Semiconductor matrix formation

Details Semiconductor matrix formation Semiconductor matrix formation

2001-01-08

2001-08-21

Niebling, John F. (Department: 2812)

Semiconductor device manufacturing: process

Semiconductor substrate dicing

With attachment to temporary support or carrier

C156S345420, C156S583200, C029S426100, C029S426400, C029S426500, C029S426600, C029S762000, C438S460000, C438S462000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06277711

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor device packaging, particularly to a method of forming a semiconductor matrix from a scribed wafer. The matrix may be composed of optical devices such as light emitting diodes, laser diodes, photo diodes, etc., which can be diced into individual devices. The matrix may also be used as the target of an image sensor, display panel, etc without being diced. The technique may also be used for non-optical semiconductor devices.
(2) Brief Description of Related Art
FIGS. 1-5
show a prior art technique for dicing a semiconductor wafer into individual dice to be packaged as a semiconductor matrix.
FIG. 1
shows a semiconductor wafer
10
mounted on a stretchable sticky cloth
12
. The wafer
12
is scribed along horizontal and vertical lines to define the outlines of individual dice
11
. Upon stretching the cloth
12
in the X-direction and the Y-direction as shown by the arrows in
FIG. 2
, the dice
11
are separated. The dice
11
on the stretchable cloth
12
are then transferred one by one to a target unit
15
as a regular matrix. The transfer is implemented by a movable arm
14
. The arm first picks up by suction the dice
11
in its vertical position and then rotates to a horizontal position for delivering the picked-up dice to target unit
15
. The target unit
15
is mounted on a movable table
13
, which is digitally controlled to move the target table in two orthogonal directions (i.e. the X-direction and the Y-direction) so that the dice are released and lined up as a matrix. Meanwhile the stretchable cloth is sensed by a sensor (not shown) and is moved to pick up another die.
FIG. 4
shows the completed matrix of dice
11
over a target unit
15
. The foregoing mechanism requires two perpendicular motions and one roundtrip rotation of the arm
14
to complete a transfer, and is time consuming and not cost effective.
FIG. 5
shows another prior art embodiment. Instead of a swinging transfer arm
14
as shown in
FIG. 3
, the transfer mechanism is a suction head
241
sliding along a vertical rod
242
. The dice
11
are separated on a stretchable cloth
12
. The suction head
241
is moved vertically while the stretchable cloth is moved horizontally. When a die is sensed by a sensor (not shown), the suction head picks up the die and transfers the die vertically over a target unit
15
mounted on a table
13
which is movable in a horizontal direction (as shown by the horizontal arrowheads). The target unit
15
is digitally controlled so that the transferred dice
11
are lined up one by one in a matrix formation. After the die is delivered to the target unit
15
, the pick-up arm returns the suction head
241
over the stretchable cloth
12
to pick up another die. This mechanism also requires two perpendicular motions and one roundtrip movement to get back to the starting point and is not cost-effective.
SUMMARY
An object of this invention is simplify the mechanism in transferring dice from the stretchable cloth to a target unit. Another object of this invention is to reduce the time of operation in transferring dice. Still another object of this invention is to reduce the cost of transferring dice from the stretchable cloth to the target unit.
These objects are achieved by lining up the dice from the stretchable cloth with the target unit and pressing the dice from the stretchable cloth to the target unit in a matrix formation. The pressing can be accomplished by stamping individually the dice from the stretchable cloth to the target unit. Alternatively, the dice from stretchable cloth can first be transferred to a transfer unit before being compressed to the target unit. The transfer unit may be a perforated plate to hold the dice in place before the dice are soldered to the target unit.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3714704 (1973-02-01), Moore
patent: 3918150 (1975-11-01), Gantley
patent: 4798645 (1989-01-01), Pak
patent: 5725728 (1998-03-01), Fuke et al.

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