Soft Elastic Cleaning Ring for Swarf Removal in Wafer Grooves
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for removing swarf from processed regions during wafer cutting often result in new swarf generation due to positional deviations between the cutting blade and the processed region, leading to incomplete removal.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning tool formed from a soft elastic material with a Vickers hardness of less than 10.6 GPa, mounted on a spindle and used in conjunction with a cutting blade, is designed to remove swarf by passing through the processed region while supplying liquid, preventing new swarf generation even with deviations in positional alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the cutting blade is made to again pass through the groove-shaped processed region to discharge swarf, then swarf removal is achieved, but new swarf is generated due to contact between the cutting blade and the processed region
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the material parameter of the cleaning tool from hard (cutting blade with abrasive grains) to soft (elastic material with Vickers hardness less than 10.6 GPa). This parameter change allows the cleaning tool to remove swarf without generating new swarf through contact, as the soft material deforms rather than cuts the workpiece surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a cleaning tool as an intermediary element between the cutting blade and the swarf removal function. This cleaning tool, made of soft elastic material, serves as a mediator that performs the swarf discharge task without the harmful side effect of generating new swarf, thus separating the cutting function from the cleaning function.
2Manufacturing precision
If a hard cleaning tool is used to remove swarf, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but the tool generates new swarf when contacting the workpiece
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the hardness parameter of the cleaning tool from high (hard material) to low (soft elastic material with Vickers hardness less than 10.6 GPa). This parameter change enables the tool to maintain cleaning effectiveness through elastic deformation and adhesion mechanisms while eliminating the generation of new swarf that occurs with hard materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning tool is made from soft elastic material that can deform flexibly during contact with the workpiece. This flexibility allows the tool to conform to the processed region and remove swarf through adhesion and elastic recovery rather than through cutting or abrasion, thereby avoiding new swarf generation.
3Strength
If the cleaning tool is made from hard material, then structural strength is improved, but positional deviation causes new swarf generation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the material properties from hard and brittle to soft and elastic. The elastic material provides sufficient structural strength for the cleaning tool while adding the ability to deform elastically during contact, which compensates for positional deviations and prevents new swarf generation.
Solution Approach 2:
The soft elastic material of the cleaning tool acts as a cushion that absorbs the impact and stress of contact with the workpiece. This beforehand cushioning effect protects against the harmful consequences of positional deviation, ensuring that even if the tool contacts the workpiece at incorrect positions, no new swarf is generated.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The cleaning tool effectively removes swarf from processed regions without generating new swarf, ensuring higher efficiency and quality in the processing of device chips by utilizing a soft elastic material that does not contain abrasive grains.
Implementation Method 1
The cleaning tool is formed in an annular shape from an elastic material softer than the workpiece and does not contain abrasive grains
Implementation Method 2
bringing a cleaning tool being rotated close to a processed region processed by the cutting blade of the workpiece while supplying liquid to the cleaning tool, to thereby remove swarf present in the processed region
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a cleaning tool which is used in a state of being mounted to a spindle configured such that an annular cutting blade containing abrasive grains is mountable thereto, and which is used to remove swarf that has been generated during processing of a workpiece by use of the cutting blade and that is present in a processed region processed by the cutting blade of the workpiece, from the processed region. The cleaning tool has in its central part an opening to be used at the time of mounting to the spindle. The cleaning tool is formed in an annular shape from an elastic material softer than the workpiece and does not contain abrasive grains, or the cleaning tool is formed in an annular shape from an elastic material having a Vickers hardness of less than 10.6 GPa and does not contain abrasive grains.