Cutting device

Abstract

To solve such a problem that detection of a region to be imaged by imaging means and to be processed is hindered, by preventing waste liquid scattered during cutting work from dropping onto an upper surface of a wafer from a blade cover that covers a cutting blade.SOLUTION: A cutting apparatus comprises: X-axis feeding means which process-feeds holding means 20 in an X-axis direction; Y-axis feeding means which index-feeds cutting means 8 in a Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction; imaging means 10 which is arranged in the X-axis direction with respect to the blade cover 84 and images a processing object held by the holding means 20 to detect a region to be processed; a washing water nozzle 31 which is arranged so as to surround the blade cover 84 and jets washing water L for washing the periphery of the blade cover 84; and an air nozzle 32 which is arranged so as to surround the blade cover 84 and jets air A for drying the washed blade cover 84.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a cutting device including a holding means for holding a workpiece, a cutting means rotatably provided with a cutting blade for cutting the workpiece held by the holding means, and a blade cover for covering the cutting blade and supplying cutting water to the cutting blade and the workpiece.

Background Art

[0002] A wafer on which a plurality of devices such as ICs and LSIs are formed on the surface and partitioned by a division line is divided into individual device chips by a cutting device and used in electric devices such as mobile phones and personal computers.

[0003] The cutting device includes a holding means for holding a workpiece, a cutting means rotatably provided with a cutting blade for cutting the workpiece held by the holding means, a blade cover for covering the cutting blade and supplying cutting water to the cutting blade and the workpiece, an X-axis feed means for feeding the holding means in the X-axis direction, a Y-axis feed means for indexing and feeding the cutting means in the Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction, and an imaging means disposed in the X-axis direction with respect to the blade cover for imaging the workpiece held by the holding means and detecting an area to be processed, and can divide a wafer into individual device chips with high precision (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] By the way, the alignment means in the technique described in Patent Document 1 above includes shielding means including a shielding member that shields the lower part of the objective lens case. By positioning the shielding member of the shielding means at the shielding position, flying droplets of cleaning water can be shielded by the shielding member, and contamination of the objective lens of the imaging means can be prevented.

[0006] However, contaminated cutting water (waste liquid) containing cutting chips is scattered and adhered to the blade cover that covers the cutting blade. When detecting the area to be imaged and processed of the wafer by the imaging means, there is a problem that the waste liquid drips from the blade cover onto the upper surface of the wafer, interfering with the imaging by the imaging means.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above facts, and its main technical problem is to prevent waste liquid scattered during cutting from dripping from the blade cover that covers the cutting blade onto the upper surface of the wafer, and to solve the problem that the detection of the area to be imaged and processed of the wafer by the imaging means is hindered.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] In order to solve the above main technical problem, according to the present invention, there is provided a cutting apparatus including holding means for holding a workpiece, cutting means rotatably provided with a cutting blade for cutting the workpiece held by the holding means, and a blade cover that covers the cutting blade and supplies cutting water to the cutting blade and the workpiece, the cutting apparatus being provided with X-axis feed means for feeding the holding means in the X-axis direction for machining, Y-axis feed means for indexing and feeding the cutting means in the Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction, imaging means disposed in the X-axis direction with respect to the blade cover for imaging the workpiece held by the holding means and detecting the area to be processed, a cleaning water nozzle disposed so as to surround the blade cover for jetting cleaning water for cleaning the periphery of the blade cover, and an air nozzle disposed so as to surround the blade cover for jetting air for drying the cleaned blade cover.

[0009] The cutting means is positioned at an operating position in the Y-axis direction and a retracted position, and it is preferable that the washing water nozzle and the air nozzle are arranged at the retracted position.

Advantages of the Invention

[0010] The cutting device of the present invention includes a holding means for holding a workpiece, a cutting means rotatably provided with a cutting blade for cutting the workpiece held by the holding means, and a blade cover that covers the cutting blade and supplies cutting water to the cutting blade and the workpiece. The cutting device is configured to include an X-axis feeding means for feeding the holding means in the X-axis direction, a Y-axis feeding means for indexing and feeding the cutting means in the Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction, and an imaging means disposed in the X-axis direction with respect to the blade cover for imaging the workpiece held by the holding means and detecting an area to be processed. The cutting device further includes a washing water nozzle for spraying washing water for washing the periphery of the blade cover disposed so as to surround the blade cover, and an air nozzle for spraying air for drying the washed blade cover disposed so as to surround the blade cover. Therefore, it is possible to prevent cutting water (waste liquid) during cutting contaminated by cutting chips or the like from dripping onto the upper surface of the workpiece from the blade cover covering the cutting blade, and to solve the problem that imaging is hindered when the imaging means images the workpiece and detects the area to be processed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0011]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Embodiment for Carrying out the Invention

[0012] Hereinafter, embodiments of a cutting device configured based on the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0013] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the cutting device 1 and the wafer W as a workpiece in the present embodiment. The wafer W is held by an annular frame F via a protective tape T. The cutting device 1 includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing 2, a cassette 4 (shown by a two-dot chain line) placed on the cassette table 4a of the housing 2 and accommodating a plurality of the above-described wafers W, loading / unloading means 3 for unloading the wafer W from the cassette 4 to a temporary placement table 5, holding means 20 including a rotatable chuck table 22 for holding the wafer W, conveying means 6 having a turning arm for conveying the wafer W unloaded to the temporary placement table 5 to the chuck table 22, cutting means 8 for performing cutting on the wafer W held on the holding surface 22a of the chuck table 22, imaging means 10 for imaging the wafer W held on the above-described chuck table 22 and detecting a region to be processed by imaging the wafer W held by the holding means 20, and cleaning and conveying means 14 for conveying the wafer W from the loading / unloading position where the chuck table 22 is positioned in FIG. 1 to a cleaning device 12 (details are omitted). The holding surface 22a is formed of a breathable member, and a suction source (not shown) is connected to the holding surface 22a. When the suction source operates, a negative pressure is generated on the holding surface 22a.

[0014] As shown in an enlarged partial view in Fig. 2(a), the cutting means 8 includes a spindle 82 disposed in the Y-axis direction indicated by arrow Y and rotatably held by a spindle housing 81, a cutting blade 83 held at the tip of the spindle 82, and a blade cover 84 that covers the cutting blade 83 and supplies the cutting water introduced through a cutting water inlet 85 to the cutting blade 83 and the wafer W via a cutting water supply nozzle 86 (the pipeline for supplying cutting water to the cutting water inlet 85 is omitted). The spindle 82 is rotationally driven by a spindle motor (not shown) to rotate the cutting blade 83 in the direction indicated by arrow R1.

[0015] Returning to Fig. 1 and continuing the explanation, the imaging means 10 images the wafer W held by the holding means 20 disposed at a position adjacent to the blade cover 84 of the cutting means 8 in the X-axis direction. The captured image data is sent to a control means (not shown) to detect the area of the wafer W to be processed. The information on the area to be processed detected by the imaging means is stored in a storage means such as the memory of the control means. Inside the housing 2, an X-axis feed means for feeding the holding means 20 in the X-axis direction and a Y-axis feed means for indexing and feeding the cutting means 8 in the Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction are disposed (both are not shown).

[0016] As shown in Figs. 1 and 2(a), a blade cover cleaning means 30 is disposed in the cutting apparatus 1. The blade cover cleaning means 30 includes a cleaning water nozzle 31 that sprays cleaning water for cleaning the periphery of the blade cover 84, and an air nozzle 32 that sprays air for drying the blade cover 84 disposed so as to surround the blade cover 84, and is fixed at a predetermined position of the cutting apparatus 1. The blade cover cleaning means 30 will be described more specifically with reference to Figs. 2(a) and (b).

[0017] As can be understood from FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), the cleaning water nozzle 31 is disposed so as to surround the blade cover 84. The cleaning water nozzle 31 is constituted by, for example, a substantially rectangular frame member, and a cleaning water inlet 31a connected to the cleaning water supply means 40 is disposed on the upper surface. The cleaning water supply means 40 includes a cleaning water tank 41, a cleaning water supply passage 42 connected to the cleaning water tank 41, an on-off valve 43 disposed on the cleaning water supply passage 42, an air supply passage 45 connecting the air supply source 44 to the cleaning water supply passage 42, and an on-off valve 46 disposed on the air supply passage 45. When operating the cleaning water nozzle 31, the on-off valves 43 and 46 are opened, the pressure pump (not shown) provided in the cleaning water tank 41 is operated to pump the cleaning water L into the cleaning water supply passage 42, and the air supply source 44 is operated to introduce air A into the cleaning water L passing through the cleaning water supply passage 42 to form a two-fluid L+A containing air A in the cleaning water L. The two-fluid L+A containing the cleaning water L introduced from the cleaning water inlet 31a flows through a hollow passage (not shown) formed over the entire circumference inside the frame member constituting the cleaning water nozzle 31 and is ejected from a plurality of ejection holes 31b formed on the inner surface of the cleaning water nozzle 31. Although not shown, the ejection holes 31b are formed over the entire circumference of the inner surface of the cleaning water nozzle 31, and the two-fluid L+A is ejected from all directions toward the inner center direction of the cleaning water nozzle 31. It should be noted that the present invention is not necessarily limited to ejecting the above two-fluid L+A from the cleaning water nozzle 31, and it may eject only the cleaning water L.

[0018] As can be understood from FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), the air nozzle 32 is formed in substantially the same form as the washing water nozzle 31, is constituted by a substantially rectangular frame member, and is disposed so as to surround the blade cover 84. An air inlet 32a connected to the air supply means 50 is disposed on the upper surface. The air supply means 50 includes an air tank 51, an air supply passage 52 connected to the air tank 51, and an on-off valve 53 disposed on the air supply passage 52. When operating the air nozzle 32, the on-off valve 53 is opened, and the air A is pumped from the air tank 51 through the air supply passage 52. The air A introduced from the air inlet 32a flows through a hollow passage (not shown) formed over the entire circumference inside the frame member constituting the air nozzle 32, and is jetted from a plurality of jet holes 32b formed on the inner surface of the air nozzle 32. Although not shown, the jet holes 32b are formed over the entire circumference of the inner surface of the air nozzle 32, and the air A is jetted from all directions toward the inner center direction of the air nozzle 32.

[0019] As can be understood from FIG. 2 and its description, the blade cover cleaning means 30 includes an opening 30a formed by the washing water nozzle 31 and the air nozzle 32. The opening 30a is set to a dimension larger than that of the blade cover 84. By operating the Y-axis moving means described above, the blade cover 84 is moved to a retracted position where the washing water nozzle 31 and the air nozzle 32 are disposed and enters the opening 30a (see FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b)), or is separated from the opening 30a and moved to an operating position for cutting the wafer W on the chuck table 22.

[0020] In addition to the above-described X-axis moving means and Y-axis feeding means, the cutting device 1 of the present embodiment includes a Z-axis feeding means (not shown) that lowers the cutting blade 83 and feeds it into the wafer W held by the chuck table 22. When cutting the wafer W held by the chuck table 22, the above-described Y-axis moving means is operated to move the cutting means 8 to the operating position shown in Fig. 2(a), position the cutting blade 83 on the chuck table 22, operate the Z-axis feeding means to feed the cutting blade 83 into the wafer W, and operate the X-axis feeding means to feed the wafer W together with the chuck table 22 in the X-axis direction for machining. The opening 30a of the blade cover cleaning means 30 described above is set to a size that does not interfere even when the cutting means 8 is fed into the wafer W in the Z-axis direction during cutting as described above.

[0021] The cutting device 1 of the present invention has a configuration generally as described above, and its functions and operations will be described below.

[0022] In the cutting device 1 shown in Fig. 1, when performing cutting on the wafer W, first, the wafer W stored in the cassette 4 is carried out to the temporary placement table 5 by the loading / unloading means 3, and then conveyed by the conveying means 6 onto the chuck table 22 positioned at the loading / unloading position in Fig. 1. After the wafer W is conveyed to the chuck table 22, placed thereon, and sucked and held, the wafer W is positioned directly below the imaging means 10 by the X-axis moving means for imaging, and a predetermined division planned line (not shown) of the wafer W, which is the area to be cut, is detected and aligned in the X-axis direction, and alignment with the cutting blade 83 of the cutting means 8 is performed. Next, the cutting blade 83 of the cutting means 8 positioned at the working position is rotated at high speed, positioned on the division planned line aligned in the X-axis direction, and while supplying cutting water from the cutting water supply nozzle 86, the above Z-axis moving means is operated to cut from the surface side, and the X-axis moving means is operated to feed the chuck table 22 in the X-axis direction to form a cutting groove. Further, the cutting blade 83 of the cutting means 8 is indexed and fed onto the division planned line adjacent in the Y-axis direction to the division planned line where the cutting groove has been formed and where no cutting groove is formed, and a cutting groove is formed in the same manner as above. By repeating these operations, cutting grooves are formed along all the division planned lines along the X-axis direction. Next, the chuck table 22 is rotated by 90 degrees, the direction orthogonal to the direction in which the cutting groove was previously formed is aligned with the X-axis direction, and the above-described cutting process is performed on all the division planned lines newly aligned in the X-axis direction, and cutting grooves are formed along all the division planned lines formed on the wafer W. In this way, the dividing process is carried out to divide the wafer W along the division planned lines.

[0023] If the above-described cutting process is performed, the blade cover cleaning means 30 of the present embodiment is operated to perform a blade cover cleaning process for cleaning the cutting blade 83. More specifically, with reference to FIG. 2(a), the on-off valves 43 and 46 are opened, and cleaning water L is supplied from the cleaning water tank 41 to the cleaning water supply path 42, and air A is supplied from the air tank 44. By introducing air A into the cleaning water L, a two-fluid L+A is supplied to the cleaning water nozzle 31. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3(a), the two-fluid L+A is ejected from the ejection holes 31b of the cleaning water nozzle 31 surrounding the blade cover 84. While the two-fluid L+A is being supplied to the cleaning water nozzle 31, the above-described Y-axis moving means is operated to position the blade cover 84 at the retracted position where the cleaning water nozzle 31 is disposed, and it is repeatedly advanced and retracted in the Y-axis direction indicated by the arrow R2 in FIG. 3(a). The two-fluid L+A ejected from the ejection holes 31b of the cleaning water nozzle 31 is ejected from the upper surface, lower surface, and side surface sides of the blade cover 84, so that not only the surface of the blade cover 84 but also the back surface sides of the cutting water supply nozzle 86 and the cutting blade 83 are entered, and the cutting water (waste liquid) containing the cutting chips scattered by the cutting process is washed away.

[0024] As described above, if the blade cover 84 is cleaned with the two-fluid L+A, the operation of the cleaning water supply means 40 is stopped, and the supply of the two-fluid L+A is stopped. Next, the on-off valve 53 of the air supply means 50 shown in FIG. 2(a) is opened, and air A is supplied from the air tank 51 to the air nozzle 32 via the air supply path 52, and as shown in FIG. 3(b), it is ejected from the ejection holes 32b of the air nozzle 32 disposed so as to surround the blade cover 84. While air A is being supplied to the air nozzle 32, the above-described Y-axis moving means is operated to repeatedly advance and retract the blade cover 84 positioned at the retracted position in the Y-axis direction indicated by the arrow R3. The air A ejected from the ejection holes 32b of the air nozzle 32 is ejected from the upper surface, lower surface, and side surface sides of the blade cover 84, so that air A enters not only the surface of the blade cover 84 but also the back surface sides of the cutting water supply nozzle 86 and the cutting blade 83, and the cleaning water L remaining at the portion cleaned by the above-described cleaning water nozzle 31 can be blown off and dried.

[0025] According to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to prevent the cutting water (waste liquid) during cutting contaminated by cutting chips or the like from dripping onto the upper surface of the wafer W from the blade cover 84 covering the cutting blade 83, and when imaging the wafer W by the imaging means 10 to detect the area to be processed, the problem that the imaging is hindered is solved.

[0026] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the blade cover cleaning means 30 including the cleaning water nozzle 31 that injects the two-fluid L+A from the plurality of injection holes 31a and the air nozzle 32 that injects the air A from the plurality of injection holes 32a is adopted, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, other blade cover cleaning means 60 including the cleaning water nozzle 61 and the air nozzle 62 shown in FIG. 4 can also be adopted.

[0027] In the cleaning water nozzle 61 shown in FIG. 4, instead of the plurality of injection holes 31b of the above-described cleaning water nozzle 31, a slit 61b extending in the longitudinal direction is formed. A cleaning water inlet 61a is disposed on the upper surface of the cleaning water nozzle 61, and the cleaning water supply means 40 described with reference to FIG. 2 is connected thereto. The slit 61b is connected to a hollow path (not shown) formed inside the frame member of the cleaning water nozzle 61, and the two-fluid L+A introduced from the cleaning water supply means 40 is guided to the hollow path and is injected from the slit 61b in the inner direction of the cleaning water nozzle 61.

[0028] In the air nozzle 62 shown in FIG. 4, instead of the plurality of injection holes 32b of the above-described air nozzle 32, a slit 62b extending in the longitudinal direction is formed. An air inlet 62a is disposed on the upper surface of the air nozzle 62, and the air supply means 50 described with reference to FIG. 2 is connected thereto. The slit 62b is connected to a hollow path (not shown) formed inside the frame member of the air nozzle 62, and the air A introduced from the air supply source 60 is guided to the hollow path and is injected from the slit 62b in the inner direction of the air nozzle 62.

[0029] Also by the above-described other blade cover cleaning means 60, substantially the same operational effects as those of the above-described blade cover cleaning means 30 can be obtained, and it is possible to prevent waste liquid during cutting, which is contaminated by cutting chips or the like, from dripping onto the upper surface of the wafer W from the blade cover 84 covering the cutting blade 83, and to solve the problem that imaging is obstructed when the wafer W is imaged by the imaging means 10 to detect the area to be processed.

[0030] Further, in the above-described embodiment, the cleaning water nozzle 31 and the air nozzle 32 are formed as separate configurations, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, only the above-described cleaning water nozzle 31 is provided, and the cleaning water supply means 40 and the air supply means 50 are configured to be selectively connected to the cleaning water nozzle 31, and cleaning water L (including the case of a two-fluid containing air A) is supplied from the injection hole 31b of the cleaning water nozzle 31, and then, air A for drying is injected from the cleaning water nozzle 31, and it can also be configured by one nozzle that serves as both a cleaning water nozzle and an air nozzle. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the air supply source 44 that supplies air A forming the two-fluid L+A and the air tank 51 that supplies air A for drying are separately provided, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be configured to include only one of the air supply source 44 or the air tank 51 and use it in common.

[0031] Furthermore, in the blade cover cleaning means 30 described with reference to FIG. 2, an example in which a plurality of injection holes 31b and 32b are provided in the cleaning water nozzle 31 and the air nozzle 32 is shown, and in the other blade cover cleaning means 60 described with reference to FIG. 4, an example in which slits 61b and 62b are provided in the cleaning water nozzle 61 and the air nozzle 62 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a combination of a cleaning water nozzle 31 having a plurality of injection holes 31b and an air nozzle 62 having a slit 62b, or a combination of a cleaning water nozzle 61 having a slit 61b and an air nozzle 32 having a plurality of injection holes 32b may be used to configure the blade cover cleaning means.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0032] 1: Cutting device 2: Housing 3: Loading and unloading means 4: Cassette 4a: Cassette table 5: Temporary placement table 6: Conveying means 8: Cutting means 81: Spindle housing 82: Spindle 83: Cutting blade 84: Blade cover 85: Cutting water inlet 86: Cutting water supply nozzle 10: Imaging means 12: Cleaning device 14: Cleaning conveying means 20: Holding means 22: Chuck table 22a: Holding surface 30: Blade cover cleaning means 31: Cleaning water nozzle 31a: Cleaning water inlet 31b: Injection hole 32: Air nozzle 32a: Air inlet 32b: Injection hole 40: Cleaning water supply means 41: Cleaning water tank 42: Cleaning water supply path 43: On-off valve 44: Air supply source 45: Air supply path 46: On-off valve 50: Air supply means 51: Air tank 52: Air supply path 53: On-off valve 60: Other blade cover cleaning means 61: Cleaning water nozzle 61a: Cleaning water inlet 61b: Slit 62: Air nozzle 62a: Air inlet 62b: Slit

Claims

1. A cutting device comprising a holding means for holding a workpiece, a cutting means rotatably provided with a cutting blade for cutting the workpiece held by the holding means, and a blade cover that covers the cutting blade and supplies cutting water to the cutting blade and the workpiece. The cutting device further includes an X-axis feed means for feeding the holding means in the X-axis direction, a Y-axis feed means for indexing and feeding the cutting means in the Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction, and an imaging means disposed in the X-axis direction with respect to the blade cover for imaging the workpiece held by the holding means and detecting a region to be machined. The cutting device is provided with a cleaning water nozzle for spraying cleaning water for cleaning the periphery of the blade cover disposed so as to surround the blade cover, and an air nozzle for spraying air for drying the cleaned blade cover disposed so as to surround the blade cover.

2. The cutting means is positioned at an operating position in the Y-axis direction and a retracted position, and the cleaning water nozzle and the air nozzle are disposed at the retracted position. The cutting device according to claim 1.

Images