JPS61127142A - Device for exfoliation of wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically perform the exfoliation of a wafer, the conveyance of an annexed reference plate, and the exhaust of the wafer by a method wherein a shifting means, a position detecting means, an indexing means and an exfoliating means are provided. CONSTITUTION:The wafer 11 positioned on a reference plate 7 is shifted to the position B by a stand 9 operating a shifting means 2. A retaining plate 18 is raised 17 from the space between the stands by an indexing means 4 after the arrival of the wafer at the desired position, the wafer is transferred to the upper surface 19 of the plate 18 under the positioned state, and the wafer is fixed by attraction. The stand 9 is moved back from the upper limit of the plate 18, and the stand 9 revolves on an index table 14 by the signal sent from a sensor 13, and the wafer is faced property to the sensor 13, an exfoliating means 5 and an exhaust means 6. Then, the exfoliating means is operated, a cutter 33 slides on the reference plate 7, reaches the lower surface of the wafer 11, and exfoliates the wafer. An arm 46 revolves in counterclockwise direction on the exhaust means 6, the side face of the wafer is pushed by a pusher 48, the wafer slides on the plate 7, transferred to a belt 60, and housed in a cassette.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing a wafer from a reference plate after a wafer polishing process and automatically feeding the wafer to a predetermined ejection position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART During the manufacturing process of wafers, there is a step of polishing their surfaces. During the polishing process, a plurality of wafers are placed in registration on the surface of a reference plate and secured by a releasable adhesive. After the polishing process, the wafer is peeled off from the surface of the reference plate and placed inside a predetermined wafer cassette.

Conventionally, all such wafer peeling operations have been performed manually. In other words, the worker holds the cutter with his right hand, inserts the cutting edge between the reference plate and the wafer on the top surface of the reference plate, peels the adhered wafer from the surface of the reference plate, and then uses his left hand to insert the wafer into the top surface of the reference plate. , move the wafer to the side, and use the vacuum bat in your right hand to apply the vacuum bat to the back side of the wafer and hold it.
It is being discharged to the designated position. In this kind of manual work,
Work efficiency is poor, and the wafers are likely to be damaged when ejecting the wafers.

Under these circumstances, automation of this type of wafer peeling and ejection work is desired.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION AND SOLUTIONS THEREOF Therefore, an object of the present invention is to remove the reference plate by a peeling means while sequentially indexing a plurality of wafers on the reference plate in the process of moving the reference plate from the haiku position to the carry-out position after polishing the wafers. The wafer is peeled from the upper surface of the wafer, and the wafer after peeling is automatically discharged to a predetermined position by a discharge means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for moving a reference plate to a working position, removing a wafer from the upper surface thereof, and then, in conjunction with a transfer means for transporting the plate to an ejection position, a wafer position detecting means and a reference plate at the working position. indexing means, wafer peeling means and wafer ejection means.

The position detecting means, together with the indexing means, stops a predetermined wafer at a required position by confirming the existing position of the wafer at the working position. Further, at the predetermined position, the peeling means mechanically peels off the corresponding wafer by inserting a cutter. Thereafter, the ejection means automatically ejects the peeled wafer to a predetermined position.

Since such a wafer peeling device is installed in the wafer processing line, it is possible to start the wafer peeling work,
It becomes possible to automate the accompanying work of transporting the reference plate and the work of discharging the wafer after peeling.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wafer peeling apparatus 1 of the present invention includes a transfer means 2, a position detection means 3, an index means 4, a peeling means 5, and an ejection means 6.

The transfer means 2 receives the reference plate 7 to be transported at a carry-in position A, and intermittently sends it to a working position B and a discharge position C. It is equipped with a conveyor table 9 that can be moved along. This carrier 9
is equipped with four positioning rollers 10 for each reference plate 7 in order to hold the two reference plates 7 in a positioned state on the upper surface thereof. Repeat the exercise.

The reference plate 7 has a plurality of, for example, five wafers 11 fixed on its upper surface in a removable manner by adhesive.

Further, the position detecting means 3 is provided with a proximity sensor 13 at approximately the center position of the working position B. This proximity sensor 1
3 is a Hall element, for example, and as shown in FIG.
1, and when it corresponds to “H”
Or generates an "L" level signal.

Further, the indexing means 4 is scooped at the center position of the working position B in the conveying direction, and as shown in FIG.
It is equipped with 4. This index table 14 is rotatably supported by a vertical fixed shaft 15 and a pole bearing 16 with respect to a machine base 25, and on its upper surface, a plurality of vertically moving cylinders 17 are connected to an oblong chuck plate 1. It supports the sun so that it can move up and down.

This chuck plate 18 has a recessed receptacle for storing the reference plate 7 on its upper surface forming a surface 19, and a plurality of suction ports 20 are integrally formed in this portion.

Negative pressure air or pressurized air to the cylinder 17 and the suction port 20 is guided by a pipe 21, a passage 22 inside the fixed shaft 15, a rotary joint 23 provided above the fixed shaft 15, and a tube 24. Further, the drive source for the index table 14 is an ACC morph 2 attached to a machine base 25. The rotation of the AC motor 26 is transmitted to a harmonic drive type reducer 28 via a timing belt pulley 27, and is also transmitted to a gear 30 fixed to the fixed shaft 15 by a gear 29 on the output side thereof. Note that this index table 14
The rotational position of the detected object 31 attached to the gear 30
and is detected by a proximity sensor 32 attached to the machine base 25.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the peeling means 5 is installed at an appropriate angle toward the working position B, and is equipped with a cutter 33 for peeling the wafer 11 from the reference plate 7. As shown in FIG. 3, this cutter 33 is attached to a cutter stand 35 by a cutter holder 34 so as to be adjustable at an appropriate inclination angle. And this cutter stand 35
is attached to the slider 37 by a vertical support shaft 36. This slider 37 is slidably supported by a pair of guide bars 39 that are horizontally attached to the machine frame 38, and is supported by a feed screw nut 4.
0 is connected to the feed screw 41. Note that this feed screw 41 is an A with a reducer attached to the side of the machine frame 38.
It is designed to be driven by a C motor 42. Further, an elevating shaft 43 is attached below the slider 37, and its roller-shaped cam follower 44 faces the inside of a linear cam 45 that is oriented in the same direction as the feed screw 41 on the machine frame 38.

Furthermore, as seen in FIG. 1, the ejection means 6 is provided near the above-mentioned peeling means 5, and as shown in FIG. A freely movable ejection arm 46 is provided. The ejection arm 46 is provided with, for example, two flexible pushers 48 at its distal end and a splined shaft 47 at its other end.
is attached to the top of the This spline shaft 47 is attached to the spline cylinder 49 so as to be able to move vertically, and is connected at the other end to a vertically movable air cylinder 53 attached to a machine frame 52 through a bearing 50 and its housing 51.

The spline cylinder 49 is rotatably held by a bearing 54 with respect to the machine frame 52, and a low reactor actuator 56 is attached to the side of the machine frame 52 by a timing pulley belt 55 attached to the lower end. is attached to the output shaft of the

Note that the amount of rotation of the low reactor actuator 56 can be detected by a sensor 57 for detecting the amount of rotation. Further, the vertical movement of the spline shaft 47 can be detected by a sensor 58 for vertical detection.

Then, in the rotation range of the ejection arm 46, the first
As shown in the figure, wafer transport means 59 is provided. This wafer conveyance means 59 includes the ejection arm 46
A round conveyor belt 60 is provided for receiving and picking up the wafers 11 discharged by. This conveyor belt 6
A cassette 61 for storing wafers 11 is provided at the discharge position 0. This cassette 61 is provided so as to be movable up and down with respect to the machine base 62 of the wafer transport means 59, and is stacked in order to receive and take out the transported wafers 11 one after another. They rise one by one and are stored one by one.

Furthermore, if necessary, on the discharge side of the transfer means 2,
A handling means 63 for discharging the reference plate 7 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is provided. This ejection handling means 63 is, for example, a cylindrical coordinate type industrial robot, which moves the main body 64 up and down, and the arm 65.
As a result of the rotation and telescoping movement, the trident-shaped gripper 67 attached to the head 66 at the tip of the arm 65 grips the reference plate 7 at the discharge position C and moves it to the stocker 68 position.

Function of the Invention Next, the function of the invention will be explained together with a series of functions of the peeling device 1 described above.

In this embodiment, the wafers 11 are fixed in a fixed position on the reference plate 7 in groups of five by removable adhesive, and then transported to the polishing process. There, the surface of the wafer 11 is polished.

After this polishing step, the reference plate 7 is supplied to the loading position A of the transfer means 2 by hand or by a handling operation of an industrial robot or the like. In this state, when the worker starts the transfer means 2, the carrier 9 moves along the pair of rails 8 in the direction of the working position B, and moves the reference plate 7 together with the wafer 11 to the working position B. and stop there.

In this state, the arrival of the reference plate 7 is confirmed, the cylinder 17 for vertical movement of the indexing means 4 is activated, and the chuck plate 18 is raised from between the carriers 9.
The receiver 8 is positioned on the surface 19 and is fixed by suction air from the suction port 20.

When the chuck brake (18) moves to its upper limit, the conveyance table 9 in the forward state moves in the backward direction and prepares for the next operation.

When the chuck plate 18 rises, the proximity sensor 13
approaches the reference plate 7, a signal for rotating the index table 14 is generated. Based on this signal, the AC motor 26 is activated to rotate the index table 14 about the fixed shaft 15. During this time, the proximity sensor 13 again detects the presence or absence of the wafer 11 on the reference plate 7, and generates a signal of a level corresponding to the presence or absence of the wafer 11.

If the rotation speed of the index table 14 is constant,
After a certain period of time has passed since the proximity sensor 13 detects the outer edge of the wafer 11, the index table 14
When the pivoting of the wafer 11 is stopped, the wafer 11 below the proximity sensor 13 is directly opposite it, so that the other two wafers 11 correspond to the stripping means 5 and the ejecting means 6.

Then, the peeling means 5 operates, and the corresponding wafer 11 is peeled off from the upper surface of the reference plate 7 by the canter 33. That is, when the AC motor 42 is activated and the feed screw 41 rotates, the feed screw nut 40 moves forward together with the slider 32, so that the cutter 33 moves close to the wafer 11 at an appropriate angle. During this movement process, the cam follower 44 is guided by the linear cam 45 and descends along the cam curve, so the cutter 33 descends while moving forward, slides on the upper surface of the reference plate 7, and enters the lower surface of the wafer 11. . by this,
Wafer 11 adhered to reference plate 7
is peeled off along the inclination angle of the cutter 33. Note that when the cutter 33 rotates in the direction of the cutting edge around the support shaft 36 during this peeling, the peeling of the wafer 11 becomes even more reliable.

When such a peeling process is completed, the index table 14 rotates again and stops at the position of the next wafer 11. As a result, a new wafer 11 is fed into a position corresponding to the peeling means 5, and the wafer 11 after peeling is moved to a position corresponding to the ejection means 6. At this time, the row actuator 56 of the ejection means 6 is activated, and the spline cylinder 49 gives the ejection arm 46 a counterclockwise rotational movement in FIG. 1 via the spline shaft 47. Before or during the pivoting movement of the discharge arm 46,
Since the vertically movable air cylinder 53 lowers the spline shaft 47 by the required amount, the two pushers 48 come into contact with the sides of the peeled wafer 11 while the discharge arm 46 is rotating, and direct it towards the wafer transport means 59. It is moved by sliding on the reference plate 7. At this time, the wafer 11 is transferred from the reference plate 7 onto the conveyor belt 60 of the wafer conveying means 59, and is housed inside the cassette 61 by the conveyance action thereof.

As already mentioned, a plurality of cassettes 61 are stacked, and when a wafer 11 is received, the cassettes 61 are raised, and a new cassette 61 waits to receive the next wafer 11. When such ejection operation is completed and confirmed by a sensor (not shown), the ejection arm 4
6 returns to its original position after rising.

When the above-described rotational positioning operation, peeling operation, and ejection operation are performed for one reference plate 7 for the number of all wafers 11, that is, five times, the index table 14 of the indexing means 4 returns to the original lowered position, and then Prepare for the operation of the new reference plate 7.

At this time, the reference plate 7 in the empty state is transferred onto the conveyance table 9 in the retracted state again. And this carrier 9
A new reference plate 7 is supplied at the carry-in position A. In this state, after confirming that the reference plate 7 does not exist at the ejection position C, the conveyance table 9 is moved forward in the transport direction by a transfer drive unit (not shown), and the empty reference plate 7 is moved to the ejection position C. Then, the new reference plate 7 is moved to the working position B together with the wafer 11 thereon.

The reference plates 7 at the discharge position are stacked on the reference plate 7 stocker 68 by the discharge handling means 63. As already mentioned, the ejection handling means 63 is a cylindrical coordinate type industrial robot, and by repeating vertical, rotational, and telescopic movements, the ejection handling means 63 picks up the empty reference plate 7 at the ejection position C with the gripper 67. Grasp it and move it onto the stocker 68.

Effects of the Invention In the present invention, since the position detecting means, the indexing means, the peeling means and the ejecting means are provided in relation to the transfer means, the peeling operation required after polishing the wafers can be performed on a plurality of wafers on the reference plate. The tasks are performed sequentially and efficiently, so automation of the work can be realized and the work efficiency is improved. In addition, since such necessary work can be done on the conveyance line, necessary work in a lean room that requires cleanliness can be done without human intervention, and the necessary functions in the clean room can be ensured.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a wafer peeling apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the position detection means and indexing means, FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the peeling means, FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the ejection means, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the ejection handling means.
FIG. 6 is a side view of the ejection handling means. 1. Wafer peeling device, 2. Transfer means, 3. Position detection means, 4. Index means, 5.
・Peeling means, 6. Ejecting means, 7. Reference plate, 9. Transport table, 11. Wafer, 13. Proximity sensor, 14. Index table, 17. Cylinder for vertical movement, 33. Cutter, 37...Slider, 40...Feed screw nut, 41...Feed screw,
42... AC motor, 44... Cam follower, 45...
- Direct-acting cam, 46... Discharge arm, 48... Pusher, 53... Vertical motion air cylinder, 59... Wafer conveyance means, 63... Discharge handling means. Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] a transfer means for transporting a reference plate with a plurality of wafers adhered thereto to a working position and a reference plate after removing the wafers to an ejection position; a position detecting means for detecting the position of the wafer adhered to the reference plate at the working position; It is characterized by comprising an indexing means that rotates while indexing the reference plate to a predetermined position at a working position, a wafer peeling means working at the indexing position, and a wafer discharging means working at another indexing position. Wafer peeling equipment.