TWI834864B - Extension device, extension method - Google Patents

Abstract

[Issue] Efficiently implement shrinkage of the expanded sheet. [Solution] The expansion device of the present invention includes a workpiece, an expansion sheet attached to the workpiece, and an expansion of the workpiece unit of an annular frame attached to the outer peripheral side of the expansion sheet. An expansion device for expanding a sheet includes: an expansion unit that expands the expanded sheet; and a sheet shrinking unit that heats and shrinks the expanded sheet. The sheet shrinking unit includes: a hot air ejection port; an air supply path; A heating unit for internal heating of the air supply path; and a valve that controls the supply and interruption of air from the air supply source. The sheet shrinking unit can open the valve and supply the air to the air supply path, and the hot air spray The outlet sprays the heated air, and the sheet shrinking unit can stop spraying the heated air from the hot air outlet by closing the valve without stopping the heating unit.

Description

Extension device, extension method

The present invention relates to an expansion device and an expansion method for expanding an expansion sheet whose outer peripheral side is attached to an annular frame.

A plurality of planned division lines (also called streets) that cross each other are set on the surface of a disc-shaped wafer. After forming elements in each area divided by the planned division lines, the planned division lines are divided along the planned division lines. The wafer is divided into individual component wafers. The formed element wafer is mounted on electronic equipment and used.

The wafer is divided, for example, using a laser processing device. For example, a laser beam with a wavelength that is transparent to the wafer is focused inside the wafer along a line to be divided, and a modified layer serving as a starting point for dividing is formed along the line to be divided.

A thin sheet called an expansion sheet is attached to the back side of the wafer in advance. A ring-shaped frame made of metal or the like is attached to the outer circumference of the expanded sheet. Next, when the expanded sheet is attached to the wafer, a workpiece unit is formed in which the wafer, the expanded sheet, and the annular frame are integrated.

If the expanded sheet is expanded radially outward with a modified layer formed inside the wafer along the planned division line, and the wafer is broken using the modified layer as a starting point to form element wafers, each element The spacing of the wafers is further widened. If the distance between the component wafers is widened, when the workpiece unit is subsequently transported, the component wafers are less likely to come into contact with each other, and damage to the component wafers is suppressed.

However, if the expansion of the expanded sheet is canceled, the expanded sheet will relax, so a process called heat shrink is performed in which the expanded sheet that has relaxed is heated and thermally shrunk (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1). 2). When the expanded sheet is shrunk, the relaxation of the expanded sheet is reduced, and the distance between each element chip is maintained. [Prior technical literature] [Patent Document]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-206136 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-100920

(The problem that the invention wants to solve)

Conventionally, when expanding sheets of a plurality of workpiece units are continuously expanded and the expanded sheets are contracted, activation and stopping of the heating unit are repeated each time heating of the expanded sheets is performed. At this time, after the expansion sheet of a certain workpiece unit is shrunk and until the expansion sheet of the next workpiece unit is shrunk, the temperature of the heating unit decreases.

If the temperature of the heating unit does not reach the predetermined temperature, the expansion sheet cannot be appropriately shrunk to a predetermined degree. Therefore, when shrinking the expanded sheet, it is necessary to activate the heating unit and wait until the temperature of the heating unit reaches a predetermined temperature. If the expansion sheets are expanded one after another, the problem of reduced processing efficiency due to the waiting time until the expansion sheets are contracted is obvious, and improvements are urgently required.

The present invention was made in view of this problem, and an object thereof is to provide an expansion device and an expansion method that can efficiently shrink an expansion sheet. (Technical means to solve problems)

According to one aspect of the present invention, an expansion device is provided, which includes a workpiece, an expansion sheet attached to the workpiece, and an annular frame attached to the outer peripheral side of the expansion sheet. The expansion device for expanding the expansion sheet of an object unit is characterized by: a frame holding unit that can hold the annular frame of the workpiece unit; and an expansion unit that can hold the object unit in the frame. the expansion sheet included in the workpiece unit of the annular frame of the holding unit expands; and a sheet shrinking unit by expanding the workpiece having the annular frame held in the frame holding unit The area between the outer periphery of the workpiece of the expanded sheet included in the unit and the inner periphery of the annular frame is heated and contracted, thereby reducing the expansion of the expanded sheet that is relaxed by the expansion unit. Relaxation, the sheet shrinkage unit includes: a hot air outlet, which is opposite to the expansion sheet; an air supply path, one end of which is connected to the hot air outlet, and the other end is connected to an air supply source; a heating unit, which The air supplied from the air supply source is heated by heating the inside of the air supply path; a valve controls the supply and interruption of air from the air supply source; and a switch switches the heating unit. When heating and heating are stopped, the sheet shrinking unit opens the valve and supplies the air from the air supply source to the air supply path. The air is heated by the heating unit in the air supply path, whereby the air can be heated by the heating unit. The hot air outlet sprays the heated air, and the sheet shrinking unit blocks the supply of air from the air supply source to the air supply path by closing the valve. The hot air outlet can be stopped without stopping the heating unit. This heated air is sprayed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an expansion method is provided, which includes: a workpiece, an expansion sheet attached to the workpiece, and an annular frame attached to the outer peripheral side of the expansion sheet. An expansion method in which the expansion sheets of a plurality of workpiece units are continuously expanded, characterized by: an expansion step of holding the annular frame and expanding the expansion sheets; and a sheet shrinking step of After the expansion step, the air heated by the heating unit is sprayed in the area between the outer periphery of the workpiece of the expanded sheet and the inner periphery of the annular frame, so that the area of the expanded sheet shrinks, reducing the The relaxation of the expanded sheet generated in the expansion step does not stop the operation of the heating unit during the continuous implementation of the expansion step and the sheet shrinkage step on a plurality of workpiece units, and the sheet shrinkage step is performed by It starts by starting the injection of air and ends by stopping the injection of air. (The effect of the invention)

In the expansion device and the expansion method according to one aspect of the present invention, the air is heated in the heating unit, and the heated air is sprayed to heat the expansion sheet. Next, while the expansion sheet is not being shrunk, the heating unit is not stopped and the injection of air is stopped. Therefore, even when heating of the expanded sheet is not performed, the temperature of the heating unit does not decrease.

At this time, when heating the expanded sheet, there is no need to wait until the temperature of the heating unit reaches a predetermined temperature. In the expansion device and the expansion method according to one aspect of the present invention, the expansion and contraction of the expansion sheet of the workpiece unit can be performed in a short time, so the processing efficiency can be improved.

Therefore, the present invention provides an expansion device and an expansion method that can efficiently perform shrinkage of the expansion sheet.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the expansion device and the expansion method of this embodiment, the workpiece, the expansion sheet, and the expansion sheet of the workpiece unit in which the annular frame are integrated are expanded. The cross-section of the workpiece unit 11 is shown in FIG. 2 and the like.

The expanded sheet 7 included in the workpiece unit 11 includes, for example, a base material layer made of vinyl chloride, polyolefin, or the like, and a paste layer supported on the base material layer. The central area of one side of the expanded sheet 7 is attached to the workpiece 1 . In addition, the outer peripheral portion of the expanded sheet 7 is in contact with the inner peripheral portion of the annular frame 9 having an opening.

The workpiece 1 is, for example, a wafer made of silicon, SiC (silicon carbide), or other semiconductor materials, or a substantially disc-shaped substrate made of sapphire, glass, quartz, or other materials. The surface of the workpiece 1 is divided into a plurality of areas by a plurality of planned dividing lines (dicing lanes) that cross each other, and components 5 such as IC (Integrated Circuit) are formed in each divided area. If the workpiece 1 is divided along the planned division lines, individual element wafers can be formed.

A modified layer 3 serving as a starting point for division is formed inside the workpiece 1 along the planned division line. The modified layer 3 can be formed by, for example, focusing a laser beam with a wavelength that is transparent to the object 1 (a wavelength that can transmit the object 1 ) along the planned division line inside the object 1 to form.

If a radially outward force is applied to the workpiece 1 in which the modified layer 3 is formed along the planned division line, cracks will occur from the modified layer 3 to the upper and lower surfaces of the workpiece 1 and the workpiece 1 will It is divided into individual element wafers 15 (see FIG. 4 and others). Thereafter, in order to easily pick up each component wafer 15 by the expansion sheet 7, the expansion sheet 7 is further expanded, and the intervals between the component wafers 15 are widened.

Among them, the workpiece 1 may be provided with a DAF (die adhesion film) in advance. DAF is a film that functions as an adhesive when the element wafer 15 is mounted on a predetermined mounting target. This expansion device can divide the workpiece 1 equipped with DAF for each DAF. At this time, the element wafer 15 provided with the DAF is formed.

The expansion device of this embodiment will be described using FIGS. 1 to 5 . FIG. 1 schematically shows a perspective view of the expansion device 2 , and FIG. 2 schematically shows a cross-sectional view of the expansion device 2 loaded into the workpiece unit 11 .

The expansion device 2 includes a frame holding unit 4 that fixes the annular frame 9 of the workpiece unit 11, and an expansion unit 14 that can expand the expansion sheet 7 of the workpiece unit 11. Furthermore, the expansion device 2 is provided with a sheet shrinking unit 30 that heats and shrinks the expanded sheet 7 that has been expanded and loosened, thereby reducing the slack. Each component of the expansion device 2 will be described in detail below.

The frame holding unit 4 is provided with a frame supporting part 6 capable of supporting the annular frame 9 of the workpiece unit 11 . The frame support part 6 is an annular member with a flat upper surface, and has an opening 6 a in the center with a diameter corresponding to the opening diameter of the annular frame 9 . The upper ends of a plurality of rods 12 are connected to the lower surface of the frame support part 6, and the lower ends of the rods 12 are respectively accommodated in lifting mechanisms such as air cylinders 10. By activating the air cylinder 10 and raising and lowering the rod 12, the frame support 6 can be raised and lowered.

The frame holding unit 4 is additionally provided with an annular frame pressing part 8 capable of holding the annular frame 9 together with the frame supporting part 6 . The frame pressing part 8 is an annular member equipped with an opening 8a having the same diameter as the opening 6a of the frame supporting part 6 in the center, and has a flat lower surface.

When the frame supporting part 6 on which the annular frame 9 is mounted is raised and the annular frame 9 contacts the lower surface of the frame pressing part 8, the annular frame 9 is sandwiched by the frame supporting part 6 and the frame pressing part 8. To maintain. The frame pressing part 8 can hold the annular frame 9 with a strong force so that the position of the fixed annular frame 9 does not occur.

The frame pressing part 8 may be provided with a cooling mechanism capable of supplying cold air to the workpiece unit 11 held by the frame holding unit 4 . If the expanded sheet 7 is cooled by the cooling mechanism in advance when expanding the expanded sheet 7, the expanded sheet 7 can be hardened.

If the expanded sheet 7 is not hardened, when the expanded sheet 7 is expanded, the expanded sheet 7 only extends in the area between the outer periphery of the workpiece 1 and the inner periphery of the annular frame 9, and it is difficult to appropriately apply the force toward the radially outward side. The ground acts on the workpiece 1. Therefore, if the expanded sheet 7 is cooled and hardened by the cooling mechanism, the expanded sheet 7 will not easily expand, and the expanded sheet 7 will be expanded by the expansion unit 14 described next to appropriately apply the force to the workpiece 1. This can divide the workpiece into parts.

The expansion unit 14 can expand the expansion sheet 7 included in the workpiece unit 11 having the annular frame 9 held by the frame holding unit 4 . The expansion unit 14 is provided with the holding platform 16 accommodated in the opening 6a of the frame support part 6 of the frame holding unit 4. The workpiece 1 is placed on the upper surface of the holding platform 16 through the expanded sheet 7 included in the workpiece unit 11 having the annular frame 9 fixed by the frame holding unit 4 .

The holding platform 16 can attract and hold the workpiece 1 through the expansion sheet 7 . A plurality of suction ports 20 are formed on the upper surface of the holding platform 16 , and a suction path 18 connected to each of the suction ports 20 is formed inside the holding platform 16 . Next, the suction path 18 is connected to the suction source 24 arranged outside the holding platform 16 .

An on-off valve (valve) 22 is provided between the suction path 18 and the suction source 24 . If the opening and closing valve 22 is opened, the negative pressure generated by the suction source 24 can be applied to the object to be held placed on the upper surface of the holding platform 16 through the suction path 18 and the suction port 20 . That is, the suction path 18 , the suction port 20 , the on-off valve 22 , the suction source 24 , etc. function as a holding mechanism for sucking and holding the workpiece 1 through the expanded sheet 7 .

The upper ends of a plurality of rods 28 are connected to the lower surface of the holding platform 16, and the lower ends of the rods 28 are respectively accommodated in lifting mechanisms such as air cylinders 26. The air cylinder 26 is actuated to raise and lower the rod 28, whereby the holding platform 16 can be raised and lowered. When the holding platform 16 is raised while the annular frame 9 is fixed to the frame holding unit 4, the expansion sheet 7 attached to the annular frame 9 expands radially outward.

The sheet shrinking unit 30 heats the inner periphery of the ring frame 9 of the expanded sheet 7 which is expanded and relaxed and the area between the outer periphery of the workpiece 1 to shrink it, thereby reducing the relaxation of the expanded sheet 7. The sheet shrinking unit 30 includes: a rod 32 for supporting the components of the sheet shrinking unit 30 from above; a disc-shaped support plate 34 connected to the lower end of the rod 32; and a plurality of heating units 36 provided on the lower surface of the outer periphery of the support plate 34.

The heating unit 36 has a function of heating air and ejecting the heated air downward. A cross-section of the heating unit 36 is shown in FIG. 2 . The heating unit 36 is provided with an air supply path 38 of a cylindrical frame along the vertical direction.

An air supply source 40 is connected to the upper end of the air supply path 38 through an air supply pipe 34 a provided inside the support plate 34 and an air supply pipe 32 a provided inside the rod 32 . An on-off valve (valve) 42 is provided between the air supply path 38 and the air supply source 40. When the on-off valve 42 is opened, air can be supplied from the air supply source 40 to the air supply path 38.

A coil heater 44 is provided inside the air supply path 38 as a heat source for heating the air supplied from the air supply source 40 . Next, a hot air ejection port 38a is provided on the lower surface of the air supply path 38 . The coil heater 44 is connected to a power source and a switch 46. When the switch 46 is turned on and current flows to the coil heater 44, heat is generated in the coil heater 44 and the air supplied from the air supply source 40 is heated.

When the on-off valve 42 is opened while the coil heater 44 is generating heat, the air (hot air) heated by the coil heater 44 is ejected downward from the hot air ejection port 38a. However, in the expansion device 2 of this embodiment, the switch 46 is always turned ON. Next, by controlling the opening and closing of the on-off valve 42, the heating unit 36 is controlled to start and stop the supply of heated air to the expanded sheet 7.

For example, the switch 46 is turned ON when the operation of the expansion device 2 is started, and is turned OFF when the operation of the expansion device 2 is completed after expanding the expansion sheets 7 of the plurality of workpiece units 11 . Therefore, air heated to a predetermined temperature or higher is stably ejected from the hot air ejection port 38a.

The sheet shrinking unit 30 is provided with a rotation motor 48 on the center lower surface of the support plate 34, and the upper end of the rotation shaft 50 along the vertical direction is mounted on the rotation motor 48. A disc-shaped baffle 52 is connected to the lower end of the rotating shaft 50 . The diameter of the disc-shaped baffle 52 is slightly smaller than the diameter of the opening 8 a of the frame pressing portion 8 of the frame holding unit 4 . The frame pressing part 8 can also relatively move the baffle 52 up and down while the baffle 52 is accommodated in the opening 8a.

The baffle 52 is provided with a plurality of openings 52a in an arrangement corresponding to the arrangement of the plurality of heating units 36 in the support plate 34 (see FIGS. 1 and 5 ). For example, the support plate 34 is provided with a heating unit 36 at a plurality of fixed positions arranged at equal intervals at a predetermined diameter from the center of the lower surface of the support plate 34 . Next, the baffle 52 is provided with the same number of openings 52 a as the number of the heating units 36 at positions where the diameters from the center of the baffle 52 become a plurality of predetermined diameters and are arranged at equal intervals.

The baffle 52 has the function of preventing the heat from the heating unit 36 from being transferred to the workpiece unit 11 unnecessarily. To block the transfer of heat from the heating unit 36 to the workpiece unit 11, the rotation motor 48 is actuated to rotate the rotation shaft 50, thereby rotating the baffle 52 and changing the position of each heating unit 36 to each opening 52a. The positions are staggered.

Furthermore, when the expanded sheet 7 causing slack in the workpiece unit 11 is shrunk by the sheet shrinking unit 30 , the baffle 52 is rotated to align the positions of the openings 52 a with the positions of the heating units 36 . Next, the heated air passes through the hot air ejection port 38 a of the air supply path 38 of the heating unit 36 and the opening 52 a of the baffle 52 and is supplied to the expansion sheet 7 .

However, the shape of the baffle 52 is not limited to this. For example, the shutter 52 may be provided with an opening and closing mechanism that can individually open and close each opening 52a. At this time, the sheet shrinking unit 30 does not need to include the rotation motor 48 for rotating the shutter 52 . In addition, each heating unit 36 may be individually equipped with a baffle equipped with an opening and closing mechanism below the hot air discharge port 38a of the air supply path 38.

A rotation motor (not shown) is connected to the upper end of the rod 32 of the sheet shrinking unit 30 . When the rotation motor is operated while supplying the air heated by the heating unit 36 to the expansion sheet 7, the area between the workpiece 1 of the expansion sheet 7 and the inner peripheral edge of the annular frame 9 is expanded and slackened. Heated throughout. Next, the expanded sheet 7 shrinks and the slack is reduced.

After the shrinkage of the expansion sheet 7 is completed, if the on-off valve 42 is closed and the supply of air from the air supply source 40 to the air supply path 38 is stopped, the supply of heated air to the expansion sheet 7 can be stopped. At this time, it is not necessary to turn off the switch 46 to stop the current flowing to the coil heater 44 .

In addition, the rotation motor 48 is actuated to rotate the rotation shaft 50, thereby rotating the baffle 52, and shifting the position of each heating unit 36 from the position of each opening 52a. At this time, since the baffle 52 is brought into a state between the air supply path 38 and the expansion sheet 7 , the heat transfer to the expansion sheet 7 is more reliably blocked.

The sheet shrinking unit 30 opens the on-off valve 42 (valve) to supply air to the air supply path 38 from the air supply source 40, and heats the air in the air supply path 38 with the heating unit 36, so that it can be sprayed This air is heated by the hot air discharge port 38a. In addition, the sheet shrinking unit 30 closes the valve to block the supply of air from the air supply source 40 to the air supply path 38, so that the heated air ejected from the hot air ejection port 38a can be stopped without stopping the coil heater 44 of the heating unit 36. of that air.

Conventionally, when the expanded sheets 7 of a plurality of workpiece units 11 are continuously expanded and the expanded sheets 7 are contracted, the heating unit 36 is repeatedly activated and stopped each time the expanded sheets 7 are heated. At this time, after the expansion sheet 7 of a certain workpiece unit 11 is shrunk, the temperature of the heating unit 36 decreases until the expansion sheet 7 of the next workpiece unit 11 is shrunk.

If the temperature of the heating unit 36 does not reach the predetermined temperature, the expansion sheet 7 cannot be shrunk uniformly to a predetermined degree. Therefore, when shrinking the expansion sheet 7, it is necessary to wait until the temperature of the heating unit 36 reaches a predetermined temperature while activating the heating unit 36.

On the other hand, in the expansion device 2 of this embodiment, after the expansion sheet 7 is shrunk, the heating of the expansion sheet 7 can be stopped even while the switch 46 of the coil heater 44 is kept on. . Next, the new workpiece unit 11 is loaded into the expansion device 2 and the expansion sheet 7 is expanded. The coil heater 44 continues to generate heat at a predetermined output until the expansion sheet 7 is contracted. Next, by opening the on-off valve 42, heated air can be supplied to the expanded sheet 7.

Therefore, the temperature of the coil heater 44 does not drop while the expansion sheet 7 is not being shrunk. Therefore, there is no need to wait for the temperature of the coil heater 44 to rise to a predetermined temperature before the expansion sheet 7 can start shrinking. Therefore, with the expansion device 2 of this embodiment, the expansion and contraction of the expansion sheet 7 of the workpiece unit 11 can be performed in a short time, thereby improving the processing efficiency.

However, in the expansion device 2 of this embodiment, there may be a time when the switch 46 of the coil heater 44 is turned OFF while the expansion sheet 7 is not being contracted. At this time, the time required for the coil heater 44 to rise to a predetermined temperature after the switch 46 is turned on is considered, and the switch 46 is turned on while ensuring this time before shrinking the expansion sheet 7 .

Next, the expansion method of this embodiment will be described. This expansion method is implemented, for example, in the expansion device 2 . The expansion method of this embodiment will be described below by taking the case where it is implemented on the expansion device 2 as an example. In this expansion method, a plurality of workpieces respectively include: a workpiece 1; an expansion sheet 7 attached to the workpiece 1; and an annular frame 9 attached to the outer peripheral side of the expansion sheet 7. The expansion lamellae 7 of the unit 11 are expanded one after another.

First, in the expansion method of this embodiment, a loading step of carrying the workpiece unit 11 into the expansion device 2 may be performed. FIG. 2 schematically shows the workpiece unit 11 and the expansion device 2 in a state of being carried into the expansion device 2 . Among them, the figures below in FIG. 2 are cross-sectional views showing some components such as the expansion device 2 .

When loading the workpiece unit 11, as shown in FIG. 2, the annular frame 9 of the workpiece unit 11 is placed on the frame support part 6 of the frame holding unit 4, and the workpiece 1 is moved through the expansion sheet 7. placed on the holding platform 16.

Next, an expansion step is performed in which the annular frame 9 of the workpiece unit 11 is held and the expansion sheet 7 is expanded. A cross-sectional view of the expansion step is shown schematically in Figure 3. When expanding the expansion sheet 7, first, the air cylinder 10 is actuated to raise the rod 12, and the frame support part 6 is raised until the annular frame 9 comes into contact with the upper frame pressing part 8. At this time, the annular frame 9 of the workpiece unit 11 is clamped and held by the frame supporting part 6 and the frame pressing part 8 .

Next, the expanded sheet 7 is expanded radially outward. FIG. 4 shows the expansion device 2 that expands the expansion sheet 7 and a cross-sectional view of the expanded expansion sheet 7 . When the expansion sheet 7 is expanded radially outward, the air cylinder 26 of the expansion unit 14 is actuated to raise the rod 28 and raise the holding platform 16 .

At this time, the expanded sheet 7 is expanded and a radially outward force acts on the workpiece 1, cracks are generated in the modified layer 3 in the vertical direction, and the workpiece 1 is divided using the modified layer 3 as a starting point. When the workpiece 1 is divided, element wafers 15 each having the elements 5 are formed. The component wafer 15 is then held on the expanded sheet 7 .

Among them, the expansion device 2 may also be equipped with a cooling mechanism for cooling the workpiece unit 11 with cold air. When the expansion sheet 7 is expanded, the cooling mechanism may also be used to preliminarily move the workpiece unit 11 inside the expansion device 2 Cool. When the expanded sheet 7 is cooled, the expanded sheet 7 becomes hard, and when the expanded sheet 7 is expanded radially outward, the force due to the expansion can be easily and appropriately applied to the workpiece 1 . Next, after the expanded sheet 7 is expanded, cooling of the expanded sheet 7 and the like is stopped.

In addition, a cooling mechanism may also be provided on the holding platform 16 of the expansion device 2 . When the DAF is installed on the workpiece 1 , the cooling mechanism installed on the holding platform 16 may be operated as necessary to cool the workpiece 1 through the expansion sheet 7 . If the workpiece 1 is cooled, the elongation of the DAF can be suppressed, so the DAF can be easily divided together with the workpiece 1 .

Thereafter, when the expansion of the expansion sheet 7 is released, the air cylinder 26 is actuated to lower the rod 28 and lower the holding platform 16 . Here, after the expansion sheet 7 is expanded and before the expansion of the expansion sheet 7 is released, the opening and closing valve 22 is opened in advance. Next, the negative pressure generated by the suction source 24 acts on the expanded sheet 7 and the workpiece 1 of the workpiece unit 11 through the suction path 18 and the suction port 20, and the holding platform 16 holds the expanded sheet 7 and the like.

When the expansion of the expanded sheet 7 is released, the expanded sheet 7 becomes loose. At this time, the area where the expanded sheet 7 overlaps the workpiece 1 is fixed by the holding mechanism of the holding platform 16. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the slack is concentrated on the outer periphery of the expanded sheet 7 and the workpiece 1. The area between the inner peripheries of the annular frame 9.

Therefore, a sheet shrinking step of heating and shrinking the expanded sheet 7 is then performed in order to reduce the slack. The process of shrinking the expanded sheet 7 by heating is also called thermal shrinkage. FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the expansion device 2 in which expansion of the expansion sheet 7 is released and the expansion sheet 7 is heated, and the expansion sheet 7 .

In the sheet shrinking step, the rotation motor 48 is actuated to rotate the shutter 52 and move the opening 52 a below the heating unit 36 . Next, the on-off valve 42 (valve) is opened and air is supplied from the air supply source 40 to the air supply path 38 . Among them, the switch 46 is turned ON in advance, and the coil heater 44 is heated to a predetermined temperature in advance. The switch 46 is turned ON at the same time as the expansion device 2 is started, for example.

When the air is supplied to the air supply path 38 , the air is heated by the coil heater 44 . Next, the air heated inside the air supply path 38 passes through the hot air ejection port 38 a of the air supply path 38 and the opening 52 a of the baffle, and is sprayed to the area of the expanded sheet 7 where relaxation occurs. Next, when the rod 32 is rotated, the entire area of the expanded sheet 7 is heated, and the slack is removed.

During the operation of the expansion device 2, the switch 46 is always turned on, and the opening and closing of the on-off valve 42 is controlled to switch the injection and stop of the heated air. The sheet shrinking step begins by starting to spray the air and ends by stopping the spraying of the air.

After the switch 46 is turned ON, a certain amount of time is required until the coil heater 44 reaches a predetermined temperature. However, if the switch 46 is always turned ON, there is no need for the temperature of the standby coil heater 44 to rise. Therefore, the start and stop of the sheet shrinking step are controlled not by controlling the ON and OFF switching of the switch 46 but by controlling the opening and closing of the on-off valve 42 .

If the heated air is sprayed onto the area of the expanded sheet 7 and heated, the area of the expanded sheet 7 shrinks, thereby reducing the relaxation of the expanded sheet 7 generated in the expansion step. At this time, when the operation of the holding mechanism of the holding platform 16 is stopped and the suction of the expansion sheet 7 is released, the expansion sheet 7 remains expanded in the area overlapping the workpiece 1 .

If the slack of the expanded sheet 7 is reduced, the distance between the element wafers 15 is kept wide. Therefore, when the workpiece unit 11 is transported later, the adjacent element wafers 15 are less likely to come into contact with each other, and damage to the element wafers 15 is suppressed. After the sheet shrinking step is performed, the workpiece unit 11 is carried out to the outside of the expansion device 2 , and each element wafer 15 is picked up by the expansion sheet 7 .

A new workpiece unit 11 is loaded into the expansion device 2 from the outside. Next, in the expansion device 2, an expansion step and a sheet contraction step are performed on the workpiece unit 11. As described above, in the expanding method of this embodiment, the expanding step and the sheet shrinking step are successively performed on a plurality of workpiece units 11 .

Here, while the expansion step and the slack removal step are successively performed on the plurality of workpiece units 11, the operation of the heating unit 36 is not stopped. This sheet shrinking step is started by opening the on-off valve 42 (valve) and starting the injection of air, and is ended by closing the on-off valve 42 (valve) and stopping the injection of air.

Therefore, the temperature of the coil heater 44 does not drop while the expansion sheet 7 is not being shrunk. Therefore, there is no need to wait for the temperature of the coil heater 44 to rise to a predetermined temperature, and the sheet shrinkage step of the expansion sheet 7 can be started. Therefore, according to the expansion method of this embodiment, the expansion and contraction of the expansion sheet 7 of the workpiece unit 11 can be performed in a short time, so the processing efficiency can be improved.

However, the present invention is not limited to the description of the above embodiment, and can be implemented with various modifications. For example, in the above embodiment, when the expansion sheet 7 is expanded, the holding platform 16 is raised while the annular frame 9 is clamped by the frame supporting part 6 and the frame pressing part 8 . However, an aspect of the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, the expansion device 2 may be provided with an expansion mechanism that expands the expansion sheet 7 pasted to block the opening of the annular frame 9 by pushing down the inner area of the annular frame 9 from above. At this time, the direction of the workpiece unit 11 is adjusted so that the surface of the expansion sheet 7 that is in contact with the workpiece 1 faces downward, and the workpiece unit 11 is carried into the expansion device 2 .

The structures, methods, etc. of the above-described embodiments may be appropriately modified and implemented as long as they do not deviate from the scope of the purpose of the present invention.

1: Processed object 3: Modified layer 5:Component 7:Extended slices 7a:DAF (die adhesion film) 9:Frame 11: Processed object unit 13:Separation ditch 15: Component chip 2: Extension device 4: Frame holding unit 6:Framework Support Department 6a,8a: Opening 8: Frame pressing part 10,26:Air cylinder 12,28:rod 14:Expansion unit 16:Keep the platform 18: Attraction Road 20: Suction mouth 22,42: On-off valve 24: source of attraction 30: Sheet shrinking unit 32: Rod 32a,34a:Air supply pipe 34:Support board 36:Heating unit 38:Air supply road 38a: Hot air outlet 40:Air supply source 44:Coil heater 46: switch 48: Rotary motor 50:Rotation axis 52:Baffle 52a:Open your mouth

[Fig. 1] A perspective view schematically showing an example of an expansion device. [Fig. 2] A cross-sectional view schematically showing the expansion device loaded into the workpiece unit. [Fig. 3] Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the expansion device in a state where the expansion sheet is fixed. [Fig. 4] Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an expansion device that performs expansion of the expansion sheet. [Fig. 5] Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an expanding device that performs heating of a relaxed expanded sheet.

1: Processed object

2: Extension device

4: Frame holding unit

5:Component

6:Framework Support Department

6a,8a: Opening

7:Extended slices

8: Frame pressing part

9:Frame

10,26:Air cylinder

11: Processed object unit

12,28:rod

13:Separation ditch

14:Expansion unit

15: Component chip

16:Keep the platform

18: Attraction Road

20: Suction mouth

22,42: On-off valve

24: source of attraction

30: Sheet shrinking unit

32: Rod

32a,34a:Air supply pipe

34:Support board

36:Heating unit

38:Air supply road

38a: Hot air outlet

40:Air supply source

44:Coil heater

46: switch

48: Rotary motor

50:Rotation axis

52:Baffle

52a:Open your mouth

Claims (4)

An expansion device that expands the workpiece unit including a workpiece, an expansion sheet attached to the workpiece, and an annular frame attached to the outer peripheral side of the expansion sheet. The expansion device is characterized by: having: a frame holding unit capable of holding the annular frame of the workpiece unit; and an expansion unit capable of holding the annular frame held by the frame holding unit. The expansion sheet included in the workpiece unit is expanded; and the sheet contraction unit is configured to expand the expansion sheet included in the workpiece unit having the annular frame held by the frame holding unit. The area between the outer periphery of the object to be processed and the inner periphery of the annular frame is heated and contracted, thereby reducing the relaxation of the expansion sheet that is expanded and relaxed by the expansion unit. The sheet contraction unit includes: The hot air outlet is opposite to the expansion sheet; the air supply path is connected to the hot air outlet at one end and the other end is connected to the air supply source; the heating unit is connected to the air supply path by Internal heating to heat the air supplied from the air supply source; a valve to control the supply and interruption of air from the air supply source; a switch that switches between heating and stopping of the heating unit; a baffle that has an opening in a configuration corresponding to the configuration of the heating unit; and a rotation motor that rotates the baffle, The position of the opening is aligned with the position of the heating unit, and the position of the heating unit is staggered from the position of the opening. The sheet shrinking unit aligns the position of the opening with the heating unit through the rotation motor. position, and the valve is opened to supply the air from the air supply source to the air supply path, and the air is heated by the heating unit in the air supply path, whereby the heated air can be ejected from the hot air outlet through the opening. The air is sprayed to the area of the expansion sheet, and the sheet shrinking unit blocks the supply of air from the air supply source to the air supply path by closing the valve. There is no need to stop the heating unit to stop the hot air supply. The ejection outlet injects the heated air, and uses the rotating motor to stagger the position of the heating unit and the position of the opening, thereby shielding the heat transfer from the heating unit to the expanded sheet. The expansion device of claim 1, wherein the frame holding unit is provided with: a frame support part that can support the annular frame of the workpiece unit; and a frame pressing part that clamps together with the frame support part The annular frame is held, and the frame pressing portion is provided with a cooling mechanism capable of supplying cold air to the workpiece unit held by the frame holding unit. An expansion method will respectively include: a workpiece, an expansion sheet attached to the workpiece, and an expansion sheet attached to the workpiece. An expansion method in which the expansion sheets of a plurality of workpiece units of an annular frame on the outer peripheral side of the sheet are continuously expanded, characterized by: an expansion step of holding the annular frame and expanding the expansion sheets; and a sheet shrinking step, which is to spray the air heated by the heating unit in the area between the outer periphery of the workpiece and the inner periphery of the annular frame of the expanded sheet after the expansion step, so that the The area of the expanded sheet shrinks to reduce the relaxation of the expanded sheet generated in the expansion step. The expansion step and the sheet shrinkage step are performed continuously on a plurality of workpiece units without causing any damage to the heating unit. The operation stops. The sheet shrinking step starts by starting the injection of air and ends by stopping the injection of air. In the sheet shrinking step, the position of the opening of the baffle with the opening is aligned with The position of the heating unit is such that air heated by the heating unit is sprayed through the opening into the area between the outer periphery of the workpiece and the inner periphery of the annular frame of the expanded sheet. In the expansion step, , the position of the opening of the baffle is shifted from the position of the heating unit to block the heat transfer to the expanded sheet by the heating unit. The expansion method of claim 3, wherein in the expansion step, the expanded sheet is cooled in advance before expanding the expanded sheet.

Images