Stone working – Sawing – Rotary
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-28
2001-04-17
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3723)
Stone working
Sawing
Rotary
C125S013020, C125S013030, C125S015000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06216682
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus for cutting a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer.
2. Background Art
As a conventional apparatus for cutting workpieces such as a semiconductor wafer, a cutting apparatus as shown in
FIG. 6
is known. In this cutting apparatus, a cassette
1
is mounted on a cassette mounting section A which moves up and down. In the cassette
1
are stored semiconductor wafers
2
as the workpieces. A semiconductor wafer
2
, which is fixed on a frame
4
via a tape
3
, is carried out therefrom to a standby section B by carrying means
5
. Then, the carried semiconductor wafer
2
is conveyed to a chuck table
7
by a swing arm
6
. The semiconductor wafer
2
held on the chuck table
7
is positioned by alignment means
8
, and then cut by cutting means
9
.
In the cutting by the aforesaid cutting means
9
, the semiconductor wafer
2
is cut by a blade
10
rotating at a high speed while being supplied with cutting water. Here, due to wear of cutting edge thereof and suchlike, the blade
10
may sometimes generate variations in depth of cut. The occurrence of such variations lowers the cutting accuracy as well as adversely affects the subsequent processing steps.
On this account, setup for adjusting the blade
10
to its correct position is conducted in the cutting process. However, some of the cutting water supplied in cutting is clinging to the cutting edge of the blade
10
, giving rise to a problem in that the setup cannot be carried out surely and precisely.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve such conventional problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a cutting apparatus in which the setup of the blade can be carried out surely and precisely.
The foregoing object and other objects of the present invention have been achieved by the provision of a cutting apparatus comprising at least a chuck table for holding a workpiece and cutting means for cutting the workpiece held by the chuck table, wherein: the aforesaid cutting means comprises a spindle unit, a blade to be attached to a rotating spindle of the spindle unit, and a cutting-water supplying nozzle for supplying cutting water to the blade and the workpiece; and the aforesaid cutting means is further provided with an air-blowing nozzle adjacent to the aforesaid blade, the air-blowing nozzle for supplying air to the peripheral portion of the blade.
In the cutting apparatus, the aforesaid cutting-water supplying nozzle and said air-blowing nozzle may be provided on a blade cover for covering the blade.
Moreover, air-blowing piping for feeding air to the aforesaid air-blowing nozzle may be arranged within the spindle unit.
According to the present invention described above, since the air-blowing nozzle is arranged adjacent to the blade, air can be blown from the air-blowing nozzle to the blade, in advance of the setup or in carrying out the setup, to surely remove the cutting water clinging to the blade. This brings about an effect that both contact and non-contact type setup can be carried out surely and precisely.
Besides, in the contact type setup, not only the cutting water on the blade but that on the chuck table can be eliminated as well. In the non-contact type, the cutting water and contaminants clinging to its light emitting element and light receiving element can be removed. Accordingly, it is possible to improve the setups in accuracy.
Furthermore, arranging the piping of the air-blowing nozzle within the spindle unit can eliminate the obstacle to the indexing move of the spindle unit as well as avoid the contamination to the surface of workpieces due to the dropping water after the cutting.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6073451 (2000-06-01), Tarumizu
patent: 6095899 (2000-08-01), Elmar et al.
patent: 6105567 (2000-06-01), Sun et al.
Kamikura Toru
Nambu Koji
Disco Corporation
Gerrity Stephen F.
McDonald Shantese
Weingarten, Schurgin Gagnebin & Hayes LLP
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