KR101094162B1 - A wafer separation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a wafer separator capable of improving the separation efficiency of a plurality of stacked wafers. A wafer separation apparatus according to the present invention, which forms a closed loop circulation flow of a container and a fluid containing a plurality of stacked wafers, the flow is provided on top of the stacked plurality of wafers, It includes a transfer unit to separate and transfer the sheet by the pressure difference between the upper and lower portions of the uppermost wafer. According to this configuration, not only the economical use of the fluid and the prevention of external contamination by the circulating flow can be achieved, but also the wafer can be separated by a pressure drop without physically interfering with the wafer surface. Surface damage can be suppressed.

Wafer, separation, airflow, pressure, Bernoulli.

Description

     Wafer Separator {A WAFER SEPARATION APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a wafer separation device, and more particularly, to generate a pressure drop due to a fluid flow circulated on top of a plurality of stacked wafers, thereby separating the stacked wafers into sheets and preventing the economical use of the fluids from external contamination. It is related with the wafer separation apparatus which can plan.

A solar cell manufacturing material that generates electric power using sunlight or a wafer widely used as a semiconductor device manufacturing material refers to a single crystal silicon thin plate. This wafer manufacturing process is a cutting process of cutting grown single crystal silicon ingots into wafer form, a lapping process to uniformize and flatten the thickness of the wafer, and etching to remove or mitigate damage caused by mechanical polishing. ) Process and cleaning to clean the completed wafer.

In the cutting process, unnecessary portions are removed and the ingot formed in a cylindrical shape is sliced into a single wafer using a wire saw such as a piano wire or a high tension wire while being immersed in pure water.

Meanwhile, a plurality of wafers separated into sheets in the ingot state are stacked on each other. Accordingly, the stacked plurality of wafers must be separated into sheets and transported for the next process. In order to separate the stacked wafers, the stacked plurality of wafers are separated by a suction force using a vacuum or a pressing force such as a press and a roller.

By the way, in the case of the wafer separation method using the above adsorption force or pressing force, as the physical force is applied to the wafer, surface damage of the wafer is caused. Since the surface damage of such a wafer causes the quality of the solar cell or semiconductor device to be manufactured, a method for improving the wafer is required.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a separation device for a wafer splitter that can separate a plurality of stacked wafers without damage.

A wafer separating apparatus for achieving the above object forms a closed loop circulating flow of a container and a fluid containing a plurality of stacked wafers, the flow being provided on top of the stacked plurality of wafers, It includes a transfer unit to separate and transfer the sheet by the pressure difference between the upper and lower portions of the uppermost wafer.

The wafer separation apparatus may further include a separation unit provided on an inner wall of the container to separate the wafer into sheets by injecting a gas or a liquid between the stacked plurality of wafers, and the separation unit has the most fluid flow among the top ends. It includes a top separation portion located on the late arrival side, the top separation portion is preferably able to adjust the angle of injection. In addition, the injection unit is a nozzle, it may be provided in plurality.

The transfer unit includes an injector for injecting fluid to one side of the top end of the stacked wafers and a fluid circulation source for supplying fluid to the injector. Preferably, the injector has an injection hole having at least one slit shape formed along one side of the wafer, and the fluid supplies a fluid including a bubble.

The wafer may be lowered and the top of the stacked wafer may be positioned at a constant height inside the container.

In a modified embodiment of the present invention, it may further include an anti-reflection plate for preventing the reversal of the top wafer by interfering with one side of the top wafer. The inversion preventing plate is preferably located on the front side with respect to the flow direction of the fluid, the inversion prevention plate is preferably formed to extend from one side of the container to protrude horizontally.

According to another modified embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable to further include a flow rate increasing guide for reducing the inner area through which the fluid passes along the flow direction of the fluid so that the speed of the fluid on the top wafer is increased. .

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, first, as the flow of fluid is generated at the top of the wafer which is cut and stacked in multiple layers, the wafer is separated by the pressure drop, so that the physical pressing force is applied to the wafer. You won't lose. Therefore, the surface damage of a wafer can be suppressed, and wafer quality can be improved.

Secondly, as the wafer is separated by a simple method of ejecting a fluid to the top of the stacked wafers, the economic efficiency and space utilization can also be improved.

Third, by injecting a fluid containing bubbles at the top of the wafer, it is possible to implement a high pressure with a small amount of fluid can be expected to improve the efficiency.

Fourth, by providing a separation portion for discharging the fluid, it is possible to assist the separation force between the upper wafer and the lower wafer to be lifted by the pressure drop.

Fifth, means for preventing the reversal of the wafer during transfer are provided.

Sixth, a means for increasing the flow rate on the top wafer is provided.

Seventh, by circulating the fluid in the closed loop, there is an effect that can prevent from external contamination while promoting economical use of the fluid.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2, the wafer separation apparatus 1 according to the present invention includes a separation unit 10 and a transfer unit 20 for circulating the fluid F.

The transfer unit 20 of the present invention not only recycles the fluid by circulating the fluid F to the closed loop, but also separates and transports the stacked wafers W using the air flow of the fluid F. A detailed description thereof will be described later.

First, a plurality of wafers W are stacked in the container C, and the container C may be filled with the fluid F. As shown in FIG. Therefore, it can be said that the wafer W is contained in the fluid F. A plurality of separators 10 may be provided on the inner wall of the container C, wherein the separators 10 may be nozzles. That is, air or fluid may be injected between the wafers W on which the fluid is stacked, so that the wafers W may be separated into sheets.

At this time, the uppermost separating part 11 located at the side where the fluid flow arrives at the latest from the uppermost end may be formed to adjust the angle. The uppermost separator 11 may be configured to adjust the angle, adjust the inclination angle of the wafer to be separated and transported, and to be easily separated by the fluid (F). Although the present embodiment has illustrated the separating part 10 in which the layered layers are arranged in the height direction, a pair may be configured as a single layer including the uppermost separating part 11.

Although not shown, the stacked wafer W may be configured to move up and down by installing a driving source thereunder, and the top end of the stacked wafer W may be at a constant height inside the container C due to the driving source. It can be located.

In another embodiment, the entire container C containing the wafer W may be configured to move up and down. At this time, the container (C) may be provided with a hole to allow the flow of the fluid (F).

The transfer part 20 circulates the fluid F to promote economics due to the reuse of the fluid, as well as to form a local flow of the fluid F at the top of the plurality of stacked wafers W, thereby providing a pressure difference. By generating the plurality of stacked wafers W into sheets. Specifically, the transfer unit 20 causes the pressure drop between the uppermost one side and the other side of the stacked wafer W by using Bernoulli's principle, thereby transferring the stacked wafer W with a pressure difference. Separate into sheets and discharge to the outside of the container (C). The transfer part 20 includes a fluid circulation source 23 for circulating fluid with the injector 21. The fluid circulation source 23 may be a pump.

That is, in other words, the transfer unit of the present invention performs the separation and transfer according to the pressure difference of both sides of the uppermost wafer using the flow of the fluid (F), and pulls the wafer (W) by the frictional force using the flow of the fluid (F) It's not the way to go.

As described above, the transfer part (F) is to circulate the fluid, which is advantageous in that it can be prevented from external contamination due to the closed loop configuration using a closed tube through which the fluid flows as well as economics due to reuse. A filter may be provided during the flow of fluid through the closed loop configuration.

The injector 21 injects the fluid F to one side of the uppermost ends of the stacked wafers W. As shown in FIG. Here, the injector 21 has at least one ejection opening 22 formed at a predetermined length in a direction perpendicular to the ejection direction at an end entered into one side of the uppermost end of the wafer W. That is, the injection hole 22 includes at least one or more elongated slits.

The injector 21 may be formed to surround a side of one side of the wafer W positioned at the top end thereof. In this case, although the injection holes 22 are illustrated as a single dog in FIG. 1, a plurality of injection holes 22 may be formed at regular intervals.

Also, the injection port 22 can be partitioned, an example of which is shown in FIG. The partition membrane 24 is provided in the injection port 22, and the fluid F can be made to flow uniformly.

The position of the injection hole 22 may be formed at a position away from the upper portion of the wafer W as in the present embodiment, but may be disposed at a position of 0 to 1/2 in the longitudinal direction of the wafer W. In other words, the position in the longitudinal direction 0 means that the injection hole 22 is located at the end of the wafer, and the position in the longitudinal half position means that the injection hole is in the center of the wafer W. Preferably, the point is 1/3 in the longitudinal direction.

The fluid circulation source 23 supplies the fluid to the injector 21. Here, the fluid circulation source 23 may supply the same fluid as the fluid F accommodated in the container C to the injector 21. In another variation, the fluid circulation source 23 supplies air together with the fluid F, thereby supplying a fluid including a bubble, that is, an aliphatic body, to the injector 21. It may be. In this case, as the fluid F including the bubble is injected to the uppermost side of the wafer W, a large pressure difference may be formed even when a small amount of the fluid F is injected.

Due to the configuration of the injector 21 as described above, the pressure on one side of the injector 21 to inject the fluid F is relative to the pressure on the other side based on the topmost wafer of the stacked wafer W. Becomes high. Therefore, the other side of the wafer W is lifted by the pressure drop caused by the fluid flow. In this case, as described above, the separation unit 10 separates the wafer W into sheets, and the angle may be adjusted so that the uppermost separation unit 11 can be easily separated by oil. Then, the wafer W on which the other side is lifted is separated into sheets in the direction in which the injector 21 injects the fluid F along the flow of the fluid W.

For reference, in the present embodiment, the wafer W separated by the wafer separator 1 is exemplified as a silicon wafer for forming a solar cell, but is not limited thereto, and may be a wafer for forming a semiconductor substrate. Of course it is. In addition, the wafer W may be a substantially rectangular plate, but may be modified to have a circular shape. In addition, the fluid F in which the wafer W is immersed is illustrated as being water (Aqua) containing pure water to prevent the wafer W from being dried, but is not limited thereto.

 It includes an inversion preventing plate 32 that interferes with one side of the wafer (W) located at the top.

The anti-reflection plate 32 prevents the wafer W from being reversed, i.e., turned upside down, by the force of the wafer W being separated. The anti-reversal plate 32 is in contact with one side of the wafer (W) located at the top of the interference preventing interference. To this end, the anti-reflection plate 32 extends from one side of the container C so as to be positioned between the top end side of the wafer W and the injector 21 as shown, and protrudes horizontally. .

The anti-reflection plate 32 not only serves to prevent the inversion of the wafer W, but also serves as a stopper for preventing the wafer W from leaving a predetermined position.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the position of the separation unit 10 is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the flow direction of the fluid F provided to the wafer W so that the injection direction of the separation unit 10 is the fluid F. Although illustrated as being perpendicular to the flow direction of, but is not limited to this, the position of the separation unit 10 is also included to be arranged in parallel with the flow direction of the fluid (F).

For a more detailed description, FIG. 4 is presented.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the circulating fluid F ejects the fluid F to the top of the plurality of wafers W stacked by the injector 21. At this time, a local fluid flow is formed at the uppermost end of the wafer W by the fluid injected by the injector 21, so that a pressure drop occurs between the uppermost side of the wafer W and the other side. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the other side of the wafer W, which is relatively lower in pressure than the one side of the wafer W, is separated from the wafer W stacked below and lifted upward. Thereafter, the lifted wafer W is transferred along the flow of the fluid F by the continuous flow of the fluid W injected from the injector 21.

On the other hand, when the wafer (W) is separated by the pressure drop generated by the flow of the fluid (F) as described above, in order to assist the separation force generated on the other side of the wafer (W), as shown in Figure 3 , The separation unit 10 for injecting the fluid (F) or air or liquid is provided with a top separation unit 11 that can be easily separated by adjusting the angle. This is shown in FIG. In this case, the separation nozzle 30 may also eject the same fluid as the fluid F contained in the container C, may be another fluid, or may have different physical properties (for example, liquid And gas).

5, another modified embodiment according to the present invention is shown. Between the injector 21 and the upper end of the wafer W, a flow rate increasing guide 42 for increasing the flow rate of the fluid F may be provided. The flow rate increase guide 42 is formed in a structure in which the inner area through which the fluid F passes along the direction of the flow rate decreases, thereby increasing the flow rate. That is, in order to maximize the pressure difference using Bernoulli's principle of operation of the present invention, the upper flow rate of the stacked uppermost wafer W is increased by the flow rate increasing guide 42 so that the pressure difference between the upper and lower sides of the wafer W is increased. Maximize. That is, the pressure difference makes it easier to separate the top wafer from the stacked wafers. The flow rate increasing guide may have a plate shape. Alternatively, by having a structure such as a funnel, by compressing and injecting the fluid (F), it is also possible to be modified to be configured to increase the injection pressure.

As shown in Figure 6, the guide pipe 40 for guiding the flow of the fluid (F) may be horizontal in the flow direction of the fluid (F), otherwise the height of the guide according to the flow direction of the fluid (F) Can be reduced. The height may be reduced continuously or intermittently reduced. This serves to guide the wafer moving along the flow of the fluid F not to be inverted or to leave its position. The height of the upper portion of the guide tube 40 may be reduced, and also includes a modified example in which both the lower portion and the upper and lower portions are reduced and the height thereof is reduced. It also includes not only the height but also how the width changes.

FIG. 7 illustrates another modified embodiment, in which an injection hole 41 may be provided at an upper side of the guide tube 40. In the injection hole 41, the fluid is injected, and may be the same kind as the fluid injected from the injection hole 22 or may be another kind. In addition, the fluid injected from the injection hole 41 may be an airflow body. That is, it may be a fluid containing bubbles. The injection hole 41 is injected in the vertical direction so that the wafer W is not inverted and guided to move in close contact with the lower portion of the guide tube 40. The injection hole 41 may be vertical, but may be injected inclined.

As described above, although described with reference to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art various modifications and variations of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below I can understand that you can.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a wafer separation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an abbreviated perspective view showing the wafer separation apparatus of FIG. 1; FIG.

3 is an abbreviated perspective view showing a modified embodiment of FIG.

4 is an abbreviated perspective view showing a separation state of the uppermost wafer;

Figure 5 is a modified perspective view of the present invention, omitted perspective view showing a flow rate increase guide,

6 is a cross-sectional view showing a shape in which the flow path is narrowed as another modified embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified embodiment of FIG.

Description of the Related Art [0002]

1: wafer separator 10: separator

11: top separation part 20: transfer part

21: injector 23: fluid circulation source

Claims (14)

A container containing a plurality of stacked wafers; And Forming a closed loop circulating flow of the fluid, and providing the formed flow of the fluid to the top of the plurality of stacked wafers to separate the plurality of wafers by the pressure difference between the upper and lower portions of the top wafer among the stacked wafers. A transfer unit for transferring; Wafer separation apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1, And a separator provided on an inner wall of the container and separating the wafer into sheets by spraying gas or liquid between the stacked plurality of wafers. 3. The method of claim 2, And a jet direction of the separator is perpendicular to a flow direction of the fluid provided to the wafer. 3. The method of claim 2, The separation unit includes a top separation unit located on the side where the fluid flow arrives at the latest among the top end, the top separation unit, characterized in that the adjustable injection angle. 3. The method of claim 2, The separator is a nozzle, characterized in that a plurality of wafer separation apparatus provided. The method of claim 1, The transfer unit, An injector for injecting a fluid to one side of an uppermost end of the stacked wafers; And A fluid circulation source for supplying fluid to the injector; Wafer separation apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 6, And a jetting hole having at least one slit shape formed along one side of the wafer. The method of claim 1, The fluid is a wafer separation device, characterized in that for supplying a fluid containing a bubble (bubble). The method of claim 1, The wafer is capable of lifting up and down, so that the top end of the stacked wafer is located at a constant height inside the container. The method of claim 1, And a reversal preventing plate which prevents reversal of the uppermost wafer by interfering with one side of the uppermost wafer so as not to be reversed. The method of claim 1, And a flow rate increasing guide for decreasing an inner area through which the fluid passes along the direction of travel of the fluid so that the velocity of the fluid increases on the top wafer. The method of claim 1, 9. A wafer separation device comprising: a top guide pipe for guiding the flow of the fluid above the top wafer; The method of claim 12, The guide tube is a wafer separation apparatus, characterized in that the injection hole is provided in the upper portion to inject the fluid. The method of claim 13, The fluid injected from the injection hole is a wafer separation apparatus, characterized in that the air bubbles containing air.

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