Patent ID: 7165331

Claim:
Apparatus for scribing a semiconductor wafer while controlling scribing forces, said apparatus comprising, in combination: a wafer support for supporting a semiconductor wafer; a scribe tool; scribe tool support structure supporting said scribe tool; movable transport structure including a linear vertical stage having a vertically movable member, said scribe tool support structure connected to said vertically movable member and supported thereby, vertical movement of said vertically movable member operable to selectively alternatively move said tool support structure and the scribe tool supported thereby toward or away from said wafer support and a semiconductor wafer supported thereon, said scribe tool support structure including relatively slidably movable first and second structural components, said scribe tool being attached to said first structural component and said second structural component affixed to said vertically movable member, said scribe tool being movable with said first structural component relative to said second structural component responsive to force exerted by said scribe tool on the semiconductor wafer after engagement therebetween, and the vertically movable member of said transport structure movable toward said semiconductor wafer when said force is less than a predetermined force and movable away from said semiconductor wafer when said force is greater than said predetermined force; and biasing structure operatively associated with said first structural component continuously exerting opposed biasing forces on said first structural component to resist relative slidable movement between said first structural component and said second structural component to continuously urge said first structural component to a predetermined position relative to said vertically movable member and said second structural component.