CN114559453A

CN114559453A - Manipulator and semiconductor device

Info

Publication number: CN114559453A
Application number: CN202210187039.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄允文; 刘二壮; 刘枫; 刘涛; 蔡斌
Original assignee: Shanghai Pudate Semiconductor Equipment Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Pudate Semiconductor Equipment Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-02-28
Filing date: 2022-02-28
Publication date: 2022-05-31
Anticipated expiration: 2042-02-28
Also published as: CN114559453B

Abstract

The invention provides a manipulator and semiconductor equipment, which comprise a mechanical arm, a supporting plate and convex blocks, wherein the convex blocks are positioned on the supporting plate, the convex blocks with height difference are combined to form a convex block group, the number of the convex block groups is at least 2, the convex block groups are arranged in a staggered mode, and the height of the convex blocks positioned on the outer side is greater than that of the convex blocks positioned on the inner side so as to provide different inclined planes for bearing wafers. According to the invention, the plurality of sets of convex block groups are arranged on the same manipulator to provide different inclined planes for bearing wafers, so that when the wafers are transmitted, the wafers can be respectively transmitted through the different convex block groups to prevent the wafers from being cross-polluted, and the work is completed without adopting a plurality of mechanical arms, so that the equipment cost can be reduced, the equipment space can be saved, and the equipment complexity can be reduced.

Description

Manipulator and semiconductor device

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of semiconductor equipment, and relates to a manipulator and semiconductor equipment.

Background

The yield is a key index pursued by wafer manufacturers, and directly influences the production efficiency and the company benefit. In a wafer manufacturing process, it is usually necessary to transfer wafers by a robot, such as transferring wafers between a wafer cassette and a wafer cassette, transferring wafers between a wafer cassette and a wafer boat, transferring wafers between reaction chambers, and the like. In the process of manufacturing the wafer, the yield is determined by various factors, and besides the influence of the hardware factors such as the process chamber and the like and the factors such as the process conditions and the like, the transmission process of the wafer also has the influence on the yield of the wafer.

A more typical wafer transfer robot configuration is illustrated in figure 1. A robot arm 11 is mounted on the robot 10, a pallet 12 is mounted on the robot arm 11, and a bump 13 is mounted on the pallet 12. When the wafer 20 is transferred, the robot 10 lifts the wafer by the bumps 13 on the blade 12, and then transfers the wafer 20.

In the conventional semiconductor manufacturing process, in order to prevent cross contamination of wafers, in some cases, a wafer before being processed in the manufacturing process and a wafer after being processed in the manufacturing process require the same contact point/surface, so under such a requirement, in order to prevent cross contamination of wafers, many robots are configured with two robots that are independently retractable, as shown in fig. 2, so as to respectively transmit the wafer before being processed in the manufacturing process and the wafer after being processed in the manufacturing process through a carrying pallet and a bump that are respectively and independently installed on the robots, and the robot with such a structure will undoubtedly cause a problem that the structure of the robot is complicated.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a robot and a semiconductor device, which solve the problem of the prior art that the robot has a complicated structure.

To achieve the above and other related objects, the present invention provides a robot hand including:

a robot arm;

the supporting plate is connected with the mechanical arm;

the lug, the lug is located on the layer board, has the difference in height the lug combination constitutes the lug group, the lug group includes 2 at least, wherein, the lug group is crisscross to be arranged, and is located the outside the height of lug is greater than and is located the inboard the height of lug to provide the different inclined planes that bear the weight of the wafer.

Optionally, the convex block groups are arranged on the supporting plate in a staggered manner from one end far away from the mechanical arm to one end close to the mechanical arm.

Optionally, the inclined planes corresponding to different convex block groups are all axisymmetric patterns, and all the symmetric axes are located on the same straight line.

Optionally, the inclined surfaces corresponding to different convex block groups and the horizontal plane have the same included angle.

Optionally, any one of the bump groups includes 2 or more than N bumps; and/or the cross-sectional morphology of the bump comprises one or a combination of a circle and a polygon.

Optionally, the height difference formed by the bumps in the bump group ranges from 0.1mm to 2 mm.

Optionally, the bumps in any bump group constitute 1 height difference.

Optionally, the supporting plate comprises M convex block groups, and M is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 8.

Optionally, the robot comprises a vacuum suction robot; and/or the lug is an adjusting lug.

The present invention also provides a semiconductor apparatus including any one of the above manipulators.

As described above, the robot and the semiconductor device of the present invention include a robot arm, a supporting plate and bumps, wherein the bumps are located on the supporting plate, the bumps with height difference are combined to form a bump group, the bump group includes at least 2 bumps, wherein the bump groups are arranged in a staggered manner, and the height of the bumps located on the outer side is greater than the height of the bumps located on the inner side, so as to provide different inclined planes for supporting the wafer.

According to the invention, the plurality of sets of convex block groups are arranged on the same manipulator to provide different inclined planes for bearing wafers, so that when the wafers are transmitted, the wafers can be respectively transmitted through the different convex block groups to prevent the wafers from being cross-polluted, and the work is completed without adopting a plurality of mechanical arms, so that the equipment cost can be reduced, the equipment space can be saved, and the equipment complexity can be reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic top view of a robot in the prior art.

Figure 2 shows a side view of two different transfer paths of the robot of figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic top view of a robot having 2 sets of cam sets according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4a and 4b show side views of two different transfer paths of the robot of fig. 3.

Figures 5 a-5 c show side views of three different transfer paths for a robot having 3 sets of cam sets in an embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the element reference numerals

10. 100 mechanical arm

11. 101 mechanical arm

12. 102 pallet

13. 103 bump

113 first bump

123 second bump

133 third bump

14. 104 base

20. 201, 202, 203 wafer

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to specific embodiments, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will be easily understood by those skilled in the art from the disclosure of the present specification. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways, and its several details are capable of modification in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

As in the detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention, the cross-sectional views illustrating the device structure are not partially enlarged in general scale for convenience of illustration, and the schematic views are only examples, which should not limit the scope of the present invention. In addition, the three-dimensional dimensions of length, width and depth should be included in the actual fabrication.

For convenience in description, spatial relational terms such as "below," "beneath," "below," "under," "over," "upper," and the like may be used herein to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that these terms of spatial relationship are intended to encompass other orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. Further, when a layer is referred to as being "between" two layers, it can be the only layer between the two layers, or one or more intervening layers may also be present. Where an element is referred to as being "secured to" or "disposed on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or be indirectly on the other element. When an element is referred to as being "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or be indirectly connected to the other element.

Expressions such as "between … …" may be used herein to include both endpoints, and expressions such as "a plurality" may be used herein to mean two or more unless specifically limited otherwise. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature.

It should be noted that the drawings provided in the present embodiment are only for illustrating the basic idea of the present invention, and the drawings only show the components related to the present invention rather than being drawn according to the number, shape and size of the components in actual implementation, and the type, quantity and proportion of each component in actual implementation may be changed freely, and the layout of the components may be more complicated.

As shown in fig. 3 to 4b, the present embodiment provides a robot arm, the robot arm 100 includes a robot arm 101, a supporting plate 102 and bumps 103, the bumps 103 are located on the supporting plate 102, the bumps 103 with height difference are combined to form a bump set, the bump set at least includes 2 bumps, wherein the bump sets are arranged in a staggered manner, and the height of the bumps 103 located on the outer side is greater than the height of the bumps 103 located on the inner side, so as to provide different inclined surfaces for bearing the wafer 201 and the wafer 202.

As shown in fig. 3, in this embodiment, 2 sets of the bump groups, that is, a first bump group formed by combining 3 first bumps 113 with height difference and a second bump group formed by combining 3 second bumps 123 with height difference, are disposed on the same robot 100 to respectively provide different inclined planes for supporting the wafer 201 and the wafer 202, and the bumps 103 are distributed on the supporting plate 102 such that the height of the bumps 103 located on the outer side is greater than the height of the bumps 103 located on the inner side, so that the bump groups are staggered, that is, the inclined plane formed by the first bumps 113 and the inclined plane formed by the second bumps 123 are staggered, and when the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 are disposed on the respective bump groups, the bottom surfaces of the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 are only contacted with the bumps in the corresponding bump groups, if the wafer 201 is only in contact with the first bumps 113 having inclined surfaces, and the wafer 202 is only in contact with the second bumps 123 having inclined surfaces, when the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 are transferred, the wafers can be transferred through different bump sets respectively, so as to prevent cross contamination of the wafers, and a plurality of robots are not required to complete the work, so that the equipment cost, the equipment space and the equipment complexity can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 represent a wafer before process processing and a wafer after process processing, respectively, that is, the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 represent the same wafer before and after process processing, but not limited thereto, and the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 may also represent different wafers, which is not limited herein.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, in this embodiment, the robot 100 further includes a base 104, wherein the robot 101 is connected to the base 104, and the base 104 can rotate circumferentially, and the robot 101 can rotate circumferentially and also retract back and forth, so as to flexibly and respectively carry the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 through different sets of convex blocks on the supporting plate 102.

As an example, the lug groups are arranged on the supporting plate 102 in a staggered manner from one end far away from the robot arm 101 to one end close to the robot arm 101.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, in this embodiment, the positions of the first bump group formed by combining 3 first bumps 113 with height difference and the second bump group formed by combining 3 second bumps 123 with height difference on the supporting plate 102 are staggered from one end away from the robot 101 to one end adjacent to the robot 101, that is, staggered in the transverse direction, so as to prevent cross contamination of the wafer 201 and the wafer 202, and save the equipment space, but the positions of the bump groups on the supporting plate 102 are not limited thereto, for example, the bump groups may be staggered in the vertical direction on the supporting plate 102, and the like, and may be specifically provided as needed, and are not limited herein.

As an example, the inclined surfaces corresponding to different bump groups are all axisymmetric patterns, and all symmetry axes are located on the same straight line.

Specifically, when the inclined planes corresponding to the bump groups are axisymmetric patterns, the stability of the bump groups for bearing the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 can be improved, but the shape of the bump groups is not limited thereto, and further, if the symmetry axes of the bump groups are all located on the same straight line, the equipment space can be further saved, and when the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 are transmitted, the wafer 201 and the wafer 202 can be borne by the different bump groups only by moving in one direction.

As an example, the inclined surfaces corresponding to different convex block groups and a horizontal plane have the same included angle.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4a and 4b, in this embodiment, in the different bump groups, the inclined plane formed by the first bump 113 and the inclined plane formed by the second bump 123 have the same included angle with the horizontal plane, so as to facilitate the operation and control of the manipulator 100, but not limited thereto, and different included angles may be set between the inclined planes and the horizontal planes corresponding to the different bump groups according to requirements.

By way of example, any one of the bump groups comprises 2 ≦ N bumps 103; and/or the cross-sectional profile of the bump 103 comprises one or a combination of a circle and a polygon.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, in this embodiment, each of the 2 bump groups includes 3 bumps 103 with a height difference, that is, the bump group for carrying the wafer 201 includes 3 first bumps 113, and the 3 first bumps 113 are distributed in a triangular shape, so as to combine the triangular stability to carry the wafer 201, and the bump group for carrying the wafer 202 also includes 3 second bumps 123, and the 3 second bumps 123 are distributed in a triangular shape, so as to combine the triangular stability to carry the wafer 202, but the number of corresponding bumps 103 in any bump group is not limited thereto, for example, the bump group may also be formed by combining the bumps 103 with N being 2, 4, 5, 6, etc., and this is not limited herein.

In this embodiment, the first bump 113 has a circular cross-sectional shape, and the second bump 123 has a regular hexagonal cross-sectional shape, but the cross-sectional shape is not limited to this, and may be specifically set according to needs, such as a triangle or a square.

As an example, the height difference formed by the bumps 103 in the bump group ranges from 0.1mm to 2 mm.

Specifically, in the different bump groups, the height difference formed by the bumps 103 may be the same or different, and may be specifically set as required, wherein in order to reduce the risk of sliding or chipping of the wafer 201 and the wafer 202, it is preferable that the height difference formed by the bumps 103 in the same bump group is in a range of 0.1mm to 2mm, such as 0.1mm, 0.5mm, 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, and the like, so as to reduce the slope of the inclined plane as much as possible while not contacting the bumps 103 in other bump groups when the wafer is transported on the different bump groups, so as to ensure the transport safety of the wafer 201 and the wafer 202.

As an example, the bumps 103 in any of the bump groups constitute 1 height difference.

Specifically, in the same bump group, the height difference formed by the bumps 103 may include, for example, 1, 2, 3, and the like, and may be specifically set as required to implement step-wise transition and form an inclined surface for supporting the wafer. In this embodiment, in order to simplify the complexity of the apparatus, it is preferable that the bumps 103 in any one of the bump groups form 1 height difference, and the height difference ranges from 0.1mm to 2mm, such as 0.1mm, 0.5mm, 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, and the like.

As an example, the supporting plate 102 comprises M convex block groups, and M is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 8.

Specifically, according to needs, a plurality of sets of the bump groups may be disposed on the supporting plate 102, and in this embodiment, fig. 3 to 4b illustrate a case where M is 2, and fig. 5a, 5b and 5c illustrate a case where M is 3, that is, 3 sets of bump groups, that is, a first bump group formed by a plurality of first bumps 113, a second bump group formed by a plurality of second bumps 123 and a third bump group formed by a plurality of third bumps 133, are disposed on the supporting plate 102, so as to respectively support the wafer 201, the wafer 202 and the wafer 203, if M among the M sets of bump groups can take a value of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and so on. For the setting that M is 2 ≤ M, reference may be made to the above statement of the manipulator 100 with 2 sets of the bump sets, which is not described herein again.

As an example, the robot 100 includes a vacuum suction type robot; and/or the lug 103 is an adjustable lug.

Specifically, in this embodiment, in order to reduce the operation complexity and the equipment complexity, the robot 100 transfers the wafer by the friction between the bumps 103 and the wafer 201 and the wafer 202, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the robot 100 may be a vacuum suction type robot or the like as needed, and is not limited thereto.

The protrusion 103 may be an adjustable protrusion or a fixed protrusion, that is, the protrusion 103 may be configured as an adjustable protrusion that can be displaced up and down, left and right, or both up and down and left and right, so as to provide flexibility for application, or the protrusion 103 may be directly configured as a fixed protrusion in order to reduce complexity of operation and complexity of the device, which is not limited herein.

The present embodiment further provides a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device employs the above robot 100, and details regarding the specific structure of the robot 100 are not described herein.

In summary, the robot and the semiconductor device of the present invention include a robot arm, a supporting plate and bumps, wherein the bumps are located on the supporting plate, the bumps with height difference are combined to form a bump group, the bump group includes at least 2 bumps, wherein the bump groups are arranged in a staggered manner, and the height of the bumps located on the outer side is greater than the height of the bumps located on the inner side, so as to provide different inclined planes for supporting the wafer.

The foregoing embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and utilities of the present invention and are not intended to limit the invention. Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical spirit of the present invention be covered by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A robot hand, characterized by comprising:

a robot arm;

the supporting plate is connected with the mechanical arm;

2. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein: the convex block groups are arranged on the supporting plate in a staggered mode from one end far away from the mechanical arm to one end close to the mechanical arm.

3. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein: the inclined planes corresponding to different convex block groups are all axisymmetric patterns, and all the symmetric axes are positioned on the same straight line.

4. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein: the inclined planes corresponding to different convex block groups have the same included angle with the horizontal plane.

5. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein: any one of the bump groups comprises more than or equal to N bumps; and/or the cross-sectional morphology of the bump comprises one or a combination of a circle and a polygon.

6. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein: the height difference formed by the convex blocks in the convex block group ranges from 0.1mm to 2 mm.

7. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein: the bumps in any bump group form 1 height difference.

8. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein: the supporting plate comprises M convex block groups, wherein M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to 8.

9. The robot hand according to claim 1, wherein: the manipulator comprises a vacuum adsorption type manipulator; and/or the lug is an adjusting lug.

10. A semiconductor device, characterized by: the semiconductor device includes the robot as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.