Method and apparatus for stretching and processing saw film tape after breaking a partially sawn wafer

Abstract

A method and apparatus for separating a wafer into wafer portions comprising a larger wafer flex-frame (50) supported on a support base (40) and a smaller flex-frame (60) positioned within the support base (40). A wafer film transfer cylinder (30) encompasses a wafer breaking device (12), such as a convex dome. The transfer cylinder (30) is slidable downwardly with respect to the dome (12) to first stretch the wafer tape (51) and then transfer the wafer (56) from the larger frame (50) to the smaller frame (60) after dome (12) breaks the wafer (56) into die. The transfer cylinder (30) is heated to facilitate removing the saw tape (51) from the larger frame (50) after transfer to the smaller frame (60). The transfer cylinder (30) is juxtaposed with the smaller frame (60) residing within a cavity (48) of the support base (46). The present invention is suited for automated wafer transfer carriers which advance the broken wafer to pick and place equipment for packaging of the die.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.