JP6262960B2 - Substrate cutting device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus for a brittle material substrate such as a ceramic substrate. In particular, the present invention provides a unit such as a chip by dividing the substrate into strips or grids along a plurality of scribe lines formed on the ceramic surface with respect to a substrate having a resin layer or a metal layer attached to one side of the substrate. The present invention relates to a substrate cutting apparatus as a product.

  Conventionally, a scribe line is formed in advance on a brittle material substrate such as a ceramic substrate using a dicing saw, etc., and then the substrate is bent by applying an external force to break along the scribe line. Thus, a method of taking out a unit product such as a chip is known (for example, Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, etc.).

In order to effectively generate a bending moment when a bending moment is applied to a brittle material substrate along a scribe line, in many cases, a three-point bending method as described in the above-mentioned patent document is performed. It has been broken.
9 and 10 are diagrams for explaining a general breaking process in which an alumina substrate or LTCC substrate (low temperature fired ceramic substrate) having a resin layer or a metal layer on one side is broken by a three-point bending method and unit products are taken out. FIG. Note that the resin layer or metal layer is formed for the purpose of functioning as a capacitor or an inductor, or for device protection.
A substrate W having a thin resin layer or a metal layer (hereinafter referred to as “surface layer 12”) laminated on the surface of the substrate body 11 on which the circuit pattern is formed or on the inside thereof is an elastic adhesive supported by the dicing ring 13. Affix to film 14. A plurality of scribe lines (cut grooves) S are formed in the lower surface of the substrate body 11 in the previous process.
As shown in FIG. 10, a pair of receiving blades 15, 15 that receive the lower surface of the substrate W at the left and right positions across the scribe line S are arranged. A break blade 16 is disposed above a portion of the substrate W facing the scribe line S. The break blade 16 is pressed against the substrate W as shown in FIG. 10B to bend the substrate from the scribe line S. At this time, the surface layer 12 initially pressed by the break blade 16 is first cut by the cutting edge of the break blade 16, and then the substrate W is bent by the further press of the break blade 16 to be separated from the scribe line S.

JP 2012-131216 A JP 2011-212963 A

The break blade 16 used for cutting is preferably formed with a blade edge angle as large as possible from the viewpoint of service life. For the division of the substrate main body 11 portion of the substrate W, it is possible to sufficiently divide even when the cutting edge angle of the break blade 16 is an obtuse angle of 90 degrees or more, for example, a cutting edge of 100 degrees. However, the surface layer 12 cannot be divided cleanly with an obtuse edge, and a part of the surface layer 12 may remain undivided. When such a state occurs, it causes a negative effect on the flow of the continuous production line and causes a reduction in processing quality and yield. On the other hand, if the cutting edge of the break blade 16 has a sharp tip, for example, an acute cutting edge of 30 degrees or less, the surface layer 12 can be cut at the time of pressing, but the sharp cutting edge easily breaks and has a problem in terms of service life. is there.
Further, when the break blade 16 is used to divide the substrate W, a lifting mechanism that moves the break blade 16 up and down repeatedly is required, which makes the apparatus large. In addition, since the scribe line S to be divided of the substrate W at the time of break must be accurately positioned and stopped so as to be directly under the break blade 16, a complicated mechanism for position detection is required. Further, since the substrate W has to be stopped for each break, there is a problem that the total time required for dividing the substrate becomes long.

  Therefore, the present invention is a novel substrate that solves the above-described conventional problems and can efficiently divide a brittle material substrate having a resin or metal surface layer with a simple mechanism without using a break blade. An object is to provide a cutting device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following technical means. That is, the substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention breaks a brittle material substrate in which a resin or metal surface layer is laminated on the upper surface of the substrate body, and a plurality of scribe lines are formed at a predetermined pitch on the lower surface of the substrate body. A substrate cutting apparatus that, in a state where the scribe line of the brittle material substrate is in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction, and in a state where the brittle material substrate is placed in a downward direction, a conveyor for transporting the brittle material substrate, A raised portion formed at an intermediate position in the feed direction of the conveyor and moved so that the brittle material substrate being conveyed rises immediately after being raised upward, and is sent by the conveyor above the raised portion. consists of a resilient member which resiliently contacts the upper surface of the brittle material substrate, the raised portion, the when the brittle material substrate is moved so as to get over the ridge Sex material substrate has a structure that is formed to deflect upwardly.
Further, the raised portion may be formed by lifting the conveyor belt from the lower surface of the conveyor belt with a lifting member, or the conveyor is divided into a front conveyor and a rear conveyor, and the raised portion is interposed between the front and rear conveyors. A part may be formed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to sequentially divide the substrate from the scribe line by bending the substrate between the raised portion and the elastic member while moving the substrate from the upstream side to the downstream side without stopping the substrate transfer operation during the process. Therefore, the time required for dividing can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional method in which the substrate is stopped for each break and the break blade is moved up and down. In addition, since a break blade that requires a large repetitive lifting mechanism is not used, the cutting device can be formed in a compact manner, and can be provided at a low cost by a simple configuration of the raised portion and the elastic member. In addition, unlike the case of cutting with a break blade, there is no need for positioning of the scribe line to be cut off of the substrate, so that there are various effects that a complicated mechanism for position detection can be omitted.

In the substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention, the elastic member is held by the support member, and a rotating belt capable of rotating in the substrate feeding direction while being in contact with the lower surface of the elastic member is attached to the support member. The rotating belt may be formed of an elastic material so that it can be recessed together with the elastic member when the brittle material substrate is bent upward at the raised portion.
Thereby, when a board | substrate passes under the elastic member, a board | substrate can be smoothly conveyed by conveyance by the said conveyor and rotation to the board | substrate feed direction of a rotating belt.

In the substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention, it is preferable that the raised portion is formed so that the vertical position can be adjusted.
Thereby, the protruding amount of the protruding portion can be adjusted to an optimum state for cutting according to the thickness of the substrate to be processed and the type of material.

In the substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention, it is preferable that the elastic member is formed so that the vertical position can be adjusted.
Accordingly, the vertical position of the elastic member can be finely adjusted according to the thickness of the substrate to be processed, and the substrate can be moved smoothly.

Explanatory drawing which shows the division | segmentation process of the board | substrate used as the division | segmentation object. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the board | substrate cutting process by the board | substrate cutting apparatus of this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows another Example of the lifting member in this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows another Example of the elastic member in this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows another Example of the conveyor in this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows another Example of the protruding part shown in FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows the up-and-down adjustment mechanism of the protruding part in this invention. The perspective view for demonstrating the conventional board | substrate cutting method. Sectional drawing which shows the conventional board | substrate cutting method.

Hereinafter, the details of the substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings showing an embodiment. FIG. 1 shows an alumina substrate W as an example of a processing target. An electronic circuit pattern (not shown) is formed inside or on the upper surface of the substrate body 1 of the substrate W, and a thin resin or metal surface layer 2 is laminated on the surface to control device protection and characteristics as a capacitor or inductor. Has been. In addition, on the lower surface of the substrate body 1, a plurality of scribe lines (cut grooves) S1 and S2 in the XY directions intersecting with each other in the previous step are formed with a predetermined pitch.
This substrate W is first cut along a scribe line S1 in the X direction by the substrate cutting device of the present invention described below, and is processed into a rectangular strip-like substrate W1 as shown in FIG. The product is divided along the scribe line S2 in the direction, and the unit product W2 shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an embodiment of a substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention. This substrate cutting apparatus is fed by the conveyor 3 on which the substrate W is placed and conveyed from upstream to downstream, a raised portion 4 formed at an intermediate position of the conveyor 3, and the raised portion 4 above. The elastic member 5 has a flat lower surface disposed at a position where the upper surface of the coming substrate W is elastically contacted.
In the present embodiment, the raised portion 4 is formed so that the conveyor belt 3a (and the placed substrate W) is once raised upward by the lifting member 4a from the lower surface of the conveyor belt 3a of the conveyor 3, and then immediately lowered. ing. The raised portion 4 is formed so as to rise upward by a height h from the horizontal placement surface a of the conveyor 3 so that the substrate W rises and bends upward when the substrate W gets over the raised portion 4.
The lifting member 4a is preferably formed of a rotating roller that freely rotates. Thereby, the conveyor belt 3a can be smoothly slid. The lifting member 4a has a convex material 4b whose upper surface is a smooth arc-shaped convex surface as shown in FIG. 4 (a), or a smooth substantially triangular convex surface as shown in FIG. 4 (b). It can also be formed with the convex material 4c.

  The elastic member 5 is made of an elastic material such as natural or synthetic rubber having elasticity that can be elastically recessed without damaging the substrate W when the substrate W rises upward. In this embodiment, the elastic member 5 is held by the support member 6 and is formed so that the vertical position can be adjusted by a position adjusting mechanism (not shown). Thereby, according to the thickness of the board | substrate W used as a process target, the space | interval L of the lower surface of the elastic member 5 and the mounting surface a of the conveyor 3 can be finely adjusted.

Next, the operation of the substrate cutting apparatus according to the present invention will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 2, the substrate W is placed on the upstream position of the conveyor 3 with the X-direction scribe line S <b> 1 to be divided in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction and downward (in the drawing). Move in the direction of the arrow). As shown in FIG. 3A, the substrate W moves horizontally below the elastic member 5 and reaches the raised portion 4. At this time, the position of the elastic member 5 is adjusted in advance so that the lower surface of the elastic member 5 is in a position close to the surface of the substrate W or lightly contacts so that the substrate W can move smoothly. .

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3B, the top portion of the substrate W rides on the raised portion 4 and the first scribe line S1 ′ is bent upward. Due to this bending, cracks in the scribe line S1 ′ penetrate in the thickness direction and the substrate body 1 is divided. At this time, the surface layer 2 on the scribe line S1 ′ becomes fragile by bending but is not yet divided.
Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, when the portion of the scribe line S1 ′ comes to the top of the raised portion 4, the scribe line S1 ′ opens in a V shape by the curvature of the substrate W, and the tensile stress at that time As a result, the weakened portion of the surface layer 2 is divided. As a result, the substrate W is completely separated from the scribe line S1 ′.
By sequentially repeating such an operation as shown in FIG. 3D, the substrate W is separated from all the scribe lines S1 in the X direction shown in FIG. The substrate W1 is taken out.

  Thereafter, the strip-shaped substrate W1 is placed on the conveyor 3 in a state where the Y-direction scribe line S2 is oriented in a direction perpendicular to the feed direction and downward. Then, as described above, by moving in the downstream direction, breaks are sequentially made from the first scribe line S2, and the unit product W2 shown in FIG. 1C is completed.

The inventors repeatedly performed a break experiment under the following conditions, using a 0.4 mm-thick alumina substrate on which a thin surface layer composed of a resin layer of about 100 μm and a metal layer of about 10 μm was laminated on the surface. .
Distance L between the placing surface a of the conveyor 3 and the elastic member 5: 0.45 mm
Elastic member 5 thickness: 3 mm
Diameter of roller as ridge 4: 1mm
Roller protrusion amount (projection height from conveyor surface a of conveyor 3) h: 0.15 mm
Scribe line pitch: 4 mm
Feeding speed of substrate W by conveyor 3: 30 mm / sec
The results were good in all cases, and it was possible to divide cleanly.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the substrate cutting apparatus of the present invention.
In this embodiment, a rotating belt 7 is provided around a support member 6 that holds the elastic member 5, and a part of the rotating belt 7 is disposed in a state of being in contact with the lower surface of the elastic member 5. The rotating belt 7 is held by a plurality of, for example, four ring bodies 8, and is attached so as to freely rotate in the substrate feeding direction by contact with the substrate W fed by the conveyor 3. As shown in FIG. 5B, the rotating belt 7 is formed of a thin elastic band member such as rubber so that the substrate W can be recessed upward together with the elastic member 5 when the substrate W is lifted by the raised portion 4. Yes. This facilitates the transfer of the substrate W.
The rotating belt 7 can be rotated in synchronization with the feed speed of the conveyor 3. In that case, it is also possible to synchronize with one drive source (motor).

FIG. 6 shows still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the conveyor 3 is divided into a front conveyor 3A and a rear conveyor 3B, and a raised portion 4 is formed between the front and rear conveyors 3A and 3B. The raised portion 4 is formed by a rotating roller 4d that freely rotates. In the present embodiment, the elastic member 5 arranged above the raised portion 4 has the structure shown in FIG. 2, but the elastic member 5 having the rotating belt 7 shown in FIG. 5 may be used. Good. In either case, a break operation similar to the previous embodiment can be performed.
Instead of the rotating roller 4d, a convex material 4e having a smooth arcuate convex surface as shown in FIG. 7 (a), or a smooth substantially triangular convex surface as shown in FIG. 7 (b). It can also be formed of the convex material 4f.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the substrate W is bent between the raised portion 4 and the elastic member 5 while being moved from the upstream to the downstream by the conveyor 3 without stopping the transfer operation of the substrate W. Since the cutting is sequentially performed along the scribe line, the time required for the cutting can be shortened. In addition, since the break blades attached to the large repetitive lifting mechanism are not used, the breaker is formed of a simple member including the raised portion 4 and the elastic member 5, so that the cutting device can be formed in a compact and low-cost manner. Is possible. Further, unlike the case of dividing with a break blade, positioning of the scribe line to be divided of the substrate is not required, so that a complicated mechanism for position detection can be omitted.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the height (the amount of protrusion) of the above-described protruding portion 4 is formed to be adjustable. In this case, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the lifting member 4 a can be adjusted up and down by the vertical adjustment mechanism 9 as shown in FIG. Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. 8B, the rotary roller 4 d (or the convex materials 4 e and 4 f) can be adjusted up and down by the vertical adjustment mechanism 9.
Thereby, according to the thickness of the board | substrate W which should be divided | segmented, and the kind of raw material, the protruding amount of the protruding part 4 can be adjusted to the optimal state for a division | segmentation.

  While typical examples of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the present invention, a brittle material substrate that does not have the thin surface layer 2 such as the above-described resin or metal can be processed. Others The present invention can be appropriately modified and changed within the scope of achieving the object and without departing from the scope of the claims.

  The cutting apparatus of the present invention is suitably used for cutting a substrate made of a brittle material such as an alumina substrate or LTCC substrate having a thin surface layer of resin or metal on the surface.

S1, S2 Scribe line W to be divided Substrate 1 Substrate body 2 Surface layer 3 Conveyor 3a Conveyor belt 4 Raised portion 4a Lifting member 5 Elastic member 6 Support member 7 Rotating belt 9 Vertical adjustment mechanism

Claims (6)

A substrate cutting device that breaks a brittle material substrate in which a resin or metal surface layer is laminated on an upper surface of a substrate body, and a plurality of scribe lines are formed at a predetermined pitch on the lower surface of the substrate body,
In a state where the scribe line of the brittle material substrate is in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction, and a state where the brittle material substrate is placed in a downward direction, a conveyor for transporting the brittle material substrate,
A raised portion that is formed at an intermediate position in the feed direction of the conveyor, and moves so as to descend immediately after the brittle material substrate being conveyed rises upward;
An elastic member that elastically contacts the upper surface of the brittle material substrate sent by the conveyor above the raised portion,
The bulge portion is a substrate cutting device in which the fragile material substrate is bent upward when the fragile material substrate moves over the bulge portion.   The substrate cutting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the raised portion is formed to lift the belt by a lifting member from below the belt of the conveyor.   The substrate cutting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor is divided into a front conveyor and a rear conveyor, and the raised portion is formed between the front and rear conveyors.   A rotating belt that is held by the supporting member and is capable of rotating in the substrate feeding direction while being in contact with the lower surface of the elastic member is attached to the supporting member. The substrate cutting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the substrate cutting device is formed of an elastic material so that the brittle material substrate can be recessed together with the elastic member when the brittle material substrate is bent upward at a portion.   The board | substrate cutting apparatus in any one of Claims 1-4 in which the said protruding part is formed so that vertical position adjustment is possible.   The substrate cutting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is formed so that the vertical position can be adjusted.

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