CN115881595A

CN115881595A - Wafer transfer box and control system thereof

Info

Publication number: CN115881595A
Application number: CN202310070208.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 任春虎; 杨军; 张国庆; 洪兴峰; 田乐
Original assignee: Changxin Memory Technologies Inc
Current assignee: Changxin Memory Technologies Inc
Priority date: 2023-01-12
Filing date: 2023-01-12
Publication date: 2023-03-31

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a wafer transfer box and a control system thereof. The wafer transfer cassette includes a housing, a multi-layer support flange, a baffle plate, and an exhaust channel. The shell is internally provided with a first chamber for accommodating a wafer; the multiple layers of supporting flanges protrude out of the inner wall of the first chamber, are distributed at intervals in the vertical direction and are used for bearing wafers; the partition plates are arranged among the multiple layers of supporting flanges, the first chamber is divided into a plurality of first sub-chambers, and exhaust holes are formed in the side walls of the first sub-chambers; the exhaust passage is located in the housing and communicates with the outside, and the exhaust passage is located outside the first chamber in the housing and communicates with the exhaust hole. The wafer transmission box disclosed by the embodiment of the disclosure can prevent unprocessed wafers from being polluted, and the yield of semiconductor products is improved.

Description

Wafer transfer box and control system thereof

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to a wafer transfer box and a control system thereof.

Background

A FOUP is a container used in semiconductor manufacturing processes to protect, transport and store wafers, such as a Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) that is often used and can hold 25 300mm wafers therein, and has a Front Opening through which the wafers are placed in the box.

After the wafer is processed in the machine, the wafer is placed in the wafer transfer box, but since the processed wafer surface may overflow the processing gas, the processing gas may further contaminate the unprocessed wafer in the wafer transfer box and react with the surface of the unprocessed wafer, so that the surface of the unprocessed wafer generates defects, thereby reducing the yield of semiconductor products.

The above information disclosed in the background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and thus it may include information that does not constitute related art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a wafer transmission box, which can prevent an unprocessed wafer in the transmission box from being polluted by processing gas overflowing from a processed wafer, prevent the surface of the wafer from generating defects, and improve the yield of semiconductor products.

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a wafer conveying box, which comprises a shell, a plurality of layers of supporting flanges, a partition plate and an exhaust channel. The shell is internally provided with a first chamber for accommodating a wafer; the multiple layers of supporting flanges protrude out of the inner wall of the first chamber and are distributed at intervals in the vertical direction for bearing wafers; the partition plate is arranged between the multiple layers of support flanges so as to divide the first chamber into a plurality of first sub-chambers distributed along the vertical direction, and exhaust holes communicated with the outside of the first sub-chambers are formed in the side wall of each first sub-chamber; the exhaust passage is located in the housing and communicates with an outside of the housing, the exhaust passage being located outside the first chamber in the housing and communicating with the exhaust hole.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of partitions are respectively disposed at the bottom of the multi-layered support flange, and the first sub-chamber is formed between adjacent partitions; or, the baffle plate is provided with one baffle plate which is arranged at the bottom of one layer of the multi-layer supporting flanges and divides the first chamber into two first sub-chambers, wherein one first sub-chamber is used for accommodating a processed wafer, and the other first sub-chamber is used for accommodating an unprocessed wafer.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the baffle is removably mounted between the multi-layered support flanges.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, a first included angle is formed between an extending direction of the exhaust hole from the inner wall of the first sub-chamber to the outer wall of the first sub-chamber and a flowing direction of the purge gas in the exhaust channel, and the first included angle is smaller than or equal to 90 °.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the inner diameter of the vent hole gradually decreases from the inner wall of the first sub-chamber to a direction close to the outer wall of the first sub-chamber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the first sub-chambers has one vent; or, each first sub-chamber is provided with two exhaust holes which are respectively arranged on two opposite side walls of the first sub-chamber.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a first one-way valve is disposed in the vent.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, at least a portion of the exhaust channel is disposed outside the sidewall of the first chamber having the exhaust hole, such that the exhaust hole is communicated with the exhaust channel.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the exhaust channel has a gas inlet configured to be connected to a gas supply of purge gas within the exhaust channel and a gas outlet connected to the exterior of the housing.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the air inlet and the air outlet are provided at the bottom of the housing and are located at opposite sides of the first chamber; or, the air inlet is positioned at the bottom of the shell, and the air outlet is positioned at the top of the shell.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a second one-way valve is disposed in the air inlet and/or the air outlet.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the foup further includes a negative pressure device connected to the air outlet of the exhaust channel to provide negative pressure to the exhaust channel.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the foup further comprises: the first support frame is arranged in the shell, the first cavity is formed in the first support frame, the multilayer support flanges protrude out of the inner wall of the first support frame, and the exhaust channel is located between the first support frame and the shell.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first chamber is formed in the housing, and the multi-layer support flange protrudes from an inner wall of the housing, and the exhaust passage is disposed between the inner wall of the housing and an outer wall of the housing.

The embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a wafer transfer box control system, including: the wafer transfer cassette of any of the above embodiments; the gas supply device is used for supplying purified gas to the exhaust channel of the wafer transfer box; and the controller is respectively electrically connected with the wafer transmission box and the gas supply device and is used for controlling the gas supply device to be opened and supplying the purified gas to the wafer transmission box after the processed wafer is placed in the wafer transmission box, and controlling the gas supply device to be closed after a first preset time.

According to the above technical solution, the wafer transfer box of the embodiment of the present disclosure has at least one of the following advantages and positive effects:

in the embodiment of the disclosure, the partition plate is arranged between the multiple layers of supporting flanges to divide the first chamber into the multiple first sub-chambers, so that the processed wafer and the unprocessed wafer can be placed in different first sub-chambers, and the partition plate can prevent the processing gas overflowing from the processed wafer from directly polluting the surface of the unprocessed wafer; the exhaust hole is formed in the side wall of the first sub-chamber, the exhaust hole is communicated with the exhaust channel positioned outside the first sub-chamber, after the processed wafer is placed in the first sub-chamber, purified gas is filled into the exhaust channel, the purified gas flows along the exhaust channel and is exhausted from the exhaust channel, namely, drainage is formed in the exhaust channel, after the processed wafer overflows the processed gas, the processed gas flows out of the exhaust hole to the exhaust channel, the processed gas is exhausted out of the shell along with the drainage formed by the purified gas, therefore, the processed gas overflowing the wafer can be timely exhausted through the purified gas, the processed gas is prevented from being diffused into other first sub-chambers, the unprocessed wafer is thoroughly prevented from being polluted, the defect is generated, and the yield of semiconductor products is improved.

Drawings

The above and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings.

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a foup in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a top view of a wafer transport cassette illustrating purge gas flow direction according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a foup illustrating a simplified schematic of the internal structure of the foup in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a pod illustrating the angled arrangement of the vent holes in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a first one-way valve, a second one-way valve, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the first check valve and the second check valve according to some embodiments of the present disclosure in a gas flowing state;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of a portion of a foup illustrating a gas inlet and a second one-way valve according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a functional block diagram of a control system for a foup according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Description of the reference numerals:

100. a wafer transfer box; 10. a housing; 101. a first side wall; 102. a second side wall; 103. a top wall; 104. a bottom wall; 105. a front wall; 106. a rear wall; 107. a cover plate; 108. an exhaust hole; 20. a support flange; 30. a partition plate; 40. an exhaust passage; 401. an air inlet; 402. an air outlet; 50. a first check valve; 501. a valve body; 5011. a first boss; 5012. a second boss; 502. a gas flow channel; 503. an elastic member; 504. a backstop; 5041. a backstop portion; 5042. a flow guide part; 50', a second one-way valve; 60. a negative pressure device; 70. a first support frame; 200. a gas supply device; 300. a controller; 400. a wafer; y, vertical direction; s1, a first chamber; s11, a first sub-chamber; alpha, the first included angle.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Example embodiments may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar structures, and thus their detailed description will be omitted.

In the following description of various exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various exemplary structures in which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other specific arrangements of parts, structures, example devices, systems, and steps may be utilized, and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, although the terms "over," "between," "within," and the like may be used in this specification to describe various example features and elements of the disclosure, these terms are used herein for convenience only, e.g., in accordance with the orientation of the examples in the figures. Nothing in this specification should be construed as requiring a specific three dimensional orientation of structures in order to fall within the scope of this disclosure. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like in the claims are used merely as labels, and are not numerical limitations of their objects.

The flowcharts shown in the figures are illustrative only and do not necessarily include all of the contents and operations/steps, nor do they necessarily have to be performed in the order described. For example, some operations/steps may be decomposed, and some operations/steps may be combined or partially combined, so that the actual execution sequence may be changed according to the actual situation.

In addition, in the description of the present disclosure, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a foup is used to temporarily store wafers and transfer wafers between various operating stations. A front opening wafer transfer pod (FOUP) having multiple layers of support flanges therein and a front opening through which a plurality of wafers are placed on or removed from the support flanges when the wafers are to be stored or removed.

After a wafer is processed, for example, after the wafer is dry etched, the processed wafer needs to be stored in a FOUP before the next process is performed. However, since the etching gas (such as chlorine gas, hydrogen halide, etc.) may continuously overflow from the processed wafer surface, and the overflowing etching gas may diffuse to the surface of the unprocessed wafer, so that the surface of the unprocessed wafer is contaminated, especially the contamination of the unprocessed wafer adjacent to the processed wafer is the most serious, and the etching gas may react with the surface of the unprocessed wafer to generate defects on the surface of the wafer, which may affect the next process and reduce the yield of semiconductor products.

Based on this, as shown in fig. 1, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides a wafer transfer box 100. The foup 100 includes a housing 10, a multi-layered support flange 20, a baffle 30, and an exhaust channel 40.

Referring to fig. 1, a front opening foup 100 is illustrated in the disclosed embodiment. Of course, the embodiment of the disclosure is, for example, a Front Opening Unified Pod (Front Opening Unified Pod).

As shown in fig. 1, the housing 10 includes opposing first and

second side walls

101, 102, opposing top and

bottom walls

103, 104, and opposing front and

rear walls

105, 106. Wherein, the first side wall 101, the second side wall 102, the top wall 103 and the bottom wall 104 are fixedly connected to form an accommodating cavity. The accommodating chamber has a front opening, a front wall 105 is movably provided at the front opening, and the front wall 105 may serve as a door body of the housing 10 for opening or closing the front opening. In some embodiments, the casing 10 further comprises a cover plate 107, provided on the inner side of the front wall 105, the front wall 105 being in contact with the outside atmosphere, the cover plate 107 being in contact with the environment inside the first chamber S1, the cover plate 107 being able to open or close the front opening together with the front wall 105.

It should be noted that "top", "bottom", "front", and "rear" in the embodiments of the present disclosure are terms of art indicating relative positional relationships of different structures, for example, a side wall of the housing 10 having an opening as a front wall 105 as shown in fig. 1, the opening as a front opening, and a rear wall 106 as opposed to the front wall 105. The top and bottom are defined as the positions where the foup 100 is placed when in use, and the top wall 103 is the wall at the upper end of the housing and the bottom wall 104 is the wall at the lower end, these terms are for convenience of describing the structural relationship and are not intended to be limiting.

With continued reference to fig. 1, the housing 10 has a first chamber S1, and in some embodiments, the first chamber S1 may be the accommodating cavity described above for accommodating the wafer 400. The plurality of layers of support flanges 20 protrude from the inner wall of the first chamber S1 and are spaced apart in a vertical direction Y, which is a direction perpendicular to the bottom wall 104 of the housing 10. The support flange 20 is used to carry the wafer 400. In some embodiments, the support flange 20 extends along the inner wall of the first chamber S1 in a circular arc shape to be able to fit the circular shape of the wafer 400. Each layer of support flange 20 may be a multi-segment extension or may be a single integral extension. In some embodiments, the support flange 20 is at least located on two opposite sidewalls of the first chamber S1, for example, when the first chamber S1 is the accommodating chamber, the support flange 20 is at least located on the first sidewall 101 and the second sidewall 102, so as to firmly support the wafer 400.

In some embodiments, the pod 100 may hold 25 wafers 400 therein, and the support flange 20 may be provided with 25 layers. Of course, the skilled person can set the support flange 20 to other layers according to the actual requirement, for example, 20 layers, 22 layers, 26 layers or 30 layers, and the invention is not limited herein.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, the cover plate 107 has a plurality of through slots corresponding to the wafers 400, and the front wall 105 of the foup 100 has a plurality of wafer pads at positions corresponding to the through slots, so that after the front wall 105 is closed, since the wafers 400 are circular, the through slots of the cover plate 107 can give way for the convex circular arc portions of the wafers 400, thereby avoiding pressing the wafers 400 and saving space. The wafer pad of the front wall 105 is flexible and cushions the edge of the wafer 400 to prevent the arc edge of the wafer 400 from being damaged by impact.

As shown in fig. 1 and 3, a partition plate 30 is provided between the multi-layered support flanges 20 to divide the first chamber S1 into a plurality of first sub-chambers S11 distributed in the vertical direction Y. It should be noted that only one partition is shown in fig. 1 to clearly show other structures within the foup 100. In some embodiments, the edge of the partition 30 may be in sealing connection with the inner wall of the first sub-chamber S1, and the partition 30 can completely cover the wafer 400 in the vertical direction Y to prevent the process gas (such as the etching gas mentioned above) overflowing from the processed wafer 400 from diffusing into the other first sub-chambers S11 in the vertical direction Y. The sidewall of the first sub-chamber S11 is provided with an exhaust hole 108 communicating with the outside of the first sub-chamber S11, so that after the processed wafer 400 overflows the processing gas, the processing gas can only be exhausted through the exhaust hole 108, and the random diffusion of the processing gas is avoided.

In some embodiments, the plurality of baffles 30 are disposed at the bottom of the multi-layered support flange 20, and the first subchamber S11 is formed between adjacent baffles 30.

Specifically, the number of the partition plates 30 may be the same as or less than the number of the support flanges 20. In some embodiments, the number of the spacers 30 is the same as the number of the support flanges 20, and each spacer 30 may be disposed at the bottom of an adjacent support flange 20 above the wafer 400 to block the process gas from diffusing to the surface of the other wafer 400 in the vertical direction Y. In some embodiments, a flange may be further disposed above the top wafer 400, and the flange is only used for connecting the top spacer 30, and the spacer 30 may be disposed at the bottom of the flange or at the top of the flange, which is not particularly limited herein. In other embodiments, the number of the separating plates 30 is less than that of the supporting flanges 20, that is, each wafer 400 is not necessarily placed in the first sub-chamber S11 individually, and the processed wafer 400 may be placed in one or some of the first sub-chambers S11, and the unprocessed wafer 400 may be placed in another first sub-chamber S11, so that the number of the separating plates 30 can be reduced, the cost can be reduced, and the weight of the foup 100 can be lighter, and the wafer can be conveniently transferred between the machines.

In some embodiments, the baffle 30 has a bottom portion disposed at one of the layers of the multi-layered support flange 20, dividing the first chamber S1 into two first sub-chambers S11, wherein one of the first sub-chambers S11 is for receiving the processed wafer 400 and the other first sub-chamber S11 is for receiving the unprocessed wafer 400. Thus, the number of the partition plates 30 can be minimized, the cost can be reduced, and the wafer cassette 100 can be conveniently transferred between the machines.

In some embodiments, the thickness of each partition board 30 may be 2mm to 5mm, specifically, in addition to the above two end values, the thickness of each partition board 30 may be 2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, and 4.5mm, and a person skilled in the art may set the thickness of each partition board 30 and the number of the partition boards 30 according to practical situations, for example, after adding the partition boards 30, the total weight of the foup 100 needs to be evaluated, so that the total weight can be controlled within a preset range, and the handling of the transport mechanism is facilitated.

In some embodiments, the baffle 30 is removably mounted between the layers of support flanges 20. Specifically, a groove (not shown in the drawings) may be opened in a side wall of the first chamber S1 near the bottom of the support flange 20, the opening of the groove facing into the first chamber S1, and a dimension of the opening of the groove in the vertical direction Y being greater than or equal to a thickness of the partition plate 30, so as to insert the partition plate 30 into the groove. In other embodiments, a first magnetic member may be disposed at the bottom of the support flange 20, a second magnetic member may be disposed on the partition board 30, the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member are aligned in the vertical direction Y, and the partition board 30 is fixed at the bottom of the support flange 20 by the attraction of the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member. Of course, other assembling methods can be used to detachably mount the partition 30, and are not limited herein. The partition plates 30 are detachably mounted between the multi-layer supporting flanges 20, the positions and the number of the partition plates 30 can be adjusted at any time according to the number of processed wafers 400 and the number of unprocessed wafers 400, the use is more flexible, the number of the partition plates 30 can be reduced, the cost is reduced, the weight of the wafer transfer box 100 is reduced, and the wafer transfer box is convenient to transfer among all machine stations.

In other embodiments, the baffle 30 may also be fixedly mounted between the layers of support flanges 20. Specifically, the partition plate 30 may be fixedly connected to the bottom of the support flange 20 by screwing, bonding, welding, or the like, and the partition plate 30 may also be integrally formed with the support flange 20. For example, when it is required to divide the first chamber S1 into a fixed number of first sub-chambers S11, the partition plate 30 may be fixedly installed between the multi-layered support flanges 20, so that the structure of the foup 100 is more stable without repeated installation. The material of the partition plate 30 may be the same as that of the support flange 20, facilitating the manufacturing.

As shown in fig. 3, the exhaust passage 40 in the embodiment of the present disclosure is located inside the housing 10 and communicates with the outside of the housing 10, and the exhaust passage 40 is located outside the first sub-chamber S1 inside the housing 10 and communicates with the exhaust hole 108 on the side wall of the first sub-chamber S11. After the processed wafer 400 is placed in the first sub-chamber S11, purge gas is filled into the exhaust channel 40, so that the purge gas flows along the exhaust channel 40, and the process gas overflowing from the processed wafer 400 flows into the exhaust channel 40 through the exhaust hole 108, and is exhausted out of the housing 10 along with the purge gas. Therefore, by means of the flow of the purge gas, the overflowing process gas can be discharged in time, and the process gas is prevented from being diffused into other first sub-chambers S11, so that the unprocessed wafer 400 is completely prevented from being contaminated to cause defects.

In some embodiments, the purge gas may be an inert gas (e.g., helium, argon, etc.), and/or a stable quality nitrogen gas. Wherein the gas purity of the nitrogen or inert gas is not less than 99%, thereby preventing the impurity gas in the purge gas from reacting with the process gas overflowing from the surface of the wafer 400.

In some embodiments, at least a portion of the exhaust passage 40 is disposed outside the sidewall of the first chamber S1 having the exhaust hole 108, such that the exhaust hole 108 communicates with the exhaust passage 40.

In some embodiments, the exhaust channel 40 has an inlet 401 and an outlet 402, the inlet 401 being connected to a gas supply of purge gas to fill the exhaust channel 40 with purge gas, the outlet 402 being connected to the exterior of the housing 10 to enable purge gas and process gas escaping from the housing 10.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the exhaust channel 40 may have an inverted "U" shape, and extend upward from the bottom wall 104 of the housing 10 along the vertical direction Y, pass through the top of the first chamber S1, and extend downward along the vertical direction Y to the bottom wall 104 of the housing 10, and the portion of the exhaust channel 40 extending along the vertical direction Y corresponds to the exhaust hole 108, so that the outlet end of the exhaust hole 108 is directly communicated with the exhaust channel 40. In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the air inlet 401 and the air outlet 402 are provided at the bottom of the housing 10 and are located at opposite sides of the first chamber S1. In some embodiments, one or more gas inlets 401 and one or more gas outlets 402 may be disposed, for example, two or three gas inlets 401 and two or three gas outlets 402 may be disposed, the width of the exhaust channel 40 may extend from the front end of the housing 10 to the rear end of the housing 10, when the sidewall of the first chamber S1 has an arc, the exhaust channel 40 may also be conformally disposed outside the sidewall of the first chamber S1, that is, the width of the exhaust channel 40 may completely cover the outlet end of the exhaust hole 108, so that the processing gas exhausted from the exhaust hole 108 can completely enter the exhaust channel, and when a plurality of gas inlets 401 and gas outlets 402 are disposed, all of the gas inlets 401 and gas outlets 402 can be communicated with the exhaust channel 40, the flow rate and the flow area of the purge gas are increased, and the overflowed processing gas can be completely exhausted from the housing 10. Here, the width of the exhaust channel 40 may be understood as the dimension of the exhaust channel 40 in the direction perpendicular to the purge gas flow direction (the direction of the arrow in the exhaust channel 40 shown in fig. 3). In addition, when the number of the air inlets 401 and the number of the air outlets 402 are plural, the air inlets 401 and the air outlets 402 may be disposed in a one-to-one correspondence, and the air inlets 401 and the air outlets 402 are disposed from the front and rear ends of the bottom wall 104 of the housing 10 to the middle, so that the flow area of the gas can be increased, the gas flow is more uniform, and the stability of the discharged gas is improved.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the exhaust channel 40 is located only outside the side wall of the first chamber S1, extends from the bottom wall 104 of the housing 10 to the top wall 103 of the housing 10 in the vertical direction Y, and corresponds to the exhaust hole 108. The air inlet 401 is located at the bottom of the housing 10 and the air outlet 402 is located at the top of the housing 10.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the first chamber S1 has an array of exhaust holes 108 in the vertical direction Y, one exhaust channel 40 may be correspondingly disposed, so that the outlet ends of the exhaust holes 108 can directly communicate with the exhaust channel 40, and one or more of the air inlets 401 and the air outlets 402 may be respectively disposed. In some embodiments, the first chamber S1 has two or more rows of the exhaust holes 108 in the vertical direction Y, two or more exhaust passages 40 may be correspondingly disposed so that outlet ends of the two or more rows of the exhaust holes 108 can directly communicate with the exhaust passage 40, and each exhaust passage 40 may have one or more air inlets 401 and air outlets 402. In some embodiments, when the first chamber S1 has a plurality of rows of exhaust holes 108, and at least two rows of the plurality of rows of exhaust holes 108 are close to each other, for example, the at least two rows of exhaust holes 108 are disposed adjacent to each other and not located at two opposite sides of the first chamber S1, the at least two rows of exhaust holes 108 can be communicated with the same exhaust channel 40, so as to reduce the number of the exhaust channels 40, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process.

In the above embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the width of the exhaust channel 40 may extend from the front end of the housing 10 to the rear end of the housing 10, and when the sidewall of the first chamber S1 has a curvature, the exhaust channel 40 may also be conformally disposed outside the sidewall of the first chamber S1, that is, the width of the exhaust channel 40 can completely cover the outlet end of the exhaust hole 108, so as to increase the flow rate and flow area of the purge gas, and achieve that the overflowed process gas is completely exhausted from the housing 10. The gas inlet 401 and the gas outlet 402 may be offset in the vertical direction Y to ensure that all the gas in the exhaust passage 40 can be exhausted out of the housing 10. Of course, the air inlets 401 and the air outlets 402 may be disposed in a one-to-one correspondence in the vertical direction Y, so as to reduce the exhaust resistance, so that the gas can be rapidly discharged out of the housing 10. The inlet 401 and the outlet 402 may be configured by those skilled in the art according to practical conditions, such as the size of the exhaust channel 40, the number of the exhaust holes 108, and the like, and are not limited specifically herein.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, the extending direction of the exhaust holes 108 from the inner wall of the first sub-chamber S11 to the outer wall of the first sub-chamber S11 and the flowing direction of the purge gas have a first included angle α, and the first included angle α is smaller than or equal to 90 °.

Specifically, purge gas flows from the inlet 401 along the exhaust channel 40 to the outlet 402. In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the extending direction of the exhaust holes 108 and the flowing direction of the purge gas have a first included angle α, and the first included angle α is 90 °. In other embodiments, as shown in fig. 4, the extending direction of the exhaust holes 108 from the inner wall of the first sub-chamber S11 to the outer wall of the first sub-chamber S11 and the flowing direction of the purge gas have a first included angle α, which is smaller than 90 °, for example, the first included angle α may be 30 °, 45 °, 60 °, 70 °, 80 °, 85 °, which is not limited herein. When the processed wafer 400 is overflowed with process gas (the arrows indicated from the wafer 400 as shown in fig. 3 represent the overflowed process gas), the process gas flows in the direction of purge gas through the exhaust holes 108. Since the gas inlet 401 continuously provides purge gas, the purge gas is guided to flow, and plays a certain role in attracting the process gas in the gas outlet 108, which helps the process gas to be discharged out of the first sub-chamber S11. The process gas discharged from the gas discharge hole 108 does not flow in the reverse direction to the purge gas, and the process gas is prevented from flowing in the reverse direction by the impact of the purge gas, so that the discharge of the process gas can be accelerated.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 4, the inner diameter of the vent hole 108 gradually decreases from the inner wall of the first sub-chamber S11 to a direction close to the outer wall of the first sub-chamber S11. This can further prevent the backflow of the process gas overflowing from the surface of the wafer 400, and facilitate the discharge of the process gas in the flow direction of the purge gas. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the vent hole 108 between the wafer 400 and the partition plate 30 is in an inverted trapezoid shape with an upward slant, and the pressure difference P1 of the first sub-chamber S11 at the partition plate 30 is greater than the pressure difference P2 of the vent pipe 40 at the outlet of the vent hole 108, so that the processing gas on the surface of the wafer 400 flows out along the inner wall of the flow direction of the purge gas, thereby preventing the processing gas from overflowing and performing a secondary reaction with other wafers, and further preventing the yield of the product from decreasing.

In some embodiments, each first sub-chamber S11 has one vent 108. The exhaust holes 108 of the plurality of first sub-chambers S11 are aligned in the vertical direction Y, and thus one exhaust passage 40 may be provided. In other embodiments, as shown in fig. 3 and 4, each of the first sub-chambers S11 has two exhaust holes 108, and the two exhaust holes 108 are respectively disposed on two opposite sidewalls of the first sub-chamber S11. The exhaust holes 108 of the plurality of first sub-chambers S11 are arranged in two rows in the vertical direction Y, so that two exhaust channels 40 may be correspondingly arranged or one exhaust channel 40 may be arranged through all the exhaust holes 108, such as the inverted "U" shaped exhaust channel 40 described in the above embodiment.

In some embodiments, a first one-way valve 50 is disposed in the vent hole 108. As shown in fig. 5, the first check valve 50 includes a valve body 501, and a gas flow passage 502 is provided in the valve body 501 to allow gas to pass therethrough. The valve body 501 is provided with a first boss 5011 and a second boss 5012 projecting into the gas flow passage 502, the first boss 5011 and the second boss 5012 being provided at an interval in the vertical direction Y.

The first check valve 50 further includes an elastic member 503 and a stopper 504, and the stopper 504 and the elastic member 503 are disposed in the gas flow path 502. The backstop 504 has a backstop 5041 and a flow guide 5042, and the backstop 5041 is connected to the bottom end of the flow guide 5042. The bottom of the backstop 5041 is supported on the first boss 5011, and the radial dimension of the backstop 5041 is greater than the dimension of the inner diameter of the first boss 5011, so that the gas flow passage 502 at the first boss 5011 can be completely covered in the vertical direction Y to block the gas flow passage 502 after the backstop 5041 is placed on the first boss 5011. In some embodiments, the sides of the bottom of the backstop 5041 are gradually inclined inward, i.e., the radial dimension of the bottom is gradually reduced, such that when the backstop 504 is placed on the first boss 5011, a portion of the bottom of the backstop 504 extends into the gas flow passage 502 at the first boss 5011 and the inclined sidewalls of the bottom block the gas flow passage 502 at the first boss 5011, thereby enabling enhanced sealing.

With continued reference to fig. 5, the flow guide 5042 of the backstop 504 may be hollow and cylindrical, with the radial dimension of the flow guide 5042 being less than the radial dimension of the gas passage 502 located above the first boss 5011 and greater than the radial dimension of the gas passage 502 bounded by the second boss 5012. The elastic member 503 has one end connected to the second boss 5012 and the other end connected to the flow guide 5042. When there is no gas inflow, as shown in fig. 5, the stopper 504 is supported at the first boss 5011, and the top end of the flow guide 5042 of the stopper 504 has a first predetermined distance from the bottom of the second boss 5012 in the vertical direction Y.

As shown in fig. 6, when gas flows into the first check valve 50, the gas flows in from the gas flow passage 502 at the bottom of the first boss 5011, the check portion 5041 of the check member 504 is pushed upward away from the first boss 5011 by the thrust of the gas, so that the gas flows from the gas flow passage 502 at the first boss 5011 into the gas flow passage 502 above the first boss 5011, the elastic member 503 is contracted, the top end of the flow guide portion 5042 of the check member 504 has a second predetermined distance from the bottom of the second boss 5012, so that the gas flows from the gas flow passage 502 at the first boss 5011 to the gas flow passage 502 at the second boss 5012 along the side wall of the flow guide portion 5042 of the check member 504, and finally flows out of the first check valve 50, as shown by the arrows in fig. 6. When the gas flows in the reverse direction, the backstop 5041 of the backstop 504 blocks the gas flow passage 502 at the first boss 5011, so that the gas does not flow in the reverse direction. By providing the first check valve 50 in the exhaust hole 108, the reverse flow of the process gas overflowing the wafer 400 can be further prevented.

In some embodiments, a second one-way valve 50' is provided in the air inlet 401 and/or the air outlet 402 of the exhaust passage 40. As shown in fig. 7, a partial exploded view of the interior of the foup 100 is shown, mainly illustrating the inlet port 401 and the second check valve 50'. The structure and principle of the second check valve 50' can be completely the same as those of the first check valve 50 in the above-mentioned embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted. By providing the second check valve 50' in the gas inlet 401 and/or the gas outlet 402, the backflow of the gas can be avoided, the flow of the gas in the exhaust channel 40 can be accelerated, and the gas source of the purge gas can be prevented from being polluted.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the foup 100 further includes a negative pressure device 60 connected to the air outlet 402 of the exhaust channel 40 to provide negative pressure to the exhaust channel 40. It should be noted that fig. 3 only shows a schematic diagram of the negative pressure device 60, and those skilled in the art can set the position of the negative pressure device 60 according to actual conditions.

In some embodiments, the negative pressure device 60 may be a negative pressure pump, a negative pressure fan. The negative pressure device 60 is connected to the gas outlet 402 of the exhaust channel 40, and provides a negative pressure to the exhaust channel 40, so that the pressure in the first chamber S1 is greater than the pressure in the exhaust channel 40, which accelerates the flow rate of the processing gas overflowing from the wafer 400 in the first chamber S1 to the exhaust channel 40, and further prevents the processing gas from contaminating the unprocessed wafer 400. Meanwhile, due to the suction action of the negative pressure device 60, the flow velocity of the gas in the exhaust passage 40 can be accelerated, and thus the process gas can be rapidly exhausted to the outside of the housing 10.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 1 and 3, the foup 100 further comprises a first support frame 70. The first support frame 70 is disposed in the housing 10 and extends from the bottom of the housing 10 to the top of the housing 10 along the vertical direction Y. In some embodiments, the first support frame 70 includes at least two support plates, and one ends of the two support plates close to the rear wall 106 of the casing 10 are hermetically connected to the rear wall 106 of the casing 10, the at least two support plates respectively have a curved surface and are oppositely disposed on the first side wall 101 and the second side wall 102 of the casing 10, and the multi-layer support flange 20 is disposed on the opposite curved surface. In other embodiments, the first support frame 70 may include a support plate having a curved surface, and extending from the first side wall 101 to the second side wall 102 of the housing 10 through the rear wall 106, and the multi-layer support flange 20 is disposed on the curved surface.

As shown in fig. 3, a first chamber S1 is formed in the first support frame 70, and the multi-layer support flange 20 protrudes from an inner wall of the first support frame 70, and the exhaust passage 40 is located between the first support frame 70 and the housing 10. The exhaust holes 108 are provided on the side wall of the first support frame 70. By providing the first support frame 70, the exhaust passage 40 is directly formed between the first support frame 70 and the first and

second side walls

101 and 102 of the housing 10, which simplifies the manufacturing process.

In other embodiments, the first chamber S1 is formed in the casing 10, the multi-layer supporting flange 20 protrudes from the inner wall of the casing 10, and the exhaust passage 40 is disposed between the inner wall of the casing 10 and the outer wall of the casing 10.

That is, the housing chamber in the housing 10 in the above embodiment is the first chamber S1, and the exhaust passage 40 is opened in the side wall of the housing 10. After the discharge hole 108 is formed, a discharge passage 40 may be opened at a side wall of the case 10 corresponding to the discharge hole 108. Thus, the first support frame 70 separately provided in the above embodiment can be omitted, and raw materials can be saved.

In summary, in the embodiment of the disclosure, the partition plate 30 is disposed between the multiple layers of support flanges 20 to divide the first chamber S1 into the multiple first sub-chambers S11, so that the processed wafer 400 and the unprocessed wafer 400 can be placed in different first sub-chambers S11, and the partition plate 30 can prevent the processing gas overflowing from the processed wafer 400 from directly polluting the surface of the unprocessed wafer 400; the side wall of the first sub-chamber S11 is provided with an exhaust hole 108, the exhaust hole 108 is communicated with the exhaust channel 40 located outside the first sub-chamber S1, after the processed wafer 400 is placed in the first sub-chamber S11, purified gas is filled into the exhaust channel 40, the purified gas flows along the exhaust channel 40 and is exhausted out of the exhaust channel 40, namely, drainage is formed in the exhaust channel 40, after the processed wafer 400 overflows processing gas, the processing gas flows out of the exhaust channel 40 from the exhaust hole 108, and is exhausted out of the housing 10 along with the drainage formed by the purified gas, so that the overflowing processing gas can be timely exhausted through the purified gas, the processing gas is prevented from being diffused into other first sub-chambers S11, the problem that the unprocessed wafer 400 is polluted to generate defects is thoroughly avoided, and the yield of semiconductor products is improved.

As shown in fig. 8, a wafer pod control system is also provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The control system includes a controller 300, the foup 100 of any of the above embodiments, and the gas supply apparatus 200. The foup 100 and the gas supply apparatus 200 are electrically connected to the controller 300, respectively.

After the processed wafer 400 is placed in the foup 100, the front wall 105 of the foup 100 is sealed, the foup 100 sends a first control signal to the controller 300, for example, a sensor is disposed in the foup 100, the sensor detects that the processed wafer 400 is placed in the foup and seals the front wall 105, and sends the first control signal to the controller 300, and after receiving the first control signal, the controller 300 sends an activation signal to the gas supply apparatus 200, and activates the gas supply apparatus 200 to supply purge gas to the exhaust passage 40 in the foup 100.

In some embodiments, the foup 100 control system further includes an indicator light for real-time display of the status of the gas in the exhaust channel 40, e.g., flowing, turned off, etc., for real-time operator query.

In some embodiments, the controller 300 is further configured to turn off the gas supply apparatus 200 after the gas supply apparatus 200 is turned on for a first preset time.

In some embodiments, the controller 300 is further configured to control the activation and deactivation of the vacuum 60 of the foup 100. After the controller 300 controls the gas supply device 200 to be activated, the vacuum device 60 is sequentially activated such that the vacuum device 60 provides a vacuum to the exhaust channel 40 of the foup 100, and after the gas supply device is activated for a second predetermined time, the controller 300 is further configured to deactivate the vacuum device 60. And the duration of the first preset time is greater than or equal to the duration of the second preset time.

The wafer 400 transfer control system of the embodiment of the disclosure can provide purge gas into the wafer transfer box 100 in time to discharge the overflowed process gas out of the wafer transfer box 100, thereby preventing the unprocessed wafer 400 from being contaminated to cause defects and improving the yield of semiconductor products.

It is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the present specification. The present disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. The foregoing variations and modifications are within the scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the disclosure disclosed and defined in this specification extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text and/or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the present disclosure. The embodiments described in this specification illustrate the best mode known for carrying out the disclosure and will enable those skilled in the art to utilize the disclosure.

Claims

1. A wafer transport cassette, comprising:

the wafer processing device comprises a shell, a first cavity and a second cavity, wherein the shell is internally provided with the first cavity and used for accommodating a wafer;

the multilayer supporting flanges protrude out of the inner wall of the first chamber, are distributed at intervals in the vertical direction and are used for bearing wafers;

the partition plate is arranged between the multiple layers of supporting flanges so as to divide the first chamber into a plurality of first sub-chambers distributed along the vertical direction, and exhaust holes communicated with the outside of the first sub-chambers are formed in the side wall of each first sub-chamber;

and the exhaust channel is positioned in the shell and is communicated with the outside of the shell, and the exhaust channel is positioned outside the first chamber in the shell and is communicated with the exhaust hole.

2. The wafer transport box of claim 1, wherein the plurality of partitions are respectively disposed at the bottom of the multi-layered support flange, and the first sub-chamber is formed between adjacent partitions; or the like, or, alternatively,

the partition plate is provided with one partition plate which is arranged at the bottom of one layer of the multi-layer support flanges and divides the first chamber into two first sub-chambers, wherein one first sub-chamber is used for accommodating a processed wafer, and the other first sub-chamber is used for accommodating an unprocessed wafer.

3. The foup of claim 1 or 2, wherein the partition is removably mounted between the multi-level support flanges.

4. The wafer transport box of claim 1, wherein the exhaust hole extends from the inner wall of the first sub-chamber to the outer wall of the first sub-chamber and has a first included angle with the flow direction of the purge gas in the exhaust channel, the first included angle being less than or equal to 90 °.

5. The wafer transport box of claim 4, wherein the inner diameter of the vent hole gradually decreases from the inner wall of the first sub-chamber to the direction close to the outer wall of the first sub-chamber.

6. The wafer transport box of claim 1 or 4, wherein each of the first sub-chambers has an exhaust port; or the like, or, alternatively,

each first sub-chamber is provided with two exhaust holes, and the two exhaust holes are respectively arranged on two opposite side walls of the first sub-chamber.

7. The transport pod as claimed in claim 1 wherein the vent hole has a first one-way valve disposed therein.

8. The wafer transport box of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the exhaust channel is disposed outside a sidewall of the first chamber having the exhaust hole, such that the exhaust hole is communicated with the exhaust channel.

9. The foup of claim 1, wherein the exhaust channel has a gas inlet configured to connect to a gas supply of purge gas within the exhaust channel and a gas outlet connected to the exterior of the housing.

10. The wafer transport box of claim 9, wherein the gas inlet and the gas outlet are disposed at the bottom of the housing and located at two opposite sides of the first chamber; or the like, or, alternatively,

the air inlet is located at the bottom of the shell, and the air outlet is located at the top of the shell.

11. The foup of claim 9, wherein a second one-way valve is provided in the inlet and/or the outlet.

12. The foup of claim 11, further comprising: and the negative pressure device is connected to the air outlet of the air exhaust channel to provide negative pressure for the air exhaust channel.

13. The foup of claim 1, further comprising:

the first support frame is arranged in the shell, the first cavity is formed in the first support frame, the multilayer support flanges protrude out of the inner wall of the first support frame, and the exhaust channel is located between the first support frame and the shell.

14. The foup of claim 1, wherein the first chamber is formed within the housing and the multi-layered support flange protrudes from an inner wall of the housing, the exhaust channel being disposed between the inner wall of the housing and an outer wall of the housing.

15. A wafer cassette control system, comprising:

the pod of any of claims 1-14;

the gas supply device is used for supplying purified gas to the exhaust channel of the wafer transfer box;

and the controller is respectively electrically connected with the wafer transmission box and the gas supply device and is used for controlling the gas supply device to be opened and supplying the purified gas to the wafer transmission box after the processed wafer is placed in the wafer transmission box, and controlling the gas supply device to be closed after a first preset time.