Apparatus for applying and removing protective adhesive tape to/from semiconductor wafer surfaces
AssigneeNitto Denko Corporation
InventorMinoru Ametani
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A single wafer transport mechanism takes a semiconductor wafer out of a cassette loader, and transports the wafer to a single wafer positioning mechanism for placing the wafer in position. When applying a protective adhesive tape to a surface of the wafer, the transport mechanism transports the wafer placed in position to a tape applying mechanism. When removing the protective tape from the wafer surface, the transport mechanism transports the wafer to a tape removing mechanism which removes the protective tape from the wafer surface by using a remover adhesive tape having a strong adhesion. The wafer having the protective tape applied thereto or stripped of the protective tape is transported back to a cassette by the wafer transport mechanism.
Claims8
An apparatus for applying protective adhesive tape to surfaces of semiconductor wafers preparatory to a back grinding treatment, and for removing the protective adhesive tape from the wafer surfaces after the back grinding treatment, said apparatus comprising:
- a single wafer transport mechanism disposed centrally of the apparatus;
- at least one cassette loading mechanism, disposed in a front position of the apparatus relative to said single wafer transport mechanism, for storing a cassette containing a plurality of wafers in a plurality of stages;
- a single wafer position mechanism for positioning the wafers taken out of said cassette;
- a tape applying mechanism, disposed in a rearward position of the apparatus relative to said single wafer transport mechanism, for applying said protective adhesive tape to a surface of each wafer prior to said back grinding treatment;
- and
- a tape removing mechanism, disposed in a rearward position of the apparatus relative to said single wafer transport mechanism and juxtaposed with said tape applying mechanism, for removing said protective adhesive tape from said surface of each wafer by using a remover adhesive tape having a strong adhesion after said back grinding treatment
- wherein said single wafer transport mechanism is operable for transporting the wafers from said cassette to said wafer positioning mechanism, transporting each wafer positioned before said back grinding treatment from said wafer positioning mechanism to said tape applying mechanism, transporting each wafer positioned after said back grinding treatment from said wafer positioning mechanism to said tape removing mechanism, transporting each wafer having said protective adhesive tape applied thereto from said tape applying mechanism to a predetermined cassette, and transporting each wafer stripped of said protective adhesive tape from said tape removing mechanism to a predetermined cassette.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.