JPH056882A - Method and apparatus for peeling - cleaning slice base of wafer, and processing conveyor for wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To delete a time required for peeling . cleaning a wafer and an installing space of an apparatus. CONSTITUTION:The method for peeling . cleaning a wafer comprises a peeling step of introducing the wafer W cut by a slicing unit 10 in hot water 88 and peeling a slice base SB from the wafer W in the water 88, and a cleaning step of cleaning the wafer W by applying an ultrasonic vibration to the water 88 by vibration generating means 90.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for peeling and cleaning a wafer cut from a work such as a semiconductor ingot by a slicing apparatus, and further, transferring the wafer from the slicing apparatus to the peeling and cleaning apparatus. In addition, the present invention relates to a wafer processing / transporting device that carries out a wafer from a peeling / cleaning device and stores the wafer in a predetermined storage container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, thin wafers have been cut out by slicing a work such as a semiconductor ingot (for example, a silicon single crystal) which is a highly brittle material with a slicing device. The wafer thus cut out is provided to the market as a product through various processes such as chamfering.

However, when the cutting of the work is completed, the cutting resistance acting on the cutting edge is suddenly released, and the final cut portion of the work is liable to be chipped. Therefore, in order to prevent this, a slice base made of carbon or the like is attached to the work shaft. It is often fixed along the direction, and in this case, the slice base attached to the cut wafer needs to be peeled off from the wafer in advance before proceeding to the chamfering step. Also, because this chamfering process requires precise precision,
In order to accurately position the reference surface of the wafer, it is also necessary to perform a cleaning operation for removing fine foreign matter adhering to the wafer surface.

Therefore, conventionally, a plurality of wafers cut out together with the slice base are accommodated in a dedicated storage container such as a cassette, the cassettes are immersed in a water tank, and ultrasonic vibrations are applied to the wafers to thereby surface the wafers. After removing the foreign matter attached to the wafer, the wafer is pulled up from the water tank and the slice base is peeled from the wafer.

[0005]

In the conventional method as described above, since the wafer stripping step and the cleaning step are performed independently, the process time is longer by that much, and the stripping apparatus and the cleaning apparatus are separately provided. Since it is provided, the space required for the entire processing apparatus also becomes large.

Further, in the above method, it is necessary to manually put the wafers cut by the slicing device into the cassette one by one before the wafer is peeled and cleaned, and even after the peeling and cleaning are completed. Since each wafer has to be manually carried to the chamfering device, the human load is large, and its automation is a major issue.

In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus capable of reducing the time required for wafer peeling / cleaning and the installation space of the apparatus, and further,
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of saving labor and manpower by automatically carrying out processing and transportation of wafers.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a method for peeling a slice base adhered to a peripheral portion of a wafer cut out by a slicing device and cleaning the wafer. A wafer is placed in hot water, and in the hot water, a peeling step of peeling the slice base from the wafer and a washing step of washing the wafer by applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water are performed. There is (claim 1).

The present invention also provides, as an apparatus for carrying out the above method, a hot water tank for containing hot water, a wafer holding means for holding the wafer in a substantially horizontal state, and the wafer holding means for the hot water tank. Elevating means for elevating between an underwater position in the water and a water position above the hot water tank, and a slice base peeling means for peeling the slice base from the wafer in a state where the wafer and the wafer holding means are in the underwater position, The hot water tank is provided with vibration generating means for applying ultrasonic vibration (claim 2).

Here, the slice base peeling means is provided in the hot water tank, and while the wafer and the wafer holding means are lowered to the underwater position, the slice base peeling means is applied from below to the vicinity of the boundary portion between the wafer and the slice base. It is preferable to provide a boundary part supporting member which is in contact with the pressing part and a pressing means which presses the slice base from above in a state where the boundary part supporting member is in contact with the vicinity of the boundary part (claim 3).

The present invention also provides the above-mentioned slice base peeling /
A wafer loading means for receiving a wafer cut out by a cleaning device and a slicing device and loading it into a wafer holding means located at a water position in the slice base peeling / cleaning device, and a water position in the slice base peeling / cleaning device. A wafer storage / transportation unit that carries the wafer out of the wafer holding unit located and stores the wafer in the wafer storage container (claim 4).

Further, in such a wafer processing / transporting apparatus, by providing the wafer drying means for blowing dry air to the wafer transported by the wafer storing / transporting means, more excellent effects as described later can be obtained ( Claim 5).

[0013]

According to the method of claim 1, a wafer with a slice base is put in a hot water tank to soften the adhesive to peel the slice base, and a slice base peeling step. A wafer cleaning step of applying sonic vibration to clean the wafer surface can be performed in a single hot water bath.

Specifically, according to the apparatus of claim 2,
While holding the wafer horizontally by the wafer holding means, the wafer holding means is lowered to the underwater position in the hot water tank, and in this state, the slice base peeling means can peel the slice base from the wafer and The wafer surface can be cleaned by applying ultrasonic vibration to the water tank by the vibration generating means, and then the wafer can be taken out of the hot water by raising the wafer holding means to the position above the water.

More specifically, according to the apparatus of the third aspect, the boundary part supporting member abuts from below in the vicinity of the boundary part between the wafer and the slice base in a state where the wafer and the wafer holding means are lowered to the underwater position. Therefore, in this state, by pressing the slice base from above by the pressing means, the slice base can be folded from the wafer with the boundary member supporting member as a fulcrum.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the wafer carry-in means automatically carries the wafer cut out by the slicing apparatus into the wafer holding means located at the water position in the slice base peeling / cleaning apparatus. can do. Then, after the slice base is peeled off and the wafer is cleaned by this device, the wafer holding means is returned to the above-water position, and the wafer holding and carrying means carries out the wafer from the wafer holding means to carry out the wafer holding container. Can be stored inside. The wafer thus stored can be carried together with the wafer storage container to a chamfering device or the like.

Further, according to the apparatus of the fifth aspect, the wafer is dried by blowing dry air to the wet wafer carried out from the hot water tank by the wafer drying means during the storage and transportation thereof. Can be stored in the wafer storage container.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

5 and 6, reference numeral 10 denotes a slicing device, and a wafer processing and conveying device is provided near the slicing device 10. The wafer processing / transporting device includes a wafer transporting device (constituting wafer loading means) 12 and a wafer processing device 14.

The slicing device 10 has a blade 16 made of a donut-shaped thin plate having a circular through hole in the center.
Is equipped with. The blade 16 is mounted on the peripheral edge of a tension disk (not shown), and is rotated together with the tension disk at a high speed in the direction of arrow A0 in FIG. An inner peripheral blade 17 made of particles or the like is fixed.

The slicing device 10 also includes a slide table 18 extending in a direction orthogonal to the surface of the blade 10. This slide table 1
A work holding member 20 is slidably supported on the work piece 8 (arrow A1 in FIG. 6), and a work 22 made of a silicon semiconductor ingot or the like is held by the work holding member 20. While the work 22 is held by the work holding member 20, the work 22 is sent out to a position where it slightly penetrates through the central through hole of the blade 16, and in this state, the blade 16 is rotated at a high speed while the slide table 18 and the work holding member are held. 20 whole above blade 1
The wafer W can be cut out from the work 22 by the inner peripheral blade 17 by moving the wafer 6 in the radial direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 5) with respect to 6.

Here, the outer peripheral portion of the work 22 on the downstream side in the cutting feed direction, that is, the inner peripheral blade 17 of the work 22.
A slice base SB made of carbon or the like is adhered to the portion to be finally cut by means of an adhesive agent, and due to the fixation of the slice base SB, the cutting resistance acting on the blade 16 at the end of cutting the work 22 is suddenly increased. It is prevented that the final cut portion of the work 22 is chipped off by being opened to the outside. Therefore, when the wafer W is cut out, the sliced base SB is attached to a specific portion of the peripheral edge of the wafer W.

On the side of the slide table 18, a wafer collecting device 24 is provided in parallel with the slide table 18. The wafer recovery device 24 includes a base 26 that is moved in the cutting feed direction (that is, the left and right direction in FIG. 5) together with the slide table 18, and a pair of front and rear (a left and right pair in FIG. 6) is mounted on the base 26. The support plate 28 is erected,
A pair of upper and lower guide rods 30 are provided across both support plates 28. And the slide member 32 is arrange | positioned in the state penetrated by these rods 30. The tip of a rod 35 of a slide driving cylinder 34 fixed to a rear side support plate 28 is fixed to the slide member 32, and the slide member 32 is expanded and contracted to guide the slide member 32 to the guide rod 30. It is designed to be slid along.

A wafer recovery cylinder 36 extending in the radial direction of the blade 16 is provided on the side surface of the slide member 32, and a wafer recovery arm 37 is connected to the tip of the rod. The wafer recovery arm 37 has a shape that extends from the wafer recovery cylinder 36 through the central through hole of the blade 16 to the back side (left side in FIG. 6) of the blade 16, and the tip of the wafer recovery arm 37. A wafer recovery pad 38 is fixed to the portion.

The wafer recovery pad 38 has a U-shaped front view shape as shown in FIG. 5, and a plurality of air suction holes 39 are formed on the surface of the wafer recovery pad 38 facing the wafer W. It is provided. Then, by sucking air from these air suction holes 39, the wafer W is sucked to the wafer recovery pad 38.

A wafer recovery procedure by the wafer recovery device 24 will be described later in detail.

The wafer transfer device 12 is provided with a column 41 standing on a base 40, and a beam 42 extending in the horizontal direction, specifically, in the direction parallel to the blade 16 is provided at the upper end of the column 41. There is. A support bracket 44 protruding toward the blade 16 is fixed to both ends of the beam 42, and both end portions of a rodless cylinder 46 and a guide rod 48 are fixed to the both support brackets 44. Then, the operation of the rodless cylinder 46 causes the entire wafer transfer member 50 to move to the guide rod 4
8 is driven in the direction of arrow A3 in FIG.

The wafer transfer member 50 includes a moving block 51 which is driven by the rodless cylinder 46 while being penetrated by the rodless cylinder 46 and the guide rod 48. An upper end of a support plate 52 extending in the vertical direction is fixed to the moving block 51, and a rodless cylinder 53 that operates in the vertical direction is fixed to the lower half of the support plate 52. This rodless cylinder 53
An elevating plate 54 extending in the up-down direction is connected to the elevating plate 54, and the elevating plate 54 is driven up and down by the rodless cylinder 53 (see arrow A4 in FIG. 5). A work holding device 56 is provided.

The structure of the work holding device 56 is shown in FIGS.
Shown in. In the figure, a swing cylinder 58 is horizontally attached to a lower end portion of a lift plate 54 through a bracket 57, and a wafer suction device 60 is fixed to a swing rod 59 of the swing cylinder 58. This wafer suction device 60
Is provided with a suction pad 62, and by sucking air from the center of the suction pad 62, the suction pad 62 sucks the wafer W. Then, by the turning of the turning rod 59, the wafer suction device 60
Of the suction pad 62 of FIG.
The direction is switched between the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 8) and the state in which the suction pad 62 faces downward (the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIGS. 7 and 8).

The procedure of carrying the wafer W by the wafer carrying device 12 will be described in detail later.

Next, the wafer processing apparatus 14 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The wafer processing apparatus 14 includes a wafer carry-in section (constituting wafer carry-in means) 66 and a peeling / cleaning section (slice-based peeling / cleaning apparatus) in order from the upstream side (the right side in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the wafer transfer direction. ) 67 and a wafer storage / conveyance unit 68, and the units 66 to 68 are installed on the same substrate 70.

The wafer carry-in section 66 is provided with a pair of left and right guide plates 72 erected on the substrate 70. The two guide plates 72 are installed in parallel with each other at a distance smaller than the diameter of the wafer W, and the upper end of each guide plate 72 is made of, for example, synthetic resin or the like so as not to damage the wafer W. A guide portion 71 made of a material having such a softness is fixed.

In FIG. 2, for convenience, the front side (lower side in FIG. 1) guide plate 72 is removed.

A rodless cylinder 76 is arranged between the guide plates 72 in parallel with the guide plates 72, and guide rods 78 are arranged on both sides of the rodless cylinder 76. Both front and rear end portions (left and right end portions in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the rodless cylinder 76 and the guide rod 78 are fixed to a support plate 74 provided upright on the substrate 70.

An advancing / retreating block 84 as shown in FIG. 3 is attached to the rodless cylinder 76 and the guide rod 78 in a state of penetrating them, and the advancing / retreating block 84 operates the rodless cylinder 76. Is slid along the guide rod 78. The push-out member 82 is connected to the upper surface of the advancing / retreating block 84 via a connecting plate 80, and the extruding member 80 slides in the forward direction (in the direction of arrow A5 in FIG. 1) integrally with the advancing / retreating block 84, The wafer W placed on the guide portion 71 is introduced into the peeling / cleaning portion 67 along the guide portion 71.

As shown in FIG. 4, the peeling / cleaning section 67 includes a hot water tank 86 installed on the substrate 70, and hot water 88 is stored in the hot water tank 86. An ultrasonic device 90 for applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water tank 86 is attached to the bottom of the hot water tank 86 so that the hot water 88 is always kept at a constant temperature in the hot water tank 86. , Hot water is replenished for each processing operation.
The temperature of the hot water 88 is a temperature that is sufficient to wash the wafer W as described later and to soften the adhesive used for bonding the slice base SB to the wafer W. It is set. Specifically, when a thermosoftening resin such as an epoxy resin is used as the adhesive, the hot water temperature is preferably 30 to 60 ° C.

A wafer handling device 92 is provided near the hot water tank 86. Specifically, a rodless cylinder 96 extending from the hot water tank 86 to the entrance portion of the wafer storage / conveyance unit 68 is arranged on one side of the hot water tank 86 (left side in FIG. 4). Guide rods 98 are arranged above and below the 96 in parallel therewith, and the front and rear ends of the rodless cylinder 96 and the guide rod 98 are fixed to support plates 94 provided upright on the substrate 70. The rodless cylinder 96 and the guide rod 98 pass through the moving block 1 while being penetrated by them.
00 is mounted, and the moving block 100 is slidably driven along the guide rod 98 by the operation of the rodless cylinder 96.

One end of a beam 102 extending substantially over the entire width direction of the substrate 70 is fixed to the upper surface of the moving block 100, and an elevation drive cylinder (elevation means) is provided at the approximate center of the beam 102. 104 is mounted downward. Then, the lifting drive cylinder 10
A wafer holding member (wafer holding means) 106 is fixed to the lower end of the telescopic rod 105 of No. 4.

The wafer holding member 106 is composed of a horizontal upper member 108 and a lower member 110, and a connecting member 109 connecting the two members 108, 110 in the vertical direction. Is set to be sufficiently larger than the thickness dimension of the wafer W.

The upper member 108 includes one vertical member 108b extending in the width direction of the apparatus and two vertical members 108b orthogonal to the vertical member 108b.
It has an H-shaped plan view shape including the horizontal member 108a of the book. Similarly, the lower member 110 also has an equivalent shape composed of a vertical member 110b and a horizontal member 110a.
As shown in, the upper surface of each horizontal member 110a is formed in a cylindrical shape to support the wafer W in point contact. As shown in FIG. 4, the connecting member 109 has a U-shape in a side view, and the vertical members 108 a, 1 on the side closer to the moving block 100.
10a are connected to each other, and more specifically, both vertical members 1
08a and 110a connect the portions from the rear side (right side in FIG. 1) of the vertical member 108b.

In such a structure, as the lifting drive cylinder 104 expands and contracts, the entire wafer holding member 106 is positioned above the hot water tank 86 as shown by the solid line in FIG. It is configured to be driven up and down between a position on the water at a height level equivalent to that of 71 and a position under water in the hot water tank 86 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.

Further, in the hot water tank 86, a boundary member support plate 87 is projected at a position corresponding to the vicinity of the boundary portion between the wafer W held by the wafer holding member 106 and the slice base SB, The wafer holding member 10
The upper end of the boundary member support plate 87 comes into contact with the vicinity of the boundary portion from below when 6 is in the underwater position.

On the other hand, a slice base peeling cylinder (pressing means) 112 is fixed downward at the tip portion of the beam 102 and immediately above the slice base of the wafer W. Telescopic rod 1 with the peeling cylinder 112 in the most extended state
The stroke of the cylinder 112 is set so that the lower end of 14 pushes down the slice base SB from above.

The wafer storing / conveying unit 68 is provided with a pair of left and right belt conveyors 116, and the rear end portions of both belt conveyors 116 are connected to each other via a horizontal shaft 118, and the wafer held by the wafer holding member 106. W is conveyed to the rear end of the belt conveyor 116 together with the beam 102. On the other hand, on the substrate 70, a conveyor lifting cylinder 120 is placed upward at a position corresponding to the lower part of the central portion of the horizontal shaft 118, and the upper end of the telescopic rod 121 of the conveyor lifting cylinder 120 is mounted on the horizontal shaft 118. And a wafer pick-up position at which the upper surfaces of both belt conveyors 116 are slightly lower than the wafer W in the wafer holding member 106 at the water position due to the expansion and contraction operation of the conveyor lifting cylinder 120. The upper surfaces of both belt conveyors 116 can be switched to a wafer pick-up position which is slightly higher than the wafer W.

On the substrate 70, a swivel telescopic cylinder 122 is mounted upward at a position just in front of the conveyor lifting cylinder 120. The swivel telescopic cylinder 122 includes a swivel telescopic rod that performs both the telescopic operation and the swivel operation, and the wafer support member 1 having a shape that supports the wafer W from below at the upper end of the swivel telescopic rod.
24 is fixed. The position of the wafer supporting member 124 is switched between a standby position lower than the upper surface of the belt conveyor 116 and a wafer lift position higher than the upper surface of the belt conveyor 116 by the operation of the swiveling telescopic rod, and is at this wafer lift position. In this state, the wafer support member 124 is driven to reciprocate in the range of 90 ° by the pivoting operation of the pivoting telescopic rod.

A cassette (wafer accommodating container) 126 is arranged at a position where the front ends of both belt conveyors 116 face.
The cassette 126 is driven up and down by an elevator device (not shown). A large number of shelves for accommodating one wafer W are provided in the cassette 126 in the vertical direction, and each shelf is provided to prevent interference between the cassette 126 and the belt conveyor 116 when the cassette 126 is raised. A cutout 128 is provided.

Further, at a position immediately upstream of the cassette 126, where both belt conveyors 116 are sandwiched from above and below, the air blow pipes 131, 1 extending in the width direction of the apparatus.
32 are provided. In the upper air blow pipe 131, the position on the diagonally lower rear side and the lower air blow pipe 13
2, an air injection port is provided at a position on the diagonally upper rear side, from which dry air is blown toward the wafer W on the belt conveyor 116.

Next, the operation of the slicing device and the wafer processing / transporting device described above will be described.

First, in the slicing apparatus 10,
The cylindrical work 22 held by the holding member 20 is indexed forward (left in FIG. 6) along the slide table 18, and the front end of the work 22 slightly penetrates the central through hole of the blade 16. The work 22 is positioned at.
Then, with the blade 16 rotated, this blade 1
When the slide table 18 moves to the left in FIG.
The slicing operation for cutting out the wafer W from the front end is started.

Then, when this slicing progresses and the inner peripheral blade 17 of the blade 16 reaches the slice base SB adhered to the work 22, the cutting feed is temporarily stopped, and the wafer recovery pad 38 operates in this state. As a result, the front side surface (left side surface in FIG. 6) of the wafer W being cut out is adsorbed to the wafer recovery pad 38.

After that, the cutting feed is restarted, and after the slice base SB is completely cut, the wafer recovery cylinder 36 contracts so that only the wafer W with the wafer recovery pad 38 is moved to the work 22. The blade 16 is conveyed in the direction opposite to the cutting feed (rightward in FIG. 5) and positioned at a position matching the central through hole of the blade 16. In this state, the slide driving cylinder 34 contracts, so that the wafer W held by the wafer recovery pad 38 passes through the central through hole of the blade 16 and is positioned on the front side (right side in FIG. 6) of the blade 16. Be transported to.

Next, with the wafer holding pad 62 of the wafer holding device 56 facing the blade 16 side, the wafer transfer member 50 is driven in the direction of arrow A3 in FIG. 5, and the lifting plate 54 is driven up and down. Thus, the wafer holding pad 62 is positioned at a position facing the wafer W held by the wafer recovery pad 38, and in this state, the wafer holding device 56 is operated to suck the wafer W on the wafer holding pad 62. By releasing the suction by the wafer recovery pad 38, the wafer W is transferred from the wafer recovery pad 38 to the wafer holding pad 62.

When the rodless cylinder 53 is actuated, the elevating plate 54 and the wafer holding device 56 are integrally raised (the position indicated by the two-dot chain line on the right side in FIG. 5), and from here, the wafer transport member 50 is actuated by the operation of the rodless cylinder 46. The whole wafer is driven leftward in FIG.
4 is conveyed to a position above (the position shown by the solid line in FIGS. 5, 7, and 8). From this state, the revolving cylinder 58 operates and the wafer holding pad 62 faces downward (see FIGS. 5, 7, and 8).
(The state of the two-dot chain line), and the rodless cylinder 53 operates to lower the elevator plate 54 and the wafer holding device 56 as a whole (arrow A4 in FIG. 7, 8), so that the wafer W is transferred to the wafer processing device 14 Is placed on the guide portion 71 of the guide member 72 (the rightmost two-dot chain line position in FIG. 1 and the solid line position in FIG. 3).

Next, the rodless cylinder 76 is actuated to slide the moving block 84, the connecting plate 80, and the pushing member 82 as a whole forward. The pushing member 82 pushes the wafer W along the guide portion 71 toward the wafer peeling / cleaning portion 67, as shown in FIG.
Wafer holding member 1 standing by at the water position shown by the solid line in FIG.
It is carried into 06.

In the wafer peeling / cleaning unit 67,
First, the lift drive cylinder 104 extends and the wafer holding member 106 descends from the above water position to the underwater position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
While being held at 06, the wafer W is immersed in hot water 88, and the vicinity of the boundary between the wafer W and the slice base SB contacts the upper end of the boundary support plate 87 in the hot water tank 86. By the immersion in the hot water 88, the adhesive for adhering the slice base is softened, so the slice base peeling cylinder 112 is extended in this immersed state, and the telescopic rod 1 thereof is extended.
By pushing down the slice base SB at the lower end of 14, the slice base SB can be broken from the wafer W with the boundary support plate 87 as a fulcrum. Further, in this state, or in this state, the wafer holding member 106 is further lowered to the bottom of the hot water tank 86, and the ultrasonic device 90 is operated to operate the hot water tank 86 and the hot water 8.
By applying ultrasonic vibration to 8, it is possible to remove minute foreign matter on the surface of the wafer W.

After the slice base peeling process and the wafer cleaning process are completed, the elevating and lowering drive cylinder 104 is operated again to operate the wafer W and the wafer holding member 10.
6 is pulled up to the above water position. Then, the moving block 1 is operated by operating the rodless cylinder 96.
00, the beam 102, and the wafer holding member 106, the wafer W is transferred toward the wafer storage / transfer unit 68.

On the other hand, in the wafer storage / conveyance unit 68, both the conveyor lifting cylinder 120 and the swing telescopic cylinder 122 are contracted, and the rear end of the belt conveyor 116 is moved to the wafer pick-up position and the wafer support member 124 is moved to the standby position. Place each one. Then, the wafer W held by the wafer holding member 106 is transferred to both belt conveyors 11
6 reaches a position above the rear end portion of the wafer W, that is, a state in which the central portion of the wafer W is transported to a position directly above the wafer support member 124, and the revolving telescopic cylinder 122 extends, whereby the wafer W is Cross member 11 of beam 102
The wafer W is lifted from 0a and placed on the wafer support member 124, and the swing telescopic cylinder 122 swings 90 ° from this state, so that the orientation of the wafer W is also changed by 90 °. That is, the swiveling / expanding cylinder 122 and the wafer support member 124 adjust the direction in which the wafer W is stored in the cassette 126. Then, the swiveling telescopic cylinder 122
To contract the wafer W to the lateral member 110 of the beam 102.
Place it on a. When such orientation adjustment is unnecessary, the swiveling telescopic cylinder 122 and the wafer support member 124 are provided.
Can be omitted.

Next, the conveyor lifting cylinder 120
And the rear ends of both belt conveyors 116 are lifted from the wafer pick-up position to the wafer pick-up position, whereby the wafer W is picked up at the rear ends of both belt conveyors 116. 106
Transfer of the wafer W from the belt conveyor 116 to the belt conveyor 116 is completed. If the wafer holding member 106 is retracted when the wafer W is placed on the wafer support member 124 by extension of the swivel telescopic cylinder 122, the wafer W can be simply retracted thereafter.
Can be transferred onto the belt conveyor 116.

After the wafer W is transferred to the belt conveyor 116 in this way, the belt conveyor 116 is driven to carry the wafer W toward the cassette 126. During this transfer, dry air is blown onto the upper and lower surfaces of the wafer W from the upper and lower air blow pipes 131 and 132, so that the wafer W that has been wet up to that point is dried in the cassette 1.
It will be stored in 26.

Each time one wafer W is loaded into the cassette 126, the cassette 126 is moved up by one shelf by the drive of an elevator device (not shown). By repeating such an operation, each stage in the cassette 126 is Wafer W one by one from the top
Will be stored. Cassette 1 full
The wafer 26 is transferred to the chamfering device with the wafer W accommodated therein, and the next chamfering step is performed.

As described above, according to this method and apparatus, while the wafer W is held by the wafer holding member 106, the wafer W is immersed in hot water 88 to soften the adhesive and slice the slice base SB into the wafer. Since the slice base peeling step of peeling from W and the cleaning step of cleaning the wafer W by applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water 88 are performed in the same hot water tank 88, the above peeling is performed as in the conventional case. Compared to the case where the process and the cleaning process are performed by different devices, the wafer W
It is possible to drastically reduce the transportation time and the like, and it is also possible to drastically reduce the space required for the entire apparatus.

Further, the wafer processing / transporting device shown here is capable of processing the wafer W cut by the slicing device 10 into one.
Since the sheets are automatically fed to the peeling / cleaning unit 67 one by one and after the processing, they are automatically fed into the cassette 126.
Since it can be automatically carried in to the inside of 26 with almost no human intervention, it is possible to greatly save labor and manpower, and even during this working process, the wafer W can be handled in units of one wafer. It is possible to accurately and automatically perform quality control. Further, in this apparatus, since the dry air is blown before the wafer W is loaded into the cassette 126, the wafer W is automatically fed after the wafer W is immersed in the hot water tank 88. It can be carried into the cassette 126 in a dry state.

The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and the following modes can be adopted as an example.

(1) In the above embodiment, the wafer holding member 10
The method of holding the wafer W in 6 and immersing it in the hot water 88, first peeling the slice base SB, and then cleaning the wafer W has been described. Regardless of the order of the wafer cleaning process,
Therefore, the wafer W may be immersed in the hot water 88, then washed by ultrasonic vibration first, and then the slice base SB may be peeled off.

(2) In the above embodiment, the slicing device 10 for indexing the work 22 in the horizontal direction and slicing in the vertical direction is used, and the wafer W in the vertical state cut out by the slicing device 10 is operated by the rotating cylinder 58. However, when the slicing device for indexing the workpiece 22 in the vertical direction and slicing in the lateral direction is used, the cut-out wafer W is The swiveling cylinder 58 and the like are not necessary because it is already in a horizontal state,
Therefore, the wafer W is peeled off as it is.
It is sufficient to proceed to the cleaning process.

[0067]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the method of claim 1, a wafer is placed in a hot water tank, a peeling step of peeling the slice base from the wafer, and a cleaning step of cleaning the wafer by applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water tank. Since it is performed in the same hot water tank as above, there is no need to transfer the wafer between both processes, which can significantly reduce the wafer processing time, and the above-mentioned peeling process and cleaning process can be performed. The space required for installing the apparatus to be performed can also be significantly reduced, which has the effect of contributing to a reduction in product cost.

According to the apparatus of the second aspect, while the wafer is held by the wafer holding means, the slice base peeling from the wafer and the wafer cleaning can be carried out in the hot water tank without manual intervention.

More specifically, the apparatus according to claim 3 has a simple structure including only the boundary portion supporting member in the hot water tank and the pressing means for pressing the slice base from above. There is an effect that the base can be easily peeled off.

Further, according to the apparatus of the fourth aspect, the wafer cut by the slicing apparatus is carried into the peeling / cleaning apparatus, and further, after the peeling / cleaning process, the wafer is carried into a predetermined wafer storage container. Can be performed automatically, which can significantly reduce labor and manpower, and can automatically handle the wafers one by one, so that There is an effect that the quality control for each wafer can be automatically and surely performed.

Particularly, according to the apparatus of the fifth aspect, the wafer is automatically dried in a dry state by blowing dry air during the subsequent transportation of the wafer even though the wafer is immersed in hot water. There is an effect that it can be carried into a storage container.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of a wafer processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall side view of the wafer processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a view on arrow III in FIG.

4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a wafer processing transfer apparatus including the wafer processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the wafer processing transfer device.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a positional relationship between the wafer transfer apparatus and the wafer processing apparatus in the wafer processing transfer apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a positional relationship between the wafer transfer apparatus and the wafer processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Slicing device 12 Wafer transfer device (constitutes wafer loading means) 14 Wafer processing equipment 22 Work 66 Wafer carry-in section (constitutes wafer carry-in means) 67 Peeling / cleaning unit (slice-based peeling / cleaning device) 68 Wafer storage and transfer section 86 hot water tank 87 Border support plate 88 hot water 90 Ultrasonic device (vibration generating means) 104 Lifting drive cylinder (lifting means) 106 wafer holding member (wafer holding means) 112 Slice-based peeling cylinder (pressing means) 126 cassettes (wafer storage containers) W wafer SB slice base

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method for peeling a slice base adhered to a peripheral portion of a wafer from a wafer cut by a slicing device and cleaning the wafer, the method comprising placing the wafer in hot water. In this hot water, a peeling step of peeling the slice base from the wafer and a washing step of washing the wafer by applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water are performed, and the slice base of the wafer is peeled off. -Cleaning method. 2. An apparatus for peeling a slice base adhered to a peripheral portion of a wafer from a wafer cut by a slicing apparatus and for cleaning the wafer, the hot water tank containing hot water, Wafer holding means for holding the wafer in a substantially horizontal state, elevating means for raising and lowering the wafer holding means between an underwater position in the hot water tank and a water position above the hot water tank, the wafer, Slice base peeling of a wafer, characterized by comprising a slice base peeling means for peeling the slice base from the wafer in a state where the wafer holding means is in the underwater position, and a vibration generating means for applying ultrasonic vibration to the hot water tank. Cleaning device. 3. The slice base stripping means is provided in the hot water tank, and is in contact with the wafer and the wafer holding means from below in the vicinity of the boundary portion between the wafer and the slice base in a state where the wafer and the wafer holding means are lowered to the underwater position. A partial support member,
3. The wafer slice base peeling / cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: pressing means for pressing the slice base from above in a state where the boundary portion supporting member is in contact with the vicinity of the boundary portion. 4. The slice-based stripping / cleaning apparatus for a wafer according to claim 2 or 3, and the wafer cut out by the slicing apparatus, and the wafer-holding means located at a water position in the slice-based stripping / cleaning apparatus. Wafer carry-in means to carry in and the slice base peeling /
A wafer processing / transporting device, comprising: a wafer storage / transporting device that carries a wafer out of a wafer holding device located at a water position in a cleaning device and stores the wafer in a wafer storage container. 5. The wafer processing / transporting apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising wafer drying means for blowing dry air onto the wafer transported by the wafer storing / transporting means.