JPH08203848A - Cut line control method of semiconductor wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To cut only a required part of a semiconductor wafer, reduce the cutting time of the semiconductor wafer, and improve the life of a rotary blade by inputting a pass line in a range where the semiconductor wafer is not directly cut. CONSTITUTION: Various kind of data and conditions required for cutting are inputted to a control part 5 by an input part 3. The size of a semiconductor wafer 7 and the length and width dimensions of a chip are inputted as input data and a specific pass line where no cutting is made by passing an unneeded cut line is inputted as input conditions. Namely, a pass line for passing a preset cut line is set out of length and width cut lines, thus passing a cut line within a range where the semiconductor 7 is not directly cut and hence drastically reducing the cutting time of the semiconductor wafer 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer cut line control method capable of arbitrarily setting vertical and horizontal cut lines when cutting a semiconductor wafer into chips of a predetermined size.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to cut out a large number of square chips having a predetermined size from a semiconductor wafer, the semiconductor wafer is sucked and set on a suction sheet provided on the table of a dicing machine, and then it is first moved horizontally by a rotary blade. Are cut at predetermined intervals, the table is then rotated 90 °, and the vertical cutting lines are cut at predetermined intervals by the rotary blade. Further, during cutting, the semiconductor wafer is positioned on the table in advance, and the semiconductor wafer is taken out from the loader by the transfer device and the semiconductor wafer is positioned at a predetermined position on the table 9 as shown in FIG. The semiconductor wafer 7 is positioned so that the center of the semiconductor wafer 7 is positioned with reference to the orientation flat portion (orientation flat portion) 7A of the wafer 7.
In addition, in order to cut to the prescribed tip size,
As shown by the solid line in FIG. 6, the horizontal cut line and the vertical cut line located at the central portion of the semiconductor wafer 7 positioned on the table 9 are used as reference cut lines x _o , y.
_o , all the cut lines that are cumulative values of the vertical or horizontal pitch of the chip are cut with reference to the respective vertical and horizontal reference cut lines x _o and y _o . Then, in order to cut out chips in the range indicated by the diagonal lines in FIG. 6, the total number of vertical and horizontal cut lines on the table 9 is 29.

[0003]

However, according to the conventional method for cutting a semiconductor wafer, as shown in FIG. 6, the central portion of the semiconductor wafer 7 set on the table 9 for each of the vertical and horizontal cut lines. Since all the lines that are the cumulative values of the cut widths determined with reference to the reference cut lines x _o and y _o are cut, the cutting operation is performed by the rotary blade even in the range where the semiconductor wafer 7 is not cut. However, there is a problem in that the time required for cutting the semiconductor wafer 7 is required for the preliminary calculation. Further, since the rotary blade runs on the suction sheet on the table 9 on which the semiconductor wafer 7 is placed, there are drawbacks that the rotary blade is clogged and the blade is consumed more than necessary.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to reduce the cutting time of a semiconductor wafer and to improve the life of a rotary blade. It is to provide a cut line control method.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a semiconductor wafer cut line control method according to the present invention comprises:
When sequentially cutting the semiconductor wafer set on the table by the rotating blade of the dicing device in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction according to the size of the chip, all lateral cuts passing through the cumulative value of the vertical dimension of the chip All the vertical cut lines that pass through the cumulative value of the line and the lateral dimension of the chip are determined, and among the horizontal cut lines and the vertical cut lines, a pass line that passes the cutting operation by the rotary blade is selected. The cutting line is set based on the input information from the input unit, and the cut lines except the pass line are cut by the rotary blade.

Further, the semiconductor wafer cut line control method of the present invention is characterized in that pass lines are sequentially set from the outermost side of the horizontal and vertical cut lines.

[0007]

When the size of the semiconductor wafer or the chip is input by the input unit of the dicing device, all the cut lines in the horizontal and vertical directions are determined, and when the information of the pass line is further input by the input unit, the cut line Of these, a pass line that does not perform cutting operation by the rotary blade is set, and cutting lines other than the set pass line are cut by the rotary blade. Therefore,
By inputting the pass line in the range that does not directly cut the semiconductor wafer, only the necessary part of the semiconductor wafer will be cut, the cutting time can be greatly shortened, and at the same time the life of the rotary blade can be improved. It is possible to plan.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a dicing device. As shown in FIG. 1, the dicing device 1 includes an input unit 3 for inputting various data and conditions, a control unit 5 for performing necessary calculations and controlling each unit, and a semiconductor wafer 7 according to a command from the control unit 5. 90 with the table 9 set
A table drive unit 11 for rotating, a rotary blade drive unit 15 for moving the rotary blade 13 on the table 9 according to a command from the control unit 5 and moving the rotary blade 13 along each cut line while rotating the rotary blade 13. The semiconductor wafer 7 is sucked, taken out from the loader, and set on the table 9. The wafer transfer unit 17 is provided. Then, it is set on the table 9 by the wafer transfer unit 17, and the rotary blade 1
The semiconductor wafer 7 is cut by moving the semiconductor wafer 3 in the horizontal direction while rotating it.

Next, a case where the semiconductor wafer 7 is cut into chips of a predetermined size by the dicing apparatus 1 having the above-mentioned structure will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step S1, various data and conditions necessary for cutting are input to the control unit 5 by the input unit 3. As the input data, the size of the semiconductor wafer 7,
The vertical and horizontal dimensions of the chip are input, and as an input condition, a predetermined pass line that does not perform cutting by passing an unnecessary cut line is input.

When various data and conditions are input in step S1 and a predetermined start operation is performed by the input unit 3, vertical and horizontal cut lines and pass lines are set in step S2. The vertical and horizontal cut lines are set by determining the vertical and horizontal reference cut lines passing through the central portion of the semiconductor wafer 7 according to the dimensions of the semiconductor wafer 7 with reference to a predetermined position on the table 9. Based on this, other vertical and horizontal cut lines are determined.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, with reference to the table 9, a horizontal reference cut line x _o and a vertical reference cut line y ₀ passing through the central portion of the semiconductor wafer 7 are set. Further, the other horizontal cut lines x, ... Are the cumulative values of the vertical dimension of the chip over the upper and lower sides in FIG. 3 with reference to the horizontal reference cut line x _o . Is decided to go through. Similarly, the other vertical cut lines y ... Are vertical reference cut lines y _o.
3 is determined as a reference value, and it is determined so as to pass through each of the left and right sides in FIG.

Thereafter, in step S3, step S2
Of the vertical and horizontal cut lines determined in step S1, step S1
The pass line that passes the preset cut line is set at. The pass line is set in step S2.
Vertical and horizontal cut lines x ₀ , x ..., y determined by
It is performed based on _o , y ... For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the horizontal pass lines x ₀ , x ... Are set to channel 1, the orientation flat portion 7A of the semiconductor wafer 7 is set to FRONT, and the opposite side to the orientation flat portion 7A is set to REAR, and the cut lines are respectively formed. From the outermost side of x ₀ , x ...
And ... are set. Also, vertical pass lines y _o , y
... is a channel 2, the left side of the semiconductor wafer 7 shown in FIG. 4 is FRONT, and the right side of the semiconductor wafer 7 is REA.
R, and the first, second, third, ... Then, in step S3, the pass line in step S1 is, for example, the FRO of channel 1.
NT2, Channel 1 REAR2, Channel 2
Inputting to three FRONTs and three REARs of channel 2 sets the corresponding pass lines, and the cutting operation by the rotary blade 13 is omitted in these pass lines.

When the setting of the pass line is completed in step S3, the semiconductor wafer 7 is set on the table 9 from the loader by the wafer transfer unit 17 in step S4. Further, in step S5, the rotary blade drive unit 15 rotates the rotary blade 13
Is moved to the horizontal reference cut line x _o on the table 9, and is moved downward while rotating the rotary blade 13 in step S6, and the semiconductor wafer 7 is initially cut along the vertical reference cut line x _o. , The cut lines x ₀ , x ... Which pass through the places of the cumulative value of the predetermined vertical interval are sequentially cut. In this case, the preset pass line is passed and cutting is not performed.

When the cutting of all the cut lines x ₀ , x ... Excluding the horizontal pass lines is completed, step S
In step 7, the table 9 is rotated by 90 degrees by the table drive unit 11, and in step S8, cutting of the vertical cut lines _yo , y ... Is performed. Step vertical cut line in S8 y _o, cutting the y · · · is rotated to position the rotary blade 13 on the vertical reference cut line y _o blade 1
3 is lowered while rotating the first is cut along the reference cut line y _o, then cut line y which passes a portion of the accumulated value of a predetermined horizontal distance, successively along each of y · · · Cutting is performed. In this case, similarly to the horizontal pass line, a preset horizontal pass line is passed and not cut.

As a result, only the cut lines x, x ... As shown by the straight lines in FIG. 5 are cut, and the semiconductor wafer 7 is cut by passing through the cut lines in a range where it is not directly cut. , For example, two FRONTs and REARs for channel 1, three FRONTs and REARs for channel 2, and a total of 10 cut lines x and y are passed, and when cutting chips of the same size, In this case, the cutting is performed along the 29 cut lines, whereas in the present embodiment, the cutting is performed along the 19 cut lines, and the cutting process can be reduced. When all the cutting processes are completed, the rotary blade 13 is raised in step S9 to stop the rotation of the rotary blade 13, the rotary blade 13 is moved to the original position, and the cutting process is completed.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the semiconductor wafer 7 is cut into chips of a predetermined size, the semiconductor wafer 7 can pass through a cut line in a range where it is not directly cut, so that the semiconductor wafer 7 can be cut. It is possible to significantly shorten the cutting time, and it is possible to prolong the clogging and the life of the rotary blade 13, and these effects become remarkable as the chip size becomes smaller.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to pass a cut line in a range which is not desired to be cut by an input operation, so that the cutting time of a semiconductor wafer can be greatly shortened. The clogging of the rotary blade can be reduced, and the life of the rotary blade can be extended.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a dicing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a cutting process.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a semiconductor wafer on a table showing cut lines.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a semiconductor wafer on a table for explaining the setting of pass lines.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a cut line that is actually cut.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a cut line when cutting a conventional semiconductor wafer.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dicing device 3 Input part 7 Semiconductor wafer 9 Table 13 Rotary blade x _o , x cut line y _o , y cut line

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. When a semiconductor wafer set on a table by a rotary blade of a dicing device is sequentially cut in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction according to the size of a chip, all of the accumulated values of the vertical dimension of the chip are passed. The horizontal cut line and all vertical cut lines passing through the cumulative value of the horizontal dimension of the chip are determined, and among the horizontal cut line and the vertical cut line, the cutting operation by the rotary blade is performed. A cut line control method for a semiconductor wafer, wherein a pass line to be passed is set based on input information from an input unit, and cut lines other than the pass line are cut by the rotary blade. 2. The method for controlling a cut line of a semiconductor wafer according to claim 1, wherein pass lines are sequentially set from the outermost sides of the cut lines in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction.