CN119870026B

CN119870026B - Wafer cleaning method, device and equipment

Info

Publication number: CN119870026B
Application number: CN202510360459.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘丰迪; 徐俊成; 王延华; 王鹏
Original assignee: Beijing Haike Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Haike Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2025-03-26
Filing date: 2025-03-26
Publication date: 2025-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 2045-03-26
Also published as: CN119870026A; CN120618927A

Abstract

The invention discloses a wafer cleaning method, a device and equipment, and belongs to the technical field of chip manufacturing. The wafer cleaning method is realized by the wafer cleaning device, the chuck is driven to rotate through the rotating mechanism, the clamping jaws are sequentially rotated to the cleaning station to clean, and the clamping jaws positioned at the cleaning station are sprayed with fluid through the spray head to clean. The wafer cleaning device comprises the wafer cleaning device. By adopting the technical scheme, the automatic cleaning of the clamping piece can be realized, the manual operation is reduced, the cleaning efficiency is improved, and the device has remarkable advantages in industrial scale application, can clean in a non-stop state, can clean in a gap where the wafer is replaced, is beneficial to improving the overall production efficiency, and reduces the stop time.

Description

Wafer cleaning method, device and equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to a wafer cleaning method, a wafer cleaning device and wafer cleaning equipment, and belongs to the technical field of chip manufacturing.

Background

Wafer cleaning is a critical step in the chip manufacturing process because it directly affects the quality and yield of the final chip. The purpose of wafer cleaning is to remove various contaminants, such as particles, organics, metal ions, oxides, etc., that may remain during the manufacturing process. These contaminants, if not removed in time, can affect the smoothness of the wafer surface and thus the effectiveness of subsequent process steps such as photolithography, doping, metallization, and the like.

Wet cleaning is the most common cleaning method, i.e., cleaning the wafer with a chemical solution. In the wet cleaning process, the wafer needs to be clamped at first to ensure the stability of the wafer in the cleaning process, avoid mechanical stress or damage, and ensure that the cleaning liquid can uniformly cover the surface of the wafer so as to achieve the optimal cleaning effect.

The wafer clamping mode generally comprises mechanical clamping, rotary clamping, non-contact clamping and adsorption clamping, wherein a wafer cleaning mechanism of the mechanical clamping mode generally comprises a chuck, clamping pieces, a rotating mechanism and a liquid recovery mechanism, wherein the chuck is arranged on the rotating mechanism, a supporting piece is arranged on the chuck, the clamping pieces are used for clamping and fixing a wafer, and the chuck, the clamping pieces and the wafer can synchronously rotate through driving of the rotating mechanism.

In the wafer rotation process, the cleaning liquid is sprayed to the wafer through the liquid spraying mechanism to clean, and the wafer rotation can enable the cleaning liquid to be thrown out to the radial outside under the action of centrifugal force. The liquid recovery mechanism is annularly arranged on the radial outer side of the chuck to form a separation ring and is used for receiving the cleaning liquid thrown outwards by the rotation of the wafer. Generally, different chemical cleaning solutions are used to clean the wafer to achieve the removal rate of particles, and multiple layers of isolating rings are used to collect different chemical solutions.

In the wafer cleaning process, the liquid medicine can be attached to the surface of the clamping piece, if the liquid medicine can not be effectively removed, the liquid medicine remained on the surface of the clamping piece can influence the cleaning effect of the edge part of the wafer, and especially in the contact area of the wafer and the clamping piece, the cleaning is incomplete. Furthermore, the residual liquid medicine may contain particles, contaminants or chemical components that fall off during the previous cleaning process, and these residues may pollute new wafers during the next cleaning process, resulting in cross contamination. In addition, certain cleaning fluids are corrosive and long term adhesion to the surfaces of the clamps can lead to corrosion or aging of the clamp material, affecting the life and stability of the equipment. Meanwhile, the liquid medicine remains on the clamping piece for a long time, so that the surface friction coefficient of the clamping piece is possibly changed, the abrasion of the clamping piece is accelerated, and particularly the abrasion of a contact part is more obvious when the wafer rotates. If the surface of the clamping piece is attached by the liquid medicine for a long time, the clamping of the clamping piece or inflexibility of operation can be caused, so that the clamping effect of the wafer is affected, and even the wafer is displaced or falls off in the rotating process.

The mode of cleaning the residual liquid medicine on the clamping piece generally comprises manual wiping cleaning, soaking cleaning and ultrasonic cleaning. The manual cleaning method has the advantages that a large amount of manual operation is needed during manual cleaning, time and labor are wasted, particularly when the clamping piece with a large area or a complex shape is cleaned, the operation difficulty of wiping the clamping piece is increased, compared with an automatic method, the manual cleaning efficiency is lower, the manual cleaning method is suitable for small-batch cleaning, and the large-scale industrial cleaning requirement is difficult to meet. The soaking and cleaning generally requires a certain time to dissolve the residual liquid medicine on the surface of the clamping piece, and compared with other methods, the cleaning speed is lower and the efficiency is lower. Both ultrasonic cleaning and immersion cleaning require the removal and placement of the clamping members in a special apparatus, which increases the process of removing and installing the clamping members, and has a long downtime, which affects the cleaning efficiency of the wafer.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer cleaning method, apparatus, and device, by providing a holder cleaning mechanism in a wafer cleaning device, the holder can be automatically cleaned, so that the cleaning efficiency of the holder is effectively improved, and the cleaning of the holder can be completed only in a gap period for replacing a wafer in a state of no shutdown, which is beneficial to improving the cleaning effect of the wafer.

In order to achieve the above object, a wafer cleaning apparatus of the present invention includes:

A chuck;

The clamping piece comprises a plurality of clamping claws, and the clamping claws are circumferentially distributed on the chuck and used for clamping and fixing a wafer;

the liquid spraying mechanism is used for spraying cleaning liquid on the wafer for cleaning;

the clamping piece cleaning mechanism comprises a spray head, at least one spraying channel is arranged on the spray head, and the spray head is used for spraying fluid towards a cleaning station;

And the rotating mechanism is connected with the chuck and is used for driving the chuck to rotate reciprocally after rotating the clamping jaw to the cleaning station, so that the clamping jaw positioned at the cleaning station swings reciprocally.

The spray channels are a plurality of, and the spray channels are used for spraying fluid towards different positions on the jaw swing path.

Each jet channel is correspondingly connected with an independent jet pipe, and each jet pipe is provided with a valve capable of being independently controlled to be opened and closed.

The clamp cleaning mechanism further comprises a following driving assembly, wherein the following driving assembly is used for driving the spray head to act according to a preset path when the clamping jaw swings reciprocally, so that the clamping jaw is aligned with the fluid to be sprayed in real time.

The following driving assembly comprises a first universal ball, a second universal ball, a transverse motor screw driving device and a longitudinal motor screw driving device, wherein the spray head is in a straight rod shape, sequentially penetrates through the first universal ball and the second universal ball, is in sliding connection with the first universal ball and is fixedly connected with the second universal ball, the first universal ball is arranged on the first universal ball seat, the second universal ball is arranged on the second universal ball seat, transverse sliding rods and longitudinal sliding rods are respectively arranged on the transverse side part and the longitudinal side part of the first universal ball seat, the transverse sliding rods, the longitudinal sliding rods and the spray head are mutually perpendicular in pairs, the transverse motor screw driving device comprises a transverse motor, a transverse screw and a transverse nut in threaded connection with the transverse screw, the longitudinal motor screw driving device comprises a longitudinal motor, a longitudinal screw and a longitudinal nut in threaded connection with the longitudinal screw, and the transverse sliding rods are in sliding connection with the longitudinal nut.

The spray head is positioned on the radial outer side of the jaw rotation track and sprays obliquely towards the cleaning station.

The included angle between the liquid outlet angle of the spray head and the horizontal plane is 45-85 degrees.

The wafer cleaning device further includes:

The liquid recovery mechanism comprises a separation ring which is annularly arranged on the radial outer side of the chuck and is used for receiving liquid thrown outwards by the rotation of the wafer.

The liquid recovery mechanism further comprises a lifting driving device, and the lifting driving device is used for driving the isolating ring to rise to a position, 3 mm-8 mm above the top of the clamping jaw, of the top of the inner side wall of the isolating ring before the clamping jaw is cleaned by the clamping piece cleaning mechanism.

The fluid comprises a liquid and/or a gas.

The clamping piece cleaning mechanism further comprises an adjustable support, and the spray head is arranged on the adjustable support.

The adjustable support comprises a rotatable arm and a mounting seat, the spray head is located on the rotatable arm, and the rotatable arm is mounted on the mounting seat through a mounting shaft and can lock the rotation angle and the height through a locking device.

The mounting shaft is fixed on the mounting seat, a shaft hole for the mounting shaft to pass through is formed in the rotatable arm, a slot is formed in the end portion of the rotatable arm, the end portion of the rotatable arm is divided into a first clamping plate portion and a second clamping plate portion through the slot, one part of the shaft hole is located on the first clamping plate portion, the other part of the shaft hole is located on the second clamping plate portion, and the locking device comprises a fastening bolt mounted at the end portions of the first clamping plate portion and the second clamping plate portion.

The mounting seat is provided with an adjusting long hole, and a fixing bolt for fixing the mounting seat penetrates through the adjusting long hole.

The adjustment slot extends in a radial direction of the chuck.

The rotatable arm is internally provided with a jet pipe, the jet pipe is connected with the end part of the rotatable arm in a threaded mode, the jet pipe is inserted into a containing cavity of the jet, the jet pipe is provided with a jet channel, and the jet channel is communicated to the containing cavity.

The invention also provides a wafer cleaning method, which is realized by the wafer cleaning device, and comprises the following steps:

A wafer cleaning step, namely driving the chuck to drive the wafer to rotate through the rotating mechanism, and spraying cleaning liquid on the wafer through the liquid spraying mechanism for cleaning;

the clamping piece cleaning step comprises the steps of driving the chuck to rotate through the rotating mechanism, sequentially rotating the clamping jaws to the cleaning station, spraying fluid to the clamping jaws located at the cleaning station through the spray head for cleaning, and driving the chuck to reciprocally rotate through the rotating mechanism when the spray head sprays the fluid, so that the clamping jaws located at the cleaning station reciprocally swing.

The spray head is used for cleaning the clamping jaws through spraying liquid. Before cleaning, the isolating ring is lifted to a position, 3 mm-8 mm above the top of the clamping jaw, of the top of the inner side wall of the isolating ring by the lifting driving device. After cleaning, the lifting driving device continues to move the isolating ring upwards, the chuck is driven to rotate through the rotating mechanism, and liquid is thrown outwards and collected through the isolating ring.

And when the clamping jaw swings to a position opposite to any one of the injection channels, the valves of the injection channels are opened, and the valves of the other injection channels are closed.

And when the clamping jaw swings back and forth, the following driving assembly drives the nozzle to act according to a preset path so as to aim at the clamping jaw in real time to spray the fluid.

And spraying gas through a spray head to air-dry the clamping jaws.

The invention also provides wafer cleaning equipment, which comprises the wafer cleaning device and further comprises:

the liquid spraying control system is connected with the liquid spraying mechanism and is used for controlling the liquid spraying mechanism to spray cleaning liquid to the wafer when the chuck drives the wafer to rotate;

the cleaning control system is connected with the clamping piece cleaning mechanism and used for controlling the clamping piece cleaning mechanism to spray fluid to the cleaning station;

the chuck driving control system is connected with the rotating mechanism and used for controlling the rotating mechanism to drive the chuck to rotate, controlling the rotating mechanism to drive the chuck to rotate the clamping jaw to the cleaning station and controlling the rotating mechanism to drive the chuck to rotate reciprocally, so that the clamping jaw located at the cleaning station swings reciprocally.

When a plurality of injection channels are arranged on the spray head, the cleaning control system is also used for controlling the opening of the valve of one injection channel and the closing of the valve of the other injection channel when the clamping jaw swings to the opposite position of one of the injection channels.

The purge control system is also configured to control the follower drive assembly to drive the spray head to act with reference to a predetermined path as the jaws are reciprocated to thereby spray fluid in real time when a single spray channel is provided on the spray head.

The wafer cleaning apparatus further includes:

And the lifting control system is connected with the lifting driving device and is used for controlling the lifting driving device to lift the isolating ring to a position, 3 mm-8 mm above the top of the claw, of the inner side wall of the isolating ring before cleaning the claw, and controlling the lifting driving device to continuously move up the isolating ring after cleaning the claw. By adopting the technical scheme, the wafer cleaning method, the device and the equipment have the following beneficial effects compared with the prior art:

a. By arranging the clamping piece cleaning mechanism, the clamping piece can be automatically cleaned, manual operation is reduced, cleaning efficiency is improved, and the cleaning mechanism has remarkable advantages in industrial scale application; the device can clean in a state of no shutdown, can complete cleaning only in a gap for replacing a wafer, is beneficial to improving the overall production efficiency and reducing the shutdown time;

b. The spray head sprays liquid and gas to the clamping piece, so that the residue of the liquid medicine attached to the surface of the clamping piece can be effectively removed, the cleaning effect of the edge part of the wafer is improved, and the risk of cross contamination is reduced;

c. The spray head is provided with a plurality of independent spray channels, fluid sprayed by the spray channels repeatedly washes the clamping piece at a plurality of different angles, so that all areas of the clamping piece, especially parts with complex shapes, can be washed, the washing uniformity and the washing thoroughness are improved, and the washing effect is further improved;

d. when the spray head is provided with a plurality of spray channels, the spray head can also spray independently towards different positions on the swing track of the claw through different spray channels, so that spray liquid can be sprayed to the surface of the claw accurately in the swing process of the claw, the range of a sputtering area can be controlled, and the too wide spraying range is avoided;

e. The annular liquid recovery mechanism can recover liquid splashed back by the clamping piece in the process of cleaning the clamping piece, namely, the isolating ring is driven to rise to the upper part of the clamping jaw, so that liquid balls splashed after the liquid beam sprayed by the spray head impacts the clamping jaw can fall to the inner side wall of the isolating ring and slide down, so that the whole atmosphere in the box body is not damaged;

f. the design of the adjustable bracket and the rotatable arm enables the cleaning parameters to be adjusted according to specific needs, and the flexibility and adaptability of the device in use are improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are required in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the embodiments of the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings for a person having ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wafer cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a cleaning mechanism for clamping members according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the embodiment of FIG. 2 with the spacer ring further moved upward;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a cleaning mechanism for clamping members according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the clamp cleaning mechanism of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a cleaning mechanism for clamping members according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an oblique cross-sectional view of a sprinkler head according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the clamp in swing amplitude during cleaning;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a usage state of a cleaning mechanism for clamping members according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the follower drive assembly of the embodiment of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the assembly of the spray head with the first and second universal balls;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a clamp cleaning mechanism spray cleaning jaw;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of a clamping member according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a flowchart of a wafer cleaning method according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

In order to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following description will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which are derived by a person skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present application, shall fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be understood that although the terms "first," "second," "third," etc. may be used herein to describe various information, these information should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more, unless explicitly defined otherwise.

In the present invention, the Wafer (Wafer) is also called a Substrate (Substrate), and the meaning and actual function are equivalent.

The invention is described in further detail below with reference to the drawings and the detailed description.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wafer cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the wafer cleaning apparatus includes a case 1, a chuck 2 disposed in the case 1, a clamping member cleaning mechanism 4, a rotating mechanism 5, a liquid recovery mechanism, and a liquid spraying mechanism 7.

Wherein, chuck 2 installs on rotary mechanism 5, and the holder sets up on chuck 2, and the holder includes a plurality of jack catchs 3, and a plurality of jack catchs 3 are on chuck 2 along circumference evenly distributed. Of course, in other embodiments, the claws 3 may be unevenly distributed to properly fit the robot to pick and place the wafer. The clamping claws 3 are used for horizontally clamping and fixing the wafer, and the chuck 2, the clamping pieces and the wafer can synchronously rotate by driving the rotating mechanism 5.

During the wafer rotation process, the liquid spraying mechanism 7 sprays the cleaning liquid onto the wafer to clean the wafer, and the wafer rotation can cause the cleaning liquid to be thrown out radially outwards under the action of centrifugal force. The liquid recovery mechanism is annularly arranged on the radial outer side of the chuck 2 and is used for receiving cleaning liquid thrown outwards by the rotation of the wafer.

In this embodiment, the liquid recovery mechanism comprises a spacer ring 6 and a lift drive (not shown) capable of driving the spacer ring 6 down below the chuck 2 and driving the spacer ring 6 up above the jaws 3 to match the wafer cleaning process.

In the first embodiment, the holder cleaning mechanism 4 includes an adjustable bracket mounted on the side wall of the case 1 and a shower head 41 (shown in fig. 4) provided at the front end of the adjustable bracket. The spray head 41 is used to spray fluid towards a cleaning station to which the rotating mechanism 5 is able to rotate the jaws 3 so as to clean the surface of the jaws 3 by means of the clamp cleaning mechanism 4. The cleaning station in the present invention refers to a position of the claw 3 corresponding to the cleaning process.

In the invention, the position and the angle of the spray head 41 can be adjusted according to the requirements by the design of the adjustable bracket, so that the accurate spraying of the fluid to the cleaning station is ensured. The spray head 41 is directed toward the cleaning station, so that the fluid can be efficiently and intensively sprayed to comprehensively clean the claw 3, and the cleaning effect is improved. The adjustable bracket is arranged on the side wall of the box body 1, so that the space is effectively utilized, and the occupied area of equipment is reduced. The adjustable support cooperates with rotary mechanism 5, can realize the self-cleaning of jack catch 3, improves production efficiency, reduces the cost of labor. The independence of the holder cleaning mechanism 4 helps to prevent cross-contamination during cleaning and maintains a high quality standard for wafer cleaning.

In this embodiment, the adjustable bracket includes a rotatable arm 42 and a mounting seat 43, as shown in fig. 4, the spray head 41 is located at the front end of the rotatable arm 42, and the rotatable arm 42 is fixed on the mounting seat 43 by a mounting shaft 44 and can lock the rotation angle by a locking device.

Specifically, the mounting shaft 44 is fixed on the mounting seat 43, the rotatable arm 42 is provided with a shaft hole 421 for passing the mounting shaft 44, the end of the rotatable arm 42 is provided with a slot 422, the slot 422 divides the end of the rotatable arm 42 into a first clamping plate portion 423 and a second clamping plate portion 424, one part of the shaft hole 421 is located on the first clamping plate portion 423, the other part is located on the second clamping plate portion 424, and the locking device is a fastening bolt 45, which is mounted on the end of both the first clamping plate portion 423 and the second clamping plate portion 424.

When the rotatable mounting device is mounted, the fastening bolt 45 is loosened, the shaft hole 421 of the rotatable arm 42 is coaxially sleeved on the mounting shaft 44, so that the first clamping plate portion 423 and the second clamping plate portion 424 clamp the mounting shaft 44, then the rotatable arm 42 is adjusted to a proper angle, and the fastening bolt 45 is screwed to enable the first clamping plate portion 423 and the second clamping plate portion 424 to clamp the mounting shaft 44 for locking.

Further, the mount 43 is provided with an adjustment long hole 431 so that the fixing bolt 46 passes through the adjustment long hole 431 shown in fig. 4. The adjustment long hole 431 extends in the radial direction of the chuck 2, and the distance from the mount 43 to the chuck 2 can be adjusted by adjusting the position of the fixing bolt 46 in the adjustment long hole 431, thereby precisely adjusting the horizontal position of the shower head 41.

In the invention, the design of the rotatable arm 42 allows the spray head 41 to flexibly adjust the angle after being installed, ensures the accurate positioning of the spray fluid and improves the cleaning effect. By means of the locking device, the position of the rotatable arm 42 can be firmly locked, the position change of the spray head 41 caused by vibration or other factors in the operation process is avoided, and the cleaning consistency is ensured. The tightening and loosening operation of the fastening bolts 45 is simple, the quick installation and adjustment are convenient, and the device is suitable for different working requirements. The sectional clamping design is adopted, the clamping force to the mounting shaft 44 is more uniform through the first clamping plate part 423 and the second clamping plate part 424, the mounting stability is enhanced, and the abrasion caused by uneven clamping force is reduced. While different mounting height adjustments may be achieved by adjusting the position at which the rotatable arm 42 is secured to the mounting shaft 44. The adjusting long hole 431 on the mounting seat 43 provides a larger adjusting range, so that the distance between the spray head 41 and the chuck 2 can be conveniently adjusted according to actual requirements, and the flexibility of the structure is improved. The adjustable bracket has the advantages that the design structure is compact, the space is reasonably utilized, the adjustable bracket is suitable for being used in a limited working environment, and in addition, the high-efficiency cleaning process can be realized by combining the flexibility of the rotating mechanism 5, the adjustable bracket is suitable for clamping pieces with various shapes, and comprehensive cleaning is ensured.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the rotatable arm 42 is internally provided with a spray pipe 47, the spray head 41 is screwed to the end of the rotatable arm 42, the spray pipe 47 is inserted into a receiving chamber 412 of the spray head 41, a spray passage 411 is provided on the spray head 41, and the spray passage 411 communicates with the receiving chamber 412 to spray the cleaning liquid toward the claw 3 in the tank 1.

Further, the jet pipe 47 is connected to a liquid source or a gas source, and can be switched between the connection of the liquid source or the gas source by a valve, so that the liquid or the gas can flow into the nozzle 41 through the jet pipe 47 and be ejected outwards through the ejection channel 411. When the claw 3 is cleaned by using the liquid, the liquid can be selected from chemical agents according to actual needs and deionized water, and when the claw 3 is cleaned by using the gas or the claw 3 is air-dried after the claw 3 is cleaned by using the deionized water, the gas can be nitrogen or other inert gases.

In the invention, the design of the jet flow pipe 47 and the spray head 41 can flexibly select liquid or gas according to the cleaning requirements, support various cleaning schemes and improve the cleaning adaptability. The quick switching between the liquid source and the air source is realized through the valve, the operation is simple, the time and the manpower are saved, and the working efficiency is improved. When liquid is used for cleaning, different chemical agents or deionized water can be selected according to specific conditions so as to meet specific cleaning requirements and improve cleaning effect. Air drying is carried out by using gas after liquid cleaning, so that the claw 3 is ensured to be dried quickly, moisture residue is avoided, and the risk of cross contamination is reduced. Besides meeting the requirement of flexibly selecting liquid or gas, the design of the spraying channel 411 can ensure even spraying of fluid, improve cleaning effect and coverage, is particularly suitable for clamping pieces with complex shapes, can use nitrogen or other inert gases for cleaning and air drying, reduces the influence on the environment, and can effectively remove residues during gas cleaning. The installation structure of the internal spray pipe 47 and the spray head 41 saves space, so that the whole equipment is more compact and adapts to different working environments.

In the second embodiment, a plurality of spraying channels 411, for example, 3, are provided on the spray head 41 of the holder cleaning mechanism 4, and as shown in fig. 6 and 7, each spraying channel 411 corresponds to one spray pipe 47. The multiple spraying channels 411 spray towards different directions, so that the claw 3 can be sprayed by different spraying channels 411 when swinging to different positions on the track when swinging to a small extent, the defect that the claw 3 cannot be cleaned at multiple angles by a single spraying channel 411 is avoided, and a better cleaning effect is achieved. On the other hand, as the claw 3 swings to different positions to perform directional spraying through the corresponding spraying passage 411, the range of the sputtering area can also be controlled, and unnecessary sputtering caused by too wide spraying range can be avoided.

In this embodiment, the included angle θ between the two side injection channels 411 and the middle injection channel 411 is equal, as shown in fig. 7, the included angle θ is the included angle between the center lines of the adjacent injection channels 411.

The spray channel 411 is arranged obliquely with respect to the central axis of the spray head 41, i.e. the spray channel 411 forms an angle α (shown in fig. 12) with the horizontal plane, because the central axis of the spray head 41 is arranged horizontally. To better illustrate the internal structure of the spray channel 411, a cut is purposely made through the centerline of the spray channel 411.

Preferably, the included angle θ between the spraying channels 411 at two sides and the spraying channel 411 in the middle is 5 ° -30 °, so that the sprayed cleaning liquid can better cover the surface of the claw 3, so as to realize accurate and efficient cleaning.

Fig. 13 is a schematic view of a clamping member according to an embodiment of the present invention, the clamping member includes a clamping seat 31 fixed on a chuck 2, a claw 3 is disposed on the clamping seat 31, and the claw 3 is generally configured with a pair of pins 32, so that when the claw 3 is opened, the pins 32 horizontally support a wafer, so that a robot can grasp the wafer from below the wafer.

Further, the claw 3 is of a generally rectangular bar structure comprising a claw back face 3a and a claw side face 3b. The plurality of spray channels 411 shown in fig. 6 and 7 can be used to flush the back surface 3a and the side surface 3b of the claw, preventing the spray liquid from being covered in an inaccurate manner and causing particles to remain on the surface of the claw 3.

Specifically, by controlling the small rotation of the rotation mechanism 5 to adjust the position of the claw 3, the ejection passage 411 on the head 41 can be accurately aligned with the claw back surface 3a and the claw side surface 3b to prevent unnecessary sputtering caused by ejection to the knock pin 32 or the like.

In the third embodiment, a structure is further provided that can drive the head 41 to freely rotate in the left-right direction and the up-down direction. As shown in fig. 8, since the rotation track L of the claw 3 is circular, the movement track of the claw 3 is circular arc when the claw 3 swings reciprocally, the claw 3 swings between the first station S1 and the second station S2, the claw 3 sweeps between the first station S1 and the second station S2 to form a circular arc track, and since the spray head 41 is disposed above the outer side of the claw 3, the effect of following the movement track of the claw 3 cannot be achieved when the spray head 41 swings left and right by driving the spray head 41 with a single power source, and the spray head 41 must satisfy the combined action of the left and right swing and the front and rear swing. Thus, the clamp cleaning mechanism further comprises a follower drive assembly 9 shown in fig. 9 to 11, the follower drive assembly 9 being adapted to drive the spray head 41 to act with reference to a preset path as the jaws 3 oscillate reciprocally to spray fluid in real time against the jaws 3.

It can be understood that the clamping piece cleaning mechanism 4 is driven by the rotating mechanism 5 to make small swing of the clamping piece 3 when cleaning the clamping piece 3, and fig. 8 is only for better illustrating that the rotating track of the clamping piece 3 is a circular arc, and the actual swing amplitude of the clamping piece 3 is 5-20 degrees.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a follower driving assembly 9 according to an embodiment of the present invention, which includes a first universal ball 91, a second universal ball 92, a transverse motor screw driving device 95 and a longitudinal motor screw driving device 96, where the follower driving assembly 9 further includes an unshown isolation cover to isolate the components of the first universal ball 91, the second universal ball 92 and the like from the environment in the case 1, so as to avoid the follower driving assembly 9 from being affected by multiple particles and multiple water environments in the case 1.

Further, the nozzle 41 has a straight rod-like structure, and its end portion protrudes outward in the shield. The shower nozzle 41 passes first universal ball 91 and the second universal ball 92 that fig. 11 shows in proper order to shower nozzle 41 and first universal ball 91 sliding connection, with second universal ball 92 fixed connection, first universal ball 91 installs on first universal ball seat 910, second universal ball 92 installs on second universal ball seat 920, second universal ball 92 seat fixed mounting is in the equipment frame, first universal ball seat 910 movably sets up, the one end of shower nozzle 41 is connected in the hose that provides the fluid (equivalent to spout pipe 47), shower nozzle 41 can carry out universal rotation with second universal ball 92 as the benchmark, shower nozzle 41 can also slide relatively between second universal ball 92 simultaneously.

Further, the transverse side and the longitudinal side of the first universal ball seat 910 are respectively provided with a transverse sliding rod 93 and a longitudinal sliding rod 94, the transverse sliding rod 93, the longitudinal sliding rod 94 and the spray head 41 are mutually perpendicular, the transverse motor screw driving device 95 comprises a transverse motor 951, a transverse screw 952 and a transverse nut 953 which is connected with the transverse screw 952 in a threaded manner, the longitudinal sliding rod 94 is slidably mounted on the transverse nut 953, the longitudinal motor screw driving device 96 comprises a longitudinal motor 961, a longitudinal screw 962 and a longitudinal nut 963 which is connected with the longitudinal screw 962 in a threaded manner, and the transverse sliding rod 93 is slidably mounted on the longitudinal nut 963. The two sets of motor screw driving devices which are installed vertically can respectively drive the first universal ball seat 910 to transversely reciprocate and longitudinally reciprocate, in the swing process of the claw 3, the transverse motor 951 and the longitudinal motor 961 can be matched with the rotating mechanism 5 along with the travelling of the claw 3 to different positions, and the spray head 41 is driven to act according to the preset stroke, so that the spray head 41 meets the requirement of facing the claw 3, and can be sprayed and cleaned along with the swing of the claw 3.

Meanwhile, the present invention provides a wafer cleaning method, as shown in fig. 14, which includes:

the wafer cleaning step (S1) is that the chuck 2 is driven by the rotating mechanism 5 to drive the wafer to rotate, and the liquid spraying mechanism 7 sprays cleaning liquid on the wafer for cleaning;

It should be noted that "cleaning" herein is a relatively macroscopic cleaning that includes cleaning and drying of the wafer surface to obtain a clean, dry wafer. The spray mechanism 7 may spray cleaning chemistry and/or drying chemistry.

And (S2) driving the chuck 2 to rotate through the rotating mechanism 5, sequentially rotating the clamping jaws 3 to the cleaning station, spraying fluid to the clamping jaws 3 positioned at the cleaning station through the spray head 41, and driving the chuck 2 to reciprocally rotate through the rotating mechanism 5 when the spray head 41 sprays the fluid, so that the clamping jaws 3 positioned at the cleaning station reciprocally swing to repeatedly wash the surfaces of the clamping jaws 3 for a plurality of times, thereby realizing efficient cleaning.

In the invention, the clamping piece cleaning step is separated from the wafer cleaning step, and the clamping piece is cleaned only when no wafer exists in the box body 1, so that the secondary pollution caused by the fact that pollutants attached to the clamping jaws 3 are sputtered to the surface of the wafer is prevented.

When the clamping piece is cleaned, the spray head 41 cleans the clamping jaw 3 through the spray channel 411, the isolation ring 6 is lifted to a position 3-8 mm above the top of the clamping jaw by the lifting driving device before cleaning, and the lifting driving device continues to move the isolation ring 6 upwards after cleaning, as shown in fig. 3, the chuck 2 is driven to rotate by the rotating mechanism 5, and liquid is thrown outwards and collected by the isolation ring 6, so that residual cleaning liquid on the surface of the clamping jaw 3 is prevented.

In some embodiments, the spray head 41 is provided with a plurality of spray channels 411 for spraying fluid towards different positions on the swing path of the claw 3, when the claw 3 swings to a position opposite to any spray channel 411, the valve of the spray channel 411 is opened, and the valves of the rest spray channels 411 are closed, so that unnecessary liquid sputtering caused by spraying the rest spray channels 411 to other parts of the box body 1 is avoided.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 6 and 7, the middle spraying channel 411 and one of the lateral spraying channels 411 are opened simultaneously to clean the back surface 3a and one of the side surfaces 3b of the jaws, so as to achieve accurate distribution of the spraying channel 411 to the outer side surface of the jaws 3, thereby removing the contaminants on the surface of the jaws 3.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4 and 5, a single spray channel 411 is provided on the spray head 41, and when the claw 3 swings reciprocally, the spray head 41 is driven to act with reference to a preset path by the following driving assembly 9 shown in fig. 10, thereby spraying fluid in real time to the claw 3.

In addition, the invention also provides wafer cleaning equipment, which comprises the wafer cleaning device, and further comprises:

The liquid spraying control system is connected with the liquid spraying mechanism and is used for controlling the liquid spraying mechanism to spray cleaning liquid to the wafer when the chuck 2 drives the wafer to rotate;

the chuck driving control system is connected with the rotating mechanism 5 and used for controlling the rotating mechanism 5 to drive the chuck 2 to rotate, controlling the rotating mechanism 5 to drive the chuck 2 to rotate the clamping jaw 3 to the cleaning station and controlling the rotating mechanism 5 to drive the chuck 2 to rotate in a reciprocating manner so that the clamping jaw 3 positioned at the cleaning station swings in a reciprocating manner;

The cleaning control system is connected with the clamping piece cleaning mechanism 4 and is used for controlling the clamping piece cleaning mechanism 4 to spray fluid to a cleaning station, controlling the transverse motor 951 and the longitudinal motor 961 to act, driving the spray head 41 to spray fluid to the position of the clamping jaw 3 when the clamping jaw 3 swings, and controlling the transverse motor 951 and the longitudinal motor 961 to drive the spray head 41 to act according to a preset stroke;

And the lifting control system is connected with the lifting driving device and is used for controlling the lifting driving device to lift the isolating ring 6 to a position, 3 mm-8 mm above the top of the claw 3, of the inner side wall of the isolating ring 6 before cleaning the claw 3 and controlling the lifting driving device to continuously move up the isolating ring 6 after cleaning the claw 3.

In the present invention, when the spray head 41 is provided with a plurality of spray channels 411, the cleaning control system is further used for controlling the opening of the valve of one of the spray channels 411 and the closing of the valve of the other spray channel when the claw 3 swings to the opposite position of one of the plurality of spray channels 411, and when the spray head 41 is provided with a single spray channel 411, the cleaning control system is further used for controlling the following driving assembly 9 to drive the spray head 3 to act according to the preset path when the claw 3 swings reciprocally so as to spray the fluid in real time to the claw 3. Because the spray nozzle 41 is positioned on the radial outer side of the rotation track of the clamping jaw 3 and above the isolating ring 6, the spray channel 411 is obliquely arranged, so that the spray nozzle 41 can spray downwards towards the cleaning station in an inclined way, and the included angle alpha between the liquid outlet angle of the spray nozzle 41 and the horizontal plane is 45-85 degrees, as shown in fig. 12, when the clamping jaw 3 clamps a wafer, the spray nozzle 41 is positioned on the outer side of the wafer, so that the liquid drops remained at the end part of the spray nozzle 41 can be effectively prevented from falling downwards to the area where the wafer to be cleaned is positioned, and the influence on the wafer cleaning effect caused by the fact that the liquid containing pollutants is attached to the surface of the wafer again is avoided.

In the invention, the rotating mechanism 5 can sequentially drive each claw 3 to rotate to the cleaning station for cleaning respectively, and is also used for driving the chuck 2 to reciprocally rotate within a small angle range when the claws 3 are cleaned, so that the claws 3 positioned at the cleaning station reciprocally swing. In the process, the fluid sprayed by the spray head 41 can repeatedly act on the surface of the clamping jaw 3 at multiple angles, so that the coverage of the fluid sprayed by the spray head 41 on the clamping jaw 3 is enhanced, the cleaning to each area of the clamping jaw 3, particularly the parts with complex shapes, is ensured, dead angle free cleaning is ensured, the accumulation of cleaning liquid in a certain area is avoided through dynamic cleaning, the distribution uniformity of the cleaning liquid is enhanced, the comprehensive reciprocating swing and multi-angle spraying are realized, the cleaning thoroughness is obviously improved, the residues and pollutants are ensured to be removed, and the cleaning degree of the clamping jaw 3 is improved.

When cleaning the clamping member, the chuck 2 is driven to rotate by the rotating mechanism 5, one of the jaws 3 is rotated to the cleaning station to clean, and fluid is sprayed to the jaw 3 located at the cleaning station through the spray head 41. When the spray head 41 sprays fluid, the chuck 2 is driven to rotate reciprocally by the rotation mechanism 5, so that the claw 3 at the cleaning station swings reciprocally.

When the surface of the claw 3 has lighter residues, nitrogen can be selected as the fluid to be sprayed to blow away the liquid medicine on the surface of the claw 3. Of course, any time deionized water as described above may be used to spray the jaws 3. When the liquid is used to spray the claw 3, before the spraying, the spacer ring 6 needs to be lifted up to above the claw 3 by the lifting driving device, as shown in fig. 2, in this state, after the liquid sprayed by the spray head 41 hits the surface of the claw 3, the sprayed liquid is splashed outwards, and the splashed liquid drops can be blocked and stored by the spacer ring 6.

As shown in fig. 12, the distance H between the top of the inner side wall of the spacer ring 6 and the top of the claw 3 is 3mm to 8mm. The inner side surface of the spacer ring 6 includes an annular surface 61, a first tapered surface 62 and a second tapered surface 63, wherein the annular surface 61 is a radially inner side end surface nearest to the claw 3, the first tapered surface 62 is connected to a lower end of the annular surface 61 and extends outward, and a horizontal inclination angle of connection of the second tapered surface 63 to a distal end of the first tapered surface 62 is reduced.

Before the claw 3 is cleaned, the isolating ring 6 is moved up to the working position, the top of the inner side wall of the isolating ring 6 is close to the liquid beam sprayed by the spray head 41, when the liquid beam impacts the claw 3, back splash is formed, most of the liquid drops of the back splash impact on the first conical surface 62, and the liquid drops roll down along the first conical surface 62 under the action of inertia, so that the directional collection of the back splash liquid drops is realized.

In summary, the wafer cleaning device provided by the invention can periodically remove the residual liquid medicine on the surface of the clamping piece, reduce the abrasion of the clamping piece caused by the adhesion of the liquid medicine, and prolong the service life of equipment. Meanwhile, the wafer cleaning equipment integrates the functions of clamping, cleaning, recycling and the like, simplifies the operation flow, improves the overall operation efficiency and meets the modern production requirements. The improved wafer cleaning device and method not only improve the cleaning efficiency of the clamping piece, but also improve the cleaning quality, reduce the operation complexity and adapt to higher industrialization requirements.

It is apparent that the above examples are given by way of illustration only and are not limiting of the embodiments. Other variations or modifications of the above teachings will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is not necessary here nor is it exhaustive of all embodiments. While still being apparent from variations or modifications that may be made by those skilled in the art are within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A wafer cleaning apparatus, comprising:

A chuck;

The rotating mechanism is connected with the chuck and is used for driving the chuck to rotate reciprocally after the clamping jaw rotates to the cleaning station, so that the clamping jaw positioned at the cleaning station swings reciprocally;

the clamping piece cleaning mechanism further comprises an adjustable bracket which is arranged on the side wall of the box body, and the spray head is arranged at the front end of the adjustable bracket;

The plurality of the injection channels are used for injecting fluid towards different positions on the jaw swing path; each spray channel is correspondingly connected with an independent spray pipe, and each spray pipe is provided with a valve capable of being independently controlled to be opened and closed;

the included angle between the spraying channels at the two sides and the spraying channel in the middle is 5-30 degrees, so that sprayed cleaning liquid covers the surfaces of the clamping jaws, and accurate and efficient cleaning is realized;

the spray head is positioned at the radial outer side of the claw rotating track and sprays obliquely towards the cleaning station, and the included angle between the liquid outlet angle of the spray head and the horizontal plane is 45-85 degrees;

The device comprises a chuck, a liquid recovery mechanism and a liquid recovery mechanism, wherein the liquid recovery mechanism comprises a separation ring which is annularly arranged at the radial outer side of the chuck and is used for receiving liquid thrown outwards by rotation of a wafer, the inner side surface of the separation ring comprises an annular surface, a first conical surface and a second conical surface, the annular surface is the radial inner side end surface closest to a claw, the first conical surface is connected to the lower end of the annular surface and extends outwards, and the horizontal inclination angle of the connection of the second conical surface and the tail end of the first conical surface is reduced.

2. The wafer cleaning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clamp cleaning mechanism further comprises a follower drive assembly for driving the spray head to act with reference to a predetermined path as the jaws reciprocate to spray fluid in real time against the jaws.

3. The wafer cleaning device of claim 2, wherein the follower drive assembly comprises a first universal ball, a second universal ball, a transverse motor screw drive device and a longitudinal motor screw drive device, the spray head is in a straight rod shape, sequentially penetrates through the first universal ball and the second universal ball, is in sliding connection with the first universal ball and is fixedly connected with the second universal ball, the first universal ball is mounted on the first universal ball seat, the second universal ball is mounted on the second universal ball seat, a transverse sliding rod and a longitudinal sliding rod are respectively arranged on the transverse side portion and the longitudinal side portion of the first universal ball seat, the transverse sliding rod, the longitudinal sliding rod and the spray head are perpendicular to each other in pairs, the transverse motor screw drive device comprises a transverse motor, a transverse screw and a transverse nut in threaded connection with the transverse screw, the longitudinal sliding rod is in sliding connection with the transverse nut, and the longitudinal motor screw drive device comprises a longitudinal motor, a longitudinal screw and a longitudinal nut in threaded connection with the longitudinal screw, and the transverse sliding rod is in sliding connection with the longitudinal nut.

4. The wafer cleaning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the liquid recovery mechanism further comprises a lift drive for driving the spacer ring up to a position 3mm to 8mm above the top of the inner sidewall of the spacer ring before the chuck cleaning mechanism cleans the chuck.

5. A wafer cleaning method, characterized in that wafer cleaning is performed using the wafer cleaning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising:

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the spray head sprays liquid to clean the jaws, the spacer ring is lifted to a position 3-8 mm above the top of the jaws by the lifting driving device before cleaning, and the lifting driving device continues to move the spacer ring upwards after cleaning, and the chuck is driven to rotate by the rotating mechanism to throw the liquid outwards and collect the liquid by the spacer ring.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein a plurality of spray channels are provided on the spray head for spraying fluid toward different positions on the swing path of the chuck, and wherein the valves of the spray channels are opened and the valves of the remaining spray channels are closed when the chuck swings to a position opposite to any of the spray channels.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein a single spray channel is provided on the spray head, and wherein the spray head is driven by the follower drive assembly to move with reference to a predetermined path to spray fluid in real time against the jaws as the jaws reciprocate.

9. A wafer cleaning apparatus comprising the wafer cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

10. The wafer cleaning apparatus of claim 9, wherein when a plurality of spray channels are provided on the showerhead, the cleaning control system is further configured to control the opening of the valve of one of the plurality of spray channels and the closing of the valve of the remaining spray channels when the chuck is swung to a position opposite the one of the plurality of spray channels.

11. The wafer cleaning apparatus of claim 9, wherein the cleaning control system is further configured to control the follower drive assembly to drive the showerhead to move with reference to a predetermined path to spray fluid in real time against the jaws as the jaws are reciprocated while the single spray channel is provided on the showerhead.

12. The wafer cleaning apparatus of claim 9, wherein the wafer cleaning apparatus further comprises:

And the lifting control system is connected with the lifting driving device and is used for controlling the lifting driving device to lift the isolating ring to a position, 3 mm-8 mm above the top of the claw, of the inner side wall of the isolating ring before cleaning the claw, and controlling the lifting driving device to continuously move up the isolating ring after cleaning the claw.