METHOD FOR PLASMA DICING A SEMI-CONDUCTOR WAFER
FIG3 is a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor substrate mounted to tape and a frame
The substrate (100) may be thinned, typically by a grinding process, which reduces the substrate thickness to a few hundred microns to as thin as approximately 30 microns or less. As is shown in FIG3, the thinned substrate (100) is then adhered to a tape (300) which in turn is mounted in a rigid frame (310) to form a work piece (320). The frame is typically metal or plastic, though other frame materials are possible. The tape (300) is typically made from a carbon-containing polymer material, and may additionally have a thin conductive layer applied to its surface. The tape (300) provides support for the thinned substrate (100) which is otherwise too fragile to handle without breakage. It should be noted that the sequence of patterning, thinning and then mounting is not critical and the steps may be adjusted to best fit the particular devices and substrate and the processing equipment used. It is important to note that while the previous example considers a work piece (320) that is comprised of mounting a substrate (100) on an adhesive tape (300) which in turn is attached to a frame (310), that the invention is not limited by the configuration of the wafer and carrier. The wafer carrier can be comprised a variety of materials. The carrier supports the substrate during the plasma dicing process. Furthermore, the wafer need not be attached to the carrier using an adhesive - any method that holds the wafer to the carrier and allows a means thermal communication of the substrate to the cathode is sufficient (e.g., an electrostatically clamped carrier, a carrier with a mechanical clamping mechanism, etc.).
cross-sectional view
310
frame
100
substrate substrates
300
tape
320
work piece
110
device structures
200
protective material
120
areas
['1. A method for plasma dicing a substrate (100), the method comprising: - providing a process chamber (600) having a wall; - providing a plasma source (620) adjacent to the wall of the process chamber (600); - providing a work piece support (630) within the process chamber (600) ; - providing an electrostatic chuck (670) within said work piece support (630), said electrostatic chuck (670) having a plurality of gas inlet ports (1710) ; - providing a lift mechanism (680) within the process chamber (600) ; - loading a work piece (320) onto said work piece support (630) using said lift mechanism (680), said work piece (320) having a support film (300), a frame (310) and the substrate (100), said lift mechanism (680) engaging said work piece (320) outside an outer diameter of the substrate (100) of said work piece (320) and at least one of said gas inlet ports (1710) is positioned outside of said outer diameter of the substrate (100) of said work piece (320); - electrostatically clamping said work piece (320) to said work piece support (630) using said electrostatic chuck (670); - generating a plasma (400) using the plasma source (620); and etching the work piece (320) using the generated plasma (400).']