JP6210726B2 - Processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a processing apparatus having a cassette mounting table for mounting a storage cassette.

  In a processing apparatus for processing a workpiece, such as a cutting apparatus or a laser processing apparatus for dicing a workpiece (workpiece) such as a semiconductor wafer, a grinding apparatus for grinding a workpiece, or a polishing apparatus for polishing a workpiece, Is used as a cassette that can store a plurality of stages (for example, see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

  A guide rail is provided on a side wall of the storage cassette, and an annular frame in which a work or a work is supported by a dicing tape is inserted and stored along the guide rail.

JP 09-027543 A JP 2011-192863 A

  Usually, the accommodation cassette is provided with one opening, and the transport mechanism of the processing apparatus inserts a wafer or a frame straight toward the opening. Therefore, in order to load and remove the wafer and the frame from one direction according to the direction in which the storage cassette is placed, for example, the position of the chuck table used for processing and the position of the cleaning table fixed at the time of cleaning performed immediately before storage are in plan view. Even if it is arranged in a direction different from the cassette, it has been necessary to transport the wafer or the like to a position where it can be inserted straight into the housing cassette and then accommodate it in the housing cassette. For this reason, in the processing apparatus described above, it is desired to efficiently load and unload the wafer in order to improve the throughput.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus capable of efficiently taking a wafer into and out of a storage cassette.

In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a processing apparatus of the present invention includes a chuck table that holds a plate-like workpiece, and a processing means that processes the workpiece held on the chuck table. And a cassette mounting table for mounting a storage cassette for storing the workpiece, and a conveying means for unloading or loading the workpiece from the storage cassette mounted on the cassette mounting table. A first temporary placement means that is unloaded from the storage cassette and on which the workpiece to be processed is placed; and is carried separately from the first temporary placement means and loaded into the storage cassette A second temporary placement means on which the previous workpiece is placed, and the cassette placement table comprises a rotating means for rotating the placed cassette and is a first transport means. conveying means carries the workpiece from the storage holder When placed on said first temporary means rotates the accommodation cassette with said rotating means in a direction facing the conveying means and said first temporary means of the first, with conveying means When a certain second conveying means accommodates the workpiece placed on the second temporary placing means in the accommodation cassette, the second conveying means faces the second temporary placing means. The storage cassette is rotated using the rotating means in a direction to be rotated .

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said processing apparatus is a wafer unit with which the said to-be-processed object was supported by the opening of the cyclic | annular flame | frame with the plate-shaped object with the adhesive tape.

  Since the processing apparatus of the present invention can freely set the loading / unloading direction of the workpiece with respect to the storage cassette by rotating the storage cassette, the layout of the apparatus can be set without limiting the direction of loading / unloading, There is an effect of enabling an efficient device layout.

  In addition, since one workpiece can be taken in and out of the storage cassette, and then the other cassette can be put in and taken out immediately by rotating the storage cassette, it is possible to carry out smooth loading and unloading. Can be performed efficiently. Therefore, there is an effect that the throughput of the processing apparatus is improved.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a laser processing apparatus as a processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a storage cassette for carrying out a workpiece of the processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a storage cassette for carrying a workpiece of the processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Embodiments (embodiments) for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited by the contents described in the following embodiments. The constituent elements described below include those that can be easily assumed by those skilled in the art and those that are substantially the same. Furthermore, the structures described below can be combined as appropriate. Various omissions, substitutions, or changes in the configuration can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Embodiment
A processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a laser processing apparatus as a processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a storage cassette for carrying out a workpiece of the processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a storage cassette for carrying a workpiece of the processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

  The laser processing apparatus 1 as the processing apparatus according to the embodiment performs ablation processing on the workpiece W by relatively moving the chuck table 10 that holds the plate-shaped workpiece W and the laser beam irradiation means 20. Thus, a laser processing groove is formed on the workpiece W.

  In the embodiment, the workpiece W is a wafer unit in which the wafer Wa as a plate-like object is supported by the adhesive tape T in the opening of the annular frame F. Here, the wafer Wa is an object to be processed by various processing apparatuses, and in the embodiment, is a disk-shaped semiconductor wafer or optical device wafer having a base material of silicon, sapphire, gallium or the like. In the wafer Wa, a plurality of devices D formed on the surface are partitioned in a lattice pattern by a plurality of streets. Wafer Wa constitutes work piece W by sticking adhesive tape T on the back surface opposite to the surface on which a plurality of devices D are formed, and attaching the outer edge of adhesive tape T to annular frame F. To do.

  The workpiece W is accommodated in the accommodation cassette 100 and placed on, for example, a cassette mounting table 60 of a laser processing apparatus 1 (shown in FIG. 1) as a processing apparatus. In the present invention, in addition to the wafer Wa, a rectangular package substrate having a plurality of devices sealed with resin may be used as the plate-like object. Furthermore, the accommodation cassette 100 of the present invention directly accommodates a wafer Wa, a package substrate, or the like as the workpiece W without accommodating the workpiece W supported by the annular frame F on the wafer Wa as a plate-like object. You may do it.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the laser processing apparatus 1 includes a chuck table 10 that holds a plate-like workpiece W, and a laser beam irradiation unit 20 as a processing unit that processes the workpiece W held on the chuck table 10. Cleaning means 30 for cleaning the workpiece W that has been subjected to ablation processing by the laser beam irradiation means 20, a cassette mounting table 60 for mounting the storage cassette 100 for storing the workpiece W, and a control means 90. I have. The laser beam irradiating means irradiates the workpiece W held on the chuck table 10 with a laser beam and performs ablation processing.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the storage cassette 100 is fixed to the three side walls 101 arranged in a U-shape, the ceiling portion 104 fixed to the upper ends of the three side walls 101, and the lower ends of the three side walls 101. And a bottom portion 105 (shown in FIGS. 2 and 3). Between the side walls 101, an opening 106 that allows the workpiece W to be taken in and out of the storage cassette 100 is formed. A plurality of guide rails 108 (shown in FIGS. 2 and 3) that support the workpiece W are formed at predetermined intervals from the ceiling portion 104 to the bottom portion 105 inside the two side walls 101 facing each other. Yes. The plurality of guide rails 108 support the workpiece W by placing the workpiece W on the surface.

  The laser processing apparatus 1 also includes an X-axis moving unit 40 that relatively moves the chuck table 10 and the laser beam irradiation unit 20 in the X-axis direction, and a Y that moves the chuck table 10 and the laser beam irradiation unit 20 in the Y-axis direction. The shaft moving unit 50 includes a Z-axis moving unit (not shown) that relatively moves the chuck table 10 and the laser beam irradiation unit 20 in the Z-axis direction.

  Further, the laser processing apparatus 1 includes a first temporary placement means 70 for temporarily placing the workpiece W before ablation processing taken out from the storage cassette 100 and the ablation processing cleaned by the cleaning means 30. And a second temporary placement means 80 for temporarily placing the workpiece W thereon. The first temporary placement means 70 includes a pair of rails 71 for temporarily placing the workpiece W before ablation processing. The second temporary placement means 80 includes a pair of rails 81 on which the workpiece W after cleaning is temporarily placed.

  Further, the laser processing apparatus 1 unloads the workpiece W before ablation processing from the storage cassette 100 and places the workpiece W on the first temporary placement means 70, spanning the first temporary placement means 70 and the chuck table 10. The workpiece W is conveyed across the first conveying means 110 for conveying the workpiece W, the chuck table 10, the cleaning means 30, and the second temporary placing means 80, and the second temporary placing means 80. And a second conveying means 120 for carrying the workpiece W placed on the storage cassette 100 into the storage cassette 100. The first transport unit 110 and the second transport unit 120 are provided on the wall constituting the ceiling of the apparatus main body of the laser processing apparatus 1 so as to be movable in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

  The cassette mounting table 60 enables the mounted storage cassette 100 to move up and down in the Z-axis direction. The cassette mounting table 60 includes a rotating table 61 as a rotating unit. The turntable 61 rotates the storage cassette 100 placed on the cassette placement table 60 around an axis parallel to the Z axis. The turntable 61 rotates the storage cassette 100 around its axis by a drive source such as a motor (not shown).

  The control means 90 controls each of the above-described components constituting the laser processing apparatus 1. The control unit 90 causes the laser processing apparatus 1 to perform an ablation processing operation on the workpiece W. The control means 90 is mainly composed of an arithmetic processing unit constituted by, for example, a CPU or the like and a microprocessor (not shown) provided with a ROM, a RAM, etc. It is connected to operating means used when registering content information and the like.

  Next, the processing operation of the laser processing apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described. First, when the operator registers the machining content information and receives an instruction to start the machining operation, the machining operation is started. In the processing operation, first, the workpiece W is unloaded from the storage cassette 100 by the first transport unit 110. At this time, the accommodation cassette 100 is rotated using the turntable 61 in a direction in which the opening 106 of the accommodation cassette 100 faces the first transport unit 110, and the opening 106 is first as shown in FIG. 2. The turntable 61 is stopped at a position facing the conveying means 110. Then, after the workpiece W is unloaded from the storage cassette 100 to the first temporary placement means 70 by the first transport means 110 and placed on the pair of rails 71 of the first temporary placement means 70, It is conveyed to the chuck table 10 and held on the chuck table 10.

  After the chuck table 10 holding the workpiece W moves in the X-axis direction to the processing start position, the laser processing apparatus 1 moves the workpiece W while relatively moving the chuck table 10 and the laser beam irradiation means 20. Ablation processing is performed on. The workpiece W subjected to the ablation processing is transported from the chuck table 10 to the cleaning unit 30 by the second transport unit 120, cleaned by the cleaning unit 30, and then transported to the second temporary placement unit 80. . Then, the workpiece W after cleaning is stored in the storage cassette 100 by the second transport unit 120. At this time, the accommodation cassette 100 is rotated using the turntable 61 in the direction in which the opening 106 of the accommodation cassette 100 faces the second conveying means 120, and the opening 106 becomes the second as shown in FIG. The turntable 61 is stopped at a position facing the conveying means 120. The workpiece W is stored in the storage cassette 100 by the second transport unit 120.

  As described above, the laser processing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment can freely set the loading / unloading direction of the workpiece W with respect to the storage cassette 100 by rotating the storage cassette 100, and thus limits the direction of loading / unloading. Therefore, the layout of the apparatus can be set without any effect, and an effect of enabling an efficient apparatus layout is obtained.

  Further, the storage cassette 100 is rotated using the turntable 61 in a direction in which the opening 106 faces the first transport unit 110 and the second transport unit 120. For this purpose, the opening 106 is made to face one of the first conveying means 110 and the second conveying means 120, and after one workpiece W is taken in and out of the accommodating cassette 100, the accommodating cassette 100 is removed. By rotating, the opening 106 faces the other, and the other workpiece W can be taken in and out immediately. Accordingly, it is possible to smoothly carry out the workpiece W in and out of the storage cassette 100, and the workpiece W can be efficiently loaded and unloaded. Therefore, there is an effect that the throughput of the processing apparatus is improved.

  Further, in the laser processing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment, the wafer unit in which the wafer Wa is supported by the adhesive tape T in the opening of the annular frame F is used as the workpiece W, so that the wafer Wa or the like is not damaged. be able to.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the present invention is not limited to the laser processing apparatus 1 and may be a processing apparatus that performs various processes such as a grinding apparatus and a polishing apparatus on various workpieces W. In the present invention, the accommodation cassette 100 is not limited to the wafer unit as the workpiece W, and various workpieces W may be accommodated. In the present invention, any number of the transporting units 110 and 120 may be provided, and the transporting units 110 and 120 may be disposed at any location.

  In the above-described embodiment, the cassette mounting table 60 is provided with the rotating table 61 as a rotating unit. However, in the present invention, the rotating unit rotates the cassette mounting table 60 itself around an axis parallel to the Z axis. May be. Further, the rotating means may be provided on the lower surface of the storage cassette 100 or the like. In this case, a drive source for rotating the storage cassette 100 may be provided in the storage cassette 100, and a means for pushing or pulling the outer edge of the storage cassette 100 may be provided in the laser processing apparatus 1 as a drive source.

1 Laser processing equipment (processing equipment)
10 Chuck table 20 Laser beam irradiation means (processing means)
60 cassette mounting table 61 rotating table (rotating means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Storage cassette 110 1st conveyance means 120 2nd conveyance means F Annular frame T Adhesive tape W Workpiece (wafer unit)
Wa wafer (plate)

Claims (2)

A chuck table for holding a plate-shaped workpiece; a processing means for processing the workpiece held on the chuck table; a cassette mounting table for mounting a storage cassette for storing the workpiece; A conveying device for carrying out or carrying in the workpiece from the accommodating cassette placed on a cassette placing table,
First temporary placement means for carrying out the workpiece before being processed from the storage cassette;
A second temporary placement means that is separate from the first temporary placement means and on which the workpiece before loading into the storage cassette is placed;
The cassette mounting table includes a rotating means for rotating the placed cassette.
When the first conveying means which is the conveying means carries the workpiece out of the storage cassette and places it on the first temporary placing means, the first conveying means and the first temporary means . Rotating the storage cassette using the rotating means in a direction facing the placing means ,
When the second conveying means, which is the conveying means, accommodates the workpiece placed on the second temporary placing means in the accommodation cassette, the second conveying means and the second temporary means. A processing apparatus for rotating the storage cassette using the rotating means in a direction facing the placing means.   2. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece is a wafer unit in which a plate-like object is supported by an adhesive tape in an opening of an annular frame.

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