Intermediate treatment equipment for negative photoresist coating process
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of related auxiliary equipment for photoresist coating for chip production, in particular to an intermediate treatment device for a negative photoresist coating process.
Background
The production process of the chip comprises a plurality of working procedures, and different processes exist according to different types of chips produced. In some common chip production processes, photoresist is required to be coated on the front side and the back side of a silicon wafer to be subjected to photoetching, the photoresist on the front side is used for forming a circuit pattern later, and the photoresist on the back side mainly plays roles of protection and pollution prevention.
After the front side of the wafer is coated with photoresist, the photoresist needs to be dried, a step commonly referred to as pre-bake in semiconductor processing, and when a strong mask is to be made on the wafer or deep etching is to be performed, negative photoresist is typically coated on both sides, however, the pre-bake time required for negative photoresist is longer, for example, for 200 μm thick SU-8 photoresist, the pre-bake condition is typically baking at 95 ℃ for 1 hour. Therefore, the intermediate treatment of photoresist coating requires more manual operations, including steps of taking a silicon wafer from a photoresist coater, transporting the silicon wafer to the side of an oven, opening the oven, placing the silicon wafer in the oven, closing the oven, waiting for curing the silicon wafer, opening the oven, closing the oven, placing the cured silicon wafer back to the photoresist coater, and the like.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to overcome the defects, the invention provides an intermediate processing device for a negative photoresist coating process, which can detect the thickness of a large number of silicon wafers which are coated with front photoresist while being cured, translate or overturn the silicon wafers between two curing tunnels, and timely send the silicon wafers which can be coated with the back photoresist back to a photoresist coater.
In order to achieve the object of the present invention, the following techniques are proposed:
An intermediate processing device for a negative photoresist coating process, provided at one side of a plurality of photoresist coating machines arranged in an array, comprising:
A first curing tunnel, the upper end of which is provided with a plurality of air heaters blowing hot air into the first curing tunnel, a first conveyor belt conveyor is arranged in the first curing tunnel, the two ends of which extend to the outside of the inlet and the outlet of the first curing tunnel respectively, the side face, facing the photoresist coater, of the first curing tunnel is provided with a plurality of side ports for the silicon wafers to enter and exit the first curing tunnel, and the first curing tunnel is also provided with a plurality of silicon wafer entering and exiting components for transferring the silicon wafers between the first curing tunnel and the photoresist coater;
The second curing tunnel is arranged in parallel on one side of the first curing tunnel, which is opposite to the photoresist coater, the upper end of the second curing tunnel is also provided with a plurality of air heaters, a second conveyor belt conveyor with the conveying direction opposite to that of the first conveyor belt conveyor is arranged in the second curing tunnel during operation, and the two ends of the second conveyor belt extend to the outside of the inlet and the outlet of the second curing tunnel respectively for a preset distance;
The detection assemblies are respectively arranged at the outlet ends of the first curing tunnel and the second curing tunnel, and comprise interference thickness measuring sensors for measuring the thickness of photoresist on the silicon wafer;
the translation assemblies are respectively arranged at two ends of the first curing tunnel and used for moving the silicon wafer between the first curing tunnel and the second curing tunnel;
The overturning assembly is arranged between the first curing tunnel and the second curing tunnel and is used for transferring the silicon wafer from the conveying tail end of the second conveyor belt conveyor to the conveying starting end of the first conveyor belt conveyor and overturning the silicon wafer at the same time.
Further, the side face of the first curing tunnel, which faces the photoresist coating machine, is further provided with a plurality of vertical first linear mechanisms, the output end of each first linear mechanism is provided with an L-shaped side cover, and the L-shaped side covers enable the vertical parts of the L-shaped side covers to open and close the side openings through sliding.
Further, the silicon chip business turn over subassembly is including locating the second linear mechanism of first solidification tunnel up end and the directional photoresist coating machine of output direction, and second linear mechanism output is vertical to be equipped with third linear mechanism, and third linear mechanism output is equipped with down L type piece, and the perpendicular portion lower extreme of down L type piece is equipped with the horizontal pole parallel with the output axis of second linear mechanism, and horizontal pole one side is equipped with a pair of gag lever post, and the gag lever post is from the horizontal pole side along the direction extension opposite with first conveyer conveyor direction of delivery.
Further, the length of the limiting rod is larger than the radius of the silicon wafer and smaller than the diameter of the silicon wafer.
Further, the detection assembly comprises a control box assembled on one side of the first curing tunnel or the second curing tunnel and a ring frame assembled on the outlet end face of the first curing tunnel or the second curing tunnel, and the interference thickness measuring sensor vertically penetrates through the ring frame.
Further, one translation assembly is used for moving the silicon chip from the conveying tail end of the first conveyor belt conveyor to the conveying starting end of the second conveyor belt conveyor, the other translation assembly is used for moving the silicon chip from the conveying tail end of the second conveyor belt conveyor to the conveying starting end of the first conveyor belt conveyor, the translation assembly comprises a pair of L-shaped frames, a fourth linear mechanism parallel to the second linear mechanism is arranged at the upper end of each L-shaped frame, a fifth linear mechanism parallel to the conveying direction of the silicon chip in the first curing tunnel or the second curing tunnel is arranged at the sliding end of each fourth linear mechanism, a pair of L-shaped supporting plates are symmetrically arranged at the output end of each fifth linear mechanism, and limiting is performed on the silicon chip between the opposite vertical surfaces of the two L-shaped supporting plates.
Further, the upper end face of the transverse part of the L-shaped supporting plate, the conveying plane of the first conveyor belt conveyor and the second conveyor belt conveyor are all positioned on the same horizontal plane.
Further, the turnover assembly comprises a first rotating motor located between a conveying starting end of the first conveyor belt conveyor and a conveying tail end of the second conveyor belt conveyor, a second rotating motor is arranged at the output end of the turnover assembly, a pair of sixth linear mechanisms with opposite output directions are arranged on one side of the output end of the second rotating motor, a hanging plate is arranged at the output end of the sixth linear mechanism, a clamping block is arranged at the lower end of the side face of the hanging plate, which faces the sixth linear mechanism, an arc surface is formed on one side face of the clamping block, and an arc groove matched with the periphery side of the silicon wafer is formed in the arc surface.
Further, the output end of the second rotating motor is provided with a rotating plate, one side surface of the rotating plate is provided with an L-shaped supporting rod, one end of the short side of the rotating plate is provided with a mounting seat, and two sixth linear mechanisms are respectively arranged at two ends of the mounting seat.
The beneficial effects of this technical scheme lie in:
After the photoresist coating machine finishes the coating of the photoresist on the front surface of the silicon wafer, the silicon wafer can be conveyed into the first curing tunnel through the silicon wafer inlet and outlet assembly, more silicon wafers can be continuously and circularly moved in the first curing tunnel and the second curing tunnel during mass production, and the silicon wafers are heated through hot air, so that the silicon wafers are cured. Because the silicon wafers move continuously, each silicon wafer does not need to be matched with an interference thickness measuring sensor for detection. The quantity of the detection components is set to be two, and the detection components are respectively arranged at the conveying tail ends of the first conveyor belt conveyor and the second conveyor belt conveyor, so that the thickness variation of photoresist on a silicon wafer can be detected, although the automatic equipment is used for photoresist coating, the thickness of the photoresist is difficult to control, so that the thickness variation of the photoresist is detected, and the thickness is not simply detected, so that whether the solidification is finished can be better judged, if the thickness is no longer changed or the variation is smaller than a preset value, the silicon wafer can be overturned through the overturning component, then the silicon wafer is sent back to the photoresist coating machine from the first solidification tunnel, the step of manual operation can be greatly reduced in the middle stage of the negative photoresist coating process through the intermediate processing equipment for the negative photoresist coating process, and the manpower is saved.
Drawings
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the application as a whole on one side of a photoresist coater during operation.
Fig. 2 shows an enlarged view of portion a of fig. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the application.
Fig. 4 shows an enlarged view of part B of fig. 3 in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 5 shows a second perspective view of an embodiment of the application.
Fig. 6 shows an enlarged view of part C of fig. 5 in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 7 shows an enlarged view of part D of fig. 5 according to an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 8 shows a third perspective view of an embodiment of the application as a whole.
Fig. 9 shows an enlarged view of portion E of fig. 8 in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 10 shows a partial exploded view of a first curing tunnel, a first conveyor belt conveyor, a first linear mechanism, and an L-side cover according to an embodiment of the present application.
The drawing shows a first curing tunnel 1, a first conveyor belt 11, a side opening 12, a first linear mechanism 13, an L-shaped side cover 14, a second linear mechanism 15, a third linear mechanism 16, an inverted L-shaped block 17, a cross bar 18, a limit rod 19, a second curing tunnel 2, a second conveyor belt 21, an air heater 3, a detection assembly 4, a control box 41, a ring frame 42, an interference thickness measuring sensor 43, a connecting line 44, a translation assembly 5, an L-shaped frame 51, a fourth linear mechanism 52, a fifth linear mechanism 53, an end plate 54, an L-shaped supporting plate 55, a turnover assembly 6, a side plate 61, a first rotary motor 62, a second rotary motor 63, a rotary plate 64, an L-shaped supporting rod 65, a mounting seat 66, a sixth linear mechanism 67, a hanging plate 68, a clamping block 69, a photoresist coater 7, a feed opening 71, a semiconductor manipulator 72 and a tray 73.
Detailed Description
The application is further described below with reference to the drawings and examples.
The intermediate processing equipment for the negative photoresist coating process shown in fig. 1-10 is arranged on one side of a plurality of photoresist coating machines 7 arranged in an array and comprises a first curing tunnel 1, a second curing tunnel 2, a detection assembly 4, a translation assembly 5 and a turnover assembly 6.
As shown in fig. 1-10, the upper end of the first curing tunnel 1 is provided with a plurality of air heaters 3 blowing hot air into the first curing tunnel 1, a first conveyor belt conveyor 11 is arranged in the first curing tunnel 1, two ends of the first conveyor belt conveyor 11 extend to the outside of the inlet and outlet of the first curing tunnel 1 respectively for a preset distance, the side surface of the first curing tunnel 1, facing the photoresist coater 7, is provided with a plurality of side openings 12 for the silicon wafers to enter and exit the first curing tunnel 1, the side surface is also provided with a plurality of vertical first linear mechanisms 13, the output end of the first linear mechanisms 13 is provided with L-shaped side covers 14, the L-shaped side covers 14 slide to open and close the side openings 12 at the vertical parts of the L-shaped side covers, the first curing tunnel 1 is also provided with a plurality of silicon wafer entering and exiting components for transferring the silicon wafers between the first curing tunnel 1 and the photoresist coater 7, the silicon wafer inlet and outlet assembly comprises a second linear mechanism 15 which is arranged on the upper end face of the first curing tunnel 1 and the output direction of which points to the photoresist coater 7, a third linear mechanism 16 is vertically arranged at the output end of the second linear mechanism 15, an inverted L-shaped block 17 is arranged at the output end of the third linear mechanism 16, a cross rod 18 parallel to the output axis of the second linear mechanism 15 is arranged at the lower end of the vertical part of the inverted L-shaped block 17, a pair of limiting rods 19 are arranged at one side of the cross rod 18, the opposite faces of the two limiting rods 19 are used for limiting silicon wafers, and the limiting rods 19 extend from the side face of the cross rod 18 along the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the first conveyor belt conveyor 11, so that when the silicon wafer tracking assembly such as a camera is not additionally arranged, the silicon wafer can be blocked by the cross rod 18, the limiting rods 19 limit the silicon wafer, the length of the limiting rods 19 is larger than the radius of the silicon wafer and smaller than the diameter of the silicon wafer, when the side opening 12 is opened, the limit rod 19 can pass through the side opening 12 when moving.
As shown in fig. 1, 3 and 5-9, the second curing tunnel 2 is parallel to one side of the first curing tunnel 1 and is relatively far away from the photoresist coater 7 than the first curing tunnel 1, a plurality of air heaters 3 are also arranged at the upper end of the second curing tunnel 2, specifically, a plurality of air channels are respectively arranged at the upper ends of the first curing tunnel 1 and the second curing tunnel 2 and are connected with the air outlet end of the air heaters 3, a second conveyor belt conveyor 21 with the conveying direction opposite to that of the first conveyor belt conveyor 11 during operation is arranged in the second curing tunnel 2, and the two ends of the second conveyor belt conveyor 21 respectively extend to the outer sides of the inlet and the outlet of the second curing tunnel 2 for a preset distance.
As shown in fig. 1, 3 and 5-9, the number of the detection assemblies 4 is a pair, the detection assemblies 4 are respectively arranged at the outlet ends of the first curing tunnel 1 and the second curing tunnel 2, the detection assemblies 4 comprise a control box 41 assembled at one side of the first curing tunnel 1 or the second curing tunnel 2, and a ring frame 42 assembled at the outlet end face of the first curing tunnel 1 or the second curing tunnel 2, the ring frame 42 is vertically provided with an interference thickness measuring sensor 43 in a penetrating manner, the interference thickness measuring sensor is used for measuring the thickness of photoresist on a silicon wafer, and a connecting wire 44 of the interference thickness measuring sensor 43 is connected with the control box 41.
As shown in fig. 1,3 and 5-9, the number of the translation assemblies 5 is one, and the translation assemblies are respectively arranged at two ends of the first curing tunnel 1, and meanwhile, it can be said that the translation assemblies 5 are also arranged at two ends of the second curing tunnel 2, the translation assemblies 5 comprise a pair of L-shaped frames 51 respectively fixed at one end of the first curing tunnel 1 and one end of the second curing tunnel 2, a fourth linear mechanism 52 parallel to the second linear mechanism 15 is arranged at the upper end of the L-shaped frames 51, a fifth linear mechanism 53 parallel to the conveying direction of the silicon wafer in the first curing tunnel 1 or the second curing tunnel 2 is arranged at the sliding end of the fourth linear mechanism 52, an end plate 54 is arranged at the output end of the fifth linear mechanism 53, a pair of L-shaped supporting plates 55 symmetrically arranged are arranged at one side of the end plate 54, the upper end faces of the transverse parts of the L-shaped supporting plates 55, the conveying plane of the first conveying belt conveyor 11 and the second conveying belt conveyor 21 are all positioned at the same horizontal plane, and the vertical opposite faces of the two L-shaped supporting plates 55 are used for limiting the silicon wafer.
As shown in fig. 1,3, 5, 6, 8 and 9, the turnover assembly 6 is disposed between the first curing tunnel 1 and the second curing tunnel 2, and includes a side plate 61 fixed on one side of the first curing tunnel 1, a first rotating motor 62 disposed above one end of the side plate 61 and between a conveying start end of the first conveyor belt conveyor 11 and a conveying end of the second conveyor belt conveyor 21, a second rotating motor 63 disposed at an output end of the first rotating motor 63, a rotating plate 64 disposed at an output end of the second rotating motor 63, an L-shaped support rod 65 disposed at one side of the rotating plate 64, a mounting seat 66 disposed at one end of a short side of the rotating plate, sixth linear mechanisms 67 disposed at two ends of the mounting seat 66 and having opposite output directions, a hanger plate 68 disposed at an output end of the sixth linear mechanisms 67, a clamp block 69 disposed at a lower end of a side of the hanger plate 68 facing the sixth linear mechanism 67, and an arc surface formed on one side of the clamp block 69, the arc surface provided with an arc groove matched with an outer circumference of the silicon wafer.
Preferably, a total control device electrically connected to the detecting assembly 4, the translation assembly 5 and the turning assembly 6 may be further provided, where a translation assembly 5 should obviously always move the silicon wafer at the conveying end of the first conveyor belt 11 to the conveying start end of the second conveyor belt 21, and for the other end, that is, the conveying end of the second conveyor belt 21, after the total control device receives the information of the detecting assembly 4, it is determined whether the silicon wafer is turned by the turning assembly 6, and then the silicon wafer is placed at the conveying start end of the first conveyor belt 11, or moved by another translation assembly 5, and the information and the judgment manner of the detecting assembly 4 are described later.
In the present embodiment, the first linear mechanism 13, the second linear mechanism 15, the third linear mechanism 16, the fifth linear mechanism 53, and the sixth linear mechanism 67 each use a single-axis linear cylinder, and the fourth linear mechanism 52 uses a rodless linear cylinder.
The working mode is as follows:
Firstly, as shown in fig. 1, the intermediate processing equipment for the negative photoresist coating process is arranged, and it should be noted that, due to the different sizes of the various photoresist coating machines 7, the intermediate processing equipment for the negative photoresist coating process may block the feeding position of the photoresist coating machine 7, if the photoresist coating machine 7 cannot be normally fed manually at the beginning of photoresist coating, a silicon wafer may be placed at the conveying start end of the first conveyor 11, and then fed through the silicon wafer feeding and discharging assembly.
After the front photoresist coating of the silicon wafer is finished through the photoresist coater 7, the feed inlet 71 is opened, the semiconductor manipulator 72 extends out of the feed inlet 71, the upper end surface of the tray 73 and the conveying plane of the first conveyor belt conveyor 11 are positioned on the same horizontal plane, then the limiting rod 19 is moved through the second linear mechanism 15 and the third linear mechanism 16 of the silicon wafer inlet and outlet assembly, the L-shaped side cover 14 is lowered through the first linear mechanism 13, the side opening 12 is opened, then the silicon wafer is moved onto the first conveyor belt conveyor 11 through the second linear mechanism 15, then the limiting rod 19 is lifted through the third linear mechanism 16, the limitation of the silicon wafer is released, the silicon wafer starts to be conveyed, the silicon wafer inlet and outlet assembly is moved out of the first curing tunnel 1, and the side opening 12 is closed.
And so on, more silicon wafers are circularly conveyed in the first curing tunnel 1 and the second curing tunnel 2. The thickness of the glue on the wafer is detected as it is transported under the interferometric thickness sensor 43. Optionally, the center point of the upper end surface of each silicon wafer can be detected according to actual conditions, and the midpoint between the center point and the edge can also be detected. When the thickness of the photoresist on the silicon wafer is no longer changed or the change amount is smaller than a preset value set in the total control equipment, the photoresist is processed through the overturning assembly 6.
The embodiment adopts the translation assembly 5 to translate, namely, the fifth linear mechanism 53 is moved by the fourth linear mechanism 52 to be positioned at the conveying tail end of the first conveyor belt conveyor 11 or the conveying tail end of the second conveyor belt conveyor 21, then the L-shaped supporting plate 55 is pushed by the fifth linear mechanism 53 to receive the silicon wafer, then the silicon wafer is retracted by the fifth linear mechanism 53, the silicon wafer is moved by the fourth linear mechanism 52 to be pushed to the conveying starting end of the first conveyor belt conveyor 11 or the conveying starting end of the second conveyor belt conveyor 21, the overturning assembly 6 is operated in the embodiment in such a way that the first rotating motor 62 rotates all parts, the clamping blocks 69 are horizontally positioned at two sides of the second conveyor belt conveyor 21, the silicon wafer is clamped by the sixth linear mechanism 67 after being in place, then the clamping blocks 69 are rotated by the first rotating motor 62, the silicon wafer is overturned by the second rotating motor 63 in the rotation process, and the output shaft of the second rotating motor 63 is overturned 180 DEG before the silicon wafer reaches the first conveyor belt conveyor 11, and then the clamping of the silicon wafer is carried out by the first conveyor belt conveyor 11.
The turned silicon wafer is conveyed by the first conveyor belt conveyor 11, and when the silicon wafer is about to be in place, the cross bar 18 of the silicon wafer in-out assembly is advanced to stop the silicon wafer, and then the silicon wafer is conveyed back to the photoresist coater 7 through the silicon wafer in-out assembly.
The above examples are only examples of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.