JPH11245102A - Air spindle and dicing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate noisy blowing-off noise generated when increasing the blowing-off amount of air for forming an air seal so that contamination may not invade between a spindle housing and a rotating shaft, in a cutting process where much contamination occurs. SOLUTION: This air spindle 4, which is fitted on a cutting apparatus, is constituted of a rotating shaft, and a spindle housing 1 including air bearings 2, 3 for supporting the rotating shaft by air in the radial and thrust directions and an air seal part 11 for sealing the outer periphery of the rotating shaft and jetting air. The spindle housing 1 is formed with an air supply passage 10 for supplying air to the air seal part 11, and the air supply passage 10 is formed with a silencing member 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air spindle provided in a precision cutting device such as a dicing device for cutting a semiconductor wafer and a dicing device provided with the air spindle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an air spindle of this type, for example, the one shown in FIGS. In the conventional air spindle, a rotary shaft, that is, a spindle 4 is disposed inside a spindle housing 1 via a radial air bearing 2 and a thrust air bearing 3. A synchronous motor 7 composed of a rotor 5 and a stator 6 is attached to the base side of the spindle 4, and the spindle 4 is driven to rotate.

[0003] A tip of a spindle 4 as a rotating shaft projects from the spindle housing 1, and a blade 9 is attached to the projecting tip via a flange member 8. The cutting process is performed.

[0004] When cutting chips, that is, contaminants generated during the cutting work enter between the spindle housing 1 and the spindle 4, a so-called "snap" phenomenon occurs, and smooth rotation cannot be performed and precision cutting cannot be performed. In some cases, rotation may eventually become impossible.

[0005] Therefore, to prevent contamination,
An air supply path 10 is provided in the spindle housing 1, and the air supply path 10 is connected to a ring-shaped air seal portion 11 provided inside the distal end side of the spindle housing 1. Air is blown or blown out from between the housing 1 and the spindle 4 to form a seal on the outer peripheral surface of the spindle 4 to prevent contamination from entering.

In order to further enhance the formation of a seal by blowing air, a plurality of air supply paths 10a and 10b are additionally provided as shown in FIG. There is also known a configuration in which air is supplied to form a strong seal, thereby preventing intrusion of contamination.

[0007]

However, even with an air spindle provided with an air seal, if the amount of contamination due to cutting increases, the amount of air blown from the air seal increases accordingly. There must be. When the amount of air blown out increases, there is a problem that annoying and noisy air blown sound is generated in the vicinity of the air seal portion, which gives an uncomfortable feeling to the operator.

Therefore, the prior art has a problem which must be solved in order to prevent generation of annoying and noisy air blowing noise even when the air blowing amount is large.

[0009]

As a specific means for solving the problems of the prior art, the present invention relates to an air spindle equipped in a cutting device, wherein the air spindle comprises a rotating shaft, and a rotating shaft. A spindle housing that includes an air bearing that supports the air in the radial direction and the thrust direction, and an air seal that seals the outer periphery of the rotating shaft and ejects air. An air supply path for supplying air to the air spindle is provided, and a muffling member is provided in the air supply path.

[0010] Further, the noise reduction member is a mesh-shaped metal sintered body, and the cutting device is a dicing device for dicing a semiconductor wafer, which is equipped with the air spindle having the above configuration. Are included as important requirements.

In the air spindle according to the present invention, since the muffling member is provided in the air supply path, even if the amount of air blown out from the air seal portion increases,
There is no annoying and noisy air blowing noise.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. The same parts as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the details are omitted. FIG. 1 shows an air spindle according to the present invention,
Spindle housing 1 and spindle housing 1
And a spindle 4 serving as a rotating shaft disposed inside the inside.

A spindle 4, which is a rotating shaft, is provided via a radial air bearing 2 and a thrust air bearing 3, and is supported in a non-contact manner in a radial direction and a thrust direction by an air bearing.
In addition, it is arranged rotatably with respect to the spindle housing 1. A synchronous motor 7 composed of a rotor 5 and a stator 6 is attached to the rotation shaft, that is, the base side of the spindle 4, and the spindle 4 is driven to rotate.

The distal end of the spindle 4 arranged in this manner projects from the spindle housing 1, and a blade 9 is attached to the projecting distal end via a flange member 8. Is performed.

In the cutting process, an air supply path 10 is provided in the spindle housing 1 so as to prevent contamination from entering between the spindle housing 1 and the spindle 4. An air seal is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the spindle 4 by being connected to a ring-shaped air seal portion 11 provided on the inside and blowing air from between the spindle housing 1 and the spindle 4 through the air seal portion 11. , And is configured to prevent intrusion of contamination. These configurations are substantially the same as those of the above-described conventional example.

Therefore, in the present invention, a silencing member 12 is provided in the air supply path 10 to prevent the generation of annoying and noisy air blowing noise. The silencing member 12 may be of various configurations or materials, but is preferably a mesh-shaped metal sintered body.

The mesh-shaped metal sintered body is, for example,
It is made of a metal such as copper, stainless steel, aluminum, etc., has a disk shape as a whole, and has an air supply path 1
0, which is disposed so as to close the air supply path 10 and the position of the air supply path 10 can be arbitrarily selected. Is big.

As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of air supply paths 10, 10a, 1
Also in the air spindle of another example having 0b, the same silencing member 12 as described above is provided at an appropriate position for each air supply path.

In the air spindle provided with the muffling member 12 as described above, the air supplied to each air supply path is clean air. A non-functional state may occur.

Assuming such a situation, the silencing member 12
It is better to dispose it in the air supply path 10 so that it can be removed. FIG. 4 shows a preferred example of the arrangement position.

That is, in the vicinity of the air seal portion 11 and the portion of the thrust air bearing 3,
Is arranged. In this case, the thrust air bearing 3
Is divided into a plurality of parts and has an assembled structure, and since the thrust collar 3a can be removed, the portion of the thrust air bearing 3 is most suitable as the disposition position of the sound deadening member in the spindle housing 1.

Therefore, even if the sound deadening member 12 is clogged during long-term use, the sound deadening member 12 can be removed and cleaned or replaced with a new one, so that the sound deadening member 12 can be kept in a clean state and the deterioration in function can be eliminated.

As shown in FIG. 5, the air spindle configured as described above is used by being mounted on a dicing device 20 typified by a cutting device. The object to be cut in this case is a so-called semiconductor wafer 21, which is supported by a frame 23 via a tape 22, and a large number of the semiconductor wafers are stored in a carrying case 24 in a dicing apparatus 20. Are mounted on the chuck table 27 one by one via an appropriate pull-out mechanism 25 and an arm 26, and the above-described cutting or cutting division is performed. What is used for can be applied as it is.

In such a dicing apparatus 20,
The semiconductor wafer 21 on which the air spindle according to the present invention is mounted and which is mounted on the chuck table 27 by the blade 9 provided on the tip side of the air spindle.
Is cut or cut into individual chips.

In this case, a predetermined amount of air at a predetermined pressure is supplied to the air supply path 10 of the air spindle, and air is blown out from between the spindle housing 1 and the spindle 4 via the air seal portion 11. Since the seal is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the spindle 4 by being blown out, intrusion of contamination caused by the cutting process is prevented.

In particular, the air supply paths 10, 10a, 10a
b, the noise reduction member 1
Due to the presence of 2, the air blowing sound in the air seal portion 11 is completely silenced and not only annoying noises are eliminated, but also the formation of the seal on the outer peripheral surface of the spindle 4 is further stabilized by strong air blowing. However, contamination can be almost completely prevented.

Since the contamination can be prevented in this manner, not only the service life of the air spindle is prolonged, but also the generation of annoying and noisy air blowing noise to the operator is eliminated, so that cutting is performed without giving any discomfort. You can get your work done.

[0028]

As described above, the air spindle according to the present invention is an air spindle mounted on a cutting device, the air spindle comprising a rotating shaft, and the rotating shaft being arranged in a radial direction and a thrust direction. A spindle housing that includes an air bearing that supports the air and an air seal that seals the outer periphery of the rotary shaft and ejects air, and supplies air to the spindle housing to supply air to the air seal. A passage is formed, and a muffling member is arranged in the air supply passage, so that even if the supply amount of air is increased to complete the air seal, it is annoying and noisy. It has an excellent effect that the generation of blowing sound can be suppressed.

The cutting device on which the air spindle having the above-described structure according to the present invention is mounted is a dicing device for dicing a semiconductor wafer. To prevent intrusion between the shaft and the rotating shaft (spindle), the air supply is increased and the air blowing is strengthened, and even if the air seal is perfect, it may cause discomfort to the operator. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the generation of noisy blowing noise, and to provide an excellent effect that the service life of the air spindle is prolonged.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic cross section of an air spindle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of an example of a spindle housing constituting the air spindle.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of another example of a spindle housing constituting the air spindle.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a mounting state of a muffling member in the air spindle.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view schematically showing a dicing device as an example of a cutting device equipped with the air spindle.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a schematic cross section of a conventional air spindle.

FIG. 7 is a schematic front view of an example of a spindle housing constituting the air spindle of the conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a schematic front view of another example of the spindle housing constituting the air spindle of the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... spindle housing, 2 ... radial air bearing, 3 ... thrust air pairing, 4 ...
… Air spindle (rotary axis), 5 …… Rotor, 6
…… Stator, 7… Synchronous motor, 8…
... Flange member, 9 ... Blade, 10, 10a, 1
0b Air supply path 11 Air seal part
12 ... silencing member, 20 ... dicing device, 21
... semiconductor wafer, 22 ... tape, 23 ... frame, 24 ... carrying case, 25 ... draw-out mechanism, 26 ... arm, 27 ... chuck table.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An air spindle mounted on a cutting device, the air spindle comprising a rotating shaft, an air bearing for supporting the rotating shaft with air in a radial direction and a thrust direction, and sealing the outer periphery of the rotating shaft. A spindle housing including an air seal portion for ejecting air, and an air supply path for supplying air to the air seal portion is formed in the spindle housing. An air spindle, wherein a muffling member is provided. 2. The air spindle according to claim 1, wherein the muffling member is a metal sintered body having a mesh shape. 3. A dicing device for dicing a semiconductor wafer, wherein the cutting device is provided with the air spindle according to claim 1.