Debonding equipment and methods for debonding temporary bonded wafers

A method for debonding a temporary bonded wafer pair, comprising:

• providing a debonder apparatus comprising a chuck assembly, a flex plate assembly, a contact roller and a resistance roller, wherein said chuck assembly comprises a chuck and a first wafer holder configured to hold wafers in contact with a top surface of the chuck, wherein said flex plate assembly comprises a flex plate and a second wafer holder configured to hold wafers in contact with a first surface of the flex plate, wherein said contact roller is arranged adjacent to a first edge of the chuck and comprises means for pushing and lifting up a first edge of the flex plate, and wherein said resistance roller comprises means for traversing horizontally over said flex plate and means for applying a downward force upon the flex plate;
• providing a temporary bonded wafer pair comprising a first wafer stacked upon and being temporary bonded to a second wafer via an adhesive layer and a release layer;
• placing said wafer pair upon said chuck so that the unbonded surface of the first wafer is in contact with the chuck top surface;
• placing said flex plate above said chuck so that its first surface is in contact with the unbonded surface of the second wafer;
• driving said contact roller upward until it contacts the first edge of the flex plate while said second wafer is held by said flex plate and said first wafer is held by said chuck via said second and first wafer holders, respectively;
• and
• pushing up said first edge of the flex plate with said contact roller while simultaneously applying said downward force with said resistance roller upon said flex plate and traversing horizontally said resistance roller away from the first edge of the flex plate and thereby delaminating said temporary bonded wafer pair along said release layer and separating said first and second wafers from each other.