Application of Fluids to Substrates

• US 20140335699A1
• Filed: 05/10/2013
• Published: 11/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Inventors: Pilch, Karl, Leitner, Hans, Kalin, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,248,466 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/758
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 12/02 for controlling time, or sequence, of delivery
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 13/02 Means for supporting work; Arrangement or mounting of spray heads; Adaptation or arrangement of means for feeding work B05B13/06 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B05C 11/02 Apparatus for spreading or distributing liquids or other fluent materials already applied to a surface ; Controlling means thereforB05C7/00 takes precedence; Hand tools for such purposes B05C17/10; Control of the thickness of a coating by spreading or distributing liquids or other fluent materials already applied to the coated surfacecontrolling supply of liquid or other fluent material B05C11/10
• CPC Class Codes: B05D 1/002 the substrate being rotated
• CPC Class Codes: B05D 3/007 After-treatment
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02282 liquid deposition, e.g. spin-coating, sol-gel techniques, spray coating
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67109 mainly by convection
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6715 Apparatus for applying a liquid, a resin, an ink or the like H01L21/67126 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6835 using temporarily an auxiliary support
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2221/68327 used during dicing or grinding
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/10 Methods of surface bonding and/or assembly therefor

Abstract

Various embodiments relate to application of a fluid to a substrate. The fluid is locally heated, for example, to obtain a desired thickness profile.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a substrate holder;

a fluid application device configured to apply a fluid to a substrate on said substrate holder;

a heating mechanism configured to locally heat said fluid; and

a controller configured to control said heating mechanism to apply a local heating in order to obtain a desired thickness profile of said fluid on said substrate.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said fluid comprises at least one of a glue, an imide, a lacquer, and a photoresist.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a viscosity of said fluid is temperature-dependent.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said heating mechanism comprises an infrared lamp.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said substrate holder is rotatable.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said fluid application device is configured to apply said fluid while said substrate holder rotates.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said controller is configured to control said heating mechanism to locally heat said fluid while said substrate holder rotates.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a fluid thickness measurement device, the apparatus being further configured to determine a local heating pattern through a calibration measurement using said fluid thickness measurement device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said substrate holder is configured to receive semiconductor substrates.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said local heating locally changes a behavior of said fluid from an essentially non-Newtonian behavior to an essentially Newtonian behavior.

11. A method comprising:

applying a fluid to a substrate;

dispersing the fluid on the substrate; and

applying a predetermined local heating to said fluid to obtain a desired thickness profile.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein dispersing the fluid comprises rotating said substrate.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the desired thickness profile is a flat profile within a predetermined tolerance.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said fluid comprises a glue, the method further comprising mounting said substrate to a carrier using said glue.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said substrate is a semiconductor substrate.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein said predetermined local heating is determined by calibration.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein applying said predetermined local heating comprises locally heating said substrate.

18. A method comprising:

applying a fluid to a substrate;

dispersing the fluid over the substrate;

measuring a fluid thickness of the fluid over the substrate; and

adjusting a local heating of the fluid to obtain a desired thickness profile of said fluid.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said adjusting and said measuring are repeated until the fluid thickness matches the desired thickness profile.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising storing a local heating pattern based on the adjustment.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein said fluid exhibits an essentially non-Newtonian behavior at ambient temperature.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein said fluid comprises at least one of a glue, an imide, a lacquer, or a photoresist.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein local heating comprises irradiating said fluid with infrared radiation.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein said local heating comprises electrically heating said fluid.