Abstract: A resin applying machine includes a processing chamber, a temperature measuring unit, and a controller. The processing chamber houses therein a holder for holding the wafer, a table that faces the holder, a resin supply unit for supplying a liquid resin to the table, a moving unit for relatively moving the holder and the table closely to each other, and a hardening unit for hardening the liquid resin that has coated the wafer. The temperature measuring unit measures a temperature in the processing chamber. The controller includes a correlation data storage unit for recording therein correlation data with respect to the temperature in the processing chamber and a moved distance by which the holder and the table are relatively moved by the moving unit at the temperature.

Abstract: A sheet attaching apparatus includes a sheet attaching section that attaches a sheet to a workpiece, and a sheet cutting section that cuts off the sheet from the workpiece along an outer edge. The sheet cutting section includes a chuck table that holds the workpiece, a sheet holding section that detachably holds a peripheral portion of the sheet, a cutting section that cuts the sheet along the outer edge of the workpiece, and a sheet accommodating section that accommodates an unnecessary part of the sheet cut and dropped due to release of holding by the sheet holding section.

Abstract: A holding mechanism includes a Bernoulli pad that holds a plate-shaped body, a hand on which the Bernoulli pad is disposed, a sensor that is disposed on the hand and detects that the plate-shaped body is held under suction by the Bernoulli pad, a lateral movement restriction section disposed on the hand, a tube that connects an air source supplying air to the Bernoulli pad and the Bernoulli pad, an adjustment valve that is disposed in the tube and adjusts a flow rate of air supplied to the Bernoulli pad, and a control section that controls operation of the adjustment valve. The control section gradually increases the flow rate of the air supplied from the adjustment valve to the Bernoulli pad and, when it is detected by the sensor that the plate-shaped body has been held under suction by the Bernoulli pad, fixes the flow rate of the air.

Abstract: To satisfactorily apply a protective tape to a bump wafer, an application apparatus (1) for applying a protective tape (PT) to a wafer (W) includes: an application table (60) configured to support the wafer (W); a tape holding body (30) capable of holding the protective tape (PT) and configured to supply the protective tape (PT) held by the tape holding body (30) onto the wafer (W); and a pressing member (62) configured to press the protective tape (PT) from above. The pressing member (62) includes a protective layer outer periphery retainer (620) configured to press a peripheral portion of a protective layer (PL), which is laminated on the protective tape (PT) and has an outer diameter smaller than an outer diameter of the wafer (W), to apply the protective tape (PT) to the wafer (W).

Abstract: A protective member forming apparatus includes an integrating unit that integrates a resin sheet held by a chuck table with a wafer by a resin, a conveying unit that conveys the wafer, and a cutting unit that holds, by a cutting table, the wafer integrated with the resin sheet conveyed by the conveying unit and cuts the resin sheet by a cutting section along the wafer. The cutting unit includes a detection unit that images the wafer by a camera and detects a position of a periphery of the wafer, and a control unit that causes cutting of the resin sheet by the cutting section to be performed only in the case where a peripheral edge of the wafer detected coincides with a track of a cutter blade of the cutting section when the preset resin sheet is cut.

Abstract: A protective member attaching apparatus includes a pressure reduction chamber having an upper housing and a lower housing, a support table that is provided inside the lower housing and on which a substrate is mounted, a sheet fixing section for fixing the sheet in such a manner as to partition the inside space of the pressure reduction chamber into a first space and a second space, a heating unit that heats the sheet to soften the sheet, and a control unit. The sheet fixing section has an outer periphery fixing section that fixes an outer periphery of the sheet, and a temporary fixing section that temporarily fixes a central portion of the sheet to the substrate mounted on a support table through a gap between the sheet and the substrate.

Abstract: A processing method of a workpiece includes an integration step of heating and compression bonding a thermocompression bonding sheet to an annular frame that has an opening to receive the workpiece therein and to the workpiece received in the opening, whereby the annular frame and the workpiece are integrated via the thermocompression bonding sheet, and a processing step of processing the workpiece integrated with the annular frame via the thermocompression bonding sheet. In the integration step, the thermocompression bonding sheet is pressed against the annular frame that has been heated by a heat table with a heat source included therein, by a heat roller with a heat source included therein while being heated by the heat roller, whereby the thermocompression bonding sheet is fixed to the annular frame.

Abstract: A processing apparatus includes a wafer carrying-out unit, a wafer table that supports a wafer carried out, a frame carrying-out unit, a frame table that supports an annular frame carried out, a tape sticking unit that sticks a tape to the frame, a tape-attached frame conveying unit, a tape pressure bonding unit that executes pressure bonding of the tape of a tape-attached frame to a back surface of the wafer, a frame unit carrying-out unit, and a beveled part removing unit that cuts and removes, in a ring manner, a beveled part formed in an outer circumferential surplus region from the wafer of a frame unit.

Abstract: A protective member forming apparatus includes an ultraviolet radiation applying table that supports a workpiece on a support surface of a support plate thereof through which ultraviolet rays are transmittable, a delivery unit that holds a resin sheet to which the workpiece is fixed, to unload the workpiece from the ultraviolet radiation applying table, a resin supply unit that supplies an ultraviolet-curable liquid resin to the resin sheet placed on the support surface, a pressing unit that presses the workpiece from a reverse side thereof toward the liquid resin supplied to the resin sheet placed on the support surface, and an ionizer unit that ejects ionized air to the support surface of the ultraviolet radiation applying table.

Abstract: A protective sheet sticking apparatus includes a cutting unit that cuts a protective sheet stuck to a wafer along an outer circumference of the wafer while bringing a cutting part of a cutting blade into contact with the outer circumference of the wafer. The cutting unit has a cutting blade support part that supports the cutting blade rotatably in such a manner that the direction of a cutting edge of the cutting part is adjustable from the outside in the radial direction of the wafer to the inside. The cutting blade support part includes a first biasing spring that makes biasing to cause the cutting part to be oriented toward the inside and a second biasing spring that makes biasing to cause the cutting part to be oriented toward the outside in order to prevent the cutting part from being oriented toward the inside by a predetermined angle or larger.

Abstract: A processing apparatus includes a wafer conveying-out mechanism; a wafer table; a frame conveying-out mechanism; a frame table; a tape attaching mechanism that attaches a tape to a frame; a tape-attached frame conveying mechanism that conveys the tape-attached frame; a tape pressure bonding mechanism that pressure bonds the tape of the tape-attached frame to a back surface of a wafer; a frame unit conveying-out mechanism that conveys out a frame unit in which the tape of the tape-attached frame and the back surface of the wafer are pressure bonded; a reinforcement section removing mechanism that cuts and removes a ring-shaped reinforcement section from the wafer; a ringless unit conveying-out mechanism that conveys out a ringless unit from which the reinforcement section has been removed; and a frame cassette table on which a frame cassette accommodating the ringless unit is to be placed.

Abstract: A wafer transfer method for forming a second work unit by transferring a wafer of a first work unit including a first ring frame, a first adhesive tape, and the wafer to a second adhesive tape includes sandwiching a claw body between the first ring frame and a second ring frame, affixing the second adhesive tape to a surface of the wafer which surface is not affixed to the first adhesive tape, holding the wafer by the second ring frame via the second adhesive tape, and peeling off the first adhesive tape from the wafer.

Abstract: A holding mechanism includes a wafer holding section that holds a wafer under suction, and a frame support section that is disposed on the outer circumference of the wafer holding section and that supports a frame. The frame support section includes a permanent magnet.

Abstract: A tape pressure bonding apparatus includes an upper chamber, a lower chamber, a lifting mechanism that switches between a closed state in which the upper chamber is moved downward to be brought into contact with the lower chamber and an open state in which the upper chamber is separated from the lower chamber, a vacuum section that evacuates the upper chamber and the lower chamber, and an atmosphere opening section that opens the upper chamber and the lower chamber to the atmosphere. The lower chamber accommodates a wafer table that has a holding surface including a circular recess for supporting only a peripheral surplus region of the wafer and making a device region in a non-contact state. The tape pressure bonding apparatus includes a positive pressure generating section that supplies air into the circular recess of the wafer table to establish a positive pressure state in the circular recess.

Abstract: A wafer is positioned in an opening of a first frame. The wafer is pressure-bonded at one surface thereof to a first tape together with the first frame, onto a second tape pressure-bonded to a second frame. The wafer is processed by pressure-bonding the second tape, which is pressure-bonded to the second frame having an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the opening of the first frame, to another surface of the wafer, cutting the first tape along an outer periphery of the second frame, imparting an external stimulus to the first tape to lower a pressure-bonding force with which the first tape is pressure-bonded to the one surface of the wafer, and peeling off the first tape from the one surface of the wafer pressure-bonded to the second tape.

Abstract: A peeling tool includes a lower surface portion that is to be placed on a holding sheet affixed to a first surface of a workpiece, an upper surface portion corresponding to a second surface of the workpiece to which a protective sheet is affixed, and an abutting portion that has a shape conforming to an outer peripheral shape of the workpiece, that has a thickness corresponding to a thickness of the workpiece, and that is to abut on an outer peripheral portion of the workpiece. The upper surface portion has a width larger than a width of a peeling tape that is to be affixed to the protective sheet and used for peeling off the protective sheet, and is formed of a material that rejects affixing of the peeling tape. The lower surface portion is formed of a material that rejects affixing of the holding sheet.

Abstract: A processing apparatus includes a wafer table that supports a wafer, a frame table that supports an annular frame, a first tape pressure bonding unit that includes a first pressure bonding roller for executing pressure bonding of a tape to the annular frame, and a second tape pressure bonding unit that includes a second pressure bonding roller for executing pressure bonding of the tape of the tape-attached annular frame to a front surface or a back surface of the wafer. A first heating unit is disposed in one of or both the frame table and the first pressure bonding roller, while a second heating unit is disposed in one of or both the wafer table and the second pressure bonding roller.

Abstract: A tape is stuck to the front surface of a workpiece in such a manner that the direction in which the stretch rate becomes the lowest when a predetermined force is applied to the tape is non-parallel to each of multiple planned dividing lines extending in a lattice manner. In this case, each of the multiple planned dividing lines does not extend along the direction perpendicular to this direction. This can reduce the ratio of the region to which the tape does not stick in the front surface of the workpiece in the vicinity of the boundary between each of the multiple planned dividing lines and a region in which a device is formed and suppress deterioration of the processing quality when the workpiece is divided from the back surface side by a cutting blade.

Abstract: A processing apparatus includes a chuck table having a holding surface for holding a plate-shaped workpiece thereon, a processing unit for processing the plate-shaped workpiece held on the chuck table, a delivery unit for selectively delivering the plate-shaped workpiece onto and from the chuck table, and a control unit for controlling the chuck table, the processing unit, and the delivery unit. The chuck table includes a gas ejection port defined in or around the holding surface and connected to a gas supply system. While the plate-shaped workpiece is not placed on the holding surface, the control unit controls the gas supply system to eject a gas from the gas ejection port to form a protective layer of the gas over the holding surface, thereby preventing foreign matter from being deposited on the holding surface.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of transferring a wafer from a first tape that has been pressure-bonded to one surface of the wafer and also to a first frame having an opening with the wafer positioned therein, to a second tape that has been pressure-bonded to a second frame. The method includes a first-frame removing step of detaching the first tape from the first frame by pressing a portion of the first tape that lies between the first frame and the wafer, a second-frame pressure-bonding step of pressure-bonding the second tape pressure-bonded to the second frame to another surface of the wafer, a pressure-bonding force reducing step of reducing a pressure-bonding force of the first tape by imparting an external stimulus to the first tape, and a peeling step of peeling off the first tape from the one surface of the wafer pressure-bonded to the second tape.