Silicon Technology Corporation

Thomas E Leonard

Robert E Steere, Iii

John C Pagano

The wafer grinding machine uses a centrally located robot to move a wafer from an input station to a measuring station. Thereafter, the wafer is moved into a grind station and a wash station sequentially. The robot is able to move a wafer from the wash station to either the measuring station for after-grinding measurements or directly to an output station. During grinding of one wafer, a second wafer may be held between the measuring station and the grind station while a ground wafer is moved from the wash station to the measuring station for after-grinding measurements.

Wafer grinding machine

A seal assembly for a wafer grinding machine is mounted on a housing in which a grinding wheel is contained. The seal assembly is formed of a pair of flexible strips which are secured over an opening in a plate mounted on a housing enclosing the grinding wheel for sealingly engaging a respective planar surface of a wafer which is introduced through the opening by a rotatable chuck. The edges of the sealing strips define a V-shaped gap to ensure that the edges are disposed in biased relation against each other and against a wafer which passes between the strips. A tube provided with perforations is disposed to blow air to clear debris from the wafer.

Seal assembly for a wafer grinding machine

The wafer alignment fixture is provided with a cassette support which can be slid between two positions on a base plate. In one position, the cassette support is aligned with a roller in order to align notched wafers with each other. In the second position, the cassette support is aligned with a second roller so as to effect alignment of wafers having flats.

Wafer alignment fixture for wafers having notches and/or flats

The wafer centering assembly includes a pair of pivot arms which can be pivoted simultaneously to adjust to the diameter of a conveyed wafer. Each pivot arm has a stop which arrest the motion of a wafer such that the axis of the wafer is approximately centered on the axis of a vacuum head.

Wafer centering assembly

A seal assembly is mounted within a grinding machine to separate a grinding wheel from the main portions of a wafer being ground. The seal assembly has a pair of free edges which are disposed to define a V-shaped gap through which the peripheral edge of the wafer passes into grinding relation with the grinding wheel. A perforated hollow tube is also mounted behind the free edges of the strips to blow air onto and across the planar surface of the wafer being ground to prevent accumulation of debris thereon.

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Vernon, CT, United States of America

Thomas E Leonard