JP2014204089A - Wafer transfer mechanism and wafer processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to irradiate a protective tape with ultraviolet rays while sucking even a fine chip after DBG. A wafer carrying a wafer W in which a device region 23 defined by a plurality of division lines and formed with a plurality of devices 24 and an outer peripheral surplus region 22 surrounding the device region 23 are formed on a surface 21. The transfer mechanism 1 includes a transfer pad 10 that has at least the same shape as the outer shape of the wafer W and holds and sucks the back surface 26 of the wafer W, and an arm 5 that moves the transfer pad 10. The transfer pad 10 includes a ring-shaped suction holding portion 12 that sucks and holds the outer peripheral surplus region 22 of the wafer W, and a device region contact portion 13 that is surrounded by the suction holding portion 12 and contacts the device region 23 of the wafer W. And. [Selection] Figure 9

Description

  The present invention relates to a wafer transport mechanism used in a transfer apparatus for attaching a wafer attached to a BG tape after DBG to an expanded tape.

  As a technique for forming a thin semiconductor chip, a relatively shallow cutting groove that does not penetrate to the back surface is formed in a street that partitions a plurality of semiconductor circuits formed on the surface of the semiconductor wafer, and then the back surface of the semiconductor wafer is ground to a grinding wheel The present applicants have developed a technique called tip dicing, in which a cutting groove is exposed from the back surface side by grinding by the above method and divided into individual semiconductor chips. According to this tip dicing technique, it is possible to process the chip size to be 200 μm or less and the thickness to be 50 μm or less, so that it is possible to meet the demands for reducing the size and thickness of various devices such as mobile phones ( Patent Document 1).

  The wafer after the first dicing is transferred to an expanded tape by a transfer device (Patent Document 2), and picked up and mounted in a pickup process. The grinding device and the transfer device are connected. From the chuck table upper surface of the grinding means to the transfer device side by the transfer pad that can attach the BG tape after DBG (Dicing Before Grinding) and adhere the whole wafer to the chip. Be transported. In the transfer device, the adhesive layer of the BG tape is ultraviolet-cured by an ultraviolet irradiation device disposed in the middle of the transfer from the BG tape surface side in which the wafer grinding surface is adsorbed to the entire surface with a transfer pad to shorten the transfer time. The adhesive strength is reduced.

JP 2003-17442 A JP 2000-68293 A

  However, the chip size after DBG has been miniaturized in recent years, and if the adhesive layer of the adhesive tape is cured in a state of being sucked by the transport pad, the fineness of the porous of the transport pad in which the wafer contact surface is formed by the porous member. Small chips are aligned in the recesses, and the chips are cured while the chips move. If the tape is transferred to the expanded tape in this state, bubbles may enter between the moved chip and the tape, which may cause problems such as pickup failure and remaining adhesive layer in the bubble portion during the pickup process.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a wafer transport mechanism capable of irradiating a protective tape, which is a BG tape, with ultraviolet rays while attracting even a fine chip after DBG. Objective.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a wafer transfer mechanism according to the present invention includes a device region partitioned by a plurality of scheduled division lines and a plurality of devices formed therein, and an outer peripheral surplus surrounding the device region. A wafer transport mechanism for transporting a wafer having a region formed on a surface thereof, having a shape at least equivalent to the outer shape of the wafer and contacting and holding the back surface of the wafer, and moving the transport pad The transfer pad includes a ring-shaped suction holding portion that sucks and holds the outer peripheral surplus region of the wafer, and a device region that is surrounded by the suction holding portion and contacts the device region of the wafer And a contact portion.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a wafer processing method according to the present invention includes a device region partitioned by a plurality of division lines and a plurality of devices formed therein, and surrounding the device region. A wafer processing method for dividing a wafer having a surplus outer peripheral region formed on the surface along the scheduled division line, and having a predetermined depth along the planned division line from the surface side of the wafer. After forming the divided grooves, an ultraviolet curing type protective tape is attached to the front surface side of the wafer, the protective tape side is held by a holding means, the back surface of the wafer is ground, and the divided grooves are exposed on the back surface. Dividing into individual devices along the planned dividing line, and after performing the dividing step, using the wafer transfer mechanism, the device region of the wafer The corresponding back surface is brought into contact with the device area contact portion of the wafer transfer mechanism, and the outer peripheral surplus area of the wafer is sucked and held by the suction holding portion, and conveyed to the ultraviolet irradiation means, and the back side is sucked and held. And an ultraviolet irradiation step of irradiating the protective tape exposed in the state of ultraviolet irradiation with ultraviolet rays.

  In the wafer transfer mechanism and the wafer processing method according to the present invention, the suction holding portion is formed by a ring-shaped porous member or the like corresponding to the excess peripheral area of the wafer, and the device area is not directly sucked and held. Even a fine chip of this type does not cause the movement of the chip, and the BG tape can be irradiated with ultraviolet rays.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a wafer transfer mechanism according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 and is an explanatory diagram of the transfer pad and the wafer. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the holding surface of the transport pad shown in FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the steps in dividing the wafer. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the division grooves are formed on the wafer by the cutting device. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a protective tape is attached to a wafer with a tape attaching apparatus. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the wafer is divided by grinding the wafer with a grinding apparatus. FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the protective tape is irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet irradiator. FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing a state in which an expanding tape is stuck on a wafer by a transfer device. FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a state where the protective tape is peeled off by the transfer device. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which devices are separated from each other by the transfer device.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a wafer transfer mechanism and a wafer processing method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited by this embodiment. In addition, constituent elements in the following embodiments include those that can be easily replaced by those skilled in the art or those that are substantially the same.

Embodiment
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a wafer transfer mechanism according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. The wafer transfer mechanism 1 shown in the figure is provided in a processing apparatus that processes a wafer W, which is a substantially circular thin plate-like semiconductor material, and can hold and transfer the wafer W by suction. The wafer transfer mechanism 1 is divided along a plurality of division lines by a cutting device 30 (see FIG. 6) and a grinding device 40 (see FIG. 8), and a protective tape T1 is attached to one surface. The wafer W can be sucked and held from the surface of the wafer W where the protective tape T1 is not attached. In the present embodiment, the surface on which the protective tape T1 is attached will be described as the front surface 21 of the wafer W for convenience, and the opposite surface will be described as the back surface 26 (see FIG. 4).

  The wafer transfer mechanism 1 includes a transfer pad 10 for holding and transferring the wafer W, and an arm 5 that is a moving unit that supports the transfer pad 10 and moves the transfer pad 10 to a predetermined position. . Among these, the arm 5 is connected to a driving device 15 that moves the arm 5 in the vertical direction and further rotates the arm 5 about a rotation axis in the vertical direction.

  On the other hand, the transport pad 10 is formed in a disk shape having a predetermined thickness or a columnar shape having a low height, and is arranged in a direction in which the axial direction is a vertical direction, and the upper surface side is the arm 5. It is connected to. The bottom surface of the transfer pad 10 is a holding surface 11 that can hold the wafer W. Since the transfer pad 10 is formed in a disc shape, the holding surface 11 has a substantially circular shape, and is at least the same shape as the outer shape of the substantially circular thin plate-like wafer W.

  The wafer W held by the holding surface 11 will be described. The thin disk-shaped wafer W is formed by the cutting device 30 with the dividing groove 25 formed as a cutting groove on the surface 21 along the planned dividing line. Is held on the back surface by grinding the back surface 26 side with the grinding device 40. As described above, the dividing grooves 25 formed on both surfaces of the wafer W are not formed in a region having a predetermined width from the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W toward the inside in the radial direction, and the dividing grooves 25 are formed. The area that is not present is the outer peripheral surplus area 22. That is, the outer peripheral surplus region 22 is a region formed in a ring shape.

  On the other hand, in the wafer W, an inner portion of the outer peripheral surplus region 22 in the radial direction of the wafer W is a device region 23, and the division grooves 25 are formed in the device region 23. The device region 23 is partitioned into a plurality of division grooves 25 formed on both surfaces of the wafer W, whereby a plurality of devices 24 are formed. The outer peripheral surplus region 22 is located on the outer side in the radial direction of the device region 23 formed as described above, and surrounds the device region 23.

  Thus, the surface 21 of the wafer W having the outer peripheral surplus region 22 and the device region 23 is adhered to the protective tape T1. This protective tape T1 is an ultraviolet curing type protective tape T1 in which the adhesive layer is cured and the adhesive strength is reduced by irradiating ultraviolet rays. The protective tape T <b> 1 is formed in a circular shape having substantially the same size as the wafer W, and is attached to the entire surface 21 of the wafer W.

  The transfer pad 10 for transferring the wafer W includes, on the holding surface 11, a suction holding portion 12 that is a portion corresponding to the outer peripheral surplus region 22 of the wafer W, and a device region contact portion 13 that is a portion corresponding to the device region 23. It has. Among these, the suction holding part 12 is formed in a ring shape having a diameter substantially the same as the diameter of the outer peripheral surplus area 22 of the wafer W and substantially the same width in the radial direction, and can suck and hold the outer peripheral surplus area 22. It is possible. On the other hand, the device region abutting portion 13 has a flat surface surrounded by the suction holding portion 12 and can abut on the device region 23 of the wafer W when the suction holding portion 12 sucks and holds the outer peripheral surplus region 22. It is possible.

  The suction holding portion 12 and the device region contact portion 13 are formed on the same plane on the holding surface 11. The suction holding unit 12 is formed with an outer diameter larger than the outer diameter of the outer peripheral surplus region 22 and an inner diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the outer peripheral surplus region 22 in consideration of manufacturing errors and suction position errors. Is preferred. Moreover, it is preferable that the suction holding unit 12 of the holding surface 11 is set to a size capable of sucking and holding the wafer W while suppressing the movement of the divided chips. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the holding surface of the transport pad shown in FIG. For example, as an example, in the transfer pad 10 that transfers a wafer W having a diameter of 8 inches and a thickness of 50 μm, the outer diameter OD of the suction holding unit 12 is 186 to 196 mm, and the suction holding unit 12 in the radial direction of the holding surface 11 By making the width S 5 mm, it is possible to eliminate the movement of the chip during suction while enabling good suction holding. Therefore, in the transfer pad 10 that transfers the wafer W having a diameter of 8 inches and a thickness of 50 μm, the suction holding unit 12 preferably has the outer diameter OD and the width S within this range. As described above, it is preferable that the suction holding unit 12 appropriately change the outer diameter OD and the width S according to the diameter, thickness, and warpage of the wafer W.

  4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. When the wafer W is transferred by the transfer pad 10, the holding surface 11 can come into contact with the surface of the wafer W opposite to the surface 21 to which the protective tape T <b> 1 is attached, that is, the back surface 26 of the wafer W. It has become. The suction holding unit 12 constituting a part of the holding surface 11 is a porous member in which a large number of holes are formed, and is formed of a so-called porous member. The suction holding unit 12 has a porous member formed in a ring shape, and other than the lower surface is provided in the transport pad 10, and the lower surface is flush with the device region contact portion 13. Accordingly, the suction holding unit 12 forms the holding surface 11 of the transport pad 10 together with the device region contact unit 13.

  Further, a suction path 14 that is a negative pressure transmission path is formed in the transport pad 10, and a portion of the suction holding unit 12 that is provided in the transport pad 10 is connected to the suction path 14. Yes. Specifically, the suction path 14 is a hole-shaped path formed from the inside of the transfer pad 10 to the arm 5, and is provided outside the wafer transfer mechanism 1 to suck the air in the suction path 14. 16 is connected.

  The suction holding unit 12 is connected to the suction path 14 in the transport pad 10, and since the suction holding unit 12 is formed of a porous member, the suction force generated by the suction device 16 is Transmission to the suction holding unit 12 is also possible. For this reason, the inside of the suction path 14 and the portion that forms the holding surface 11 that is the exposed portion of the suction holding portion 12 become negative with respect to the atmospheric pressure when the suction device 16 is operated. ing.

  The wafer transfer mechanism 1 according to this embodiment is configured as described above, and the operation thereof will be described below. The wafer transfer mechanism 1 described above forms a dividing groove 25 along a plurality of division lines on the wafer W to half-cut the wafer W, then divides the chip by grinding the back surface 26, and a plurality of devices 24. It is used for DBG (Dicing Before Grinding), which is a technology for dividing the image into two. That is, the wafer transfer mechanism 1 grinds the back surface 26 of the wafer W in which the device region 23 and the outer peripheral surplus region 22 are formed by forming the dividing groove 25 along the planned dividing line on the front surface 21 side. It is used in a method for processing a wafer W divided into a plurality of devices 24.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the steps in dividing the wafer. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the division grooves are formed on the wafer by the cutting device. When dividing the wafer W, first, the dividing groove 25 having a predetermined depth is formed in the wafer W by using the cutting device 30 in the cutting process (step ST11). The cutting device 30 has a cutting blade 31 made of an extremely thin cutting grindstone having a substantially ring shape, and the wafer W is placed on the chuck table 32 in such a direction that the back surface 26 is a bottom surface and the front surface 21 is a top surface. The divided grooves 25 are formed from above by the cutting blade 31. The cutting blade 31 is installed so as to rotate in a direction in which the rotation axis is substantially horizontal. When the cutting blade 31 is rotated above the wafer W and brought into contact with the wafer W, the dividing groove 25 is formed on the surface 21. Form.

  The division grooves 25 are formed along a plurality of division lines when the wafer W is divided by appropriately changing the relative positions of the cutting blade 31 and the chuck table 32 while rotating the cutting blade 31. . Specifically, the dividing groove 25 is not formed in the vicinity of the outer peripheral end of the wafer W, and the dividing groove 25 is formed only on the inner side of a position away from the outer peripheral end with a predetermined size. That is, the cutting device 30 does not form the dividing groove 25 in the outer peripheral surplus region 22 but forms the dividing groove 25 only in the device region 23. At that time, the dividing grooves 25 are formed with a depth less than the thickness of the wafer W from the surface 21 side of the wafer W.

  Next, the protective tape T1 is attached to the wafer W in the protective tape attaching step (step ST12). FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a protective tape is attached to a wafer with a tape attaching apparatus. The protective tape T <b> 1 is attached to the wafer W using the tape attaching device 35. The tape adhering device 35 is held by the chuck table 36 from the back surface 26 side so that the back surface 26 is the bottom surface and the front surface 21 is the top surface, and first, the division grooves 25 are formed on the ultraviolet curing type protective tape T1. Affixed to the entire surface 21 of the wafer W. Thereafter, the protective tape T1 is cut along the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W. Thereby, the tape sticking apparatus 35 sticks the protective tape T1 on the surface 21 of the wafer W with the size and shape along the shape of the wafer W.

  Next, the wafer W is divided in a dividing step (step ST13). FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the wafer is divided by grinding the wafer with a grinding apparatus. The wafer W is divided by grinding the back surface 26 of the wafer W on which the dividing grooves 25 are formed from the front surface 21 side with a grinding device 40. The grinding apparatus 40 includes a grinding wheel 45 that rotates about a vertical rotation axis above a chuck table 41 that is a holding unit that holds the wafer W, and a grinding wheel that is fixed to the lower surface of the grinding wheel 45 in an annular shape. 46. The grinding apparatus 40 rotates the wafer W from above the wafer W while the wafer W is placed on the chuck table 41 so that the protective tape T1 side faces downward, and the chuck table 41 holds the protective tape T1 side of the wafer W. The grinding wheel 45 to be moved is brought close to the wafer W. At that time, the chuck table 41 is also rotated in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the grinding wheel 45, and the chuck table 41 and the grinding wheel 45 are rotated in a relatively opposite direction.

  As a result, the grinding apparatus 40 grinds the back surface 26 by bringing the grinding wheel 46 into contact with the back surface 26 of the wafer W while the grinding wheel 46 rotates relative to the wafer W, and the back surface 26 of the wafer W is ground. Thus, the dividing groove 25 formed from the front surface 21 side is exposed on the back surface 26. Accordingly, the portion of the wafer W positioned in the device region 23 is divided by the dividing groove 25 and divided into individual devices 24 along the division planned line.

  The wafer W is divided into individual devices 24 by grinding the back surface 26 in this manner, and a protective tape T1 is attached to the front surface 21 of the wafer W. That is, all the devices 24 are in a state where one protective tape T1 is adhered. For this reason, even after the wafer W is divided into the individual devices 24, the devices 24 are not separated and are held in an integrated state by the protective tape T1.

  Next, in the ultraviolet irradiation step (step ST14), ultraviolet rays are irradiated to the protective tape T1 attached to the wafer W. FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the protective tape is irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet irradiator. The wafer W that has been divided by being ground by the grinding device 40 is held by the wafer transfer mechanism 1 and transferred onto the ultraviolet irradiator 50. Specifically, by operating the driving device 15 to move or rotate the arm 5, the transfer pad 10 of the wafer transfer mechanism 1 is positioned above the wafer W after the division process is performed. The holding surface 11 is brought into contact with the back surface 26 of the wafer W. At that time, the suction holding portion 12 of the holding surface 11 is brought into contact with the outer peripheral surplus region 22 of the wafer W, and the device region contact portion 13 is brought into contact with the device region 23.

  In this state, the suction device 16 connected to the suction path 14 is operated, and the suction device 16 sucks air in the suction path 14, thereby generating a suction force in the suction holding section 12. A negative pressure between the wafer W is set. Thereby, the outer peripheral surplus area 22 of the wafer W is sucked and held by the sucking and holding unit 12.

  On the other hand, since the device area contact portion 13 of the transport pad 10 does not generate a suction force, the device area 23 in which the devices 24 are individually divided is not sucked by the device area contact portion 13. The individual devices 24 are connected to the outer peripheral surplus region 22 via the protective tape T1. As a result, the entire wafer W is sucked and held on the holding surface 11 of the transfer pad 10.

  Further, in the state where the wafer W is sucked and held by the transfer pad 10, the space between the dividing groove 25 and the wafer W and the holding surface 11 in the device region 23 is sealed from the outside. Yes. For this reason, when a suction force is generated by the suction holding unit 12, air in this portion is also sucked, so that the individual devices 24 in the device region 23 have the atmospheric pressure in the device region 23. Due to the atmospheric pressure difference with the atmospheric pressure around the wafer W, it is pushed up from below the protective tape T1. As a result, the individual devices 24 are in close contact with the device region contact portion 13 of the holding surface 11, but the device region contact portion 13 is formed in a plane, and therefore the devices 24 are disordered. Instead, the device region abutment portion 13 is in close contact with the planar arrangement being maintained. As a result, the entire wafer W is sucked and held on the holding surface 11 of the transfer pad 10 while maintaining the arrangement of the divided individual devices 24 in a flat shape.

  The wafer transfer mechanism 1 moves the transfer pad 10 by operating the arm 5 by the driving device 15 in the state where the wafer W is sucked and held by the transfer pad 10 as described above, thereby moving the wafer W onto the ultraviolet irradiator 50. Transport. Thereby, the protective tape T1 is made to oppose the ultraviolet irradiator 50. The ultraviolet irradiator 50 includes an ultraviolet light source 51 that irradiates ultraviolet rays such as an ultraviolet fluorescent lamp and an ultraviolet light emitting diode, and can irradiate ultraviolet rays upward.

  The ultraviolet irradiator 50 emits the ultraviolet light source 51 in a state in which the back surface 26 side of the wafer W is sucked and held by the transport pad 10, so that the protective tape T1 exposed to the ultraviolet irradiator 50 is exposed. Irradiate ultraviolet rays. Thereby, as for the protective tape T1, the adhesive layer hardens | cures and the adhesive force with respect to the wafer W falls.

  Next, the expand tape T2 is stuck on the wafer W in the expand tape sticking step (step ST15). FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing a state in which an expanding tape is stuck on a wafer by a transfer device. The expanded tape T2 is attached to an annular frame F having a hole whose inner diameter is larger than the outer diameter of the wafer W. In this state, the back surface 26 of the wafer W is attached to the expanded tape T2 from the hole portion of the annular frame F. Thereby, the expanded tape T2 is stuck on the whole surface of the back surface 26 which is the surface opposite to the surface where the protective tape T1 is stuck on the wafer W.

  Next, the protective tape T1 is peeled from the wafer W in the protective tape peeling step (step ST16). FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a state where the protective tape is peeled off by the transfer device. When the protective tape T1 is peeled off, the cylindrical member 62 is pressed from the surface opposite to the surface of the expanded tape T2 attached to the wafer W while the annular frame F is held between the frame holding means 61. The expanded tape T <b> 2 is pressed by the cylindrical member 62. Since the expanded tape T2 is formed of a ductile material, the expanded tape T2 is extended by this pressing, and a force in a direction in which the devices 24 are separated from each other is applied to the wafer W. As a result, a force in the separation direction is also generated between the device 24 and the protective tape T1, so that the protective tape T1 is easily peeled from the device 24. The protective tape T1 with reduced adhesive strength is peeled from the wafer W in such a state that it can be easily peeled off, and each device 24 is transferred to the expanded tape T2.

  Next, the devices 24 are separated from each other in the expanding step (step ST17). FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which devices are separated from each other by the transfer device. When the protective tape T1 is peeled from the wafer W, the cylindrical tape 62 is further pressed against the expanded tape T2, and the expanded tape T2 is further extended. As a result, the adjacent devices 24 are further separated from each other, and each device 24 is picked up and mounted in a pickup process which is a subsequent process.

  The wafer transfer mechanism 1 according to the above-described embodiment includes a suction holding unit 12 that sucks and holds the outer peripheral surplus area 22 of the wafer W on the transfer pad 10 that holds the wafer W in contact with the back surface 26 and sucks and holds the device. Since the device region contact portion 13 that contacts the region 23 is provided, the outer peripheral surplus region 22 can be mainly sucked when the wafer W is held. That is, the transfer pad 10 of the wafer transfer mechanism 1 forms a suction holding portion 12 with a ring-shaped porous member corresponding to the outer peripheral surplus area 22 of the wafer W, and when the wafer W is held, the device area 23 of the wafer W is directly sucked. Do not hold. As a result, even if the device 24 after DBG is a fine chip, there is no possibility of movement of the chip, and the protective tape T1 can be irradiated with ultraviolet rays while sucking the wafer W well.

  Further, in the processing method of the wafer W according to the above embodiment, the dividing step of attaching the protective tape T1 to the front surface 21 of the wafer W on which the dividing grooves 25 are formed, grinding the back surface 26, and dividing the device into individual devices 24. After carrying out (Step ST13), in the ultraviolet irradiation step (Step ST14), the device region contact portion 13 of the transport pad 10 is brought into contact with the device region 23 on the back surface 26 and the outer peripheral surplus region 22 is brought into contact with the suction holding portion 12 Even if the device 24 after the DBG is a fine chip, the movement of the chip can be suppressed by sucking and holding it and transporting it to the ultraviolet irradiator 50 and irradiating the protective tape T1 with ultraviolet light. As a result, the protective tape T1 can be irradiated with ultraviolet rays while the wafer W is sucked well.

[Modification]
The above-described wafer transfer mechanism 1 sucks and holds the wafer W after the grinding of the back surface 26 is completed and transfers the wafer W onto the ultraviolet irradiator 50. The wafer W may be transferred in the process. For example, the wafer transfer mechanism 1 may suck and hold the wafer W after the grinding of the back surface 26 is completed, and transfer the wafer W to a cleaning unit (not shown) that cleans the wafer W. Further, when the wafer transfer mechanism 1 performs transfer other than the transfer onto the ultraviolet irradiator 50 as described above, the number of the wafer transfer mechanisms 1 may be one, or a plurality may be installed according to the work process. . The wafer transfer mechanism 1 includes a suction holding unit 12 and a device region contact unit 13 on a transfer pad 10 that contacts and holds the rear surface 26 of the wafer W, and the device region 23 of the wafer W is a device region contact unit. As long as it is configured such that it can be conveyed while being sucked and held by the suction holding unit 12 while being brought into contact with 13, the use and number are not limited.

  In the wafer transfer mechanism 1 described above, the suction holding unit 12 of the transfer pad 10 is formed of a porous member, but the suction holding unit 12 may be formed in other forms. The suction holding unit 12 holds the entire wafer W with the transport pad 10 by sucking the outer peripheral surplus area 22 of the back surface 26 of the wafer W that the dividing groove 25 has exposed to the back surface 26 by grinding the back surface 26. If it is the structure which can do, the form will not ask | require.

  In addition, the wafer transport mechanism 1 described above includes a cutting device 30 that forms the dividing grooves 25 on the wafer W, a tape attaching device 35 that attaches the protective tape T1, and a back surface 26 of the wafer W after the formation of the dividing grooves 25. Although the grinding device 40, the ultraviolet irradiator 50, and the transfer device 60 are provided in separate processing devices, the wafer W processing device provided with the wafer transport mechanism 1 may be other than these. Good. The wafer transfer mechanism 1 transfers the outer peripheral surplus area 22 while sucking and holding the outer peripheral area 22 by the suction holding part 12 while bringing the device area 23 of the wafer W into contact with the device area contact part 13 regardless of the apparatus configuration of the processing apparatus. The apparatus configuration is not limited as long as it includes a transport pad.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wafer transfer mechanism 5 Arm 10 Transfer pad 11 Holding surface 12 Suction holding part 13 Device area | region contact part 14 Suction path 15 Drive apparatus 16 Suction apparatus 21 Front surface 22 Peripheral surplus area 23 Device area 24 Device 25 Divided groove 26 Back surface 30 Cutting apparatus 32, 36, 41 Chuck table 35 Tape sticking device 40 Grinding device 50 UV irradiator 51 UV light source 60 Transfer device F Annular frame T1 Protective tape T2 Expanding tape W Wafer

Claims (2)

A wafer transport mechanism for transporting a wafer having a device area formed by dividing a plurality of planned division lines and forming a plurality of devices and an outer peripheral surplus area surrounding the device area on a surface thereof,
A transport pad that has at least the same shape as the outer shape of the wafer and is held by suction against the back surface of the wafer; and a moving means for moving the transport pad;
The transfer pad includes a ring-shaped suction holding portion that sucks and holds the outer peripheral surplus region of the wafer, and a device region contact portion that is surrounded by the suction holding portion and contacts the device region of the wafer. A wafer transfer mechanism. A wafer for dividing a wafer having a device area partitioned by a plurality of division lines and having a plurality of devices formed thereon and an outer peripheral surplus area surrounding the device area along the division line. A processing method,
After forming a dividing groove having a predetermined depth along the planned dividing line from the front surface side of the wafer, an ultraviolet curing type protective tape is attached to the front surface side of the wafer, and the protective tape side is held by the holding means. A dividing step of grinding the back surface of the wafer to expose the dividing grooves on the back surface and dividing the wafer into individual devices along the planned dividing line;
After carrying out the dividing step, using the wafer transfer mechanism according to claim 1, the back surface corresponding to the device region of the wafer is brought into contact with the device region contact portion of the wafer transfer mechanism and the wafer UV irradiation step of irradiating ultraviolet rays to the protective tape exposed in the state where the outer peripheral surplus area is sucked and held by the suction holding unit and conveyed to the ultraviolet irradiation means and the back side is sucked and held;
A wafer processing method characterized by comprising:

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