JP6061629B2 - Processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for cutting an outer peripheral edge of a wafer with a cutting blade.

  In recent years, with the thinning and miniaturization of electrical equipment, it is desired to make the wafer thinner. In addition, chamfering is performed on the outer periphery of the wafer to prevent cracking and dust generation during the manufacturing process. For this reason, when the thickness of the wafer is ground and finished to, for example, 100 μm or less, the outer periphery of the chamfered wafer becomes a knife edge, and there is a problem that the wafer is broken due to chipping from the outer peripheral side. In order to solve this problem, a method of removing (trimming) a chamfered portion that can become a knife edge after thinning of the wafer from the outer peripheral portion of the wafer prior to grinding is proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1). .

  In the processing method described in Patent Document 1, a wafer is held on a chuck table and is cut from the surface side of the wafer by a cutting blade. For this reason, it is necessary to carry the wafer with the surface of the wafer exposed upward on the chuck table. Generally, since a device is formed on the surface of the wafer, there is a risk that the surface of the wafer may be damaged if the surface is held by the suction pad during the transfer of the wafer, such as vacuum suction transfer. For this reason, an edge clamp type transport mechanism that can transport the wafer without touching the surface of the wafer is used (for example, see Patent Document 2).

JP 2000-173961 A JP 2012-064872 A

  By the way, when the trimmed wafer is returned to the previous process to perform device formation, foreign matter adhering to the back surface of the wafer may cause a problem, and contamination of the back surface of the wafer may be a problem. The back surface of the wafer becomes a significant problem when the wafer is sucked and held on the chuck table. Furthermore, as shown in Patent Document 2, when a notch into which the clamp claw enters is formed in the outer periphery of the chuck table, since the chuck table does not support the notch, the outer periphery of the wafer is trimmed. There was a problem that the quality of processing deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a processing apparatus capable of trimming the outer peripheral edge of a wafer without deteriorating wafer contamination and processing quality and transporting the wafer without damaging the surface. For the purpose.

  The processing apparatus of the present invention is a processing apparatus that performs a circular cutting process on the wafer by cutting the outer peripheral edge of the wafer from the front surface of the wafer, and a rotatable chuck table that holds the back surface of the wafer and exposes the front surface of the wafer; A cutting means having a spindle that is driven to rotate, a cutting blade that is attached to the tip of the spindle and is held by the chuck table, and that cuts the outer peripheral edge of the surface of the wafer; Transporting means on the chuck table, and the chuck table has an annular holding portion having an annular holding surface for holding the outer peripheral portion of the wafer, a suction port opened to the annular holding surface, and one end thereof. A suction path communicating with the suction port and having the other end connected to a suction source, a central recess surrounded by the annular holding portion, and an upper surface thereof being the annular holding surface An elevating plate disposed in the central recess so that it can be moved up and down to a lower position and an upper position whose upper surface is higher than the annular holding surface, and a plurality of air supply ports formed on the upper surface of the elevating plate And an air supply path having one end connected to the air supply port and the other end connected to a compressed air supply source, and when the wafer is cut by the cutting means, the elevating plate is positioned at the lower position. The outer peripheral portion of the wafer is held only by the annular holding portion, and when the wafer is carried into and out of the chuck table by the transfer means, the elevating plate is positioned at the upper position and from the air supply port. Compressed air is supplied and the wafer is held and raised by the compressed air, and a gap is formed between the back surface of the outer peripheral portion of the wafer and the annular holding surface. The part is gripped, characterized by.

  According to this configuration, when the wafer is held on the chuck table, the elevating plate is lowered to separate the elevating plate from the back surface of the wafer. Further, when the wafer is transferred from the chuck table, the elevating plate is raised and the wafer is floated by compressed air so that the wafer can be gripped by the transfer means. Therefore, when the wafer is cut, only the outer peripheral portion of the wafer is held by the annular holding portion, and the entire back surface of the wafer is not held by the chuck table. In addition, since the wafer is transported by the compressed air layer during transportation, the wafer does not touch the lift plate. For this reason, contamination of the back surface of the wafer is suppressed during both processing and transport of the wafer. Further, when processing the wafer, the outer peripheral portion of the wafer is held by the annular holding portion over the entire periphery, so that the processing quality does not deteriorate as in the configuration in which the notch is formed in the chuck table. Furthermore, since the outer peripheral portion of the wafer is gripped by the transfer means, the transfer can be performed without touching the surface of the wafer on which the device is formed.

  According to the present invention, only the outer periphery of the wafer is held during the processing of the wafer, and the wafer is levitated and the outer periphery of the wafer is held by the transfer means during the transfer of the wafer, thereby deteriorating wafer contamination and processing quality. The outer peripheral edge of the wafer can be trimmed without being transferred, and the wafer can be transported without damaging the surface of the wafer.

It is an upper surface schematic diagram of the processing apparatus which concerns on this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the circular cutting process with respect to the removal area | region of the wafer which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a perspective view of the holding part of the 1st and 2nd conveyance arm concerning this embodiment. It is the perspective view and sectional drawing of a chuck table concerning this embodiment. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the raising / lowering operation | movement of the raising / lowering plate which concerns on this Embodiment, and the carrying-out operation | movement of a 2nd conveyance arm.

  Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of the processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of circular cutting for the outer peripheral edge of the wafer according to the present embodiment. In addition, the processing apparatus which concerns on this Embodiment is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. 1, It can change suitably.

As shown in FIG. 1, the processing apparatus 1 is a full-auto type processing apparatus, and is configured to perform a series of operations including a loading process, a cutting process, a cleaning process, and a unloading process on the wafer W fully automatically. ing. The wafer W is a semiconductor wafer and is formed in a disk shape. A chamfered portion 91 for preventing cracks and dust generation during the manufacturing process is formed on the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W. Further, a notch 92 indicating a crystal orientation is formed on the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W. The wafer W will be described by taking a semiconductor wafer such as silicon or gallium arsenide as an example, but may be a ceramic, glass, sapphire (Al ₂ O ₃ ) based inorganic material substrate, or the like.

  In the processing apparatus 1, a carry-in area A1 is set in front of the apparatus, and a processing area A2, a carry-in area A1, and a cleaning area A3 are set in the back of the apparatus adjacent to the process area A2. In addition, a pair of cassette tables 11 and 12 are provided on the front surface 21 of the processing apparatus 1 so as to protrude forward from the carry-in area A1. On the cassette stand 11, a loading cassette C1 in which a wafer W before processing is accommodated is placed. An unloading cassette C2 in which the processed wafer W is accommodated is placed on the cassette table 12. The cassette table 11 functions as a carry-in port for the processing apparatus 1, and the cassette table 12 functions as a carry-out port for the processing apparatus 1.

  In the loading / unloading area A1, a loading / unloading arm 3 for loading / unloading the wafer W to / from the loading cassette C1 and the loading cassette C2 is provided. The carry-in / out arm 3 includes a multi-node link portion 31 composed of a plurality of arms, and a hand portion 32 provided at the tip of the multi-node link portion 31. The multi-node link unit 31 is configured to be able to move the hand unit 32 in the vertical and horizontal directions. The multi-node link portion 31 is attached to a slide head of a linear motor type moving mechanism 33, and is configured to be movable in the X-axis direction by electromagnetic force. The loading / unloading arm 3 loads the unprocessed wafer W from the loading cassette C1 to the processing area A2, and unloads the processed wafer W from the cleaning area A3 to the unloading cassette C2.

  In the processing area A2, a pre-alignment mechanism 4 for pre-aligning the wafer W before processing and a cutting means 8 for cutting the outer peripheral edge of the surface of the wafer W on the chuck table 5 are provided. The pre-alignment mechanism 4 is provided with a centering table 41, and the center position of the wafer W is pre-aligned on the centering table 41. A chuck table 5 that reciprocates between the loading position of the wafer W and the cutting position by the cutting means 8 is provided behind the centering table 41. An opening 22 is formed on the base 2 along the movement trajectory of the chuck table 5.

  The opening 22 is covered with a bellows-shaped waterproof cover 23, and a ball screw type chuck table moving mechanism (not shown) for reciprocating the chuck table 5 in the X-axis direction is provided below the waterproof cover 23. Yes. The chuck table 5 is configured to hold only the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W at the time of cutting, and float the wafer W at the time of transfer to hold the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W on the second transfer arm 15 (transfer means). . Further, the chuck table 5 is configured to be rotatable around the Z axis by a rotation mechanism (not shown). Details of the chuck table 5 will be described later.

  The cutting means 8 is configured to cut the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W on the chuck table 5 by alternately using a pair of blade units 81. The processing apparatus 1 has a gate-shaped column portion 82 erected on the base 2 so as to straddle the opening 22. A ball screw type blade unit moving mechanism 83 for moving the pair of blade units 81 is provided on the surface of the column portion 82. The blade unit moving mechanism 83 has a pair of Y-axis tables 84 that move in the Y-axis direction, and a Z-axis table 85 that moves in the Z-axis direction with respect to each Y-axis table 84. The blade unit 81 is moved in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction by the Y-axis table 84 and the Z-axis table 85.

  The blade unit 81 has a disc-shaped cutting blade 87 provided at the tip of a spindle 86 that rotates about the Y axis, and a nozzle (not shown) that injects cutting water onto the cutting portion. The blade unit 81 rotates the cutting blade 87 at a high speed, and circularly cuts the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W while spraying cutting water from a plurality of nozzles onto the cutting portion. The blade unit 81 is provided with an imaging mechanism (not shown) for alignment. An alignment process is performed by matching a chip pattern included in a captured image by the imaging mechanism with a reference pattern registered in advance.

  In the cutting means 8 configured as described above, the wafer W is held on the chuck table 5 so that the center of the wafer W coincides with the rotation axis of the chuck table 5 as shown in FIG. 2A. The cutting blade 87 is positioned on the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W so as to scrape the chamfered portion 91 on the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W. Then, the cutting blade 87 is rotated at a high speed, and the chamfered portion 91 is cut from the upper surface side of the wafer W by the cutting blade 87. The depth of cut by the cutting blade 87 is set deeper than the target finish thickness of the wafer W in the subsequent grinding process.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, the chuck table 5 rotates, whereby the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W is cut, and a stepped groove 93 is formed along the outer periphery of the wafer W. Thus, since the stepped groove 93 deeper than the finished thickness is formed on the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W, the chamfered portion 91 remains even if the wafer W is ground from the back surface side to the finished thickness in the subsequent grinding step. The outer periphery of the wafer W is not formed in a knife edge shape. Further, the rotation direction of the cutting blade 87 is set in a direction that causes a down cut with respect to the wafer W, and the cutting water containing cutting waste is prevented from being scattered on the wafer W.

  Returning to FIG. 1, in the processing area A <b> 2, the wafer W is loaded onto and unloaded from the chuck table 5 by the edge clamp type first and second transfer arms 14 and 15 as transfer means. In this case, the unprocessed wafer W is picked up from the centering table 41 by the first transfer arm 14 and transferred to the chuck table 5 by the linear motor type linear motor type moving mechanism 25. The processed wafer W is picked up from the chuck table 5 by the second transfer arm 15 and transferred to the cleaning area A3 by the pivotal movement around the base end portion 26 of the second transfer arm 15.

  In the cleaning area A3, a back surface cleaning mechanism 17 for cleaning the back surface of the wafer W and a surface cleaning mechanism 18 for cleaning the surface of the wafer W are provided. In the back surface cleaning mechanism 17, cleaning water is sprayed from below, and the wafer W is cleaned by rubbing with a sponge or the like. The surface cleaning mechanism 18 has a spinner table 29 having a diameter smaller than that of the wafer W. In the surface cleaning mechanism 18, the spinner table 29 holding the wafer W is rotated at a high speed, and cleaning water is sprayed toward the spinner table 29, thereby cleaning the surface of the wafer W. Subsequently, with the spinner table 29 rotated, the wafer W is dried by blowing dry air instead of the cleaning water.

  In the cleaning area A3, the wafer W after the back surface cleaning is picked up from the back surface cleaning mechanism 17 by the edge clamp type third transfer arm 16, and is transferred to the front surface cleaning mechanism 18 by the linear motor type moving mechanism 27. The The wafer W after the surface cleaning is picked up from the spinner table 29 by the carry-in / carry-out arm 3 and carried toward the carry-out cassette C2. In the processing apparatus 1, a processing area A2, a cleaning area A3, and a carry-in area A1 are partitioned by a shutter or the like. The carry-in area A1 is kept clean compared to the processing area A2 and the cleaning area A3.

  In the processing apparatus 1 configured as described above, the wafer W before processing is first taken out from the loading cassette C1 by the loading / unloading arm 3 and pre-aligned by the pre-alignment mechanism 4. Next, the wafer W is transferred to the chuck table 5 by the first transfer arm 14, and the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W is cut by the cutting means 8. At this time, only the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is held on the chuck table 5, and the entire back surface of the wafer W does not contact the chuck table 5. The processed wafer W is levitated by the compressed air from the chuck table 5 and is held by the second transfer arm 15.

  Then, the processed wafer W is transferred to the back surface cleaning mechanism 17 by the second transfer arm 15 and cleaned on the back surface. The wafer W after the back surface cleaning is transferred to the surface cleaning mechanism 18 by the third transfer arm 16 and subjected to surface cleaning. The wafer W after the surface cleaning is accommodated in the unloading cassette C2 by the loading / unloading arm 3. As described above, the chuck table 5 according to the present embodiment holds only the outer periphery of the wafer W when processing the wafer W, and raises the wafer W with compressed air when the wafer W is transferred. Therefore, the contact of the entire back surface of the wafer W with the chuck table 5 is suppressed during both processing and unloading of the wafer W, and contamination of the back surface of the wafer W is suppressed.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, detailed configurations of the gripping portions of the first and second transfer arms as the transfer means and the chuck table will be described. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the grip portion of the first and second transfer arms according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the chuck table according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the chuck table according to the present embodiment. The gripping portions of the first and second transfer arms are not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. The holding part of the first and second transfer arms may have any configuration as long as it can hold the outer peripheral part of the wafer. Further, the gripping portion of the third transfer arm may be configured similarly to the gripping portions of the first and second transfer arms.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the grip portion 35 is an edge clamp type hand, and is configured to be able to grip the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W by four edge clamp claws 48. The grip part 35 is supported on the distal end side of the first and second transfer arms 14 and 15 via a support part 36. The grip portion 35 is provided with a long guide base 38 extending in four directions from a base portion 37 that is rectangular when viewed from above. A support wall 46 is provided on the distal end side of each guide base 38 so as to face each side surface 45 of the base portion 37. Both ends of the ball screw 47 are supported by the side surface 45 and the support wall 46 of the base portion 37. Each ball screw 47 is screwed with a movable block 39 provided with an edge clamp claw 48.

  The edge clamp claw 48 is provided on the lower surface of the movable block 39, and is formed in a substantially L shape in sectional view with the claw tip 49 facing the base portion 37 side. Each ball screw 47 is connected to a drive motor (not shown) inside the base portion 37. Then, by rotating the drive motor, each movable block 39 is guided by the lower surface of each guide base 38 and is separated and approached from each other. When the movable block 39 approaches, the lower surface of the wafer W is hooked on the claw tip 49 of the edge clamp claw 48 so that the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is held by the holding portion 35.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the chuck table 5 has an annular holding portion 52 protruding along the outer periphery of the table body 51, and an elevating plate 54 is disposed in a central recess 53 surrounded by the annular holding portion 52. Configured. The upper surface of the annular holding portion 52 is an annular holding surface 55 that holds the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W. An annular groove 56 is formed in the annular holding surface 55, and a plurality of suction ports 57 are opened in the circumferential direction at the groove bottom of the annular groove 56. Further, the table body 51 is formed with a suction path 58 having one end communicating with each suction port 57 and the other end connected to the suction source 59. A suction force from the suction source 59 is applied to the annular holding surface 55 through the annular groove 56, the suction port 57, and the suction path 58.

  The elevating plate 54 is formed in a thin disk shape, and is disposed in the central recess 53 of the table body 51 so as to be able to be raised and lowered. In the center of the elevating plate 54, a plurality of air supply ports 61 for blowing compressed air onto the back surface of the wafer W are formed side by side in the circumferential direction. On the outer peripheral side of the elevating plate 54, an annular convex portion 62 projects from the lower surface 67 of the elevating plate 54. The annular convex part 62 is accommodated in an annular concave part 64 formed on the bottom surface 63 of the central concave part 53. The table main body 51 is formed with an air supply path 65 having one end communicating with the plurality of air supply ports 61 and the other end connected to a compressed air supply source 66.

  On the lower surface 67 side of the elevating plate 54, a space 71 is formed by the lower surface 67 of the elevating plate 54, the inner peripheral surface 68 of the annular convex portion 62, and the bottom surface 63 of the central concave portion 53 (see FIG. 5C). By supplying compressed air from the air supply path 65 to the space 71, the lift plate 54 is lifted, and at the same time, compressed air is supplied to the wafer W from the plurality of air supply ports 61. On the upper surface 69 side of the elevating plate 54, a compressed air layer is formed between the back surface 94 of the wafer W and the upper surface 69 of the elevating plate 54, and the wafer W is floated by the compressed air layer.

  The elevating plate 54 is guided by an elevating guide 72 attached to the table main body 51 so as to be elevable. In the lifting guide 72, a pin 74 is inserted into the body 73, and the pin 74 is urged downward by a spring 75 in the body 73. The tip of the pin 74 protrudes from the body 73 and is fixed to the outer periphery of the elevating plate 54. As the elevating plate 54 moves up and down, the pins 74 move up and down in the body 73 to guide the elevating and lowering of the elevating plate 54. The lifting guide 72 returns the lifting plate 54 from the raised position to the lower position by the biasing force of the spring 75 after the supply of compressed air is stopped.

  The thickness of the elevating plate 54 is thinner than the protruding length of the annular holding portion 52 protruding from the central recess 53. For this reason, when the elevating plate 54 is positioned at the lower position, the upper surface 69 of the elevating plate 54 becomes lower than the annular holding surface 55 of the annular holding portion 52. At the time of cutting the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W, the elevating plate 54 is positioned at a lower position, and only the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is held on the annular holding surface 55. Therefore, the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W can be processed without contaminating the back surface 94 of the wafer W. At this time, since the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is supported by the annular holding surface 55 over the entire periphery, the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W can be processed with high accuracy.

  When the elevating plate 54 is positioned at the upper position, the upper surface 69 of the elevating plate 54 is higher than the annular holding surface 55 of the annular holding portion 52. During the transfer of the wafer W, the elevating plate 54 is positioned at the upper position, and the wafer W is further levitated above the elevating plate 54. At this time, a gap L is formed between the outer peripheral back surface 94 of the wafer W and the annular holding surface 55 of the annular holding portion 52 so that the claw tip 49 (see FIG. 3) of the edge clamp claw 48 enters (FIG. 5C). reference). Therefore, even when the wafer W is transported, the back surface 94 of the wafer W does not contact the lifting plate 54. The wafer W can be transferred without contaminating the back surface 94 of the wafer W.

  With reference to FIG. 5, the raising / lowering operation | movement of a raising / lowering plate and the carrying-out operation | movement of a holding part are demonstrated. FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of the lifting / lowering operation of the lifting / lowering plate and the unloading operation of the second transfer arm according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, when processing the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W, the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is held by the annular holding portion 52 of the chuck table 5 so that the center of the wafer W coincides with the rotation center of the chuck table 5. The At this time, the elevating plate 54 is positioned at a lower position, and the upper surface 69 of the elevating plate 54 is separated from the back surface 94 of the wafer W. Then, the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W is cut by the cutting blade 87, and the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W is circularly cut by rotating the wafer W.

  As shown in FIG. 5B, when the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W is trimmed, the gripping portion 35 of the second transfer arm 15 (see FIG. 1) stands by above the chuck table 5. At this time, the edge clamp claws 48 located on the four sides of the grip portion 35 are separated from each other, and the claw tips 49 of the edge clamp claws 48 are located on the outer side in the radial direction of the wafer W. Further, the claw tip 49 of the edge clamp claw 48 is positioned at a height position along the annular holding surface 55 of the chuck table 5.

  As shown in FIG. 5C, the suction of the annular holding portion 52 is stopped while the gripping portion 35 is in a standby state, and compressed air is supplied from the air supply path 65 in the table body 51 toward the lower surface 67 of the elevating plate 54. Is done. The compressed air enters the space 71 formed by the lower surface 67 of the elevating plate 54, the inner peripheral surface 68 of the annular convex portion 62, and the bottom surface 63 of the central concave portion 53, and resists the biasing force of the spring 75 of the elevating guide 72. The lifting plate 54 is pushed up. Further, the compressed air is sprayed upward from the air supply port 61 of the elevating plate 54 and blown to the back surface 94 of the wafer W. Thereby, a compressed air layer is formed on the back surface 94 side of the wafer W, and the wafer W is floated from the annular holding surface 55.

  As the elevating plate 54 rises, the wafer W is pushed up through the compressed air layer. When the elevating plate 54 is positioned at the upper position, the wafer W is held in a floating state with respect to the elevating plate 54. At this time, a gap L is formed between the back surface of the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W and the annular holding surface 55 of the annular holding portion 52. The gap L has such a size that the toe 49 of the edge clamp claw 48 can enter.

  As shown in FIG. 5D, the edge clamp claws 48 are brought close to each other, and the claw tips 49 of the edge clamp claws 48 enter the gap L between the back surface of the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W and the annular holding surface 55 of the annular holding portion 52. As a result, the back surface of the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is hooked on the claw tip 49 of the edge clamp claw 48, and the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is gripped by the grip portion 35. The wafer W is gripped by the gripping part 35 and unloaded from the chuck table 5. Then, the supply of compressed air is stopped, and the elevating plate 54 is returned to the lower position by the spring 75 of the elevating guide 72. In this way, the lifting plate 54 does not come into contact with the wafer W in both circular cutting and unloading of the wafer W, and contamination of the back surface 94 of the wafer W is suppressed.

  As described above, according to the processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, when holding the wafer W on the chuck table 5, the lifting plate 54 is lowered to separate the lifting plate 54 from the back surface 94 of the wafer W. Let Further, when the wafer W is transferred from the chuck table 5, the elevating plate 54 is raised and the wafer W is lifted by compressed air so that it can be held by the holding unit 35. Therefore, when the wafer W is cut, only the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is held by the annular holding portion 52, and the entire back surface of the wafer W is not held by the chuck table 5. Further, since the compressed air layer is levitated when the wafer W is transported, the wafer W does not touch the elevating plate 54. For this reason, contamination of the back surface 94 of the wafer W is suppressed both when the wafer W is processed and transported. Further, at the time of processing the wafer W, since the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is held by the annular holding portion 52 over the entire periphery, the processing quality is not deteriorated unlike the configuration in which the notch is formed in the chuck table 5. Further, since the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W is gripped by the gripping portion 35, the wafer W can be transported without touching the surface of the wafer W on which the device is formed.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, It can change and implement variously. In the above-described embodiment, the size, shape, and the like illustrated in the accompanying drawings are not limited to this, and can be appropriately changed within a range in which the effect of the present invention is exhibited. In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the object of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the processing apparatus 1 is configured to perform circular cutting using a pair of cutting blades 87 alternately, but is not limited to this configuration. The processing apparatus 1 only needs to be able to circularly cut the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W, and may be configured to include a single cutting blade 87.

  In the above-described embodiment, the gripper 35 grips the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W by the claw tips 49 of the four edge clamp claws 48. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. The number of edge clamp claws 48 and the shape of the claw tips 49 are not particularly limited as long as the gripper 35 can grip the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W.

  In the above-described embodiment, the air supply port 61 is a small circle, but is not limited to this configuration. The air supply port 61 only needs to have a shape capable of injecting compressed air onto the wafer W, and may be formed in a linear shape extending in the radial direction from the center, for example. Further, an annular groove may be formed on the surface of the elevating plate 54 and opened on the bottom surface of the annular groove.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the full-auto type processing apparatus is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. The present invention can also be applied to a semi-auto type processing apparatus. In the present embodiment, the centering table 41 may be configured in the same manner as the chuck table 5.

  As described above, the present invention has an effect that the contamination of the back surface of the wafer can be suppressed both during the processing and transfer of the wafer, and in particular, in a processing apparatus that cuts the outer peripheral edge of the wafer with a cutting blade. Useful.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing apparatus 5 Chuck table 8 Cutting means 15 2nd conveyance arm 35 Holding part 48 Edge clamp claw 49 Claw tip 51 Table main body 52 Annular holding part 53 Central recessed part 54 Lifting plate 55 Annular holding surface 56 Annular groove 57 Suction port 58 Suction path 59 suction source 61 air supply port 62 annular convex portion 65 air supply path 66 compressed air supply source 67 lower surface of the lift plate 69 upper surface of the lift plate 81 blade unit 86 spindle 87 cutting blade 91 chamfered portion 94 back surface of the outer peripheral portion

Claims (1)

A processing device that cuts the outer peripheral edge of a wafer from the surface of the wafer and performs circular cutting on the wafer,
A rotatable chuck table that holds the back surface of the wafer and exposes the front surface of the wafer, a spindle that is driven to rotate, and an outer peripheral edge of the front surface of the wafer that is mounted on the tip of the spindle and held on the chuck table. Cutting means having a cutting blade for carrying, and conveying means for gripping the outer periphery of the wafer and conveying the wafer onto the chuck table,
The chuck table has an annular holding portion having an annular holding surface for holding the outer peripheral portion of the wafer, a suction port opened to the annular holding surface, one end communicating with the suction port, and the other end connected to a suction source. A suction path, a central recess surrounded by the annular holding portion, a lower position whose upper surface is lower than the annular holding surface, and an upper position whose upper surface is higher than the annular holding surface. A plurality of elevating plates disposed on the upper surface of the elevating plate, an air supply port formed on the upper surface of the elevating plate, an air supply path having one end connected to the air supply port and the other end connected to a compressed air supply source. Prepared,
When the wafer is cut by the cutting means, the elevating plate is positioned at the lower position, and the outer peripheral portion of the wafer is held only by the annular holding portion,
When the wafer is carried into and out of the chuck table by the conveying means, the elevating plate is positioned at the upper position and compressed air is supplied from the air supply port so that the wafer is held by the compressed air and lifted. A processing apparatus, wherein a gap is formed between a back surface of the outer peripheral portion and the annular holding surface, whereby the outer peripheral portion of the wafer is gripped by the transfer means.

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