JP2008306119A - Separator and separation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a separator and a separation method by which, when a first plate member is separated from a workpiece where a second plate member is stacked on the first plate member, the second plate member can be effectively prevented from being broken. <P>SOLUTION: The separator 20 is used to separate a semiconductor wafer W from a glass plate P in a plate workpiece A wherein the semiconductor wafers W are stacked on the glass plate P with an adhesive sheet S in between. It is provided with a table 63 for supporting the workpiece A, a blade 75 that is provided insertably between the glass plate P and the adhesive sheet S, and a motor M2 for relatively rotating the table 63 and the blade 75 in the plane. The blade 75 is inserted into the interface between the glass plate P and the adhesive sheet S from the outer edge, and while relatively rotating them, the tip of the blade 75 is inserted into the center of the workpiece A. Thus, the glass plate P is peeled off from the adhesive sheet S, so as to separate the semiconductor wafer W from the glass plate P. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a separation apparatus and a separation method, and more particularly to a separation apparatus and a separation method suitable for separating a glass plate that ensures the smoothness of the semiconductor wafer when the semiconductor wafer is ground to a very thin thickness.

  A semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as a “wafer”) is laminated on a plate-like body having rigidity, such as a glass plate, for example, when processing such as back surface grinding, and uses the smoothness of the wafer. Is being ground to the limit. This glass plate becomes unnecessary in, for example, a dicing step other than the grinding step, and after the grinding process, the glass plate is separated for reuse.

  The separation of the wafer and the glass described above can be performed using, for example, a processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1. The processing apparatus is provided with a separating apparatus, and a configuration is adopted in which the separating apparatus separates the glass plate from the wafer and transfers it to the ring frame.

JP 2006-156633 A

  In the separation apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, after the glass plate is fixed to the table and the separation trigger portion is formed between the glass plate and the adhesive sheet, the separation trigger portion is formed. The glass plate and the wafer are separated (separated) by lifting the wafer around the opposite side, that is, the other end in the wafer radial direction.

  However, in the method of separating the wafer and the glass plate by lifting the wafer, especially when the wafer is ground and is extremely thin (for example, several tens of μm), the wafer is bent and deformed. There is a processing risk that it is easy to break.

[Object of invention]
The object of the present invention is to provide the first plate-like member from a processing object in which a second plate-like member having brittleness is laminated on a first plate-like member having a certain rigidity. It is an object of the present invention to provide a separation apparatus and a separation method that can effectively prevent the second plate-like member from being damaged during the separation.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses a plate-like body in which a second plate-like member is laminated on a first plate-like member via an adhesive sheet as a processing object, and the first object from the processing object is the first. In the separating apparatus for separating the plate-shaped member of
Support means for supporting the object to be processed from the second plate-like member side, insertion means provided to be insertable between the first plate-like member and the adhesive sheet, and the support means and insertion Drive means for relatively rotating the means,
The first plate-like member can be separated from the object to be processed by relative rotation of the support means and the inserting means in a plane and a moving operation of the inserting means from the outer edge toward the center with respect to the object to be processed. Is adopted.

Further, the present invention is a separation apparatus that separates the glass plate from the processing object, using a plate-like body in which a semiconductor wafer is laminated on a glass plate via an adhesive sheet as a processing object.
A support unit that supports the object to be processed from the semiconductor wafer side, a holding unit that holds the glass plate relative to the support unit, and the glass plate and the adhesive sheet are provided so as to be insertable. An insertion means; and a driving means for relatively rotating the support means and the holding means and the insertion means,
The glass plate can be separated from the processing object by relative rotation of the supporting means, the holding means, and the insertion means in a plane, and the insertion means moves relative to the processing object from the outer edge toward the center. Can be adopted.

  In this invention, the said insertion means can take the structure that it is controlled so that it may insert gradually toward the center from the outer edge of the said process target object.

  Further, the adhesive sheet is an ultraviolet curable adhesive sheet, and further includes ultraviolet irradiation means for irradiating the adhesive sheet with ultraviolet rays at a stage before the object to be processed is transferred to the support means. Good.

  The object to be processed is the second plate-like member or the semiconductor wafer side supported by a ring frame via a mount tape, and the first plate-like member or The structure that a glass plate is isolate | separated can be taken.

  Further, the support means includes an outer table that supports the ring frame and an inner table that is positioned on the lower surface side of the object to be processed. The outer table and the inner table are provided so as to be relatively movable in the vertical direction. Yes.

Moreover, this invention makes the plate-shaped body which the 2nd plate-shaped member laminated | stacked through the adhesive sheet on the 1st plate-shaped member the process target object, and is using the said 1st plate-shaped member from the said process target object. In the separation method to separate,
The processing object is supported from the second plate-shaped member side, the processing object and the insertion means are relatively rotated in a plane, and the space between the first plate-shaped member and the adhesive sheet Then, a method is adopted in which an insertion means is inserted from the outer edge side of the processing object toward the center to form a gap to separate the first plate-like member from the processing object.

  In the separation method, during the relative rotation, the insertion means is gradually inserted from the outer edge of the processing object toward the center, and the bonding area of the first plate-like member on the processing object is increased. The method of performing the said separation by decreasing can be taken.

  In the separation method, the first plate member is held so as to prevent the first plate member from falling when the object to be processed and the insertion unit are separated by rotating relative to each other. Is preferred.

According to the present invention, the first plate-like member such as glass and the adhesive sheet are relatively rotated in a plane while the second plate-like member side of the semiconductor wafer or the like is supported by the support means, and the insertion is performed. Since the means is configured to be inserted between the first plate-like member and the adhesive sheet, the first plate-like member can be separated from the object to be processed without bending the second plate-like member. .
Further, by gradually inserting the insertion means from the outer edge of the object to be processed toward the center direction, it is possible to reduce the rotational resistance for rotating the object to be processed. Can be separated. Further, when the plane area of the object to be processed is small, the insertion means can be inserted into the center in advance, and in this state, the object can be separated by being relatively rotated in the plane.
Furthermore, the height of the table for sucking and holding the object to be processed is provided so that it can be adhered to the first plate-like member even if the thickness of the second plate-like member or the adhesive sheet changes variously. It is possible to easily adjust the insertion position of the insertion means to the boundary position with the sheet.
Further, if the adhesive sheet is an ultraviolet curable adhesive sheet and the adhesive layer is cured via the ultraviolet irradiation means, the above-described separation can be performed with a small resistance. The crack of a plate-shaped member can be avoided effectively.
Further, when the processing object is supported by the ring frame, the second plate member is transferred to the ring frame side by the separation of the first plate member. Handling is also easy.
Further, in the configuration in which the outer table that supports the ring frame and the inner table that supports the object to be processed constitute the supporting means, and the outer table and the inner table can be relatively moved up and down, for example, the outer table is relatively By keeping the position lowered, the insertion means can be accessed from the horizontal direction toward the boundary between the first plate-like member and the adhesive sheet, and the movement direction of the insertion means can be simplified.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment in which a separation apparatus 20 according to the present invention is applied to a wafer processing apparatus 10, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the separation method over time. It is shown. Here, as shown in FIG. 2 (A), the processing object A according to the present embodiment has a glass plate P as a first plate member, and an adhesive sheet S on the upper surface side of the glass plate P. And a wafer W as a second plate-like member stacked via the two. It is assumed that the wafer W is laminated with the circuit surface (the lower surface side in FIG. 2A) positioned on the adhesive sheet S side and is extremely thinly ground by a grinding apparatus (not shown). The adhesive sheet S is not shown in detail here, but has a three-layer structure having an ultraviolet curable adhesive layer on one side of the base sheet and a removable adhesive layer on the other side. The structure is used, and an ultraviolet contact curable adhesive layer is adhered to the glass plate P and the most peelable adhesive layer is adhered to the wafer W.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the processing object A is integrated with the mounting tape MT in a state where the wafer W is disposed on the inner peripheral side of the ring frame RF. Then, as shown in FIG. 2 (C), the processing object A is supported from the wafer W side via the mount tape MT, and as shown in FIG. 2 (D), the glass plate P and the adhesive sheet S 2A, the adhesive sheet S left on the circuit surface side of the wafer W is peeled off from the wafer W as shown in FIG. 2E, and finally the inner side of the ring frame RF. Thus, only the wafer W is left (see FIG. 2F).

  In FIG. 1, the wafer processing apparatus 10 is configured to irradiate the processing object A accommodated in the magazine 11 one by one via the robot arm 12 and to cure the ultraviolet curable adhesive layer of the adhesive sheet S. An apparatus 13, an alignment apparatus 16 for transferring and positioning the processing object A irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet irradiation apparatus 13, a mounting apparatus 17 for integrating the processing object A with the ring frame RF, and a processing object A separation device 20 that separates (peels) the glass plate P from the object A and transfers the wafer W to the ring frame RF, a peeling device 21 that peels the adhesive sheet S remaining on the circuit surface side of the wafer W, The wafer W after the sheet S is peeled off is configured to include a stocker 23 for storing the wafer W in a state of being supported by the ring frame RF.

  In the magazine 11, the processing objects A are accommodated in a multistage shape with the wafer W as the upper surface side in a state where a large number of the processing objects A are maintained in a substantially horizontal posture. The processing object A is taken out from the magazine 11 via the robot arm 12 having a suction holding structure on the tip side, transferred to the ultraviolet irradiation device 13, and then positioned by the alignment device 16 and mounted on the mounting device 17 side. It is provided to be transferred to.

  The ultraviolet irradiation device 13 includes a slide table 27 movable along the guide rail 25 and an ultraviolet irradiation unit 28 located above the slide table 27. The slide table 27 moves along the guide rail 25 with the processing object A placed thereon, thereby curing the ultraviolet curable adhesive layer of the adhesive sheet S to prepare for separation by the separation device 20. It is like that.

  The alignment device 16, the mounting device 17, the peeling device 21, and the stocker 23 are substantially the same as the configuration described in Patent Document 1 that is a prior application by the present applicant. Accordingly, the description or description of these configurations will be omitted here, and the separation device 20 will be described in detail below.

  The alignment apparatus 16 rotates the processing object A and performs positioning for specifying the crystal direction of the wafer W by a camera or the like (not shown), and also centers the wafer W.

  The mount device 17 includes a mount table 40 that supports the ring frame RF and the processing object A, and a pasting unit 41 that affixes a mount tape MT that integrates the ring frame RF and the processing object A. Has been. The ring frame RF is stocked in a state of being stacked on a stock table 42 disposed on the side of the mount table 40, and the uppermost ring frame RF is mounted on the mount table 40 by a transfer arm 43 having a suction portion. Reprinted on top. The mount table 40 is provided so as to be movable along the pair of guide rails 47 in the X-axis direction.

  The affixing unit 41 affixes the mount tape MT to the ring frame RF and the back surface (upper surface in the drawing) of the wafer W. The mount tape MT in the present embodiment is made of a resin tape having a diameter larger than the opening of the ring frame RF, and is temporarily attached to one surface of a strip-shaped release sheet and adopted as the original fabric L. The affixing unit 41 includes a peel plate 51 that peels off the mount tape MT by abruptly reversing the feeding direction of the original fabric L, and a press roller 52 disposed along the leading edge of the peel plate 51. The MT is attached to the processing object A and the ring frame RF on the mount table 40 that moves while being peeled off at the tip of the peel plate 51.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the separation device 20 includes a support means 55 that supports the object A to be processed from the wafer W side via the mount tape MT, and a glass at an upper position relative to the support means 55. The holding means 56 for holding the plate P, the insertion means 57 provided so as to be insertable between the glass plate P and the adhesive sheet S, and the insertion means 57 relative to the support means 55 and the holding means 56 are relatively rotated in a plane. Driving means 58 to be operated. In FIGS. 3 and 4, the mounting tape MT is omitted to make the configuration easy to see.

  A transfer arm 78 that is movable via a single-axis robot 77 is provided between the separation device 20 and the mount device 17, and the processing object A integrated with the ring frame RF via the mount tape MT. Is held by suction and delivered to the support means 55.

  The support means 55 includes an outer table 60 that supports the ring frame RF, and an inner table 61 that is located on the lower surface side of the processing object A and that holds the processing object A by suction via the mount tape MT. 63. The outer table 60 is provided with a substantially ring shape in plan view, while the inner table 61 is provided with a substantially circular plan shape. In the present embodiment, the inner table 61 and the outer table 60 are provided so as to be movable up and down (in the Z-axis direction) via a motor (not shown). Even if the thickness of the sheet changes variously, it becomes possible to easily match the insertion position of the insertion means described later with the boundary position between the glass plate P and the adhesive sheet S. Further, ring pressers 65 are provided at a plurality of positions in the circumferential direction on the outer periphery of the outer table 60, that is, at four positions in the present embodiment, at positions spaced apart from each other by approximately 90 degrees. These ring pressers 65 are substantially L-shaped in a side view, and the ring presser 65 can fix the ring frame RF to the upper surface side of the outer table 60.

  The holding means 56 is fixed to a frame (not shown), and is a linear motion motor M that can advance and retreat in the Z-axis direction, and an adsorption provided rotatably on the output shaft side (lower end side) of the motor M in a plane. The pad 69 is constituted. The suction pad 69 is connected to a decompression pump (not shown).

  The insertion means 57 rotates in a plane via a single-axis robot 70 extending in the X-axis direction, a slider 71 movable in the X-axis direction by the single-axis robot 70, and a motor M1 supported by the slider 71. The arm 73 includes a detachable arm 73 and a blade 75 detachably provided at the tip of the arm 73. The blade 75 is provided in a planar shape similar to a known cutter blade whose tip has an acute angle.

  The driving means 58 is constituted by a motor M2 provided on the lower surface side of the outer table 60. The motor M2 enables the table 63 to rotate in a plane, whereby the blade 75 can be rotated relative to the ring frame RF and the processing object A supported by the table 63.

  The glass plate removing device 80 includes a slider 82 movable along a single-axis robot 81 extending in the Y-axis direction, a suction arm 85 supported via a Z-axis robot 83 provided on the slider 82, and a glass. The lifting / lowering type recovery table 86 is configured such that the plates P can be stacked in a multi-stage shape and recovered. Here, the suction arm 85 has a motor M3 interposed on the base side thereof, and is provided so as to be able to reverse through the motor M3.

As shown in FIG. 4, the wafer W from which the glass plate P has been peeled off by the separating device 20 and transferred to the ring frame RF is transferred to the peeling device 21 via the transfer device 88. The transfer device 88 includes a single-axis robot 89 disposed along the Y-axis direction, a single-axis robot 91 for lifting supported by a slider 90 that moves along the single-axis robot 89, and the single unit for lifting. The lift slider 92 moves along the axis robot 91, and the suction arm 93 supported by the lift slider 92. The wafer W with the adhesive sheet integrated with the ring frame RF through the mount tape MT is transferred to the peeling device 21 side by the suction arm 93, and after the adhesive sheet S is peeled off by the peeling device 21, it is accommodated in the stocker. Is done.
In addition, since the structure of the peeling apparatus 21 and the stocker 23 is the same as the said patent document 1, and is not an essential structure of this invention, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  Next, a separation method by the separation device 20 in the present embodiment will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the processing objects A accommodated in the magazine 11 are taken out one by one by the robot arm 12 and transferred to the ultraviolet irradiation device 13. In the ultraviolet irradiation device 13, ultraviolet rays are irradiated through the glass plate P of the processing object A to cure the ultraviolet curable adhesive layer of the adhesive sheet S. Prepared for peeling.

  The processing object A that has been irradiated with ultraviolet rays is aligned by the alignment device 16 and then transferred to the mount table 40 of the mounting device 17 via the robot arm 12. At this time, the ring frame RF is previously transferred to the mount table 40 by the transfer arm 43.

  The processing object A and the ring frame RF are integrated by attaching the mount tape MT to the upper surface side of the processing object A and the ring frame RF transferred to the mount table 40. In this state, as shown in FIG. 2B, the mount tape MT is located on the upper surface side.

When the transfer arm 78 sucks the ring frame RF portion on the mount table 40 and moves in the upper right direction along the X-axis direction in FIG. 1, the suction arm 85 of the glass plate removing device 80 moves below the transfer arm 78. The suction arm 85 sucks the surface of the glass plate P, and the processing object A is delivered together with the ring frame RF.
Then, the processing object A delivered by rotating the suction arm 85 by approximately 180 degrees is reversed, and as shown in FIG. 2 (C), the processing object A and the processing object A are mounted from the wafer W side via the mount tape MT. The ring frames RF are supported on the upper surfaces of the inner table 61 and the outer table 60, respectively.
In this state, the position of the ring frame RF is fixed by the ring presser 65, while the processing object A is sucked and held on the inner table 61 via the mount tape MT.

  In a state where the processing object A and the ring frame RF are fixed in this manner, the suction pad 69 of the holding means 56 that has been waiting up until then is lowered and comes into contact with the glass plate P to contact the glass plate. P adsorption holding is started.

  Here, the insertion means 57 rotates the arm 73 in a plane from the standby position shown in FIG. 4 in the direction in which the tip of the blade 75 faces the processing object A, while the table 63 lowers the outer table 60. Thus, the upper surface position is controlled to be relatively lower than the upper surface position of the inner table 61 (see FIG. 2D). In this state, the single-axis robot 70 of the insertion means 57 is operated to move the tip end side of the blade 75 to the outer edge at the interface between the glass plate P and the adhesive sheet S. At this time, the inner table 61 is adjusted via a motor (not shown) so that the height position of the blade 75 matches the height position of the interface. Therefore, even when the thickness of the wafer W or the adhesive sheet S is different, separation at the interface can be handled.

  Next, the motor M2 constituting the driving means 58 is driven to rotate the table 63 in a plane. The pad 69 adsorbing the glass plate P rotates following this rotation. During this rotation, the blade 75 is inserted little by little from the outer edge of the processing object A toward the center. Then, when the tip of the blade 75 reaches the center, the interface peeling by the blade 75 reaches the entire area of the processing object A, whereby the glass plate P is peeled from the adhesive sheet S and separated from the wafer W. It will be. As shown in FIG. 2D, even if the glass plate P is bent and deformed by the insertion of the blade 75, the thickness of the blade 75 is set so that the glass plate P is not broken.

  The glass plate P thus separated is controlled such that the suction pad 69 rises and the suction arm 85 is positioned on the lower surface side of the glass plate P, and the glass plate P is delivered to the suction arm 85 to collect the recovery table. 86 is recovered.

  The wafer W from which the glass plate P has been separated is transferred to the side of the peeling device 21 that performs the post-process, with the ring frame RF on the outer peripheral side being sucked and held by the suction arm 93. Then, in the peeling device 21, after the adhesive sheet S remaining on the upper surface side of the wafer W is peeled from the wafer W, the wafer W is accommodated in the stocker 23 together with the ring frame RF.

  Therefore, according to such an embodiment, the wafer W is positioned on the table 63 side to support the wafer W, while the glass plate P is the upper surface side, and the blade 75 is between the glass plate P and the adhesive sheet S. Since the processing object A and the blade 75 are relatively rotated in a plane while being inserted into the wafer W, the glass plate P can be peeled from the processing object A without bending the wafer W, and the wafer W And the glass plate can be separated without difficulty, thereby obtaining the effect that the wafer W can be effectively prevented from being damaged.

As described above, the best configuration, method and the like for carrying out the present invention have been disclosed in the above description, but the present invention is not limited to this.
In other words, the present invention has been illustrated and described mainly with respect to specific embodiments, but without departing from the scope of the technical idea and object of the present invention, the shape, position, or With respect to the arrangement and the like, those skilled in the art can make various changes as necessary.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the tip insertion depth of the blade 75 is enlarged and moved to the center of the processing object A while the processing object A is being rotated has been described. When the diameter of the processing object A is small, the blade 75 is inserted from the outer edge of the processing object A toward the center at once, and the processing object A is rotated in this state to rotate the processing object A. Separation can also be performed.

Moreover, although the separation apparatus 20 in the said embodiment illustrated and demonstrated the case where the plate-shaped object by which the glass plate P was stuck to the circuit surface side of the wafer W as the process target object A via the adhesive sheet S was used, The present invention can also be applied when separating other plate-like bodies having a laminated structure.
Further, the table 63 can be moved relative to the inner table 61 by lowering the outer table 60, but the inner table 61 may be raised.
Further, the blade 75 constituting the insertion means 57 can employ a configuration that allows height position adjustment.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an overall configuration of a wafer processing apparatus to which a separation apparatus according to an embodiment is applied. Sectional drawing which shows a series of processes which isolate | separate a glass plate from a process target object and transfer a wafer to a ring frame. The principal part schematic perspective view of a separation apparatus. The schematic perspective view of the separation apparatus which shows the state by which the glass plate was isolate | separated from the wafer.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 Separator 55 Support means 56 Holding means 57 Insertion means 58 Drive means 60 Outer table 61 Inner table 63 Table A Process target P Glass plate (first plate-like member)
S adhesive sheet W semiconductor wafer (second plate-like member)
RF ring frame M2 motor

Claims (9)

In the separation apparatus that separates the first plate-shaped member from the processing object, using the plate-shaped body in which the second plate-shaped member is laminated on the first plate-shaped member via the adhesive sheet as the processing object.
Support means for supporting the object to be processed from the second plate-like member side, insertion means provided to be insertable between the first plate-like member and the adhesive sheet, and the support means and insertion Drive means for relatively rotating the means,
The first plate-like member can be separated from the object to be processed by relative rotation of the support means and the inserting means in a plane and a moving operation of the inserting means from the outer edge toward the center with respect to the object to be processed. Separation device characterized by that. In a separation apparatus that separates the glass plate from the processing object, using a plate-like body in which a semiconductor wafer is laminated on the glass plate via an adhesive sheet,
A support unit that supports the object to be processed from the semiconductor wafer side, a holding unit that holds the glass plate relative to the support unit, and the glass plate and the adhesive sheet are provided so as to be insertable. An insertion means; and a driving means for relatively rotating the support means and the holding means and the insertion means,
The glass plate can be separated from the processing object by relative rotation of the supporting means, the holding means, and the insertion means in a plane, and the insertion means moves relative to the processing object from the outer edge toward the center. Separation device characterized by that.   The separation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the insertion unit is controlled so as to be gradually inserted from an outer edge of the processing object toward a center.   The adhesive sheet is an ultraviolet curable adhesive sheet, and further includes ultraviolet irradiation means for irradiating the adhesive sheet with ultraviolet rays before transferring the object to be processed to the support means. The separation apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3.   The processing object is the first plate member or glass plate in a state where the second plate member or semiconductor wafer side is supported by a ring frame via a mount tape and is supported by the support means together with the ring frame. The separation device according to claim 1, wherein the separation device is separated.   The support means includes an outer table that supports the ring frame and an inner table that is positioned on the lower surface side of the object to be processed. The outer table and the inner table are provided so as to be relatively movable in the vertical direction. The separation device according to claim 5. In the separation method of separating the first plate-like member from the treatment object, the plate-like body in which the second plate-like member is laminated on the first plate-like member via the adhesive sheet is used as the treatment object.
The processing object is supported from the second plate-shaped member side, the processing object and the insertion means are relatively rotated in a plane, and the space between the first plate-shaped member and the adhesive sheet A separation method characterized by separating the first plate member from the processing object by inserting an insertion means from the outer edge side of the processing object toward the center to form a gap.   When performing the relative rotation, the insertion means is gradually inserted from the outer edge of the processing object toward the center, thereby reducing the bonding area of the first plate-like member on the processing object. The separation apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the separation is performed.   8. The first plate-like member is held so as to prevent the first plate-like member from falling when the object to be processed and the insertion means are separated by rotating relative to each other. Or the separation method of 8.

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