the wafer W is lower than the upper end of the guide means 12 as shown in FIG. It is assumed that there is a gap between the lower surface of the convex portion W3 and the placement surface 19. Next, a gas pressurized by a pressure pump is applied to the wafer W through a switching valve (not shown). Thereafter, when the support of the wafer W by the chuck B <b> 2 is released, the wafer W tries to fall due to its own weight, but the wafer W is biased upward by the blowing of gas, and a gap is formed between the wafer W and the mounting surface 19. So that they are removed.

  Thereafter, the wafer W is slowly lowered by operating a buffer means such as an electropneumatic regulator (not shown) to gradually reduce the amount of gas blown from the hole 20. At this time, the outer edge of the wafer W is brought into point contact with the guide portions 24 of the respective guide means 12, and the wafer W is guided by the inclined guide portions 24 without dropping from the table 16. Then, the wafer W is placed in contact with the placement surface 19, and in this state, the wafer W is positioned on the lower end side of each guide means 12 so as not to be displaced in the surface direction. Thereafter, the outer edge side of the wafer W is adsorbed and supported on the mounting surface 19 by applying the depressurizing force of the depressurizing pump to the wafer W through the hole 20 via a switching valve (not shown).

  When the wafer W on the table 16 is unloaded after the steps such as peeling of the adhesive sheet S are finished, the suction is released, the gas is blown from the hole 20 to the wafer W, and then the wafer W is detached from the mounting surface 19. The wafer W is gripped by the chuck B2 of the apparatus B and transferred to the subsequent process. Even when the wafer W is detached from the mounting surface 19, each guide means 12 is located outside the wafer W, so that the wafer W can be prevented from dropping from the table 16 by the guide means 12. Further, since the guide portion 24 is inclined, the wafer W can be unloaded so as not to contact the guide member 12.

  Therefore, according to such an embodiment, when the wafer W is placed on the placement surface 19, the wafer W loaded on the guide portion 24 can be slid down and guided toward the placement surface 19, In addition, the movement of the wafer W placed on the placement surface 19 in the surface direction can be restricted by the guide unit 24. Thereby, even if the position where the wafer W is transferred by the transfer device B is slightly shifted, the wafer W can be accurately positioned and supported on the mounting surface 19. Further, since the outer edge side of the wafer W and the guide means 12 are in point contact with each other by the convex portion 25, it is possible to prevent the guide means 12 and the wafer W from being bonded, and the wafer W cannot be unloaded by bonding them. Can be avoided. Further, when the support of the wafer W by the chuck B2 is released, the upper surface W1 of the wafer W becomes lower than the upper end of the guide means 12, so that even if the chuck B2 and the outer edge of the wafer W are bonded, the guide means 12 It is possible to restrict the movement of the wafer W in the movement direction and release the adhesion.

As described above, the best configuration, method and the like for carrying out the present invention have been disclosed in the above description, but the present invention is not limited to this.
In other words, the present invention has been illustrated and described mainly with respect to specific embodiments, but without departing from the scope of the technical idea and object of the present invention, the shape, position, or With respect to the arrangement and the like, those skilled in the art can make various changes as necessary.
Therefore, the description limited to the shape disclosed above is an example for easy understanding of the present invention, and does not limit the present invention. The description by the name of the member which remove | excluded one part or all part is included in this invention.

  The placement unit 11 can be variously modified, and may be configured as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, for example. The mounting means 30 shown in the figure includes a base 31 having a tridental shape in plan view and a support portion 33 that forms a mounting surface 32 on the upper surface of the guide means 12. A rotation motor 35 as a driving device is provided at the center of the base 31 in plan view. On the mounting surface 32, the wafer W is mounted with the adhesive sheet S facing downward. On the outer edge side of the wafer W, a detection means 36 comprising a camera is provided, and the position of the V notch or the like can be detected by imaging the outer edge of the wafer W while the wafer W is rotating by the operation of the rotation motor 35. It has become. Therefore, the wafer W can be aligned by controlling the operation of the rotary motor 35 based on the result of the detection means 36.

  Further, the convex portion 25 may be formed so as to bulge out toward the wafer W as shown in FIG. 5 as long as it can make point contact with the outer edge side of the wafer W.

  The drive device in the embodiment includes an electric device such as a rotation motor, a linear motion motor, a linear motor, a single-axis robot, and an articulated robot, an actuator such as an air cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, a rodless cylinder, and a rotary cylinder. In addition to these, a combination of them directly or indirectly may be employed (some of them overlap with those exemplified in the embodiment).

  Further, in the present invention, the plate-like member can be a target of other adherends such as a glass plate, a steel plate, or a resin plate, and the semiconductor wafer may be a silicon semiconductor wafer or a compound semiconductor wafer. Good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Conveyance apparatus 11 Mounting means 12 Guide means 19 Mounting surface 24 Guide part 25 Convex part AD Adhesive layer BS Base material sheet S Adhesive sheet W Semiconductor wafer (plate-shaped member)

Claims (1)

A support device for a plate- shaped member,
A mounting means having a mounting surface on which pre-Symbol plate member is placed, as well as positioned outside of the plate-like member to be placed on the mounting surface, projecting in a direction away from the mounting surface A guide means,
The placement means includes an adsorption / desorption means including a decompression means and a pressurization means connected to a hole formed in the placement surface, and the decompressed gas is decompressed by the decompression means through the hole. The plate-like member in contact with the mounting surface is provided so as to be capable of being adsorbed and supported, and the pressurized gas is blown onto the plate-like member by pressurizing the plate-like member through the hole. Can be levitated from the mounting surface,
The guide means includes an inclined guide portion that extends in a direction away from the center of the plate-like member in plan view as the distance from the placement surface increases .
By gradually reducing the amount of gas blown to the plate-like member by the pressurizing means through the hole, the plate-like member is slid down by the guide portion to guide the lowering of the plate-like member toward the mounting surface. A plate-like member supporting apparatus comprising a buffering means .

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