TWI868158B - Method for cutting brittle material substrates - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for appropriately dividing a brittle material substrate into single pieces of different sizes. The method comprises: a marking step, in which a marking line is formed on one main surface side of a substrate along a predetermined position around a region that becomes a small-sized single chip after the cutting and all regions that become a large-sized single chip; and a cracking step, in which a crack bar is pressed into all crack bar abutment positions at a specific pressing amount from the other main surface side of the substrate at a crack bar abutment position that at least includes a position above the marking line; and in the cracking step, (a) a tool tip angle θ is set to 50° to 90°, (b) a curvature radius R of a front end of a tool tip is set to 100 μm to 300 μm, (c) a pressing amount is set to 60 μm to 100 μm, and (d) a crack bar descending speed is set to 10 mm/s to 100 mm/s. mm/s.

Description

Method for cutting brittle material substrates

The present invention relates to a method of achieving singulation by breaking a brittle material substrate, and more particularly to a method of obtaining two types of single chips of different sizes by means of a scribing process and a breaking process.

As a method for singulating (wafering) a brittle material substrate at a plurality of locations to obtain a plurality of single pieces (chips), the following method is known, namely: after performing a marking process of pre-forming marking lines at each predetermined breaking position on one main surface of the substrate, a crack bar is brought into contact with the predetermined breaking position from the other main surface side, and the crack bar is then pressed in, thereby performing a crack process in which a crack extends from the marking line in the direction of the substrate thickness (for example, refer to patent document 1).

Such a method is applicable, for example, to the case where a device mother substrate is separated to obtain a device chip (single chip), wherein the device mother substrate is formed by using a glass wafer as a base substrate and using resin or metal etc. to form a specific device structure on the base substrate. That is, the device mother substrate produced by repeatedly arranging a device structure pattern two-dimensionally on a glass wafer is separated by the above-mentioned marking process and cracking process, thereby obtaining a plurality of device chips. [Prior technical literature] [Patent literature]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2016-30364

[The problem the invention is trying to solve]

In the above-mentioned device mother substrate, for example, a region (large-size region) having a plane size larger than the region (normal-size region) for the device chip of the device structure, such as TEG, is formed at one or more locations. Moreover, even in such a case, there is a need to obtain device chips by appropriately performing singulation through scribing and cleaving processes.

However, generally speaking, the length of the tip of the crack bar used for crack processing (the length of the blade) is greater than the size of the object to be cut, so that the object can be cut between any two points on the periphery of the object. Therefore, for example, in the case of attempting to cut a component mother substrate mixed with large-sized areas and normal-sized areas as described above, the arrangement of the two areas may cause the crack bar to abut against the large-sized area that does not need to be cut. In such a case, the crack extends to the large-sized area, and then the crack extends to other normal-sized areas, and there is a possibility that the object is cut at a different location from the original location.

Although it is considered to suppress the occurrence of such cracks by changing the breaking order, in addition to the relative movement of the crack bar and the component mother substrate becoming complicated and the productivity deteriorating, the possibility of positional displacement of the breaking part will increase, so it is not ideal. Originally, due to the arrangement relationship between the large-size area and the normal-size area, there is also a situation where the crack bar inevitably abuts the large-size area.

The present invention was completed in view of the above-mentioned subject, and its purpose is to provide a method for appropriately dividing a brittle material substrate into single pieces of different sizes. [Technical means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the method for cutting a brittle material substrate of the invention of technical solution 1 is characterized in that it is a method for cutting a brittle material substrate into a small-sized single piece and a large-sized single piece having a size larger than the small-sized single piece along a predetermined cutting position, and comprises: a drawing step, in which a drawing line is formed on one main surface side of the brittle material substrate along the predetermined cutting position around the area that becomes the small-sized single piece after cutting and all the areas that become the large-sized single piece; and a cracking step. A breaking step, in which the crack bar is pressed into all the aforementioned crack bar abutment positions at a specific pressing amount from the other main surface side of the aforementioned brittle material substrate at the crack bar abutment positions at least including the upper position of the formation position of the aforementioned score line, thereby breaking the aforementioned brittle material substrate into the aforementioned small-sized single pieces and the aforementioned large-sized single pieces; and in the aforementioned breaking step, (a) the blade tip angle θ of the aforementioned crack bar is set to 50° to 90°, (b) the curvature radius R of the front end of the blade tip of the aforementioned crack bar is set to 100 μm to 300 μm, (c) the aforementioned pressing amount is set to 60 μm to 100 μm, and (d) the descending speed of the aforementioned crack bar when the aforementioned crack bar is pressed into the aforementioned substrate is set to 10 mm/s to 100 mm/s.

The invention of technical solution 2 is as in technical solution 1, wherein in the aforementioned cleaving step, the aforementioned substrate transfer is performed as follows only in one direction of arranging the aforementioned cleavage bar abutment positions at a specific pitch: after completing the cleaving action on one aforementioned cleavage bar abutment position, the cleaving action is performed on the next aforementioned cleavage bar abutment position.

The invention of technical solution 3 is as in technical solution 1 or technical solution 2, wherein a pattern including a small-sized pattern arranged in a region that becomes the small-sized single piece after being cut and a large-sized pattern arranged in a region that becomes the large-sized single piece is provided on the aforementioned brittle material substrate, and in the aforementioned drawing step, the aforementioned drawing line is formed on the aforementioned brittle material substrate exposed between the aforementioned patterns. [Effect of the invention]

According to the invention of technical solutions 1 to 3, the brittle material substrate can be appropriately divided into small-sized single pieces and large-sized single pieces.

In particular, according to the invention of technical solution 2, a brittle material substrate can be separated into small-sized single pieces and large-sized single pieces with excellent versatility and productivity.

<Separation object> Figure 1 is a schematic top view of the separation object of this embodiment, i.e., the mother substrate 10. Figure 2 is a diagram showing the state of a certain partial area RE of the mother substrate 10 shown in Figure 1. In Figure 1, in one main surface of the mother substrate 10, a right-handed xyz coordinate system is assigned, wherein the direction along the orientation plane 10f and the direction perpendicular to the direction are respectively the x-axis direction and the y-axis direction, and the direction perpendicular to the main surface is the z-axis direction. The following figures are also based on this coordinate system.

In addition, Figure 2(a) is a top view (xy top view) of the partial area RE, and Figure 2(b) is an A-A’ cross-sectional view (zx cross-sectional view) of Figure 2(a).

As shown in FIG2 , the mother substrate 10 has a structure in which a specific pattern 2 is two-dimensionally arranged on one main surface of the base substrate 1 by one or more layers including resin or metal. In other words, the mother substrate 10 has the pattern 2 on one main surface side. In addition, the other main surface of the base substrate 1 without the pattern 2 is also the other main surface of the mother substrate 10.

The base substrate 1 is a brittle material substrate having a plane size (diameter) of about 20 cm to 30 cm and a thickness of about 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm, and is exemplified by a glass wafer.

Although the pattern 2 is based on a small-size pattern 2a of a specific size, a large-size pattern 2b having a larger plane size than the small-size pattern 2a is also provided in a portion of the mother substrate 10. The large-size pattern 2b is arranged in a state surrounded by the small-size pattern 2a in at least one portion of the mother substrate 10. The partial area RE exemplifies this state. For example, the small-size pattern 2a is a pattern for forming a specific device structure, and the large-size pattern 2b is TEG. In such a case, a solder ball can be formed on the upper surface of the pattern 2.

Each adjacent pattern 2 is separated from each other, and the gap between them is a cutting line ST, and the base substrate 1 is exposed. In the mother substrate 10, the cutting lines ST include: a first cutting line ST1 between small-sized patterns 2a, a second cutting line ST2 between large-sized patterns 2b, and a third cutting line ST3 between small-sized patterns 2a and large-sized patterns 2b.

Furthermore, in order to simplify the illustration in FIG. 2 , both the small-size pattern 2a and the large-size pattern 2b are set to be rectangular in top view, but in practice, the shapes of the two patterns are not limited thereto. In this case, the cutting path ST is considered to be the gap between the rectangles of each pattern 2 circumscribed.

When both the small-sized pattern 2a and the large-sized pattern 2b are rectangular in plan view, the short side of the small-sized pattern 2a is about 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm, and the long side is about 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm. The short side of the large-sized pattern 2b is about 1.0 mm to 4.0 mm, and the long side is about 1.5 mm to 6.0 mm.

The width of the first scribe line ST1 is about 30 μm to 100 μm, the width of the second scribe line ST2 is about 20 μm to 200 μm, and the width of the third scribe line ST3 is about 30 μm to 200 μm.

The mother substrate 10 is divided into individual pieces including a single pattern 2 along predetermined division positions predetermined along the scribe lines ST. In other words, the division positions are arranged around all regions that become individual pieces after division.

Furthermore, the region of the mother substrate 10 that is divided into a single piece including the small-size pattern 2a is called a small-size singulation region 10a, and the region that is divided into a single piece including the large-size pattern 2b is called a large-size singulation region 10b. In other words, the division of the mother substrate 10 in the method of this embodiment is a process of dividing the mother substrate 10 into a plurality of small-size singulation regions 10a and a plurality of large-size singulation regions 10b.

In more detail, in this embodiment, the pattern 2 is repeatedly arranged in each of the mutually orthogonal x-axis direction and the y-axis direction, so the mother substrate 10 is divided at the x-division predetermined position Px along the x-axis direction and the y-division predetermined position Py along the y-axis direction. The x-division predetermined position Px and the y-division predetermined position Py are determined at the center of each cutting street ST in the first cutting street ST1 and the second cutting street ST2.

Furthermore, among the x-division predetermined positions Px, the position where the large-size pattern 2b does not exist in the extension direction thereof is referred to as the first x-division predetermined position Px1, and the position where the large-size pattern 2b exists is referred to as the second x-division predetermined position Px2. Similarly, among the y-division predetermined positions Py, the position where the large-size pattern 2b does not exist in the extension direction thereof is referred to as the first y-division predetermined position Py1, and the position where the large-size pattern 2b exists is referred to as the second y-division predetermined position Py2.

<Overview of the splitting process> Next, the splitting process performed in this embodiment is described in its overview. The splitting process is achieved by a line drawing process and a subsequent splitting process.

Fig. 3 schematically shows the scribing process on the mother substrate 10. The scribing process can be performed using a well-known scribing device 100.

The marking device 100 mainly comprises: a carrier 101, which can support the marking object in a horizontal position at the bottom; and a marking wheel (cutter wheel) 102, which is a disc-shaped component having a blade tip 102e at the outer edge. The marking wheel 102 is held by the marking device 100 in a state of being rotatable in a vertical plane.

In more detail, the scribing wheel 102 is a disc-shaped member (scribing tool) with a diameter of 2 mm to 3 mm, and has a blade tip 102e in the shape of an equilateral triangle in cross-section on the outer peripheral surface. Moreover, at least the blade tip 102e is formed of diamond. Moreover, the angle (blade tip angle) α of the blade tip 102e is preferably 100° to 135°.

When the mother substrate 10 is used as the dividing object, the mother substrate 10 is mounted and fixed on the stage 101 and positioned in a state where one main surface side with the pattern 2 is used as the upper surface (line object surface) and the other main surface side is used as the mounting surface relative to the stage 101.

In more detail, before the scribing process, the mother substrate 10 is placed in a state where the other main surface is attached to a retaining tape (e.g., a cutting tape) DT pre-stretched on a substantially annular ring portion (e.g., a cutting ring portion) RG. Then, in such a state, the mother substrate 10 is mounted and fixed on the stage 101 by mounting and fixing the ring portion RG formed by the mother substrate 10 attached to the retaining tape DT.

3 shows a state where a certain y-division predetermined position Py is used as a line drawing target.

When the scribing operation is performed along the y-dividing predetermined positions Py, the mother substrate 10 is mounted and fixed on the stage 101 in such a manner that each y-dividing predetermined position Py is parallel to the rotational plane of the scribing wheel 102. Then, each y-dividing predetermined position Py is positioned in such a manner that the y-dividing predetermined position Py and the rotational plane of the scribing wheel 102 are located in the same vertical plane (a plane perpendicular to the figure), and the scribing wheel 102 is pressed and rotated along the y-dividing predetermined position Py on the mother substrate 10 (strictly speaking, on the base substrate 1 exposed at the cutting line ST) while applying a specific load (referred to as scribing load). Such a crimping rotation is realized, for example, by using a driving mechanism (not shown) to move the carrier 101 horizontally relative to the scribing wheel 102. Thus, a scribing line is formed along the y-dividing predetermined position Py on the base substrate 1 exposed at the cutting path ST. The scribing line is preferably formed in such a way that the vertical crack reaches a depth of about 20 to 50% of the thickness of the substrate from the surface of the base substrate 1. When the scribing line is formed in such a manner, the scribing speed (the speed at which the scribing wheel 102 moves relative to the carrier 101) is preferably 100 mm/s to 300 mm/s.

In this embodiment, for all the y-dividing predetermined positions Py separated by a specific pitch in the x-axis direction, the combination of such positioning and the pressing and rotating of the scribing wheel 102 is sequentially performed from one end side in the x-axis direction, i.e., the scribing operation is performed. That is, after the scribing operation is completed for one y-dividing predetermined position Py, the transfer of the mother substrate 10 for scribing the next y-dividing predetermined position Py (the relative movement of the scribing wheel 102 from the y-dividing predetermined position Py after the scribing process is completed to the y-dividing predetermined position Py to be the next scribing process object) is performed only in one direction of the x-axis direction.

In the case of the marking operation performed along the x-section predetermined position Px, it is also performed in the same manner.

Furthermore, in the case where the 2x-th planned division position Px2 or the 2y-th planned division position Py2 shown in FIG. 2 is a line object, a large-size singulation region 10b (large-size pattern 2b) is interposed in its extending direction. Therefore, the marking wheel 102, which is pressed and rotated along the 2x predetermined break position Px2 or the 2y predetermined break position Py2 determined by the 1st cutting path ST1 in a manner that no marking lines are formed in the large-size singulation area 10b during the marking operation, rises and moves in the x-axis direction or the y-axis direction above the large-size singulation area 10b before reaching the 1y predetermined break position Py1 or the 1x predetermined break position Px1 determined by the 3rd cutting path ST3 which is orthogonal thereto or at the time of reaching it. Then, the portion in front of which the 2x predetermined break position Px2 or the 2y predetermined break position Py2 is arranged descends again, and is pressed and rotated along the 2x predetermined break position Px2 or the 2y predetermined break position Py2.

The mother substrate 10 that has completed the marking process for all predetermined separation positions is then supplied to a cleavage process. Fig. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the state of the cleavage process for the mother substrate 10. The cleavage process can be performed using a known cleavage device 200.

The breaking device 200 mainly includes: a support body 201, at least the surface of which includes an elastic body, which can support the breaking object in a horizontal position below; and a breaking bar 202, which is a plate-like component having a triangular-shaped tip 202e in a cross-sectional view below the lead.

As the support body 201, for example, a structure in which a plate-like elastic body is placed and fixed on the upper surface of a metal member having a flat upper surface can be adopted.

The crack bar 202 is a plate-shaped metal member (e.g., made of superhard alloy) in which a tip 202e in the shape of an equilateral triangle in cross-section is provided in a manner extending in the longitudinal direction of the blade. In FIG. 4 , the crack bar 202 is shown in a manner in which the longitudinal direction of the blade is perpendicular to the drawing. In addition, the length of the blade of the crack bar 202 is greater than the plane size of the mother substrate 10 so that the cracking can be performed in the entire longitudinal direction of the blade in one cracking action.

FIG. 4 shows a state where a certain y-dividing predetermined position Py formed with a ruled line SL by the ruling process is set as a target of the breaking process.

The mother substrate 10 after the scribing process is supplied to the cleaving process in a state of being attached to the retaining tape DT stretched on the annular portion RG. However, as shown in FIG. 4 , during the cleaving process, one of the main surface sides exposed during the scribing process is covered with the protective film PF. The protective film covers the pattern 2 in a state where its edge portion is attached to the annular portion RG. The mother substrate 10 after the scribing process is in a state where the other main surface side is at the top and one main surface side is at the bottom. In other words, the annular portion RG, the retaining tape DT, and the protective film PF are mounted and fixed on the support 201 together. That is, the protective film PF is mounted and fixed in a state where it is in contact with the support 201.

Then, when the cleaving operation is performed along the y-cleaving predetermined position Py, the mother substrate 10 is mounted and fixed on the support 201 in such a manner that each y-cleaving predetermined position Py is parallel to the length direction of the blade of the cleaving bar 202. Then, for each y-cleaving predetermined position Py, after positioning the y-cleaving predetermined position Py and the cleaving bar 202 in the same vertical plane (a plane perpendicular to the figure), the cleaving bar 202 is lowered toward the y-cleaving predetermined position Py as indicated by the arrow AR1. The cleaving bar 202 is further pressed into a specific distance (referred to as the pressing amount) z after its blade tip 202e abuts against the holding tape DT.

In this way, when the crack strip 202 is lowered toward the predetermined y-dividing position Py of the mother substrate 10 with the stroke line SL located below, and then pressed in with a specific pressing amount, the crack extends from the stroke line SL along the predetermined y-dividing position in the thickness direction (perpendicular to the peripheral surface of the mother substrate 10) to reach the other main surface of the mother substrate 10 which becomes the upper surface, and more specifically reaches the surface of the base substrate 1 to which the retaining tape DT is attached.

However, since the length of the blade of the cleavage bar 202 is greater than the size of the mother substrate 10, when the cleavage operation is performed, there is a situation where the cleavage bar 202 also abuts against the large-sized singulation area 10b where no score line is formed below and no division is required. In other words, the abutment position of the cleavage bar 202 includes not only at least the position above the formation position of the score line, but also the range of the large-sized singulation area 10b where no score line is formed. In this embodiment, in such a situation, the cleavage operation is performed in a manner that does not cause unnecessary division in the large-sized singulation area 10b. The details will be described later.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, for all the crack bar contact positions separated by a specific pitch in the x-axis direction, the positioning, lowering and combination of the crack bar 202, i.e., the cracking operation with the y-splitting predetermined position Py as the object is sequentially performed from one end side in the x-axis direction. That is, after the cracking operation for the crack bar contact position including one y-splitting predetermined position Py is completed, the transfer of the mother substrate 10 for performing the cracking operation for the crack bar contact position including the next y-splitting predetermined position Py (relative movement of the crack bar 202 from the crack bar contact position after the cracking process is completed to the crack bar contact position to be the object of the next cracking process) is performed only in one direction of the x-axis direction.

When the breaking process is performed along the predetermined x-breaking position Px, the same process is performed.

The mother substrate 10 after the appropriate cracking process is held by the retaining tape DT in a state where each small-sized singularization region 10a and the large-sized singularization region 10b are separated but in contact with each other between adjacent regions. The mother substrate 10 in such a state is subjected to an expansion process by stretching the retaining tape DT to separate the adjacent regions. In this way, each small-sized singularization region 10a is separated from the large-sized singularization region 10b, and each can be obtained as a single piece. By the above, the mother substrate 10 is divided into single pieces of the desired size.

<Details of the cleavage process> Figure 5 is a top view of a partial area RE of the mother substrate 10 for cleavage process after the marking process is completed, observed from the other main surface side (from the opposite side of the main surface having the pattern 2). That is, Figure 5 shows the mother substrate 10 placed on the support 201 of the cleavage device 200 in the posture shown in Figure 4, as viewed from vertically above.

However, in FIG. 5 , for the sake of easy observation, the patterns 2 (the small-sized pattern 2 a and the large-sized pattern 2 b ) provided on one main surface side are indicated by dotted lines.

Furthermore, in FIG5, the x-stroke line SLx formed along the x-split predetermined position Px of the face side and the y-stroke line SLy formed along the y-split predetermined position Py by the stroke processing are indicated by two-point chain lines. In more detail, in the former, the stroke line formed along the 1st x-split predetermined position Px1 is set as the 1st x-stroke line SLx1, and the stroke line formed along the 2nd x-split predetermined position Px2 is set as the 2nd x-stroke line SLx2. In the latter, the stroke line formed along the 1st y-split predetermined position Py1 is set as the 1st y-stroke line SLy1, and the stroke line formed along the 2nd y-split predetermined position Py2 is set as the 2nd y-stroke line SLy2.

The 1x-th line SLx1 and the 1y-th line SLy1 are formed to extend over the entire x-axis direction and the y-axis direction, respectively. On the other hand, the 2x-th line SLx2 and the 2y-th line SLy2 each terminate at an intersection of the 1y-th line SLy1 and the 1x-th line SLx1 orthogonal thereto, or at a position before the intersection of the 1y-th line SLy1 and the 1x-th line SLx1. In the partial area RE shown in FIG. 5 , the intersections I1 to I6 of the 1x-th line SLx1 and the 2y-th line SLy2 and the intersections I7 to I12 of the 1y-th line SLy1 and the 2x-th line SLx2 are shown.

As described above, during the cleaving operation, the cleavage bar 202 also abuts against the large-size singulation area 10b where no line is formed below and does not need to be separated. In FIG. 5 , the abutment position of the cleavage bar 202 where no line is formed below is indicated by a dotted line Lx in the x-axis direction and a dotted line Ly in the y-axis direction. For example, if the position where the 2x-th line SLx2 is formed is the target of the cleavage process, then from the perspective of the diagram, not only the position above the left and right pair of the 2x-th line SLx2 formation positions, but also the position of the dotted line Lx between the two positions becomes the cleavage bar abutment position.

Fig. 6 is a top view showing the state of a partial region RE during the cleavage process of the mother substrate 10 shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a top view showing the state of a partial region RE after the cleavage process of the mother substrate 10 shown in Fig. 5 is completed.

FIG6 specifically shows the state of the cracking process when the crack bar contact position including the formation position of the y-line SLy is performed sequentially from the crack bar contact position of the y-line SLy located on the left side as viewed from the diagram. In FIG6, the result of the break line DL formed on the mother substrate 10 extending from the y-line SLy to the other main surface is indicated by a thick solid line.

First, the mother substrate 10 should be broken at the 1y predetermined breaking position Py1, and when the breaking operation is performed with the breaking bar contact position including the formation position of the 1y scribe line SLy1 as the object, of course, the breaking line DL can be formed throughout the entire y-axis direction. FIG. 6 shows the breaking line DL formed at the 1y predetermined breaking position Py1 in such a state as the (1st) breaking line DL1.

On the other hand, when the mother substrate 10 should be cut in the 2y predetermined cutting position Py2 and the cutting action is performed on the crack bar abutment position including the formation position of the 2y stroke line SLy2, the crack bar 202 not only abuts against the position where the stroke line is formed below, but also abuts against the position of the virtual line Ly where the stroke line is not formed, and is pressed in with a specific pressing amount z throughout the entire length direction of the blade.

Therefore, originally, as shown by the (second) break line DL2 in FIG. 6 , the break line DL should be formed only at the formation position of the second y line SLy2, but the crack from the formation position of the second y line SLy2 extends beyond the positions of the intersections I1 to I6 with the first x line SLx1 and is generated to the portion of the large-size singulation area 10b, and there is a situation where the break line DL is formed not only at the formation position of the second y line SLy2 but also to the large-size singulation area 10b. In FIG. 6 , such a break line DL is exemplified as a break line DL2α.

Furthermore, even if the dividing line DL2α is formed along the 2y dividing line SLy2 at the formation position, that is, along the 2y dividing predetermined position Py2 which is also the length direction of the blade, it is not necessarily formed along the length direction of the blade in the large-size singulation area 10b where no dividing line is formed.

In this embodiment, by appropriately determining the conditions for the crack processing, while setting the transfer of the crack bar 202 to only one direction in the x-axis direction and continuously performing the cracking along the formation positions of each y-line SLy, the cracking with the formation position of the 1st y-line SLy1 as the crack abutment position is appropriately achieved, and even when the cracking is performed with the crack abutment position including the formation position of the 2nd y-line SLy2 as the object, the dividing line is formed below the intersection I1~I6 with the 1st x-line SLx1 that divides the large-size singulation area 10b. Furthermore, when the cracking is continuously performed along the formation position of the x-line SLx while the transfer of the crack strip 202 is set to only one direction in the y-axis direction, the cracking is also appropriately performed with the formation position of the 1st x-line SLx1 as the crack abutment position. Even when the cracking is performed with the crack abutment position including the formation position of the 2nd x-line SLx2 as the object, the dividing line is formed at or below the intersection points I7 to I12 with the 1st y-line SLy1 that divides the large-size singulation area 10b.

Specifically, the fracture process is performed under the following conditions: (a) Angle of the blade tip 202e (blade tip angle) θ: 50° to 90°; (b) Radius of curvature R of the front end of the blade tip 202e: 100 μm to 300 μm; (c) Indentation amount z: 60 μm to 100 μm; (d) Descending speed of the fracture strip 202: 10 mm/s to 100 mm/s.

By satisfying the conditions (a) to (d), in the mother substrate 10, as shown in FIG. 7, a first break line DL1 is formed along the 1x predetermined break position Px1 and the 1y predetermined break position Py1, and a second break line DL2 is formed along the 2x predetermined break position Px2 and the 2y predetermined break position Py2, which does not extend relative to the large-size singulation area 10b. This is because the radius of curvature R of the front end of the blade tip 202e is larger relative to the thickness of the substrate, and the lateral expansion force of the substrate becomes larger, thereby suppressing the deformation of the large-size singulation area 10b caused by excessive pressing of the cleavage bar 202.

Thereafter, by performing the above-mentioned expansion process on the mother substrate 10 formed with the first dividing lines DL1 and the second dividing lines DL2, a single chip including the small-sized pattern 2a and a single chip including the large-sized pattern 2b can be obtained.

When the blade tip angle θ or the curvature radius R is smaller than the above range, and when the pressing amount z and the descending speed of the cleavage bar 202 are greater than the above range, the deformation of the large-size singulation area 10b caused by the pressing of the cleavage bar 202 is large, and the second breaking line DL2 will be formed in the large-size singulation area 10b, which is unsatisfactory.

On the other hand, when the blade tip angle θ or the radius of curvature R is larger than the above range, and when the indentation amount z and the descending speed of the cracking strip 202 are smaller than the above range, the crack extending from the drawn line cannot reach the opposite side, and separation cannot be performed, which is unsatisfactory.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a mother substrate composed of a mixture of a plurality of small-size patterns and a plurality of large-size patterns can be appropriately separated into a small-size single chip containing the former and a large-size single chip containing the latter by a marking process along the predetermined separation position and a subsequent cracking process that satisfies conditions (a) to (d).

In particular, when performing the cleavage process, although the cleavage bar is brought into contact with the position where the cleavage is not necessary, it is possible to appropriately suppress the occurrence of unnecessary cleavage of a large-sized single chip.

Furthermore, the following correspondence can also be considered, that is, depending on the thickness and type of the substrate, by performing the cracking process only around the single pieces in the large-size singulation area in advance after the scribing process, the splitting of the large-size singulation area as described above can be suppressed. However, in addition to the fact that the relative movement of the crack bar relative to the mother substrate becomes complicated, the positioning accuracy may also deteriorate, which is inferior to the method of this embodiment in terms of productivity. In addition, originally according to the configuration of the large-size singulation area of the mother substrate, there may be other large-size singulation areas on the extension line of the predetermined splitting position set around a certain large-size singulation area. In such a case, the early splitting as described above cannot be performed.

In this regard, the method of this embodiment is not related to the configuration of the large-size area of the mother substrate. Although the predetermined separation positions are only transferred in one direction, the separation can be appropriately performed at all predetermined separation positions, so it can be said to be excellent in versatility and productivity.

1: Base substrate 2: Pattern 2a: Small size pattern 2b: Large size pattern 10: Mother substrate 10a: Small size singularization area 10b: Large size singularization area 10f: Orientation plane 100: Scribing device 101: Carrier 102: Scribing wheel (cutting wheel) 102e: (Scribing wheel) tip 200: Crack Breaking device 201: Support body 202: Breaking strip 202e: Blade tip (of breaking strip) AR1: Arrow DL: Breaking line DL1: (1st) Breaking line DL2: (2nd) Breaking line DL2α: Breaking line DT: Retaining tape I1~I6: Intersection point I7~I12: Intersection point Lx: Dashed line Ly: Dashed line PF: Protective film Px: x-split predetermined position Px1: 1st x-split predetermined position Px2: 2nd x-split predetermined position Py: y-split predetermined position Py1: 1st y-split predetermined position Py2: 2nd y-split predetermined position RE: Partial area RG: Ring section SL: Stroke line SLx: x-stroke line SLx1: 1st 1x line SLx2: 2nd x line SLy: y line SLy1: 1st y line SLy2: 2nd y line ST: Cutting line ST1: 1st cutting line ST2: 2nd cutting line ST3: 3rd cutting line x: axis y: axis z: axis α: angle of the blade tip (blade tip angle) θ: angle of the blade tip (blade tip angle)

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of the mother substrate 10. FIG. 2 (a) and (b) are diagrams showing the state of a certain partial area RE of the mother substrate 10. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the state of the mother substrate 10 being subjected to the marking process. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the state of the mother substrate 10 being subjected to the cracking process. FIG. 5 is a top view of a partial area RE of the mother substrate 10 subjected to the cracking process observed from the side of the bottom substrate 1. FIG. 6 is a top view showing the state of a partial area RE in the middle of the cracking process of the mother substrate 10. FIG. 7 is a top view showing the partial area RE after the mother substrate 10 has been subjected to the cracking process well.

1: Base substrate

2: Pattern

2a: Small size pattern

2b: Large size pattern

10a: Small size monolithic area

10b: Large size monolithic area

Px:x split predetermined position

Px1: 1xth break predetermined position

Px2: 2xth break predetermined position

Py:y break predetermined position

Py1: 1st y division predetermined position

Py2: 2nd y break predetermined position

RE: Some areas

ST: Cutting Road

ST1: 1st cutting track

ST2: 2nd cutting path

ST3: 3rd cutting path

x:axis

y:axis

z:axis

Claims (3)

A method for breaking a brittle material substrate is characterized in that: it is a method for breaking the brittle material substrate into a small-sized single chip and a large-sized single chip having a size larger than the small-sized single chip along a predetermined breaking position, and comprises: a marking step, in which a marking line is formed on one main surface side of the brittle material substrate along the predetermined breaking position defined around all regions including a small-sized singulation region that becomes the small-sized single chip after breaking and a large-sized singulation region that becomes the large-sized single chip after breaking; and a cracking step, in which a marking line is formed from the other main surface side of the brittle material substrate at least at the formation position of the marking line. The crack bar abuts the position of the crack bar above the substrate, and the crack bar is pressed into all the abutment positions of the crack bar with a specific pressing amount, thereby separating the brittle material substrate into the small-sized single piece and the large-sized single piece; and in the aforementioned cracking step, (a) the blade tip angle θ of the aforementioned crack bar is set to 50°~90°, (b) the curvature radius R of the front end of the blade tip of the aforementioned crack bar is set to 100μm~300μm, (c) the aforementioned pressing amount is set to 60μm~100μm, (d) the descending speed of the aforementioned crack bar when the aforementioned crack bar is pressed into the aforementioned substrate is set to 10mm/s~100mm/s. A method for breaking a brittle material substrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the aforementioned breaking step, the aforementioned substrate transfer is performed only in one direction of arranging the aforementioned break bar abutment positions at a specific pitch: after completing the breaking action on one aforementioned break bar abutment position, the breaking action is performed on the next aforementioned break bar abutment position. A method for cutting a brittle material substrate as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein a pattern including a small-sized pattern provided in the small-sized singulation region before the small-sized single chip is formed after cutting and a large-sized pattern provided in the large-sized singulation region before the large-sized single chip is formed after cutting is provided on the brittle material substrate, and in the marking step, the marking line is formed on the brittle material substrate exposed between the patterns.