CN115274496A

CN115274496A - Wafer processing equipment and wafer processing method

Info

Publication number: CN115274496A
Application number: CN202210770269.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李江风; 王力; 龙俊舟
Original assignee: Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-30
Filing date: 2022-06-30
Publication date: 2022-11-01

Abstract

The application provides a wafer processing apparatus and a wafer processing method. The wafer processing apparatus includes: the device comprises a reaction chamber, a gate and an induction device; wherein, the reaction chamber is used for placing the wafer for processing; the gate is arranged on the side wall of the reaction chamber to open or close the reaction chamber; the sensing device is used for detecting whether the wafer placed in the reaction chamber is cracked or not. The wafer processing equipment can prevent the broken wafer from polluting other chambers in the wafer processing equipment, such as other processing chambers. Meanwhile, after the wafer in the reaction chamber is broken, the reaction chamber is only required to be stopped, other chambers in the wafer processing equipment, such as other processing chambers, can still work continuously, the whole wafer processing equipment does not need to be stopped, and the utilization rate of the wafer processing equipment is greatly improved. Meanwhile, invalid subsequent processing treatment on the broken wafer is avoided, and the workload of workers is reduced.

Description

Wafer processing equipment and wafer processing method

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a wafer processing device and a wafer processing method.

Background

The wafer processing apparatus includes a reaction chamber and a transfer chamber. The reaction chamber, such as a Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) chamber, is used to place a wafer, and a metal, a metal alloy or a compound is evaporated and deposited on the surface of the wafer by using a PVD method such as vacuum evaporation, plasma sputtering, arc plasma coating, ion coating, molecular beam epitaxy, etc. to form a thin film on the surface of the wafer.

However, the wafer is prone to crack during the process of forming the thin film required by the process in the reaction chamber, and the wafer processing equipment cannot detect whether the wafer in the reaction chamber cracks in advance. Therefore, even if the wafer in the reaction chamber is broken during the wafer processing, the wafer processing apparatus transfers the broken wafer from the reaction chamber to the transfer chamber, which causes the transfer chamber to be contaminated, and the entire wafer processing apparatus is stopped.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides wafer processing equipment and a wafer processing method, and aims to solve the problems that a transmission chamber is polluted and the whole wafer processing equipment is stopped because a broken wafer is transferred from a reaction chamber to the transmission chamber by the conventional wafer processing equipment.

In order to solve the technical problem, the application adopts a technical scheme that: a wafer processing apparatus is provided. The wafer processing apparatus includes: the device comprises a reaction chamber, a gate and an induction device; the reaction chamber is used for placing a wafer for processing; the gate is arranged on the side wall of the reaction chamber to open or close the reaction chamber; the sensing device is used for detecting whether the wafer placed in the reaction chamber is cracked or not.

The induction device is arranged on the gate so as to follow the gate to move in the moving process of the gate and detect whether the wafer is broken or not in the moving process of the gate.

Wherein, induction system includes: the at least two sensing elements are arranged on the gate at intervals and are positioned on the same horizontal plane, so that the wafer in the reaction chamber is detected in the moving process of the gate, and whether the wafer is in a horizontal state or not is determined when the wafer is detected, wherein when the sensing device does not detect the wafer or detects that the wafer is in a non-horizontal state, the wafer is determined to be broken.

Wherein, induction system includes: and the three sensing elements are arranged on the gate at intervals and are positioned on the same horizontal plane, wherein the three sensing elements respectively correspond to the left edge part, the middle part and the right edge part of the wafer.

Wherein, induction system includes: the two induction elements are arranged on the gate at intervals and are positioned on the same horizontal plane, wherein the interval length between the two induction elements is greater than one fourth of the diameter length of the wafer and less than three fourths of the diameter length of the wafer, and the parts of the two induction elements, which correspondingly induce the wafer, are asymmetric relative to the center of the wafer.

The interval length between the two induction elements is half of the diameter length of the wafer, and one of the two induction elements corresponds to the part for inducing the wafer and is close to the middle part of the wafer.

Wherein, further include: and the gate is used for closing or opening a channel between the reaction chamber and the transmission chamber, and in response to the sensing device detecting that the wafer in the reaction chamber is not cracked, the wafer processing equipment transfers the wafer after reaction to the transmission chamber.

Wherein, further include: and the alarm is used for responding to the fact that the wafer in the reaction chamber is cracked when the sensing device detects that the wafer is cracked, and the alarm gives an alarm to prevent the wafer processing equipment from transferring the reacted wafer to the transfer chamber.

Wherein, further include: and the bearing platform is arranged in the reaction chamber and used for bearing and placing the wafer.

In order to solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present application is: a wafer processing method is provided. The wafer processing method comprises the following steps: processing the placed wafer in the reaction chamber; and opening the gate and detecting whether the wafer is broken by using a sensing device so as to prevent the broken wafer from being transferred into the transfer chamber.

Wherein the step of detecting whether the wafer is cracked by using the sensing device comprises: detecting the wafer, and determining whether the wafer is in a horizontal state or not when the wafer is detected; and when the sensing device does not detect the wafer or detects that the wafer is in a non-horizontal state, determining that the wafer is cracked.

Wherein, still include: and in response to the sensing device detecting that the wafer in the reaction chamber is cracked, the alarm gives an alarm to prevent the wafer processing equipment from transferring the reacted wafer to the transfer chamber.

The beneficial effect of this application is different from prior art: according to the wafer processing equipment and the wafer processing method provided by the embodiment of the application, the wafer processing equipment can detect whether the wafer placed in the reaction chamber is broken or not by using the sensing device, so that the operation of directly taking out the wafer from the reaction chamber by using the mechanical arm is suspended after the wafer in the reaction chamber is broken, and the problem that the mechanical arm further impacts the broken wafer to generate fragments and pollutes other chambers, such as other processing chambers, in the wafer processing equipment is prevented. And because the broken wafer can not affect other chambers of the wafer processing equipment, such as other processing chambers, after the wafer in the reaction chamber is broken, the reaction chamber is only required to be stopped, other chambers in the wafer processing equipment, such as other processing chambers, can still work, the whole wafer processing equipment is not required to be stopped, and the utilization rate of the wafer processing equipment is greatly improved. Meanwhile, as the broken wafer cannot be transferred to other chambers, the broken wafer is prevented from being subjected to ineffective subsequent processing, and the workload of workers is reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic illustration of a wafer processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure with a gate closed;

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram of a wafer processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure with a shutter in an open position;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a wafer breakage according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a position relationship between a sensing device disposed on a gate and a wafer according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating a position relationship between a sensing device disposed on a gate and a wafer according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic view illustrating a positional relationship between a sensing device disposed on a gate and a wafer according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating a positional relationship between a sensing device disposed on a gate and a wafer according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a schematic view illustrating a positional relationship between a sensing device disposed on a gate and a wafer according to a fifth embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a simplified structural diagram of a wafer processing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure with a door open;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a wafer processing method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Description of the reference numerals

A reaction chamber 1; a sheet outlet 11; a load-bearing platform 12; a support column 13; an antistatic chuck 14; a gate 2; an induction device 3; an inductive element 31; a transfer chamber 4; a robot arm 5; a wafer 10.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. 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 application.

The terms "first", "second" and "third" in this application are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implying any indication of the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first," "second," or "third" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the feature. In the description of the present application, "plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless explicitly specified otherwise. In the embodiment of the present application, all directional indicators (such as up, down, left, right, front, rear \8230;) are used only to explain the relative positional relationship between the components, the motion situation, etc. at a specific posture (as shown in the drawing), and if the specific posture is changed, the directional indicator is changed accordingly. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of the phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by one skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

The present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, fig. 1 is a simplified structural diagram of a wafer processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure when a gate is closed; FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram of a wafer processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure with a shutter in an open position; in the present embodiment, a wafer processing apparatus is provided, which can perform a process on the wafer 10 placed therein to complete a specific production process of the wafer 10. As shown in fig. 1 to 2, the wafer processing apparatus includes a reaction chamber 1, a gate 2, and a sensing device 3.

The reaction chamber 1 is used for placing a wafer 10 for reaction processing. The reaction chamber 1 may be a PVD chamber, a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) chamber, a Metal-organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) chamber, or the like. The specific process of forming the thin film on the wafer 10 in the PVD chamber, or the PECVD chamber or the MOCVD chamber may refer to the related processes, and may achieve the same or similar technical effects, which are not described herein again.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, a wafer outlet 11 is disposed on a sidewall of the reaction chamber 1, and the wafer 10 can enter the reaction chamber 1 through the wafer outlet 11 or be taken out from the reaction chamber 1.

Further, an antistatic chuck (ESC) 14 and a carrying structure are disposed in the reaction chamber 1. The antistatic chuck 14 is used to carry the wafer 10 placed in the reaction chamber 1 for a specific process. The carrying structure can be extended and retracted up and down along the first direction a to transfer the wafer 10 onto the anti-static chuck 14 or to move the wafer 10 away from the anti-static chuck 14 to be taken out.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the carrying structure includes a carrying platform 12 and at least three supporting columns 13 disposed on the carrying platform 12. The wafer 10 placed in the reaction chamber 1 may be specifically supported on a side surface of the at least three support columns 13 facing away from the supporting platform 12, so as to be placed on the antistatic chuck 14 through the at least three support columns 13 or be away from the antistatic chuck 14 through the at least three support columns 13. Wherein the carrying platform 12 and/or the supporting column 13 can be extended and retracted up and down along the first direction a. Wherein the first direction a is perpendicular to the plane of the carrier platform 12.

Certainly, in other specific embodiments, the reaction chamber 1 further includes a motor, a radio frequency electrode, and other devices, and specific structures and functions of these devices may refer to specific structures and functions of related devices of the existing reaction chamber, and may achieve the same or similar technical effects, which are not described herein again.

The gate 2 is disposed at the sheet outlet 11 of the reaction chamber 1 and can move back and forth along the first direction a to open or close the sheet outlet 11 of the reaction chamber 1. The specific structure of the gate 2 for closing the sheet outlet 11 of the reaction chamber 1 can be seen in fig. 1, and the schematic view of the process of exposing the sheet outlet 11 of the reaction chamber 1 during the opening process of the gate 2 can be seen in fig. 2. The gate 2 is in an open state to completely expose the specific structure of the sheet outlet 11 of the reaction chamber 1, see fig. 9 below.

The sensing device 3 is used to detect whether the wafer 10 placed in the reaction chamber 1 is broken. Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a wafer cracking according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; the example of the wafer 10 being broken in one embodiment of the present application is that a portion of the wafer 10 is not in the same plane as other portions, and the broken wafer 10 cannot be flatly supported on the supporting posts 13. Of course, in other embodiments, the wafer 10 breakage also includes the wafer 10 being completely scattered from the support columns 13 to the anti-static chuck (ESC) 14.

Wherein, the induction device 3 is used for detecting whether the wafer 10 placed in the reaction chamber 1 is cracked or not, and whether the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is cracked or not can be confirmed in advance; so as to suspend the operation of directly taking out the wafer 10 from the reaction chamber 1 by the robot arm 5 in the subsequent step after the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is broken, thereby preventing the robot arm 5 from further impacting the broken wafer 10 to generate fragments (see fig. 3) during taking out the wafer 10, and causing a problem of contamination to other chambers, such as other processing chambers, in the wafer processing equipment. Moreover, since the broken wafer 10 will not affect other chambers of the wafer processing apparatus, for example, other processing chambers, after the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is broken, only the reaction chamber 1 needs to be stopped, and other chambers in the wafer processing apparatus, for example, other processing chambers, can still continue to work without stopping the whole wafer processing apparatus, thereby greatly improving the utilization rate of the wafer processing apparatus. Meanwhile, as the broken wafer 10 cannot be transferred to other chambers, the invalid subsequent processing treatment of the broken wafer 10 is avoided, and the working load of workers is reduced.

As shown in fig. 2, the sensing device 3 may be specifically disposed on the gate 2 to move synchronously with the movement of the gate 2 when the gate 2 is opened, and detect whether the wafer 10 is broken during the movement of the gate 2. The movement process of the shutter 2 refers to a process of moving the shutter 2 from the closed position shown in fig. 1 to a position where the sheet outlet 11 is completely exposed, or a process of moving the shutter 2 from a position where the sheet outlet 11 is completely exposed to a position shown in fig. 1.

Specifically, referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a positional relationship between the sensing device 3 disposed on the gate 2 and the wafer 10 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The sensing device 3 includes at least two sensing elements 31, the at least two sensing elements 31 are disposed on the gate 2 at an interval along a second direction B perpendicular to the first direction a and are located on the same horizontal plane, so that in the process of downward movement of the gate 2, optical signals emitted by the at least two sensing elements 31 synchronously move downward, and when the optical signals move to be flush with the plane where the upper surface of the wafer 10 is located and move downward, the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is detected, and when the wafer 10 is detected, whether the wafer 10 is in a horizontal state is determined.

When the sensing device 3 detects the wafer 10 and detects that the wafer 10 is in a horizontal state, it is determined that the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is not cracked; when the sensing device 3 does not detect the wafer 10, or detects the wafer 10 and detects that the wafer 10 is in a non-horizontal state, it is determined that the wafer 10 is broken. Wherein, the sensing device 3 detects the wafer 10, and at least one sensing element 31 of the sensing device 3 detects the wafer 10 during the movement of the gate 2; the sensing device 3 does not detect the wafer 10 means that during the movement of the gate 2, each sensing element 31 of the sensing device 3 does not detect the wafer 10. The horizontal state means that all parts of the wafer 10 are in the same plane, and the plane is parallel to a side surface of the three support columns 13 facing away from the loading platform 12. A non-horizontal state means that a portion of the wafer 10 is not in the same plane as the other portions.

Specifically, referring to fig. 2 and 4, when the gate 2 moves downward to a position located at the same horizontal plane as the wafer 10, if the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is not broken, the plane where the at least two sensing elements 31 are located is flush with the plane where the upper surface of the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is located, and each sensing element 31 of the at least two sensing elements 31 is disposed along the third direction C and corresponds to a portion of the wafer 10, so as to detect the wafer 10 at the corresponding position. The third direction C is a direction perpendicular to the plane of the sheet outlet 11.

For example, as shown in fig. 4, the number of the sensing elements 31 is three, and the three sensing elements 31 are defined as a first sensing element 31, a second sensing element 31, and a third sensing element 31 from left to right along the second direction B. Wherein, the first sensing element 31 is disposed corresponding to the M1 position of the wafer 10 to detect a portion of the wafer 10 at the M1 position; the second sensing device 31 is disposed corresponding to the M2 position of the wafer 10 to detect the portion of the wafer 10 at the M2 position; the third sensing device 31 is disposed corresponding to the position M3 of the wafer 10 to detect a portion of the wafer 10 at the position M3. Wherein, the position M1 and the position M3 are respectively corresponding positions of a left edge and a right edge of the wafer 10; the position M2 corresponds to the middle portion of the wafer 10.

It can be understood that if each of the at least two sensing elements 31 detects the wafer 10 at the same time, the wafer 10 is in a horizontal state. If the wafer 10 is broken, for example, referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a position relationship between the sensing device disposed on the gate and the wafer according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure; when the middle portion (the portion corresponding to the position M2) of the wafer 10 is broken, and the at least two sensing elements 31 move to be flush with the plane of the upper surface of the wafer 10, the plane of the middle portion of the wafer 10 is not in the same horizontal plane as the at least two sensing elements 31, the first sensing element 31 and the third sensing element 31 can detect the wafer 10, but the second sensing element 31 cannot detect the wafer 10. Therefore, if one or more of the at least two sensing elements 31 detects the wafer and the remaining sensing elements 31 do not detect the wafer 10, it is determined that the wafer 10 is in a non-horizontal state and the wafer 10 is broken.

Of course, in other embodiments, the wafer 10 may be broken only at one or both of its edges. For example, referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a positional relationship between a sensing device disposed on a gate and a wafer according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure; when the left edge of the wafer 10 is broken (the portion of the wafer 10 corresponding to M1 in fig. 5), and the at least two sensing devices 31 move to be flush with the plane of the upper surface of the wafer 10, the plane of the left edge of the wafer 10 is not at the same level as the at least two sensing devices 31, the second sensing device 31 and the third sensing device 31 can detect the wafer 10, but the first sensing device 31 cannot detect the wafer 10. At this time, it is determined that the wafer 10 is in a non-horizontal state and the wafer 10 is broken.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic view illustrating a position relationship between a sensing device disposed on a gate and a wafer according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure; both the left edge portion (the portion of the wafer 10 corresponding to M1 in fig. 5) and the right edge portion (the portion of the wafer 10 corresponding to M3 in fig. 5) of the wafer 10 are cracked. When the at least two sensing devices 31 move to be flush with the plane of the upper surface of the wafer 10, the plane of the left edge portion and the right edge portion of the wafer 10 is not in the same horizontal plane as the at least two sensing devices 31, the second sensing device 31 can detect the wafer 10, but neither of the first sensing device 31 and the third sensing device 31 can detect the wafer 10. At this time, it is determined that the wafer 10 is in a non-horizontal state and the wafer 10 is broken.

Wherein each sensing element 31 may be an optical measuring sensor. The optical measuring sensor at least comprises an optical signal emitter and a signal collecting device; the optical signal emitter is used for emitting an optical signal to detect the horizontal position of the wafer 10; the signal collecting device is used for receiving a feedback signal of the optical signal and detecting whether the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is in a horizontal state or not based on the feedback signal. Wherein the optical measuring sensor may be infrared, near infrared, ultraviolet, laser, radio wave, etc.

In the specific detection process, it should be clear that when the optical signal emitted by the optical signal emitter of each optical measurement sensor does not sweep across the wafer 10, the feedback signals received by the signal collection device are consistent; the feedback signal is defined as the initial feedback signal below. When the optical signal emitted by the optical signal emitter of each optical measurement sensor is scanned across the wafer 10, the feedback signal received by the signal collection device will fluctuate with respect to the initial feedback signal, and the feedback signal of the optical signal scanned across the wafer 10 is defined as the real-time feedback signal.

When the at least two optical measurement sensors move to be at the same level with the wafer 10 in the process of moving from the closed state to the open state along with the gate 2, if the positions of the wafer 10 are at the same level, the optical signals emitted by the optical signal emitters all sweep across the wafer 10 at the same time, and the real-time feedback signals received by the signal collection devices have a short-time fluctuation simultaneously relative to the initial feedback signals. If the wafer 10 is cracked, and thus a part of the position of the wafer 10 is not in the same horizontal plane as the other part of the position of the wafer, part of the optical signals emitted by the optical signal emitters will sweep across the wafer 10, and the real-time feedback signals corresponding to the part of the optical signals will fluctuate relative to the initial feedback signals; and the optical signals emitted by the rest of the optical signal emitters do not sweep across the wafer 10, and the corresponding real-time feedback signals do not fluctuate relative to the corresponding initial feedback signals, that is, the fluctuations of the real-time feedback signals corresponding to the optical measurement sensors relative to the initial feedback signals do not occur simultaneously, and it is determined that the wafer 10 is cracked.

Of course, in other embodiments, if the wafer 10 is cracked, which results in the wafer 10 being completely scattered on the anti-static chuck (ESC) 14, the optical signals of the at least two optical measurement sensors will not be swept to the wafer 10 during the process of the gate 2 moving from closed to open; the feedback signals of the at least two optical measuring sensors are always free from fluctuation; that is, the sensing device 3 does not detect the wafer 10; at this time, it is determined that the wafer 10 is also broken.

In an embodiment, referring to fig. 7, the sensing device 3 includes three sensing elements 31, and the three sensing elements 31 are disposed on the gate 2 at intervals along the second direction B and are located on the same horizontal plane. Wherein, when the wafer 10 is cracked but not completely scattered on the antistatic chuck 14, the left edge, the middle part and the right edge of the wafer 10 are not on the same horizontal plane; therefore, the three sensing elements 31 can respectively correspond to the left edge, the middle portion, and the right edge of the wafer 10, so as to provide the accuracy of the detection result.

In another embodiment, referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a positional relationship between a sensing device 3 disposed on a gate 2 and a wafer 10 according to a fifth embodiment of the present disclosure; the sensing device 3 specifically includes two sensing elements 31, and the two sensing elements 31 are disposed on the gate 2 at intervals along the second direction B and are located on the same horizontal plane. The spacing length between the two inductive elements 31 is greater than one quarter of the diameter length of the wafer 10 and less than three quarters of the diameter length of the wafer 10. Specifically, the distance between two sensing elements 31 may be half the diameter of the wafer 10. Of course, the spacing between the two inductive elements 31 may also be two-fifths or three-fifths of the diameter of the wafer 10.

Further, the two sensing elements 31 correspond to the portion sensing the wafer 10 and are asymmetric with respect to the center of the wafer 10. For example, the portion M1 of the wafer 10 corresponding to the first sensing element 31 and the portions M2, M1 and M2 of the wafer 10 corresponding to the second sensing element 31 are asymmetric with respect to the center of the wafer 10; so as to prevent the center of the wafer 10 from being recessed, and the two positions symmetrical about the center of the wafer 10 are still in the same horizontal plane, so that the two sensing devices 31 can still detect the wafer 10 and cannot detect the occurrence of the current wafer 10 breakage problem.

In an embodiment, since the middle portion and other portions of the wafer 10 are not located on the same horizontal plane after the wafer 10 is broken, in order to accurately detect the broken wafer 10, one of the two sensing devices 31, which corresponds to the portion sensing the wafer 10, is close to the middle portion of the wafer 10. For example, the second sensing element 31 shown in fig. 8 is disposed near the middle portion of the wafer 10, or just corresponding to the portion M2 where the middle portion of the wafer 10 is located.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a simplified structural diagram of a wafer processing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present disclosure when a gate 2 is opened; the wafer processing apparatus further includes a transfer chamber 4. The transfer chamber 4 is connected to the reaction chamber 1, and the gate 2 is used to close or open the passage between the reaction chamber 1 and the transfer chamber 4. The wafer processing equipment responds to the sensing device 3 to detect that the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is not cracked, and then the reacted wafer 10 is transferred to the transfer chamber 4.

The specific structure and function of the transfer chamber 4 can be referred to those of the transfer chamber 4 in the conventional wafer processing apparatus, and the same or similar technical effects can be achieved, which are not described herein again.

Specifically, the wafer processing apparatus further includes a robot arm 5, and the robot arm 5, in response to the sensing device 3 detecting that the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is not broken, extends into the reaction chamber 1 through the wafer outlet 11 to take out and transfer the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 to the transfer chamber 4.

Specifically, the wafer processing equipment further comprises an alarm; the alarm responds to the sensing device 3 to detect that the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is broken, and the alarm gives an alarm; the wafer processing apparatus controls the robot 5 not to remove the wafer 10 from the reaction chamber 1. Therefore, the problem that the whole wafer processing equipment is stopped due to the fact that the mechanical arm 5 further breaks the broken wafer 10 and the pollution dust generated by the broken wafer 10 enters the conveying chamber 4 to pollute the conveying chamber 4 can be avoided. At the same time, it is possible to prevent the broken wafer 10 (which is not further broken by the robot arm 5) from being transferred to the transfer chamber 4, undergoing ineffective subsequent processing and contaminating the other chambers.

The wafer processing apparatus provided by the embodiment can detect whether the wafer 10 placed in the reaction chamber 1 is broken by using the sensing device 3, so that after the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is broken, the operation of directly taking out the wafer 10 from the reaction chamber 1 by using the robot arm 5 in the subsequent steps is suspended, thereby preventing the robot arm 5 from further impacting the broken wafer 10 to generate fragments (see fig. 3) in the process of taking out the wafer 10, and preventing the problem of pollution to other chambers, such as other processing chambers, in the wafer processing apparatus. Moreover, since the broken wafer 10 will not affect other chambers of the wafer processing apparatus, for example, other processing chambers, after the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is broken, only the reaction chamber 1 needs to be stopped, and other chambers in the wafer processing apparatus, for example, other processing chambers, can still continue to work without stopping the whole wafer processing apparatus, thereby greatly improving the utilization rate of the wafer processing apparatus. Meanwhile, as the broken wafer 10 cannot be transferred to other chambers, the invalid subsequent processing treatment of the broken wafer 10 is avoided, and the working load of workers is reduced.

In an embodiment, referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a flowchart of a wafer processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A wafer processing method is also provided, which specifically uses the wafer processing apparatus provided in any of the above embodiments to process the wafer 10. The method specifically comprises the following steps:

step S1: and carrying out reaction treatment on the placed wafer in the reaction chamber.

Specifically, the metal, metal alloy or compound may be evaporated by using a physical vapor deposition method such as vacuum evaporation, plasma sputtering, arc plasma, ion plating, molecular beam epitaxy, and the like, and deposited on the surface of the wafer 10 to form a film required by the process on the surface of the wafer 10, the specific process may refer to a process of processing the surface of the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 such as a PVD chamber, or a PECVD chamber, or an MOCVD chamber, and the same or similar technical effects may be achieved, and details are not repeated herein.

In the implementation process, the reacted wafer 10 can be moved from the antistatic chuck 14 in the reaction chamber 1 to the extraction position by the retractable carrying structure to be extracted.

Step S2: the gate is opened and the sensing device is used to detect whether the wafer is broken or not, so as to prevent the broken wafer from being transferred into the transfer chamber.

Specifically, the sensing device 3 detects the wafer 10 and determines whether the wafer 10 is in a horizontal state when the wafer 10 is detected. When the sensing device 3 detects the wafer 10 and detects that the wafer 10 is in a horizontal state, it is determined that the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is not cracked; at this time, the wafer processing apparatus controls the robot arm 5 to extend into the reaction chamber 1, so as to take out the wafer 10 in the sensing chamber and transfer the wafer to the transfer chamber 4 for further processing, which can be referred to as a specific processing process in the conventional wafer processing method.

When the sensing device 3 does not detect the wafer 10, or detects the wafer 10 and detects that the wafer 10 is in a non-horizontal state, it is determined that the wafer 10 is broken. At this time, the wafer processing apparatus controls the robot arm 5 not to go to the reaction chamber 1 to take out the wafer 10, so as to avoid the problem that the broken wafer 10 after reaction is transferred to the transfer chamber 4 to contaminate the transfer chamber 4, which results in the shutdown of the entire wafer processing apparatus.

Further, the wafer processing method further comprises the following steps: in response to the sensing device 3 detecting that the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is broken, the alarm alarms to avoid the wafer processing equipment transferring the reacted wafer 10 to the transfer chamber 4 or transferring the reacted wafer 10 to other equipment of the wafer processing equipment to pollute other chambers.

For other embodiments of the sensing device 3 for detecting whether the wafer 10 is cracked or not, reference may be made to the related description of the wafer processing apparatus provided in the above embodiments, and details are not repeated herein.

In the wafer processing method provided by this embodiment, after the reaction processing is performed on the wafer 10 placed in the reaction chamber 1, the sensing device 3 is used to detect whether the wafer 10 is broken, so that after the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is broken, the operation of directly taking out the wafer 10 from the reaction chamber 1 by using the robot arm 5 in the subsequent step is suspended, thereby preventing the robot arm 5 from further impacting the broken wafer 10 to generate fragments (see fig. 3) in the process of taking out the wafer 10, and preventing the problem of contamination to other chambers in the wafer processing apparatus, for example, other processing chambers. Moreover, since the broken wafer 10 will not affect other chambers of the wafer processing apparatus, for example, other processing chambers, after the wafer 10 in the reaction chamber 1 is broken, only the reaction chamber 1 needs to be stopped, and other chambers in the wafer processing apparatus, for example, other processing chambers, can still continue to work without stopping the whole wafer processing apparatus, thereby greatly improving the utilization rate of the wafer processing apparatus. Meanwhile, as the broken wafer 10 cannot be transferred to other chambers, the invalid subsequent processing treatment of the broken wafer 10 is avoided, and the working load of workers is reduced.

The above are only embodiments of the present application, and not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and all equivalent structures or equivalent processes performed by the present application and the contents of the attached drawings, which are directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, are also included in the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A wafer processing apparatus, comprising:

a reaction chamber, wherein the reaction chamber is used for placing a wafer for processing;

a gate disposed on a sidewall of the reaction chamber to open or close the reaction chamber;

the sensing device is used for detecting whether the wafer placed in the reaction chamber is cracked or not.

2. The wafer processing apparatus of claim 1,

the sensing device is arranged on the gate so as to follow the gate to move in the moving process of the gate and detect whether the wafer is broken or not in the moving process of the gate.

3. The wafer processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the sensing device comprises:

the at least two sensing elements are arranged on the gate at intervals and are positioned on the same horizontal plane, so that the wafer in the reaction chamber is detected in the moving process of the gate, and whether the wafer is in a horizontal state or not is determined when the wafer is detected, wherein when the sensing device does not detect the wafer or detects that the wafer is in a non-horizontal state, the wafer is determined to be cracked.

4. The wafer processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein the sensing device comprises:

and the three sensing elements are arranged on the gate at intervals and are positioned on the same horizontal plane, wherein the three sensing elements respectively correspond to the left edge part, the middle part and the right edge part of the wafer.

5. The wafer processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein the sensing device comprises:

the two induction elements are arranged on the gate at intervals and are positioned on the same horizontal plane, wherein the interval length between the two induction elements is greater than one fourth of the diameter length of the wafer and less than three fourths of the diameter length of the wafer, and the parts of the two induction elements, which correspondingly induce the wafer, are asymmetric relative to the center of the wafer.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the two sensing elements are spaced apart by a length half of a diameter of the wafer, and one of the two sensing elements corresponds to a portion where the wafer is sensed, near a middle portion of the wafer.

7. The wafer processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

and the gate is used for closing or opening a channel between the reaction chamber and the transmission chamber, and in response to the sensing device detecting that the wafer in the reaction chamber is not cracked, the wafer processing equipment transfers the wafer after reaction to the transmission chamber.

8. The wafer processing apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

and the alarm is used for responding to the fact that the wafer in the reaction chamber is cracked when the sensing device detects that the wafer is cracked, and the alarm gives an alarm to prevent the wafer processing equipment from transferring the reacted wafer to the transfer chamber.

9. The wafer processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

and the bearing platform is arranged in the reaction chamber and used for bearing and placing the wafer.

10. A method of wafer processing, comprising:

processing the placed wafer in the reaction chamber;

and opening the gate and detecting whether the wafer is broken by using a sensing device so as to prevent the broken wafer from being transferred into the transfer chamber.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of detecting whether the wafer is broken by using the sensing device comprises:

detecting the wafer, and determining whether the wafer is in a horizontal state when the wafer is detected;

and when the sensing device does not detect the wafer or detects that the wafer is in a non-horizontal state, determining that the wafer is cracked.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

in response to the sensing device detecting that the wafer in the reaction chamber is cracked, the alarm gives an alarm to prevent the wafer processing equipment from transferring the reacted wafer to the transfer chamber.