Bonding device

Abstract

This bonding device comprises: a support mechanism; a seal mechanism; and an internal pressure adjustment mechanism. The support mechanism supports, in a chamber, a first workpiece and a second workpiece in a state in which the bonding surfaces thereof face each other. The seal mechanism enables selectively forming, in the chamber, a seal state in which the space between a first region and a second region is sealed, and a release state in which the seal between the two regions is released. The internal pressure adjustment mechanism is a mechanism for adjusting the internal pressure of the chamber, and is configured to be capable of individually adjusting the internal pressure of the first region and the internal pressure of the second region when the seal state is formed by the seal mechanism. Furthermore, the support mechanism and the seal mechanism are configured to be capable of supporting the first workpiece and forming the seal state while the back surface of the first workpiece is exposed to the second region.

Description

Laminating device

[0001] The present invention relates to a bonding technique for workpieces such as wafers and substrates.

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for bonding two workpieces (such as wafers or substrates) together with an adhesive. Specifically, the technique involves sandwiching the two workpieces between two holders (holding parts that chuck the two workpieces) with an adhesive between them, and then applying pressure to the back surfaces of the two workpieces to bond them together.

[0003] JP 2014-27118 A

[0004] On the other hand, in the above-mentioned technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, pressure can only be applied indirectly to the back surface of the workpiece via the holding part. Therefore, the structure and strength of the holding part itself, as well as the structure of the transmission mechanism that transmits force to the holding part, are likely to affect how pressure is applied to the back surface of the workpiece, which causes the problem of making it difficult to apply pressure evenly to the back surface of the workpiece (the surface opposite to the bonding surface). This problem makes it difficult to obtain a good bonding state across the entire bonding surface of the two workpieces.

[0005] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method for obtaining a good bonding state over the entire bonding surface of two workpieces.

[0006] A bonding device according to the present invention is a bonding device that bonds a first workpiece and a second workpiece in a chamber, and includes a support mechanism, a sealing mechanism, and an internal pressure adjustment mechanism (Aspect 1). The support mechanism supports the first workpiece and the second workpiece in the chamber with their bonding surfaces facing each other. The sealing mechanism enables selective formation of a sealed state in the chamber, in which a first region including the region on the bonding surface of the first workpiece and a second region including the region on the back side of the first workpiece are sealed, and an unsealed state in which the seal between these two regions is released. The internal pressure adjustment mechanism adjusts the internal pressure of the chamber and is configured to be able to individually adjust the internal pressure of the first region and the second region when the sealing mechanism forms a sealed state. The support mechanism and the sealing mechanism are configured to support the first workpiece and form a sealed state while leaving the back side of the first workpiece exposed to the second region.

[0007] According to the first aspect, since the back surface of the first workpiece can be exposed to the second region when a sealed state (a state in which the first region and the second region are sealed) is formed, increasing the internal pressure of the second region makes it possible to directly and uniformly pressurize the back surface of the first workpiece with the gas in the second region. Furthermore, by making the internal pressure of the second region higher than the internal pressure of the first region, the resulting pressure difference can be used to uniformly press the first workpiece toward the second workpiece.

[0008] The laminating apparatus according to Aspect 1 may have the following configuration (Aspect 2). The support mechanism may include a ring portion that supports the peripheral portion of the first workpiece from below and a stage portion that supports the second workpiece below the first workpiece, and the first workpiece may be supported by the ring portion with its laminating surface facing downward, and the second workpiece may be supported by the stage portion with its laminating surface facing upward. The sealing mechanism may also include an annular sealing portion that sandwiches the peripheral portion of the first workpiece between the sealing portion and the ring portion from above, thereby dividing the interior of the chamber into two regions, an inner region and an outer region of the sealing portion, and sealing between these regions, such that the inner region of the sealing portion forms the second region and the outer region of the sealing portion forms the first region.

[0009] According to the above-mentioned aspect 2, by supporting the peripheral portion of the first workpiece from below with the ring portion, it is possible to reliably prevent the first workpiece from falling inside the chamber while leaving the portion of the bonding surface (lower surface) of the first workpiece to which the second workpiece is bonded exposed and not blocked.

[0010] Furthermore, by sandwiching the peripheral edge of the first workpiece between the annular seal and the ring portion from above, it becomes possible to fix the first workpiece onto the ring portion while forming a sealed state in two regions, the inner and outer regions of the seal portion (the inner second region and the outer first region). This not only makes it possible to use the differential pressure between the first region and the second region to evenly press the first workpiece toward the second workpiece, but also makes it possible to prevent the first workpiece from shifting position or becoming loose, which may occur during this process.

[0011] The laminating apparatus according to Aspect 1 may have the following configuration (Aspect 3). The support mechanism may include a ring portion that supports the peripheral edge of the first workpiece from below and a chuck portion that chucks the second workpiece above the first workpiece, and the first workpiece may be supported by the ring portion with its laminating surface facing upward, and the second workpiece may be chucked by the chuck portion with its laminating surface facing downward. The sealing mechanism may also include an annular sealing portion that sandwiches the peripheral edge of the first workpiece between the ring portion and the sealing portion from above, thereby dividing the interior of the chamber into two regions, an inside and an outside of the sealing portion, and sealing between these regions, so that the inside region of the sealing portion forms the first region and the outside region of the sealing portion forms the second region.

[0012] According to the above-mentioned aspect 3, by supporting the peripheral portion of the first workpiece from below with the ring portion, it is possible to reliably prevent the first workpiece from falling inside the chamber while leaving exposed the portion of the back surface (bottom surface) of the first workpiece that requires pressure (the portion that overlaps with the entire second workpiece when viewed in a plan view from above or below) without blocking it.

[0013] Furthermore, by sandwiching the peripheral edge of the first workpiece between the annular seal and the ring portion from above, it becomes possible to fix the first workpiece onto the ring portion while forming a sealed state in two regions, the inner and outer regions of the seal portion (the inner first region and the outer second region). This not only makes it possible to use the differential pressure between the first region and the second region to evenly press the first workpiece toward the second workpiece, but also makes it possible to prevent the first workpiece from shifting position or becoming loose, which may occur during this process.

[0014] The bonding apparatus according to the above-described aspects 2 or 3 may further include a control unit that performs the following process (aspect 4). After the support mechanism supports the first workpiece and the second workpiece, the control unit controls the internal pressure adjustment mechanism to reduce the internal pressure of the chamber to a predetermined pressure before the sealing mechanism forms a sealed state. The control unit then controls the sealing mechanism to form a sealed state. Thereafter, the control unit controls the internal pressure adjustment mechanism to increase the internal pressure of the second region to be higher than the internal pressure of the first region.

[0015] According to the above-mentioned aspect 4, the internal pressure of the chamber (in other words, the internal pressure of both the first region and the second region) is reduced to a predetermined pressure to increase the degree of vacuum before forming a sealed state, and then the first workpiece and the second workpiece are bonded together, thereby making it possible to prevent air bubbles from being trapped between the first workpiece and the second workpiece, which would interfere with bonding.

[0016] The lamination device according to Aspect 4 may have the following configuration (Aspect 5). The ring portion may be configured so that, when viewed in plan from above or below, a space of a predetermined width is formed between the ring portion and the second workpiece supported by the support mechanism, and a first workpiece of a size that can be supported by the ring portion may be used. The control unit may then increase the internal pressure of the second region to be higher than the internal pressure of the first region, thereby utilizing the space of the predetermined width to deflect the peripheral portion of the first workpiece toward the first region.

[0017] According to the above-mentioned aspect 5, by bending the peripheral portion of the first workpiece toward the first region, it is possible to improve poor bonding between the peripheral portion of the second workpiece (a workpiece smaller in size than the first workpiece) and the first workpiece.

[0018] In the bonding device according to any one of the above aspects 2 to 5, the support mechanism may include a fixing portion that temporarily fixes the first workpiece by clamping the peripheral portion of the first workpiece between the support mechanism and the ring portion (aspect 6).

[0019] According to the above-mentioned aspect 6, it is possible to temporarily fix the first workpiece W1 on the ring portion even before the sealed state is formed (before the first workpiece is fixed on the ring portion by the annular sealing portion), thereby making it possible to prevent the first workpiece from shifting in position or loosening, which may occur before the sealed state is formed.

[0020] The bonding device according to any one of the above aspects 1 to 6 may be provided with the following alignment mechanism (aspect 7). This alignment mechanism adjusts the positional relationship between the first workpiece and the second workpiece based on an image captured by a camera from the second region side.

[0021] In the laminating device, the first workpiece can be supported and sealed while the back surface of the first workpiece is exposed in the second region, so that the back surface of the first workpiece can be photographed with a camera through the second region. Moreover, if the first workpiece itself is optically transparent, the second workpiece can also be photographed with the camera. In this way, when both the first workpiece and the second workpiece can be photographed with the camera, according to the seventh aspect, the positional relationship between the first workpiece and the second workpiece can be determined based on the image obtained by the camera, and based on that, the alignment mechanism can adjust them so that they have the desired positional relationship.

[0022] According to the present invention, a good bonding state can be obtained over the entire bonding surface of two workpieces.

[0023] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a bonding apparatus according to an embodiment. FIGS. 2A and 2B are conceptual diagrams showing changes in the state of the bonding apparatus caused by the execution of a bonding process. FIGS. 3A and 3B are conceptual diagrams showing changes in the state of the bonding apparatus caused by the execution of a bonding process. FIGS. 4A and 4B are conceptual diagrams showing changes in the state of the bonding apparatus caused by the execution of a bonding process. FIGS. 5A and 5B are conceptual diagrams showing changes in the state of the bonding apparatus caused by the execution of a bonding process. FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing changes in the state of a workpiece caused by the execution of a bonding process in the embodiment. FIGS. 7A and 7B are conceptual diagrams showing changes in the state of a workpiece caused by the execution of a bonding process in a first modified example. FIG. 8A is a conceptual diagram showing a bonding apparatus according to a second modified example, and FIG. 8B is a conceptual diagram showing changes in the state of the bonding apparatus caused by the execution of a bonding process in the second modified example.

[0024] [1] Embodiment [1-1] Bonding Device Fig. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a bonding device according to an embodiment. In this embodiment, the bonding device is a device that bonds two workpieces to be bonded (hereinafter, these will be referred to as a "first workpiece W1" and a "second workpiece W2" to distinguish them from each other) with a resin such as an adhesive, and includes a chamber mechanism 1, a support mechanism 2, a sealing mechanism 3, an alignment mechanism 4, an internal pressure adjustment mechanism 5, and a control unit 9. The configuration of each part will be specifically described below.

[0025] <Chamber Mechanism 1 > The chamber mechanism 1 includes a first chamber forming part 11 , a second chamber forming part 12 , and a drive part 13 .

[0026] The first chamber forming section 11 and the second chamber forming section 12 are sections that form an enclosed space (hereinafter, this enclosed space will be referred to as "chamber 10") for the bonding process of the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2, and are configured to be able to selectively form and open the chamber 10.

[0027] Specifically, the first chamber forming section 11 and the second chamber forming section 12 are configured so that at least one of them moves vertically by the power of the drive section 13, so that they approach each other and combine to form the chamber 10, and also so that they move away from each other to open the chamber 10.

[0028] More specifically, the first chamber forming section 11 is composed of a first cylindrical section 111 and a top plate 112. The first cylindrical section 111 is disposed so that its central axis coincides with the vertical direction, and the upper end of the first cylindrical section 111 is closed by the top plate 112. The second chamber forming section 12 is composed of a second cylindrical section 121 and a bottom plate 122. The second cylindrical section 121 is disposed so that its central axis coincides with the vertical direction, and the lower end of the second cylindrical section 121 is closed by the bottom plate 122. The annular lower end surface of the first cylindrical section 111 and the annular upper end surface of the second cylindrical section 121 are in contact with each other without any gap, thereby forming a chamber 10 between the top plate 112 and the bottom plate 122.

[0029] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a portion of the top plate 112 (the central portion in the example of Figure 1) is formed of an optically transparent member 140X (such as quartz) so that the inside of the chamber 10 can be photographed by the camera 40 from outside the top plate 112.

[0030] <Support Mechanism 2 and Sealing Mechanism 3> The support mechanism 2 is a mechanism that supports the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 in the chamber 10 with their bonding surfaces F11 and F21 facing each other.

[0031] The sealing mechanism 3 is a mechanism that makes it possible to selectively form a sealed state Qs and an released state Qt within the chamber 10. Here, the sealed state Qs is a state in which a first region R1 including an area on the bonding surface F11 side of the first workpiece W1 and a second region R2 including an area on the back surface F12 side of the first workpiece W1 are sealed. On the other hand, the released state Qt is a state in which the seal between the first region R1 and the second region R2 is released.

[0032] In this embodiment, the support mechanism 2 and the sealing mechanism 3 are configured to support the first workpiece W1 while leaving the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1 exposed to the second region R2, and to be able to form a sealed state Qs.

[0033] Specifically, the support mechanism 2 includes a ring portion 21 and a stage portion 22 .

[0034] The ring portion 21 supports the peripheral edge of the first workpiece W1 from below. The first workpiece W1 is placed on the ring portion 21 with its bonding surface F11 facing downward. This ring portion 21 makes it possible to reliably prevent the first workpiece W1 from falling inside the chamber 10 while leaving the portion of the bonding surface F11 (lower surface) of the first workpiece W1 to which the second workpiece W2 is bonded exposed and unobstructed.

[0035] The stage part 22 is a part that supports the second workpiece W2 below the first workpiece W1 (the first workpiece W1 supported by the ring part 21), and has a chuck function (vacuum suction, electrostatic chuck, etc.) for holding (fixing) the second workpiece W2 placed thereon. The second workpiece W2 is placed on this stage part 22 with its bonding surface F21 facing upward.

[0036] Furthermore, the sealing mechanism 3 includes an annular sealing portion 31 and a driving portion 32 .

[0037] The sealing portion 31 is a portion that divides the inside of the chamber 10 into two areas, an inside and an outside of the sealing portion 31, and seals between these areas by sandwiching the peripheral portion of the first workpiece W1 between itself and the ring portion 21 from above (from the back surface F12 side). In the example of Fig. 1, the sealing portion 31 is an annular bellows that expands and contracts due to the power of the driving unit 32, and is attached to the underside of the top plate 112 so that it can expand vertically downward and sandwich the peripheral portion of the first workpiece W1 between itself and the ring portion 21 from above (from the back surface F12 side).

[0038] With such a support mechanism 2 and sealing mechanism 3, the peripheral edge of the first workpiece W1 is sandwiched from above by the annular sealing portion 31, and in the sealed state Qs, the second region R2 is formed by the inner region of the sealing portion 31 (the region where the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1 is exposed), and the first region R1 is formed by the outer region of the sealing portion 31 (the portion leading to the region on the bonding surface F11 side of the first workpiece W1) (see also FIG. 4B ). Moreover, it becomes possible to fix the first workpiece W1 onto the ring portion 21.

[0039] In addition to these components, the support mechanism 2 further includes a fixing portion 23 and a driving portion 24 .

[0040] The fixing portion 23 is a portion that temporarily fixes the first workpiece W1 by clamping the peripheral edge of the first workpiece W1 between itself and the ring portion 21. In the example of FIG. 1 , the fixing portion 23 is configured as a stick-shaped member that moves up and down by the power of the drive unit 24, and is provided at multiple locations on the top plate 112. Then, by moving the fixing portion 23 downward, the peripheral edge of the first workpiece W1 can be clamped at multiple locations between itself and the ring portion 21 and temporarily fixed. Note that the fixing portion 23 may have a chuck function (such as vacuum suction or electrostatic chuck) for lifting the first workpiece W1 from the ring portion 21.

[0041] The fixing portion 23 makes it possible to temporarily fix the first workpiece W1 onto the ring portion 21 even before the sealing state Qs is formed (before the first workpiece W1 is fixed onto the ring portion 21 by the annular sealing portion 31), thereby making it possible to prevent misalignment or loosening of the first workpiece W1 that may occur before the sealing state Qs is formed.

[0042] <Alignment mechanism 4> The alignment mechanism 4 is a mechanism that enables adjustment of the positional relationship between the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2. In this embodiment, the alignment mechanism 4 is configured to adjust the position of the stage unit 22 in a horizontal plane to adjust the positional relationship. The positional relationship is adjusted based on an image captured by the camera 40 from the outside of the top plate 112 (in other words, the side of the second region R2). More specifically, this is as follows.

[0043] In this embodiment, as described above, the first workpiece W1 can be supported and the sealed state Qs can be formed while the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1 is exposed in the second region R2. In addition, a portion of the top plate 112 (the central portion in the example of FIG. 1 ) is formed of a light-transmitting member 140X (e.g., quartz). Therefore, the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1 can be photographed by the camera 40 through the second region R2. Furthermore, if the first workpiece W1 itself is light-transmitting, the second workpiece W2 can also be photographed by the camera 40. When both the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 can be photographed by the camera 40 in this manner, the positional relationship between the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 (e.g., the positions of the alignment marks) can be determined based on the image captured by the camera 40, and the alignment mechanism 4 can adjust them to achieve the desired positional relationship.

[0044] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the alignment mechanism 4 is configured to be able to move the stage portion 22 up and down, and by moving the stage portion 22 upward, the bonding surface F21 of the second work W2 on the stage portion 22 can be brought close to or into contact with the bonding surface F11 of the first work W1 supported by the ring portion 21.

[0045] <Internal Pressure Adjustment Mechanism 5> The internal pressure adjustment mechanism 5 is a mechanism that adjusts the internal pressure of the chamber 10. In this embodiment, the internal pressure adjustment mechanism 5 is configured to be able to individually adjust the internal pressure in the first region R1 and the internal pressure in the second region R2 when the sealed state Qs is formed by the sealing mechanism 3.

[0046] Specifically, the internal pressure adjustment mechanism 5 includes a pressure reducing section 51 and a pressure increasing section 52 .

[0047] The pressure reducing unit 51 is a unit such as a vacuum pump that reduces the internal pressure of the chamber 10 to a predetermined pressure by exhausting air from the chamber 10. Here, the predetermined pressure is a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure, for example, a pressure corresponding to the degree of vacuum required within the chamber 10. In this embodiment, the pressure reducing unit 51 is configured to maintain the internal pressure of the first region R1 at the predetermined pressure even after the pressure inside the chamber 10 is reduced and the gap between the first region R1 and the second region R2 is sealed by the sealing mechanism 3.

[0048] The pressure intensifier 52 is a component, such as a compression pump, that increases the internal pressure of the chamber 10 by supplying air into the chamber 10. In this embodiment, the pressure intensifier 52 is configured to be able to increase the internal pressure of the first region R1 and the internal pressure of the second region R2 individually when the sealing mechanism 3 seals the space between the first region R1 and the second region R2.

[0049] <Controller 9> The controller 9 is composed of a processing device (such as a CPU) and a storage device (such as a RAM or a ROM), and controls each part of the bonding apparatus (such as the chamber mechanism 1, the support mechanism 2, the sealing mechanism 3, the alignment mechanism 4, and the internal pressure adjustment mechanism 5). The controller 9 executes a program to perform the bonding process described below.

[0050] Here, the program is installed in the control unit 9, and before installation, it may be stored in a readable state on a portable storage medium (for example, a flash memory, etc.), or may be stored in a downloadable state on another server, etc. The lamination process described below is not limited to being realized by software through execution of a program, but may also be realized by hardware using a processing circuit built in the control unit 9.

[0051] [1-2] Bonding Process FIGS. 2A to 5B are conceptual diagrams sequentially showing changes in the state of the bonding device caused by the execution of the bonding process.

[0052] With the chamber 10 open, the control unit 9 controls a transport hand (not shown) that transports the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 to place the second workpiece W2 on the stage unit 22 with its bonding surface F21 facing upward, and then places the first workpiece W1 on the ring unit 21 with its bonding surface F11 facing downward (step S101; see FIG. 2A). In this embodiment, the second workpiece W2 has a resin layer Yr formed on its bonding surface F21, and is placed on the stage unit 22 with the resin layer Yr facing upward. Here, the resin layer Yr is a layer containing a resin (such as an adhesive) for bonding the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 together.

[0053] As a result, the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 are supported by the support mechanism 2 with their bonding surfaces F11 and F21 facing each other (in this embodiment, with the resin layer Yr on the bonding surface F21 facing the bonding surface F11).

[0054] After step S101, the control unit 9 controls the drive unit 13 of the chamber mechanism 1 to combine the first chamber forming unit 11 and the second chamber forming unit 12 without any gaps, thereby forming a chamber 10 (sealed space) (step S102; see Figure 2 (B)).

[0055] Furthermore, in step S102, the control unit 9 controls the drive unit 24 of the support mechanism 2 to move the fixing unit 23 downward, thereby clamping the peripheral edge of the first workpiece W1 at multiple points between the fixing unit 23 and the ring unit 21, thereby temporarily fixing the first workpiece W1. This makes it possible to prevent positional deviation or loosening of the first workpiece W1, which may occur before the formation of the sealed state Qs (see FIG. 3B).

[0056] After step S102, the control unit 9 controls the pressure reducing unit 51 of the internal pressure adjusting mechanism 5 to reduce the pressure inside the chamber 10, thereby reducing the internal pressure of the chamber 10 to a predetermined atmospheric pressure (step S103; see FIG. 3A).

[0057] Here, when depressurizing in step S103, an air current may be generated in the chamber 10 due to exhaust by the depressurizing unit 51. On the other hand, in this embodiment, the first workpiece W1 is fixed onto the ring unit 21 by the fixing unit 23, and the second workpiece W2 is fixed onto the stage unit 22 by the chuck function of the stage unit 22. Therefore, even if an air current is generated in the chamber 10 when depressurizing, there is almost no displacement or loosening of the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2.

[0058] After step S103, the control unit 9 controls the drive unit 32 of the sealing mechanism 3 to extend the annular seal portion 31 vertically downward, thereby sandwiching the peripheral edge of the first workpiece W1 between the seal portion 31 and the ring portion 21 from above (from the back surface F12 side), thereby dividing the interior of the chamber 10 into two regions, inside and outside the seal portion 31, and sealing between these regions (step S104; see FIG. 3B). In this way, the control unit 9 forms a second region R2 by the inner region of the seal portion 31 (the region where the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1 is exposed) and a first region R1 by the outer region of the seal portion 31 (the portion leading to the region on the bonding surface F11 side of the first workpiece W1), as a sealed state Qs. The control unit 9 also fixes the first workpiece W1 onto the ring portion 21.

[0059] After step S104, the control unit 9 controls the alignment mechanism 4 to adjust the positional relationship between the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 (step S105, FIG. 4A). In this embodiment, the control unit 9 adjusts the position of the stage unit 22 in the horizontal plane based on an image captured by the camera 40 from the outside of the top plate 112 (in other words, the side of the second region R2), thereby aligning the position of the second workpiece W2 with the correct position relative to the first workpiece W1. As an example, the control unit 9 recognizes alignment marks provided on the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 based on the image captured by the camera 40, and adjusts the position of the stage unit 22 in the horizontal plane so that these marks are aligned.

[0060] Furthermore, in step S105, the control unit 9 controls the alignment mechanism 4 to move the stage unit 22 upward while maintaining the adjusted position in the horizontal plane, thereby bringing the bonding surface F21 of the second workpiece W2 on the stage unit 22 closer to the bonding surface F11 of the first workpiece W1, thereby bringing the resin layer Yr on the bonding surface F21 into contact with the bonding surface F11 (see Figure 4 (A)).

[0061] In this way, after the degree of vacuum in the first region R1 is increased in step S104, the resin layer Yr on the lamination surface F21 is brought into contact with the lamination surface F11 in step S105. Even if a void Xs (a small, closed space; see FIG. 6 ) occurs due to the unevenness of the surface of the resin layer Yr, the void Xs is brought into a high vacuum state, similar to that in the first region R1. Therefore, by pressing the first workpiece W1 toward the second workpiece W2 in step S106 (described below) and by returning the pressure inside the chamber 10 to atmospheric pressure after step S106 (i.e., by exposing the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 after the lamination process to atmospheric pressure), the void Xs can be eliminated by the external pressing force. Therefore, by performing lamination through steps S104 and S105, the presence of air bubbles that could interfere with lamination is prevented between the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2.

[0062] After step S105, the control unit 9 controls the pressure increase unit 52 of the internal pressure adjustment mechanism 5 to increase the pressure in the second region R2, thereby making the internal pressure in the second region R2 higher than the internal pressure in the first region R1 (step S106; see FIG. 4B). Specifically, the control unit 9 controls the internal pressure adjustment mechanism 5 to increase only the internal pressure in the second region R2 while maintaining the internal pressure in the first region R1 at a predetermined air pressure.

[0063] At this time, the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1 is exposed in the second region R2, and so by increasing the internal pressure of the second region R2 in step S106, it becomes possible to directly and uniformly pressurize the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1 using the gas in the second region R2. Also, by making the internal pressure of the second region R2 higher than the internal pressure of the first region R1 in step S106, it becomes possible to uniformly press the first workpiece W1 toward the second workpiece W2 by utilizing the resulting pressure difference. This makes it possible to obtain a good bonding state across the entire bonding surfaces F11 and F21 of the two workpieces.

[0064] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the first workpiece W1 is fixed onto the ring portion 21 by the sealing portion 31, so that step S106 not only enables the above-described uniform pressing, but also prevents the first workpiece W1 from shifting in position or loosening, which may occur at that time.

[0065] After step S106, the control unit 9 controls the pressure booster 52 of the internal pressure adjustment mechanism 5 to increase the pressure in the first region R1, thereby increasing the internal pressure in the first region R1 to the same level as the internal pressure in the second region R2 (step S107, see Figure 5 (A)).

[0066] After step S107, the control unit 9 controls the drive unit 32 of the sealing mechanism 3 to contract the annular sealing unit 31 vertically upward, thereby transitioning the inside of the chamber 10 from the sealed state Qs to the released state Qt (step S108, see FIG. 5B). Thereafter, the control unit 9 returns the inside of the chamber 10 to atmospheric pressure and then opens it, and controls the transport hand (not shown) to remove the workpieces (first workpiece W1 and second workpiece W2) after the lamination process from the lamination device.

[0067] 7A, when the film thickness of the resin layer Yr on the bonding surface F21 is smaller at the peripheral portion of the second workpiece W2 (in other words, when the height of the resin layer Yr from the bonding surface F21 is lower), even if the resin layer Yr on the bonding surface F21 is brought into contact with the bonding surface F11 while increasing the degree of vacuum in the first region R1 in steps S104 and S105 as described above, a gap Xs (a small, closed space) is unlikely to be formed between the bonding surface F11 of the first workpiece W1 and the resin layer Yr at the peripheral portion of the second workpiece W2. In other words, only a gap Xt that is open to the first region R1 is formed between the bonding surface F11 of the first workpiece W1 and the resin layer Yr at the peripheral portion of the second workpiece W2. The gap Xt thus opened will be at atmospheric pressure when the pressure inside the chamber 10 is returned to atmospheric pressure, and will remain as it is even after the bonding process, causing bonding defects.

[0068] Therefore, in the above-mentioned step S106, the control unit 9 may increase the internal pressure in the second region R2 above the internal pressure in the first region R1, and utilize the resulting pressure difference and the space between the second work W2 supported on the stage portion 22 and the ring portion 21 to deflect the peripheral portion of the first work W1 toward the first region R1, as shown in Figure 7 (B).

[0069] Here, the size and shape of the deflected portion change depending on the width Lz of the space. Therefore, the width Lz of the space is adjusted by changing the configuration (size, etc.) of the ring portion 21, and the size and shape of the deflected portion are adjusted by using a first workpiece W1 of a size that can be supported by the ring portion 21. Then, by finding an appropriate predetermined width for the width Lz of the space, it becomes possible to bring the resin layer Yr and the bonding surface F11 of the first workpiece W1 into contact even on the peripheral portion of the second workpiece W2 (see FIG. 7B).

[0070] According to this lamination process, even on the peripheral portion of the second workpiece W2, voids Xs (small closed spaces) due to the unevenness of the surface of the resin layer Yr can be formed in a high-vacuum atmosphere (here, the first region R1), and the voids Xs can be eliminated by applying pressure from the outside. Therefore, it is possible to improve lamination defects at the peripheral portion of the second workpiece W2 (a workpiece smaller in size than the first workpiece W1) with the first workpiece W1.

[0071] 8A is a conceptual diagram showing a bonding apparatus according to a second modified example. The following describes the parts of the configuration of the bonding apparatus according to the second modified example that are different from the bonding apparatus of the above-described embodiment.

[0072] <Chamber mechanism 1> In this modified example, a portion of the bottom plate 122 (the central portion in the example of FIG. 1 ) is formed of an optically transparent member 140X (such as quartz) so that the interior of the chamber 10 can be photographed by the camera 40 from outside the bottom plate 122.

[0073] <Support Mechanism 2 , Sealing Mechanism 3 , and Alignment Mechanism 4 > In this modification, the support mechanism 2 includes a ring portion 21 and a chuck portion 25 .

[0074] The ring portion 21, like that described in the above embodiment, is a portion that supports the peripheral portion of the first workpiece W1 from below. In this modified example, the first workpiece W1 is placed on the ring portion 21 with its bonding surface F11 facing upward. This ring portion 21 makes it possible to reliably prevent the first workpiece W1 from falling inside the chamber 10 while leaving exposed the portion of the back surface F12 (lower surface) of the first workpiece W1 that requires pressure (the portion that overlaps with the entire second workpiece W2 when viewed from above or below in a plan view).

[0075] The chuck portion 25 is a portion that chucks the second workpiece W2 above the first workpiece W1 (the first workpiece W1 supported by the ring portion 21), and is provided with a chucking function (vacuum suction, electrostatic chuck, etc.) that enables such chucking. The second workpiece W2 is chucked by this chuck portion 25 with its bonding surface F21 facing downward.

[0076] In this modification, the positional relationship between the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 is adjusted by adjusting the position of the chuck portion 25 in the horizontal plane by the alignment mechanism 4. The positional relationship is adjusted based on an image captured by the camera 40 from the outside of the bottom plate 122 (in other words, the side of the second region R2).

[0077] The sealing mechanism 3 includes an annular sealing portion 31 and a driving portion 32, similar to that described in the above embodiment.

[0078] On the other hand, in this modified example, the peripheral edge of the first workpiece W1 is sandwiched from above (from the lamination surface F11 side) between the sealing portion 31 and the ring portion 21, and in the sealed state Qs, a first region R1 is formed by the region inside the sealing portion 31, and a second region R2 is formed by the region outside the sealing portion 31 (the portion leading to the region where the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1 is exposed) (see FIG. 8(A)). Moreover, as in the above embodiment, the first workpiece W1 is fixed onto the ring portion 21.

[0079] Also in this modified example, in step S106, the internal pressure in the second region R2 is made higher than the internal pressure in the first region R1 (see FIG. 8B). This makes it possible for the gas in the second region R2 to directly and uniformly pressurize the back surface F12 of the first workpiece W1. Furthermore, by utilizing the pressure difference that occurs at this time, it becomes possible to uniformly press the first workpiece W1 toward the second workpiece W2. Therefore, it becomes possible to obtain a good bonding state across the entire bonding surfaces F11 and F21 of the two workpieces.

[0080] Also in this modified example, the first workpiece W1 is fixed onto the ring portion 21 by the sealing portion 31, so that step S106 not only enables the uniform pressing described above, but also prevents the first workpiece W1 from shifting in position or loosening, which may occur at that time.

[0081] [2-3] Other Modifications The above-described bonding device is not limited to bonding the first workpiece W1 and the second workpiece W2 with resin (resin layer Yr), but can also be applied to directly bonding the bonding surfaces F11 and F12 together, or to bonding using a material other than resin (such as metal).

[0082] The above-described laminating device may be appropriately modified to a configuration in which the support mechanism 2 does not have the fixing portion 23. In this case, instead of the fixing portion 23, the ring portion 21 itself may be modified to have a chuck function (vacuum suction, electrostatic chuck, etc.) for temporarily holding (fixing) the first workpiece W1.

[0083] The above-described embodiments and modifications should be considered to be illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined not by the above-described embodiments and modifications, but by the claims. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention is intended to include all modifications that are equivalent to the scope of the claims and fall within the scope thereof.

[0084] Furthermore, from the above-described embodiments and variations, a portion of the configuration of the bonding device may be extracted as the subject of the invention, or a portion or all of the bonding process, or a program for executing them, etc. may be extracted.

[0085] 1 Chamber mechanism 2 Support mechanism 3 Sealing mechanism 4 Alignment mechanism 5 Internal pressure adjustment mechanism 9 Control unit 10 Chamber 11 First chamber forming unit 12 Second chamber forming unit 13 Drive unit 21 Ring unit 22 Stage unit 23 Fixing unit 24 Drive unit 25 Chuck unit 31 Sealing unit 32 Drive unit 40 Camera 51 Pressure reducing unit 52 Pressure increasing unit Lz Width Qs Sealed state Qt Released state R1 First region R2 Second region W1 First workpiece W2 Second workpiece Xs Gap Xt Opened gap Yr Resin layer 111 First cylindrical portion 112 Top plate 121 Second cylindrical portion 122 Bottom plate 140X Light-transmitting member F11, F21 Bonding surface F12 Back surface

Claims

1. A bonding device that bonds a first workpiece and a second workpiece within a chamber, comprising: a support mechanism that supports the first workpiece and the second workpiece within the chamber with their bonding surfaces facing each other; a sealing mechanism that makes it possible to selectively form, within the chamber, a sealed state in which a first region including the region on the bonding surface side of the first workpiece and a second region including the region on the back side of the first workpiece are sealed, and an released state in which the seal between these two regions is released; and an internal pressure adjustment mechanism that adjusts the internal pressure of the chamber, and is configured to be able to individually adjust the internal pressure of the second region and the first region when the sealed state is formed by the sealing mechanism; wherein the support mechanism and the sealing mechanism are configured to support the first workpiece while leaving the back side of the first workpiece exposed to the second region, and to be able to form the sealed state.

2. The bonding device according to claim 1, wherein the support mechanism comprises: a ring portion that supports the peripheral edge of the first workpiece from below; and a stage portion that supports the second workpiece below the first workpiece, wherein the first workpiece is supported by the ring portion with its bonding surface facing downward, and the second workpiece is supported by the stage portion with its bonding surface facing upward, and the sealing mechanism comprises an annular sealing portion that sandwiches the peripheral edge of the first workpiece between the sealing portion and the ring portion from above, thereby dividing the inside of the chamber into two areas, an inside and an outside of the sealing portion, and sealing between these areas, thereby forming the second area by the area inside the sealing portion, and the first area by the area outside the sealing portion.

3. The bonding device according to claim 1, wherein the support mechanism comprises: a ring portion that supports the peripheral edge of the first workpiece from below; and a chuck portion that chucks the second workpiece above the first workpiece, wherein the first workpiece is supported by the ring portion with its bonding surface facing upward, and the second workpiece is chucked by the chuck portion with its bonding surface facing downward, and the sealing mechanism comprises an annular sealing portion that sandwiches the peripheral edge of the first workpiece from above between the sealing portion and the ring portion, thereby dividing the inside of the chamber into two areas, an inside and an outside of the sealing portion, and sealing between these areas, thereby forming the first area by the area inside the sealing portion, and the second area by the area outside the sealing portion.

4. A bonding device according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a control unit, wherein the control unit, after supporting the first workpiece and the second workpiece on the support mechanism and before causing the sealing mechanism to form the sealed state, controls the internal pressure adjustment mechanism to reduce the internal pressure of the chamber to a predetermined atmospheric pressure, then controls the sealing mechanism to form the sealed state, and then controls the internal pressure adjustment mechanism to increase the internal pressure of the second region to be higher than the internal pressure of the first region.

5. A bonding device as described in claim 4, wherein the ring portion is configured so that, when viewed in a plan view from above or below, a space of a predetermined width is formed between the second work supported by the support mechanism and the ring portion, and the first work is used in a size that can be supported by the ring portion, and the control unit uses the space of the predetermined width to bend the peripheral portion of the first work toward the first region by increasing the internal pressure of the second region to be higher than the internal pressure of the first region.

6. A bonding device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the support mechanism includes a fixing part that temporarily fixes the first workpiece by clamping the peripheral edge of the first workpiece between the ring part and the fixing part.

7. A bonding device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising an alignment mechanism that adjusts the positional relationship between the first workpiece and the second workpiece based on an image captured by a camera from the second area side.

Images