Apparatus and method for separating a semiconductor chip

Description

PRIORITY STATEMENT

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0017880, filed on Feb. 23, 2006, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Example embodiments relate to an apparatus and method for separating a semiconductor chip from a base without damaging the semiconductor chip.

2. Description of the Related Art

Semiconductor packages may be used to protect semiconductor chips from environmental agents and to physically and/or electrically connect the semiconductor chips to electronic systems. The performance, final price, and/or reliability of recent semiconductor devices may depend on the packaging technology.

With the development of smaller electronic products, much interest lies in reducing the thickness of a semiconductor package. In order to reduce the thickness of a semiconductor package, the backside of a wafer may be ground and polished. A base tape may be attached to the backside of the wafer, and the wafer may be divided into chips by sawing and transferred for packaging. The base tape may hold the individual chips in place and may prevent or reduce scattering of the individual chips.

FIGS. 1A through 1D illustrate related art technology for separating and transferring a semiconductor chip from a wafer after sawing.

As shown in FIG. 1A, after sawing, a semiconductor chip 110 may be attached to a base tape 130 using an adhesive film 120. An expandable tape or the like can be used as the base tape 130. The expandable tape may elongate when subjected to a tensile force.

The semiconductor chip 110 may be placed on and aligned with a support 190 with the base tape 130 facing the support 190. A plunger 180 may be placed in the support 190. The plunger 180 may include pins 185 for lifting the base tape 130. The support 190 may include holes for the pins 185. The pins 185 may push the base tape 130 upward.

A transferring unit 150 may be placed above the semiconductor chip 110 for transferring the semiconductor chip 110. The transferring unit 150 may be a vacuum pick-up device or the like.

As shown in FIG. 1B, a negative pressure may be applied between the base tape 130 and the support 190 to obtain a vacuum for firmly holding the base tape 130 on which the semiconductor chip 110 is fixed. If the pins 185 are lifted, the base tape 130 may not be fully separated from the support 190 even though it may be partially lifted. The base tape 130 and the support 190 may still make tight contact with each other at portions surrounding the pins 185. The semiconductor chip 110 and base tape 130 may slightly deform as a result. Portion (A) of the semiconductor chip 110 may receive a tension force, while portion (B) may receive a compression force.

As shown in FIG. 1C, the transferring unit 150 may move down toward the semiconductor chip 110 and may apply a negative pressure to make a tight contact with the semiconductor chip 110. If the transferring unit 150 moves up, the semiconductor chip 110 may be partially lifted. The semiconductor chip 110 may not be immediately separated from the base tape 130 due to the bonding force of the adhesive film 120. Instead, the semiconductor chip 110 may be bent at a center portion where the transferring unit 150 attaches. The semiconductor chip 110 may be increasingly bent as the transferring unit 150 moves up, as shown in FIG. 1 D. The semiconductor chip 110 may receive greater local tension and compression forces than in the case shown in FIG. 1B, which increases the possibility of cracking or otherwise damaging the semiconductor chip 110. Moreover, since related art thin semiconductor chips may have a thickness in the range of about 50 μm to 80 μm, the semiconductor chips may be damaged when the conventional semiconductor separating and transferring method is used, which may reduce the process yield.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments may provide an apparatus for separating a semiconductor chip without damaging the chip.

Example embodiments may also provide a method of separating a semiconductor chip without damaging the chip.

Example embodiments may provide an apparatus for separating a semiconductor chip; including a structure supporting a bottom surface of a base to which a semiconductor chip may be attached, a transferring unit for transferring the semiconductor chip after it is separated, and/or a separating plate capable of reciprocating in a direction perpendicular to an edge of the semiconductor chip with an end that may be inserted between the-semiconductor chip and the base. An adhesive film may be between the base and the semiconductor chip for adhesion, and the base may be a base tape well known within the art.

The end of the separating plate may have a front end surface and a bottom end surface that make an acute angle with each other. The acute angle may range from about 15° to about 75°.

The end of the separating plate may have a rectangular shape, a semi-circular shape, a polygonal shape with a protruded center portion, and/or a fork-like shape with one or more protruded parallel pins. The separating plate may have a thickness of about 10 μm to about 100 μm.

The support may have a protruding edge section. The base may be stably held on the support against the protruding edge if the separating plate is inserted between the semiconductor chip and the base.

The apparatus may include a pressing unit to push the separating plate against the base if the separating plate is inserted between the base and the semiconductor chip so that the separating plate may be inserted easier.

The apparatus may further include a lifting unit that lifts the separating plate and the semiconductor chip after the separating plate is inserted between the base and the semiconductor chip in order to separate the semiconductor chip more reliably.

The apparatus may include a fixing unit to hold the semiconductor chip if the separating plate is inserted between the base and the semiconductor chip. The fixing unit may prevent or reduce the semiconductor chip from being unnecessarily moved if the separating plate is inserted, and the semiconductor chip may be separated more reliably.

Example embodiments may provide a method of separating individual semiconductor chips from a sawed wafer; the method may include aligning a semiconductor chip to be separated from the wafer, inserting a separating plate between a base under the semiconductor chip and the semiconductor chip so as to separate the semiconductor chip from the base, and/or moving the semiconductor chip from the separating plate using a transferring unit. The method may include separating an adhesive between the base and semiconductor chip from the base, and the base may be a base tape well known within the art. The method may further include placing the separation plate in an original position at which the separation plate was placed before the aligning of the semiconductor chip.

The inserting of the separating plate may be performed at a temperature of about 10° C. to about 40° C., where the adhesive film may have an adhesion force suitable for separating the semiconductor chip.

The aligning of the semiconductor chip may include aligning one side of the semiconductor chip in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the separating plate.

The separating plate may be pushed against the base if the separating plate is inserted between the base and the semiconductor chip. The separating plate may be inserted between the base and the adhesive.

The method may include fixing the base to a support by creating a vacuum between the base and the support before inserting the separating plate. The vacuum may be released if the separating plate is inserted between the base and the semiconductor chip and/or adhesive film.

The method may include fixing the semiconductor chip using a fixing unit before inserting the separating plate. The fixing unit may make contact with the semiconductor chip and/or create a vacuum to fix the semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip and the base attached to the semiconductor chip may be stably held on the support despite any force applied by the separating plate if the separating plate is inserted between the base and the semiconductor chip and/or the adhesive film.

The method may include lifting the separating plate to lift the semiconductor chip after inserting the separating plate.

The moving of the semiconductor chip may include placing the transferring unit on the semiconductor chip and creating a vacuum between the transferring unit and the semiconductor chip to fix the semiconductor chip to the transferring unit; and/or releasing the vacuum after the semiconductor chip is moved to a desired position to separate the semiconductor from the transferring unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and/or advantages of example embodiments will become more apparent by describing in detail example embodiments with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIGS. 1A through 1D are schematic views for illustrating a related art apparatus for and method of separating a semiconductor chip;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic views of an example embodiment apparatus for separating a semiconductor chip;

FIG. 3 is a side-sectional view of a separating plate of the example semiconductor chip separating apparatus in FIGS. 2A and 2B;

FIGS. 4A through 4D show example shapes of the separating plate of FIG. 3 according to example embodiments; and

FIGS. 5 through 7 are schematic views for explaining an example embodiment method of separating a semiconductor chip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed example embodiments are disclosed herein. However, specific structural and/or functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of describing example embodiments. The claims may, however, may be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only example embodiments set forth herein.

It will be understood that when a component is referred to as being “on,” “connected to” or “coupled to” another component, it can be directly on, connected to or coupled to the other component or intervening components may be present. In contrast, when a component is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another component, there are no intervening components present. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of example embodiments.

Spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one component or feature's relationship to another component(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the drawings. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and/or scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Reference will now be made to example embodiments, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like components throughout.

As shown in FIG. 2A, an apparatus 200 for separating a semiconductor chip may include a support 290 under a bottom surface of a base 230, a transferring unit 250, and/or a separating plate 240 that may be capable of moving back and forth in a direction perpendicular to an edge of the semiconductor chip 210 and/or adhesive tape 220. The separation plate 240 may have an end that may be inserted between the semiconductor chip 210 and the base 230. The adhesive 220 may be between the base 230 and the semiconductor chip 210, and the base 230 may be a base tape well known in the art.

The support 290 may make tight contact with the base 230, for example, by applying a negative pressure to the base tape 230 and/or creating a vacuum between the support 290 and the base 230. The support 290 may include protruding edge section 292 as shown in FIG. 2B. The base 230 may be held on the support 290 by pressing the base 230 using the separating plate 240.

The transferring unit 250 may pick up and/or transfer the semiconductor chip 210. The transferring unit 250 may make tight contact with the semiconductor chip 210, for example, by applying a negative pressure to semiconductor chip 210 and/or creating a vacuum between the transferring unit 250 and the semiconductor chip 210. Any other mechanism may be used for transferring a semiconductor chip.

The separating plate 240 may reciprocate in a direction perpendicular to an edge of the semiconductor chip 210 and/or adhesive film 220 and may have an end that may be inserted between the adhesive film 220 and the base 230. The separating plate 240 may be formed into any shape, as long as the separating plate 240 may be inserted between the adhesive film 220 and the base tape 230.

As shown in FIG. 3, the separating plate 240 may have a front end surface 242 and a bottom end surface 244 that may make an acute angle θ. For example, the acute angle θ of the separating plate 240 may range from about 15° to about 75°. The separating plate 240 may be inserted by pushing a lower edge of the leading front end surface 242 between the adhesive film 220 and the base 230.

A leading end of the front end surface 242 may have any shape. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A-D, the separating plate 240 may have a rectangular leading end 240a, a semicircle-shaped leading end 240b, a polygonal leading end 240c with a protruded center portion, and/or a leading end 240d with one or more parallel pins.

The separating plate 240 may have a thickness of about 10 μm to about 100 μm. As shown in FIG. 5, the separating plate 240 may reciprocate in a direction perpendicular to an edge of the semiconductor chip 210 and/or adhesive film 220. Any suitable mechanism may be used for this reciprocating motion of the separating plate 240.

As shown in FIG. 7, the example semiconductor chip separating apparatus 200 may include a pressing unit 260 that may press the separating plate 240 onto the base 230 if the separating plate 240 is inserted between the adhesive film 220 and the base 230. If the separating plate 240 is fully inserted between the adhesive film 220 and the base 230, the pressing unit 260 may stop pressing the separating plate 240.

The example semiconductor chip separating apparatus 200 may include a lifting unit 270 that may lift the separating plate 240 and semiconductor chip 210 if the separating plate 240 is inserted between the semiconductor chip 210 and the base 230.

The semiconductor chip separating apparatus 200 may include a fixing unit 280 that may hold the semiconductor chip 210 in place when the separating plate 240 is inserted between the semiconductor chip 210 and the base 230. For example, the fixing unit 280 may hold the semiconductor chip 210 by making contact with the semiconductor chip 210 and/or by creating a vacuum at a contact surface.

Example embodiments may provide a method of separating individual semiconductor chips from a wafer. Example methods may include aligning a semiconductor chip to be separated from a sawed wafer, inserting a separation plate between a base under the semiconductor chip and the semiconductor chip so as to separate the semiconductor chip from the base, and/or moving the semiconductor chip from the separating plate using a transferring unit. The method may include placing the separation plate in an original position in which the separation plate was placed before aligning the semiconductor chip. The method may include inserting a separation place between a base and an adhesive bonding the base and semiconductor chip.

The example semiconductor chip separating method will be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 5, a semiconductor chip 210 may be aligned with a base tape 230 and/or adhesive film 220. The semiconductor chip 210 may be aligned by adjusting relative positions between a separating plate 240 and a base 230 on which the semiconductor chip 210 may be attached. For example, one side of the semiconductor chip 210 may be aligned in a direction perpendicular to a back and forth motion of the separating plate 240. Alternatively, the semiconductor chip 210 may be aligned in other directions.

As shown in FIGS. 6A through 6C, the separating plate 240 may be inserted between the base 230 and the semiconductor chip 210. If an adhesive 220 bonding the base 230 and semiconductor chip 210 is present, the separating plate 240 may be inserted between the base 230 and the adhesive 220.

If the separating plate 240 is inserted between the base 230 and the semiconductor chip 210, the separating plate 240 may be pushed onto the base 230 in direction B of FIG. 6B, and the separating plate 240 may be inserted between the base 230 and semiconductor chip 210 and/or the adhesive film 220.

To prevent or reduce movement of the base 230 and/or other parts by a force exerted by the separating plate 240 in direction A, the base 230 may be fixed to a support by, for example, creating a vacuum between the base 230 and the support before inserting the separating plate 240 between the base 230 and the adhesive film 220. The semiconductor chip 210 may be slightly and temporarily deformed by the vacuum formed between the base 230 and the support. To recover an original shape of the semiconductor chip 210, the vacuum may be selectively released while the separating plate 240 is inserted.

Before the separating plate 240 is inserted, the semiconductor chip 210 may be fixed using a fixing unit 280 (FIG. 7) to prevent or reduce movement of the semiconductor chip 210 and the base 230 by a force exerted by the separating plate 240 in direction A. For example, the fixing unit 280 may fix the semiconductor chip 210 by making contact with the semiconductor chip 210 and/or creating a vacuum on a contact surface (FIG. 7).

The separating plate 240 may be inserted at a temperature of about 40° C or less.

As shown in FIG. 6D, if the separating plate 240 is fully inserted, the semiconductor chip 210 may be moved from the separating plate 240 using a transferring unit 250. As shown in FIG. 6E, if the separating plate 240 is fully inserted, the separating plate 240 and semiconductor chip 21 may be lifted, and the semiconductor chip 210 may be moved from the separating plate 240 using the transferring unit 250.

The semiconductor chip 210 may be transferred by placing the transferring unit 250 onto the semiconductor chip 210, creating a vacuum between the transferring unit 250 and the semiconductor chip 210 to fix the semiconductor chip 210 to the transferring unit 250, and/or moving the transferring unit 250. If the semiconductor chip 210 is transferred to a desired position, the semiconductor chip 210 may be separated from the transferring unit 250 by releasing the vacuum. These example methods may allow frangible thin semiconductor chips to be safely packaged without damages, and thus semiconductor chip yield may be increased.

While example embodiments been particularly shown and described with reference to the figures, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.