JPH0116012B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an automatic punching device for a protective film of a semiconductor wafer.

Prior Art Semiconductor wafers (0.2 to 0.25 mm thick) are fragile as they are, so a mount is attached to the bottom of the semiconductor wafer and a protective film such as vinyl is attached to the top to prevent damage during handling. Usually, a protective film larger than the semiconductor wafer is placed on the top surface of the semiconductor wafer, and the protective film is cut out along the periphery of the semiconductor wafer to attach the protective film to the semiconductor wafer. Conventionally, the protective film was cut out along the periphery of the semiconductor wafer by hand using a knife or the like. The reason for using manual work is that it is difficult to accurately set the protective film of the semiconductor wafer at the cutting position, and that the impact on the semiconductor wafer caused by the cutting tool may lead to destruction of the semiconductor wafer.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention An object of the present invention is to avoid the difficulty of accurately setting a protective film of a semiconductor wafer at a cutting position;
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for automatically punching out a protective film of a semiconductor wafer while avoiding impact on the semiconductor wafer by a cutting tool and efficiently covering the semiconductor wafer with the protective film.

Means and Effects for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, the above object provides a movable plate having a protruding blade that defines a space having the same shape as the outline of a semiconductor wafer to which a protective film is to be attached and which is larger than the wafer. A wafer is accommodated in the space of this moving plate, and the upper surface of the wafer is set at a level slightly higher than the protruding blade. If a protective film is applied in this state, the protective film will easily adhere to the top surface of the wafer. Next, when the upper surface of the wafer is set at a level slightly lower than the protruding edge, the protective film is lifted from the periphery of the wafer to the protruding edge. In this state, if the protective film is pressed from above using a flat surface, the protective film can be cut out along the contour of the wafer without applying any impact to the wafer located at a position lower than the protruding blade.

In order to achieve this object, an automatic punching device for a protective film of a semiconductor wafer according to the present invention comprises: a moving plate having a protruding blade defining a space larger than the wafer and having the same shape as the contour of the semiconductor wafer to which the protective film is attached; Wafer lifting means for raising and lowering the upper surface of the wafer between a slightly lower position and a slightly higher position than the protruding blade; a moving plate driving device for intermittently moving the moving plate on the base surface; a protective film driving device that drives a strip-shaped protective film above the movable plate on the base surface; a pressing device that presses the strip-shaped protective film against the protruding blade of the movable plate at the position where the movable plate is temporarily stopped;
and the aforementioned moving plate driving device and protective film driving device so as to synchronize the feeding of the strip-shaped protective film and the intermittent movement of the moving plate, and to synchronize the stop of the moving plate, the pressing of the strip-shaped thin film against the protruding blade, and the lowering of the wafer. A control device is provided to control the pressing device and the wafer lifting means.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

In Fig. 1, 1 is a moving plate, 2 is a protruding blade, and 3 is a movable plate.
is a space that has the same shape as the outline of the semiconductor wafer defined by this protruding blade and is larger than the wafer. Second
The figure shows a cross section of the movable plate in Fig. 1, and W is the protruding blade 2.
A semiconductor wafer is housed in a limited space, a cylinder 17 and a piston 18 constitute means for lifting and lowering the wafer. 16 indicates a belt-shaped protective film. The reason why the tip of the protruding blade 2 has blades on both sides is because if the protective film is repeatedly punched, the single-edged blade will soon bend inward, making it easy to punch out the protective film and insert and remove wafers. This is because it will cause problems.

See Figure 3. 5 is a lifting platform, 6 is a base, 7
is a moving plate driving device that moves the moving plate 1 intermittently on the base surface, and is composed of a cylinder and a piston rod extending from the cylinder and fixed to the edge surface of the moving plate 1 . 8 is a cylinder, and 9 is a piston extending from the cylinder, which constitutes a pressing device that presses the band-shaped protective film 16 against the protruding blade 2 of the movable plate at the position where the movable plate is temporarily stopped. 10,
Reference numeral 11 denotes a roller around which a band-shaped protective film is wound.Roller 10 is a supply roll that sends out the protective film, and roller 15 is a collection roller that takes in the protective film after punching. Guide rollers 12 and 13 press the wafer protective film 16. The collecting roller 11 has a pinion 15 which engages with a rack 14 in the raised position of the lifting platform 5, and this rack 14 rotates the collecting roller in synchronization with the operation of the movable plate drive 7 to remove the strip protection. The punched portion of the membrane 16 is collected and a new protective membrane is placed between the guide rollers 12 and 13.

Explain the operation. At the position indicated by the solid line on the movable plate 1 in FIG. 3, the semiconductor wafer is dropped into the limited space of the protruding blade 2 of the movable plate. At this time, the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer W is slightly lower than the protruding blade 2. Next, the guide rolls 12 and 13 of the lifting platform 5 in the raised position
Air is sent to the cylinder 7 to move the movable plate 1 directly below the rod, and the rod is drawn into the cylinder 7.
At this time, the moving plate 1 is moved to the wafer lifting means 17, 18.
It is directly above the. Air is sent to the cylinder 17 and the piston 18 pushes up the wafer W slightly higher than the protruding blade. The protective film 1 is removed by lowering the lifting platform 5 .
6 over the protruding blade 2 and the wafer W therein (FIG. 2A).

Next, air is sent to the cylinder 17, and the piston 18
is lowered, and the wafer W is lowered to a level where the upper surface of the wafer W is slightly lower than the protruding blade 2 (FIG. 2B).

Air is sent to the cylinder 8, the piston is lowered, the protective film 16 is pressed against the protruding blade 2, the protective film is cut along the periphery of the wafer, and the lifting platform 5 is raised. In this state, the rack 14 and pinion 15 are engaged. Air is sent to the cylinder 7, the rod is let out from the cylinder 7, and the movable plate 1 is pushed out to the front end of rest. At the same time, the rack 14 also moves in the opposite direction to the rod of the cylinder 7, rotates the collection roll 11 clockwise, and winds up the punched film portion onto the collection roller 11. The wafer to which the protective film is attached is removed, and then the wafer to which the protective film is to be attached is dropped into the protruding blade. Thereafter, repeat the above process.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment. Components common to those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted.

The difference from the first embodiment is that in the first embodiment, semiconductor wafers are coated one by one, whereas in the second embodiment, semiconductor wafers are coated continuously. . For this purpose, a base 6 is provided that is long enough to arrange the same number of movable plates 1 as the number of semiconductor wafers to be continuously processed in a straight line, and a cylinder 7 and a piston are placed at one end of this base 6. The stroke of the piston is made equal to the length of the moving plate. The movable plates arranged in a line push out the movable plate carrying the wafer on which the protective film has been punched and adhered, out of the guide roller 13 in response to the reciprocating motion of the piston, and move the movable plate covered with the protective film directly below the piston 9. Set.

In FIG. 4, 7b, 8b, and 17b are electromagnetic valves that control the air supply to the cylinders 7, 8, and 17, respectively, and 19 is a cam mechanism that controls the switching operation of these electromagnetic valves. Explain the operation. Pressurized air is sent from the lower port of the solenoid valve 7b to the cylinder 7, and the piston of this cylinder is paid out from the cylinder 7 to send the movable plate 1 a distance corresponding to its length. The moving plate 1 advances to a position directly below the piston 9 and immediately above the piston 18, and then stops. Next, pressurized air is supplied to the cylinder 17 from the lower port of the solenoid valve 17b.
The piston 18 is sent out to bond the upper surface of the wafer W and the protective film 16 (FIG. 2A).
Next, the cam 19 energizes the solenoid valve 17b to switch the flow path, and pressurized air is applied from the upper port of the solenoid valve 17 to the cylinder 17 to retract the piston 18.
The upper surface of the wafer W is slightly lowered than the protruding blade 2 (FIG. 2B). Next, the pressurized air is sent to the cylinder 8 from the lower port of the solenoid valve 8b to advance the piston 9 and punch out the protective film around the protruding blade 2.
The cam 19 closes the switch of the solenoid valve 8b to change the passage, and pressurized air is sent from the upper port of the solenoid valve 8b to the cylinder 8 to move the piston 9 away from the moving plate 1. The cam 19 closes the switch of the solenoid valve 7b,
Switch the flow path and send pressurized air from the upper port to the cylinder 7 to retract the piston. The next moving plate 1 is then set in the space created. Repeat this process thereafter.

A cylinder and a piston were used to raise and lower the wafer, but by closing the bottom of the movable plate and providing a small air outlet in the center, pressurized air is sent from below to move the wafer W up and down in the space inside the protruding blade 2. You may also do so.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, positioning of the wafer when attaching a protective film to the wafer becomes extremely easy, an automatic punching device can be realized at a practical cost, and the protective film can be efficiently adhered to the wafer.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the moving plate. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operational relationship between the moving plate and the wafer lifting means.
FIG. 2A shows the wafer moved to a higher level to deposit the overcoat, and FIG. 2B shows the wafer moved to a lower level ready to punch out the overcoat. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a second embodiment of the invention. In the diagram: 1... moving plate, 2... protruding blade, 3... space limited by the protruding blade, 5... lifting platform, 6... base, 7, 8,
17... Cylinder, 9, 18... Piston, 10... Supply roller, 11... Collection roller, 12, 13... Guide roller, 14... Rack, 15... Pinion, 16
...Protective film, 19...Cam, 7b, 8b, 17b...Solenoid valve.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A movable plate having a protruding blade that has the same shape as the outline of the semiconductor wafer to which a protective film is to be attached and that defines a space larger than the wafer; a movable plate that has an upper surface of the semiconductor wafer at a position slightly lower than the protruding blade; A wafer lifting device that moves the wafer up and down from a slightly higher position; A moving plate driving device that moves the moving plate intermittently on the base surface; Driving a band-shaped protective film above the moving plate on the base surface. a protective film drive device that presses the band-shaped protective film against the protruding blade of the movable plate at the position where the movable plate temporarily stops;
and the aforementioned moving plate driving device and protective film driving device so as to synchronize the feeding of the strip-shaped protective film and the intermittent movement of the moving plate, and to synchronize the stop of the moving plate, the pressing of the strip-shaped thin film against the protruding blade, and the lowering of the wafer. An automatic punching device for a protective film of a semiconductor wafer, comprising a control device for controlling a pressing device and a wafer lifting means.