CN115910879A

CN115910879A - Fine adjustment thimble device

Info

Publication number: CN115910879A
Application number: CN202211190195.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨平; 张志强
Original assignee: Shanghai Jet Plasma Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Jet Plasma Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-09-28
Filing date: 2022-09-28
Publication date: 2023-04-04

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of wafer equipment, in particular to a fine adjustment thimble device which is mainly used for fine adjustment of the height and the verticality of a Lift Pin in a narrow space in a process cavity, and particularly for adjustment under the condition of limitation of a bottom space in a vacuum process cavity, wherein the fine adjustment thimble device structurally comprises a thimble support ring 1, a thimble support ring 2, an adjusting block and a spring, wherein a horizontal adjustment jackscrew and a height and verticality adjustment jackscrew are arranged on the thimble support ring 1; the thimble support ring 2 is positioned below the thimble support ring 1, and the thimble support ring 1 is connected; the thimble support ring 2 is provided with a spring limiting column, and the spring is sleeved on the spring limiting column; the adjusting block is sleeved on the spring limiting column; contact with the spring; the lower end of the jackscrew is contacted with the upper surface of the adjusting block; the lower end of the thimble is fixed on the thimble base; the thimble base penetrates through the thimble through hole and is contacted with the upper surface of the adjusting block.

Description

Fine adjustment thimble device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of chip wafer equipment, in particular to a wafer fine adjustment thimble device.

Background

Most of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment is processed in a vacuum environment or a lower closed space, and a process chamber of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment needs Lift Pin as a transmission medium to carry out wafer transmission interaction with a manipulator; lift Pin generally adopts a three-needle or four-needle mechanism; such as: the Lift Pin is at the lower position, the wafer is conveyed to the process chamber by the manipulator, the Lift Pin jacks up to separate the wafer from the manipulator, the manipulator exits the process chamber, the Lift Pin descends, and the wafer is placed on the Stage; and the wafer is transferred out of the process chamber in the reverse direction. In order to avoid the situation that the wafer falls on Stage to generate offset, the levelness of the wafer on the Lift Pin is required to be consistent with that of the Stage, at the moment, the height of the Lift Pin needs to be adjusted to ensure that the height difference of three pins or four pins is consistent, and the verticality also needs to be synchronously met; if the hard connection mode is adopted, the machining precision can be guaranteed only under the condition that no error exists, the reality is difficult to meet, and the rejection rate is high.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the invention, by improving the support ring structure and increasing the height and verticality fine-adjustable structure of the thimble (Lift Pin), the rejection rate of a machined part and the offset problem of the wafer falling on the Stage can be avoided. The technical scheme is as follows:

a fine adjustment thimble device comprises a thimble supporting ring 1, a thimble supporting ring 2, an adjusting block and a spring, wherein,

the thimble support ring 1 is provided with a horizontal adjusting jackscrew, a height and verticality adjusting jackscrew and a thimble through hole;

the thimble support ring 2 is positioned below the thimble through hole, and a spring limit column is arranged on the thimble support ring 2;

the spring is sleeved on the spring limiting column;

the upper surface of the adjusting block is smooth, and the lower surface of the adjusting block is provided with an annular bulge which can be sleeved on the spring limiting column; in contact with the spring;

the lower end of the height and verticality adjusting jackscrew is in surface contact with the adjusting block;

the lower end of the thimble is fixed on the thimble base; the thimble base penetrates through the thimble through hole and is in contact with the upper surface of the adjusting block.

Furthermore, the thimble support ring 2 is provided with a screw through hole, and is connected with the thimble support ring 1 through a screw.

Furthermore, a spring limiting groove and a fixing screw through hole are arranged on the thimble supporting ring 2.

Furthermore, the thimble support ring 1 is provided with a rectangular thimble through hole, the thimble base is rectangular and provided with a threaded hole, and the bottom of the thimble can be screwed into the threaded hole for fixation.

Furthermore, the adjusting block is round, the upper surface is smooth, and the lower surface is provided with an annular bulge.

Furthermore, 3 jackscrew threaded holes are uniformly distributed around the thimble through hole, and the jackscrew height and the perpendicularity adjusting jackscrew are in contact with the surface of the adjusting block through the jackscrew threaded holes.

Further, the thimble support ring 1 is connected with a cylinder or a motor.

Advantageous effects

Increase the fine setting structure of this patent, adjust through support ring upper portion operation, and Lift Pin can carry out following fine setting:

(1) Fine adjustment of the left and right positions of the thimble;

(2) Fine adjustment of the height of the thimble;

(3) Fine adjustment of the perpendicularity of the thimble;

drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional mechanism;

the wafer stacking device comprises a wafer 1, a wafer 2, a Lift Pin 3, a stage 4, a process cavity 5, a Lift Pin support ring 6, a cylinder 7, a Lift Pin limit column 8 and a wafer transfer port;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a prior art thimble (Lift Pin) support ring;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the structure of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural view of a support ring 1 of a Lift Pin thimble (Lift Pin) in the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view of a Lift Pin thimble (Lift Pin) support ring 2 according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a top view of a thimble (Lift Pin) support ring 2 according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural view of a thimble height and verticality adjusting block according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of the top view angle of the thimble height and verticality adjusting block in the present invention; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

9. the Lift Pin fixes the threaded hole, 10, support ring and cylinder fixing screw, 11, support ring horizontal adjusting jackscrew;

12. the device comprises springs, 13, lift

Pin support rings

2 and 14, fixing screws, 15, jackscrews, 16, a Lift Pin base, 17 and a thimble height and verticality adjusting block;

18. mounting a threaded hole, 19 and a Lift Pin through hole on a jackscrew; 20. the spring support ring comprises a spring limiting column 21, screw through holes 22, a spring limiting groove 51 and a Lift Pin support ring 1.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1, currently, most of semiconductor manufacturing equipment is processed in a vacuum environment or in a lower closed space, and a Lift Pin (Lift Pin, mounting Pin) is required for a process chamber to perform wafer transfer interaction with a robot as a transfer medium; lift Pin generally adopts a three-needle or four-needle mechanism; such as: the Lift Pin is at the lower position, the wafer is conveyed to the process chamber by the manipulator, the Lift Pin jacks up to separate the wafer from the manipulator, the manipulator exits the process chamber, the Lift Pin descends, and the wafer is placed on the Stage; and reversely transferring the wafer out of the process chamber.

In order to avoid the situation that the wafer falls on Stage to generate offset, the levelness of the wafer on the Lift Pin is required to be consistent with that of the Stage, at the moment, the height of the Lift Pin needs to be adjusted to ensure that the height difference of three pins or four pins is consistent, and the verticality also needs to be synchronously met; if a hard connection mode is adopted, the three-needle or four-needle height difference can be ensured to be consistent under the condition that the machining precision has no error, the actual machining precision is difficult to meet, and the rejection rate is high.

As shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the problems of the current structure of the current Lift Pin support ring 5 include:

(1) The perpendicularity of the Lift Pin is difficult to guarantee, and the perpendicularity of the Lift Pin is related to the perpendicularity of a threaded hole and thread tapping of a Lift Pin support ring; under the condition of poor verticality, friction and even clamping of the Lift Pin and the Lift Pin limiting column occur;

(2) It is difficult to ensure that the Lift Pin support ring is completely horizontal, resulting in inconsistent and unadjustable three or four Pin Lift Pin height differences.

In order to solve the problems, the fine-adjustable structure for the height and the verticality of the Lift Pin is added by improving the structure of the support ring, so that the rejection rate of machined parts can be reduced, and the problem that wafers fall onto stages to shift is solved.

Because support ring lower part space is narrow and small, under the condition that can't adjust in support ring lower part space, through increasing the fine setting structure in this patent, can carry out following fine setting to Lift Pin in support ring upper portion working space:

1. fine adjustment of left and right positions of Lift Pin;

2. fine adjustment of the height of Lift Pin;

3. fine adjustment of the Lift Pin verticality;

specifically, as shown in fig. 3, the device of the present invention changes the original integrated support ring assembly into two modules by mainly changing the structure of the support ring:

a Lift Pin support ring 1 and a matching component thereof; the Lift Pin support ring 2 and the matching component thereof, the Lift Pin support ring 1 is connected with the Lift Pin support ring 2 through a fixing screw 14.

Further, as shown in fig. 3, 4 and 5, a thimble (Lift Pin) supporting ring assembly 1 is used for being connected with a cylinder, an adjusting jackscrew is arranged at the joint of the supporting ring and the cylinder, and the horizontal adjustment of the thimble is performed through the adjusting jackscrew at the joint of the cylinder and the supporting ring;

the Lift Pin support ring 2 is used for fixing the ejector pins, and meanwhile, the height and the verticality are adjusted through the cooperation of the Lift Pin height and verticality adjusting block, the spring and the ejector screw; the bottom end of the Lift Pin is provided with a thread, and the corresponding base is also provided with a threaded hole, so that the Lift Pin can be screwed into the base for fixation. The base is a rectangular part, correspondingly, a rectangular through hole is formed in the support ring 1, the base penetrates through the through hole and rotates for 90 degrees, and at the moment, the rectangular outline of the base cannot pass through the rectangular through hole in the support ring.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a top view angle structure of the support ring 1, wherein four rectangular thimble Lift Pin through holes are distributed on the annular surface of the support ring 1, and three jackscrew threaded holes 18 are arranged on the periphery of each of the Lift Pin through holes; the connecting end of the support ring 1 and the cylinder is provided with a support ring and a cylinder fixing screw 10; and a support ring horizontal adjustment jackscrew 11; three thimble through holes can be arranged.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a top view angle of the support ring 2, fig. 6 is a schematic front angle diagram of the support ring 2, the support ring 2 is a circular part with a groove and a spring spacing column 20 in the center, and is located below a Lift Pin through hole of the support ring 1; the support ring 2 is provided with a threaded through hole 21 for fixedly connecting with the support ring 1;

the spring 12 is sleeved on the spring limiting post 20; an adjusting block 17 is arranged on the spring 12;

the base of the thimble (Lift Pin) is arranged on the surface of the adjusting block.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the adjusting block 17 is a member provided on the spring, and presses the surface thereof to adjust the height or inclination of the surface. The base of the thimble is placed on the surface of the adjusting block, so that the height change or the inclination change of the surface of the adjusting block can cause the fine adjustment of the thimble.

Furthermore, the profile of the adjusting block is a round part, the upper surface is smooth, the lower surface is provided with an annular bulge, and the adjusting block is sleeved on the limiting post 20; at this point below the adjustment block is spring 12.

The top thread is structured like a screw and has a positioning function. The jackscrew 15 is contacted with the surface of the adjusting block 17 through the threaded hole 18 and pressed downwards; at the moment, the surface of the adjusting block is pressed upwards by a spring, and the three jackscrews are pressed downwards on the upper surface of the adjusting block. By rotating the jackscrew 15, the jackscrew 15 moves downwards or upwards, the height and the levelness of the plane of the adjusting block 17 can be finely adjusted at the moment, the height and the verticality of the Lift Pin base can be adjusted, and the height and the verticality of the Lift Pin base are further adjusted.

Specifically adjusting: the lower end of the jackscrew 15 contacts the upper surface of the adjusting block, and the surface of the adjusting block can be adjusted by rotating the jackscrew 15, so that the height of the adjusting block is changed or the levelness of the adjusting block is changed;

further, under normal conditions, the action process of taking and placing the piece by the mechanical arm through the device is as follows:

(1) The manipulator carries the wafer to be transferred into the process cavity through the wafer transferring port;

(2) The cylinder ascends to drive the support ring 1 and the components thereof to ascend, and the support ring drives the Lift Pin to ascend; the height of the Lift Pin is higher than the surface of the manipulator, and the Lift Pin supports the wafer and enables the wafer to be separated from the manipulator;

(3) The mechanical arm withdraws from the process chamber;

(4) The Lift Pin descends through the cylinder and the support ring, so that the wafer falls onto Stage; the Lift Pin height is lower than the Stage surface;

(5) Starting a process of the process chamber;

(6) Ending the process of the process cavity;

(7) Lifting and supporting wafer by Lift Pin through a cylinder and a support ring;

(8) The mechanical arm enters the process chamber through the wafer conveying port;

(9) The Lift Pin descends, namely the wafer falls onto the manipulator, and the Lift Pin is separated from the wafer;

(10) The manipulator carries the wafer out of the process chamber; and finishing the film taking and placing process.

If the Lift pin needs to be adjusted:

as shown in fig. 3, the installation and adjustment are as follows:

(1) Sleeving a spring into a limiting column of a Lift Pin support ring 2; as shown in fig. 5 and 6, the support ring 2 has a spring retaining post 20.

(2) The height and verticality adjusting block of the Lift Pin shown in the figure 7 is sleeved on the limiting column of the Lift Pin supporting ring 2;

(3) Fixing the Lift Pin support ring 2 and the Lift Pin support ring 1 in the figure 4 by using a fixing screw combination; (4) Mounting the Lift Pin support ring 1 on a cylinder, and adjusting the level through a jackscrew;

(5) Mounting a jackscrew in a jackscrew threaded hole for mounting the Lift Pin support ring 1, and enabling the jackscrew to contact a Lift Pin height and verticality adjusting block shown in a figure 7;

(6) Inserting the Lift Pin base in the figure 5 along the opening direction of the Lift Pin support ring 1 in the figure 4, pressing down to compress the spring, rotating the Lift Pin base by 90 degrees, and confirming that the Lift Pin base is clamped and cannot pop up;

(7) The height difference and the verticality between the top of the Lift Pin base and the support ring component 1 of the Lift Pin in the figure 4 are adjusted by adjusting a jackscrew, and the target four pins are consistent in height and are vertical to the surface of the support ring component 1;

(8) Stage installation;

(9) Screwing in a Lift Pin;

(10) Confirming that the height difference between the four needles of Lift Pin and Stage is consistent, if the difference is needed to be finely adjusted, recording the adjusting amount of the Lift Pin which needs to be finely adjusted; removing Stage, and adjusting the height and the verticality of the base corresponding to the Lift Pin through a jackscrew;

(11) And mounting Stage to repeatedly confirm the height difference of the four needles Lift Pin until the required range of the height difference of the four needles is met.

Because the Lift Pin base is in clearance fit in the hole, the Lift Pin base can move in a limited space, and can be automatically adjusted and centered through the Lift Pin limiting column in the figure 1 in the process of ascending and descending the Lift Pin.

The protection scope of the patent is not limited to the use of air cylinders or motors for driving the up and down and the Lift Pin material; the device is mainly designed aiming at the limitation of the lower space, but not only limited to the lower space, and is also suitable for large space or lower open space; the height difference adjusting range of the three-pin or four-pin is determined by the size of the assembly, and the adjusting range is generally required to be within 0-3 mm in semiconductor equipment; the thimble is fixed on the base in the structure of this patent, and the base can control the fine setting in the space.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several modifications and additions can be made without departing from the method of the present invention, and these modifications and additions should also be considered as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A fine adjustment thimble device is characterized by comprising a thimble support ring 1, a thimble support ring 2, an adjusting block and a spring, wherein,

the thimble support ring 1 is provided with a thimble through hole, a horizontal adjusting jackscrew and a height and verticality adjusting jackscrew;

the thimble support ring 2 is positioned below the thimble through hole, and the thimble support ring 2 is provided with a spring limiting column;

the spring is sleeved on the spring limiting column;

the upper surface of the adjusting block is smooth, and the lower surface of the adjusting block is provided with an annular bulge which is sleeved on the spring limiting post; in contact with the spring;

the lower end of the height and verticality adjusting jackscrew is in contact with the upper surface of the adjusting block;

the lower end of the thimble is fixed on the thimble base; the thimble base is contacted with the upper surface of the adjusting block through the thimble through hole.

2. The fine-adjustable thimble device according to claim 1, wherein said thimble support ring 2 is provided with a screw through hole, and is fixedly connected to said thimble support ring 1 by a screw.

3. The fine-adjustable thimble device according to claim 1, wherein said thimble supporting ring 2 is provided with a spring retaining groove and a fixing screw through hole.

4. The fine-adjustable thimble device according to claim 1, wherein said thimble support ring 1 has a rectangular thimble through hole, said thimble base has a rectangular shape and a threaded hole, and a bottom end of said thimble is screwed into said threaded hole.

5. The fine-adjustable ejector pin device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adjusting block is circular, the upper surface of the adjusting block is smooth, and the lower surface of the adjusting block is provided with an annular protrusion.

6. The fine-adjustable ejector pin device according to claim 1, wherein said ejector pin through hole is uniformly surrounded by 3 jackscrew threaded holes, and said jackscrew height & perpendicularity adjusting jackscrew contacts the surface of said adjusting block through said jackscrew threaded hole.

7. The fine-adjustable thimble device according to claim 1, wherein said thimble support ring 1 is connected to a cylinder or a motor.