GRINDING WHEEL TRUING TOOL AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF, AND TRUING APPARATUS, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING GRINDING WHEEL AND WAFER EDGE GRINDING APPARATUS USING THE SAME

• US 20090156104A1
• Filed: 12/10/2008
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siltron Inc. (SK Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Siltron Inc. (SK Inc.)
• Inventors: Kim, Jae-Young, Yong, Mun-Suk, Hyun, Dong-Hwan, Kim, Yong-Dug, Jung, Hwan-Yun, Cho, Gye-Je, Lee, Kyung-Moo
• Granted Patent: US 8,398,464 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 451/254
• CPC Class Codes: B24B 53/07 by means of forming tools having a shape complementary to that to be produced, e.g. blocks, profile rolls
• CPC Class Codes: B24B 9/065 of thin, brittle parts, e.g. semiconductors, wafers
• CPC Class Codes: B24D 18/00 Manufacture of grinding tools or other grinding devices, e.g. wheels, not otherwise provided for

Abstract

The present invention relates to a grinding wheel truing tool, its manufacturing method, and a truing apparatus, a method for manufacturing a grinding wheel and a wafer edge grinding apparatus using the same. The grinding wheel truing tool of the present invention compensates a groove of a fine-grinding wheel for fine-grinding a wafer edge, and includes a truer having an edge of the same angle as a slanted surface of the groove of the fine-grinding wheel and a cross-sectional shape corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the groove. The present invention uses the truing tool to easily process the groove of the grinding wheel for fine-grinding the wafer edge.

Claims

1. A grinding wheel truing tool, which compensates a groove of a fine-grinding wheel for fine-grinding a wafer edge, comprising:

a truer having an edge of the same angle as a slanted surface of the groove of the fine-grinding wheel and of a cross-sectional shape corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the groove.

2. The grinding wheel truing tool according to claim 1,

wherein the truer is a first truer configured to compensate a groove of a notch fine-grinding wheel for fine-grinding a notch of the wafer edge, and the first truer has an edge of a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape.

3. The grinding wheel truing tool according to claim 2,

wherein a slanted surface of the edge of the first truer is extended such that a thickness of the first truer is larger than a width of the groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel.

4. The grinding wheel truing tool according to claim 2,

wherein the first truer is a diamond wheel formed by electroplating or metal bonding.

5. The grinding wheel truing tool according to claim 1,

wherein the truer is a second truer configured to compensate a groove of a round fine-grinding wheel for fine-grinding a round of the wafer edge, and the second truer has an edge of a semi-circular cross-sectional shape.

6. The grinding wheel truing tool according to claim 5,

wherein a slanted surface of the edge of the second truer is extended such that a thickness of the second truer is larger than a width of the groove of the round fine-grinding wheel.

7. The grinding wheel truing tool according to claim 5,

wherein the second truer is a diamond wheel formed by electroplating or metal bonding.

8. A method for manufacturing a grinding wheel truing tool, which manufactures the grinding wheel truing tool defined in claim 5, comprising:

(a) on a three-dimensional construction program, forming a groove in the shape of an edge of a completed wafer at a portion of an outer periphery of a cylindrical subject with a shape dimension of a round fine-grinding wheel having no groove, the cylindrical subject having a central axis slanted at a predetermined angle;

(b) through computer simulation, rotating the cylindrical subject based on the central axis to expand the wafer edge-shaped groove along the outer periphery of the cylindrical subject;

(c) obtaining a shape dimension of the expanded groove as a shape dimension of an edge of a second truer; and

(d) manufacturing a second truer using the obtained shape dimension.

9. The method for manufacturing a grinding wheel truing tool according to claim 8,

wherein, in the step (c), the shape dimension of the edge of the second truer is obtained by extending a slanted surface of the expanded groove along the slanted surface such that a thickness of the second truer is larger than a width of the groove.

10. The method for manufacturing a grinding wheel truing tool according to claim 8,

wherein the step (d) manufactures the second truer as a diamond wheel by electroplating or metal bonding.

12. A method for manufacturing a wafer edge grinding wheel, which manufactures a notch fine-grinding wheel by forming a groove along an outer periphery of the notch fine-grinding wheel having no groove using the first truer defined in claim 2.

13. A method for manufacturing a wafer edge grinding wheel, which manufactures a round fine-grinding wheel by forming a groove along an outer periphery of the round fine-grinding wheel having no groove using the second truer defined in claim 5.

11. A truing apparatus for a wafer edge grinding wheel, comprising:

a first truer configured to compensate a groove of a notch fine-grinding wheel for fine-grinding a notch of a wafer edge, the first truer having an edge of the same angle as a slanted surface of the groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel and a cross-sectional shape corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel, the cross-sectional shape of the edge of the first truer being a trapezoid; and

a second truer configured to compensate a groove of a round fine-grinding wheel for fine-grinding a round of a wafer edge, the second truer having an edge of the same angle as a slanted surface of the groove of the round fine-grinding wheel and a cross-sectional shape corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the groove of the round fine-grinding wheel, the cross-sectional shape of the edge of the second truer being a semicircle.

14. A wafer edge grinding apparatus, comprising:

a chuck configured to mount and rotate a wafer;

a grinding wheel configured to grind an edge of the wafer, and including a round rough-grinding wheel, a notch rough-grinding wheel, a notch fine-grinding wheel and a round fine-grinding wheel, each having a groove;

a grinding operation unit configured to mount and rotate the grinding wheel and move the grinding wheel to contact the groove of the grinding wheel with the edge of the wafer mounted on the chuck;

a first truer having an edge of a cross-sectional shape corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel and configured to compensate the groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel;

a second truer having an edge of a cross-sectional shape corresponding to a cross-sectional shape of the groove of the round fine-grinding wheel and configured to compensate the groove of the round fine-grinding wheel; and

a truing operation unit configured to mount and rotate the first and second truers and move the first and second truers to contact the edges of the first and second truers with the groove of each grinding wheel on a level with the groove of each grinding wheel.

15. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein a slanted surface of the edge of the first truer is extended such that a thickness of the first truer is larger than a width of the groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel, and

wherein a slanted surface of the edge of the second truer is extended such that a thickness of the second truer is larger than a width of the groove of the round fine-grinding wheel.

16. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein each of the first truer and the second truer is a diamond wheel formed by electroplating or metal bonding.

17. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising:

a control unit configured to predict wear of the groove of the grinding wheel from wafer edge process results, set the number of times the groove is used and a process time, and in the case that wear of the groove is predicted from wafer edge processing results or the number of times the groove is used reaches a preset number or the process time exceeds a preset time, stop grinding the wafer edge.

18. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 17,

wherein, in response to the stop of wafer edge grinding, the control unit controls the truing operation unit to contact the first truer or the second truer with the notch fine-grinding wheel or the round fine-grinding wheel, respectively, so as to compensate the groove of the fine-grinding wheel, or controls the grinding operation unit to contact the wafer edge with a groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel that is not worn or a groove of the round fine-grinding wheel that is not worn.

19. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the truing operation unit has a servo motor and an electronic scale for controlling a movement amount of the first truer and the second truer.

20. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the round fine-grinding wheel is a helical wheel that is slanted at a predetermined angle and is rotated relative to a plane comprising a surface of the wafer.

21. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 20,

wherein the truing operation unit includes:

a first truing operation unit configured to mount the first truer on a level with the groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel and rotate and move the first truer to contact the first truer with the groove of the notch fine-grinding wheel; and

a second truing operation unit configured to mount the second truer on a level with the groove of the round fine-grinding wheel and rotate and move the second truer to contact the second truer with the groove of the round fine-grinding wheel.

22. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 20,

wherein the grinding operation unit includes:

a first grinding operation unit configured to mount and rotate the notch rough-grinding wheel, the notch fine-grinding wheel and the round fine-grinding wheel; and

a second grinding operation unit configured to mount and rotate the round rough-grinding wheel.

23. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the round fine-grinding wheel is a vertical wheel that is mounted on a level with a plane comprising a surface of the wafer and is rotated.

24. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 23,

wherein the first truer and the second truer are mounted parallel with each other on the same rotation axis in the truing operation unit.

25. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 23,

wherein the grinding operation unit includes:

a first grinding operation unit configured to mount and rotate the notch rough-grinding wheel and the notch fine-grinding wheel; and

a second grinding operation unit configured to mount and rotate the round rough-grinding wheel and the round fine-grinding wheel.

26. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 25,

wherein the round rough-grinding wheel and the round fine-grinding wheel are mounted parallel with each other on the same rotation axis in the second grinding operation unit.

27. The wafer edge grinding apparatus according to claim 23,

wherein the round rough-grinding wheel and the round fine-grinding wheel are formed integrally with each other.