The present invention relates to methods of separating a wafer of light emitting devices into individual light emitting devices or groups of light emitting devices.
Semiconductor light-emitting devices including light emitting diodes (LEDs), resonant cavity light emitting diodes (RCLEDs), vertical cavity laser diodes (VCSELs), and edge emitting lasers are among the most efficient light sources currently available. Materials systems currently of interest in the manufacture of high-brightness light emitting devices capable of operation across the visible spectrum include Group III V semiconductors, particularly binary, ternary, and quaternary alloys of gallium, aluminum, indium, and nitrogen, also referred to as III nitride materials. Typically, III nitride light emitting devices are fabricated by epitaxially growing a stack of semiconductor layers of different compositions and dopant concentrations on a sapphire, silicon carbide, III-nitride, or other suitable substrate by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), or other epitaxial techniques. The stack often includes one or more n-type layers doped with, for example, Si, formed over the substrate, one or more light emitting layers in an active region formed over the n-type layer or layers, and one or more p-type layers doped with, for example, Mg, formed over the active region. Electrical contacts are formed on the n- and p-type regions.
US 2011/0132885 describes singulating a wafer of semiconductor devices. Paragraph 4 teaches “a laser is often used in the process of dicing a semiconductor wafer such that individual devices (or dies) manufactured from the semiconductor wafer are separated from each other. The dies on the wafer are separated by streets and the laser may be used to cut the wafer along the streets. A laser may be used to cut all the way through the wafer, or part way through the wafer with the remaining portion of the wafer separated by breaking the wafer at the point of perforation. When manufacturing light emitting diodes (LEDs), the individual dies on the wafer correspond to the LEDs.”
It is an object of the invention to provide methods of dicing a wafer of LEDs that may improve yields.
Embodiments of the invention are directed to a method of separating a wafer of light emitting devices. The method includes scribing a first groove on a dicing street on the wafer and checking the alignment of the wafer using a location of the first groove relative to a feature on the wafer. After checking the alignment, a second groove is scribed on the dicing street.
Embodiments of the invention are directed to a method of separating a wafer of light emitting devices. The wafer includes a plurality of light emitting devices disposed in a plurality of rows separated by streets. The method includes breaking the wafer along a street to separate a section from a remaining portion of the wafer. The section and the remaining portion of the wafer each include at least two rows of light emitting devices. The method further includes breaking the section along a street disposed between the at least two rows of light emitting devices.
Though in the examples below the semiconductor light emitting devices are III-nitride LEDs that emits blue or UV light, semiconductor light emitting devices besides LEDs such as laser diodes and semiconductor light emitting devices made from other materials systems such as other III-V materials, III-phosphide, III-arsenide, II-VI materials, ZnO, or Si-based materials may be used.
After growth, a p-contact is formed on the surface of the p-type region. The p-contact 21 often includes multiple conductive layers such as a reflective metal and a guard metal which may prevent or reduce electromigration of the reflective metal. The reflective metal is often silver but any suitable material or materials may be used. After forming the p-contact 21, a portion of the p-contact 21, the p-type region 20, and the active region 18 is removed to expose a portion of the n-type region 16 on which an n-contact 22 is formed. The n- and p-contacts 22 and 21 are electrically isolated from each other by a gap 25 which may be filled with a dielectric 24 such as an oxide of silicon or any other suitable material. Multiple re-contact vias may be formed; the n- and p-contacts 22 and 21 are not limited to the arrangement illustrated in
In order to form electrical connections to the LED, one or more interconnects 26 and 28 are formed on or electrically connected to the n- and p-contacts 22 and 21. Interconnect 26 is electrically connected to n-contact 22 in
Though the embodiments below describe separating a wafer into individual LEDs, the techniques described may be used to separate a wafer into groups of LEDs. Though the embodiments below refer to a sapphire growth substrate, the techniques described may be applied to any suitable growth substrate.
In
Laser scribing as illustrated in
A thicker growth substrate 10 requires a deeper laserscribed groove depth as compared to a thinner wafer. For example, a sapphire growth substrate that is greater than 200 microns thick (for example, between 230 and 250 microns thick) may require a groove depth of at least 50 microns and no more than 60 microns, while a sapphire substrate between 100 and 120 microns thick may require a groove depth of only 30 to 35 microns. The depth of the scribed groove may be made deeper by increasing the pulse peak power of the laser scribe. The deeper the groove depth, the wider the surface opening of the scribed groove; i.e., the top of the kerf is wider for a deeper groove than for a shallower groove.
Conventional image processing algorithms may not recognize the wider grooves caused by deeper scribing. After scribing of grooves 50 to 60 microns deep, shiny slag may be observed in the grooves. The laser scribe machine vision software may interpret the shiny slag as white pixels. These white pixels inside the scribed lines may prevent the image algorithm from recognizing the boundaries of the grooves.
In embodiments of the invention, a shallow pilot groove that is used for scribe line or kerf position detection is formed first. After detection and correction of the position of the wafer, a deep groove is scribed that is used for wafer singulation.
On the wafer illustrated in
The pilot groove 64 may be no more than 15% of the depth of the singulation groove 62 in some embodiments, no more than 20% of the depth of the singulation groove in some embodiments, and no more than 30% of the depth of the singulation groove in some embodiments. In one example, the pilot groove has a depth of 10 μm and the singulation groove 62 has a depth of 60 μm.
The pilot groove 64 may be narrower than the singulation groove 62, as illustrated in
After the pilot groove 64 in street 63 is scribed in
In
After the entire wafer is laser scribed, individual LEDs or groups of LEDs may be singulated by breaking, as described above and in more detail below.
Prior to wafer separation, also called dicing, a dicing frame 30 is attached to the wafer 1. Dicing frame 30 may be a stretchable dicing tape. As described above a wafer cover 38 may be disposed between the wafer 1 and the support 34, to protect the interconnects 14 and semiconductor structure 12 during the breaking process.
Wafers are typically separated into individual LEDs or groups of LEDs by applying force 42 to break the wafer 1. The groups of LEDs between breaks in the wafer may be one LED wide, or multiple LEDs wide. In the alternative groups, may consist of a single device or several devices in any suitable arrangement including square blocks of devices or L-shaped groups. Typically a wafer is separated sequentially row-by-row, one device wide, as illustrated in
In
Furthermore, the dicing frame 30 and wafer cover separator 38 may stretch when the wafer is broken. Upon subsequent recovery of the dicing frame 30 and wafer cover separator 38 after breaking, the positions of the remaining wafer pieces and/or dies may slightly shift due to the movements of the dicing frame 30 and wafer cover separator 38. The movement that causes the shift in the positions of the remaining wafer pieces and/or dies may occur during breaking, or during recovery after breaking. As breaking progresses along a wafer, mis-alignment between dicing lanes and machine's axis may be introduced and may progressively worsen.
For example,
In
In embodiments of the invention, a wafer is broken non-sequentially, which may reduce sidewall offsets and may improve yield.
To break the wafer in the pattern illustrated in
Any appropriate non-sequential breaking pattern may be used and the invention is not limited to the particular 4-2-1 breaking pattern illustrated in
In some embodiments, the growth substrate 10, illustrated in
In embodiments of the invention, a wafer with location irregularities in the array of LEDs is divided into regions, then a location-specific, best-fit line alignment algorithm is used to determine dicing streets.
In some embodiments, each region includes the number of rows disposed between neighboring fiducials 130. For example, if fiducials 130 are disposed on the wafer every 20 rows of LEDs, each region may include 20 rows of LEDs. (The fiducials 130 illustrated in
Conventionally, a block-based alignment algorithm, which would treat the wafer as a rectangle 120, is used to check alignment of the dicing streets. The block-based algorithm is inappropriate for a round wafer as processing time is wasted on the nonexistent corners 122, where no devices are located. In embodiments of the invention, the boundaries of all regions add up to substantially the whole wafer to be separated. For example, region 126, which is near the top of the wafer, is narrower than region 128, which is near the center of the wafer. Because the sum of the regions is substantially the same shape as the wafer and not rectangular, no empty area is analyzed or diced, which may reduce the cost of processing the wafer by eliminating wasted process time.
In order to define regions, the user first programs a scribing machine with a rough location of the fiducials 130. The borders of the regions 124 may be user-defined, based on the location of fiducials 130. Fiducials 130 may be right at a border of a region 124 in some embodiments, or at a known, fixed distance from the border of a region in some embodiments. Wafers are loaded into the scribing machine with substantially the same orientation. Accordingly, when a new wafer is loaded, the scribing machine searches for the fiducials at the user-defined locations and searches in a spiral pattern outward until the locations of the fiducials on the particular wafer are found. The wafer-specific fiducial positions are corrected, and alignment begins.
During alignment, the scribing machine identifies a best-fit line 138 using fiducial positions along line 138 at the top border of region 132. Then, the scribing machine identifies a best-fit line 140 using fiducial positions along line 140 at the top border of region 134. The process is repeated for line 142 and for all the remaining fiducial positions on the wafer. Algorithms to determine the best-fit line are commercially available. For examples, the best-fit lines can be identified using Least Square fits, using 2 fiducials or more per line.
The location of scribe lines 144 between two best-fit lines is determined by interpolating between the best-fit lines. In particular, in order to identify the location of scribe lines 144 between two adjacent best fit lines 138 and 140 in region 132, the distance between the Y-intercepts of lines 138 and 140 at least one location (such as, for example, Y-axis 160, which is perpendicular to the scribe lines being fit) is divided by the number of rows of LEDs disposed between lines 138 and 140, to determine the distance between each of the Y-intercepts of lines 144. The location of the Y-intercept of the first scribe line 144 above line 140 is determined by adding the calculated distance to the Y-intercept of line 140; the location of the Y-intercept of the second scribe line 144 above line 140 is determined by adding the calculated distance to the Y-intercept of the first scribe line 144 above line 140, and so on for each of scribe lines 144.
The slope adjustment of each scribe line 140 may be similarly determined by dividing the difference between the slopes of lines 138 and 140 by the number of rows of LEDs disposed between lines 138 and 140, then adding the calculated slope adjustment to the slope of line 140 to determine the slope of the first scribe line 144 above line 140, and so on.
The process is repeated for region 134 using Y-intercepts and slopes of best-fit lines 140 and 142, and so on for each successive region.
After the best-fit location of the streets is determined, the wafer may be cut along the streets by any suitable technique including, for example, cutting with the saw blade or a laser, or scribing and breaking.
Having described the invention in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that, given the present disclosure, modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit of the inventive concept described herein. Therefore, it is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited to the specific embodiments illustrated and described.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/664,825, filed Jul. 31, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/031,612, filed Apr. 22, 2016, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,722,138 on Aug. 1, 2017, which is a § 371 application of International Application No. PCT/IB2014/065487 filed on Oct. 21, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/896,836, filed Oct. 29, 2013, which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth.
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