Device for the separation of substrates from a stack

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus used for separating damp silicon wafers (2) from a wafer stack (1), wherein, the damp wafers (2) can be singly taken out of the stack (1) and can be conveyed to a succedent conveying mechanism (7), thin and easy broken damp wafers maintained in the stack can be credibly and rapidly separated and divided from each other, even those of large grade.In order to realize the objective, the apparatus is provided with a separate roller (4) on which the wafer stack (1) can be placed; by rotating the separate roller (4), downmost wafers (2.1) move and run through a wafer thick gap between a plane (I) of the roller and a flighter (5) under the flighter (5) and are drawn out of the wafer stack (1) through an elastic pressure of carry-over pinch rolls (6.1 and 6.2) which are superimposed up and down and are driven in identical rotary speed.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a device for separating substrates from a stack, in particular a device for separating wet silicon wafers from a wafer stack, according to the preamble of claim 1 . Background technique [0002] Wafers made of silicon for the production of photovoltaic cells are cut out of blocks by means of wire saws, as in microelectronics. Such blocks are previously glued to the glass panes in order to obtain the required holding force for complete separation. The individual units are thus only still adhered to the adhesive layer, since the wire saw is also embedded in the glass substrate. The sawing process is carried out with a continuous flushing of a special medium which is mixed with sawing particles. Through this pasty mixture, the wafers are firmly bonded to one another in clusters and are difficult to separate for further processing. The difficulty is that the wafer must be kept wet until processing. Hitherto, it is known to sepa...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The required separation of each individual silicon wafer from the carrier glass plate takes time and entails the risk of damage to the edge of the silicon wafer concerned

Furthermore, the entrapment of detached silicon wafers by the liquid flow creates problems, since each silicon wafer is tilted from its horizontal position about the adhesive connection to the support glass plate, so that its outer edge side will bond to the next underlying silicon wafer

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