Wafer trimming device and wafer processing equipment

Abstract

The invention provides a wafer trimming device and wafer processing equipment, and the wafer trimming device comprises a rack which comprises a cross beam and a longitudinal track below the cross beam; the carrying platform can slide along the longitudinal track and is used for horizontally carrying the wafer and driving the wafer to rotate; the two trimming assemblies are installed on the cross beam through the two moving assemblies respectively and driven by the moving assemblies to move in the transverse direction and the vertical direction, each trimming assembly comprises a cutter wheel with the axis extending in the longitudinal direction, and the cutter wheels continuously rotate after the wafer trimming device is started; the wafer trimming device is configured as follows: a carrying table can move so that the transverse diameter of a wafer with the periphery provided with an annular notch with the section being a right-angle step can be matched with the longitudinal position of a cutter wheel, and two trimming assemblies transversely move to the positions, located at the two ends of the transverse diameter of the wafer, of the two cutter wheels correspondingly and make synchronous downward contact with the edge angle of the right-angle step; and cutting the edges of the right-angle steps into arc-shaped notches, and removing colloid bumps accumulated at the edges when the wafer is glued.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of semiconductor wafer processing, in particular to a wafer trimming device and a wafer processing equipment. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the rapid development of 3DIC (three-dimensional stacked chip) technology, the multi-wafer stacking process puts forward very high requirements on the flatness of the wafer edge. When adjacent wafers are stacked, if there are burrs, protrusions and other problems on the edge, it will cause the bonding interface to be not tightly fitted, and then stress concentration will be generated in the subsequent grinding process, which will cause the risk of cracks or fragments, and seriously reduce the product yield. Therefore, as a key process before stacking, the wafer trimming process needs to use a special equipment to grind the wafer edge to form a ring-shaped stepped groove with a specific depth, so as to ensure the reliability of the stacking process.

[0003] Further, after the conventional trimming process, the wafer needs to be coated and subjected to photolithography process. When the coating process is performed, the edge will generate protrusions. Through angle trimming, these protrusions can be removed to improve the quality and yield of subsequent semiconductor processes. The current trimming machine workbench layout can only use a single cutter wheel for single-side angle trimming. The stress uniformity and motion stability of the wafer table and its rotary drive mechanism are poor, which reduces the processing precision of the wafer. Moreover, the trimming assembly and the detection mechanism are installed on the same moving mechanism, which affects the detection accuracy of the detection mechanism. SUMMARY

[0004] The present application provides a wafer trimming device and a wafer processing equipment to solve or alleviate at least one of the above-mentioned problems.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present application, a wafer trimming device is provided, comprising: a rack comprising a cross beam and a longitudinal track below the cross beam; a table slidable along the longitudinal track, configured to horizontally carry a wafer and drive the wafer to rotate; two trimming assemblies respectively installed on the cross beam by two moving assemblies and moved along the horizontal direction and the vertical direction by the moving assemblies, each trimming assembly comprising a cutter wheel extending along the longitudinal direction, the cutter wheel continuously rotating after the wafer trimming device is started; the wafer trimming device is configured such that the table can be moved to match the horizontal diameter of the wafer with a ring-shaped cutout having a straight-angled step in cross section with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel, and the two trimming assemblies are respectively moved horizontally to the two ends of the horizontal diameter of the wafer and simultaneously contact the corners of the straight-angled step downward, so as to cut the corners of the straight-angled step into arc-shaped notches and remove the adhesive protrusions accumulated at the corners when the wafer is coated.

[0006] Optionally, the wafer edge trimming device is further configured such that the stage is movable to match one end of the longitudinal diameter of the untrimmed wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel, and one of the trimming assemblies is movable transversely to have its cutter wheel at the longitudinal diameter of the wafer and contact the wafer downwardly to trim the wafer into a wafer having the annular cutout at the outer periphery.

[0007] Optionally, the wafer edge trimming device further comprises another longitudinal track disposed below the cross beam and in parallel with the longitudinal tracks, and another stage is slidably disposed on the another longitudinal track; and a detection mechanism is provided for detecting the wafer before trimming, the detection mechanism is disposed on the upstream side of the cross beam, and the two trimming assemblies are disposed on the downstream side of the cross beam, the wafer on the stage is moved to the downstream side of the cross beam for trimming after detection; the wafer edge trimming device is configured such that the wafer on one stage is trimmed on the downstream side of the cross beam while the wafer on another stage is detected on the upstream side of the cross beam; the trimming assemblies and the detection mechanism are both slidable across the two longitudinal tracks to alternately trim and detect the wafers on the two stages, respectively.

[0008] Optionally, the detection mechanism comprises a center detector mounted to the cross beam via another moving assembly, the center detector is configured to pick up four points on the edge of the wafer, and to obtain four centers of circle by taking three of the four points, and to determine the center of the wafer by taking three of the four centers of circle; the wafer edge trimming device moves the wafer to align the center of the wafer with the center of the calibrated stage.

[0009] Optionally, the detection mechanism further comprises a thickness detector mounted to the cross beam via another moving assembly, the thickness detector is configured to detect the height of a plurality of height points on the upper surface of the wafer to adjust the lower cutting depth of the cutter wheel based on the height of the height points, the plurality of height points are uniformly distributed circumferentially on the outer edge of the upper surface of the wafer.

[0010] Optionally, the detection mechanism further comprises a cutter wheel detector, the cutter wheel detector is configured to detect the length of a cut mark formed on a test wafer when the cutter wheel cuts a preset depth, and to determine the diameter of the cutter wheel based on the preset depth and the length of the cut mark.

[0011] Optionally, the wafer edge trimming device is further configured to detect the current diameter of the cutter wheel using a test wafer after processing a preset number of wafers to determine the wear amount of the cutter wheel, and to adjust the feed amount of the cutter wheel based on the wear amount.

[0012] Optionally, the moving assembly comprises a transverse slide slidable along a transverse track on the cross beam, and a vertical slide slidable along a vertical track on the transverse slide.

[0013] Optionally, further comprising a vertically extending partition arranged below the cross beam to separate an upstream region and a downstream region of the cross beam into a detection zone and a cutting zone to prevent contaminants generated during the cutting of the wafer edge in the cutting zone from splashing onto the detection mechanism in the detection zone.

[0014] Optionally, further comprising a transport zone arranged upstream of the detection zone, the carrier slides along the longitudinal track to receive a wafer to be edged in the transport zone, and then sequentially passes through the detection zone and the cutting zone to complete the detection and edging of the wafer.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a wafer processing apparatus, comprising: a wafer edging device as described in the foregoing aspects; a wafer cleaning device for cleaning the wafer after edging; and a wafer transport device.

[0016] According to another aspect of the present application, there is also provided a wafer processing method, performed using the wafer edging device as described above or the wafer processing apparatus as described above, wherein the two carriers are a first carrier and a second carrier, comprising:

[0017] transporting a wafer having a ring-shaped cutout with a right-angled step in cross section to the first carrier, the first carrier moving along the longitudinal track to a longitudinal position where the detection mechanism is located;

[0018] the detection mechanism moving along the cross beam to the first carrier and detecting the wafer;

[0019] the first carrier moving along the longitudinal track to match the transverse diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel, while another wafer having the ring-shaped cutout is transported to the second carrier and the second carrier moves along the longitudinal track to the longitudinal position where the detection mechanism is located;

[0020] the two edging assemblies moving transversely to the two ends of the transverse diameter of the wafer on the first carrier and contacting the corners of the right-angled step downward synchronously to cut the corners of the right-angled step into arc-shaped notches and remove the glue bumps accumulated at the corners during gluing, while the detection mechanism moves along the cross beam to the second carrier for wafer detection;

[0021] the wafer on the first carrier being removed from the first carrier after edging is completed, and the first carrier continues to receive the next wafer to be edged and moves along the longitudinal track to the longitudinal position where the detection mechanism is located, while the second carrier moves along the longitudinal track to match the transverse diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel;

[0022] the two edging assemblies moving transversely to the two ends of the transverse diameter of the wafer on the second carrier and contacting the corners of the right-angled step downward synchronously to cut the corners of the right-angled step into arc-shaped notches and remove the glue bumps accumulated at the corners during gluing, while the detection mechanism moves along the cross beam to the first carrier for wafer detection;

[0023] The wafer on the second carrier is removed from the second carrier after the trimming;

[0024] The wafer is transferred, detected, and trimmed in each carrier in a cycle.

[0025] According to the wafer trimming device and the wafer processing equipment, the symmetrical angle trimming of the wafer by the double cutter wheels is realized, the vibration instability of the carrier and the uneven force of the motor caused by the angle trimming by the single cutter wheel are greatly reduced, the trimming processing precision of the wafer is improved, the abrasion of the motor and other components is reduced, and the service life of the motor is improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0026] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or the prior art description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the present application, and other drawings can also be obtained by those skilled in the art according to these drawings.

[0027] Figure 1 A side view schematic diagram of wafer trimming;

[0028] Figure 2 A side view schematic diagram of wafer trimming;

[0029] Figure 3 A side view schematic diagram of wafer trimming;

[0030] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a wafer trimming device;

[0031] Figure 5 A top view of the wafer trimming device in Figure 4

[0032] Another angle schematic diagram of the wafer trimming device in Figure 6 Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a wafer trimming device of an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 7 Another angle schematic diagram of the wafer trimming device in

[0034] Figure 8 Figure 7 Another angle schematic diagram of the wafer trimming device in

[0035] Figure 9 A top view of the wafer trimming device in Figure 7

[0036] Figure 10 ​​​A flowchart of a wafer fabrication method according to one embodiment of this application is shown, wherein the actions on the two stages are drawn separately;

[0037] Figure 11 A schematic diagram of a wafer trimming apparatus according to another embodiment of this application is shown;

[0038] Figure 12 It shows Figure 11 A schematic diagram of the wafer trimming device from another angle;

[0039] Figure 13 It shows Figure 11 A top view of the wafer trimming device in the middle;

[0040] Figure 14 A schematic diagram of a wafer processing apparatus according to one embodiment of this application is shown.

[0041] Reference numerals: Wafer trimming device 100; crossbeam 10; horizontal track 11; column 20; vertical track 30; base 40; stage 50; motor 51; trimming assembly 60; blade wheel 61; spindle 62; detection mechanism 70; high-magnification lens 71; low-magnification lens 72; point laser detector 73; center detector 74; thickness detector 75; blade wheel detector 76; horizontal slide 81; vertical slide 82;

[0042] Wafer backside cleaning unit 210; wafer rotation cleaning unit 220; measurement unit 300; robotic arm 410; gripper 420; front-end storage module 500. Detailed Implementation

[0043] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art should fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0044] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "longitudinal", "lateral", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this application.

[0045] In addition, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified and limited, it is necessary to explain that the terms "mounting", "connection", "connection" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be mechanical connection or electrical connection, it can be the communication inside two elements, it can be direct connection or indirect connection through intermediate medium, and the specific meaning of the above terms can be understood by those skilled in the art according to the specific circumstances.

[0046] As Figure 1 The schematic diagram of trimming of wafer, the cutter wheel 61 forms a straight-angled step-shaped cut at the edge of the wafer, and the wafer rotates around its axis during trimming, so that the straight-angled step forms a ring-shaped cut along the outer periphery of the wafer, and the wafer with a ring-shaped cut with a straight-angled step-shaped cross section is obtained after trimming. After the trimming process, the photoresist coating process needs to be carried out, as shown in Figure 2 , the photoresist coating layer with gray color in Figure 2 At this time, due to the surface tension of the photoresist, the photoresist will accumulate at the edge of the wafer and form a photoresist bump. In order to remove these photoresist bumps, angle trimming is usually carried out, as shown in Figure 3 The cutter wheel 61 contacts the corner of the straight-angled step to cut the corner of the straight-angled step into an arc-shaped notch and remove the photoresist bump accumulated at the corner during coating. Figure 1 , The hollow arrow in Figure 3 indicates the direction of rotation.

[0047] As Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of a wafer trimming device 100, which includes a frame including a cross beam 10, two vertical columns 20 supported at both ends of the cross beam 10, and a longitudinal rail 30 arranged below the cross beam 10. For example, the cross beam 10 extends along the X-axis direction in the figure, the longitudinal rail 30 extends along the Y-axis direction, and the vertical column 20 extends along the Z-axis direction. The longitudinal rail 30 can be arranged on a base 40, and the base 40 is fixedly connected with the vertical column 20. The longitudinal rail 30 is provided with a stage 50 which can slide thereon, and the stage 50 is used for horizontally supporting the wafer and is driven by a motor 51 below to rotate around its axis, and the wafer rotates with it, for example, a DD motor 51 (Direct Drive Motor, torque direct drive motor). The wafer trimming device 100 further includes a trimming assembly 60 suspended to the cross beam 10, which can move in the horizontal direction (X-axis) and the vertical direction (Z-axis). The two trimming assemblies 60 include oppositely arranged cutter wheels 61, the axes of the two cutter wheels 61 both extend in the horizontal direction (i.e. X-axis), and the cutter wheels 61 are driven by a horizontally extending main shaft 62 to rotate around their axes. When angle trimming is performed, the cutter wheels 61 are arranged to contact the corner of the straight-angled step, as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 , so that the corner of the straight-angled step is cut into an arc-shaped notch, and the photoresist bump accumulated at the corner during coating is removed. Figure 4As seen in the top view, the stage 50 moves along the longitudinal track 30 until one end of the wafer's longitudinal diameter (i.e., the diameter extending along the Y-axis) is positioned longitudinally at the location of the cutter wheel 61. One of the two cutter wheels 61 moves laterally to the wafer's longitudinal diameter, and then the cutter wheel 61 descends to contact the corner of the wafer's right-angled step and perform angle trimming. In this arrangement of the trimming assembly 60, the two cutter wheels 61 cannot simultaneously trim the wafer's angle. During the angle trimming process, the stage 50 is subjected to force on one side, causing uneven force distribution and resulting in horizontal skew or vibration, reducing the wafer's positional accuracy and thus affecting the trimming precision. On the other hand, the long-term uneven force distribution on the stage 50 will cause excessive wear of the bearings inside the motor 51, reducing the control accuracy of the motor 51 and severely affecting its service life.

[0048] on the other hand, Figure 6 It shows Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the wafer trimming device 100 from another angle. It can be seen that the trimming device also includes a detection mechanism 70 fixedly connected to the spindle 62 of the cutter wheel 61 via a mounting base. This mechanism is used to detect the alignment of the wafer with the stage 50 and the wafer surface height, etc. Figure 6 The diagram shows a high-magnification lens 71 and a low-magnification lens 72 fixedly connected to the spindle 62 of one cutter wheel 61, and a point laser detector 73 fixedly connected to the spindle 62 of the other cutter wheel 61. From equipment startup to equipment shutdown (including detection, adjustment, etc.), the spindle 62 rotates at high speed continuously to avoid frequent starts and stops of the spindle 62 and the cutter wheel 61 connected to it, which would reduce the stability of the trimming assembly 60, cause component wear and energy waste, and reduce the detection accuracy of the detection mechanism 70 connected to it during detection due to vibration of the trimming assembly 60. Furthermore, during wafer trimming, a large amount of cooling water needs to be sprayed onto the cutter wheel 61 to cool it. Since the detection mechanism 70 is located close to the cutter wheel 61, the splashed water mist and the processing debris it carries will contaminate the detection mechanism 70, reducing its detection accuracy and thus affecting the wafer processing accuracy.

[0049] In view of this, such as Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a wafer trimming apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of this application is shown. The wafer trimming apparatus 100 includes:

[0050] The frame includes a crossbeam 10 and a longitudinal track 30 below the crossbeam 10;

[0051] The stage 50 can slide along the longitudinal track 30 and is used to horizontally support the wafer and drive the wafer to rotate.

[0052] Two edge trimming assemblies 60 are mounted on the cross beam 10 via two moving assemblies, which can include a cross slide 81 slidable along a cross rail 11 on the cross beam 10 and a vertical slide 82 slidable along a vertical rail on the cross slide 81, and the cross movement (X direction) of the cross slide 81 and the vertical movement (Z direction) of the vertical slide 82 enable the lateral and / or vertical movement of the edge trimming assembly 60 or the detection mechanism 70 connected thereto. Each edge trimming assembly 60 can include a wheel 61 with an axis longitudinally extending, which is driven by a spindle 62 to continuously rotate during the operation of the wafer edge trimming device 100.

[0053] The wafer edge trimming device 100 is configured to be capable of performing two kinds of wafer edge trimming processes. When performing the edge cutting process, the stage 50 is moved to match one end of the longitudinal diameter of the wafer to be cut to the longitudinal position of the wheel 61, and one of the edge trimming assemblies 60 is moved laterally along the cross beam 10 to the position where the wheel 61 thereof is at the longitudinal diameter of the wafer and contacts the wafer downward to cut the wafer into a wafer with a ring-shaped cut having a right-angled step in cross section; when performing the angle trimming process, as shown in Figure 7 and Figure 9 The stage 50 is moved to match the lateral diameter of the wafer (i.e. the diameter of the wafer along the X axis) to the longitudinal position of the wheel 61, and the two edge trimming assemblies 60 are moved laterally to the positions where the two wheels 61 thereof are at the two ends of the lateral diameter of the wafer and contact the corners of the right-angled step synchronously downward to cut the corners of the right-angled step into arc-shaped notches and remove the glue bumps accumulated at the corners during the gluing.

[0054] Referring to Figure 1 and Figure 3For the pressing force between the wafer and the cutter wheel 61, in the edge trimming process, the wafer is mainly subjected to the vertical downward pressure; in the angle trimming process, the wafer is subjected to the vertical downward pressure and the horizontal radial inward pressure. For the frictional force between the wafer and the cutter wheel 61, in the edge trimming process, the wafer is mainly subjected to the horizontal tangential frictional force along the circumference of the wafer; in the angle trimming process, the wafer is subjected to the horizontal tangential frictional force along the circumference of the wafer and the oblique downward tangential (or the oblique downward tangential of the arc-shaped notch) frictional force along the circumference of the cutter wheel 61. Therefore, compared with the single-sided cutter wheel 61 performing the angle trimming, the single-sided cutter wheel 61 performing the edge trimming has a simpler force condition, has a smaller influence on the force and vibration of the motor 51 driving the stage 50 supporting the wafer below the wafer; and the single-sided cutter wheel 61 performing the angle trimming has a more complex force condition, which can generate pressure, frictional force and corresponding moment in multiple directions such as the horizontal direction, the vertical direction and the tangential direction on the wafer, has a larger influence on the force of the motor 51 driving the stage 50 supporting the wafer below the wafer, is easy to cause irregular vibration of the stage 50, affects the processing precision of the wafer, and is more likely to cause uneven force of the motor 51, resulting in excessive wear of the bearings in the motor 51, reducing the precision and service life of the motor 51.

[0055] Therefore, by the wafer trimming device 100 of the present application, the symmetrical angle trimming of the wafer by the double cutter wheels 61 is realized, which greatly reduces the vibration instability of the stage 50 and the uneven force of the motor 51 caused by the single-sided cutter wheel 61 performing the angle trimming, thereby improving the trimming processing precision of the wafer and reducing the wear of the motor and other components, improving the service life of the motor. And the wafer trimming device 100 of the present application can also be used for the edge trimming process, although the single-sided cutter wheel 61 performs the edge trimming, the influence on the force of the stage 50 and the motor 51 is smaller, and the difference from the double-sided cutter wheel 61 performing the edge trimming is smaller, so that a wafer with high precision and annular edge trimming can still be obtained. Or in the alternative embodiment, the wafer trimming device 100 of the present application can also not perform the edge trimming process, thereby completely avoiding the uneven force of the stage 50 and the motor 51 when the single-sided cutter wheel 61 performs the edge trimming.

[0056] In the preferred embodiment, the wafer trimming device 100 further comprises another longitudinal track 30 disposed below the cross beam 10 and parallel to the longitudinal track 30, and another stage 50 is slidably arranged on the other longitudinal track 30, that is, there are double longitudinal tracks 30 and double stages 50 in parallel. Figure 7-9As shown, the inspection mechanism 70 and the two trimming components 60 of the wafer trimming apparatus 100 are arranged relatively independently. The inspection mechanism 70 is located on the upstream side of the crossbeam 10, and the two trimming components 60 are located on the downstream side of the crossbeam 10. After the wafer on the stage 50 completes inspection, it moves with the stage 50 to the downstream side of the crossbeam 10 for trimming. In this paper, upstream and downstream refer to the workflow or the wafer transport path. Typically, the wafer is inspected first and then trimmed; therefore, the inspection mechanism 70 is located upstream (i.e., the wafer is trimmed after inspection). Figure 9 Viewed from above the crossbeam 10), the trimming component 60 is located downstream (i.e., above the crossbeam 10). Figure 9 (View from below the crossbeam 10). The wafer trimming device 100 allows wafers on one stage 50 to be trimmed downstream of the crossbeam 10, while wafers on another stage 50 are inspected upstream of the crossbeam 10. Both the trimming assembly 60 and the inspection mechanism 70 can slide across the two longitudinal tracks 30 to alternately trim and inspect the wafers on the two stages 50. Therefore, by independently setting up the inspection mechanism 70 and the trimming assembly 60, the impact of vibration caused by the high-speed rotation of the spindle 62 and the cutter wheel 61 of the trimming assembly 60 on the inspection accuracy of the inspection mechanism 70 can be reduced, thereby improving the inspection accuracy and reliability of the inspection mechanism 70. Furthermore, the separate setting of inspection and trimming can effectively reduce the splashing of cooling water and processing debris onto the inspection mechanism 70 during the trimming process, preventing a decrease in the accuracy of the inspection mechanism 70 or damage to its components. In addition, inspection and trimming can be carried out simultaneously. By simply adding a longitudinal track 30 and a stage 50, two parallel work lines can be realized, which greatly improves the wafer processing efficiency, i.e., WPH (wafers per hour). For manufacturers or customers with requirements on equipment floor space, this can greatly improve the processing efficiency per unit floor space, reduce wafer manufacturing costs, and improve the utilization rate of site resources.

[0057] In a further embodiment, the wafer trimming apparatus 100 may further include a vertically extending partition disposed below the crossbeam 10, for dividing the upstream and downstream regions of the crossbeam 10 into a detection area and a cutting area (e.g., Figure 9 (As shown in the dashed box in the figure), to further reduce the sputtering of contaminants generated during wafer trimming in the cutting zone onto the inspection mechanism 70 in the inspection zone. Furthermore, the wafer trimming apparatus 100 also includes a transfer zone located upstream of the inspection zone, where the stage 50 slides along the longitudinal track 30 to the transfer zone to receive the wafer to be trimmed, and then sequentially passes through the inspection zone and the cutting zone to complete wafer inspection and trimming.

[0058] Specifically, such as Figure 8The detection mechanism 70 can include a center detector 74 mounted to the beam 10 via another moving assembly, the center detector 74 being configured to pick up four points on the edge of the wafer and to calculate the center of the circle from three of the four points, and to calculate the center of the circle from four points in total by performing the calculation four times, and to determine the center of the circle from three of the four centers as the center of the wafer. Preferably, if one of the four centers deviates from the other three centers by more than a threshold, the center is discarded or re-detected. The wafer trimming device 100 then adjusts the position of the wafer so that the center of the wafer is aligned with the center of the calibrated stage 50, thereby ensuring that the wafer and the stage 50 are concentrically rotated. Specifically, the center detector 74 can be a vision detector with a high-power lens.

[0059] The detection mechanism 70 can also include a thickness detector 75 mounted to the beam 10 via another moving assembly, the thickness detector 75 being configured to detect the height of a plurality of height points on the upper surface of the wafer, the plurality of height points being uniformly distributed circumferentially on the outer edge of the upper surface of the wafer, so as to adjust the depth of the cutter wheel 61 based on the height of the height points, thereby ensuring that the annular cut or arc-shaped notch is uniform in size around the entire circumference of the wafer. The thickness detector 75 can be a point laser distance meter that determines the height of the height points on the surface of the wafer by emitting a laser to the wafer and receiving the returned laser.

[0060] In addition, the detection mechanism 70 can also include a cutter wheel detector 76 configured to detect the length of a cut mark formed by the cutter wheel 61 when cutting a predetermined depth on a test wafer, and to determine the diameter of the cutter wheel 61 based on the predetermined depth and the geometric relationship between the length of the cut mark and the diameter of the cutter wheel, and to determine the feed amount of the cutter wheel 61 based on the diameter of the cutter wheel 61. Furthermore, the wafer trimming device 100 is also configured to detect the current diameter of the cutter wheel 61 using a test wafer after processing a predetermined number of wafers, so as to monitor the wear amount of the cutter wheel 61 in a timely manner, and to adjust the feed amount of the cutter wheel 61 based on the wear amount. Specifically, the cutter wheel detector 76 can be a vision detector with a low-power lens.

[0061] In a specific embodiment, as shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7 , the two sides of the beam 10 facing upstream and downstream are each provided with a transverse rail 11, the moving assembly of the trimming assembly 60 is mounted to the transverse rail 11 on the upstream side of the beam 10, and the moving assembly of the detection mechanism 70 is mounted to the transverse rail 11 on the downstream side of the beam 10. More specifically, as shown in Figure 8 , the center detector 74 and the thickness detector 75 can be mounted to the same moving assembly via a mounting plate, and the cutter wheel detector 76 can be separately mounted to another moving assembly.

[0062] The wafer trimming device 100 of the present application can also be used to perform a wafer processing method. For ease of description, the two carriages 50 can be referred to as a first carriage and a second carriage. The wafer processing method comprises:

[0063] S1: a wafer with a ring-shaped cut having a right-angled step cross-section (i.e. a wafer to be angle trimmed) is transported to the first carriage, and the first carriage is moved along the longitudinal track 30 to a longitudinal position where the detection mechanism 70 is located;

[0064] S2: the detection mechanism 70 is moved along the cross beam 10 to the first carriage and performs wafer detection;

[0065] S3: the first carriage is moved along the longitudinal track 30 to match the lateral diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel 61, while another wafer with a ring-shaped cut having a right-angled step cross-section is transported to the second carriage and the second carriage is moved along the longitudinal track 30 to a longitudinal position where the detection mechanism 70 is located;

[0066] S4: the two trimming assemblies 60 are respectively moved laterally to the two ends of the lateral diameter of the wafer on the first carriage and simultaneously contact the corners of the right-angled step of the wafer downward to cut the corners of the right-angled step into arc-shaped notches and remove the glue bumps accumulated at the corners during gluing (i.e. angle trimming), while the detection mechanism 70 is moved along the cross beam 10 to the second carriage for wafer detection;

[0067] S5: the wafer on the first carriage is removed from the first carriage after trimming is completed, and the first carriage continues to receive the next wafer to be trimmed and moves along the longitudinal track 30 to a longitudinal position where the detection mechanism 70 is located, while the second carriage moves along the longitudinal track 30 to match the lateral diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel 61;

[0068] S6: the two trimming assemblies 60 are respectively moved laterally to the two ends of the lateral diameter of the wafer on the second carriage and simultaneously contact the corners of the right-angled step of the wafer downward to cut the corners of the right-angled step into arc-shaped notches and remove the glue bumps accumulated at the corners during gluing, while the detection mechanism 70 is moved along the cross beam 10 to the first carriage for wafer detection;

[0069] S7: the wafer on the second carriage is removed from the second carriage after trimming is completed, and the second carriage continues to receive the next wafer to be trimmed and moves along the longitudinal track 30 to a longitudinal position where the detection mechanism 70 is located, while the first carriage moves along the longitudinal track 30 to match the lateral diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel 61.

[0070] Subsequent loop actions are not described again. As Figure 10The operation flow on each of the two carriages 50 is separately illustrated, each of the carriages 50 cyclically performs wafer transferring-detecting-trimming, and the two carriages 50 simultaneously perform detecting and trimming respectively, as shown in FIG. 2. Figure 10 The synchronization of the angle trimming on the first carriage and the wafer detecting on the second carriage is schematically shown by the hollow bidirectional arrow.

[0071] Preferably, after the wafer is removed from the carriage 50 after completing trimming, the wafer can be transferred to a wafer cleaning device via the wafer transferring device for cleaning and drying operations.

[0072] In addition, in an optional embodiment, the wafer processing method further comprises performing a cutting edge process before performing the angle trimming process as described in the foregoing steps S1-S7. For example, the wafer processing method further comprises:

[0073] S01: transferring a wafer to be cut to the first carriage, and moving the first carriage along the longitudinal track 30 to a longitudinal position where the detecting mechanism 70 is located;

[0074] S02: moving the detecting mechanism 70 along the cross beam 10 to the first carriage and performing wafer detecting;

[0075] S03: moving the first carriage along the longitudinal track 30 to match one end (e.g. the lower end in the view angle) of the longitudinal diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel 61, while another wafer to be cut is transferred to the second carriage and the second carriage is moved along the longitudinal track 30 to a longitudinal position where the detecting mechanism 70 is located; Figure 9 S04: one of the trimming assemblies 60 is moved laterally to the cutter wheel 61 thereof being at one end of the longitudinal diameter of the wafer on the first carriage and contacting the wafer downward to cut the wafer into a wafer with a ring-shaped cutout having a straight-angled step cross section on the outer periphery (i.e. cutting edge), while the detecting mechanism 70 is moved along the cross beam 10 to the second carriage to perform wafer detecting;

[0076] S05: after the wafer on the first carriage completes trimming, the wafer is removed from the first carriage, and the first carriage continues to receive the next wafer to be trimmed and moves along the longitudinal track 30 to a longitudinal position where the detecting mechanism 70 is located, while the second carriage moves along the longitudinal track 30 to match one end of the longitudinal diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel 61;

[0077] S06: one of the trimming assemblies 60 is moved laterally to the cutter wheels 61 thereof being at one end of the longitudinal diameter of the wafer on the second carriage and contacting the wafer downward to cut the wafer into a wafer with a ring-shaped cutout having a straight-angled step cross section on the outer periphery, while the detecting mechanism 70 is moved along the cross beam 10 to the first carriage to perform wafer detecting;

[0078]

[0079] ​S07: The wafer on the second carrier is removed from the second carrier after the trimming is completed, and the second carrier continues to receive the next wafer to be trimmed and moves along the longitudinal track 30 to the longitudinal position where the detection mechanism 70 is located, while the first carrier moves along the longitudinal track 30 to match one end of the longitudinal diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheel 61.

[0080] The subsequent cycle actions are not described again. Similarly, each carrier 50 cycles the wafer transmission-detection-trimming actions, and the two carriers 50 simultaneously detect and trim respectively. Preferably, the wafer can be transferred to the wafer cleaning device for cleaning and drying after the trimming is completed and removed from the carrier 50.

[0081] It should be understood that "trimming" includes edge cutting and angle trimming, and the trimming mentioned in the foregoing angle trimming process specifically refers to angle trimming, and the trimming mentioned in the foregoing edge cutting process specifically refers to edge cutting.

[0082] In addition, according to another aspect of the present application, for the case of paying more attention to the quality of the edge cutting process, requiring extremely high precision of the edge cutting process, or not needing to perform angle trimming, the present application also provides a wafer trimming device 100 to use double-sided cutter wheels 61 for symmetrical edge cutting, and uses double carriers 50 to separate the detection area and the trimming area, thereby effectively reducing the splashing of cooling water and machining debris on the detection mechanism 70 in the trimming process, avoiding the precision of the detection mechanism 70 from being reduced or the parts from being damaged; in addition, the detection and trimming can be performed simultaneously, greatly improving the wafer processing efficiency. Specifically, as shown in the figure, the wafer trimming device 100 comprises: Figure 11-13

[0083] a rack comprising a cross beam 10 and a longitudinal track 30 below the cross beam 10;

[0084] two carriers 50 sliding along the juxtaposed longitudinal tracks 30 respectively, for horizontally carrying the wafer and driving the wafer to rotate;

[0085] two trimming assemblies 60 respectively installed on the upstream side of the cross beam 10 via two moving assemblies, the moving assemblies driving the trimming assemblies 60 to move along the horizontal and vertical directions, and the two trimming assemblies 60 comprising cutter wheels 61 extending along the horizontal axis and oppositely arranged, the cutter wheels 61 continuously rotating during the operation of the wafer trimming device 100;

[0086] a detection mechanism 70 installed on the downstream side of the cross beam 10 via a moving assembly;

[0087] ​The wafer edge trimming device 100 is also configured such that the stages 50 are movable to match the lateral diameter of the untrimmed wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter wheels 61, and the two edge trimming assemblies 60 are moved laterally to have their cutter wheels 61 respectively at the two ends of the lateral diameter of the wafer and contact the wafer downward to trim the wafer into a wafer with a ring-shaped cutout having a straight-angled step cross section at the outer periphery. The wafer edge trimming device 100 is also configured such that the wafer on one stage 50 is trimmed at the downstream side of the beam 10 while the wafer on the other stage 50 is detected at the upstream side of the beam 10, and the edge trimming assemblies 60 and the detection mechanism 70 are both slidable across the two longitudinal rails 30 to alternately trim and detect the wafers on the two stages 50 respectively. The specific trimming process is similar to the steps S1-S7 described above and Figure 10 Each stage 50 reciprocally performs the wafer transmission-detection-trimming action, and the two stages 50 simultaneously perform detection and trimming respectively, which will not be described here again.

[0088] The present application also provides a wafer processing apparatus, such as Figure 14 which can include the aforementioned wafer edge trimming device 100, wafer cleaning device, wafer transmission device, and measurement unit 300, etc. The wafer cleaning device is used to clean the trimmed wafer, which can include a wafer backside cleaning unit 210 and a wafer spin cleaning unit 220; the wafer transmission device is used to transmit the wafer between the wafer edge trimming device 100, wafer cleaning device, or other wafer processing or storage units, which can include a multi-axis rotatable robot 410 or a gripper 420 that can transmit the wafer along a linear rail. In addition, the wafer processing apparatus can also include a front-end storage module 500 at the front end of the apparatus for storing wafers to be processed or processed wafers.

[0089] The wafer processing apparatus according to the present application can also be used to perform the aforementioned wafer processing method, and at least has the beneficial technical effects of the aforementioned wafer edge trimming device 100.

[0090] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present application, and not to limit the present application, and those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application, therefore all equivalent technical solutions also belong to the scope of the present application, and the patent protection scope of the present application should be defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A wafer edge trimming device, characterized by, Comprising: a frame including a crossbeam and longitudinal rails below the crossbeam; a carrier slidable along the longitudinal rails for horizontally carrying a wafer and driving the wafer to rotate; two edge trimming assemblies respectively mounted to the crossbeam by two moving assemblies and moved along a transverse direction and a vertical direction by the moving assemblies, each edge trimming assembly including a knife wheel extending along a longitudinal direction, the knife wheel continuously rotating after the wafer edge trimming device is started; the wafer edge trimming device is configured such that the carrier is movable to match a transverse diameter of the wafer having a ring-shaped cutout with a straight-angled step in a cross section with a longitudinal position of the knife wheel, the two edge trimming assemblies are respectively moved transversely to the two knife wheels at two ends of the transverse diameter of the wafer and synchronously contact corners of the straight-angled step downward to cut the corners of the straight-angled step into arc-shaped notches and remove glue bumps accumulated at the corners when the wafer is glued.

2. The wafer edge trimming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wafer edge trimming device is further configured such that the carrier is movable to match one end of a longitudinal diameter of the wafer without edge trimming with the longitudinal position of the knife wheel, one of the edge trimming assemblies is moved transversely to the knife wheel thereof at the longitudinal diameter of the wafer and contacts the wafer downward to cut the wafer into the wafer having the ring-shaped cutout with the straight-angled step.

3. The wafer edge trimming apparatus of claim 1, wherein Further comprising: another longitudinal rail below the crossbeam and parallel to the longitudinal rails, and another carrier slidably arranged on the another longitudinal rail; and a detection mechanism for detecting the wafer before trimming, the detection mechanism being arranged on an upstream side of the crossbeam, the two edge trimming assemblies being arranged on a downstream side of the crossbeam, the wafer on the carrier being moved to the downstream side of the crossbeam for trimming after the wafer is detected by the detection mechanism; the wafer edge trimming device is configured such that the wafer on one of the carriers is trimmed at the downstream side of the crossbeam while the wafer on the other carrier is detected at the upstream side of the crossbeam, the edge trimming assemblies and the detection mechanism are both slidable across the two longitudinal rails to alternately trim and detect the wafers on the two carriers respectively.

4. The wafer edge trimming apparatus of claim 3, wherein the detection mechanism includes a center detector mounted to the crossbeam by another moving assembly, the center detector is configured to pick up four points on an edge of the wafer, and to obtain four centers of circles by taking three of the four points, and to determine a center of the wafer by taking three of the four centers of the circles; 5. The wafer edge trimming apparatus of claim 3, wherein the detection mechanism further includes a thickness detector mounted to the crossbeam by another moving assembly, the thickness detector is configured to detect heights of a plurality of height measuring points on a top surface of the wafer to adjust a lower cutting depth of the knife wheel based on the heights of the height measuring points, the plurality of height measuring points being uniformly distributed on an outer edge of the top surface of the wafer; 6. The wafer edge trimming apparatus of claim 3, wherein the detection mechanism further includes a knife wheel detector, the knife wheel detector is configured to detect a length of a cut mark formed on a test wafer when the knife wheel cuts a preset depth, and to determine a diameter of the knife wheel based on the preset depth and the length of the cut mark.

7. The wafer edge trimming apparatus of claim 6, wherein the wafer edge trimming device is further configured to detect a current diameter of the knife wheel by using a test wafer after processing a preset number of wafers to determine an amount of wear of the knife wheel, and to adjust a feed amount of the knife wheel based on the amount of wear.

8. The wafer edge trimming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the moving assembly includes a transverse slide slidable along a transverse rail on the crossbeam and a vertical slide slidable along a vertical rail on the transverse slide.

9. The wafer edge trimming apparatus of claim 3, wherein Further comprising: A vertically extending partition is arranged below the beam to separate the upstream and downstream regions of the beam into a detection zone and a cutting zone, so as to prevent contaminants generated during the cutting of the wafer edge from splashing onto the detection mechanism in the detection zone.

10. The wafer edge trimming apparatus of claim 9, wherein, A transmission zone is further arranged upstream of the detection zone, and the carrier slides along the longitudinal track to transmit the wafer to be edged to the detection zone and then to the cutting zone for detection and edging of the wafer.

11. A wafer processing apparatus characterized by comprising: The wafer edging device comprises: The wafer edging device according to any one of claims 1-10; A wafer cleaning device for cleaning the wafer after edging; And A wafer transmission device.

12. A wafer processing method performed using the wafer trimming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10 or the wafer processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the two stages are a first stage and a second stage, characterized by, The wafer transmission device comprises: Transmitting a wafer with a ring-shaped cut having a right-angled step to a first carrier, and moving the first carrier along the longitudinal track to a longitudinal position where the detection mechanism is located; Moving the detection mechanism along the beam to the first carrier and detecting the wafer; Moving the first carrier along the longitudinal track to match the transverse diameter of the wafer with the longitudinal position of the cutter, while transmitting another wafer with the ring-shaped cut to a second carrier and moving the second carrier along the longitudinal track to the longitudinal position where the detection mechanism is located; Transmitting the wafer on the first carrier to the detection mechanism along the beam, and detecting the wafer; Moving the two edging assemblies to the two ends of the transverse diameter of the wafer on the second carrier and synchronously contacting the corners of the right-angled step downward to cut the corners of the right-angled step into arc-shaped notches and remove the glue bumps accumulated at the corners during gluing, while moving the detection mechanism along the beam to the first carrier for wafer detection; Moving the wafer on the second carrier away from the second carrier after edging is completed; Wherein each carrier circulates wafer transmission, detection and edging. ​

Images