Patent ID: 7994451

Claim:
A laser beam processing machine comprising: a chuck table for holding a semiconductor wafer as a workpiece, a laser beam application means for applying a pulse laser beam to the workpiece held on the chuck table, a processing-feed means for processing-feeding the chuck table and the laser beam application means relative to each other, the processing-feed means controlling a processing-feed rate of the chuck table so as to accelerate it to reach a predetermined processing-feed rate in the course from a processing-feed start position to a first predetermined processing-feed position, to maintain the predetermined processing-feed rate at a uniform velocity in the course from the first predetermined processing-feed position to a second predetermined processing-feed position, and to decelerate the processing-feed rate to nil in the course from the second predetermined processing-feed position to a processing-feed end position, at the time of processing-feeding the chuck table, an image pick-up means for detecting the coordinate values of the processing-feed start position and the processing-feed end position respectively after the processing-feed start position and the processing-feed end position are positioned right below the image pick-up means, a feed amount detection means for detecting the processing-feed position of the chuck table, and a control means for controlling the laser beam application means based on a detection signal from the feed amount detection means; wherein the feed amount detection means comprises a linear scale arranged along a guide rail and a read head that is mounted on a first sliding block and moves along the linear scale with the first sliding block; the control means comprises a storage means for storing a control map for setting the processing condition of a laser beam based on the processing-feed rate for the processing-feed position from the processing-feed start position to the processing-feed end position of the chuck table by the processing-feed means and outputs an application signal of the processing condition set by the control map to the laser beam application means based on a signal from the feed amount detection means.