CN115367464B

CN115367464B - One-stop multi-function mask and substrate transfer apparatus and method

Info

Publication number: CN115367464B
Application number: CN202211306385.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谢彤彤; 查思豪; 刘玉新; 徐雪峰; 郭欣蕾; 王兆山
Original assignee: Quanyi Optical Technology Jinan Co ltd
Current assignee: Quanyi Optical Technology Jinan Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-10-25
Filing date: 2022-10-25
Publication date: 2023-02-03
Anticipated expiration: 2042-10-25
Also published as: CN115367464A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a one-stop multifunctional photomask, substrate transfer equipment and a method, and relates to the technical field of semiconductors. The one-stop multifunctional photomask transferring equipment comprises a closed chamber, five-piece boxes and a vision arm set, wherein the five-piece boxes are placed in the closed chamber, and gravity sensors are installed in clamping grooves of the five-piece boxes and used for sending position and substrate material loading information after substrates are loaded into the clamping grooves; the vision arm set is installed in the closed chamber and used for clamping the substrate from the five-piece box according to the position information, a vision auxiliary grabbing camera is arranged on the vision arm set and used for judging the front side or the back side of the photomask or the substrate and sending out front and back side judgment information, and the vision arm set drives the photomask or the substrate to be turned over to the front side upwards or the back side upwards according to the preset requirement and the front and back side judgment information. The device can automatically grab the substrate from the five-piece box and automatically turn the photomask or the substrate in place, and the pollution risk is small.

Description

One-stop multi-function mask and substrate transfer apparatus and method

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a one-stop multifunctional photomask, substrate transfer equipment and a substrate transfer method.

Background

In the production stage of taking the photo from the five-wafer box, the photo taking is mainly performed manually, the process usually requires manual work in the external environment, and the substrate for generating the photo mask in the five-wafer box is manually clamped by the photo mask clamp and then placed in a photo mask transport box (british name: "particulate SMIF POD") for subsequent production test, which has strict requirements on the manual skill and the space cleanliness.

In the process of preparing the film, after an operator unseals the outer packing plastic of the five-film box, the surface of the five-film box is blown and swept by a nitrogen gun, the surface and the operation table of the five-film box are wiped, the operator cleans the operator, the five-film box is manually opened and the upper cover of the mask conveying box is opened by using a tool, the side edge of the substrate in the five-film box is clamped by using the mask clamp and the mask clamp is locked, the substrate is placed into the mask conveying box, and the preparation is completed by covering the upper cover of the mask conveying box.

The functional design of each process station of the photomask factory is different, so that the directions of the front and back sides of the photomask placed in the photomask conveying box are also different. In a machine for exposure, development, etching, cleaning, etc., a photomask must be placed in a photomask-transferring box in a direction in which a pattern faces upward, and then loaded into the machine. In the machine station of the optical defect inspection and measurement process, the photomask must be placed in the transmission box in a direction that the graphic surface faces downwards and then loaded into the machine station, so that an operator needs to open the transmission box, clamp the photomask by the photomask clamp, fix the photomask in the crystal box, fulfill the aim of turning or turning the photomask in a mode of turning or turning the crystal box, clamp the photomask by the photomask clamp after the completion, put the photomask back into the photomask transmission box, and then load the photomask into the corresponding machine station for corresponding process.

It can be seen that the conventional process of transferring and flipping the mask has at least the following disadvantages:

1. the process is complicated, the number of manual operation steps is large, the requirement on the technique of operators is high, the operation risk is large, for example, the front and back surfaces of the photomask need to be judged manually, the operation is complex, and the photomask is easy to be polluted;

2. in the transfer process of the photomask and the substrate, the photomask, the substrate and the carrier thereof are exposed in the external environment, and the external environment and operators have higher risk of pollution to the photomask;

3. the information of the substrates in the five-chip box can not be read automatically, which causes the difficulty of information management and control of the source materials.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a one-stop multifunctional light shield, a substrate transfer device and a substrate transfer method, which can automatically grab a substrate from a five-piece box and automatically turn the substrate in place and have small pollution risk.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented as follows:

in a first aspect, the present invention provides a station-type multifunction reticle and substrate transfer apparatus, including:

a closed chamber;

the five-piece box is placed in the closed chamber, a gravity sensor is arranged in a clamping groove of the five-piece box, and the gravity sensor is used for sending position and material information after the substrate is placed into the clamping groove;

the vision arm set is installed in the closed chamber and used for clamping the substrate from the five-piece box according to position information, a vision auxiliary grabbing camera is arranged on the vision arm set and used for judging the front side or the back side of the light shield or the substrate and sending out front and back side judgment information, and the vision arm set drives the light shield or the substrate to overturn to the front side upwards or the back side upwards according to preset requirements and the front and back side judgment information.

In an alternative embodiment, the one-station multi-function mask and substrate transfer apparatus further comprises:

the locking mechanism is arranged in the closed chamber and used for locking the bottom of the five-piece box;

and the upper cover claw is arranged in the closed chamber and used for grabbing the upper cover of the five-piece box.

tilting mechanism, locking mechanism install on tilting mechanism, tilting mechanism are used for driving locking mechanism and five-piece box and turn on one's side to the base plate is snatched to vision arm group.

In an optional embodiment, the vision arm set includes a first vision arm and a second vision arm, the vision-assisted grabbing camera is installed on the second vision arm, the first vision arm is used for clamping the substrate from the five-piece box and handing over the substrate to the second vision arm, and the second vision arm is used for driving the light shield or the substrate to turn over to face up or face down.

and the first vision arm and the second vision arm realize the connection of the photomask or the substrate at the photomask transfer station.

the mask transmission box is used for receiving the mask and the substrate sent by the vision arm assembly.

In an optional embodiment, the closed chamber comprises a film taking area, an arm area, a transfer area and an adjusting area, the five-film box, the locking mechanism, the upper cover claw and the turnover mechanism are located in the film taking area, the visual arm group is connected to the arm area, the photomask transfer station is located in the transfer area, and the photomask conveying box is placed in the adjusting area.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a one-stop multifunction mask and a substrate transfer method that employ the one-stop multifunction mask and the substrate transfer apparatus of the foregoing embodiments.

In an alternative embodiment, a one-station multi-function mask and substrate transfer method includes:

controlling the vision arm group to clamp the substrate from the five-piece box according to the position information;

controlling the vision-assisted grabbing camera to judge the front side or the back side of the photomask or the substrate and sending front and back side judgment information;

and controlling the vision arm set to drive the photomask or the substrate to turn over to the front side up or the back side up according to the preset requirement and the front and back side judgment information.

In an alternative embodiment, the vision arm set includes a first vision arm and a second vision arm, the first vision arm is used for clamping the light cover or the substrate from the five-piece box and transferring the light cover or the substrate to the second vision arm, and the second vision arm is used for driving the light cover or the substrate to be turned right side up or reverse side up.

The one-stop multifunctional photomask and substrate transferring equipment and method provided by the embodiment of the invention have the beneficial effects that:

1. the transfer and turnover processes of the photomask are finished in the closed chamber, so that the risk of pollution of the photomask or the substrate caused by the external environment is avoided;

2. the gravity sensor is arranged in the clamping groove of the five-piece box and used for sending position information after the substrate is placed in the clamping groove, so that the vision arm set can automatically clamp the substrate from the five-piece box conveniently, the information control intelligence degree of source materials is improved, manual operation is replaced, the efficiency is high, and the risk that operators pollute a photomask or the substrate is avoided;

3. the vision auxiliary grabbing camera is arranged on the vision arm set and used for judging the front side or the back side of the photomask or the substrate and sending out front and back side judgment information, the vision arm set drives the photomask or the substrate to overturn to the front side upwards or the back side upwards according to the preset requirement and the front and back side judgment information, manual operation is replaced, efficiency is high, and the risk that an operator pollutes the photomask or the substrate is avoided.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required 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 those skilled in the art can also obtain other related drawings based on the drawings without inventive efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective structural view of a five-piece box provided in this embodiment;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a locking mechanism provided in the present embodiment;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of the upper cover claw provided in this embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a second visual arm according to the present embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a one-stop multi-function mask and a substrate transfer method according to an embodiment of the invention.

An icon: 10-five-piece boxes; 11-a gravity sensor; 12-upper cover; 20-a locking mechanism; 30-cover claw; 40-a second vision arm; 41-a vision-assisted capture camera; 42-rotation axis; 43-rotating jaws; 50-a substrate.

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, as 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 one-station-type multifunctional mask and substrate transfer apparatus including a closed chamber, a penta-pod 10, a locking mechanism 20, an upper cover claw 30, a turnover mechanism, a vision arm set, and a mask transfer pod.

The XCAD purge device can be used in the closed chamber, so that the transferring and overturning processes of the photomask or the substrate 50 are ensured to be completed in a closed environment with higher cleanliness, and the risk of pollution to the photomask or the substrate 50 caused by an external environment is avoided.

Preferably, the closed chamber comprises a film taking area, an arm area, a transfer area and an adjusting area, the five-film box 10, the locking mechanism 20, the upper cover claw 30 and the turnover mechanism are located in the film taking area, the visual arm group is connected to the arm area, the light shield transfer station is located in the transfer area, and the light shield conveying box is placed in the adjusting area.

Please refer to fig. 1, the five-piece box 10 is placed in the sealed chamber, the gravity sensor 11 is installed in the slot of the five-piece box 10, the gravity sensor 11 is used for sending a position message after the substrate 50 is loaded into the slot, so that the vision arm set can automatically clamp the substrate 50 from the five-piece box 10, the information control intelligence degree of the source material is improved, manual operation is replaced, the efficiency is high, and the risk of pollution to the substrate 50 caused by an operator is avoided.

Referring to fig. 2, a locking mechanism 20 is installed in a sheet taking area of the closed chamber, and the locking mechanism 20 is used to lock the bottom of the penta-sheet cassette 10. Specifically, the locking mechanism 20 is a U-shaped claw structure.

Referring to fig. 3, a cover-up claw 30 is installed in a film-taking area of the closed chamber, and the cover-up claw 30 is used to grasp the cover-up 12 of the five-film cassette 10. Specifically, the locking mechanism 20 is an n-type claw structure.

The locking mechanism 20 is mounted on the turnover mechanism, and the turnover mechanism is used for driving the locking mechanism 20 and the five-piece box 10 to turn on the side, so that the visual arm set can grab the substrate 50. Specifically, the turnover mechanism includes a rotating shaft driven by a motor.

A vision arm set is installed in the enclosed chamber, wherein the vision arm set includes a first vision arm and a second vision arm 40. The first and second vision arms 40 are both clamping jaw type clamping mechanisms.

The first vision arm is used for clamping the substrate 50 from the five-piece box 10 and handing over the substrate 50 to the second vision arm 40, and the first vision arm and the second vision arm 40 realize the handing over of the photomask or the substrate 50 at the photomask transfer station.

Referring to fig. 4, the vision-assisted capture camera 41 is mounted on the second vision arm 40, the second vision arm 40 is provided with a rotation shaft 42 and a rotation claw 43, and the rotation claw 43 can drive the mask or the substrate 50 to rotate horizontally, and the rotation claw 43 can drive the mask or the substrate 50 to turn over in the vertical direction. The vision-assisted capture camera 41 is used for judging the front side or the back side of the photomask or the substrate 50 and sending a front-back side judgment message, and the second vision arm 40 drives the photomask or the substrate 50 to be turned over to the front side or the back side upwards according to the preset requirement and the front-back side judgment message. The device can automatically grab the photomask or substrate 50 from the pentapod 10 and automatically turn the photomask or substrate 50 in place with little risk of contamination.

The reticle pod is adapted to receive a reticle or substrate 50 from the second vision arm 40.

Referring to fig. 5, the present embodiment further provides a one-station multi-functional mask and a substrate transfer method, and the one-station multi-functional mask and the substrate transfer method adopt the one-station multi-functional mask and the substrate transfer apparatus of the foregoing embodiments. A one-stop multi-function mask and substrate transfer method comprising:

s1: and controlling the vision arm set to clamp the substrate 50 from the five-piece box 10 according to the position information.

Wherein, five spool boxes 10 are placed in the sealed chamber, install gravity inductor 11 in the draw-in groove of five spool boxes 10, gravity inductor 11 is used for sending position information after light shield or base plate 50 pack into the draw-in groove, and the vision arm group of being convenient for presss from both sides from five spool boxes 10 automatically and gets base plate 50, has improved the intelligent degree of information management and control to source material, has still replaced manual operation, and is not only efficient, has avoided operating personnel to bring the risk of polluting light shield or base plate 50 moreover.

S2: the vision-aided grasping camera 41 is controlled to judge the front side or the back side of the photomask or the substrate 50 and send a front-back side judgment message.

The vision arm set comprises a first vision arm and a second vision arm 40, wherein the first vision arm is used for clamping the substrate 50 from the pentapod 10 and handing over the substrate 50 to the second vision arm 40.

S3: and controlling the vision arm set to drive the photomask or the substrate 50 to turn over to the front side up or the back side up according to the preset requirement and the front and back side judgment information.

The vision-assisted grabbing camera 41 is installed on the second vision arm 40, the vision-assisted grabbing camera 41 is used for judging the front side or the back side of the photomask or the substrate 50 and sending front and back side judgment information, and the second vision arm 40 drives the photomask or the substrate 50 to be turned over to the front side or the back side to the upper side according to preset requirements and the front and back side judgment information. The device can automatically grab the light shield or the substrate 50 from the five-piece box 10 and automatically turn the light shield or the substrate 50 in place, and has small pollution risk. The second vision arm 40 transports the mask or substrate 50 to the mask transport pod.

The locking mechanism 20, the upper claw 30, the turnover mechanism, the first visual arm, the second visual arm 40, and the like provided in the present embodiment are not limited to the form provided in the drawings, and may be other structural forms that can achieve the desired functions. The gravity sensor is not limited to devices such as RFID chips that have information storage and inductive transmission functions.

1. the processes of transferring and turning the photomask or the substrate 50 are all completed in a closed chamber, so that the risk of pollution of the photomask or the substrate 50 caused by the external environment is avoided;

2. the gravity sensor 11 is installed in the clamping groove of the five-piece box 10, and the gravity sensor 11 is used for sending position information after the substrate 50 is installed in the clamping groove, so that the vision arm set can automatically clamp the substrate 50 from the five-piece box 10 conveniently, the information control intelligence degree of source materials is improved, manual operation is replaced, the efficiency is high, and the risk that an operator pollutes the photomask or the substrate 50 is avoided;

3. be provided with vision assistance on the vision armset and snatch camera 41, vision assistance snatchs camera 41 and is used for judging light shield or base plate 50's front or reverse side, and sends the front and reverse side and judges the message, and vision armset drives light shield or base plate 50 upset to front face up or reverse side up according to presetting demand and front and reverse side and judges the message, has replaced manual operation, and is not only efficient, has avoided operating personnel to bring the risk of pollution to light shield or base plate 50 moreover.

The one-station multi-function mask and substrate transfer apparatus and method of the present embodiment may be used in a process station where individual masks or substrates 50 are transferred and flipped over.

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 also within 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

1. A one-station-style multifunction reticle and substrate transfer apparatus, comprising:

a closed chamber;

the five-piece box (10) is placed in the closed chamber, a gravity sensor (11) is installed in a clamping groove of the five-piece box (10), and the gravity sensor (11) is used for sending position information after a substrate (50) is installed in the clamping groove;

the vision arm group is installed in the closed chamber and used for clamping a substrate (50) from the five-piece box (10) according to the position information, a vision auxiliary grabbing camera (41) is arranged on the vision arm group, the vision auxiliary grabbing camera (41) is used for judging the front side or the back side of the photomask or the substrate (50) and sending out front and back side judgment information, and the vision arm group drives the photomask or the substrate (50) to turn over to the front side upwards or the back side upwards according to preset requirements and the front and back side judgment information;

a locking mechanism (20) installed in the closed chamber, wherein the locking mechanism (20) is used for locking the bottom of the five-piece box (10);

the upper cover claw (30) is arranged in the closed chamber, and the upper cover claw (30) is used for grabbing an upper cover (12) of the five-piece box (10);

the locking mechanism (20) is mounted on the turnover mechanism, and the turnover mechanism is used for driving the locking mechanism (20) and the five-piece box (10) to turn over so that the visual arm group can grab the photomask and the substrate (50);

and the mask transmission box is used for receiving the mask and the substrate (50) sent by the vision arm assembly.

2. The one-stop multi-function mask and substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vision arm set comprises a first vision arm and a second vision arm (40), the vision-assisted capture camera (41) is mounted on the second vision arm (40), the first vision arm is used for picking up a mask or substrate (50) from the pentapod (10) and handing over the mask or substrate (50) to the second vision arm (40), and the second vision arm (40) is used for driving the mask or substrate (50) to turn right side up or reverse side up.

3. The one-station multi-function mask and substrate transfer apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

a reticle transfer station at which the first and second vision arms (40) effect the handoff of a reticle or substrate (50).

4. The one-stop multifunctional photomask and substrate transfer equipment of claim 3, wherein the closed chamber comprises a taking area, an arm area, a transferring area and an adjusting area, the quintuple box (10), the locking mechanism (20), the upper cover claw (30) and the turnover mechanism are located in the taking area, the vision arm set is connected in the arm area, the photomask transferring station is located in the transferring area, and the photomask conveying box is placed in the adjusting area.

5. A one-station-type multifunction mask and a substrate transfer method, characterized in that the one-station-type multifunction mask and the substrate transfer method use the one-station-type multifunction mask and the substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1.

6. The one-station multi-function mask and substrate transfer method of claim 5, wherein the one-station multi-function mask and substrate transfer method comprises:

controlling the vision arm group to clamp a substrate (50) from the five-piece box (10) according to the position information;

controlling the vision auxiliary grabbing camera (41) to judge the front side or the back side of the photomask and the substrate (50) and sending a front side and back side judgment message;

and controlling the vision arm set to drive the photomask and the substrate (50) to turn over to the front side up or the back side up according to the preset requirement and the front and back side judgment information.

7. The one-stop multi-function mask and substrate transfer method of claim 6, wherein the vision arm set comprises a first vision arm and a second vision arm (40), the first vision arm is used for clamping the substrate (50) from the five-piece cassette (10) and handing over the substrate (50) to the second vision arm (40), and the second vision arm (40) is used for driving the mask or the substrate (50) to be turned right side up or reverse side up.