Apparatus for breaking and separating dies from a wafer
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorRafael C. Alfaro
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for breaking a wafer into individual devices. An anvil 100 is pressed against a flexible membrane 304 on which a wafer 300 is attached. A vacuum is applied to the anvil 100 which allows the flexible membrane 304 and the wafer 300 to be pressed against the face of the anvil 100. As the flexible membrane 304 is deformed against the anvil 100, the wafer 300 breaks into individual devices 302. Dicing debris that is created when the wafer 300 is broken falls into a base fixture 408 so that the debris does not contact and damage the devices 302.
Claims15
An apparatus for separating wafers into devices comprising:
- a convex anvil having a lip;
- and
- a tape frame comprising an outer ring and an inner ring concentric with said outer ring, said outer ring and said inner ring for holding a flexible membrane therebetween, said flexible membrane for holding a wafer attached to one side of said flexible membrane, said inner ring occupying a first position relative to said outer ring and operable to move through an inner region encircled by said outer ring along a first axis;
- said anvil operable to deform said flexible membrane in response to relative motion along said first axis between said anvil and said flexible membrane, said deformation breaking said wafer into said devices, and said lip operable to engage said inner ring and transfer said inner ring to a second position relative to said outer ring such that said flexible membrane is maintained in a stretched state relative to said flexible membrane's pre-deformation state thereby spatially separating said devices.
An apparatus for breaking a wafer into individual devices, the apparatus comprising:
- a convex anvil having at least two vacuum orifices and a lip;
- a vacuum cover attached to the convex anvil for allowing a vacuum to be applied to said at least two vacuum orifices;
- a tape frame comprising an inner ring and a larger diameter outer ring radially surrounding said inner ring, said tape frame operable to hold a flexible membrane between said rings and in alignment with said convex anvil;
- and
- said convex anvil operable to deform said flexible membrane in response to relative motion between said convex anvil and said flexible membrane, said lip operable to engage said inner ring and to transfer said inner ring from a first position relative to said outer ring to a second position relative to said outer ring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.