Metal working – Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for... – Binding or covering and cutting
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-24
2001-06-26
Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for...
Binding or covering and cutting
C029S564600, C029S564700, C156S522000, C280S079200, C280S079300, C280S655100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06249943
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic semiconductor wafer applying apparatus for applying and holding a semiconductor wafer to a ring frame through an adhesive tape in a process prior to the process of scribing the semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional automatic semiconductor wafer applying apparatus is known to have a construction as described below. Ring frames, one by one, are taken out of a group of ring frames which are stacked and contained in a frame supply section, by a frame supply transport mechanism. The taken ring frame is transported and set to a predetermined tape applying position. An adhesive tape unwound from a tape roll is supplied to a lower surface of the ring frame and then applied thereto by a tape applying mechanism. The applied adhesive tape is cut out in a circular shape along the ring frame by a tape cutting mechanism. Then, the residual tape peeled from the lower surface of the ring frame is wound up and recovered. Also, the ring frame having the adhesive tape applied thereto is transported to a predetermined wafer applying position. A semiconductor wafer is transported and applied onto the adhesive tape of the ring frame which is positioned and set to the wafer applying position. Finally, the ring frame having the wafer applied thereto is stored in a frame storage section.
However, the prior art having such a construction has the following problem.
Recently, the ring frame having a large diameter has been used complying with the increase of the diameter of the semiconductor wafer. For a continuous operation, a large number of ring frames (for example, 200 to 300 ring frames) have been also loaded in the frame supply section. As a result, the total weight of the whole ring frame group is considerably heavy (under the assumption that one frame is 300 g, the total weight amounts to 60 kg through 90 kg). Thus, a great effort is required for the operation of stacking and loading the ring frames by inserting the hand into a lower portion of the apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above facts. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic semiconductor wafer applying apparatus capable of lightly efficiently stacking and loading ring frames onto a frame supply section.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is constituted in the following manner.
That is, the present invention provides an automatic semiconductor wafer applying apparatus for applying a semiconductor wafer to a ring frame through an adhesive tape, the apparatus comprising:
a frame supply truck movable with ring frames stacked and held thereon;
a frame supply section arranged so as to enable the frame supply truck to be pushed and transported thereinto and to be pulled out and transported therefrom;
a lift unit for receiving, lifting and supplying a group of ring frames stacked on the frame supply truck pushed and transported into the frame supply section;
a frame supply transport mechanism for supplying the ring frames lifted and supplied by the lift unit to a predetermined tape applying position;
a tape applying mechanism for applying the adhesive tape unwound from a tape roll to a lower surface of the ring frame;
a tape cutting mechanism for cutting out the applied adhesive tape along the ring frame;
residual tape recovery means for winding up and recovering the residual tape peeled from the lower surface of the ring frame;
transport means for transporting the ring frame having the adhesive tape applied thereto to a predetermined wafer applying position;
wafer applying means for transporting and applying the semiconductor wafer onto the adhesive tape of the ring frame set to the wafer applying position; and
a frame storage section for storing the ring frame having the semiconductor wafer applied thereto.
According to the apparatus of the present invention, a predetermined number of ring frames are moved while stacked on the frame supply truck. The ring frames are pushed and transported into the frame supply section together with the truck. The lift unit receives the group of ring frames from the pushed and transported frame supply truck. The frame supply transport mechanism takes out the ring frame from the group of ring frames and then supplies the ring frame to a predetermined tape applying position. The tape applying mechanism applies the adhesive tape to the ring frame supplied to the applying position. The tape cutting mechanism cuts out the adhesive tape applied to the ring frame along the ring frame. The residual tape recovery means winds up and recovers the residual tape peeled from the lower surface of the ring frame. The transport means transports the ring frame having the adhesive tape applied thereto to the wafer applying position. The wafer applying means applies the semiconductor wafer onto the adhesive tape of the ring frame transported to the wafer applying position. This ring frame having the semiconductor wafer applied thereto is stored in the frame storage section. The ring frames can be therefore supplied to the automatic semiconductor wafer applying apparatus only by pushing and transporting the frame supply truck having many ring frames stacked thereon into the frame supply section. Thus, the stacking and loading operation can be lightly easily performed, so that the operability can be improved.
Moreover, in the apparatus of the present invention, preferably, the frame supply truck comprises a frame guide member for preventing the group of stacked ring frames from collapsing, disposed so as to be openable and closeable. With such a constitution, when the ring frames are loaded onto the frame supply truck, the frame guide member is opened so that the loading operation is performed. On the other hand, when the frame supply truck is moved, the frame guide member is closed so as to prevent the moving ring frame group from collapsing. Accordingly, the frame supply truck can be easily moved without caring the collapsing of the group of stacked ring frames. This further facilitates the transport of the frames into the frame supply section.
Furthermore, preferably, the apparatus of the present invention further comprises truck guide means for vertically horizontally positioning the frame supply truck and for introducing the frame supply truck into the frame supply section. With such a constitution, when the frame supply truck is pushed and transported into the frame supply section, the truck guide means works so that the frame supply truck is transported and set to the frame supply section while it is correctly positioned relative to the lift unit in the frame supply section. Therefore, the operation of stacking and loading the ring frames into the frame supply section is simple and easy, while the frame supply accuracy can be improved. This is effective for the improvement of the accuracy in the subsequent applying process.
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Ide Yoshinobu
Kuroda Shigeji
Matsushita Takao
Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn
Hughes S. Thomas
Nitto Denko Corporation
Omgba Essama
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