| DISCO CORPORATION Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20120111840 | LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS - A laser processing apparatus including a laser beam applying unit for applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to a workpiece held on a chuck table. The laser beam applying unit includes a laser beam oscillating unit for oscillating the laser beam, a focusing lens for focusing the laser beam oscillated by the laser beam oscillating unit, and a diffractive optic element interposed between the laser beam oscillating unit and the focusing lens. The laser beam oscillated by the laser beam oscillating unit is separated into a plurality of laser beams having different divergence angles by the diffractive optic element. The plurality of laser beams are next focused by the focusing lens to thereby form a plurality of focal points on the optical axis of the focusing lens. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120103952 | LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS - An optical transmitting unit transmits a pulsed laser beam oscillated by a pulsed laser beam oscillator to a focusing unit in a laser processing apparatus. A wavelength band expanding unit expands the wavelength band of the pulsed laser beam, and a pulse width expanding unit increases the pulse width of the expanded pulsed laser beam. A focusing lens focuses the expanded pulsed laser beam. An optical fiber transmits the focused pulsed laser beam through a collimating lens and a pulse width compressing unit compresses the pulse width of the collimated pulsed laser beam to restore the original pulse width for transmission. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120100696 | WORKPIECE DIVIDING METHOD - A workpiece has a substrate and a film formed on the front side of the substrate. A first laser beam applied to the film from the front side of the workpiece along streets formed on the film, thereby forming a plurality of laser processed grooves along the streets. An adhesive tape is attached to the front side of the workpiece. Thereafter, a second laser beam is applied to the substrate from the back side of the workpiece along the streets, with the focal point of the second laser beam set inside the substrate, forming a plurality of modified layers along the streets. Thereafter, the adhesive tape is expanded to divide the substrate along the streets, thereby obtaining a plurality of individual devices. The back side of the substrate of each device is then ground to remove the modified layers and reduce the thickness of each device to a predetermined thickness. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120100694 | DIVIDING METHOD FOR WAFER HAVING DIE BONDING FILM ATTACHED TO THE BACK SIDE THEREOF - A wafer is divided into individual devices along division lines formed on the front side of the wafer. The devices are respectively formed in a plurality of regions partitioned by the division lines. A protective member is provided on the front of the wafer, and the back of the wafer is ground to a predetermined thickness. A laser beam is applied to the wafer from the back side of the wafer along the division lines with the focal point of the laser beam set inside the wafer at a position corresponding to each division line, thereby forming a plurality of modified layers inside the wafer along the division lines. The wafer is divided along the modified layers into the individual devices, and the back side of the wafer is ground to remove the modified layers and reduce the thickness of each device to the finished thickness. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120088441 | PROCESSING APPARATUS HAVING FOUR PROCESSING UNITS - A processing apparatus including a turn table rotatably provided and having an opening; at least five chuck tables provided on the turn table, each chuck table having a holding surface for holding a workpiece; a support bed inserted through the opening of the turn table; four processing unit supporting mechanisms each including a first support column provided on the outside of the turn table, a second support column provided on the support bed, and a support member mounted to the first and second support columns; four processing units respectively supported to the four processing unit supporting mechanisms, the four processing units respectively corresponding to four ones of the at least five chuck tables; and four feeding units for respectively moving the four processing units in a direction perpendicular to the holding surfaces of the chuck tables. | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120088354 | WORKPIECE DIVIDING METHOD - In a semiconductor wafer with a supporting tape attached to the back side of the wafer, a coating member having a refractive index close to that of the supporting tape is formed on a pear-skin surface of the supporting tape to thereby planarize the pear-skin surface. Thereafter, a pulsed laser beam is applied from the upper side of the coating member to the semiconductor wafer in the condition where the focal point of the pulsed laser beam is set at a predetermined depth in the semiconductor wafer. Accordingly, the pulsed laser beam can be sufficiently focused inside the semiconductor wafer to thereby well form a modified layer inside the semiconductor wafer. | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120086797 | METHOD OF DETECTING PATTERN FORMED ON NON-EXPOSED SURFACE OF WORKPIECE - A method of detecting an object of detection formed in the inside of or on a non-exposed surface of a workpiece having a rugged exposed surface, the detection being made on the exposed surface side of the workpiece by use of an imaging unit. The detecting method includes: a flattening step of coating the exposed surface of the workpiece with a liquid resin transmissive to the wavelength of light to be detected by the imaging unit so as to flatten the exposed surface of the workpiece; and a detecting step of detecting the object of detection formed in the inside of or on the non-exposed surface of the workpiece by use of the imaging unit on the exposed surface side of the workpiece coated with the liquid resin, after the flattening step. | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120083059 | SAPPHIRE WAFER DIVIDING METHOD - A sapphire wafer dividing method including a cut groove forming step of forming a plurality of cut grooves on the back side of a sapphire wafer along a plurality of crossing division lines formed on the front side where a light emitting layer is formed, a modified layer forming step of forming a plurality of modified layers inside the sapphire wafer along the division lines, and a dividing step of dividing the sapphire wafer into individual light emitting devices along the modified layers as a division start point, thereby chamfering the corners of the back side of each light emitting device owing to the formation of the cut grooves in the cut groove forming step. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120080138 | METHOD OF PROCESSING PLATE-SHAPED BODY HAVING RUGGED SURFACE - A method of processing a plate-shaped body, for grinding or polishing the back side of a plate-shaped body having ruggedness on the face side thereof, includes: a coating step of coating the face side of the plate-shaped body with a water-soluble protective film; a protective tape adhering step of adhering a protective tape composed of a substrate and a paste layer to the face side of the plate-shaped body coated with the water-soluble protective film so as to bury the ruggedness in the paste layer; a processing step of holding the protective tape side of the plate-shaped body, with the protective tape adhered thereto, by a chuck table and grinding or polishing the back side of the plate-shaped body; and a removing step of peeling, after the processing step, the protective tape from the face side of the plate-shaped body and removing the water-soluble protective film. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120064696 | WAFER MACHINING METHOD - A wafer provided on a face side thereof with a device region where devices are demarcated by planned dividing lines and with a peripheral surplus region surrounding the device region is divided into the individual devices. In performing the dividing process, the back side of the device region is ground to form an annular reinforcement part on the outer peripheral side thereof, a dicing tape is adhered to the back side of the wafer, the wafer is irradiated with a laser beam from the face side so as to divide the wafer into the devices and to form break starting points in the annular reinforcement part, and the dicing tape is expanded so as to disassembly the annular reinforcement part, with the break starting points as starting points, thereby separating the annular reinforcement part from the device region, and to widen the interval between the adjacent devices. Since the annular reinforcement part is remaining at the time of dividing the wafer into the individual devices, handleability during the dividing process is not spoiled. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120061361 | METHOD OF DIVIDING WORKPIECE - A method of dividing a workpiece includes: forming a pre-machining alteration region in the inside of a region in which no device is formed; detecting the position of the pre-machining alteration region on through infrared imaging by imaging means, to thereby recognize a deviation between the pre-machining alteration region and a planned dividing line as machining position correction information; and forming a main machining alteration region by utilizing the machining position correction information, whereby the workpiece can be accurately divided along the planned dividing lines into individual devices. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120061010 | OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - An optical device wafer has a device area where a plurality of optical devices are formed on the front side of a sapphire substrate, and a peripheral marginal area surrounding the device area. The device area projects from the peripheral marginal area. A break start point is formed on the front side of the sapphire substrate by applying a laser beam along the boundary between the device area and the peripheral marginal area. A protective member is attached to the front side of the optical device wafer. The optical device wafer is held on a chuck table of a grinding apparatus so that the protective member comes into contact with a holding surface of the chuck table. The back side of the sapphire substrate is ground to reduce the thickness thereof to a predetermined thickness. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120056309 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE WITH REDUCED HEAT-INDUCED LOSS - A semiconductor device which is capable of reducing a heat-induced loss includes a substrate and a circuit element disposed on the substrate. The substrate is of a rectangular shape with beveled surfaces on four corners thereof. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20120047047 | METHOD OF MANAGING PARTS - A method of managing a plurality of parts of an apparatus includes creating a part database of part information including at least the weights, part numbers, and shapes of individual parts, measuring the weight of a part to be ordered, entering the measured weight through input means of an information terminal and accessing the part database, extracting part information of all parts having weights which fall in a predetermined allowable range similar to the entered weight, from the part database, and displaying the extracted part information on display means of the information terminal, identifying the part number of the part to be ordered based on shapes of the parts represented by the displayed part information, and ordering the part with the identified part number. | 02-23-2012 |
| 20120018732 | INSIDE REFORMING SUBSTRATE FOR EPITAXIAL GROWTH; CRYSTAL FILM FORMING ELEMENT, DEVICE, AND BULK SUBSTRATE PRODUCED USING THE SAME; AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME - Sapphire substrates are used chiefly for epitaxial growth of nitride semiconductor layers, to provide a sapphire substrate of which the shape and/or amount of warping can be controlled efficiently and precisely and of which substrate warping that occurs during layer formation can be suppressed and substrate warping behavior can be minimized, to provide nitride semiconductor layer growth bodies, nitride semiconductor devices, and nitride semiconductor bulk substrates using such substrates, and to provide a method of manufacturing these products. Reformed domain patterns are formed within a sapphire substrate and the warp shape and/or amount of warping of the sapphire substrate are controlled by means of multiphoton absorption by condensing and scanning a pulsed laser through a polished surface of the sapphire substrate. When nitride semiconductor layers are formed using sapphire substrates obtained by means of this invention, substrate warping during layer formation is suppressed and substrate warping behavior is minimized so that layer quality and uniformity are improved and the quality and yield of nitride semiconductor devices is increased. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120018412 | OPTICAL DEVICE AND LASER BEAM MACHINING APPARATUS HAVING OPTICAL DEVICE - An optical device includes: a beam splitter by which a laser beam oscillated from an oscillator is branched into a first branch beam going ahead through transmission and a second branch beam going ahead through reflection; a first mirror by which the first branch beam going out of the beam splitter is reflected to go again toward the beam splitter; a second mirror by which the second branch beam going out of the beam splitter is reflected to go again toward the beam splitter; and a circular disk-like rotating unit for integrally rotating the first mirror and a second mirror, with a laser beam branch point in the beam splitter as a center of rotation. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120003816 | WAFER DIVIDING METHOD - A method of dividing a wafer having devices formed in a plurality of regions demarcated by a plurality of streets formed in a grid pattern on a surface of the wafer, along the streets and into the individual devices. The wafer dividing method includes the steps of: forming grooves from the face side of the wafer along the streets and in a depth corresponding to the finished thickness of the devices; coating the surface of the wafer with an acrylic liquid resin curable by irradiation with UV rays to fill the grooves with the acrylic liquid resin and disposing a protective film on the acrylic liquid resin; performing irradiation with UV rays from the protective film side so as to cure the acrylic liquid resin; grinding the back side of the wafer so as to expose the grooves on the back side and divide the wafer into the individual devices; adhering the back side of the wafer to a surface of an adhesive tape adhered to an annular frame; and peeling the acrylic resin from the surface of the wafer together with the protective film. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20110294279 | WORKING METHOD FOR SAPPHIRE SUBSTRATE - A working method for a sapphire substrate for dividing a sapphire substrate along a set planned dividing line includes a cutting groove forming step of positioning a cutting blade, which includes a cutting edge to which diamond grain is secured by nickel plating, to a planned dividing line of the sapphire substrate and feeding the cutting blade and the sapphire substrate relative to each other for working while rotating the cutting blade to form a cutting groove, which serves as a start point of break, along the planned division line on the sapphire substrate, and a breaking step of applying external force to the sapphire substrate, for which the cutting groove forming step is carried out, to break the sapphire substrate along the planned dividing line along which the cutting groove is formed. The cutting groove forming step is set such that a rotational speed of the cutting blade is 20000 to 35000 rpm, a cutting-in depth of the cutting blade is 5 to 15 μm and a working feeding speed is 50 to 150 mm/second. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110290769 | METHOD OF DIVIDING WORKPIECE USING LASER BEAM - A workpiece including an irregularly shaped portion on a dividing line is divided along the dividing line by detecting the location of the irregularly shaped portion, applying a detecting laser beam to an area of the workpiece except for the detected location, along the dividing line to detect the height of a surface of the workpiece except for the location, applying and focusing a machining laser beam having a wavelength which permeates the workpiece within the workpiece while moving a focused spot of the machining laser beam based on the detected height of the surface of the workpiece to form a modified layer in an area of the workpiece except for at least the location of the irregularly shaped portion along the dividing line, and applying an external force to the modified layer to divide the workpiece along the dividing line. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110287609 | WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - A processing method for a wafer having a device area where a plurality of devices are formed on the front side of the wafer and a peripheral marginal area surrounding the device area. The processing method includes a reinforcing plate forming step of applying a heat-resistant bond to the front side of the wafer and solidifying the heat-resistant bond to thereby form a reinforcing plate from only the heat-resistant bond, a back grinding step of holding the reinforcing plate on a chuck table and grinding the back side of the wafer in the device area to thereby form a circular recess in the device area and leave an annular reinforcing portion in the peripheral marginal area, a through electrode forming step of forming a through electrode connected to an electrode of each device formed on the front side of the wafer, from the back side of the wafer fixed to the reinforcing plate, and a reinforcing plate removing step of supplying a solvent for dissolving the heat-resistant bond to the reinforcing plate, thereby removing the reinforcing plate. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20110281504 | GRINDING METHOD FOR WORKPIECE HAVING A PLURALITY OF BUMPS - A grinding method of grinding the back side of a workpiece having a projection on the front side thereof. The grinding method includes a holding jig preparing step of preparing a holding jig having a circular recess and an annular projection surround the circular recess, a setting step of setting the workpiece in the circular recess of the holding jig in the condition where the back side of the workpiece is exposed, a liquid curing agent supplying step of supplying a liquid curing agent into the circular recess before or after performing the setting step, a fixing step of curing the liquid curing agent in the condition where the workpiece is set in the circular recess and the liquid curing agent is present in the circular recess, thereby fixing the workpiece in the circular recess, and a grinding step of grinding the back side of the workpiece and the annular projection of the holding jig by using grinding means after performing the fixing step. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110266266 | LASER PROCESSING MACHINE - A laser processing machine is provided which includes a chuck table adapted to hold a workpiece; and a laser beam irradiation unit for emitting a laser beam to the workpiece held by the chuck table. The laser beam irradiation unit includes a single laser beam oscillating unit for emitting a laser beam; a beam splitter which splits the laser beam emitted from the laser beam oscillating unit into a first laser beam propagating along a first path and a second laser beam propagating along a second path; a first condenser which condenses the first laser beam; and a second condenser which condenses the second laser beam. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110261457 | OPTICAL DEVICE CONFIGURED BY BONDING FIRST AND SECOND TRANSPARENT MEMBERS HAVING BIREFRINGENT PROPERTY - An optical device obtained by bonding a first transparent member having a birefringent property to a second transparent member having a birefringent property. A dielectric multilayer film having no influence on the transmittance of light is formed on at least one of the bonding surfaces of the first and second transparent members. The bonding surface of the first transparent member is bonded through the dielectric multilayer film to the bonding surface of the second transparent member by optical contact. | 10-27-2011 |
| 20110256689 | OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER PROCESSING METHOD AND LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS - An optical device wafer processing method including a laser processed groove forming step of applying a laser beam for performing ablation to the front side or back side of a substrate of an optical device wafer along streets, thereby forming a laser processed groove as a break start point on the front side or back side of the substrate along each street, and a wafer dividing step of applying an external force to the optical device wafer after performing the laser processed groove forming step to thereby break the wafer along each laser processed groove, thereby dividing the wafer into individual optical devices. In performing the laser processed groove forming step, an etching gas atmosphere for etching a modified substance produced by applying the laser beam to the substrate is generated, whereby an etching gas in the etching gas atmosphere is converted into a plasma by the application of the laser beam to thereby etch away the modified substance. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110256667 | STACKED WAFER MANUFACTURING METHOD - A manufacturing method for a stacked wafer configured by bonding a mother wafer having a plurality of first semiconductor device and a stacking wafer having a plurality of second semiconductor devices. The manufacturing method includes the steps of attaching a protective member to the front side of the stacking wafer to protect the second semiconductor devices, next grinding the back side of the stacking wafer, next bonding the front side of a reinforcing wafer through a bonding layer to the back side of the stacking wafer, next dividing the stacking wafer together with the reinforcing wafer into the plural second semiconductor devices, next bonding the front side of each second semiconductor device to the front side of the mother wafer to thereby connect the electrodes of each second semiconductor device to the electrodes of the corresponding first semiconductor device of the mother wafer, and finally grinding the reinforcing wafer bonded to the back side of each second semiconductor device to thereby remove the reinforcing wafer. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110256665 | STACKED WAFER MANUFACTURING METHOD - A manufacturing method for a stacked wafer composed of a mother wafer and a stacking wafer bonded together. The mother wafer has a plurality of first semiconductor devices and the stacking wafer has a plurality of second semiconductor devices respectively corresponding to the first semiconductor devices. The manufacturing method includes the steps of bonding the front side of a substrate through a bonding layer to the front side of the stacking wafer, next grinding the back side of the stacking wafer to reduce the thickness of the stacking wafer to a predetermined thickness, next stacking the unit of the stacking wafer and the substrate bonded together on the mother wafer in the condition where the back side of the stacking wafer is opposed to the front side of the mother wafer, thereby bonding electrodes exposed to the back side of each second semiconductor device to electrodes of each first semiconductor device formed on the front side of the mother wafer, and finally grinding the substrate bonded to the front side of the stacking wafer to thereby remove the substrate. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110244612 | OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - An optical device wafer processing method for dividing an optical device wafer into individual optical devices along a plurality of crossing streets formed on the front side of the wafer. The wafer is composed of a substrate and an optical device layer formed on the front side of the substrate. The individual optical devices are respectively formed in a plurality of regions partitioned by the streets. The optical device wafer processing method includes the steps of cutting the back side of the substrate along each street by using a cutting blade to thereby form a first cut groove as a first break start point on the back side of the substrate along each street, cutting the front side of the wafer along each street by using a cutting blade after forming the first cut groove to thereby form a second cut groove as a second break start point on the front side of the wafer along each street so that the second cut groove has a depth reaching the front side of the substrate, and applying an external force to the wafer after forming the second cut groove to thereby break the wafer along each street where the first and second cut grooves are formed, thereby dividing the wafer into the individual optical devices. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110230000 | MEMS DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A MEMS device manufacturing method including a break start point forming step of forming a break start point in a substrate along the areas corresponding to a plurality of crossing streets set on the substrate before forming a plurality of MEMS devices on the substrate, a device forming step of forming the MEMS devices in a plurality of areas partitioned by the areas corresponding to the crossing streets on the front side of the substrate after performing the break start point forming step, and a substrate breaking step of applying an external force to the substrate after performing the device forming step to thereby break the substrate along the areas corresponding to the crossing streets where the break start point is formed, thus dividing the substrate into the individual MEMS devices. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110226747 | WORKPIECE DIVIDING METHOD - A workpiece dividing method for dividing a workpiece having an uneven incident surface upon which a pulsed laser beam falls. The workpiece dividing method includes a coating step of applying a coating member to the incident surface of the workpiece, thereby planarizing the incident surface of the workpiece, the coating member transmitting the pulsed laser beam and having a refractive index close to that of the workpiece for the pulsed laser beam, a modified layer forming step of applying the pulsed laser beam to the workpiece from the side of the incident surface in the condition where a focal point of the pulsed laser beam is set inside the workpiece after performing the coating step, thereby forming a modified layer inside the workpiece, and a dividing step of applying an external force to the workpiece after performing the modified layer forming step, thereby dividing the workpiece as starting from the modified layer formed inside said workpiece as a break start point. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110212574 | PROCESSING METHOD FOR PACKAGE SUBSTRATE - A processing method for a package substrate having a base substrate partitioned by a plurality of crossing division lines to form a plurality of chip forming areas where a plurality of semiconductor chips are respectively formed and molded with resin. The package substrate has a resin surface and an electrode surface opposite to the resin surface. The processing method includes a warp correcting step of cutting the package substrate from the resin surface or the electrode surface along the division lines by using a cutting blade to form a cut groove, thereby correcting a warp of the package substrate, and a grinding step of grinding the resin surface of the package substrate in the condition where the electrode surface of the package substrate is held on a holding table after performing the warp correcting step, thereby reducing the thickness of the package substrate to a predetermined thickness. | 09-01-2011 |
| 20110195537 | OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - An optical device wafer processing method for dividing an optical device wafer into a plurality of individual optical devices. The optical device wafer is composed of a substrate and a semiconductor layer formed on the front side of the substrate. The optical devices are partitioned by a plurality of division lines formed on the semiconductor layer. The optical device wafer processing method includes a division start point forming step of applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the substrate along the division lines in the condition where the focal point of the laser beam is set inside the substrate in an area corresponding to the division lines, thereby forming a plurality of modified layers as division start points inside the substrate along the division lines; and a crack growing step of applying a CO | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110195536 | OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - An optical device wafer processing method for dividing an optical device wafer into a plurality of individual optical devices. The optical device wafer is composed of a substrate and a semiconductor layer formed on the front side of the substrate. The optical devices are partitioned by a plurality of crossing division lines formed on the semiconductor layer. The optical device wafer processing method includes a division start point forming step of applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the substrate to the intersections of the crossing division lines in the condition where the focal point of the laser beam is set inside the substrate in an area corresponding to the intersections of the crossing division lines, thereby forming a plurality of crossing modified layers as division start points inside the substrate at the intersections of the crossing division lines; and a crack growing step of applying a CO | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110195535 | OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - An optical device wafer processing method for dividing an optical device wafer into a plurality of individual optical devices. The optical device wafer is composed of a substrate and a semiconductor layer formed on the front side of the substrate. The optical devices are partitioned by a plurality of crossing division lines formed on the semiconductor layer. The optical device wafer processing method includes a division start point forming step of applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the substrate to the intersections of the crossing division lines in the condition where the focal point of the laser beam is set inside the substrate in an area corresponding to the intersections of the crossing division lines, thereby forming a plurality of modified dots as division start points inside the substrate at the intersections of the crossing division lines; and a crack growing step of applying a CO | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110186554 | WAFER DIVIDING METHOD USING CO2 LASER - A wafer dividing method for dividing a wafer into individual devices along a plurality of division lines formed on the front side of the wafer, the individual devices being respectively formed in a plurality of regions partitioned by the division lines. The wafer dividing method includes a division inducing region forming step of applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the wafer along the division lines in the condition where the focal point of the laser beam is set inside the wafer, thereby forming a plurality of modified layers as division inducing regions inside the wafer along the division lines; and a dividing step of applying a CO | 08-04-2011 |
| 20110159621 | MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR LIGHT EMITTING DEVICE - A light emitting device manufacturing method including the steps of corrugatedly scanning a laser beam along a plurality of division lines formed on a light emitting device wafer having a sapphire substrate layer and a light emitting layer to apply the laser beam to the sapphire substrate layer, thereby performing laser processing for the sapphire substrate layer and next applying an external force to a processed locus formed along each division line by the above laser processing to thereby divide the light emitting device wafer into a plurality of light emitting devices. The sapphire layer of each light emitting device has side surfaces whose horizontal sectional shape is a corrugated shape. Accordingly, the number of total reflections on the side surfaces of the sapphire layer can be reduced to thereby achieve efficient emergence of light from the sapphire layer. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110155791 | MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR COMPOSITE SUBSTRATE - A composite substrate manufacturing method including the steps of grinding a sapphire substrate to uniform the thickness of the sapphire substrate, next forming an optical device layer on the front side of the sapphire substrate, next bonding the front side of a heat sink substrate through a bonding metal layer to the front side of the optical device layer formed on the front side of the sapphire substrate to thereby form a composite substrate, next grinding the back side of the heat sink substrate of the composite substrate to uniform the thickness of the composite substrate, and finally grinding the back side of the sapphire substrate of the composite substrate to reduce the thickness of the sapphire substrate to a predetermined thickness. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110147349 | WAFER DIVIDING APPARATUS AND LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS - A wafer dividing apparatus for dividing a wafer along a plurality of crossing streets in the condition where the wafer is attached to the upper surface of a dicing tape supported to an annular frame and the strength of the wafer is reduced along the streets. The wafer dividing apparatus includes a frame holding unit for holding the annular frame, a wafer holding table having a holding surface for holding the wafer through the dicing tape supported to the annular frame held by the frame holding unit, a tape expanding unit for relatively moving the frame holding unit and the wafer holding table in a direction perpendicular to the holding surface of the wafer holding table to thereby expand the dicing tape, and a vibration generating unit for applying vibration to the holding surface of the wafer holding table. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110133235 | LIGHT EMITTING DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF - A light emitting device including a sapphire layer and a light emitting layer formed on the sapphire layer. The sapphire layer has a polygonal sectional shape whose internal angle is an obtuse angle, such as a regular hexagonal shape. Light emitted from the light emitting layer is totally reflected on one side surface of the sapphire layer and next transmitted through another side surface of the sapphire layer. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110124181 | WORKPIECE CUTTING METHOD - A cutting method for cutting a workpiece by using a cutting blade. The cutting method includes the steps of attaching an adhesive sheet to one surface of the workpiece, holding the workpiece through the adhesive sheet on holding means, and feeding the cutting blade into the workpiece until reaching the adhesive sheet as supplying a cutting fluid having a temperature of 10° C. or less, thereby cutting the workpiece. | 05-26-2011 |
| 20110097875 | WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - A wafer processing method for dividing a wafer into individual devices along a plurality of crossing streets formed on the front side of the wafer, the individual devices being respectively formed in a plurality of regions partitioned by the streets. The wafer processing method includes the steps of attaching the front side of the wafer to a dicing tape supported to an annular dicing frame, grinding the back side of the wafer to reduce the thickness of the wafer to a predetermined thickness, forming a break start point along each street from the back side of the wafer, applying an external force to the wafer to break the wafer along each street where the break start point is formed, thereby dividing the wafer into the individual devices, attaching the back side of the wafer to a front side of an adhesive tape supported to an annular frame and next removing the adhesive tape from the front side of the adhesive tape, and peeling off and picking up each device from the adhesive tape. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110097852 | WAFER PROCESSING METHOD WITHOUT OCCURRENCE OF DAMAGE TO DEVICE AREA - A wafer processing method of processing a wafer having on a front surface a device area where a plurality of devices are formed by being sectioned by predetermined dividing lines, and an outer circumferential redundant area surrounding the device area, includes the steps of: sticking a protection tape to the front surface of the wafer; holding a protection tape side of the wafer by a rotatable chuck table, positioning a cutting blade on a rear surface of the wafer, and rotating the chuck table to cut a boundary portion between the device area and the outer circumferential redundant area to form a separation groove; grinding only the rear surface of the wafer corresponding to the device area to form a circular recessed portion to leave the ring-like outer circumferential redundant area as a ring-like reinforcing portion, the wafer being such that the device area and the ring-like outer circumferential redundant area are united by the protection tape; and conveying the wafer supported by the ring-like reinforcing portion via the protection tape. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110084050 | LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS - A laser processing apparatus including a laser applying unit. The laser applying unit includes a first laser oscillating unit, a second laser oscillating unit, a first laser branching unit for branching a laser beam oscillated from the first laser oscillating unit into three optical paths, a second laser branching unit for branching a laser beam oscillated from the second laser oscillating unit into three optical paths, three first focusing units for respectively focusing the laser beams through the three optical paths obtained by the first laser branching unit toward a glass substrate, and three second focusing units for respectively focusing the laser beams through the three optical paths obtained by the second laser branching unit. The first focusing units and the second focusing units are alternately arranged in a line in an indexing direction. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110081768 | WORKPIECE DIVIDING METHOD - In a workpiece dividing method, an expansion tape is stuck to an adhesive film side of a workpiece in a state where an adhesive film is stuck to the rear surface of a wafer. Respective positions of the predetermined dividing lines on the front surface of the wafer are detected. On the basis of information on the detected predetermined dividing lines, a laser beam passing through the wafer from the front surface of the wafer is focused on and directed to the front surface or inside of the adhesive film to form modified areas on the front surface of or in the inside of the adhesive film. On the basis of information on the detected predetermined dividing lines, a laser beam passing through the wafer from the front surface of the wafer is focused on and directed to the inside of the wafer to form modified areas in the inside of the wafer. The expansion tape is expanded to divide the workpiece along the predetermined dividing lines with the modified areas taken as start points. | 04-07-2011 |
| 20110061691 | SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER TREATING APPARATUS - A semiconductor wafer treating apparatus comprising a housing, holding means rotatably disposed within the housing, rotating means for rotating the holding means, and cleaning means for cleaning a semiconductor wafer held on the holding means. Irradiation means for irradiating the semiconductor wafer held on the holding means with short wavelength ultraviolet radiation is further disposed in the semiconductor wafer treating apparatus. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110059620 | PROTECTIVE FILM FORMING METHOD AND APPARATUS - A protective film forming method for forming a protective film of resin on the front side of a wafer to be laser-processed. The protective film forming method includes the steps of holding the wafer on a spinner table in the condition where the front side of the wafer is oriented upward, forming a water layer covering the front side of the wafer held on the spinner table, dropping a liquid resin onto the water layer at the center of the wafer, rotating the spinner table holding the wafer to scatter the water layer and radially spread the liquid resin dropped on the water layer, thereby forming a first resin film covering the front side of the wafer by a centrifugal force produced during rotation of the wafer, dropping the liquid resin onto the first resin film at the center of the wafer, and rotating the spinner table holding the wafer to radially spread the liquid resin dropped on the first resin film, thereby forming a second resin film covering the first resin film by a centrifugal force produced during rotation of the wafer. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110056922 | LASER PROCESSING METHOD FOR WORKPIECE - A processing method for a workpiece which includes a first modified region forming step of forming first modified regions along first division lines and second division lines near the front side of the workpiece, a second modified region forming step of forming second modified regions at intersecting regions between the first division lines and the second division lines at predetermined positions between the back side of the workpiece and the first modified regions formed in the workpiece by performing the first modified region forming step, and a dividing step of applying an external force to the workpiece after performing the first and second modified region forming steps to thereby divide the workpiece along the first division lines and the second division lines into individual chips. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110042362 | LASER BEAM PROCESSING MACHINE - A laser beam processing machine is provided which includes a laser beam irradiation unit including a laser beam oscillation unit and a processing head provided with a condenser lens condensing a laser beam oscillated from the laser beam oscillation unit. The processing head includes a liquid column forming mechanism provided with a jet nozzle adapted to jet liquid along an optical path for the laser beam condensed by the condenser lens, and a water droplet suction mechanism disposed below the liquid column forming mechanism and provided with an insertion passage through which a liquid column jetted from the jet nozzle is passed and with an annular suction port formed to surround the insertion passage and communicate with suction means. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110042291 | WASTE FLUID TREATING APPARATUS - A waste fluid treating apparatus including a pure water generating unit including an ion exchanger for purifying a fresh water sent by a fresh water pump to obtain a pure water. The ion exchanger includes a housing, an anion exchange resin layer accommodated in the housing, and a mixed resin layer accommodated in the housing. The anion exchange resin layer is composed of only anion exchange resin, and the mixed resin layer is composed of a mixture of anion exchange resin and cation exchange resin. The housing is provided with a fresh water inlet for introducing the fresh water into the anion exchange resin layer and a pure water outlet for discharging the pure water from the mixed resin layer. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110034007 | DIVIDING METHOD FOR PLATELIKE WORKPIECE - A dividing method for a platelike workpiece having a two-layer structure such that a solder layer (metal layer) is formed on the back side of a wafer (substrate). First, a modified layer is formed in the wafer along each division line formed on the front side of the wafer. Thereafter, the workpiece is bent along each division line to thereby divide the wafer along each division line from the corresponding modified layer as a starting point and simultaneously form a weak portion in the solder layer along each division line. Thereafter, an expandion tape attached to the solder layer is expanded to apply an external force to the solder layer, thereby dividing the solder layer along each division line from the corresponding weak portion as a starting point. Thus, the workpiece is completely divided. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20100317172 | LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS AND LASER PROCESSING METHOD - A laser processing apparatus including a laser beam applying unit. The laser beam applying unit includes a laser beam generating unit, a focusing unit, and an optical system for guiding a laser beam from the laser beam generating unit to the focusing unit. The optical system includes a first polarization beam splitter for splitting the laser beam generated from the laser beam generating unit into a first laser beam and a second laser beam, a half-wave plate inserted between the laser beam generating unit and the first polarization beam splitter, a first mirror for reflecting the first laser beam transmitted through the first polarization beam splitter to an optical path parallel to the optical path of the second laser beam, a second mirror for reflecting the second laser beam in a direction perpendicular to the direction of incidence of the second laser beam, and a second polarization beam splitter located at a position where the first laser beam reflected by the first mirror intersects the second laser beam reflected by the second mirror. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100311225 | WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - A wafer processing method for dividing a wafer into individual devices along streets. The wafer processing method includes the steps of forming a division groove on the front side of the wafer along each street, attaching the front side of the wafer to the front side of a rigid plate having a plurality of grooves by using an adhesive resin, applying ultraviolet radiation to the adhesive resin to thereby increase the holding force of the adhesive resin, grinding the back side of the wafer to expose the division grooves to the back side of the wafer, attaching an adhesive tape to the back side of the wafer, immersing the wafer and the rigid plate in hot water to swell the adhesive resin, thereby decreasing the holding force of the adhesive resin, and removing the rigid plate from the front side of the wafer. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100304551 | PROTECTIVE FILM AGENT FOR LASER DICING AND WAFER PROCESSING METHOD USING THE PROTECTIVE FILM AGENT - A protective film agent for laser dicing according to the present invention comprises a solution having, dissolved therein, a water-soluble resin and at least one laser light absorber selected from the group consisting of a water-soluble dye, a water-soluble coloring matter, and a water-soluble ultraviolet absorber. The protective film agent is coated on a surface of a wafer, which is to be processed, and is then dried to form a protective film. Laser dicing through the protective film produces chips from the wafer. As a result, deposition of debris can be effectively prevented on the entire face of the chips, including their peripheral edge portions. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100297855 | DEVICE PROCESSING METHOD - A device processing method for improving the die strength of a device divided from a semiconductor wafer. The device processing method includes a chamfering step of applying a pulsed laser beam having an absorption wavelength to the device along the periphery of the device to thereby chamfer the periphery of the device, wherein the pulse width of the pulsed laser beam to be applied in the chamfering step is set to 2 ns or less, and the peak energy density is set in the range of 5 to 200 GW/cm | 11-25-2010 |
| 20100297831 | LASER PROCESSING METHOD FOR SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER - A laser processing method for a semiconductor wafer including a groove forming step of applying a pulsed laser beam having an absorption wavelength to the semiconductor wafer along a division line formed on the semiconductor wafer to thereby form a laser processed groove along the division line on the semiconductor wafer, wherein the pulse width of the pulsed laser beam to be applied in the groove forming step is set to 2 ns or less, and the peak energy density per pulse of the pulsed laser beam is set less than or equal to an inflection point where the depth of the laser processed groove steeply increases with an increase in the peak energy density. | 11-25-2010 |
| 20100297830 | LASER PROCESSING METHOD FOR SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER - A laser processing method for a semiconductor wafer including a groove forming step of applying a pulsed laser beam having an absorption wavelength to the semiconductor wafer along a division line formed on the semiconductor wafer to thereby form a laser processed groove along the division lines on the semiconductor wafer, wherein the pulse width of the pulsed laser beam to be applied in the groove forming step is set to 2 ns or less, and the peak energy density is set in the range of 5 to 200 GW/cm | 11-25-2010 |
| 20100270273 | LASER BEAM PROCESSING MACHINE - A laser beam processing machine that includes a laser beam irradiation unit for directing a laser beam to a workpiece held by a chuck table; a water-containing cover including an annular lateral wall surrounding the workpiece held by the chuck table, a top wall formed of a transparent member and closing an upper surface of the annular lateral wall, a water-supply hole and a water-discharge hole; a water-containing cover positioning unit for selectively positioning the water-containing cover at a waiting position remote from the chuck table and at an operating position where the water-containing cover surrounds the workpiece held by the chuck table; and a water supply unit connected to the water-supply hole. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100267219 | OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - An optical device wafer processing method including a protective plate attaching step of attaching a transparent protective plate through a double-sided adhesive tape to the front side of a sapphire substrate constituting an optical device wafer, the double-sided adhesive tape being composed of a sheet capable of blocking ultraviolet radiation and adhesive layers formed on both sides of the sheet, wherein the adhesive force of each adhesive layer can be reduced by applying ultraviolet radiation; a sapphire substrate grinding step of grinding the back side of the sapphire substrate; a modified layer forming step of applying a laser beam to the sapphire substrate from the back side thereof to thereby form a modified layer in the sapphire substrate along each street; a protective plate removing step of removing the protective plate in the condition where the double-sided adhesive tape is left on the sapphire substrate; and a wafer dividing step of breaking the sapphire substrate along each street where the modified layer is formed, thus dividing the optical device wafer into individual optical devices in the condition where the double-sided adhesive tape is left on the sapphire substrate. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20100261309 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device in which a second semiconductor chip is bonded to a surface of a first semiconductor chip. The method includes: a back side grinding step for grinding the back side of a wafer including a device area where a plurality of first semiconductor chips are formed, the grinding applied to an area corresponding to the device area, so as to reduce the thickness of the wafer in the device area to a predetermined finished thickness; a chip bonding step for bonding the second semiconductor chip to a predetermined position of the surface of each of the first semiconductor chips formed on the face-side surface of the wafer; and a wafer dividing step for dividing the wafer along streets to separate the device area of the wafer into individual semiconductor devices in each of which the second semiconductor chip is bonded to the surface of the first semiconductor chip. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100142049 | POLARIZING DEVICE AND LASER UNIT - A polarizing device for converting a circularly polarized light beam into a radial polarized light beam, wherein the circularly polarized light beam is obtained by passing a linearly polarized light beam oscillated from a laser oscillator through a quarter-wave plate. The polarizing device includes an axicon lens having a conical surface and a dielectric film formed on the conical surface of the axicon lens. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20100133243 | LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS - A laser processing apparatus including a detecting unit. The detecting unit includes a white light source for emitting white light, a focusing lens for focusing the white light to the workpiece, a first optical fiber for guiding the white light emitted from the white light source to the focusing lens, a detector for detecting the intensity of reflected light from the workpiece, and a second optical fiber for guiding the reflected light to the detector. Accordingly, the white light to be focused to the workpiece can be easily handled and only a wavelength component focused on the workpiece can be stably propagated. | 06-03-2010 |
| 20100129546 | PROTECTIVE FILM FORMING METHOD AND APPARATUS - A protective film forming method for forming a protective film of resin on a work surface of a wafer. The protective film forming method includes a wafer holding step of holding the wafer on a spinner table in the condition where the work surface is oriented upward, a spray coating step of spraying first liquid resin onto the work surface of the wafer as rotating the spinner table at a first rotational speed after performing the wafer holding step, a liquid resin supplying step of dropping a predetermined amount of second liquid resin onto a central area of the work surface of the wafer as rotating the spinner table at a second rotational speed lower than the first rotational speed after performing the spray coating step, and a spin coating step of rotating the spinner table at a third rotational speed higher than the first rotational speed after performing the liquid resin supplying step to thereby spread the second liquid resin dropped onto the central area of the work surface of the wafer, thus forming the protective film on the work surface of the wafer. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20100099221 | STACKED DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A stacked device manufacturing method including a kerf forming step of forming a kerf on the front side of each of plural wafers along each street, the kerf having a depth corresponding to a predetermined finished thickness of each wafer, a first stacking step of stacking a first one of the wafers and a second one of the wafers in such a manner that the front side of the second wafer is opposed to the front side of the first wafer and that the electrodes of the second wafer are respectively bonded to the electrodes of the first wafer, a first back grinding step of grinding the back side of the second wafer to expose each kerf of the second wafer to the back side of the second wafer, a second stacking step of stacking a third one of the wafers to the second wafer in such a manner that the front side of the third wafer is opposed to the back side of the second wafer and that the electrodes of the third wafer are respectively bonded to the electrodes of the second wafer, and a second back grinding step of grinding the back side of the third wafer to expose each kerf of the third wafer to the back side of the third wafer. | 04-22-2010 |
| 20100087023 | LASER BEAM MACHINING METHOD AND LASER BEAM MACHINING APPARATUS - A laser beam machining method wherein machining areas in which to form machined grooves and machining start point areas in which to form shallow grooves shallower than the machined grooves are alternately set in each of streets formed on a wafer, and the machined grooves and the shallow grooves are continuously formed by scanning an irradiation point of a laser beam along each of the streets. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100084386 | LASER PROCESSING MACHINE - A laser processing machine is provided in which a flat plate-like mask is disposed between a mirror and a relay lens in an optical system so as to be perpendicular to the optical path of a laser beam. The mask is horizontally shiftable. The laser beam is allowed to pass through an elongate trapezoidal aperture formed in the mask to extend in the shifting direction. The sectional shape of a portion of the laser beam passing through the aperture of the wafer is focused on the wafer. Shifting the mask can adjust the width of an image of the laser beam focused on the wafer. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100055877 | WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - Disclosed herein is a wafer processing method for dividing a wafer along a plurality of streets. The wafer processing method includes a back grinding step of grinding the back side of the wafer in an area corresponding to a device area to thereby reduce the thickness of the device area to a predetermined finished thickness and to simultaneously form an annular reinforcing portion on the back side of the wafer in an area corresponding to a peripheral marginal area, a wafer supporting step of attaching the back side of the wafer to a dicing tape, a kerf forming step of cutting the front side of the wafer along each street to thereby form a kerf having a depth corresponding to the thickness of the device area along each street, thereby dividing the device area into individual devices, and a peripheral marginal area removing step of peeling off the peripheral marginal area from the dicing tape. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100047999 | WORKING METHOD FOR AN OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER - A dividing method for an optical device wafer includes a protective plate adhering step of releasably adhering the surface of an optical device wafer to the surface of a protective plate, a reverse face grinding step of grinding the reverse face of the optical device wafer, a dicing tape sticking step of sticking the reverse face of the optical device wafer on the surface of a dicing tape, a protective plate grinding step of grinding the reverse face of the protective plate adhered to the optical device wafer stuck on the dicing tape so as to have a predetermined thickness, a laser working step of irradiating a laser beam upon the protective plate along the streets formed on the optical device wafer to carry out laser working, which forms break starting points along the streets, for the protective plate, and a wafer dividing step of applying external force to the protective plate to break the protective plate along the break starting points to break the optical device wafer along the streets thereby to divide the optical device wafer into the individual optical devices. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100044590 | LASER PROCESSING METHOD - A laser processing method for processing a wafer including a substrate layer and a device layer composed of a plurality of devices formed on the front side of the substrate layer, wherein a laser beam is applied to the wafer from the back side in a defocused condition where the focal position of the laser beam is spaced apart from the surface position of the substrate layer on the back side by a predetermined distance. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100044359 | HEIGHT POSITION DETECTING APPARATUS AND HEIGHT POSITION DETECTING METHOD - A laser beam having an annular spot shape with which a workpiece is irradiated is reflected on an upper surface and a lower surface of the workpiece. The reflected light having the annular spot shape which is reflected on the lower surface of the workpiece is intercepted by a pinhole mask, whereas the reflected light having the annular spot shape which is reflected on the upper surface of the workpiece is permitted to pass through the pinhole mask, and the intensity of light received is detected based on the latter reflected light. Therefore, the height position of the upper surface of a workpiece can be detected even where the workpiece is transmissive to visible rays. In this case, with regard to the reflected light having the annular spot shape which is reflected on the upper surface of the workpiece, the intensity of the light after diffusion by a laser beam diffusing unit is detected by a photodetector having a detecting surface with a predetermined area. This makes it possible to assuredly and accurately detect the upper surface height position of the workpiece, even in the presence of scattering of the annular spot shape. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100044358 | LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS AND LASER PROCESSING METHOD - A laser processing apparatus including a holding unit for holding a workpiece, a processing unit for applying a laser beam to the workpiece held by the holding unit, a surface displacement detecting unit for detecting a surface displacement of the workpiece, and a focal position adjusting unit for adjusting the position of a focusing lens provided in the processing unit according to the surface displacement detected. The surface displacement detecting unit includes a detecting light source capable of oscillating light having a plurality of wavelengths different from the wavelength of the laser beam and a wavelength selecting section configured to select one of the plurality of wavelengths as the wavelength of detecting light. The detecting light having the selected wavelength is focused by the focusing lens and applied to the workpiece. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100044355 | LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS - A laser processing apparatus having a holding unit for holding a workpiece to be processed and a processing unit for applying a laser beam to the workpiece held by the holding unit. The processing unit includes an oscillator for oscillating the laser beam, a focusing lens for focusing the laser beam oscillated by the oscillator toward the workpiece, and a focal position adjusting mechanism for adjusting the focal position of the laser beam focused by the focusing lens. The focal position adjusting mechanism includes a movable unit having a permanent magnet and supporting the focusing lens, a fixed portion having a coil for moving the movable unit in a direction perpendicular to the workpiece and a gas bearing for supporting the movable unit by using a gas, and a supporting member for supporting the movable unit from the under side by using a magnetic repulsive action. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100041317 | WORKPIECE PROCESSING METHOD - A method of processing a workpiece having a plurality of multi-crystal silicon columns embedded in single-crystal silicon includes a grinding step for grinding only the single-crystal silicon by use of a grinding tool and an abrasive step for concurrently polishing the single-crystal silicon and the multi-crystal silicon columns by use of an abrasive tool in a dry manner to expose all the heads of the multi-crystal silicon columns to the front surface of the single-crystal silicon. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100041210 | METHOD OF PROCESSING OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER - A method of dividing an optical device wafer includes: a laser beam processing step of performing laser beam processing on the face side of an optical device wafer so as to form breakage starting points along streets; a protective plate bonding step of bonding the face side of the optical device wafer to a surface of a highly rigid protective plate with a bonding agent permitting peeling; a back side grinding step of grinding the back side of the optical device wafer so as to form the optical device wafer to a finished thickness of optical devices; a dicing tape adhering step of adhering the back-side surface of the optical device wafer to a dicing tape; a cut groove forming step of cutting the protective plate bonded to the optical device wafer along the streets so as to form cut grooves; and a wafer dividing step of exerting an external force on the optical device wafer through the protective plate, so as to break up the optical device wafer along the breakage starting points formed along the streets, thereby dividing the optical device wafer into the individual optical devices. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100035408 | METHOD OF PROCESSING OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER - A method of dividing an optical device wafer includes: a laser beam processing step of performing laser beam processing to provide an optical device wafer with breakage starting points along streets on the face side of the optical device wafer; a protective plate bonding step of bonding the face side of the optical device wafer to a surface of a highly rigid protective plate with a bonding agent permitting peeling; a back side grinding step of grinding the back side of the optical device wafer so as to form the optical device wafer to a finished thickness of the optical devices; a wafer supporting step of adhering the back-side surface of the optical device wafer to a surface of a dicing tape, and peeling the protective plate adhered to the face side of the optical device wafer; and a wafer dividing step of exerting an external force on the optical device wafer so as to break up the optical device wafer along the streets along which the breakage starting points have been formed, thereby dividing the optical device wafer into the individual optical devices. | 02-11-2010 |
| 20100015784 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - In a semiconductor device manufacturing method in which a wafer formed with devices in a plurality of areas sectioned by a plurality of streets formed in a lattice-like pattern on the front surface is divided into the individual devices along the streets, when the wafer is divided into the individual devices by exposing cut grooves formed along the streets by a dicing before grinding process, a rigid plate is applied to the front surface of the wafer and an adhesive film is attached to the rear surface of the wafer. Thereafter, a separation groove forming step is performed in which a laser beam is directed to the adhesive film along the cut grooves form the dicing tape side applied with the wafer attached with the adhesive film to form separation grooves in the adhesive film along the cut grooves. | 01-21-2010 |
| 20100009549 | WAFER TREATING METHOD - A wafer treating method includes the steps of irradiating a wafer, provided with devices on the face side, from the back side with a laser beam capable of being transmitted through the wafer, while converging the laser beam to a predetermined depth, so as to form a denatured layer between the face side and the back side of the wafer, and separating the wafer into a back-side wafer on the back side relative to the denatured layer and a face-side wafer on the face side relative to the denatured layer. The denatured layer remaining in the face-side wafer is removed, and the face-side wafer is finished to a predetermined thickness, whereby the devices constituting the face-side wafer are finished into products, and the back-side wafer is recycled. | 01-14-2010 |
| 20100003805 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE FABRICATION METHOD - A semiconductor device fabrication method for dividing a semiconductor wafer into individual devices along a plurality of streets. The method includes a masking step of attaching a mask member having a plurality of openings to the back side of the semiconductor wafer, the openings respectively corresponding to the devices formed on the front side of the semiconductor wafer, an electrode forming step of forming a metal layer on the back side of the semiconductor wafer after performing the masking step to thereby form a plurality of electrodes on the back side of the semiconductor wafer so that the electrodes respectively correspond to the devices formed on the front side of the semiconductor wafer, a mask member stripping step of stripping the mask member from the back side of the semiconductor wafer, a modified layer forming step of applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the semiconductor wafer along the streets, thereby forming a modified layer in the semiconductor wafer along each street, and a dividing step of applying an external force to the semiconductor wafer, thereby dividing the semiconductor wafer along each street. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20100003119 | METHOD FOR PICKING UP DEVICE ATTACHED WITH ADHESIVE TAPE - A method for picking up a device stuck with an adhesive film includes an tape expansion step for expanding a dicing tape to increase intervals between devices and between adhesive films by pressing an area between an inner diameter of the annular frame of the dicing tape and the wafer by means of an expansion member with the annular frame held; and a picking-up step for picking up the device and the adhesive film from the dicing tape. A relative shifting rate between the expansion member and the frame holding means is set to 100 mm/second or more when the expansion member and the dicing tape are brought into abutment against each other in the tape expansion step, and the increased intervals between the devices and between the adhesive films are each set to 100 μm or more. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20100000654 | ADHESIVE TAPE ATTACHING METHOD - An adhesive tape attaching method for attaching an adhesive tape to the back side of a wafer, the wafer having a device area where a plurality of devices are formed on the front side of the wafer and a peripheral marginal area surrounding the device area, wherein the back side of the wafer is formed with a circular recess corresponding to the device area and an annular reinforcing portion surrounding the circular recess so as to correspond to the peripheral marginal area. The adhesive tape attaching method includes the steps of holding the wafer and the adhesive tape in a low-pressure condition so that the back side of the wafer is opposed to the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape, fixedly providing a plate member in the condition where the plate member is opposed to the nonadhesive surface of the adhesive tape, pressing the back side of the wafer against the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape, and engaging the plate member into the circular recess formed on the back side of the wafer in the condition where the adhesive tape is closely fitted in the circular recess. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20090325380 | METHOD FOR FORMING ELECTRODE ON SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER - In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for forming an electrode of a semiconductor wafer. The method includes a masking step of applying a mask having apertures formed in areas corresponding to an electrode area of each device, on the back surface of a semiconductor substrate, and an electrode forming step of depositing, by sputtering, gold on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate for which the masking step has been carried out to thereby form the electrode in the electrode area of each device, on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate. The method further includes a mask separating step of separating the mask applied on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate for which the electrode forming step has been carried out, and a gold collecting step of collecting gold deposited on the mask separated in the mask separating step. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20090311848 | OPTICAL DEVICE WAFER DIVIDING METHOD - An optical device wafer dividing method includes a rear surface grinding step for grinding a rear surface of the optical device wafer; a dicing tape sticking step for sticking the front surface of the optical device wafer bonded with the reinforcing substrate to the front surface of a dicing tape; a laser processing step for emitting a laser beam along the streets formed on the optical device wafer from the rear surface of the reinforcing substrate to perform laser processing on the reinforcing substrate along the streets to form fracture starting points; and a wafer dividing step for applying an external force along the fracture starting points of the reinforcing substrate to fracture the reinforcing substrate along the fracture starting points to fracture the optical device wafer along the streets. | 12-17-2009 |
| 20090298263 | DIVIDING METHOD FOR WAFER HAVING FILM ON THE FRONT SIDE THEREOF - A wafer dividing method for dividing a wafer having a film on the front side thereof. The wafer dividing method includes a modified layer forming step of applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the substrate of the wafer from the front side thereof along the streets so that a focal point of the laser beam is set inside the substrate, thereby forming a modified layer in the substrate along each street, a film dividing step of applying a laser beam having an absorption wavelength to the film from the front side of the wafer along each street to thereby form a laser processed groove for dividing the film along each street, a back grinding step of grinding the back side of the substrate of the wafer to thereby reduce the thickness of the wafer to a predetermined thickness, a wafer supporting step of attaching the wafer to a dicing tape supported to an annular frame, and a wafer breaking step of applying an external force to the wafer by expanding the dicing tape to thereby break the wafer along each street. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090291544 | WAFER LASER PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS - A wafer laser processing method for forming deteriorated layers along a plurality of streets in the inside of a wafer having a device area where a plurality of areas are sectioned by the plurality of streets arranged in a lattice pattern on the front surface and devices are formed in the sectioned areas and having a peripheral excess area surrounding the device area, the surface of the device area being formed to be higher than the surface of the peripheral excess area, by applying a laser beam to the front surface of the wafer along the streets with its focal point set to the inside of the wafer, comprising a first deteriorated layer forming step for forming a deteriorated layer along the streets in the insides of the peripheral excess area and the device area by applying a laser beam to the peripheral excess area and the device area along the streets with its focal point set to the insides of the peripheral excess area and the device area from the front surface side of the wafer; and a second deteriorated layer forming step for forming a deteriorated layer along the streets in the inside of the device area by applying a laser beam to the device area along the streets with its focal point set to the inside of the device area without applying the laser beam to the peripheral excess area when the focal point of the laser beam is positioned near the front surface of the peripheral excess area. | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090280722 | GRINDING MACHINE AND METHOD - A grinding machine is provided which includes a holding table adapted to hold a workpiece; a grinding unit operative to grind the workpiece held on the holding piece; and a grinding unit transfer mechanism operative to shift the grinding unit in a direction coming close to or moving away from the workpiece. The grinding unit includes a porous pad having a large number of fine pores opposed to the workpiece held on the holding table, a gel-like slurry storing portion provided on the porous pad so as to store gel-like slurry therein, and a water supply unit operative to supply water between the porous pad and the workpiece. The porous pad contains superabrasives at least at an outer circumferential portion, and the fine pores of the porous pad each have a diameter greater than that of each of the superabrasives contained in the gel-like slurry. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20090280622 | FABRICATION METHOD FOR DEVICE HAVING DIE ATTACH FILM ON THE BACK SIDE THEREOF - A device fabrication method for fabricating individual devices from a wafer, wherein the back side of each device is covered with an adhesive film for die bonding. The device fabrication method includes a wafer dividing step of dividing the wafer into the individual devices along a plurality of kerfs by using a dicing before grinding process, an adhesive film mounting step of mounting an adhesive film on the back side of the wafer after performing the wafer dividing step, and an adhesive film dividing step of applying a laser beam to the adhesive film along the kerfs after performing the adhesive film mounting step, thereby dividing the adhesive film along the kerfs. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20090277889 | LASER BEAM MACHINING APPARATUS WITH DETECTION LASER BEAM OSCILLATOR - A laser beam machining apparatus includes a height position detecting unit configured to detect the height position of an upper surface of a workpiece to be machined which is held on a chuck table, and a controller configured to control a condensing point position adjusting unit on the basis of a detection signal from the height position detecting unit. The height position detecting unit includes a detection laser beam oscillating unit configured to oscillate a detection laser beam having a wavelength different from the wavelength of the machining laser beam, and a reflected beam analyzing unit which analyzes a reflected beam generated upon reflection of the detection laser beam on the upper surface of the workpiece and which sends an analytical results to the controller. The laser beam machining apparatus further includes a condensing point position displacing unit configured to displace the condensing point position of the detection laser beam and the condensing point position of the machining laser beam. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20090266802 | LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS - A laser processing apparatus including a height detecting device for detecting the height of a workpiece held on a chuck table. The height detecting device includes an annular spot forming unit for forming the spot shape of a detecting laser beam into an annular spot shape, a pinhole mask for passing the reflected light reflected on the upper surface of the workpiece held on the chuck table, but blocking the reflected light reflected on the lower surface of the workpiece, and a reflected light analyzing unit for analyzing the reflected light passed through the pinhole mask and transmitting the result of analyzation to a control unit. The laser processing apparatus further includes a focusing unit having an objective lens for focusing a processing laser beam having a circular spot shape and the detecting laser beam having the annular spot shape and a window lens for focusing the detecting laser beam focused by the objective lens without focusing the processing laser beam. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090266800 | LASER PROCESSING METHOD FOR TRANSPARENT PLATE - A laser processing method for a transparent plate having a predetermined breaking line including the step of applying a pulsed laser beam to the transparent plate along the breaking line to thereby form a laser processed groove. The pulsed laser beam has an absorption wavelength to the transparent plate. The repetition frequency of the pulsed laser beam is set to 200 kHz or more and the energy density per pulse of the pulsed laser beam is set to 3.8 J/cm | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090259733 | MAIL MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM - A mail magazine distribution system includes an information receiver side including a terminal having transmission and reception functions, and an information provider side including a server which in turn includes a database in which accumulated information is stored and a transmission unit for transmitting the accumulated information from the database to the terminal. The server of the information provider side includes a reception unit for receiving return information from the terminal. The transmission unit transmits, at timing determined in advance or when the reception unit receives distribution request information from the terminal, part of the accumulated information to the terminal. | 10-15-2009 |
| 20090247056 | GRINDING METHOD FOR WAFER HAVING CRYSTAL ORIENTATION - A grinding method for a wafer having a mark indicating the crystal orientation. The grinding method includes a first grinding step for grinding the upper surface of the wafer by rotating a chuck table holding the wafer thereon, rotating a grinding ring, positioning the grinding ring so that the grinding ring is passed through the center of the wafer, and feeding the grinding ring in a direction perpendicular to the chuck table; a wafer positioning step for positioning the upper surface of an outer circumferential portion of the wafer directly below the locus of rotation of the grinding ring; and a second grinding step for grinding the upper surface of the wafer by first stopping the rotation of the chuck table so that the mark indicating the crystal orientation of the wafer held on the chuck table is pointed in a predetermined direction, next feeding the grinding ring in the direction perpendicular to the chuck table, and next relatively moving the chuck table and the grinding ring in parallel. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090233419 | OPTICAL DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - An optical device manufacturing method including the steps of: forming a groove with a depth corresponding to a finish thickness of the heat sink in a heat sink material at a position corresponding to an associated one of the streets sectioning the plurality of optical devices; joining the optical device layer of the optical device wafer to the heat sink material via a joining metal layer; cutting and dividing the optical device wafer along the streets into individual optical devices; sticking a protection member to the rear surface of the substrate of the optical device wafer; and grinding the rear surface of the heat sink material to expose the grooves to the rear surface to thereby divide the heat sink material into heat sinks corresponding to associated individual optical devices. | 09-17-2009 |
| 20090230103 | LASER BEAM PROCESSING MACHINE - A laser beam processing machine comprising a chuck table for holding a workpiece, a laser beam application means for applying a laser beam to the workpiece held on the chuck table, a processing-feed means for moving the chuck table and the laser beam application means relative to each other in a processing-feed direction (X-axis direction), and an indexing-feed means for moving the chuck table and the laser beam application means relative to each other in an indexing-feed direction (Y-axis direction) perpendicular to the processing-feed direction (X-axis direction), wherein the laser beam application means comprises a laser oscillation means for oscillating a laser beam, a first acousto-optic deflection means for deflecting the optical axis of a laser beam oscillated by the laser beam oscillation means in the processing-feed direction (X-axis direction), and a second acousto-optic deflection means for deflecting the optical axis of a laser beam oscillated by the laser beam oscillation means in the indexing-feed direction (Y-axis direction). | 09-17-2009 |
| 20090215246 | METHOD FOR BREAKING ADHESIVE FILM MOUNTED ON BACK OF WAFER - A method for breaking an adhesive film mounted on the back of a wafer having a plurality of streets formed in a lattice pattern on the face of the wafer, and having devices formed in a plurality of regions demarcated by the plurality of streets, the devices being divided individually, is adapted to break the adhesive film along the outer peripheral edges of the individual devices, with the adhesive film being stuck to the surface of a dicing tape mounted on an annular frame. The method comprises: a laser processing step of projecting a laser beam with a pulse width of 100 picoseconds or less onto the adhesive film through gaps between the individually divided devices to form deteriorated layers in the adhesive film along the outer peripheral edges of the individual devices; and an adhesive film breaking step of exerting external force on the adhesive film having the deteriorated layers formed therein, to break the adhesive film along the deteriorated layers. | 08-27-2009 |
| 20090215245 | Wafer dividing method - A method of dividing a wafer having a plurality of streets, which are formed in a lattice pattern on the front surface, and having devices, which are formed in a plurality of areas sectioned by the plurality of streets, into individual devices along the streets, comprising: a protective member-affixing step for affixing a protective member for protecting devices onto the front surface of the wafer; a deteriorated layer-forming step for applying a laser beam of a wavelength having permeability for the wafer from the rear surface side of the wafer along the streets to form a deteriorated layer along the streets in an area where it does not reach the final thickness of each device from the front surface of the wafer and the rear surface of the wafer in the inside of the wafer; a groove-forming step for cutting areas corresponding to the streets from the rear surface side of the wafer where the deteriorated layer has been formed along the streets to form a groove reaching the deteriorated layer; a dividing the wafer into individual devices along the streets where the deteriorated layer and the groove have been formed by exerting external force to the wafer; and a grinding the rear surface of the wafer which has been divided into individual devices until the final thickness of each device is achieved. | 08-27-2009 |
| 20090209110 | SPIN ETCHING METHOD FOR SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER - A spin etching method for etching a back-side surface of a semiconductor wafer provided with a plurality of devices on the face side and subjected to back grinding, wherein the semiconductor wafer is held with its back-side surface down, and the back-side surface of the semiconductor wafer is supplied with an etching liquid from an etching liquid supply nozzle disposed on the lower side of the semiconductor wafer while the semiconductor wafer being rotated. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090209088 | SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP FABRICATION METHOD - A semiconductor chip fabrication method including a modified layer forming step of applying a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to the semiconductor wafer from the back side of the semiconductor wafer along the streets formed on the front side of the semiconductor wafer so that a focal point of the laser beam is set inside the semiconductor wafer, thereby forming a modified layer in the semiconductor wafer along each street, a metal film deposition step of depositing a metal film on the back side of the semiconductor wafer after the modified layer forming step, a semiconductor wafer attaching step of attaching the semiconductor wafer to an adhesive tape supported to an annular frame, and a semiconductor wafer dividing step of applying an external force to the semiconductor wafer in the condition where the semiconductor wafer is attached to the adhesive tape to thereby divide the semiconductor wafer with the metal film into the individual semiconductor chips along the modified layer formed along each street. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090209066 | DIE BONDING METHOD AND DIE BONDER - In a die bonding method, a bonding film is stuck to a rear surface of a wafer and to a dicing tape stuck to a dicing frame. The wafer is thus supported by the dicing frame. Predetermined dividing lines are completely cut and the bonding film is incompletely cut to leave a cut-residual portion. The dicing tape is stretched to break the cut-remaining portion. The die to which the bonding film is stuck is picked up from the dicing tape and bonded to a mount-targeted substrate. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090206016 | PROCESSING WASTE LIQUID TREATING APPARATUS - In a processing waste liquid treating apparatus, a housing includes a bottom wall, an upper wall, a left lateral wall, a rear wall and an opening/closing door for opening/closing a front opening. A waste liquid tank is disposed on the bottom wall and close to the rear wall. A clear water storage tank is disposed adjacently to the waste liquid tank and at the central portion of the bottom wall. A pure water generating unit is disposed on the bottom wall adjacently to the clear water storage tank and close to the front opening. A waste liquid filtering unit is disposed above the pure water generating unit. A pure water temperature adjusting unit is disposed above the waste liquid tank. A control unit and a console panel are disposed above the waste liquid filtering unit and the console panel is disposed on the front side of the housing. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090203193 | LASER PROCESSING METHOD - A laser processing method including a first step of forming a first groove and a second step of forming a second groove on the workpiece. In the first step, the laser beam is intermittently applied to the first street except the intersections between the first street and the second street, thereby forming a discontinuous groove as the first groove in such a manner that each intersection is not grooved. In the second step, the laser beam is continuously applied to the second street, thereby forming a continuous groove as the second groove intersecting the first groove in such a manner that each intersection is grooved by the second groove. In the second step, heat generated at a portion immediately before each intersection is passed through the intersection to be dissipated forward, thereby suppressing overheating at this portion. | 08-13-2009 |
| 20090197395 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a device includes: a laser beam-machined groove forming step of irradiating a wafer with a laser beam from the back side of the wafer along planned dividing lines so as to form laser beam-machined grooves along the planned dividing lines; an etching step of etching a back-side surface of the wafer having been subjected to the laser beam-machined groove forming step, so as to remove denatured layers formed at processed surfaces of the laser beam-machined grooves; an adhesive film attaching step of attaching an adhesive film to the back-side surface of the wafer having been subjected to the etching step, and adhering the adhesive film side of the wafer to a surface of a dicing tape; and an adhesive film rupturing step of expanding the dicing tape so as to rupture the adhesive film along individual devices. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090197351 | LASER PROCESSING METHOD - In a laser beam processing method, when a laser beam is emitted along a second predetermined dividing line to form a second groove intersecting a first groove previously formed, the power output of the laser beam is allowed to be a first power output in a first interval, that is, until the second predetermined dividing line reaches a position immediately before the first groove. In a second interval from the position close to the first groove to the first groove reached by the second predetermined dividing line, the power output of the laser beam is set to a second power output lower than the first power output. Thus, overheat on the periphery of the second interval can be suppressed. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090191693 | Wafer processing method - A method of processing a wafer having a plurality of devices which are composed of a laminate consisting of an insulating film and a functional film laminated on the front surface of a substrate, along streets for sectioning the plurality of devices, comprising a first trip blocking groove forming step for activating a first laser beam application means to form a blocking groove for dividing the laminate along a street of the wafer while moving the chuck table in a first direction in the processing-feed direction; a second trip blocking groove and dividing groove forming step for activating the first laser beam application means to form a blocking groove for dividing the laminate along a street next to the street which has undergone the first trip blocking groove forming step and also to form a dividing groove along the blocking groove formed by the first trip blocking groove forming step while moving the chuck table in a second direction in the processing-feed direction; and a first trip blocking groove and dividing groove forming step for activating the first laser beam application means to form a blocking groove for dividing the laminate along a street next to the street which has undergone the second trip blocking groove and dividing groove forming step and also, to form a dividing groove along the blocking groove formed by the second trip blocking groove and dividing groove forming step while moving the chuck table in a first direction in the processing-feed direction. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090191666 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING STACKED-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a stacked-type semiconductor device, including the steps of: forming dividing grooves, having a depth corresponding to a finished thickness for a plurality of first chips formed on the face side of a wafer, on the face side of the wafer along planned dividing lines; stacking existing second chips on the first chips; covering the face-side surfaces of the second chips with a protective member; and grinding the back side of the wafer until the dividing grooves are exposed and the first chips are thinned to the finished thickness, to obtain semiconductor devices of a two-layer structure. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090186563 | WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - In a wafer processing method, rough grinding using a first grinding stone is divided into first and second steps. In the first step, a wafer is processed into a concave shape at a first transfer rate with a reinforcing rib area slightly left. Thereafter, as primary rough grinding in the second step, the grinding stone is positioned slightly on the inner circumferential side and the wafer is further processed into the concave portion at a second transfer rate faster than the first transfer rate. Since the first transfer rate is suppressed to a rate not to cause a burst chipping, a burst chipping resulting from the second step fast in the processing rate to ensure productivity will occur at the stepped edge portion on the inside of the reinforcing rib area surface. Thus, the flatness of the reinforcing rib area can be ensured. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090186562 | METHOD OF GRINDING WAFER - A method of grinding a wafer, including: a wafer holding step for holding a wafer on a conical holding surface of a chuck table having the holding surface; a rough grinding step for performing rough grinding of the wafer held on the holding surface of the chuck table by positioning a grinding surface of a rough grinding wheel at a predetermined inclination angle relative to the holding surface of said chuck table, and rotating the rough grinding wheel; and a finish grinding step for performing finish grinding of the wafer by positioning a grinding surface of a finish grinding wheel in parallel to the holding surface of the chuck table, and rotating the finish grinding wheel in a grinding region of the grinding wheel in a direction toward the vertex of the contact angle between the grinding surface of the finish grinding wheel and the surface to be ground of the wafer. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090186465 | WAFER DIVIDING METHOD - A wafer dividing method for dividing a wafer into individual devices, the front side of the wafer being formed with a plurality of crossing streets for partitioning a plurality of areas where the devices are respectively formed. The wafer dividing method includes the steps of coating the front side of the wafer with a protective film, cutting the front side of the wafer with the protective film along the streets to form a plurality of kerfs each having a depth corresponding to the finished thickness of each device, removing chipping from each kerf by plasma etching, attaching a protective tape to the front side of the wafer, grinding the back side of the wafer to expose each kerf to the back side of the wafer, thereby dividing the wafer into the individual devices, and removing a grinding strain from the back side of the wafer. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090181519 | LAMINATION DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - A lamination device manufacturing method for manufacturing a lamination device using a reinforced wafer formed with an annular reinforced portion, includes a wafer lamination step in which a rear surface of the reinforced wafer corresponding to the device area is faced to and joined to the front surface of an underlying wafer with corresponding streets aligned with each other, thus forming a lamination wafer; an electrode connection step in which a via-hole is formed at a position where an electrode is formed in each of the devices of the reinforced wafer constituting part of the lamination wafer, so as to reach a corresponding electrode formed in each of the devices of the underlying wafer, and the via-hole is filled with a conductive material to connect the electrodes; and a division step in which after the electrode connection step is executed, the lamination wafer is cut along the streets and divided into individual lamination devices. | 07-16-2009 |
| 20090176444 | WAFER POLISHING METHOD AND APPARATUS - A wafer polishing method, in which the outer circumferential edge of a polishing member is first cut by a cutting tool fixed to a table base, thereby forming the polishing member into a completely round shape and also positioning the polishing member in a Y direction at a Y-directional reference position of the table base. Thereafter, a polishing unit is once lifted in the condition where the table base remains still at the reference position. Thereafter, the table base is horizontally moved toward a column in the Y direction to thereby position the polishing member in the Y direction so that only a peripheral portion of the wafer is polished by the polishing member. At this time, the horizontal travel of the table base is preliminarily obtained from the Y-directional positional relation between the cutting tool and the wafer held on a chuck table and from the width of the peripheral portion to be polished. Finally, the polishing unit is lowered to make the lower surface of the polishing member into pressure contact with the peripheral portion of the wafer, thus polishing only the peripheral portion. | 07-09-2009 |
| 20090170289 | WAFER DIVIDING METHOD - A laser beam is applied to an intersection area of each second street of a wafer by using a dicing apparatus to thereby form a first modified layer along the intersection area. Thereafter, the wafer is divided along each first street intersecting each second street at right angles to obtain a plurality of wafer strips. Thereafter, the laser beam is applied along the remaining area of each second street other than the intersection area to form a second modified layer along the remaining area of each second street. Thereafter, an external force is applied to each wafer strip in which the first and second modified layers have been formed along each second street, thereby dividing each wafer strip along each second street to obtain a plurality of devices. | 07-02-2009 |
| 20090149002 | METHOD OF FORMING A MODIFIED LAYER IN A SUBSTRATE - First, mapping data storing interrupted areas is obtained. In a first modified-layer forming step, before a stacked article is stacked on a front surface of a substrate, a laser beam is directed to the interrupted areas based on the mapping data to form modified layers only at the interrupted areas. After the stacked articles have been stacked on the substrate, in a second modified-layer forming step, the laser beam is directed at least to the predetermined dividing line formed with no modified layer in the first modified-layer forming step to form a modified layer. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090142906 | METHOD OF DIVIDING WAFER - A method of dividing a wafer includes: a denatured layer forming step of forming a denatured layer in the inside of the wafer along streets; a first feeding step in which the whole area of the wafer's back-side surface is suction held, and the wafer is mounted on a support base of a tape adhering unit, with the wafer's back-side surface on the upper side; a dicing tape adhering step of adhering a dicing tape to the wafer's back-side surface and an annular frame; a wafer reversing step of reversing the wafer and the annular frame face side back; a second feeding step of feeding said wafer and said annular frame to a tape expanding unit whole holding them by suction; a protective tape peeling step of peeling off a protective tape adhered to the wafer's face-side surface; and a wafer dividing step of expanding the dicing tape so as to divide the wafer along the streets along which the denatured layer has been formed. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090127233 | LASER BEAM MACHINING APPARATUS - A laser beam machining apparatus including a chuck table for holding a wafer, and a laser beam irradiation unit for irradiating the wafer held on the chuck table with a pulsed laser beam. The laser beam machining apparatus further includes a plasma detecting part which includes a plasma receiving part for receiving a plasma generated by irradiation of the work with the laser beam radiated from the laser beam irradiation unit, and a spectrum analyzing part for analyzing the spectrum of the plasma received by the plasma receiving part; and a controller for determining the material of the work on the basis of a spectrum analysis signal from the spectrum analyzing part of the plasma detecting part and for controlling the laser beam irradiation unit. | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090124063 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device by which a wafer with devices formed in a plurality of regions demarcated by a plurality of streets formed in a grid pattern in the face-side surface of the wafer is divided along the streets into individual devices, and an adhesive film for die bonding is attached to the back-side surface of each of the devices. The adhesive film is attached to the back-side surface of the wafer divided into individual devices by exposing cut grooves formed along the streets by a dicing-before-grinding method, and thereafter the adhesive film is irradiated with a laser beam along the cut grooves through the cut grooves from the side of a protective tape adhered to the face-side surface of the wafer, so as to fusion-cut the adhesive film along the cut grooves. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20090114627 | LASER BEAM MACHINING APPARATUS - A laser beam machining apparatus includes laser beam irradiation unit for irradiating a wafer held on a chuck table with a laser beam, and control unit. The laser beam irradiation unit includes a laser beam oscillator for oscillating a laser beam with such a wavelength as to be transmitted through said wafer, repetition frequency setting section for setting a repetition frequency of pulses in the laser beam oscillated from the laser beam oscillator. The control unit includes a memory for storing coordinates of an arcuate chamfer part formed at the outer periphery of the wafer and coordinates of a flat surface part surrounded by the chamfer part, and controls the repetition frequency setting section so as to set the repetition frequency of the pulses in the laser beam with which to irradiate the flat surface part to a value suitable for machining of the wafer and as to set the repetition frequency of the pulses in the laser beam with which to irradiate the chamfer part to a value higher than the repetition frequency in the pulses of the laser beam with which to irradiate the flat surface part. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090098808 | GRINDING METHOD FOR WAFER - A grinding method for a wafer having a plurality of devices on the front side, wherein the back side of the wafer is ground by a grinding wheel to suppress the motion of heavy metal in the wafer by a gettering effect and also to maintain the die strength of each device at about 1,000 MPa or more. The grinding wheel is composed of a frame and an abrasive member fixed to the free end of the frame. The abrasive member is produced by fixing diamond abrasive grains having a grain size of less than or equal to 1 μm with a vitrified bond. A protective member is attached to the front side of the wafer and the wafer is held on a chuck table in the condition where the protective member is in contact with the chuck table. The grinding wheel is rotated as rotating the chuck table to thereby grind the back side of the wafer by means of the abrasive member so that the average surface roughness of the back side of the wafer becomes less than or equal to 0.003 μm and the thickness of a strain layer remaining on the back side of the wafer becomes 0.05 μm. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090098711 | MICROMACHINE DEVICE PROCESSING METHOD - A micromachine device processing method for dividing a functional wafer, which has micromachine devices formed in a plurality of regions demarcated by streets formed in a lattice pattern on a face of the functional wafer, along the streets into the individual micromachine devices, each micromachine device having a moving portion and an electrode, comprising: a cap wafer groove forming step of forming dividing grooves, which have a depth corresponding to a finished thickness of a cap wafer for protecting the face of the functional wafer, along regions in one surface of the cap wafer which correspond to areas of the electrodes of the micromachine devices; a cap wafer joining step of joining the one surface of the cap wafer subjected to the cap wafer groove forming step to the face of the functional wafer at peripheries of the moving portions; a cap wafer grinding step of grinding the other surface of the cap wafer joined to the face of the functional wafer to expose the dividing grooves to the outside; and a cutting step of cutting the functional wafer and the cap wafer subjected to the cap wafer grinding step along the streets. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090075458 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING DEVICE HAVING ADHESIVE FILM ON BACK-SIDE SURFACE THEREOF - A method of manufacturing a device, including: an adhesive film attaching step of attaching an adhesive film to a back-side surface of a wafer in which devices are formed respectively in a plurality of regions demarcated by planned dividing lines formed in a grid pattern in a face-side surface of the wafer; a wafer supporting step of adhering the adhesive film side of the wafer with the adhesive film attached thereto to a surface of a dicing tape attached to an annular frame; a wafer cutting step of holding the dicing tape side of the wafer adhered to the surface of the dicing tape onto a chuck table of a cutting apparatus, and cutting the wafer along the planned dividing lines by use of a cutting blade having an annular knife edge which is V-shaped in sectional shape of a peripheral part thereof; and an adhesive film breaking step of breaking said adhesive film along cutting grooves formed in the wafer, by expanding the dicing tape so as to exert tension on the adhesive film, after the wafer cutting step is performed. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090066969 | HEIGHT POSITION DETECTOR FOR WORK HELD ON CHUCK TABLE - A height position detector for detecting the height position of an upper surface of a work held on a chuck table, including: an annular spot forming part by which a spot of a laser beam oscillated by a laser beam oscillator is formed into an annular shape; a beam splitter by which the laser beam with the spot formed into the annular shape is guided into a first path; a light condenser by which the laser beam guided into the first path is condensed so as to irradiate the work held on the chuck table therewith; a conical mirror disposed in a second path into which the laser beam reflected by the work is split by the beam splitter, the conical mirror converting the reflected light with the annular spot shape into a linear spot shape; a position detector for detecting the position of the reflected light converted into the linear spot shape by the conical mirror; and a controller by which the height position of the upper surface of the work held on the chuck table is determined based on the position of the reflected light detected by the position detector. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090064521 | HEIGHT POSITION DETECTOR FOR WORK HELD ON CHUCK TABLE - A height position detector for detecting the height position of an upper surface of a work held on a chuck table, including: an annular spot forming part by which the spot shape of a laser beam oscillated by a laser beam oscillator is formed into an annular shape; a first beam splitter by which the laser beam with the spot shape formed into the annular shape is guided into a first path; a light condenser by which the laser beam guided into the first path is condensed to irradiate the work therewith; a second beam splitter for splitting the reflected light reflected by the work; a first light receiving element for receiving the reflected light transmitted through the second beam splitter; a second light receiving element for receiving the reflected light reflected by the second beam splitter; a light reception region restricting part for restricting the light reception region for the reflected light received by the second light receiving element; and a controller for determining the height position of the upper surface of the work on the basis of the ratio between the quantity of light received by the first light receiving element and the quantity of light received by the second light receiving element. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090061599 | SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - A semiconductor wafer processing method for planarizing an additional layer formed on the front side of a semiconductor wafer. First, the wafer is held on a chuck table included in a cutting device in the condition where the additional layer is exposed, and a table base supporting the chuck table is moved toward a working position. In concert with the movement of the table base, the exposed surface of the additional layer is cut by a bit of a cutting tool rotationally driven by a spindle motor. Thereafter, the exposed surface of the additional layer is polished by a polishing device to planarize the exposed surface of the additional layer. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090057841 | WAFER - A wafer having a device region, where a plurality of devices is formed, and an outer peripheral surplus region, which surrounds the device region, on the face of a circular wafer substrate is disclosed. A chamfered portion whose cross-sectional shape defines an arc-shaped surface in a range from the face to the back of the wafer substrate is formed in an outer peripheral end portion of the outer peripheral surplus region of the wafer substrate. A flat surface orthogonal to the face and the back is formed in the chamfered portion as a mark showing the crystal orientation of the wafer substrate. An identification code for specifying the wafer substrate is printed on the flat surface. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20090042488 | BACK GRINDING METHOD FOR WAFER - A back grinding method for a wafer includes covering a face-side surface of the wafer with a resin film, and cutting the surface of the resin film to form a flat surface parallel to the face-side surface of the wafer. The wafer is held with the surface of the resin film in contact with a suction surface of a chuck table in a grinding apparatus, and the exposed back-side surface of the wafer is ground. Unevenness in thickness of the resin film is suppressed, whereby the thickness of the wafer subjected to back grinding is made to be uniform. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090017623 | WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - A wafer processing method having a step of reducing the thickness of a wafer in only a device forming area where semiconductor chips are formed by grinding and etching the back side of the wafer to thereby form a recess on the back side of the wafer. At the same time, an annular projection is formed around the recess to thereby ensure the rigidity of the wafer. Accordingly, handling in shifting the wafer from the back side recess forming step to a subsequent step of forming a back side rewiring layer can be performed safely and easily. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017600 | WAFER DIVIDING METHOD USING LASER BEAM WITH AN ANNULAR SPOT - In a wafer dividing method of dividing a wafer into individual devices, the wafer being sectioned by streets to form the devices each made of a laminated body in which an insulating film and a function film are laminated on a front surface of a semiconductor substrate, the method includes a laser processing groove forming step for forming a laser processing groove on the laminated body so as to reach the semiconductor substrate by applying a laser beam formed with an annular spot to the laminated body side of the wafer along the street, the annular spot having an outer diameter larger than a width of a cutting blade and smaller than a width of the street; and a cutting step for allowing a cutting blade to cut the semiconductor substrate of the semiconductor wafer along the laser processing groove formed at the street. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090013839 | WATER JET PROCESSING METHOD - In a water jet processing method, when a nozzle adapted to emit water jet is moved relatively to a substrate to form a second cut line intersecting a first cut line, the relative travel speed of the nozzle is set to a second speed lower than a first normal speed by about ⅕ to 1/20 at least in a section anteroposterior to the intersection. Delay-inclination of a front edge of the second cut line is eliminated as much as possible to thereby prevent the occurrence of an insufficient processing area. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090004859 | METHOD OF MACHINING WAFER - A method of machining a wafer in which, at the time of grinding the back-side surface of the wafer, only a back-side surface region corresponding to a device formation region where semiconductor chips are formed is thinned by grinding, to form a recessed part on the back side of the wafer. An annular projected part surrounding the recessed part is utilized to secure rigidity of the wafer. Next, the recessed part is etched to cause metallic electrodes to project from the bottom surface of the recessed part, thereby forming a back-side electrode parts, then an insulating film is formed in the recessed part, and the insulating film and end surfaces of the back-side electrode parts are cut. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090004828 | LASER BEAM MACHINING METHOD FOR WAFER - A laser beam machining method for a wafer, wherein an operation of irradiating the inside of a wafer with a laser beam L along each of planned dividing lines is repeated a plural number of times from a position proximate to a back-side surface of the wafer toward a face-side surface of the wafer so that a plurality of composite layers each including a denatured layer and a cracked layer extending from the denatured layer toward the face-side surface are formed stepwise at intervals (first laser beam irradiation step). Subsequently, each of some of non-cracked layers between the composite layers is irradiated with the laser beam L so as to extend the cracked layer of a given one of the composite layers and to cause the cracked layer to reach the denatured layer of the composite layer which is adjacent to the given one composite layer. The denatured layers and the cracked layers which are sufficient for enabling the wafer to be split are formed by a reduced number of laser beam irradiation operations. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20080318497 | METHOD OF MACHINING SUBSTRATE - A method of machining a wafer is disclosed, in which the wafer is held by sucking its back-side surface directly onto a suction surface of a chuck table, and the tips of protruding electrodes and a resist layer are cut to make them flush with each other (appendant part cutting step). Next, the wafer is held by sucking the surface of the cut appendant part directly onto the suction surface of the chuck table, and the back-side surface of the wafer is ground (back-side surface grinding step), followed by removing the resist layer. The wafer is held onto the chuck table without using any protective tape but by directly holding the wafer, whereby the wafer can be ground to have a uniform thickness. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20080313875 | BLADE CHANGING TOOL - A blade changing tool for use in a cutting device including a chuck table for holding a workpiece and a cutting means for including a blade mount for rotatably supporting a cutting blade for cutting the workpiece held by the chuck table. The blade changing tool includes a C-shaped elastic cylindrical body including a cutout formed by cutting out a part of a circular cylinder, a holding groove formed on the inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical body at one end portion thereof and adapted to surround a circular hub of the cutting blade, and a grip portion adapted to be gripped by an operator for making a change from an inoperative condition where the circular hub of the cutting blade is surrounded by the inner circumference of the cylindrical body to an operative condition where the circular hub is held by the inner circumference of the cylindrical body. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20080306432 | CUTTING APPARATUS WITH ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER - A cutting apparatus includes a blade mount supporting a first ultrasonic transducer for imparting ultrasonic vibrations to a cutting blade. The blade mount includes an annular flange having a grip surface on an outer circumferential side surface thereof for gripping the cutting blade, a first ultrasonic transducer housing portion for housing the first ultrasonic transducer, and a hollow cylindrical mount boss having a fitting hole fitting over the spindle. The annular flange has a plurality of through holes defined therein between the first ultrasonic transducer housing portion and the mount boss. A blade grip flange has a fitting hole fitted over the mount boss, a grip surface on an outer circumferential side surface thereof for gripping the cutting blade, a second ultrasonic transducer housing portion for housing a second ultrasonic transducer, and a plurality of through holes defined therein between the second ultrasonic transducer housing portion and the fitting hole. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20080305578 | METHOD OF MACHINING WAFER - A method of machining a wafer, wherein a wafer provided with devices each having a low dielectric constant insulating film (low-k film) stacked on the face side thereof is divided into the individual devices, the devices thus divided are mounted on a wiring board, and then a grindstone is brought into contact with each of the mounted devices from the side of a side surface of the devices, to grind the back side of the device by a desired amount. Since no vertical load is exerted on the low-k film, the low-k film can be prevented from being broken, and device quality is not lowered. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20080299745 | WAFER SEPARATING METHOD - A wafer separating method including a laminated member removing step for partially removing a laminated member of a wafer along streets by applying a laser beam to the wafer along the streets, and a cutting step for cutting a substrate of the wafer along the streets after the laminated member removing step. The laminated member removing step includes a first laser processing step for applying a first laser beam along two parallel lines spaced apart from each other in each street, the first laser beam being capable of passing through the laminated member and having an absorption wavelength to the substrate, thereby heating the substrate to generate two cracks in the laminated member by thermal shock so that the two cracks extend along the two parallel lines in each street; and a second laser processing step for applying a second laser beam to a region between the two cracks in the laminated member, the second laser beam having an energy density higher than that of the first laser beam, thereby removing the region between the two cracks in the laminated member to expose the substrate along each street. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080296733 | SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF PROCESSING SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER - A semiconductor wafer assembly includes a disk-shaped semiconductor wafer including on a face side thereof a flat area having a plurality of semiconductor devices formed thereon and a beveled surface disposed around the flat surface, and a circular adhesive film bonded to a reverse side of the semiconductor wafer. The adhesive film is bonded only to an area of the reverse side which is coextensive with the flat area. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080296275 | LASER BEAM MACHINING APPARATUS - A laser beam machining apparatus including a laser beam irradiation unit, the laser beam irradiation unit including: a laser beam oscillator for oscillating a laser beam; a beam splitter by which the laser beam oscillated by the laser beam oscillator is split into a first laser beam and a second laser beam; a rotary half-wave plate disposed between the laser beam oscillator and the beam splitter; a condenser lens disposed in a first optical path for guiding the first laser beam split by the beam splitter; a first reflecting mirror disposed in a second optical path for guiding the second laser beam split by the beam splitter; a first quarter-wave plate disposed between the beam splitter and the first reflecting mirror; a second reflecting mirror disposed in a third optical path for splitting thereinto the second laser beam returned to the beam splitter through the second optical path; a second quarter-wave plate disposed between the beam splitter and the second reflecting mirror; and a cylindrical lens disposed between the beam splitter and the second quarter-wave plate. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20080293218 | WAFER DIVIDING METHOD - A wafer dividing method is provided that includes a protective plate sticking step of sticking the face of the wafer to the face of a protective plate by a pressure sensitive adhesive material whose adhesive force is decreased by an external stimulus; a degeneration layer formation step of throwing a laser beam, which permeates the wafer, along the street to the back side of the wafer, thereby forming a degeneration layer of a thickness corresponding to at least the finished thickness of the device within the wafer, the degeneration layer starting at the face of the wafer; a back grinding step of grinding the back of the wafer to form the wafer into the finished thickness of the device; a wafer support step of sticking the back of the wafer to a surface of a dicing tape mounted on an annular frame; an adhesive force decreasing step of imparting an external stimulus to the pressure sensitive adhesive material, thereby decreasing the adhesive force of the pressure sensitive adhesive material; a protective plate peeling step of peeling the protective plate from the face of the wafer; and a wafer rupture step of imparting an external force to the wafer, thereby rupturing the wafer along the street. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20080290078 | LASER PROCESSING MACHINE - A laser processing machine having a laser beam irradiation unit is provided. The laser beam irradiation unit includes: a laser beam oscillation section; a beam splitter adapted to split the laser beam emitted from the laser beam oscillation section into a first laser beam and a second laser beam; a condenser lens adapted to condense the first and second laser beams; a prism adapted to lead the first and second laser beams split by the beam splitter to the condenser lens; a first angle-changing mirror disposed on a first optical path adapted to lead the first laser beam split by the beam splitter; a second angle-changing mirror disposed on a second optical path adapted to lead the second laser beam split by the beam splitter to the prism; and a half-wave plate disposed in the first or second optical path to allow one of respective directions of the first and second polarization planes to be aligned with the other. | 11-27-2008 |
| 20080285021 | WAFER INSPECTING METHOD AND DEVICE - A wafer inspecting method including the steps of scanning the surface of a wafer along a street by using a line sensor having a plurality of elements arranged in a line, and determining a deposited condition of foreign matter on the surface of the wafer near electrodes formed on both sides of the street according to image information obtained by the above scanning step. By the use of the linear sensor, it is possible to efficiently determine whether or not the electrodes are good. | 11-20-2008 |
| 20080282855 | WATER JET CUTTING METHOD - A package base is held on a holding table, and an XYZ moving mechanism is next moved to adjust a jet position to a cutting start point of a primary subject line to be first cut. Thereafter, a cutting water supplying unit is operated to direct a water jet onto the package base at this cutting start point. Thereafter, the XYZ moving mechanism is operated to move the package base, thereby cutting the package base along the primary subject line until a cutting stop point. Similarly, this cutting operation is repeated for the other primary subject line to thereby obtain a plurality of primary cut areas having the same shape and size in the condition that each primary cut area is integrally supported at its opposite ends to the package base, thus finishing a primary cutting step. Thereafter, a dicing tape is attached to one side surface of the package base. Thereafter, the package base is cut along a plurality of secondary subject lines as in the primary cutting step, thus finishing a secondary cutting step. | 11-20-2008 |
| 20080280421 | WAFER DIVIDING METHOD - A wafer dividing method that includes a modifying layer forming step in which a laser beam with a wavelength that can pass through the wafer is focused on the inside of the wafer from a rear surface side thereof, and applied along the street to form a modifying layer having a thickness corresponding to at least a device-finishing thickness from the front surface of the wafer; a rear surface grinding step in which an area, corresponding to the device area, of the rear surface of the wafer subjected to the modifying layer forming step is ground and formed to have a thickness corresponding to the device-finishing thickness and to have an annular reinforcing section at an area corresponding to the outer circumferential redundant area; a reinforcing section cutting step in which the wafer is cut along the inner circumference of the annular reinforcing section; a wafer support step in which the rear surface of the wafer whose annular reinforcing section is cut is stuck to a dicing tape attached to an annular frame; and a wafer rupture step in which an external force is applied to the wafer stuck to the dicing tape to rupture it along the street formed with the modifying layer. | 11-13-2008 |
| 20080268752 | SUBSTRATE GRINDING METHOD AND DEVICE - A grinding method wherein the correlation between the amount of inertial grinding occurring in performing spark-out by a grinding unit and the maximum load current in a motor of the grinding unit is grasped, and a correction value for the amount of inertial grinding corresponding to the maximum load current is preliminarily obtained. When the wafer thickness measured by a thickness measuring gauge has reached the sum of a desired value and the correction value (=the amount of inertial grinding) corresponding to the maximum load current, the spark-out is started. Accordingly, the wafer thickness becomes the desired value after the inertial grinding in performing the spark-out. | 10-30-2008 |
| 20080251188 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING DEVICE - A method for manufacturing a device, in which a wafer having a plurality of devices formed on the face thereof is divided into the individual devices, and an adhesive film is mounted on the back side of each device. This method comprises: a cutting groove forming step of cutting the back side of the wafer along predetermined division lines by a cutting blade to form cutting grooves, while leaving an uncut portion, which is thinner than the target thickness of the device, on the front side of the wafer; a back side grinding step of grinding the back side of the wafer to the target thickness of the device, while allowing the cutting grooves to remain in the back side of the wafer; an adhesive film mounting step of mounting an adhesive film to the back side of the wafer; a wafer supporting step of sticking the adhesive film side of the wafer, on which the adhesive film has been mounted, to the surface of a dicing tape; a wafer severing step of cutting the front side of the wafer along the predetermined division lines by a cutting blade to sever the uncut portion, thereby dividing the wafer into the individual devices and cutting the adhesive film; and an adhesive film separating step of expanding the dicing tape to separate the adhesive film per device. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080248730 | WAFER PROCESSING METHOD - A wafer processing method including the step of removing a ringlike reinforcing portion formed along the outer circumference of a wafer on the back side thereof. The ringlike reinforcing portion is ground by a grinding stone in such a manner that the locus of the grinding stone rotating intersects the ringlike reinforcing portion as viewed in plan. The grinding of the ringlike reinforcing portion is ended when the ground surface of the ringlike reinforcing portion becomes higher by 20 to 1 μm than the upper surface of a metal film deposited on the back side of a device area of the wafer. It is unnecessary to accurately align the grinding stone to the ringlike reinforcing portion on the upper side thereof, so that the position control can be easily performed. Further, the grinding of the ringlike reinforcing portion is ended when the difference in height between the ground surface of the ringlike reinforcing portion and the upper surface of the metal film becomes 20 to 1 μm, so that there is no possibility that the metal film may be damaged. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080248207 | LIQUID RESIN COATING METHOD AND APPARATUS - A liquid resin-coating method in which a wafer (substrate) is concentrically held on a chuck table with a to-be-coated surface facing the upside. A slot die is arranged above and opposite to the wafer so that the slot of the slot die is allowed to correspond to the radius of the wafer. While the chuck table is rotated to bring the wafer into autorotation, resin is discharged from the slot to be coated on a to-be-coated surface of the wafer. The slot does not extend from the to-be-coated surface of the wafer, or if not so, the extension is extremely small. Thus, the amount of resin causing a loss is minimized. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080245779 | LASER PROCESSING MACHINE - A laser processing machine that includes a chuck table adapted to hold a workpiece thereon and laser beam irradiation unit for applying a laser beam to the workpiece held on the chuck table. The laser beam irradiation unit includes: a laser beam oscillation section for emitting a pulse laser beam; a defection section for deflecting the pulse laser beam emitted from the laser beam oscillation section; and a concentrator having an ellipsoidal focusing spot forming section for focusing the pulse laser beam deflected by the deflection unit and forming a focusing spot into an ellipse. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080242055 | WAFER LASER PROCESSING METHOD AND LASER PROCESSING EQUIPMENT - A wafer laser processing method for forming a groove in a wafer having a plurality of areas which are sectioned by streets formed in a lattice pattern on the front surface of a substrate, a device being formed in each of the plurality of areas, and an insulating film being formed on the surfaces of the devices, by applying a pulse laser beam along the streets, the method comprising a heating step for applying a first pulse laser beam set to an output for preheating the insulating film so as to soften it to the insulating film and a processing step for applying a second pulse laser beam set to an output for processing the insulating film and the substrate to the spot position of the first pulse laser beam applied in the heating step, the heating step and the processing step being carried out along the streets alternately. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080233712 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a device includes the steps of forming dividing grooves with a predetermined depth along planned dividing lines of a wafer, then grinding the backside surface of the wafer to expose the dividing grooves on the back side and to divide the wafer into individual devices, mounting a UV-curing adhesive film to the backside surface of the wafer divided into the individual devices, adhering the adhesive film side of the wafer to a dicing tape attached to an annular frame, radiating UV rays from the face side of the wafer to cure the regions of the adhesive film which correspond to the dividing grooves, expanding the dicing tape to exert tensile forces on the adhesive film, so as to split the adhesive film into the individual devices, with the cured regions of the adhesive film as starting points of splitting, and releasing the device from the dicing tape and thereby picking up the device. | 09-25-2008 |
| 20080233711 | MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR DEVICES - A manufacturing method for devices including a wafer supporting step of mounting an adhesive film to the lower surface of a wafer and attaching the wafer through the adhesive film to the upper surface of a dicing tape mounted on an annular frame, a laser processing step of applying a pulsed laser beam having an absorption wavelength to the wafer along separation lines formed on the upper surface of the wafer after mounting the adhesive film to the dicing tape, thereby separating the wafer into the individual devices and cutting the adhesive film, and a pickup step of expanding the dicing tape after performing the laser processing step to thereby increase the spacing between any adjacent ones of the individual devices, and peeling off to pick up each of the individual devices from the dicing tape in the condition where the adhesive film is mounted on the lower surface of each device. | 09-25-2008 |
| 20080220591 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a device, including the steps of forming dividing grooves with a predetermined depth along planned dividing lines of a wafer, then grinding the back-side surface of the wafer to expose the dividing grooves on the back side, dividing the wafer into individual devices, attaching a UV-curable adhesive film to the backside surface of the wafer divided into the individual devices, adhering the adhesive film side of the wafer to a dicing tape attached to an annular frame, radiating UV rays from the face side of the wafer to cure those regions of the adhesive film which correspond to the dividing grooves, radiating a laser beam along the dividing grooves to divide the cured adhesive film on a device basis, and releasing the devices from the dicing tape, thereby picking up the devices. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20080210028 | DRIVING MECHANISM AND CUTTING APPARATUS HAVING THE DRIVING MECHANISM - A driving mechanism having a driving unit in which a drive source is connected to a feed screw shaft and a feed nut is in screw engagement with the feed screw shaft and connected to an active element through a sliding body, wherein the active element is moved by being driven by the driving unit. An inner ring of a bail bearing for supporting the feed screw shaft is fixed to the outer periphery of a free end portion of the feed screw shaft, and an outer ring elastic body which supports an outer ring of the ball bearing slidably in the axial direction of the feed screw shaft and which absorbs vibration of the feed screw shaft is disposed at the inner periphery of a tubular portion for containing the ball, bearing at a terminal support portion. | 09-04-2008 |
| 20080205458 | LASER BEAM IRRADIATION APPARATUS AND LASER BEAM MACHINING APPARATUS - A laser beam irradiation apparatus including: a laser beam oscillation unit having a pulsed laser beam oscillator for oscillating a pulsed laser beam, and a repetition frequency setter; an acousto-optical deflector by which the pulsed laser beam oscillated by the laser beam oscillation unit is deflected and the output is adjusted; and a controller for controlling the acousto-optical deflector. The controller outputs to the acousto-optical deflector a driving pulse signal having a predetermined time width including the pulse width of the pulsed laser beam oscillated by the pulsed laser beam oscillator, based on a repetition frequency setting signal from the repetition frequency setter, and outputs a correction pulse signal to the acousto-optical deflector between the driving pulses. | 08-28-2008 |
| 20080204748 | MEASURING DEVICE FOR WORKPIECE HELD ON CHUCK TABLE - A measuring device for measuring the height of a workpiece held on a chuck table provided in a processing machine. The measuring device includes a white light source for emitting white light, an acousto-optic deflecting unit for separating the white light emitted from the white light source to produce a flux of diffracted light and for swinging the flux of the diffracted light over a predetermined angular range by applying a voltage, a pinhole mask for passing light having a part of the wavelengths of the diffracted light produced by the acousto-optic deflecting unit, and a chromatic aberration lens for focusing the light passed through the pinhole mask and for applying the focused light to the workpiece held on the chuck table. | 08-28-2008 |
