Wafer-like processing after sawing DMDs
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsRichard O. Gale, Michael A. Mignardi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A processing fixture and method of fabricating micromechanical devices, such as digital micromirror devices, that allows fragile structures on wafer 22 to be protected from debris during the saw operation and subsequent cleaning operations. The wafer 22 is attached to a vacuum fixture 26 after partially sawing the wafer 22 to create saw kerfs. The backside of the wafer 22 is then ground down to the saw kerfs 24 to separate the devices 32. Each device 32 is held on the fixture by a vacuum in the headspace above the device 32. In an alternate embodiment the devices are separated by sawing completely through the wafer while in the fixture.
Claims6
A fixture for protecting a wafer comprised of at least two micromechanical devices, each micromechanical device comprised of at least one fragile portion, the fixture comprising:
- a surface for contacting the wafer, the surface comprised of a plurality of recessed regions for preventing contact between the surface and the wafer, such that when the surface of the fixture is in contact with the wafer, each recessed region of the surface forms a headspace above the fragile portion of one of the micromechanical devices;
- at least one vacuum port connected to the headspaces to allow evacuation of the headspaces;
- and
- the surface of the fixture forming a seal around each micromechanical device, thereby allowing each headspace to be evacuated through the vacuum port connected to the headspace.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.