CN114695222B - Wafer transfer system and method - Google Patents
Wafer transfer system and method Download PDFInfo
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- CN114695222B CN114695222B CN202210618135.9A CN202210618135A CN114695222B CN 114695222 B CN114695222 B CN 114695222B CN 202210618135 A CN202210618135 A CN 202210618135A CN 114695222 B CN114695222 B CN 114695222B
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/677—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
- H01L21/67763—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/677—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
- H01L21/67763—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading
- H01L21/67766—Mechanical parts of transfer devices
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/677—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
- H01L21/67763—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading
- H01L21/67775—Docking arrangements
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/677—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
- H01L21/67763—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading
- H01L21/67778—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading involving loading and unloading of wafers
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
- H05K5/00—Casings, cabinets or drawers for electric apparatus
- H05K5/06—Hermetically-sealed casings
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02P70/00—Climate change mitigation technologies in the production process for final industrial or consumer products
- Y02P70/50—Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product
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Abstract
The embodiment of the invention provides a wafer transmission system and a wafer transmission method, and relates to the technical field of semiconductors. The wafer transmission system comprises a front cavity, a transmission cavity, an exchange cavity and a rotary lifting device, wherein a first exchange port and a second exchange port which are the same in shape are formed in a bottom plate of the transmission cavity, the first exchange port is in butt joint with a butt joint port in the front cavity, the exchange cavity is in sealing connection with the front cavity and the transmission cavity through an opening, the rotary lifting device is installed on the exchange cavity and comprises two sealing plates with exchangeable positions, the two sealing plates are used for bearing a wafer box and can respectively lift into the first exchange port and the second exchange port to seal the first exchange port and the second exchange port, and the wafer box borne by the two sealing plates is respectively conveyed into the front cavity and the transmission cavity. The wafer transmission system can reduce the probability of the wafer being polluted by dust and improve the whole processing efficiency.
Description
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a wafer transmission system and a wafer transmission method.
Background
In the semiconductor factories of China, a large number of types of equipment are used for chip manufacturing processes. These various equipments can be used successively, repeatedly or cyclically. The transfer between the individual process units can limit the yield of wafers due to various factors, such as contamination by dust. In addition, in the existing wafer conveying and processing process, the wafer of one wafer box is often required to be processed, and then the wafer of the next wafer box is processed, so that the overall processing efficiency is not high.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a wafer conveying system and a wafer conveying method, which can reduce the probability of the wafer being polluted by dust and improve the overall processing efficiency.
Embodiments of the invention may be implemented as follows:
in a first aspect, the present invention provides a wafer transfer system, comprising:
the front cavity is provided with an inlet and a butt joint, and the inlet is provided with a door closing system;
the conveying cavity comprises a bottom plate and a plurality of side plates connected to the bottom plate, wherein a first exchange port and a second exchange port which are identical in shape are formed in the bottom plate, the first exchange port is formed in the portion, protruding out of the bottom plate, opposite to the side plates, the front cavity is installed on the portion, protruding out of the side plates, of the bottom plate, and the first exchange port is in butt joint with the butt joint ports;
the exchange cavity is provided with an opening, the exchange cavity is hermetically connected with the front cavity and the transmission cavity through the opening, and the first exchange port and the second exchange port are both positioned in the opening;
and the rotary lifting device is arranged on the exchange cavity and comprises two sealing plates with exchangeable positions, the sealing plates are used for bearing the wafer box, and the two sealing plates can be respectively lifted into the first exchange port and the second exchange port to seal the first exchange port and the second exchange port and respectively convey the wafer box respectively borne by the two sealing plates into the front cavity and the conveying cavity.
In an alternative embodiment, the first and second ports are in a central symmetric relationship with each other, and the two sealing plates are in a central symmetric relationship with each other.
In an optional embodiment, the front cavity and the transfer cavity are both rectangular, the front cavity and the transfer cavity are attached to each other, the inlet is formed in one side of the front cavity, which is far away from the transfer cavity, and the butt joint is formed in the bottom of the front cavity.
In an optional embodiment, a side plate of the conveying cavity is provided with a conveying port, the conveying port is used for being in butt joint with the process cavity, and a conveying swing door is installed on the conveying port.
In an alternative embodiment, a robot is mounted in the transfer chamber for transferring wafers between cassettes entering the transfer chamber and the process chamber.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides a wafer transferring method, which uses the wafer transferring system of the foregoing embodiment, and the wafer transferring method includes:
s1: controlling the rotary lifting device to seal the two sealing plates with the first exchange port and the second exchange port, vacuumizing the conveying cavity, and controlling the door closing system to open the inlet;
s2: after a wafer box is installed on a sealing plate in the front cavity, controlling a door closing system to close an inlet, and vacuumizing the front cavity and the exchange cavity until the pressures of the front cavity, the exchange cavity, the conveying cavity and the process cavity are balanced;
s3: controlling the rotary lifting device to lower the two sealing plates into the exchange cavity, rotating and switching the positions of the two sealing plates, then respectively lifting the two sealing plates into the front cavity and the transmission cavity, and sealing the first exchange port and the second exchange port;
s4: and processing the wafer entering the transfer cavity.
In an alternative embodiment, after S4, the wafer transfer method further includes:
s5: vacuum breaking treatment is carried out on the front cavity, and then a door closing system is controlled to open an inlet so as to load a film box;
s6: and vacuumizing the front cavity until the pressures of the front cavity, the exchange cavity, the transfer cavity and the process cavity are balanced.
In an alternative embodiment, after S6, the wafer transfer method further includes:
s7: after the wafers in the wafer boxes in the conveying cavity are processed, the rotary lifting device is controlled to lift the two sealing plates into the exchange cavity, the positions of the two sealing plates are switched through rotation, and then the two sealing plates are respectively lifted into the front cavity and the conveying cavity and seal the first exchange port and the second exchange port.
In an alternative embodiment, after S7, the wafer transfer method further includes:
s8: and processing the wafer entering the transfer cavity.
In an alternative embodiment, after S7, the wafer transfer method further includes:
s9: the front chamber is subjected to vacuum breaking treatment, and then the door closing system is controlled to open the inlet so as to take out the wafer cassette carrying the processed wafer and load a new wafer cassette.
The wafer transmission system and the wafer transmission method provided by the embodiment have the beneficial effects that:
1. in the process of loading and unloading the wafer box in the front cavity and the process of processing the wafer in the conveying cavity, the front cavity, the exchange cavity and the conveying cavity are sequentially isolated by the two seal plates, so that mutual pollution cannot be caused between any two adjacent cavities, particularly, pollution particles entering the front cavity from the atmosphere cannot enter a subsequent cavity, the probability of dust pollution to the wafer is reduced, particularly, three-layer sealing is realized for the process cavity, the process cavity is isolated from the conveying cavity in a sealing manner by the seal plates, the conveying cavity is isolated from the exchange cavity by the seal plates in a sealing manner, the exchange cavity is isolated from the front cavity by the seal plates, the requirement of the process cavity on avoiding environmental pollution is greatly ensured, and the conveying cavity can also avoid the environmental pollution as much as possible;
2. in the process of processing the wafer in the conveying cavity, the operation of loading a new wafer box into the front cavity can be carried out simultaneously, namely, the wafer processing and the wafer loading can be carried out simultaneously, and the processed wafer box just returns to the front cavity when the new wafer box reaches the conveying cavity so as to be moved out of the system, so that the new wafer box is not loaded after one wafer box is completely processed, and the overall processing efficiency is improved;
3. more importantly, first exchange mouth and second exchange mouth are all seted up on the bottom plate of conveying cavity, but not adopt the concatenation of two boards to form, like this, process out first exchange mouth and second exchange mouth on a bottom plate in the lump, can improve the position precision, be convenient for respectively with the accurate cooperation of two shrouding, guarantee sealed effect, moreover rotary lifting device's overall structure design is ingenious compact, can realize the accurate control in position to the shrouding, guarantee the accurate of shrouding and exchange mouth sealed.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it should be understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present invention and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and for those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without inventive efforts.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a front cavity provided in an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a transfer chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an exchange chamber provided in an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a rotary lifting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Icon: 1-a front cavity; 11-an inlet; 12-a pair of interfaces; 2-a transfer chamber; 21-a bottom plate; 211 — a first switching port; 212-second switching port; 22-side plate; 221-a transfer port; 3-exchanging the cavity; 31-an opening; 4-a door closing system; 5-rotating the lifting device; 51-closing plate; 52-a scaffold; 53-a first power mechanism; 531 — first motor; 532-a first gear; 533-second gear; 54-a screw rod; 55-a slide block; 56-a second power mechanism; 561-a second motor; 562-a third gear; 563-fourth gear; 564-sheave construction; 57-rotation axis; 6-a tablet box.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. The components of embodiments of the present invention generally described and illustrated in the figures herein may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.
Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention, presented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, as claimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, it need not be further defined and explained in subsequent figures.
In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that if the terms "upper", "lower", "inside", "outside", etc. indicate an orientation or a positional relationship based on that shown in the drawings or that the product of the present invention is used as it is, this is only for convenience of description and simplification of the description, and it does not indicate or imply that the device or the element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and be operated, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present invention.
Furthermore, the appearances of the terms "first," "second," and the like, if any, are used solely to distinguish one from another and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.
It should be noted that the features of the embodiments of the present invention may be combined with each other without conflict.
Referring to fig. 1 to 4, the present embodiment provides a wafer transfer system, which includes a front chamber 1, a transfer chamber 2, an exchange chamber 3, a door closing system 4, a rotary lifting device 5, a robot (not shown), and a transfer swing door (not shown). Wherein, preceding cavity 1 and conveying cavity 2 laminate setting each other, and be located same height, exchange cavity 3 supports in the bottom of preceding cavity 1 and conveying cavity 2, exchange cavity 3 can communicate each other or isolated with preceding cavity 1 and conveying cavity 2 respectively.
Referring to fig. 1, the front chamber 1 is rectangular, an inlet 11 is disposed on a side of the front chamber 1 away from the transfer chamber 2, and the door closing system 4 is mounted on the inlet 11. The bottom of the front cavity 1 is provided with a butt joint port 12.
Referring to fig. 2, the transfer chamber 2 is rectangular, the transfer chamber 2 includes a bottom plate 21 and a plurality of side plates 22 connected to the bottom plate 21, the bottom plate 21 is provided with a first exchange port 211 and a second exchange port 212 having the same shape, wherein the first exchange port 211 is provided on a portion of the bottom plate 21 protruding relative to the side plates 22, the front chamber 1 is mounted on the portion of the side plates 22 protruding, the first exchange port 211 is used for being abutted to the interface 12, and the area of the opening 31 of the interface 12 is larger than the area of the opening 31 of the first exchange port 211.
The side plate 22 of the transfer cavity 2 is provided with a transfer port 221, the transfer port 221 is used for butt joint with the process cavity, a transfer swing door is installed on the transfer port 221, the transfer cavity 2 and the process cavity can be communicated by opening the transfer swing door, and the transfer cavity 2 and the process cavity can be isolated by closing the transfer swing door. In this embodiment, the three side plates 22 are all provided with a conveying port 221 for connecting three process chambers. The transfer chamber 2 is provided with a robot for transferring wafers between the cassettes 6 introduced into the transfer chamber 2 and the process chamber.
Referring to fig. 3, the exchanging cavity 3 is barrel-shaped, the exchanging cavity 3 is provided with an opening 31, the exchanging cavity 3 is hermetically connected to the front cavity 1 and the transferring cavity 2 through the opening 31, and the first exchanging port 211 and the second exchanging port 212 are both located in the opening 31.
Referring to fig. 4, the rotary lifting device 5 is installed on the exchanging cavity 3, and the rotary lifting device 5 includes a sealing plate 51, a bracket 52, a first power mechanism 53, a screw 54, a sliding block 55, a second power mechanism 56, and a rotating shaft 57. The bracket 52 is arranged in the exchange cavity 3; the first power mechanism 53 is mounted on the bracket 52; the screw rod 54 is rotatably arranged on the bracket 52 and is driven to rotate by a first power mechanism 53; the sliding block 55 is sleeved on the screw rod 54 and is in threaded fit with the screw rod 54; the second power mechanism 56 is mounted on the slide block 55; the rotating shaft 57 is rotatably mounted on the slider 55 and is rotated by the second power mechanism 56, and the two closing plates 51 are symmetrically connected to the rotating shaft 57.
Thus, the two closing plates 51 can be exchanged by rotating the rotating shaft 57 by 180 °, the two closing plates 51 have the same shape and structure, each closing plate 51 can carry two cassettes 6, and the two closing plates 51 can be respectively lifted into the first exchanging port 211 and the second exchanging port 212 to seal the first exchanging port 211 and the second exchanging port 212, and respectively transport the cassettes 6 carried by the two closing plates into the front chamber 1 and the transfer chamber 2.
Preferably, the first exchange port 211 and the second exchange port 212 are in a central symmetrical relationship with each other, and the two closing plates 51 are in a central symmetrical relationship with each other. Thus, the two closing plates 51 can still be respectively lifted into the first exchange port 211 and the second exchange port 212 after rotating and exchanging positions so as to seal the first exchange port 211 and the second exchange port 212, the production difficulty can be reduced, and the precision requirement can be easily met.
The specific structural form of the first power mechanism 53 and the second power mechanism 56 has various options, and may be a combination of a motor and a gear, or a combination of a motor and a belt transmission mechanism.
In this embodiment, the first power mechanism 53 includes a first motor 531, a first gear 532 and a second gear 533, and the first motor 531 is mounted on the bracket 52; a first gear 532 is mounted on an output shaft of the first motor 531; the second gear 533 is mounted to an end of the lead screw 54, and the second gear 533 is engaged with the first gear 532.
The second power mechanism 56 comprises a second motor 561, a third gear 562 and a fourth gear 563, and the second motor 561 is mounted on the slider 55; a third gear 562 is mounted on an output shaft of the second motor 561; a fourth gear 563 is mounted on the end of the rotary shaft 57, and the fourth gear 563 is connected to the third gear 562 via a sheave structure 564.
The present invention further provides a wafer transmission method, wherein the wafer transmission method employs a wafer transmission system, and the wafer transmission method will describe in detail a complete process of transmitting and processing a wafer by the wafer transmission system, and specifically, the wafer transmission method includes:
s1: the rotary lifting device 5 is controlled to seal the two sealing plates 51 with the first exchange port 211 and the second exchange port 212, vacuumize the transfer chamber 2 and the process chamber, and control the door closing system 4 to open the inlet 11.
Before the wafer transfer system is used for the first time, the transfer chamber 2 and the process chamber connected to the transfer chamber 2 need to be vacuumized, and at this time, the second exchanging port 212 is sealed by the sealing plate 51, and the transfer chamber 2 and the exchanging chamber 3 are isolated from each other. The door closing system 4 opens the inlet 11 in no sequence with the evacuation process, the inlet 11 being opened for loading the cassette 6, the cassette 6 carrying the wafers to be processed.
S2: after the sheet box 6 is mounted on the sealing plate 51 in the front cavity 1, the door closing system 4 is controlled to close the inlet 11, and the front cavity 1 and the exchange cavity 3 are vacuumized until the pressures of the front cavity 1, the exchange cavity 3, the transfer cavity 2 and the process chamber are balanced.
Wherein, can design preceding cavity 1 and exchange cavity 3 and pass through valve intercommunication or disconnection, adopt one set of evacuation equipment just can realize the evacuation in the lump of preceding cavity 1 and exchange cavity 3. When the pressure difference between the exchange cavity 3 and the conveying cavity 2 is smaller than the threshold value, the balance pipeline between the exchange cavity 3 and the conveying cavity 2 is conducted, so that the internal pressure balance of the two cavities is ensured.
S3: the rotary elevating device 5 is controlled to lower the two sealing plates 51 into the exchanging cavity 3, and to switch the positions of the two sealing plates 51 by rotation, and then to raise the two sealing plates 51 into the front cavity 1 and the transfer cavity 2, respectively, and to seal the first exchanging port 211 and the second exchanging port 212.
Wherein, under the condition of pressure balance between the exchange cavity 3 and the transfer cavity 2, the closing plate 51 is lowered and the three cavities are communicated, so that the wafers in the cavities can be prevented from vibrating due to air pressure impact, and the pollution particles are prevented from splashing on the wafers.
S4: the wafers entering the transfer chamber 2 are processed.
The conveying swing door corresponding to the process cavity is opened firstly, the wafer in the wafer box 6 in the conveying cavity 2 is clamped through the mechanical arm in the conveying cavity 2, the wafer is conveyed into the corresponding process cavity and the conveying swing door is closed, corresponding process treatment is completed, the process cavity and the conveying cavity 2 are sealed and isolated mutually, mutual influence or pollution is avoided, at the moment, the process cavity, the conveying cavity 2, the exchange cavity 3 and the front cavity 1 are sequentially sealed and isolated, three-layer sealing is realized from the process cavity to the external environment, the requirement of the process cavity for avoiding environmental pollution is greatly met, and the conveying cavity 2 can also avoid environmental pollution as much as possible.
After the wafers have completed all required processing, the transfer swing door is opened and the robot returns the wafers in the process chamber to the cassette 6.
S5: the front cavity 1 is subjected to vacuum breaking treatment, and then the door closing system 4 is controlled to open the inlet 11 so as to load the film box 6.
S6: the front cavity 1 is vacuumized until the pressures of the front cavity 1, the exchange cavity 3, the transfer cavity 2 and the process chamber are balanced.
In S5, a new sheet cassette 6 is loaded into the front chamber 1, and after the door closing system 4 is controlled to close the entrance 11, the front chamber 1 is vacuumized until the pressures of the front chamber 1, the exchange chamber 3, the transfer chamber 2, and the process chamber are balanced.
After the completion of S3, S5 and S6 may be performed in sequence, and S5 and S4 do not have a sequence, and may be performed together to shorten the process time. Generally, the time required by S4 is longer, and S5 and S6 can be completed in sequence in the process of S4, so that the time required by S5 and S6 is shortened in the whole process compared with the conventional process, and the processing efficiency is improved.
S7: after the wafers in the cassettes 6 in the transfer chamber 2 are processed, the rotary lifting device 5 is controlled to lower the two sealing plates 51 into the swap chamber 3, and by rotating and switching the positions of the two sealing plates 51, the two sealing plates 51 are lifted into the front chamber 1 and the transfer chamber 2, respectively, and the first swap port 211 and the second swap port 212 are sealed.
Specifically, after the wafers in the cassette 6 in the transfer chamber 2 are processed, and a new cassette 6 is loaded into the front chamber 1, and the front chamber 1, the exchange chamber 3, and the transfer chamber 2 reach a pressure balance, the rotary lifting device 5 is controlled to lower the two sealing plates 51.
After completion of S7, the sheet cassette 6 whose processing has been previously completed is in the front chamber 1, and the newly loaded sheet cassette 6 is in the transfer chamber 2 while the four chambers become mutually isolated.
S8: the wafers entering the transfer chamber 2 are processed.
The conveying swing door corresponding to the process cavity is opened firstly, the wafer in the wafer box 6 in the conveying cavity 2 is clamped through the mechanical arm in the conveying cavity 2, the wafer is conveyed into the corresponding process cavity and the conveying swing door is closed, corresponding process treatment is completed, the process cavity and the conveying cavity 2 are sealed and isolated mutually, mutual influence or pollution is avoided, at the moment, the process cavity, the conveying cavity 2, the exchange cavity 3 and the front cavity 1 are sequentially sealed and isolated, three-layer sealing is realized from the process cavity to the external environment, the requirement of the process cavity for avoiding environmental pollution is greatly met, and the conveying cavity 2 can also avoid environmental pollution as much as possible.
After the wafers have completed all required processing, the transfer swing door is opened and the robot returns the wafers in the process chamber to the cassette 6.
S9: the front chamber 1 is subjected to vacuum breaking treatment, and the door closing system 4 is controlled to open the entrance 11 so as to take out the cassette 6 carrying the wafers having completed the processing and load a new cassette 6.
S8 and S9 can be started together after S7 is finished, the processing time of S8 is longer, and the operation of S9 can be finished in the processing process of S8, so that the operation time of S9 is saved at least for the whole process, and the processing efficiency is further improved.
The wafer transmission system and the wafer transmission method provided by the embodiment have the beneficial effects that:
1. in the process of loading and unloading the wafer box 6 of the front cavity 1 and in the process of processing the wafer in the transfer cavity 2, the front cavity 1, the exchange cavity 3 and the transfer cavity 2 are isolated in sequence by the two seal plates 51, so that mutual pollution can not be generated between any two adjacent cavities, particularly, pollution particles entering the front cavity 1 from the atmosphere can not enter a subsequent cavity, the probability of dust pollution of the wafer is reduced, particularly, three-layer sealing is realized for the process cavity, because the process cavity is sealed and isolated from the transfer cavity 2 in the working process, the transfer cavity 2 is sealed and isolated from the exchange cavity 3 by the seal plates 51, the exchange cavity 3 is sealed and isolated from the front cavity 1 by the seal plates 51, the requirement of avoiding environmental pollution of the process cavity is greatly ensured, and the transfer cavity 2 can avoid environmental pollution as much as possible;
2. in the process of processing the wafer in the conveying cavity 2, the operation of loading a new wafer box 6 into the front cavity 1 can be carried out simultaneously, namely, the wafer processing and the wafer loading can be carried out simultaneously, and when the new wafer box 6 reaches the conveying cavity 2, the processed wafer box 6 just returns to the front cavity 1 so as to be moved out of the system, so that the new wafer box 6 is not loaded after one wafer box 6 is completely processed, and the whole processing efficiency is improved;
3. more importantly, first exchange mouth 211 and second exchange mouth 212 are all seted up on the bottom plate 21 of conveying cavity 2, rather than adopting two boards to splice and form, like this, process out first exchange mouth 211 and second exchange mouth 212 on a bottom plate 21 in the lump, can improve the position precision, be convenient for respectively with two accurate cooperations of shrouding 51, guarantee sealed effect, and rotary lifting device 5's overall structure design is ingenious compact, can realize the accurate control in position to shrouding 51, guarantee shrouding 51 and exchange mouthful accurate sealed.
The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.
Claims (10)
1. A wafer transfer system, comprising:
the front cavity (1) is provided with an inlet (11) and a butt joint port (12), and the inlet (11) is provided with a door closing system (4);
the conveying cavity (2) comprises a bottom plate (21) and a plurality of side plates (22) connected to the bottom plate (21), wherein a first exchange port (211) and a second exchange port (212) which are identical in shape are formed in the bottom plate (21), the first exchange port (211) is formed in a part, extending out relative to the side plates (22), of the bottom plate (21), the front cavity (1) is installed on the extending part of the side plates (22), and the first exchange port (211) is in butt joint with the butt joint port (12);
the exchange cavity (3) is provided with an opening (31), the exchange cavity (3) is hermetically connected with the front cavity (1) and the transmission cavity (2) through the opening (31), and the first exchange port (211) and the second exchange port (212) are both positioned in the opening (31);
a rotary lifting device (5) mounted on the exchange chamber (3), the rotary lifting device (5) comprising two closing plates (51) with interchangeable positions, the closing plates (51) being used for carrying the cassettes (6), the two closing plates (51) being capable of being respectively lifted into the first exchange port (211) and the second exchange port (212) to seal the first exchange port (211) and the second exchange port (212) and respectively convey the cassettes (6) respectively carried into the front chamber (1) and the transfer chamber (2).
2. The wafer transfer system of claim 1, wherein the first swap port (211) and the second swap port (212) are in a central symmetric relationship with each other, and the two cover plates (51) are in a central symmetric relationship with each other.
3. The wafer conveying system according to claim 1, wherein the front cavity (1) and the conveying cavity (2) are both rectangular parallelepiped, the front cavity (1) and the conveying cavity (2) are attached to each other, the inlet (11) is provided on one side of the front cavity (1) far away from the conveying cavity (2), and the docking port (12) is provided on the bottom of the front cavity (1).
4. The wafer conveying system according to claim 1, wherein the side plate (22) of the conveying cavity (2) is provided with a conveying opening (221), the conveying opening (221) is used for being in butt joint with the process cavity, and a conveying swing door is installed on the conveying opening (221).
5. Wafer transfer system according to claim 4, characterized in that a robot is mounted in the transfer chamber (2) for transferring wafers between the cassettes (6) entering the transfer chamber (2) and the process chamber.
6. A wafer transfer method using the wafer transfer system of claim 1, the wafer transfer method comprising:
s1: controlling the rotary lifting device (5) to seal the two sealing plates (51) with the first exchange port (211) and the second exchange port (212), vacuumizing the transfer cavity (2), and controlling the door closing system (4) to open the inlet (11);
s2: after the box (6) is installed on the sealing plate (51) in the front cavity (1), the door closing system (4) is controlled to close the inlet (11), and the front cavity (1) and the exchange cavity (3) are vacuumized until the pressure of the front cavity (1), the exchange cavity (3), the conveying cavity (2) and the process cavity is balanced;
s3: controlling the rotary lifting device (5) to lower the two sealing plates (51) into the exchange cavity (3), rotating and switching the positions of the two sealing plates (51), and then respectively lifting the two sealing plates (51) into the front cavity (1) and the transmission cavity (2) and sealing the first exchange port (211) and the second exchange port (212);
s4: and processing the wafer entering the conveying cavity (2).
7. The wafer transfer method of claim 6, wherein after S4, the wafer transfer method further comprises:
s5: carrying out vacuum breaking treatment on the front cavity (1), and controlling the door closing system (4) to open the inlet (11) so as to load the tablet box (6);
s6: and vacuumizing the front cavity (1) until the pressure of the front cavity (1), the exchange cavity (3), the conveying cavity (2) and the process cavity is balanced.
8. The wafer transfer method of claim 7, wherein after S6, the wafer transfer method further comprises:
s7: after the wafers in the wafer box (6) in the conveying cavity (2) are processed, the rotary lifting device (5) is controlled to lift two sealing plates (51) into the exchange cavity (3), rotate and switch the positions of the two sealing plates (51), and then lift the two sealing plates (51) into the front cavity (1) and the conveying cavity (2) respectively and seal the first exchange port (211) and the second exchange port (212).
9. The wafer transfer method of claim 8, wherein after S7, the wafer transfer method further comprises:
s8: and processing the wafer entering the conveying cavity (2).
10. The wafer transfer method of claim 8, wherein after S7, the wafer transfer method further comprises:
s9: and (3) carrying out vacuum breaking treatment on the front cavity (1), and then controlling the door closing system (4) to open the inlet (11) so as to take out the wafer box (6) bearing the processed wafers and load a new wafer box (6).
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Citations (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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| CN105431933A (en) * | 2013-01-22 | 2016-03-23 | 布鲁克斯自动化公司 | Substrate transport |
| CN105575848A (en) * | 2014-10-17 | 2016-05-11 | 中微半导体设备(上海)有限公司 | Vacuum lock system and substrate processing method |
| CN106856664A (en) * | 2014-09-05 | 2017-06-16 | 日商乐华股份有限公司 | The atmosphere method of replacing of load port and load port |
| KR102200250B1 (en) * | 2020-05-29 | 2021-01-11 | 주식회사 싸이맥스 | Load port module provided with a Foup loadlock door, and a method for opening and closing the Load port module door and the Foup loadlock door |
Family Cites Families (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP6099945B2 (en) * | 2012-11-22 | 2017-03-22 | 東京エレクトロン株式会社 | Lid opening / closing mechanism, shielding mechanism and internal purging method of container |
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Patent Citations (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN105431933A (en) * | 2013-01-22 | 2016-03-23 | 布鲁克斯自动化公司 | Substrate transport |
| CN106856664A (en) * | 2014-09-05 | 2017-06-16 | 日商乐华股份有限公司 | The atmosphere method of replacing of load port and load port |
| CN105575848A (en) * | 2014-10-17 | 2016-05-11 | 中微半导体设备(上海)有限公司 | Vacuum lock system and substrate processing method |
| KR102200250B1 (en) * | 2020-05-29 | 2021-01-11 | 주식회사 싸이맥스 | Load port module provided with a Foup loadlock door, and a method for opening and closing the Load port module door and the Foup loadlock door |
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Address after: 226400 No.1 Jinshan Road, zuegang street, Rudong County, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province Patentee after: Jiangsu Yiwen Microelectronics Technology Co.,Ltd. Patentee after: Wuxi Yiwen Microelectronics Technology Co.,Ltd. Address before: 226400 No.1 Jinshan Road, zuegang street, Rudong County, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province Patentee before: Jiangsu Yiwen Microelectronics Technology Co.,Ltd. Patentee before: WUXI YIWEN ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY Co.,Ltd. |