Breaking device and breaking method

Abstract

The present invention breaks a substrate which is difficult to break so as to yield high-quality results. A breaking device (100) is provided with a table (3) and a breaking member (1). A substrate (S) in which a scribe line (SL) is formed is placed on the table (3). The breaking member (1) breaks the substrate (S) along the scribe line (SL) by pressing against the section of the substrate (S) placed on the table (3) where the scribe line (SL) is formed. The table (3) has a Young's modulus of 1-10 GPa.

Description

Breaking device and breaking method

[0001] The present invention relates to a breaking device and a breaking method for breaking a brittle substrate.

[0002] Conventionally, it is known to form a scribe line on a brittle substrate and then break (cut) the brittle substrate by pressing the portion of the brittle substrate where the scribe line was formed with a breaking member, etc. This breaking method has been used to break a semiconductor substrate having a metal film formed on one surface (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] International Publication No. 2019 / 082736

[0004] Conventionally, when breaking a semiconductor substrate having a metal film formed on one side, the semiconductor substrate having a scribe line formed on the side not having the metal film is placed on an elastic table such as rubber, and the semiconductor substrate placed on the table is pressed with a breaking member to break it. Alternatively, the substrate has been broken by a method known as "three-point bending break."

[0005] However, with conventional breaking methods, it was not possible to cut the metal film in a single breaking step, and two breaking steps had to be performed, which resulted in large chipping in the cut portion of the substrate and resulted in poor quality of the substrate after cutting.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to break, with high quality, substrates that are difficult to break, such as semiconductor substrates on which metal films are formed.

[0007] Below, several aspects will be described as means for solving the problems. These aspects can be combined as desired as necessary. A breaking device according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a table and a breaking member. A substrate on which a scribe line has been formed is placed on the table. The breaking member presses the portion of the substrate placed on the table where the scribe line has been formed, thereby breaking the substrate along the scribe line. In this breaking device, the table has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa.

[0008] In the breaking device described above, the table on which the substrate to be broken is placed has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa. By using a table with such an appropriate Young's modulus, when the substrate is pressed by the breaking member, an appropriate amount of force and displacement in the planar direction of the substrate are applied to the substrate, so even substrates that are difficult to break can be broken in a single breaking process. If the number of breaking processes can be reduced, damage to the substrate during the breaking process can be reduced, thereby suppressing the occurrence of large chipping and achieving high-quality breaking.

[0009] In the breaking device, the table may be made of a resin material, which has a Young's modulus suitable for breaking substrates, so that even substrates that are difficult to break can be broken in a single breaking step, achieving high-quality breaking.

[0010] In the breaking device, the table may include a first table made of a glass member and a second table disposed on the first table. In this case, the second table may have a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa. This allows the table to have an appropriate hardness.

[0011] In the breaking device, the substrate may have a plate-like substrate made of a brittle material and a metal layer formed on a first surface of the plate-like substrate. The breaking device can break even a brittle substrate having a metal layer formed on the first surface in a single breaking step.

[0012] In the breaking device, the scribe line may be formed on a second surface of the plate-like substrate opposite to the first surface. The breaking member may also break the plate-like substrate by pushing it from the first surface. This reduces damage to the substrate during breaking.

[0013] A breaking method according to another aspect of the present invention is a method for breaking a substrate. The breaking method comprises the following steps: Forming a scribe line on a substrate; Placing the substrate with the scribe line formed on a table; and Breaking the substrate along the scribe line by pressing the portion of the substrate placed on the table where the scribe line is formed. In the above breaking method, the table has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa.

[0014] In the above breaking method, the table on which the substrate to be broken is placed has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa. By using a table with such an appropriate Young's modulus, when the substrate is pressed during breaking, an appropriate amount of force and displacement in the planar direction of the substrate are applied to the substrate, so even substrates that are difficult to break can be broken in a single breaking step. If the number of breaking steps can be reduced, damage to the substrate during the breaking step can be reduced, thereby suppressing the occurrence of large chipping and achieving high-quality breaking.

[0015] Even substrates that are difficult to break can be broken in one breaking process, which reduces damage to the substrate during the breaking process and enables high-quality breaking.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a breaking device. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a substrate. A flowchart showing the substrate breaking operation. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the formation of a scribe line on the second main surface of the substrate. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the breaking of a substrate. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the state of the cut portion of the substrate when the second table is an acrylic plate. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the state of the cut portion of the substrate when the second table is a metal plate. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the state of the cut portion of the substrate when the second table is a rubber plate.

[0017] 1. First Embodiment (1) Breaking Apparatus The configuration of a breaking apparatus 100 will be described using Figure 1. Figure 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the breaking apparatus. The breaking apparatus 100 is an apparatus that breaks (cuts) a substrate S to produce predetermined small substrate units. In Figure 1, the left-right direction is the X direction, the normal direction to the paper surface is the Y direction, and the up-down direction is the Z direction (height direction). The breaking apparatus 100 mainly comprises a breaking member 1, a table 3, and a control unit 5.

[0018] The breaking member 1 is held in the breaking device 100 by a holding member 13 that incorporates a lifting mechanism 11, such as a guide driven by a motor. The breaking member 1 can be raised and lowered in the Z direction relative to the table 3. The breaking member 1 is, for example, a breaking plate that extends in the Y direction.

[0019] The table 3 places the substrate S to be broken on it. The table 3 has a first table 31 and a second table 33. The first table 31 is a hard plate-like member formed, for example, from a plate-like glass member. The second table 33 is placed on the first table 31. The substrate S is placed on the second table 33. The second table 33 preferably has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa, and more preferably has a Young's modulus of 2 to 4 GPa. The thickness of the second table 33 is, for example, approximately 1 to 10 mm.

[0020] As will be described later, if the Young's modulus of second table 33 is within the above range, substrate S can be broken in a single breaking step, and large chipping does not occur in the cut portion of substrate S. On the other hand, if the Young's modulus of second table 33 is significantly outside the above range, substrate S cannot be broken in a single breaking step, and large chipping occurs in the cut portion of substrate S.

[0021] The second table 33 can be formed from a resin material having the above Young's modulus, such as an acrylic plate (Young's modulus: 2 to 4 GPa) or a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plate (Young's modulus: 2 to 3 GPa).

[0022] The second table 33 holds the substrate S together with the dicing frame 6. Specifically, for example, the substrate S is placed so that one main surface (the side of the substrate S on which the metal layer ML is provided) is in contact with the wafer tape WT attached to the dicing frame 6, the protective tape PF is placed on the other main surface of the substrate S, and the dicing frame 6 is fixed to the second table 33 with the end of the protective tape PF sandwiched between the second table 33 and the dicing frame 6, thereby holding the substrate S between the wafer tape WT and the protective tape PF.

[0023] The table 3 can be moved in the X and Y directions by a moving mechanism 4. This allows the breaking member 1 to contact any position on the substrate S.

[0024] The control unit 5 is a computer system configured with a CPU, storage devices (RAM, ROM, SSD, HDD, etc.), and various interfaces, and controls each part of the break device 100. Some or all of the control functions of the break device 100 performed by the control unit 5 may be realized by executing a program stored in a storage device of the computer system that constitutes the control unit 5, or some or all of the control functions may be realized by hardware that constitutes the computer system that constitutes the control unit 5.

[0025] (2) Substrate The structure of the substrate S to be broken will be described using Figure 2. Figure 2 is a diagram showing the structure of the substrate. The substrate S has a plate-shaped substrate B and a metal layer ML. The plate-shaped substrate B is a plate-shaped substrate formed from a brittle material such as silicon (Si), silicon carbide (SiC), or other compound semiconductors, either single crystal or polycrystalline. The plate-shaped substrate B has a thickness of, for example, about 100 μm to 350 μm.

[0026] The metal layer ML is a metal film layer disposed over the entire surface of the first main surface SU1 of the plate-shaped substrate B. The metal layer ML is primarily intended for use as a back electrode, for example. The metal layer ML is a thin film composed of, for example, a titanium (Ti) or nickel (Ni) layer and a gold (Au) or silver (Ag) layer. The metal layer ML has a thickness of, for example, several μm.

[0027] (3) Substrate Breaking Operation The operation of the breaking device 100 when breaking the above-mentioned substrate S will be described using Figures 3 to 5. Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the substrate breaking operation. Figure 4 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of how a scribe line is formed on the second main surface of the substrate. Figure 5 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of how the substrate is broken.

[0028] 4, a scribe line SL is formed along the processing line of the substrate S on a second main surface SU2 opposite to the first main surface SU1 (the surface on which the metal layer ML is formed) of the substrate S. The scribe line SL can be formed, for example, by moving a scribe wheel SW along the processing line while applying a predetermined load to the second main surface SU2.

[0029] After the scribe line SL is formed, in step S2, the substrate S is placed on the table 3 (second table 33) of the breaking apparatus 100. Specifically, as shown in Fig. 5, the wafer tape WT is placed on the metal layer ML (first main surface SU1) side of the substrate S, the protective tape PF is placed on the second main surface SU2 side, and the substrate S is placed on the table 3 so that the first main surface SU1 side of the substrate S (the side on which the metal layer ML is formed) faces the breaking member 1. Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 1, the dicing frame 6 is fixed to the table 3 with the end of the protective tape PF sandwiched between the table 3 and the dicing frame 6.

[0030] After the substrate S is placed on the table 3 of the breaking device 100, in step S3, the breaking member 1 is pressed against the portion of the substrate S placed on the table 3 where the scribe line SL is formed, thereby breaking the substrate S along the scribe line SL. Specifically, the control unit 5 causes the movement mechanism 4 to move the substrate S so that the scribe line SL is positioned below the breaking member 1. Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 5 , the breaking member 1 is moved toward the substrate S and brought into contact with the first main surface SU1 with a predetermined force, thereby extending a vertical crack VC from the scribe line SL in the thickness direction of the plate-shaped substrate B toward the first main surface SU1.

[0031] As described above, the second table 33 on which the substrate S is placed has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa. Therefore, when the breaking member 1 is brought into contact with the first main surface SU1, the breaking member 1 can press the substrate S with an appropriate force. As a result, as shown in Figure 5, the vertical crack VC extends not only into the plate-like substrate B but also into the metal layer ML, and the substrate S having the metal layer ML formed on one main surface can be broken in a single breaking process.

[0032] (4) Example Hereinafter, an example will be described in which the substrate S having the metal layer ML formed on the first main surface SU1 is broken by performing the above steps S1 to S3 using the breaking device 100 having the above configuration.

[0033] In the example described below, a 100 μm-thick silicon carbide substrate was used as the plate-shaped substrate B, and an attempt was made to break a substrate S having a metal layer ML of 5 μm in total thickness formed by layering titanium, nickel, and gold on the first main surface SU1 of this plate-shaped substrate B. The second table 33 was an acrylic plate (Young's modulus: 2 to 4 GPa). As a comparative example, attempts were made to break the above-mentioned substrate S using a rubber plate and a metal plate (SUS plate, Young's modulus: approximately 200 GPa) as the second table 33.

[0034] When an acrylic plate was used as the second table 33, the pushing amount of the substrate S by the breaking member 1 was set to 0.22 mm to 0.30 mm. On the other hand, in the above comparative example, the pushing amount of the substrate S by the breaking member 1 was set to 0.06 mm to 0.10 mm. The breaking speed was set to 100 mm / s in all cases.

[0035] When the second table 33 was an acrylic plate, both the plate-shaped substrate B and the metal layer ML could be separated in a single breaking process. Fig. 6 shows the state of the cut portion of the substrate S when the second table 33 was an acrylic plate. As shown in Fig. 6, when the second table 33 was an acrylic plate, there were no large irregularities (chipping) in the cut portion of the substrate S, and the substrate S was broken with high quality.

[0036] On the other hand, when the second table 33 was a rubber plate or a metal plate, the substrate S could not be broken in one breaking process. Therefore, after the first breaking process, the substrate S was turned over so that the second main surface SU2 faced the breaking member 1, and the second main surface SU2 was pressed by the breaking member 1 to break the substrate S. Figure 7 shows the state of the cut portion of the substrate S when the second table 33 was a metal plate. Figure 8 shows the state of the cut portion of the substrate S when the second table 33 was a rubber plate.

[0037] 7 and 8, if the Young's modulus of the table on which the substrate S is placed (i.e., the second table 33) is too small or too large, the substrate S having the metal layer ML cannot be cut in a single breaking step. As a result, significant irregularities (chipping) occur in the cut portion of the substrate S.

[0038] In this way, since the second table 33 has an appropriate Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa, when the substrate S is pressed by the breaking member 1, an appropriate amount of force and displacement in the direction of the main surface of the substrate S are applied to the substrate S, so that even substrates S that are difficult to break can be broken in a single breaking process. If the number of breaking processes can be reduced, damage to the substrate S due to the breaking process can be reduced, thereby suppressing the occurrence of large chipping and achieving high-quality breaking.

[0039] Furthermore, if the substrate S can be broken in one breaking step, there is no need to turn the substrate S over and perform breaking again, and therefore the time required to break the substrate S can be shortened.

[0040] 2. Other Embodiments While several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In particular, the several embodiments and modifications described in this specification can be arbitrarily combined as needed. (A) Metal layers ML other than a metal layer ML composed of a titanium or nickel layer and a gold or silver layer, such as a metal layer ML formed of aluminum (Al), a metal layer ML formed of copper (Cu), a metal layer ML formed of silver (Ag), a metal layer ML formed of palladium (Pd), and a metal layer ML formed of platinum (Pt), can also be reliably broken using the breaking method described in the first embodiment.

[0041] (B) The entire table 3 may be made of a material (for example, a resin material) having a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa.

[0042] 3. Features of the Embodiments The above embodiments can also be described as follows. (1) A breaking device (e.g., breaking device 100) includes a table (e.g., table 3) and a breaking member (e.g., breaking member 1). A substrate (e.g., substrate S) on which a scribe line (e.g., scribe line SL) is formed is placed on the table. The breaking member presses the portion of the substrate placed on the table where the scribe line is formed, thereby breaking the substrate along the scribe line. In this breaking device, the table has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa.

[0043] In the breaking device described above, the table on which the substrate to be broken is placed has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa. By using a table with such an appropriate Young's modulus, when the substrate is pressed by the breaking member, an appropriate amount of force and displacement in the planar direction of the substrate are applied to the substrate, so even substrates that are difficult to break can be broken in a single breaking process. If the number of breaking processes can be reduced, damage to the substrate during the breaking process can be reduced, thereby suppressing the occurrence of large chipping and achieving high-quality breaking.

[0044] (2) In the breaking device of (1) above, the table may be made of a resin material. A table made of a resin material has a Young's modulus suitable for breaking substrates, so that even substrates that are difficult to break can be broken in a single breaking step, achieving high-quality breaking.

[0045] (3) In the breaking device of (1) or (2) above, the table may include a first table (e.g., first table 31) formed of a glass member and a second table (e.g., second table 33) disposed on the first table. In this case, the second table may have a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa. This allows the table to have an appropriate hardness.

[0046] (4) In the breaking device of any one of (1) to (3) above, the substrate may have a plate-like substrate (e.g., plate-like substrate B) made of a brittle material and a metal layer (e.g., metal layer ML) formed on a first surface (e.g., first main surface SU1) of the plate-like substrate. The breaking device can break a brittle substrate having a metal layer formed on its first surface in a single breaking step.

[0047] (5) In any of the breaking devices described above in (1) to (4), the scribe line may be formed on a second surface (e.g., the second main surface SU2) of the plate-shaped substrate opposite the first surface. The breaking member may also break the plate-shaped substrate by pushing it from the first surface. This reduces damage to the substrate during breaking.

[0048] (6) A method for breaking a substrate includes the following steps: Forming a scribe line on a substrate (e.g., step S1); Placing the substrate with the scribe line formed on a table (e.g., step S2); and Breaking the substrate along the scribe line by pressing the portion of the substrate placed on the table where the scribe line is formed (e.g., step S3). In the above breaking method, the table has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa.

[0049] In the above breaking method, the table on which the substrate to be broken is placed has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa. By using a table with such an appropriate Young's modulus, when the substrate is pressed during breaking, an appropriate amount of force and displacement in the planar direction of the substrate are applied to the substrate, so even substrates that are difficult to break can be broken in a single breaking step. If the number of breaking steps can be reduced, damage to the substrate during the breaking step can be reduced, thereby suppressing the occurrence of large chipping and achieving high-quality breaking.

[0050] The present invention can be widely applied to an apparatus and method for breaking substrates that are difficult to break, such as brittle substrates having a metal layer on one surface.

[0051] 100: Breaking device 1: Breaking member 11: Elevating mechanism 13: Holding member 3: Table 31: First table 33: Second table 4: Moving mechanism 5: Control unit 6: Dicing frame SW: Scribe wheel S: Substrate B: Plate-shaped substrate SU1: First main surface SU2: Second main surface ML: Metal layer PF: Protective tape WT: Wafer tape

Claims

1. A breaking device comprising: a table on which a substrate having a scribe line formed thereon is placed; and a breaking member that breaks the substrate along the scribe line by pressing the portion of the substrate placed on the table where the scribe line is formed, wherein the table has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa.

2. The breaking device according to claim 1, wherein the table is made of a resin material.

3. The breaking device according to claim 1, wherein the table comprises a first table formed of a glass member and a second table placed on the first table, and the second table has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa.

4. The breaking device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a plate-like substrate made of a brittle material and a metal layer formed on a first surface of the plate-like substrate.

5. The breaking device according to claim 4, wherein the scribe line is formed on a second surface of the plate-like substrate opposite the first surface, and the breaking member presses the plate-like substrate from the first surface to break the substrate.

6. A method for breaking a substrate, comprising the steps of: forming a scribe line on the substrate; placing the substrate with the scribe line formed on a table; and breaking the substrate along the scribe line by pressing the portion of the substrate placed on the table where the scribe line is formed, wherein the table has a Young's modulus of 1 to 10 GPa.

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