CN209831181U

CN209831181U - Wafer transfer device

Info

Publication number: CN209831181U
Application number: CN201920270780.XU
Authority: CN
Inventors: 潘雪明; 李鑫; 苏静洪
Original assignee: Tiantong Tijin Precision Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Tiantong Tijin Precision Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-04
Filing date: 2019-03-04
Publication date: 2019-12-24
Anticipated expiration: 2029-03-04

Abstract

The application discloses be applied to wafer transfer device of wafer multistation edge polishing equipment, including the revolving stage and a plurality of transfer manipulators that wait the angle setting, each transfer manipulator is located between two adjacent operation position, rotate through the drive revolving stage, can utilize a plurality of transfer manipulators to accomplish the transfer of multi-disc wafer simultaneously, and is special, can make each transfer manipulator can be with the wafer that corresponds from preceding operation position fast, steadily and the not damaged transfer to adjacent next operation position, improved wafer transfer efficiency.

Description

Wafer transfer device

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of wafer processing, in particular to a wafer transfer device of wafer multi-station edge polishing equipment.

Background

Generally, after the silicon material is crystallized into a large cylindrical shape over most of its length, the columnar crystallized material is cut into thin wafers which become silicon wafers, which may also be referred to as wafers (wafers) because of their circular shape. Subsequently, various circuit device structures can be further processed and manufactured on the wafer, thereby becoming an integrated circuit product with specific electrical functions.

As semiconductor technology advances toward large-sized wafers, more stringent requirements are placed on the surface granularity, geometric parameters, edges, and surface roughness of the wafers. For example, in the slicing process, the edge of the sliced wafer is rough and has unevenness and sharp corners, so that the wafer may be subjected to external force in various subsequent processing processes, and when the external force exceeds the maximum load of the wafer or the stress is excessively concentrated, the problems of wafer cracks, wafer breakage and the like may be caused, which seriously affects the yield of the wafer process.

Taking edge polishing of a wafer as an example, and taking Chinese patent publication (publication No. CN1312747, title of the invention: method and apparatus for polishing edge of wafer) as an example in related art, a polishing apparatus for edge polishing of a wafer is disclosed, wherein when edge polishing is performed by using the polishing apparatus for edge polishing of a wafer, the wafer is fixed on a vacuum chuck, the wafer is driven by the vacuum chuck to rotate around a central line, a polishing wheel made of synthetic plastic is used to contact with the rotating edge of the wafer, a groove is arranged on a polishing surface around the polishing wheel, the cross section of the groove is complementary to the profile of the edge of the wafer, and the edge of the wafer is polished by relative movement between the polishing wheel and the edge of the wafer. However, in the above wafer edge polishing apparatus, the polishing wheel is disposed beside the vacuum chuck, which undoubtedly increases the overall space of the apparatus. In addition, the above wafer edge polishing apparatus is limited to pure wafer edge polishing, and for a wafer with a positioning structure (the positioning structure may be, for example, a notch, a flat edge, etc.), the polishing of the positioning structure in the wafer cannot be completed.

In fact, taking the wafer with the positioning structure as an example, the edge polishing of the wafer may include positioning structure polishing and other edge polishing except for the positioning structure, and each of the polishing processes may further include rough polishing, finish polishing, etc., and these detailed polishing processes generally require separate polishing devices, so that there are problems of layout between the polishing devices, wafer transfer, etc., which are cumbersome to operate, inefficient, and increase the risk of wafer damage during the wafer transfer process.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned deficiency of the related art, an object of the present application is to disclose a wafer transferring device of a wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus, which is used for solving the problems of complex structure, complex operation, low efficiency and the like in the related art.

To achieve the above and other objects, a first aspect of the present application discloses a wafer transfer device of a wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus, the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus has a wafer operation platform, a plurality of operation zones arranged at equal angles are arranged on the wafer operation platform, the wafer transfer device includes: the rotary table is arranged in the middle area of the wafer operation platform; the plurality of transfer manipulators are arranged on the rotary table at equal angles; each transfer manipulator is positioned between two adjacent operation areas and is used for transferring the wafer from the previous operation area to the adjacent next operation area under the driving of the rotary table.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the turntable is provided with a turntable driving motor for driving the turntable to rotate in forward and reverse directions.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the angle between two adjacent transfer robots is equal to the angle between two corresponding adjacent service locations.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, in the initial state, the initial position of each transfer robot is a middle position of two adjacent working locations.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the transfer robot comprises: the wafer supporting device comprises a supporting part for supporting a wafer and a supporting arm for connecting the supporting part to the rotary table.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the support portion is provided with an adsorption unit.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the support is a tray or a support arm.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, the transfer robot comprises two gripper arms connected to the turntable.

In certain embodiments of the first aspect of the present application, a buffer structure is provided on the clamp arm.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a state where the transfer robot is located in a previous operation zone in the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which the transfer robot is transferred to a subsequent operation area in the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of a wafer pocket polishing apparatus in an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a wafer pocket polishing apparatus in another exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a top view of the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism shown in FIG. 6.

Fig. 9 is a partially enlarged view of a V portion in fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line a-a of fig. 8.

Fig. 11 is a partially enlarged view of a portion L in fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of fig. 8.

Fig. 13 is a partially enlarged view of a portion M in fig. 12.

Fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of fig. 8.

Fig. 15 is a partially enlarged view of the portion N in fig. 14.

Fig. 16 is a schematic structural view of a wafer edge polishing apparatus in an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural view of a wafer edge polishing apparatus in another exemplary embodiment.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present application is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and capabilities of the present application will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure.

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that describe several embodiments of the application. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that mechanical, structural, electrical, and operational changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments of the present application is defined only by the claims of the issued patent. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. Spatially relative terms, such as "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "lower," "below," "lower," "above," "upper," and the like, may be used herein to facilitate describing one element or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures.

Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements in some instances, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, the first steering oscillation may be referred to as a second steering oscillation, and similarly, the second steering oscillation may be referred to as a first steering oscillation, without departing from the scope of the various described embodiments.

In the related wafer edge polishing operation, in some cases, the edge polishing equipment has a complicated structure and occupies a large space. Or, in some cases, the wafer with the positioning structure needs to be provided with independent polishing equipment in each polishing process including the positioning structure polishing and the edge polishing, and the problems of layout, wafer transfer and the like between the polishing equipment exist, which affect the efficiency of the polishing operation and the polishing quality. Therefore, it is necessary for those skilled in the art to modify the existing wafer edge polishing equipment so as to improve the operation efficiency and quality of wafer edge polishing.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 2 is a top view of the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus shown in fig. 1. In an embodiment, the Wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus of the present application is used for polishing an edge of a Wafer, wherein the Wafer (Wafer) is a silicon Wafer in a shape of a Wafer formed after a slicing operation, and generally, the edge of the Wafer is provided with a positioning structure, which may be, for example, a flat edge or a notch. In practical application, before slicing the cylindrical silicon rod, the edge of the cylindrical silicon rod is trimmed (flat) or notched (notch) along the axial direction of the cylindrical silicon rod, and then the cylindrical silicon rod is sliced to form sheet-shaped wafers, at this time, each wafer is provided with a flat or notch positioning structure, so as to facilitate automatic positioning when chips are manufactured on the wafer subsequently. In general, the trimming (flat) process is often used for a small-size columnar silicon rod (the diameter of the columnar silicon rod is, for example, 200mm ≈ 8 inches or less or 150mm ≈ 6 inches or less), and the notch (notch) process is used for a large-size silicon ingot (the diameter of the columnar silicon rod is, for example, 200mm ≈ 8 inches or more), so that the waste of wafers can be reduced as much as possible while ensuring the positioning. In the case of a wafer with flat edges or a wafer with notch, due to the preceding slicing process, the upper edge surface (a slice surface connected to a wafer in the slicing process) or the lower edge surface (a slice surface connected to a wafer in the slicing process) or the front edge surface (a component belonging to the circumferential surface of the columnar crystal bar) of the wafer is rough and has a sharp columnar body, and the wafer is fragile as a whole. Therefore, it is necessary to polish the edge of the wafer so that the edge of the wafer is smoother and smoother. In the following description, the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus of the embodiment is described by taking a wafer with notch as an example, but is not intended to limit the scope of the present application.

With reference to fig. 1 and 2, the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus of the present application includes: the device comprises a machine base 1, a wafer loading and unloading device 2, a wafer detection device 3, a first wafer notch polishing device 4, a second wafer notch polishing device 5, a first wafer edge polishing device 6, a second wafer edge polishing device 7, a wafer cleaning device 8 and a wafer transfer device 9.

The wafer multi-station edge polishing device of the present application is described in detail below.

The machine base 1 is used as a main component of the wafer multi-station edge polishing device and is provided with a wafer operation platform, wherein the wafer operation platform can be divided into a plurality of operation zones according to the specific operation content of wafer processing operation. In some embodiments, the operation areas are annularly arranged on the periphery of the wafer operation platform. Specifically, in the embodiment, the wafer operation platform at least includes a preprocessing section 1115 and a post-processing section 16, wherein the preprocessing section 11 is correspondingly provided with a wafer detection device 3, the first notch polishing section 12 is correspondingly provided with a first wafer notch polishing device 4, the second notch polishing section 13 is correspondingly provided with a second wafer notch polishing device 5, the first edge polishing section 14 is correspondingly provided with a first wafer edge polishing device 6, the second edge polishing section 15 is correspondingly provided with a second wafer edge polishing device 7, and the post-processing section 16 is correspondingly provided with a wafer cleaning device 8. Therefore, the wafer multi-station edge polishing equipment in the embodiment can realize assembly line operation on the wafer, so that the wafer can finish a plurality of processes such as first notch polishing operation, second notch polishing operation, first edge polishing operation, second edge polishing operation and the like in the same equipment in sequence, and the operation efficiency of wafer edge polishing is practically improved.

The wafer loading and unloading device 2 is arranged adjacent to the pre-processing area 11 and the post-processing area 16, and is used for loading the wafer to be polished to the pre-processing area 11 of the wafer operation platform and unloading the polished wafer from the post-processing area 16 of the wafer operation platform.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the wafer handling platform on the base 1 further extends outward to form a wafer loading/unloading zone 17. A magazine carrier is disposed in the wafer loading/unloading region 17, and can carry at least one wafer magazine 10, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, and can carry three wafer magazines 10.

In some embodiments, the wafer magazine 10 may include a hollow box body, two opposite sidewalls of the box body are respectively provided with a plurality of layers of partition boards, two partition boards belonging to one layer are parallel to each other, and a receiving groove for receiving a wafer is formed between the two partition boards, so that a plurality of receiving grooves for receiving a plurality of wafers are formed on the box body. Since the wafer cassette is a conventional device, it is not described herein.

In some embodiments, the wafer magazine 10 may also be provided with an orientation structure (not shown) corresponding to a flat edge or notch on the wafer. Taking the wafer with the notch as an example, the orientation structure can make the notch of each wafer 100 accommodated in each accommodating groove of the wafer magazine 10 be positioned in the same direction.

In some embodiments, a buffer structure (not shown) may be disposed in the wafer cassette 10 to prevent the wafers received therein from colliding with the cassette during the transportation process.

The wafer loading and unloading device 2 is arranged on the wafer operation platform and is positioned between the wafer loading and unloading zone 17 and the pre-processing zone 11 and the post-processing zone 16, and is used for taking out the wafer 100 to be polished from the wafer magazine 10 and loading the wafer 100 to be polished to the pre-processing zone 11 of the wafer operation platform and unloading the polished wafer 100 from the post-processing zone 16 of the wafer operation platform and placing the wafer into the wafer magazine 10.

In an embodiment, the wafer handler 2 may be, for example, a handler robot. Specifically, the loading and unloading robot 2 may include a robot arm and an arm transmission mechanism for driving the robot arm to move.

In some embodiments, the free end of the robot arm has a support portion for supporting the wafer, and the support portion may be, for example, a tray or at least two support arms (e.g., two support arms form a support fork in an X-shape or a Y-shape), and the tray or at least two support arms may have a support surface formed thereon corresponding to the wafer to be supported. Of course, the supporting portion may further include an absorption unit, and the supporting portion supports the back of the wafer 100 and keeps a certain space with the back of the wafer to be communicated with the atmosphere to generate a negative pressure, so that the supporting portion can stably support the wafer 100 when the wafer 100 is transferred.

In some embodiments, the robot arm has a suction cup at its free end, which is adapted to attract the top surface of the wafer 100.

In some embodiments, the free end of the robot arm is provided with at least two clamping arms disposed oppositely, and a clamping space is formed between the at least two clamping arms and is adapted to clamp the edge of the wafer 100. Generally, taking two clamping arms as an example, the two clamping arms are symmetrically arranged, and the center of a clamping space formed by the two clamping arms is coincident with the center of the wafer 100 in a clamped state. Therefore, when the clamping arms are used to clamp the wafer 100, the two clamping arms are closed (i.e., the two clamping arms move towards each other), and the clamping surfaces of the clamping arms abut against the edge of the wafer 100, and during the process of closing and clamping the wafer 100, the wafer 100 is pushed by the two clamping arms on both sides and moves towards the central region of the clamping space until the wafer 100 is clamped by the two clamping arms, and at this time, the center of the wafer 100 can be located at the center of the clamping space formed by the two clamping arms. In particular, in order to enable the two clamping arms to smoothly and stably clamp the wafer 100, the clamping arms further include a clamping arm driving mechanism for driving the at least two clamping arms to open and close. In some embodiments, the clamp arm drive mechanism may be, for example, a lock cylinder. In some embodiments, the handler robot 2 may also include a pressure sensor for detecting the clamping force applied to the wafer 100 to avoid damage to the wafer 100 when the clamping force applied by the clamping arm is too high. In some embodiments, the inner walls of the two clamping arms contacting the wafer 100 may further have a buffer structure.

In some embodiments, the arm transmission mechanism may include a driving motor, a rotating shaft, and a rotating arm connected to the rotating shaft, wherein the driving motor is connected to the rotating shaft, one end of the rotating arm is coaxially fixed to the rotating shaft, and the other end of the rotating arm is coaxially connected to the robot arm. In addition, the arm transmission mechanism can also comprise a reduction gearbox (not shown in the drawing), the driving motor is arranged at the input end of the reduction gearbox, the rotating shaft is arranged at the output end of the reduction gearbox, and the reduction gearbox can be fixed on the machine base 1 through a supporting plate. In practice, in some embodiments, the aforementioned rotating arm may be omitted, i.e., the arm transmission mechanism may include a drive motor and a rotating shaft, wherein the drive motor is connected to the rotating shaft, and the rotating shaft is directly coaxially fixed with the robot arm.

When the wafer 100 is transferred by using the loading/unloading robot 2 in the embodiment, the rotating shaft is driven by the driving motor to drive the rotating arm and the robot arm connected thereto to rotate around the rotating shaft, so as to move the supporting portion or the clamping arm on the robot arm from the initial position (or the default position) to the wafer magazine 10 where the wafer to be extracted is located; a supporting part on the operation mechanical arm supports the back of the wafer 100 or a clamping arm on the operation mechanical arm clamps the edge of the wafer 100; the driving motor drives the rotating shaft to drive the rotating arm and the mechanical arm connected with the rotating arm to rotate around the rotating shaft, the bearing part or the clamping arm on the mechanical arm is moved to a target position where the currently extracted wafer is to be stored, and the bearing part or the clamping arm on the mechanical arm is operated to store the currently extracted wafer to the target position; the driving motor drives the rotating shaft to drive the rotating arm and the mechanical arm connected with the rotating arm to rotate around the rotating shaft, and the bearing part or the clamping arm on the mechanical arm is moved to an initial position (or a default position).

The wafer transfer device 9 is disposed in the central region of the wafer operation platform, and is used for sequentially transferring the wafer 100 loaded by the wafer loading and unloading device 2 among the pre-processing region 11, the first notch polishing region 12, the second notch polishing region 13, the first edge polishing region 14, the second edge polishing region 15, and the post-processing region 16 on the wafer operation platform.

In an embodiment, the wafer transferring apparatus 9 includes a turntable 91 located in a central region of the wafer operation platform, and a plurality of transferring robots 93 disposed on the turntable 91, wherein each transferring robot 93 corresponds to a certain operation region on the wafer operation platform and is configured to transfer a wafer from a previous operation region to an adjacent subsequent operation region under the driving of the turntable.

As described above, the wafer operation platform includes the pre-processing region 11, the first notch polishing region 12, the second notch polishing region 13, the first edge polishing region 14, the second edge polishing region 15, and the post-processing region 16, in the embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, these operation regions are ring-shaped according to the operation procedure and are sequentially disposed on the wafer operation platform, specifically, the pre-processing region 11, the first notch polishing region 12, the second notch polishing region 13, the first edge polishing region 14, the second edge polishing region 15, and the post-processing region 16 can be sequentially disposed in a clockwise manner, and of course, each of the operation regions can also be sequentially disposed in a counterclockwise manner. In order to facilitate the sequential transfer of the wafer 100 between the operation regions, the operation regions are uniformly arranged at equal angles, i.e., the angle θ between two adjacent operation regions is 360 °/6 is 60 °.

Correspondingly, a plurality of transfer manipulators 93 arranged on the turntable 91 on the wafer transfer device 9 can also be provided with a corresponding number, the transfer manipulators 93 are uniformly arranged, and the included angle between two adjacent transfer manipulators 93 is equal to the included angle between two corresponding adjacent operation areas. Since the wafer after being cleaned by the wafer cleaning device 8 in the post-processing zone 16 is unloaded from the post-processing zone 16 by the wafer handling device 2 instead of being transferred to the pre-processing zone, that is, the wafer handling device 2 is located between the pre-processing zone 11 and the post-processing zone 16, the wafer 100 to be polished can be loaded to the pre-processing zone 11 and the wafer 100 after completion of the polishing operation can be unloaded from the post-processing zone 16 by the loading and unloading robot 2 of the wafer handling device 2, there is no need to provide a transfer robot between the post-processing zone 16 and the pre-processing zone 11. As such, in the embodiment, the number of the transfer robots 93 provided on the turn table 91 on the wafer transfer device 9 is five, and the five transfer robots are uniformly disposed at equal angles, that is, the angle between two adjacent transfer robots is 60 °. Specifically, a first transfer robot 93 is used to transfer the wafer 100 on the pre-treatment section 11 to the first notch polishing section 12, a second transfer robot 93 is disposed at an interval of 60 with respect to the first transfer robot 93, for transferring the wafer 100 on the first notch polishing region 12 to the second notch polishing region 13, the third transfer robot 93 is disposed at an interval of 60 degrees with respect to the second transfer robot 93, for transferring the wafer 100 on the second notch polishing region 13 to the first edge polishing region 14, the fourth transfer robot 93 is disposed at an interval of 60 degrees with respect to the third transfer robot 93, for transferring the wafer 100 on the first edge polishing region 14 to the second edge polishing region 15, the fifth transfer robot 93 is disposed at an interval of 60 degrees with respect to the fourth transfer robot 93, for transferring the wafer 100 on the second edge polishing zone 15 to the post-processing zone 16. In practical applications, a turntable driving motor may be disposed on the turntable 91 for driving the turntable 91 to rotate. In practical application, the turntable driving motor can realize forward and reverse rotation. By driving the turntable 91 to rotate, for example, by 60 °, in a single rotation, the transfer robot 93 can transfer all the wafers 100 picked up by each robot from the corresponding previous working area to the next working area, so as to realize the fast and stable transfer of each wafer 100 at multiple working areas.

Different implementations are possible for the transfer robot 93 in the wafer transfer device 9.

In some embodiments, the transfer robot 93 may include a support for supporting the wafer and an arm for connecting the support to the turntable 91, wherein the support may be, for example, a tray or at least two support arms (e.g., a support fork formed by two support arms in an X-shape or a Y-shape) that may form a support surface corresponding to the wafer to be supported. Of course, the susceptor may further include an absorption unit, and the susceptor holds the back of the wafer 100 and keeps a certain space with the back of the wafer to communicate with the atmosphere to generate a negative pressure, so that the wafer 100 can be stably held by the susceptor when the wafer 100 is transferred. When the wafer 100 is transferred, the wafer 100 on the corresponding previous operation zone is firstly supported by the supporting part of the transfer robot 93, and then the turntable 91 is driven to rotate by a preset angle, so that the transfer robot 93 and the wafer 100 supported by the transfer robot are driven to be transferred from the previous operation zone to the adjacent next operation zone.

In some embodiments, the robot arm has a chuck at one end adapted to chuck the top surface of the wafer 100. When the wafer 100 is transferred, the wafer 100 on the corresponding previous operation zone is firstly sucked by the suction cup of the transfer robot 93, and then the turntable 91 is driven to rotate by a preset angle, so that the transfer robot 93 and the wafer 100 sucked by the transfer robot are driven to be transferred from the previous operation zone to the adjacent next operation zone.

In some embodiments, the transfer robot 93 may include at least two opposing clamping arms having a clamping space formed therebetween adapted to clamp an edge of the wafer 100. Taking two clamping arms as an example, when the wafer 100 is transferred, the two clamping arms of the transfer robot 93 clamp the edge of the wafer 100, and then the turntable 91 is driven to rotate by a predetermined angle, so as to drive the transfer robot 93 and the wafer 100 clamped by the transfer robot 93 to be transferred from the previous working location to the adjacent next working location. Generally, when the two clamping arms are in the clamped state, the center of the clamping space formed by the two clamping arms coincides with the center of the wafer 100. Therefore, when the clamping arms are used to clamp the wafer 100, the two clamping arms are closed, and the clamping surfaces of the clamping arms abut against the edge of the wafer 100, and during the process of closing and clamping the wafer 100, the wafer 100 is pushed by the two clamping arms on both sides and moves toward the central region of the clamping space until the wafer 100 is clamped by the two clamping arms, and at this time, the center of the wafer 100 can be located at the center of the clamping space formed by the two clamping arms. In particular, in order to enable the two clamping arms to smoothly and stably clamp the wafer 100, the clamping arms further include a clamping arm driving mechanism for driving the at least two clamping arms to open and close. In some embodiments, the clamp arm drive mechanism may be, for example, a lock cylinder. Of course, the handling robot 2 may also include a pressure sensor for detecting the clamping force applied to the wafer 100 to avoid damage to the wafer 100 when the clamping force applied by the clamping arm is too large. In addition, a buffer structure may be disposed on an inner wall of the two clamp arms contacting the wafer 100.

Generally, in a case where the wafer 100 is not transferred using the wafer transfer device 9, that is, the wafer transfer device 9 is in a non-operating state (may also be referred to as an initial state), each transfer robot 93 in the wafer transfer device 9 is located in a region between two adjacent working locations. For convenience of description, in the following description, the position of the wafer transfer device 9 in the non-operating state is referred to as an initial position. We can set as follows: the included angle between the initial position of the wafer transfer device and the previous operation zone bit is a first angle, the included angle between the previous operation zone bit and the adjacent next operation zone bit is a second angle, the included angle between the initial position and the adjacent next operation zone bit is a third included angle, and the sum of the first included angle and the third included angle is equal to the second included angle. In practical applications, when the wafer 100 is transferred by the transfer robot 93 in the wafer transfer apparatus 9, the turntable 91 is driven to rotate by a first angle in a first direction, so that the transfer robot 93 is transferred from the initial position to a corresponding previous working location (the position of the transfer robot 93 in the previous working location may be referred to as an extraction position); controlling the transfer robot 93 to pick up the wafer 100 on the previous working area at the pick-up position by the transfer robot 93; driving the turntable 91 to rotate by a second angle in a second direction to drive the transfer robot 93 and the wafer 100 picked up by the transfer robot to transfer from the previous working location to the adjacent next working location (the position of the transfer robot 93 in the next working location can be referred to as a placement position); controlling the transfer manipulator 93, and placing the wafer on the next operation zone at the placing position by the transfer manipulator 93; the turntable 91 is driven to rotate by a third angle in the first rotation direction so that the transfer robot 93 returns to the initial position from the placement position.

In some embodiments, the initial position of the transfer robot in the wafer transfer device 9 is the middle position of the two adjacent working areas, i.e., each transfer robot 93 in the wafer transfer device 9 is centered between the two adjacent working areas in the non-operating state. As described above, in the embodiment shown in fig. 1 and 2, the angle between the adjacent two working areas is 60 °, and thus the angle between the transfer robot 93 and the adjacent two working areas on the left and right sides is 30 °, that is, the first angle in the foregoing is 30 °, the second angle is 60 °, and the third angle is 30 °. Therefore, under the above angle design, when the wafer 100 is transferred by the transfer robot 93 in the wafer transfer device 9, the turntable 91 is driven to rotate by 30 ° in the first direction, and the transfer robot 93 is driven to rotate from the initial position to the extraction position of the previous working area; controlling the transfer robot 93 to pick up the wafer 100 on the previous working area at the pick-up position by the transfer robot 93; the turntable 91 is driven to rotate by 60 degrees in the second direction, and the transfer manipulator 93 and the wafer 100 extracted by the same are driven to be transferred from the previous operation area to the adjacent placement position of the next operation area; controlling the transfer manipulator 93, and placing the wafer on the next operation zone at the placing position by the transfer manipulator 93; the turntable 91 is driven to rotate 30 ° in the first direction, and the transfer robot 93 is brought from the placement position back to the initial position. Of course, the arrangement of the angle between the two adjacent operation regions and the angle between the transfer robot 93 and the operation regions are only exemplary and not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and in essence, the angles may vary according to the overall layout or control system of the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus.

In order to avoid the interference of other adjacent operation zone bits so as to ensure the independence and the safety when corresponding operation is carried out on each operation zone bit, in the wafer multistation edge polishing equipment, each operation zone bit is provided with a protection device. In an embodiment, the protection device may be, for example, a protection plate, and thus, a protection plate may be respectively disposed at two opposite sides of each working location, that is, two protection plates are disposed at two opposite sides of the pre-processing location 11, two protection plates are disposed at two opposite sides of the first notch polishing location 12, two protection plates are disposed at two opposite sides of the second notch polishing location 13, two protection plates are disposed at two opposite sides of the first edge polishing location 14, two protection plates are disposed at two opposite sides of the second edge polishing location 15, and two protection plates are disposed at two opposite sides of the post-processing location 16. Thus, when the corresponding operation is executed in each operation area, the operation areas are independent and do not interfere with each other. For example, the polishing liquid possibly used in the related polishing operations performed in the first recess polishing region 12, the second recess polishing region 13, the first edge polishing region 14, and the second edge polishing region 15 will not be dispersed, and the cleaning liquid possibly used in the wafer cleaning operations performed in the post-processing region 16 will not be dispersed.

However, since only the pretreatment operation is performed for the wafer on the pretreatment site for the pretreatment site, the side of the pretreatment site adjacent to the wafer handling apparatus 2 may not be provided with the shielding plate in view of this. Thus, taking as an example that no guard plate is installed on the side of the pretreatment area adjacent to the wafer handling device 2, the guard plate PA is provided on the rear side of the pretreatment area 11, the guard plate PB is provided on the front side of the first notch polishing area, the first transfer robot 93 is located between the guard plate PA of the pretreatment area 11 and the guard plate PB of the first notch polishing area 12, the guard plate PA is provided on the rear side of the first notch polishing area 12, the guard plate PB is provided on the front side of the second notch polishing area 13, the second transfer robot 93 is located between the guard plate PA of the first notch polishing area 12 and the guard plate PB of the second notch polishing area 13, the guard plate PA is provided on the rear side of the second notch polishing area 13, the guard plate PB is provided on the front side of the first edge polishing area 14, the third transfer robot 93 is located between the guard plate PA of the second notch polishing area 13 and the guard plate PB of the first edge polishing area 14, the rear side in first edge polishing position 14 is equipped with the guard plate PA, the front side in second edge polishing position 15 is equipped with guard plate PB, fourth shift manipulator 93 is located between the guard plate PA in first edge polishing position 14 and the guard plate PB in second edge polishing position 15, the rear side in second edge polishing position 15 is equipped with guard plate PA, the front side in aftertreatment position 16 is equipped with guard plate PB, fifth shift manipulator 93 is located between guard plate PA in second edge polishing position 15 and the guard plate PB in aftertreatment position 16, the rear side in aftertreatment position 16 is equipped with guard plate PA. Generally, each transfer robot 93 of the wafer transfer apparatus 9 is centered between two adjacent working locations in the inactive state, and the transfer robot 93 waits for a command in the initial position, at which the shielding plates PA and PB on opposite sides of the transfer robot 93 are in the off state.

In certain embodiments, the guard plate may be of an open-close design. For example, the protection plate may be composed of two movable plates that open and close left and right, or the protection plate may be composed of two movable plates that open and close up and down. When the operation area performs the corresponding operation, the two movable plates are closed, and when the wafer 100 needs to be transferred, the two movable plates are opened.

In some embodiments, an opening may be formed in a middle position of the protection plate, and a movable door which can be opened and closed may be arranged on the opening. When the operation area performs the corresponding operation, the movable door on the protection plate is closed, and when the wafer 100 needs to be transferred, the movable door on the protection plate is opened.

Taking opening of the movable door on the protection plate as an example, when the wafer 100 needs to be transferred from the previous working area to the next working area by the transfer robot 93, the protection plate PA at the rear side of the previous working area is opened (i.e. the movable door on the protection plate PA is opened to expose the opening), the wafer 100 is extracted by rotating the transfer robot 93 between the previous working area and the next working area from the initial position by 30 ° in the first rotation direction and passing through the opening of the protection plate PA into the previous working area (as shown in fig. 3), the protection plate PB at the front side of the next working area is opened (i.e. the movable door on the protection plate PB is opened to expose the opening), the wafer 100 is rotated by 60 ° in the second rotation direction and passes through the opening of the protection plate PA to exit the previous working area and passes through the opening of the protection plate PB to enter the next working area, the wafer 100 is transferred into the next working area (as shown in fig. 4), at this time, the shielding plate PA at the rear side of the previous working location (i.e., the shutter on the shielding plate PA) may be closed, rotated 30 ° in the first rotation direction by the transfer robot 93 and returned to the initial position after passing through the opening of the shielding plate PB to exit the subsequent working location, and the shielding plate PB at the front side of the subsequent working location (i.e., the shutter on the shielding plate PB) may be closed.

The following is a detailed description of each operation region and the corresponding operation device in the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus of the present application.

As mentioned above, the wafer operation platform can be divided into a pre-processing region 11, a first notch polishing region 12, a second notch polishing region 13, a first edge polishing region 14, a second edge polishing region 15, and a post-processing region 16 according to the specific operation content of the wafer processing operation, wherein the pre-processing region 11 is correspondingly provided with the wafer detection device 3, the first notch polishing region 12 is correspondingly provided with the first wafer notch polishing device 4, the second notch polishing region 13 is correspondingly provided with the second wafer notch polishing device 5, the first edge polishing region 14 is correspondingly provided with the first wafer edge polishing device 6, the second edge polishing region 15 is correspondingly provided with the second wafer edge polishing device 7, and the post-processing region 16 is correspondingly provided with the wafer cleaning device 8. In the embodiment, the wafer processed by the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus of the present application has notch, so that the first wafer notch polishing device 4 and the second wafer notch polishing device 5 are used for notch polishing of the notch of the wafer, but not limited thereto, for example, in other embodiments, if the wafer processed is a wafer with flat edge, the first wafer notch polishing device 4 and the second wafer notch polishing device 5 can be replaced by the first wafer flat edge polishing device and the second wafer flat edge polishing device, respectively, for polishing the flat edge.

After the wafer 100 to be polished is loaded to the pre-processing section 11 of the wafer operation platform by the wafer loading and unloading apparatus 2, the wafer 100 can be inspected by the wafer inspection apparatus 3. In embodiments, the inspection operation includes, but is not limited to, wafer notch inspection, wafer flatness inspection, wafer edge inspection, and the like.

A rotary bearing table is arranged at the center of the pretreatment area 11 for bearing the wafer 100. Of course, the top of the rotary susceptor may also include a suction unit, and the rotary susceptor supports the back of the wafer 100 and keeps a certain space with the back to communicate with the atmosphere to generate a negative pressure, so that the wafer 100 is stably supported without damaging the wafer 100. The rotary susceptor may be a circular table adapted to the wafer 100, but is not limited thereto, and may also be a rectangular table, a triangular table, or other similar structures. When the wafer 100 is held by the rotary susceptor, the wafer 100 is in a horizontal state. In one embodiment, the spin stand may be configured to rotate, for example, the spin stand may have a pivot axis relative to the wafer handling platform to enable the rotation motion, such that the spin stand may rotate the wafer 100 thereon after the wafer 100 is supported by the spin stand.

The wafer inspection device 3 is disposed beside the rotary stage and is used for inspecting the wafer 100.

In some embodiments, the inspection operation includes wafer notch inspection for inspecting wafer notches. Taking wafer notch inspection as an example, the wafer notch inspection apparatus as the wafer inspection apparatus 3 may be, for example, a visual inspection apparatus including at least a camera with high pixel resolution and image recognition software, so that the position of notch can be accurately and quickly detected. Of course, the visual inspection device may also include a light source (e.g., an LED light source) to minimize the effect of the surrounding environment on the image. During the inspection, the vision inspection device is driven to approach the edge of the wafer, for example, the camera is moved to a position right above the edge of the wafer and spaced from the wafer 100 by a predetermined distance, and the rotary stage is driven to rotate the wafer 100 thereon at a predetermined rotation speed, so that the notch of the wafer 100 can be detected and determined by the vision inspection device. After the notch of the wafer 100 is determined, the rotary stage is driven to rotate the notch of the wafer 100 thereon to a designated position.

In some embodiments, the inspection operation may include wafer flatness inspection, wafer edge inspection, etc., and the wafer inspection device 3 may be, for example, a wafer flatness inspection device, a wafer edge inspection device, etc.

In addition, in addition to the wafer inspection device 3, other pre-processing devices, such as a wafer centering device, may be disposed on the pre-processing area 11. The wafer centering device is used for centering the wafer. In some embodiments, the wafer centering device includes at least two clamping members for clamping the edge of the wafer to center the wafer.

A clamping space is formed between at least two clamping pieces in the wafer centering device and is suitable for clamping the edge of the wafer. Generally, the at least two clamping members are symmetrically arranged, and the center of a clamping space formed by the at least two clamping members in a clamping state is coincident with the center of a circle of the wafer. Therefore, when the wafer is clamped by the at least two clamping members, the at least two clamping members are closed (i.e., the at least two clamping members move towards each other), the clamping surfaces of the at least two clamping members abut against the edge of the wafer, and during the closing and clamping process of the at least two clamping members, the wafer is pushed by the at least two clamping members and moves towards the central area of the clamping space until the wafer is clamped by the at least two clamping members, and at the moment, the center of the wafer can be located at the center of the clamping space formed by the at least two clamping members, so that the centering and positioning of the wafer are completed.

The first wafer notch polishing device 4 is disposed on the first notch polishing region 12 of the wafer operation platform, and is used for performing a first notch polishing operation on the notch of the wafer 100. In an embodiment, the first wafer notch polishing device 4 may be, for example, a wafer notch rough polishing device, which is used for performing notch rough polishing operation on the notch of the wafer.

The wafer notch rough polishing apparatus 4 includes: wafer bearing platform and wafer notch rough polishing mechanism.

The wafer carrier is disposed at the center of the first recess polishing region 12 for supporting the wafer 100. Of course, the top of the wafer stage may further include a suction unit, and the wafer stage supports the back of the wafer 100 and keeps a certain space with the back to communicate with the atmosphere to generate a negative pressure, so that the wafer 100 is stably supported without damaging the wafer 100. The wafer stage may be a circular table adapted to the wafer 100, but is not limited thereto, and may also be a rectangular table, a triangular table, or other similar structures. When the wafer 100 is supported by the wafer stage, the wafer 100 is horizontal. In addition, in order to make the wafer carrier stand and hold the wafer 100 stably, in an embodiment, a wafer stabilizing structure may be further disposed on the wafer carrier, and in some embodiments, the wafer stabilizing structure may be, for example, a plurality of stoppers or stop bars disposed on the periphery of the wafer carrier. In some embodiments, the wafer stage may be configured to rotate, for example, the wafer stage may have a rotation axis relative to the wafer operation platform to realize the rotation motion, so that the wafer 100 can be driven to rotate by driving the wafer stage after the wafer stage supports the wafer 100.

Generally, since the wafer is already subjected to pretreatment such as notch inspection by the wafer inspection apparatus, centering by the wafer centering apparatus, etc. at the pretreatment area 11, when the wafer 100 is transferred from the pretreatment area 11 to the wafer stage of the first notch polishing area 12 by the transfer robot 93 in the wafer transfer apparatus 9, the notch inspection and centering operations of the wafer 100 are not required. However, in some embodiments, if necessary, a wafer inspection device or a wafer centering device can also be provided in the first recess polishing area 12 or other similar areas that follow.

The wafer notch rough polishing mechanism is disposed beside the wafer carrier for performing notch rough polishing operation on the wafer 100 carried by the wafer carrier.

In an embodiment, the wafer notch rough polishing mechanism may comprise: rough polishing gyro wheel, gyro wheel rotating electrical machines, and gyro wheel shifting mechanism.

The rough polishing roller is rotatably coupled to a mounting arm through a shaft for rotation by a roller rotation motor and performs rough polishing of the notch by contacting the notch of the wafer 100. In an embodiment, the rough polishing roller has a first roughness. As mentioned above, the wafer carrier holds the wafer 100 horizontally, so that the rough polishing rollers in the wafer notch rough polishing mechanism are vertically disposed.

The roller shifting mechanism is used for driving the rough polishing roller to shift. In some embodiments, the roller displacement mechanism may be, for example, an advancing and retracting mechanism that may drive the rough polishing roller to advance and retract toward or away from the wafer 100. In practical application, the advancing and retreating mechanism can adopt a combination of a sliding block and a sliding rail combined with a ball screw and a servo motor, a combination of a rotating gear and a rack and the like. In some embodiments, the roller displacement mechanism is, for example, a three-dimensional displacement mechanism, which may include: a forward and backward displacement mechanism, a swing displacement mechanism, and a lifting displacement mechanism. In practical application, the three-dimensional displacement mechanism can adopt a combination of a slide block and a slide rail, a combination of a rotating gear and a rack and the like.

When the wafer notch rough polishing device 4 is used for carrying out notch rough polishing operation on the wafer 100, the wafer 100 is placed on a wafer bearing table, and the wafer bearing table bears the wafer 100 and keeps fixed; driving the rough polishing roller to rotate by the roller rotating motor; and enabling the roller shifting mechanism to drive the rough polishing roller to shift to the notch polishing position according to the notch position of the wafer 100, and enabling the rough polishing roller to gradually approach until the rough polishing roller contacts the notch of the wafer 100 to perform rough polishing of the notch. And in the course of roughly polishing the notch, the roller shifting mechanism can still drive the roughly polishing roller to shift so as to adjust the notch polishing position. Taking the three-dimensional shifting mechanism as an example, the rough polishing roller is driven by the roller shifting mechanism to move forward and backward to adjust the forward and backward movement in the depth of the relative notch, and the rough polishing roller is driven by the roller shifting mechanism to swing to adjust the swing in the width of the relative notch, so that the rough polishing roller can cover all the regions to be polished of the notch of the wafer 100, and the complete rough polishing of the notch is ensured.

To ensure the coordination of the roller rotation motor and the roller displacement mechanism, in some embodiments, the roller rotation motor and the roller displacement mechanism may be connected together with a controller, and the controller coordinates the control of the roller rotation motor and the roller displacement mechanism. Specifically, the controller is connected to the rough polishing roller and the roller shifting mechanism, and is configured to control the roller shifting mechanism to drive the rough polishing roller to shift and control the rough polishing roller to rotate, and the rough polishing roller performs rough polishing on the notch by contacting the notch of the wafer 100. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the roller shifting mechanism is a forward and backward shifting mechanism, and therefore, the controller is connected to the forward and backward shifting mechanism for sending a corresponding shift control command to the forward and backward shifting mechanism to drive the rough polishing roller to reach a predetermined rough polishing position through forward and backward shifting and to contact the notch of the wafer 100 at the rough polishing position. In some embodiments, the roller shifting mechanism is a three-dimensional shifting mechanism including a forward and backward shifting mechanism, a swing shifting mechanism, and a lifting shifting mechanism, and therefore, the controller is connected to the forward and backward shifting mechanism, the swing shifting mechanism, and the lifting shifting mechanism for sending corresponding shifting control commands to the forward and backward shifting mechanism, the swing shifting mechanism, and the lifting shifting mechanism, respectively, so as to drive the rough polishing roller to reach a predetermined rough polishing position through three-dimensional shifting and to be able to contact the notch of the wafer 100 at the rough polishing position. In addition, the controller is connected with a roller rotating motor of the rough polishing roller and used for sending a corresponding rotation control command to the roller rotating motor so as to control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the rough polishing roller.

The second wafer notch polishing device 5 is disposed on the second notch polishing region 13 of the wafer operation platform, and is used for performing a second notch polishing operation on the notch of the wafer 100. In an embodiment, the second wafer notch polishing device 5 may be, for example, a wafer notch finish polishing device, and is used for performing notch finish polishing operation on the notch of the wafer.

The wafer notch finish polishing apparatus 5 includes: wafer bearing table and wafer notch finish polishing mechanism.

The wafer carrier is disposed at the center of the second recess polishing region 13 for supporting the wafer 100. Of course, the top of the wafer stage may further include a suction unit, and the wafer stage supports the back of the wafer 100 and keeps a certain space with the back to communicate with the atmosphere to generate a negative pressure, so that the wafer 100 is stably supported without damaging the wafer 100. The wafer stage may be a circular table adapted to the wafer 100, but is not limited thereto, and may also be a rectangular table, a triangular table, or other similar structures. When the wafer 100 is supported by the wafer stage, the wafer 100 is horizontal. In addition, in order to make the wafer carrier stand and hold the wafer 100 stably, in an embodiment, a wafer stabilizing structure may be further disposed on the wafer carrier, and in some embodiments, the wafer stabilizing structure may be, for example, a plurality of stoppers or stop bars disposed on the periphery of the wafer carrier. In some embodiments, the wafer stage may be configured to rotate, for example, the wafer stage may have a rotation axis relative to the wafer operation platform to realize the rotation motion, so that the wafer 100 can be driven to rotate by driving the wafer stage after the wafer stage supports the wafer 100.

Generally, since the wafer is already pre-processed on the pre-processing section 11, such as the wafer notch inspection by the wafer inspecting apparatus, the centering by the wafer centering apparatus, and the like, when the wafer 100 is transferred from the pre-processing section 11 to the wafer stage of the second notch polishing section 13 by the transfer robot 93 in the wafer transferring apparatus 9, the operations of notch inspection, centering, and the like, for the wafer 100 may not be required. However, in some embodiments, if necessary, a wafer inspection device or a wafer centering device can also be provided in the second recess polishing area 13 or other similar areas that follow.

The wafer notch finish polishing mechanism is disposed beside the wafer carrier for performing notch finish polishing operation on the wafer 100 carried by the wafer carrier.

In an embodiment, the wafer notch polishing mechanism may include: finish polishing gyro wheel, gyro wheel rotating electrical machines and gyro wheel shifting mechanism.

The finish polishing roller is rotatably coupled to a mounting arm through a rotating shaft for being rotated by a rotating motor and performing finish polishing of the notch by contacting the notch of the wafer 100. In an embodiment, the final polishing roller has a second roughness, wherein the second roughness of the final polishing roller is less than the second roughness of the rough polishing roller. As mentioned above, the wafer carrier holds the wafer 100 horizontally, so that the finishing rollers of the wafer notch finishing mechanism are vertically disposed.

The roller shifting mechanism is used for driving the fine polishing roller to shift. In some embodiments, the roller displacement mechanism may be, for example, an advancing and retracting mechanism that may advance and retract the final polishing roller toward and away from the wafer 100. In practical application, the advancing and retreating mechanism can adopt a combination of a sliding block and a sliding rail combined with a ball screw and a servo motor, a combination of a rotating gear and a rack and the like. In some embodiments, the roller displacement mechanism is, for example, a three-dimensional displacement mechanism, which may include: a forward and backward displacement mechanism, a swing displacement mechanism, and a lifting displacement mechanism. In practical application, the three-dimensional displacement mechanism can adopt a combination of a slide block and a slide rail, a combination of a rotating gear and a rack and the like.

When the notch fine polishing operation is performed on the wafer 100 by using the wafer notch fine polishing device 5, the wafer 100 is placed on a wafer bearing table, and the wafer 100 is borne by the wafer bearing table and kept fixed; driving the fine polishing roller to rotate by the roller rotating motor; and enabling the roller shifting mechanism to drive the finish polishing roller to shift to a notch polishing position according to the notch position of the wafer 100, and enabling the finish polishing roller to gradually approach until the finish polishing roller contacts the notch of the wafer 100 to finish polishing of the notch. And in the process of carrying out finish polishing on the notch, the roller shifting mechanism can still drive the finish polishing roller to shift so as to adjust the notch polishing position. Taking the three-dimensional shifting mechanism as an example, the fine polishing roller is driven by the roller shifting mechanism to move forward and backward to adjust the forward and backward movement in the depth of the relative notch, and the fine polishing roller is driven by the roller shifting mechanism to swing to adjust the swing in the width of the relative notch, so that the fine polishing roller can cover all the regions to be polished of the notch of the wafer 100, and the complete fine polishing of the notch is ensured.

To ensure the coordination of the roller rotation motor and the roller displacement mechanism, in some embodiments, the roller rotation motor and the roller displacement mechanism may be connected together with a controller, and the controller coordinates the control of the roller rotation motor and the roller displacement mechanism. Specifically, the controller is connected to the finish polishing roller and the roller shifting mechanism, and is configured to control the roller shifting mechanism to drive the finish polishing roller to shift and control the finish polishing roller to rotate, and the finish polishing roller performs finish polishing of the notch by contacting the notch of the wafer 100. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the roller shifting mechanism is a forward and backward shifting mechanism, and therefore, the controller is connected to the forward and backward shifting mechanism for sending a corresponding shift control command to the forward and backward shifting mechanism to drive the fine polishing roller to reach a predetermined fine polishing position through forward and backward shifting and to contact the notch of the wafer 100 at the fine polishing position. In some embodiments, the roller shift mechanism is a three-dimensional shift mechanism including a forward and backward shift mechanism, a swinging shift mechanism, and a lifting shift mechanism, and therefore, the controller is connected to the forward and backward shift mechanism, the swinging shift mechanism, and the lifting shift mechanism for sending corresponding shift control commands to the forward and backward shift mechanism, the swinging shift mechanism, and the lifting shift mechanism, respectively, so as to drive the fine polishing roller to reach a predetermined fine polishing position through three-dimensional shift and to be able to contact the notch of the wafer 100 at the fine polishing position. In addition, the controller is connected with a roller rotating motor of the finish polishing roller and used for sending a corresponding rotation control command to the roller rotating motor so as to control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the finish polishing roller.

In the foregoing, the first wafer notch polishing device 4 may be, for example, a wafer notch rough polishing device for performing a notch rough polishing operation on a notch of a wafer, and the second wafer notch polishing device 5 may be, for example, a wafer notch fine polishing device for performing a notch fine polishing operation on a notch of a wafer, but not limited thereto, and in other embodiments, the first wafer notch polishing device 4 and the second wafer notch polishing device 5 may be modified. For example, in one embodiment, the first wafer notch polishing device 4 and the second wafer notch polishing device 5 have the same structure, wherein the first wafer notch polishing device 4 is used for polishing the notch edge and polishing the notch upper edge of the wafer, and the second wafer notch polishing device 5 is used for polishing the notch edge and polishing the notch lower edge of the wafer, or the first wafer notch polishing device 4 is used for polishing the notch edge and polishing the notch lower edge of the wafer, and the second wafer notch polishing device 5 is used for polishing the notch edge and polishing the notch upper edge of the wafer, and the notch polishing operation of the notch of the wafer can be completed by the first wafer notch polishing device 4 and the second wafer notch polishing device 5, on the one hand, and on the other hand, a single wafer notch polishing device performs a part of the entire notch polishing operation, the working efficiency of the notch polishing work can be improved.

In practical applications, the present application further discloses a wafer notch polishing apparatus comprising: wafer plummer and wafer notch polishing mechanism, wherein, wafer plummer is used for bearing the weight of the wafer, wafer notch polishing mechanism still includes: polishing the roller; the roller rotating motor is used for driving the polishing roller to rotate; and the roller shifting mechanism is used for driving the polishing roller to shift to the notch corresponding to the wafer borne by the wafer bearing platform so as to enable the polishing roller to polish the notch of the wafer.

In an exemplary embodiment, a wafer notch polishing mechanism may be provided in the wafer notch polishing apparatus, as shown in fig. 5. For example, in one embodiment, the wafer notch polishing apparatus includes a wafer carrier and a wafer notch polishing mechanism, or, in one embodiment, the wafer notch polishing apparatus includes a wafer carrier and a wafer notch rough polishing mechanism, or, in another embodiment, the wafer notch polishing apparatus includes a wafer carrier and a wafer notch fine polishing mechanism.

In an exemplary embodiment, two wafer pocket polishing mechanisms may be provided in the wafer pocket polishing apparatus, as can be seen in fig. 6. For example, in one embodiment, the wafer notch polishing apparatus includes two wafer stages, wherein one wafer stage is configured with a wafer notch rough polishing mechanism, and the other wafer stage is configured with a wafer notch fine polishing mechanism. Alternatively, in a specific implementation manner, the wafer notch polishing apparatus includes two wafer carrying tables, wherein one wafer carrying table is correspondingly provided with a first wafer notch polishing mechanism, and the other wafer carrying table is correspondingly provided with a second wafer notch polishing mechanism.

Of course, as for the structures of the wafer carrier, the wafer notch rough polishing mechanism, and the wafer notch fine polishing mechanism configured in the wafer notch polishing apparatus of each exemplary embodiment and the working principle of the wafer notch polishing apparatus, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and no further description is given here.

The first wafer edge polishing device 6 is disposed on the first edge polishing region 14 of the wafer operation platform for performing a first edge polishing operation on the edge (except for the notch) of the wafer 100. In an embodiment, the first wafer edge polishing device 6 may be, for example, a wafer edge rough polishing device, which is used for performing an edge rough polishing operation on the edge (except for the notch) of the wafer 100.

The wafer edge rough polishing device 6 comprises a wafer bearing platform and a wafer edge rough polishing mechanism.

The wafer carrier is disposed at a central position of the first edge polishing region 14 for supporting the wafer 100. Of course, the top of the wafer stage may further include a suction unit, and the wafer stage supports the back of the wafer 100 and keeps a certain space with the back to communicate with the atmosphere to generate a negative pressure, so that the wafer 100 is stably supported without damaging the wafer 100. The wafer stage may be a circular table adapted to the wafer 100, but is not limited thereto, and may also be a rectangular table, a triangular table, or other similar structures. When the wafer 100 is supported by the wafer stage, the wafer 100 is horizontal. In one embodiment, the wafer carrier may be configured to rotate, for example, the wafer carrier is movably disposed on the wafer stage via a spindle, and the spindle is connected to a carrier rotation motor to realize the rotation. Thus, after the wafer carrier holds the wafer 100, the wafer carrier can drive the wafer 100 thereon to rotate under the control of the carrier rotating motor. In practical application, the bearing table rotating motor can send a corresponding rotation control instruction to the wafer bearing table so as to control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the wafer bearing table.

Generally, since the wafer is already pre-processed on the pre-processing section 11, such as wafer notch inspection by the wafer inspection apparatus, centering of the wafer by the wafer centering apparatus, and the like, when the wafer 100 is transferred to the wafer stage of the first edge polishing section 14 by the transfer robot 93 in the wafer transfer apparatus 9, the operations of notch inspection, centering, and the like of the wafer 100 are not required. However, in some embodiments, if desired, a wafer inspection device or a wafer centering device may be provided in, for example, the first edge polishing region 14 or other similar subsequent regions.

The wafer edge rough polishing mechanism is used for performing edge rough polishing operation on the wafer 100 carried by the wafer carrying table. In an embodiment, the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism is disposed above the wafer carrier, and the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism may include: rough polishing turntable 61, edge rough polishing assembly, turntable rotating motor, and turntable shifting mechanism.

The rough polishing turntable 61 is connected to the turntable rotating motor through a rotating shaft, and can be rotated by the turntable rotating motor. FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer edge rough polishing mechanism. As shown in fig. 1 and 7, the rough polishing turntable 61 may be disposed on the cover structure of the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus and directly above the wafer carrier. In practical applications, the turntable rotating motor can send corresponding rotation control instructions to the rough polishing turntable 61 to control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the rough polishing turntable 61.

A plurality of edge rough polishing assemblies are uniformly arranged on the edge of the rough polishing turntable 61, wherein each edge rough polishing assembly comprises an overturning main body which is connected with the edge of the rough polishing turntable 61 in a shaft mode, an edge rough polishing piece arranged at the bottom of the overturning main body and a blade arranged at the top of the overturning main body, and the edge rough polishing piece has a first roughness.

Since it is necessary to round the edge of the wafer 100 by performing an edge rough polishing operation on the edge of the wafer 100, the edge rough polishing assembly may further include: the outer circle edge rough polishing assembly 62, the upper opening edge rough polishing assembly 64 and the lower opening edge rough polishing assembly 66 are arranged in sequence at intervals.

FIG. 8 is a top view of the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism shown in FIG. 7. As shown in fig. 7 and 8, twelve edge rough polishing assemblies are uniformly disposed on the periphery of the rough polishing turntable 61, wherein four outer peripheral edge rough polishing assemblies 62, four upper port edge rough polishing assemblies 64, and four lower port edge rough polishing assemblies 66 are disposed at intervals in this order, that is, the outer peripheral edge rough polishing assemblies 62, the upper port edge rough polishing assemblies 64, the lower port edge rough polishing assemblies 66, … …, the outer peripheral edge rough polishing assemblies 62, the upper port edge rough polishing assemblies 64, and the lower port edge rough polishing assemblies 66.

The outer peripheral edge rough polishing assembly 62 is used to perform rough polishing operations on the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 100 (i.e., the outer peripheral surface of the wafer 100). Please refer to fig. 10, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line a-a of fig. 8. Referring to fig. 7 and 10, the outer peripheral rough polishing assembly 62 includes an overturning body 621 coupled to an edge of the rough polishing turntable 61, an outer peripheral rough polishing member 623 disposed at a bottom of the overturning body 621, and a sheet 625 disposed at a top of the overturning body 621.

Please refer to fig. 11, which is a partially enlarged view of the portion L in fig. 10. As shown in fig. 11, the outer peripheral rough polishing member 623 in the outer peripheral rough polishing assembly 62 has a flat polishing portion or a convex polishing portion for contacting the outer peripheral edge of the wafer.

The top edge rough polishing assembly 64 is used to perform rough polishing operations on the top edge of the wafer 100 (i.e., the top edge of the outer edge of the wafer 100). Please refer to fig. 12, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in fig. 8. Referring to fig. 7 and 12, the upper mouth edge rough polishing assembly 64 includes an overturning body 641 coupled to the edge of the rough polishing turntable 61, an upper mouth edge rough polishing member 643 disposed at the bottom of the overturning body 641, and a blade 645 disposed at the top of the overturning body 641.

Please refer to fig. 13, which is a partially enlarged view of the portion M in fig. 12. As shown in fig. 13, an upper lip rough polishing member 643 of the upper lip rough polishing assembly 64 has an upper wedge-type polishing portion for contacting an upper lip edge of a wafer.

The lower edge rough polishing assembly 66 is used to perform rough polishing operations on the lower edge of the wafer 100 (i.e., the lower edge of the outer edge of the wafer 100). Please refer to fig. 14, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of fig. 8. Referring to fig. 7 and 14, the lower lip rough polishing assembly 66 includes an overturning body 661 coupled to an edge of the rough polishing turntable 61, a lower lip rough polishing member 663 provided at a bottom of the overturning body 661, and a sheet 665 provided at a top of the overturning body 661.

Fig. 15 is a partially enlarged view of the portion N in fig. 14. As shown in fig. 15, a lower lip edge rough polishing member 663 in the lower lip edge rough polishing assembly 66 has a lower wedge-type polishing portion for contacting the edge of the lower lip of the wafer.

In some embodiments, the edge rough polishing member and the flip body can be detachable from each other in the edge rough polishing assembly. Specific to different types of edge rough polishing assemblies: for the outer peripheral rough polishing assembly 62, the outer peripheral rough polishing member 623 is detachably connected to the turning body 621. For the lip rough polishing assembly 64, the lip rough polishing element 643 is detachably connected to the flip body 641. For the lower edge rough polishing assembly 66, the lower edge rough polishing member 663 is detachably connected with the turnover main body 661. Such a design, on the one hand, ensures that the edge rough polishing member is renewable, for example, when the outer peripheral rough polishing member in one of the outer peripheral rough polishing assemblies 62 deteriorates in polishing performance due to continued use, the old outer peripheral rough polishing member can be replaced with a new one. On the other hand, the type of the edge rough polishing member can be changed, for example, the outer peripheral rough polishing member in the outer peripheral rough polishing module, the upper port edge rough polishing member in the upper port edge rough polishing module, and the lower port edge rough polishing member in the lower port edge rough polishing module on the rough polishing turntable 61 can be changed to any one of the outer peripheral rough polishing member, the upper port edge rough polishing member, and the lower port edge rough polishing member.

As described above, the flip body may be coupled to the rough polishing turntable 61 through a rotation shaft. Under certain conditions, the turning bodies can be turned over relative to the rough polishing turntable 61 by the rotating shaft, so that the relative position between the edge rough polishing member and the edge of the wafer 100 can be adjusted. In an embodiment, the turning body in the edge rough polishing assembly may be provided with a blade, and the blade and a tangent line of the turning body form a diversion inclination angle. Specifically, the top of the flip body 621 of the outer circular edge rough finishing assembly 62 is provided with a leaf 625, the top of the flip body 641 of the upper port edge rough finishing assembly 64 is provided with a leaf 645, and the top of the flip body 661 of the lower port edge finishing assembly 66 is provided with a leaf 665. In practical application, by utilizing the diversion inclination angle formed by the leaves and the turnover main body, during the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the leaves generate air flow, the generated air flow drives the leaves and the turnover main body below the leaves to turn over relative to the rough polishing turntable 61 by a preset amplitude through a rotating shaft, and the turning can comprise feeding towards the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 or withdrawing away from the center of the rough polishing turntable 61, so that the function of adjusting the feeding amount is achieved. Specifically, during the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the leaf 625 on the outer circumferential edge rough polishing assembly 62 drives the turning main body 621 and the outer circumferential edge rough polishing member 623 therebelow to turn over relative to the rough polishing turntable 61 by a predetermined amplitude under the disturbed air flow, see fig. 10. During the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the leaves 645 of the rough polishing assembly 64 will drive the turning body 641 and the rough polishing piece 643 underneath under the turning body to turn with a predetermined amplitude relative to the rough polishing turntable 61 under the disturbed air flow, as shown in fig. 12. During the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the sheet 665 on the rough polishing assembly 66 will drive the turning body 661 and the rough polishing member 663 thereunder to turn with a predetermined amplitude relative to the rough polishing turntable 61 under the disturbed air flow, see fig. 14.

For the sheet, in the embodiment shown in fig. 7 and 8, the sheet in each edge rough polishing assembly is a substantially flat sheet structure, and the sheet and the edge polishing member are at a certain inclination angle, so as to realize the preset amplitude of the edge polishing member turning relatively during the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61.

In fact, the shape of the blade and the flow guiding inclination angle of the blade and the turnover main body can be changed in other arrangements. Taking the shape of the sheet as an example, in some embodiments, the sheet may adopt a folded angle structure in which at least two folded pieces are connected at an angle. In some embodiments, the sheet may have an arcuate configuration or a streamlined configuration. In addition, the rough polishing turntable 61 can also be used alone or in combination with the shape of the sheet and the angle of inclination of the sheet and the edge polishing member, and the rotating direction and the rotating speed of the rough polishing turntable 61 can be changed in different designs.

Taking the angle of the diversion inclination of the blade and the main body of the flip as an example, in some embodiments, the blade is an adjustable blade disposed on the top of the main body of the flip, and the adjustable blade can be operated in advance before the edge of the wafer 100 is rough polished, and the angle of the diversion inclination of the blade and the main body of the flip can be adjusted by a technician. In some applications, the adjustable blade has a plurality of adjustable gears to provide adjustment of a plurality of diversion angles. In some applications, the adjustable blade can be connected with a blade adjusting motor, the blade adjusting motor is used for driving the adjustable blade to adjust the diversion inclination angle, and the operation of adjusting the diversion inclination angle can be performed not only in the process of performing edge rough polishing operation on a wafer by the edge rough polishing assembly, but also in the non-working state of the edge rough polishing assembly.

The turntable shifting mechanism is used for driving the rough polishing turntable 61 and the edge rough polishing component to shift. In an embodiment, the rough polishing turntable 61 is located directly above the wafer carrier, and thus, the displacement mechanism may be, for example, a lifting mechanism that can drive the rough polishing turntable and the edge rough polishing assembly to be lifted up and down, closer to or away from the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 carried thereby. In practical applications, the lifting mechanism may include a lifting column and a lifting motor, and the lifting motor may drive the rough polishing turntable 61 to ascend or descend along the lifting column.

To ensure the coordination of the rotation and displacement of the rough polishing turntable 61, in some embodiments, the turntable rotating motor and the turntable displacing mechanism may be connected together with a controller, and the controller coordinates the control of the turntable rotating motor and the turntable displacing mechanism. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the shifting mechanism is a lifting mechanism, and therefore, the controller is connected to the lifting mechanism for sending a corresponding lifting control command to the lifting mechanism to drive the rough polishing turntable 61 to reach a predetermined rough edge polishing position through lifting shifting and may correspond to the edge of the wafer 100 at the rough edge polishing position. In addition, the controller is connected to the turntable rotating motor of the rough polishing turntable 61, and is configured to send a corresponding rotation control command to the rough polishing turntable 61 to control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the rough polishing turntable 61. And if necessary, the controller can also be connected with a bearing platform rotating motor of the wafer bearing platform and used for sending a corresponding rotating control command to the wafer bearing platform so as to control the rotation direction and the rotating speed of the wafer bearing platform.

Please refer to fig. 9, which is a partial enlarged view of the V portion in fig. 8. In one embodiment, for any edge polishing assembly, the sheet and the edge polishing member are at an inclined angle, which is substantially the angle between the sheet and the rotation direction (the rotation direction is consistent with the tangent of the edge polishing assembly on the rough polishing turntable 61). As shown in fig. 9, for the rough edge polishing assembly 64, the included angles between the blade 645 and the edge polishing element are α and β, where the included angle between the blade 645 and the clockwise rotation direction is α, and the included angle between the blade 645 and the counterclockwise rotation direction is β. Other outer perimeter edge rough polishing assemblies 62 and lower mouth edge rough polishing assemblies 66 may be referenced to upper mouth edge rough polishing assembly 64. However, it should be noted that, for the same type of rough polishing assembly (outer peripheral edge rough polishing assembly 62, upper edge rough polishing assembly 64, or lower edge rough polishing assembly 66), the inclination angles of the leaves belonging thereto are the same, but different types of rough polishing assemblies can still be flexibly changed, i.e., the inclination angle of the leaf in the outer peripheral edge rough polishing assembly 62, the inclination angle of the leaf in the upper edge rough polishing assembly 64, or the inclination angle of the leaf in the lower edge rough polishing assembly 66 can be different.

Taking the edge rough polishing assembly in fig. 7 and 8 as an example, when the rough polishing turntable 61 is driven to rotate clockwise, an included angle α between a sheet on any edge rough polishing assembly and the rotation direction of the rough polishing turntable 61 is an acute angle, the sheet generates an air flow in the process of clockwise rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the generated air flow drives the turnover main body below the sheet and the edge rough polishing member to turn towards the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft to realize feeding, and the edge rough polishing member is used to perform edge rough polishing operation on the wafer 100. Specific to different types of edge rough polishing assemblies: for the outer circular edge rough polishing assembly 62, in the process of rotating the rough polishing turntable 61, the blades 625 generate air flows in the process of clockwise rotating the rough polishing turntable 61, and the air flows can cause the blades 625 in the outer circular edge rough polishing assembly 62 to drive the turning main body 621 and the outer circular edge rough polishing piece 623 below the turning main body 621 to turn towards the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft to realize feeding, and the outer circular edge rough polishing piece 623 is used for performing rough polishing operation on the outer circular edge of the wafer 100. For the rough polishing assembly 64, during the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the leaves 645 generate air flows during the clockwise rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, and these air flows will cause the leaves 645 in the rough polishing assembly 64 to drive the turning body 641 and the upper rough polishing piece 643 therebelow to turn toward the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft for feeding, so as to perform rough polishing operation on the upper edge of the wafer 100 by using the upper rough polishing piece 643. For the lower mouth edge rough polishing assembly 66, during the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the sheet 665 generates air flows during the clockwise rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, and the air flows can cause the sheet 665 in the lower mouth edge rough polishing assembly 66 to drive the turnover main body 661 and the lower mouth edge rough polishing member 663 below the turnover main body 661 to turn towards the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft to realize feeding, and the lower mouth edge rough polishing member 663 is used for carrying out rough polishing operation on the lower mouth edge of the wafer 100. It should be noted that, the outer circumferential edge rough polishing element 623 is used to perform rough polishing operation on the outer circumferential edge of the wafer 100, in order to make the outer circumferential edge of the wafer smooth, when the rough polishing turntable 61 rotates clockwise, the blade 625 drives the turning main body 621 and the outer circumferential edge rough polishing element 623 below the turning main body to turn towards the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft, the outer circumferential edge rough polishing element 623 is kept in a vertical state, that is, the polishing part of the outer circumferential edge rough polishing element 623 contacting with the outer circumferential edge of the wafer 100 is in a vertical state.

Taking the edge rough polishing assembly in fig. 7 and 8 as an example, when the rough polishing turntable 61 is driven to rotate counterclockwise, an included angle β between a sheet on any edge rough polishing assembly and the rotation direction of the rough polishing turntable 61 is an obtuse angle, the sheet generates an air flow in the process of counterclockwise rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, and the generated air flow drives the turnover main body below the sheet and the edge rough polishing member to turn back to the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft to exit. Specific to different types of edge rough polishing assemblies: for the outer-circle-edge rough-polishing assembly 62, in the rotation process of the rough-polishing turntable 61, the blades 625 generate air flows in the counterclockwise rotation process of the rough-polishing turntable 61, and the air flows can cause the blades 625 in the outer-circle-edge rough-polishing assembly 62 to drive the turning main body 621 and the outer-circle-edge rough-polishing member 623 below the turning main body to turn back to the center of the rough-polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft to realize exit. For the rough polishing assembly 64, during the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the leaves 645 generate air flows during the counterclockwise rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, and these air flows can cause the leaves 645 in the rough polishing assembly 64 to drive the flip body 641 and the upper rough polishing member 643 therebelow to flip back to the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft to realize exit. For the lower edge rough polishing assembly 66, during the rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, the sheet 665 generates air flows during the counterclockwise rotation of the rough polishing turntable 61, and the air flows can cause the sheet 665 in the lower edge rough polishing assembly 66 to drive the turnover main body 661 and the lower edge rough polishing member 663 below the turnover main body 661 to turn back to the center of the rough polishing turntable 61 through the rotating shaft, so as to realize exit.

As mentioned above, the rough polishing turntable 61 is controlled by the turntable rotating motor to rotate, so that when the rough polishing turntable 61 is driven to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise and the wafer 100 is rough polished by the edge rough polishing assembly (including the outer edge rough polishing member 62, the upper edge rough polishing member 64, and the lower edge rough polishing member 66), the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon can be driven to rotate by the carrier rotating motor. In some embodiments, the rough polishing turntable 61 and the wafer carrier may be rotated in opposite directions, i.e., when the rough polishing turntable 61 rotates clockwise, the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon rotate counterclockwise; when the rough polishing turntable 61 rotates counterclockwise, the wafer stage and the wafer 100 thereon rotate clockwise. This operation improves the efficiency of rough polishing of the edge of the wafer 100. For example, in other embodiments, the rough polishing turntable 61 and the wafer carrier may rotate in the same direction, i.e., the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon rotate clockwise when the rough polishing turntable 61 rotates clockwise; when the rough polishing turntable 61 rotates counterclockwise, the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon rotate counterclockwise. However, in the co-rotating mode of operation, the wafer carrier rotates at a lower speed than the rough polishing turntable 61. In the above embodiment, whether the wafer carrier or the rough polishing turntable 61 is used, the rotation speed of the wafer carrier can be adjusted and controlled by the carrier rotation motor, and the rotation speed of the rough polishing turntable 61 can be adjusted and controlled by the turntable rotation motor.

When the wafer edge rough polishing device 6 is used for performing edge rough polishing operation on the wafer 100, the turntable rotating motor is made to send a corresponding rotation control instruction to the rough polishing turntable 61, and the rough polishing turntable 61 is driven to rotate in a first direction, so that the turnover main bodies and the edge rough polishing pieces in the edge polishing assemblies on the rough polishing turntable 61 are turned outwards relative to the rough polishing turntable 61 under the driving of the blades; and under the state that the rough polishing turntable is kept to rotate in the first steering direction, the lifting mechanism is made to send a corresponding lifting control command to drive the rough polishing turntable 61 to reach a preset edge rough polishing position through lifting displacement, so that each edge rough polishing assembly (comprising the outer edge rough polishing assembly 62, the upper edge rough polishing assembly 64 and the lower edge rough polishing assembly 66) on the periphery of the rough polishing turntable 61 corresponds to the edge of the wafer 100 at the edge rough polishing position, and the wafer 100 falls into a polishing space surrounded by a plurality of edge rough polishing assemblies. The turntable rotating motor is made to send a corresponding rotation control instruction to the rough polishing turntable 61, and the rough polishing turntable 61 is driven to rotate in a second direction, so that the turnover main bodies and the edge rough polishing members in the edge rough polishing assemblies on the rough polishing turntable 61 are turned inwards relative to the rough polishing turntable 61 under the drive of the blades, and edge rough polishing operations (including an outer edge rough polishing operation, an upper edge rough polishing operation and a lower edge rough polishing operation) are performed on the wafer 100 by the edge rough polishing members in the edge rough polishing assemblies (including an outer edge rough polishing operation 62, an upper edge rough polishing operation 64 and a lower edge rough polishing operation 66). In practical applications, when the wafer carrier is provided with a carrier rotation motor, then, when the rough polishing turntable 61 is driven by the turntable rotation motor to rotate in the first direction, the carrier rotation motor can be driven to rotate the wafer carrier in the second direction.

The second wafer edge polishing device 7 is disposed on the second edge polishing region 15 of the wafer operation platform, and is used for performing a second edge polishing operation on the edge (except for the notch) of the wafer 100. In an embodiment, the second wafer edge polishing device 7 may be, for example, a wafer edge finishing device, which is used for performing an edge finishing operation on the edge (except for the notch) of the wafer 100.

The wafer edge fine polishing device 7 comprises a wafer bearing platform and a wafer edge fine polishing mechanism.

The wafer carrier is disposed at the center of the second edge polishing region 15 for supporting the wafer 100. Of course, the top of the wafer stage may further include a suction unit, and the wafer stage supports the back of the wafer 100 and keeps a certain space with the back to communicate with the atmosphere to generate a negative pressure, so that the wafer 100 is stably supported without damaging the wafer 100. The wafer stage may be a circular table adapted to the wafer 100, but is not limited thereto, and may also be a rectangular table, a triangular table, or other similar structures. When the wafer 100 is supported by the wafer stage, the wafer 100 is horizontal. In one embodiment, the wafer carrier may be configured to rotate, for example, the wafer carrier is movably disposed on the wafer stage via a spindle, and the spindle is connected to a carrier rotation motor to realize the rotation. Thus, after the wafer carrier holds the wafer 100, the wafer carrier can drive the wafer 100 thereon to rotate under the control of the carrier rotating motor. In practical application, the bearing table rotating motor can send a corresponding rotation control instruction to the wafer bearing table so as to control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the wafer bearing table.

Generally, since the wafer is already pre-processed on the pre-processing section 11, such as the wafer notch inspection by the wafer inspection apparatus, the centering by the wafer centering apparatus, and so on, the wafer 100 is transferred to the wafer stage of the second edge polishing section 15 by the transfer robot 93 in the wafer transfer apparatus 9, and thus, the operations of notch inspection and centering, and so on, for the wafer 100 are not required. However, in some embodiments, if necessary, a wafer inspection device or a wafer centering device may be provided in the second edge polishing area 15 or other similar areas.

In general, the wafer edge fine polishing device 7 and the wafer edge rough polishing device 6 have substantially the same structural components and operation principles, and therefore, reference may be made to fig. 7 to 15 in the following description of the wafer edge fine polishing device 7 and its respective components.

The wafer edge finish polishing mechanism is used for performing edge finish polishing operation on the wafer 100 carried by the wafer carrying table. In an embodiment, the wafer edge polishing mechanism is disposed above the wafer carrier, and the wafer edge polishing mechanism may include: the polishing device comprises a fine polishing turntable, an edge fine polishing assembly, a turntable rotating motor and a turntable shifting mechanism.

The fine polishing turntable is connected with the turntable rotating motor through a rotating shaft and can be controlled by the turntable rotating motor to rotate. The fine polishing turntable can be arranged on a cover body structure of the wafer multi-station edge polishing equipment through a rotating shaft and is positioned right above the wafer bearing table. In practical application, the turntable rotating motor can send a corresponding rotation control command to the fine polishing turntable so as to control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the fine polishing turntable.

The edge of the fine polishing turntable is uniformly provided with a plurality of edge fine polishing assemblies, wherein each edge fine polishing assembly comprises a turnover main body, an edge fine polishing piece and a blade, the turnover main body is connected with the edge of the fine polishing turntable in a shaft mode, the edge fine polishing piece is arranged at the bottom of the turnover main body, the blade is arranged at the top of the turnover main body, the edge fine polishing piece is provided with a second roughness, and the second roughness of the edge fine polishing piece is smaller than the first roughness of the edge rough polishing piece.

Since it is necessary to round the edge of the wafer 100 by performing an edge finishing operation on the edge of the wafer 100, the edge finishing assembly may further include: the outer circle edge fine polishing component, the upper opening edge fine polishing component and the lower opening edge fine polishing component are arranged at intervals in sequence. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, twelve edge finishing polishing assemblies may be uniformly disposed on the periphery of the finishing polishing turntable, wherein four outer circular edge finishing polishing assemblies, four upper mouth edge finishing polishing assemblies, and four lower mouth edge finishing polishing assemblies are disposed at intervals in this order, i.e., an outer circular edge finishing polishing assembly, an upper mouth edge finishing polishing assembly, a lower mouth edge finishing polishing assembly, … …, an outer circular edge finishing polishing assembly, an upper mouth edge finishing polishing assembly, and a lower mouth edge finishing polishing assembly.

The outer peripheral edge finishing polishing assembly is used to perform a finishing polishing operation on the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 100 (i.e., the outer peripheral surface of the wafer 100). In an embodiment, the outer circumferential edge finish polishing assembly comprises an overturning body coupled to an edge of the finish polishing turntable, an outer circumferential edge finish polishing member disposed at a bottom of the overturning body, and a blade disposed at a top of the overturning body. In an exemplary embodiment, the outer peripheral finishing member in the outer peripheral finishing assembly has a flat polishing portion or a convex polishing portion for contacting the outer peripheral edge of the wafer.

The lip finishing assembly is used to finish polish the lip of the wafer 100 (i.e., the outer edge of the wafer 100). In an embodiment, the upper mouth edge fine polishing assembly comprises an overturning main body which is coupled to the edge of the fine polishing turntable, an upper mouth edge fine polishing piece which is arranged at the bottom of the overturning main body, and a blade which is arranged at the top of the overturning main body. In an exemplary embodiment, an upper lip edge finishing member in the upper lip edge finishing assembly has an upper wedge type polishing portion for contacting an upper lip edge of a wafer.

The bottom edge finishing assembly is used to finish polish the bottom edge of the wafer 100 (i.e., the bottom edge of the outer edge of the wafer 100). In an embodiment, the lower mouth edge fine polishing assembly comprises an overturning body, a lower mouth edge fine polishing piece and a blade, wherein the overturning body is coupled to the edge of the fine polishing rotary disc in a shaft mode, the lower mouth edge fine polishing piece is arranged at the bottom of the overturning body, and the blade is arranged at the top of the overturning body. In an exemplary embodiment, a lower edge finishing member in the lower edge finishing assembly has a lower wedge type polishing portion for contacting an edge of a lower edge of a wafer.

In some embodiments, the edge finishing assembly can be detachable from the flip body. Specific to different types of edge finishing assemblies: and aiming at the outer circle edge fine polishing component, the outer circle edge fine polishing piece is detachably connected with the overturning main body. To last mouthful of edge finish polishing subassembly, last mouthful of edge finish polishing spare wherein is connected for detachable with the upset main part. Aiming at the lower opening edge fine polishing component, the lower opening edge fine polishing piece is detachably connected with the overturning main body. Such a design, on the one hand, ensures that the edge finishing member is renewable, for example, when the outer peripheral finishing member in a particular outer peripheral finishing assembly deteriorates in polishing performance due to continued use, the old outer peripheral finishing member can be replaced with a new outer peripheral finishing member. On the other hand, the edge polishing part can be replaced, for example, the outer circular edge polishing part in the outer circular edge polishing assembly on the polishing turntable, the upper port edge polishing part in the upper port edge polishing assembly, and the lower port edge polishing part in the lower port edge polishing assembly can be replaced by any one of the outer circular edge polishing part, the upper port edge polishing part, and the lower port edge polishing part.

As described above, the flip body may be coupled to the fine polishing turntable by a rotating shaft. Under certain conditions, the turning bodies can be turned over relative to the fine polishing turntable by the rotating shaft, so that the relative position between the edge fine polishing member and the edge of the wafer 100 can be adjusted. In an embodiment, the turning body in the edge finishing assembly may be provided with a blade, and the blade and a tangent line of the turning body form a diversion inclination angle. Specifically, the top of the turnover main body of the outer circular edge finish polishing assembly is provided with a leaf, the top of the turnover main body of the upper opening edge finish polishing assembly is provided with a leaf, and the top of the turnover main body of the lower opening edge finish polishing assembly is provided with a leaf. In practical application, by utilizing the diversion inclination angle formed by the leaf and the turnover main body, in the rotation process of the fine polishing turntable, the leaf can generate air flow, the generated air flow can drive the leaf and the turnover main body below the leaf to turn over in a preset amplitude relative to the fine polishing turntable through a rotating shaft, and the turning can comprise feeding towards the center of the fine polishing turntable or withdrawing away from the center of the fine polishing turntable, so that the effect of adjusting the feeding amount is achieved. Specifically, in the rotating process of the fine polishing turntable, the blades on the outer circle edge fine polishing component can drive the turning main body and the outer circle edge fine polishing piece below the turning main body to turn in a preset amplitude relative to the fine polishing turntable under the disturbed air flow. In the rotating process of the fine polishing turntable, the page on the upper opening edge fine polishing component can drive the overturning main body and the upper opening edge fine polishing piece below the overturning main body to overturn in a preset amplitude relative to the fine polishing turntable under disturbed air flow. In the rotating process of the fine polishing turntable, the sheet on the lower opening edge fine polishing component can drive the overturning main body and the lower opening edge fine polishing piece under the overturning main body to overturn in a preset amplitude relative to the fine polishing turntable under the disturbed air flow.

Aiming at the leaf, the leaf in each edge finish polishing component is basically in a straight sheet structure, and the leaf and the edge polishing piece form a certain inclination angle so as to realize that the edge polishing piece relatively turns over in a preset amplitude in the rotating process of the finish polishing turntable.

In fact, the shape of the blade and the flow guiding inclination angle of the blade and the turnover main body can be changed in other arrangements. Taking the shape of the sheet as an example, in some embodiments, the sheet may adopt a folded angle structure in which at least two folded pieces are connected at an angle. In some embodiments, the sheet may have an arcuate configuration or a streamlined configuration. In addition, the fine polishing turntable can also be used alone or combined with the shape of the blade and the inclination angle of the blade and the edge polishing piece, and the rotating direction and the rotating speed of the fine polishing turntable can have different design changes.

Taking the angle of the diversion inclination of the blade and the main body of the flip as an example, in some embodiments, the blade is an adjustable blade disposed on the top of the main body of the flip, and the adjustable blade can be operated in advance before the edge of the wafer 100 is polished, and the angle of the diversion inclination of the blade and the main body of the flip can be adjusted by a technician. In some applications, the adjustable blade has a plurality of adjustable gears to provide adjustment of a plurality of diversion angles. In some applications, the adjustable blade can be connected with a blade adjusting motor, the blade adjusting motor is used for driving the adjustable blade to adjust the diversion inclination angle, and the operation of adjusting the diversion inclination angle can be performed not only in the process of performing edge fine polishing operation on a wafer by the edge fine polishing assembly, but also in the non-working state of the edge fine polishing assembly.

The turntable shifting mechanism is used for driving the fine polishing turntable and the edge fine polishing assembly to shift. In an embodiment, the final polishing turntable is located directly above the wafer carrier, and thus, the displacement mechanism may be, for example, a lifting mechanism that can drive the final polishing turntable and edge final polishing assembly to be lifted and lowered toward or away from the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 being carried thereby. In practical applications, the lifting mechanism may include a lifting column and a lifting motor, and the lifting motor may be used to drive the fine polishing turntable to ascend or descend along the lifting column.

To ensure the coordination of the rotation and displacement of the final polishing turntable, in some embodiments, the turntable rotating motor and the turntable displacing mechanism may be connected together with a controller, and the controller cooperatively controls the turntable rotating motor and the turntable displacing mechanism. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the shifting mechanism is a lifting mechanism, and thus, the controller is connected to the lifting mechanism and is configured to send a corresponding lifting control command to the lifting mechanism to drive the fine polishing turntable to reach a predetermined edge fine polishing position through lifting shifting and to correspond to the edge of the wafer 100 at the edge fine polishing position. In addition, the controller is connected with a rotary table rotating motor of the fine polishing rotary table and used for sending corresponding rotation control instructions to the fine polishing rotary table so as to control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the fine polishing rotary table. And if necessary, the controller can also be connected with a bearing platform rotating motor of the wafer bearing platform and used for sending a corresponding rotating control command to the wafer bearing platform so as to control the rotation direction and the rotating speed of the wafer bearing platform.

In one embodiment, for any edge finishing assembly, the sheet is inclined at an angle to the edge polishing member, and the angle is substantially the angle between the sheet and the direction of rotation (which is coincident with the tangent of the edge finishing assembly to the finishing turntable). Taking the edge finishing polishing assembly as an example, the included angles between the sheet and the edge polishing member are α and β, wherein the included angle between the sheet and the clockwise rotation direction is α, and the included angle between the sheet and the counterclockwise rotation direction is β. Other outer peripheral edge finishing assemblies and lower lip edge finishing assemblies may refer to the upper lip edge finishing assembly. However, it should be noted that, for the same type of finishing polishing assembly (outer circle edge finishing polishing assembly, upper opening edge finishing polishing assembly, or lower opening edge finishing polishing assembly), the inclination angles of the leaves belonging thereto are the same, but the finishing polishing assemblies of different types can still be flexibly changed, that is, the inclination angle of the leaf in the outer circle edge finishing polishing assembly, the inclination angle of the leaf in the upper opening edge finishing polishing assembly, or the inclination angle of the leaf in the lower opening edge finishing polishing assembly can be different.

Take edge finish polishing subassembly as an example, when driving the finish polishing carousel clockwise rotation, the contained angle alpha between the direction of rotation of the last page or leaf of any edge finish polishing subassembly and finish polishing carousel is the acute angle, the page or leaf can produce the air current at the clockwise in-process of finish polishing carousel, the air current of production can drive the upset main part of page or leaf below and edge finish polishing spare through the pivot towards the upset realization of finish polishing carousel center and feed, utilize edge finish polishing spare to carry out edge finish polishing operation to wafer 100. Specific to different types of edge finishing assemblies: aiming at the outer circle edge finish polishing assembly, in the process of rotating the finish polishing turntable, the blades can generate air flows in the process of clockwise rotation of the finish polishing turntable, the air flows can enable the blades in the outer circle edge finish polishing assembly to drive the overturning main body and the outer circle edge finish polishing piece below the overturning main body to overturn towards the center of the finish polishing turntable through the rotating shaft to realize feeding, and the outer circle edge of the wafer 100 is subjected to finish polishing operation by utilizing the outer circle edge finish polishing piece. Aiming at the upper opening edge fine polishing component, in the process of rotating the fine polishing turntable, the blades can generate air flows in the process of clockwise rotation of the fine polishing turntable, the air flows can enable the blades in the upper opening edge fine polishing component to drive the overturning main body and the upper opening edge fine polishing piece below the overturning main body to overturn towards the center of the fine polishing turntable through the rotating shaft to realize feeding, and the upper opening edge fine polishing piece is utilized to perform fine polishing operation on the upper opening edge of the wafer 100. Aiming at the lower opening edge fine polishing component, in the process of rotating the fine polishing turntable, the blades can generate air flows in the process of clockwise rotation of the fine polishing turntable, the air flows can enable the blades in the lower opening edge fine polishing component to drive the overturning main body and the lower opening edge fine polishing component below the overturning main body to overturn towards the center of the fine polishing turntable through the rotating shaft to realize feeding, and the lower opening edge of the wafer 100 is subjected to fine polishing operation by utilizing the lower opening edge fine polishing component. It is worth noting that the outer circle edge fine polishing piece is utilized to perform fine polishing operation on the outer circle edge of the wafer 100, for the smoothness of the outer circle edge polishing of the wafer, when the fine polishing turntable rotates clockwise, the leaf piece drives the overturning main body and the outer circle edge fine polishing piece below the overturning main body to overturn towards the center of the fine polishing turntable through the rotating shaft, the outer circle edge fine polishing piece is kept in a vertical state, namely, the polishing part in the outer circle edge fine polishing piece, which is in contact with the outer circle edge of the wafer 100, is in a vertical state.

Take edge finish polishing subassembly as an example, when drive finish polishing carousel anticlockwise rotation, the contained angle beta between the direction of rotation of the last page or leaf of any edge finish polishing subassembly and finish polishing carousel is the obtuse angle, and the page or leaf can produce the air current at finish polishing carousel anticlockwise rotation's in-process, and the air current of production can drive the upset main part of page or leaf below and edge finish polishing spare through the pivot upset realization of turning over towards finish polishing carousel center back of the body and withdraw from. Specific to different types of edge finishing assemblies: aiming at the outer circle edge finish polishing assembly, in the rotating process of the finish polishing turntable, the blades can generate air flows in the anticlockwise rotating process of the finish polishing turntable, and the air flows can enable the blades in the outer circle edge finish polishing assembly to drive the overturning main body and the outer circle edge finish polishing piece below the overturning main body to overturn back to the center of the finish polishing turntable through the rotating shaft to realize exiting. Aiming at the finish polishing assembly of the upper mouth edge, in the rotating process of the finish polishing turntable, the blades can generate air flows in the anticlockwise rotating process of the finish polishing turntable, and the air flows can make the blades in the finish polishing assembly of the upper mouth edge drive the overturning main body and the finish polishing piece of the upper mouth edge below the overturning main body to overturn back to the center of the finish polishing turntable through the rotating shaft so as to realize exit. Aiming at the lower port edge fine polishing component, in the rotating process of the fine polishing turntable, the blades can generate air flows in the anticlockwise rotating process of the fine polishing turntable, and the air flows can make the blades in the lower port edge fine polishing component drive the overturning main body and the lower port edge fine polishing component below the overturning main body to overturn back to the center of the fine polishing turntable through the rotating shaft to realize exiting.

As mentioned above, the fine polishing turntable is controlled by the turntable rotating motor to rotate, so that when the fine polishing turntable is driven to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise and the edge fine polishing assembly (including the outer edge fine polishing member, the upper edge fine polishing member, and the lower edge fine polishing member) performs the edge fine polishing operation on the wafer 100, the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon can be driven to rotate by the carrier rotating motor. In some embodiments, the final polishing turntable and the wafer carrier may be rotated in opposite directions, i.e., when the final polishing turntable rotates clockwise, the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon rotate counterclockwise; when the fine polishing turntable rotates counterclockwise, the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon rotate clockwise. This operation can improve the efficiency of the edge finish polishing of the wafer 100. For example, in other embodiments, the final polishing turntable and the wafer carrier may rotate in the same direction, i.e., when the final polishing turntable rotates clockwise, the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon rotate clockwise; when the fine polishing turntable rotates counterclockwise, the wafer carrier and the wafer 100 thereon rotate counterclockwise. However, in the co-rotating mode of operation, the wafer carrier rotates at a lower speed than the final polishing turntable. In the above embodiment, whether the wafer carrier or the finish polishing turntable is used, during the implementation process, the rotation speed of the wafer carrier can be adjusted and controlled by the carrier rotation motor, and the rotation speed of the finish polishing turntable can be adjusted and controlled by the turntable rotation motor.

When the wafer edge fine polishing device 7 is used for performing edge fine polishing operation on the wafer 100, the turntable rotating motor is made to send a corresponding rotation control instruction to the fine polishing turntable, and the fine polishing turntable is driven to rotate in a first direction, so that the turning main bodies and the edge fine polishing pieces in the edge polishing assemblies on the fine polishing turntable are turned outwards relative to the fine polishing turntable under the driving of the blades; and under the state that the fine polishing turntable rotates in the first direction, enabling the lifting mechanism to send a corresponding lifting control command, and driving the fine polishing turntable to reach a preset edge fine polishing position through lifting displacement, so that each edge fine polishing assembly (comprising an outer circle edge fine polishing assembly, an upper opening edge fine polishing assembly and a lower opening edge fine polishing assembly) on the periphery of the fine polishing turntable corresponds to the edge of the wafer 100 at the edge fine polishing position, and the wafer 100 falls into a polishing space surrounded by a plurality of edge fine polishing assemblies. And the rotary table rotating motor is enabled to send a corresponding rotation control instruction to the finish polishing rotary table, the finish polishing rotary table is driven to rotate in a second rotation direction, so that the overturning main bodies and the edge finish polishing pieces in the edge finish polishing assemblies on the finish polishing rotary table are inwards overturned relative to the finish polishing rotary table under the driving of the blades, and edge finish polishing operation (including outer circle edge finish polishing operation, upper opening edge finish polishing operation and lower opening edge finish polishing operation) is carried out on the edge finish polishing pieces in the edge finish polishing assemblies aiming at the wafer 100. In practical applications, when the wafer carrier has a carrier rotating motor, then, when the fine polishing turntable is driven by the turntable rotating motor to rotate in a first direction, the carrier rotating motor can be driven to rotate the wafer carrier in a second direction.

In the foregoing, the first wafer edge polishing device 6 may be, for example, a wafer edge rough polishing device for performing an edge rough polishing operation on an edge of a wafer, and the second wafer edge polishing device 7 may be, for example, a wafer edge fine polishing device for performing an edge fine polishing operation on an edge of a wafer, but not limited thereto, and in other embodiments, the first wafer edge polishing device 6 and the second wafer edge polishing device 7 may be modified, for example, edge polishing components in the first wafer edge polishing device 6 or the second wafer edge polishing device 7 may be combined differently.

Generally, the edge polishing assembly in the first wafer edge polishing apparatus 6 or the second wafer edge polishing apparatus 7 includes any one of the group consisting of an outer peripheral edge polishing assembly, an upper lip edge polishing assembly, and a lower lip edge polishing assembly.

In an exemplary embodiment, the edge polishing assembly of the first wafer edge polishing apparatus 6 may include a combination of an upper lip edge polishing assembly and a peripheral edge polishing assembly, which are sequentially spaced apart, and the edge polishing assembly of the second wafer edge polishing apparatus 7 may include a combination of a peripheral edge polishing assembly and a lower lip edge polishing assembly, which are sequentially spaced apart. For example, twelve edge polishing assemblies are uniformly disposed on the periphery of the polishing turntable: in the first wafer edge polishing apparatus 6, six upper port edge polishing modules and six outer peripheral edge polishing modules are included, and these edge polishing modules are arranged at intervals in order. In the second wafer edge polishing apparatus 7, six outer peripheral edge polishing members and six lower edge polishing members are included, and these edge polishing members are arranged at intervals in this order. Thus, the first wafer edge polishing device 6 performs the top edge polishing operation and the outer peripheral edge polishing operation on the edge of the wafer, and the second wafer edge polishing device 7 performs the outer peripheral edge polishing operation and the bottom edge polishing operation on the edge of the wafer. By the first wafer edge polishing device 6 and the second wafer edge polishing device 7, on one hand, edge polishing operation on the edge of the wafer can be completed, and on the other hand, a single wafer edge polishing device can perform a part of workload of the whole edge polishing operation, so that the working efficiency of the edge polishing operation can be improved.

In practical applications, the present application further discloses a wafer edge polishing apparatus, comprising: wafer plummer and wafer edge polishing mechanism, wherein, the wafer plummer is used for bearing the weight of the wafer, and wafer edge polishing mechanism includes: polishing the turntable; the edge polishing device comprises a plurality of edge polishing assemblies which are uniformly arranged, wherein each edge polishing assembly comprises an overturning main body which is connected to the edge of the polishing turntable in a shaft mode, an edge polishing piece arranged at the bottom of the overturning main body and a blade arranged at the top of the overturning main body; the rotary table rotating motor is used for driving the polishing rotary table to rotate; and the turntable shifting mechanism is used for driving the polishing turntable to shift to the edge polishing position corresponding to the wafer bearing table. When a wafer edge polishing device is used for polishing the edge of a wafer, the page drives the overturning main body and the edge polishing piece to overturn outwards relative to the polishing turntable when the polishing turntable is driven by the turntable rotating motor to rotate in a first rotating direction; when the polishing turntable is driven by the turntable rotating motor to rotate in a second rotating direction, the leaf drives the overturning main body and the edge polishing piece to inwards overturn relative to the polishing turntable so that the edge polishing piece carries out edge polishing on a wafer.

In an exemplary embodiment, a wafer edge polishing mechanism may be provided in the wafer edge polishing apparatus, as shown in fig. 16. The edge polishing component in the wafer edge polishing mechanism comprises any one of a group consisting of an outer circle edge polishing component, an upper opening edge polishing component and a lower opening edge polishing component. For example, in a specific implementation manner, the wafer edge polishing apparatus includes a wafer carrier and a wafer edge polishing mechanism, wherein in the wafer edge polishing mechanism, an outer circular edge polishing component, an upper circular edge polishing component, and a lower circular edge polishing component may be uniformly disposed on an edge of a polishing turntable, or an outer circular edge polishing component, an upper circular edge polishing component, or a lower circular edge polishing component may be uniformly disposed on an edge of a polishing turntable, or a combination of an outer circular edge polishing component and an upper circular edge polishing component or a combination of an outer circular edge polishing component and a lower circular edge polishing component may be uniformly disposed on an edge of a polishing turntable. In one specific implementation, the wafer edge polishing apparatus includes a wafer carrier and a wafer edge rough polishing mechanism, and in the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism, the edge rough polishing component includes any one of a group consisting of an outer peripheral edge rough polishing component, an upper edge rough polishing component, and a lower edge rough polishing component. For example, an outer peripheral edge rough polishing assembly, an upper port edge rough polishing assembly, and a lower port edge rough polishing assembly may be uniformly disposed on the edge of the polishing turntable. In one specific implementation, the wafer edge polishing apparatus includes a wafer carrier and a wafer edge polishing mechanism, and in the wafer edge polishing mechanism, the edge polishing assembly includes any one of a group including an outer peripheral edge polishing assembly, an upper edge polishing assembly, and a lower edge polishing assembly. For example, in the wafer edge polishing mechanism, an outer peripheral edge polishing module, an upper edge polishing module, and a lower edge polishing module may be uniformly disposed on the edge of the polishing platen.

In an exemplary embodiment, two wafer edge polishing mechanisms may be provided in the wafer edge polishing apparatus, as can be seen in fig. 17. For example, in a specific implementation manner, the wafer edge polishing apparatus includes two wafer carrying tables, wherein one wafer carrying table is correspondingly configured with a wafer edge rough polishing mechanism and the other wafer carrying table is correspondingly configured with a wafer edge fine polishing mechanism, wherein in the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism, an outer edge rough polishing component, an upper edge rough polishing component and a lower edge rough polishing component can be uniformly arranged on the edge of the polishing turntable, and in the wafer edge fine polishing mechanism, an outer edge fine polishing component, an upper edge fine polishing component and a lower edge fine polishing component can be uniformly arranged on the edge of the polishing turntable. As for the structures of the wafer carrier, the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism, and the wafer edge fine polishing mechanism configured in the wafer edge polishing apparatus of each exemplary embodiment and the working principle of the wafer edge polishing apparatus, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and no further description is given here. In a specific implementation manner, the wafer edge polishing apparatus includes two wafer loading tables and two wafer edge polishing mechanisms, wherein in one wafer edge polishing mechanism, an upper edge polishing component and an outer edge polishing component can be uniformly arranged on the edge of the polishing turntable, and in the other wafer edge polishing mechanism, an outer edge polishing component and a lower edge polishing component can be uniformly arranged on the edge of the polishing turntable. As for the working principle of the wafer carrier table, the wafer edge polishing mechanism and the wafer edge polishing apparatus configured in the wafer edge polishing apparatus of each exemplary embodiment, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and details are not repeated here.

In an exemplary embodiment, the wafer edge polishing apparatus may include three wafer stages and three wafer edge polishing mechanisms, wherein in a first wafer edge polishing mechanism, the outer peripheral edge polishing assembly may be uniformly disposed on the edge of the polishing turntable, in a second wafer edge polishing mechanism, the upper peripheral edge polishing assembly may be uniformly disposed on the edge of the polishing turntable, and in a third wafer edge polishing mechanism, the lower peripheral edge polishing assembly may be uniformly disposed on the edge of the polishing turntable. As for the working principle of the wafer carrier table, the wafer edge polishing mechanism and the wafer edge polishing apparatus configured in the wafer edge polishing apparatus of each exemplary embodiment, reference may be made to the foregoing description, and details are not repeated here.

The wafer cleaning device 8 is disposed on the post-processing zone 16 of the wafer operation platform for cleaning the wafer 100.

In an embodiment, the wafer cleaning apparatus 8 includes: wafer plummer and washing spraying mechanism.

The wafer cleaning device 8 is disposed beside or above the rotary susceptor and is used for cleaning the wafer 100.

In a wafer cleaning apparatus, generally, a polished wafer 100 is formed on a wafer 100 after a plurality of polishing operations, and polishing debris generated during the polishing operations adheres to the surface of the wafer 100, so that the wafer 100 needs to be cleaned as necessary. Generally, the wafer cleaning apparatus includes a cleaning brush head and a cleaning solution nozzle cooperating with the cleaning brush head, wherein during cleaning, the cleaning solution nozzle sprays a cleaning solution (e.g. pure water) against the wafer 100, and simultaneously, the cleaning brush head (e.g. rotary brush head) is driven by a motor to act on the wafer 100 to complete the cleaning operation. In some embodiments, when the wafer 100 is cleaned by the wafer cleaning apparatus 8, the wafer cleaning apparatus 8 may be moved such that the nozzle of the wafer cleaning apparatus 8 corresponds to the edge of the wafer 100, and then the nozzle of the wafer cleaning apparatus 8 is controlled to spray the cleaning agent toward the edge of the wafer 100 for cleaning. In some embodiments, when the wafer 100 is cleaned by the wafer cleaning apparatus 8, the wafer cleaning apparatus 8 may be moved such that the nozzle on the wafer cleaning apparatus 8 corresponds to the edge of the wafer 100, and then the wafer stage and the wafer 100 thereon are driven to rotate and the nozzle on the wafer cleaning apparatus 8 is controlled to spray the cleaning agent toward the edge of the wafer 100 for cleaning.

The utility model discloses wafer multistation edge polishing equipment has assembleed wafer notch burnishing device and wafer edge burnishing device at least, and usable wafer transfer device can be fast with the wafer, steadily and not damaged ground shifts between each operation device, can not only make the wafer can accomplish wafer notch polishing operation and wafer edge polishing operation according to the preface in same equipment, also can make wafer notch burnishing device and wafer edge burnishing device carry out corresponding operation to corresponding wafer simultaneously, improves production efficiency and the operation quality of wafer edge polishing.

The application also discloses a wafer polishing method, which is used for carrying out edge polishing operation on the wafer. The wafer polishing method is applied to wafer multi-station edge polishing equipment which comprises a machine base, a wafer loading and unloading device, a wafer detection device, a wafer notch rough polishing device, a wafer notch fine polishing device, a wafer edge rough polishing device, a wafer edge fine polishing device, a wafer cleaning device and a wafer transfer device.

In an embodiment, the Wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus of the present application is used for polishing an edge of a Wafer, wherein the Wafer (Wafer) is a silicon Wafer in a shape of a Wafer formed after a slicing operation, and generally, the edge of the Wafer is provided with a positioning structure, which may be, for example, a flat edge or a notch. In practical application, before slicing the cylindrical silicon rod, the edge of the cylindrical silicon rod is trimmed (flat) or notched (notch) along the axial direction of the cylindrical silicon rod, and then the cylindrical silicon rod is sliced to form sheet-shaped wafers, at this time, each wafer is provided with a flat or notch positioning structure, so as to facilitate automatic positioning when chips are manufactured on the wafer subsequently. In general, the trimming (flat) process is often used for a small-size columnar silicon rod (the diameter of the columnar silicon rod is, for example, 200mm ≈ 8 inches or less or 150mm ≈ 6 inches or less), and the notch (notch) process is used for a large-size silicon ingot (the diameter of the columnar silicon rod is, for example, 200mm ≈ 8 inches or more), so that the waste of wafers can be reduced as much as possible while ensuring the positioning. In the case of a wafer with flat edges or a wafer with notch, due to the preceding slicing process, the upper edge surface (a slice surface connected to a wafer in the slicing process) or the lower edge surface (a slice surface connected to a wafer in the slicing process) or the front edge surface (a component belonging to the circumferential surface of the columnar crystal bar) of the wafer is rough and has a sharp columnar body, and the wafer is fragile as a whole. Therefore, it is necessary to polish the edge of the wafer so that the edge of the wafer is smoother and smoother. In the following description, the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus of the present embodiment processes a wafer with notch as an example, but the invention is not limited to the scope of the present application.

The wafer polishing method comprises the following steps:

step S101, a wafer to be polished is loaded to a pretreatment area. In an embodiment, the wafer multi-station edge polishing apparatus includes a wafer loading and unloading device, and the detailed structure of the wafer loading device and the wafer transferring device can be referred to the foregoing description, which is not repeated herein. The wafer loading and unloading device can load the wafer to the preprocessing area.

In step S101, the step of loading the wafer to the pre-processing area by using the wafer handling apparatus may specifically include: driving a mechanical arm of the wafer loading and unloading device to move from an initial position to a wafer loading and unloading zone; controlling a mechanical arm to extract a first wafer from a wafer material box on a wafer loading and unloading area; driving the mechanical arm to move from the wafer loading and unloading zone to the preprocessing zone, and placing the first wafer on a rotary bearing table of the preprocessing zone; and driving the mechanical arm to return to the initial position.

Step S103, detecting the wafer on the preprocessing area. In an embodiment, a wafer detection device is correspondingly disposed on the pre-processing area, and is used for performing detection operation on a wafer on the pre-processing area.

In step S103, the wafer is inspected by a wafer inspection apparatus, including but not limited to wafer notch inspection. Taking the wafer notch positioning as an example, during notch positioning detection, the rotary bearing platform on the preprocessing area is driven to drive the first wafer on the rotary bearing platform to rotate, meanwhile, the wafer notch detection device detects the first wafer and determines the notch of the first wafer, and after the notch of the first wafer is detected and determined, the rotary bearing platform is driven to drive the notch of the first wafer on the rotary bearing platform to rotate to a specified position.

Of course, in step S103, the wafer may also be centered by the wafer centering device.

Step S105, transferring the wafer from the pre-processing area to a first notch polishing area. In an embodiment, the wafer multi-station edge polishing equipment comprises a wafer transfer device, wherein the wafer transfer device comprises a turntable located in a central area of a wafer operation platform and a plurality of transfer manipulators arranged on the turntable, any one transfer manipulator is located between a front operation zone and a rear operation zone, and the wafer is transferred from the front operation zone to the adjacent rear operation zone through movement between the front operation zone and the rear operation zone.

In an embodiment, assuming that an included angle between two adjacent operation regions is 60 °, the transfer robot in the wafer transfer device is located at a middle position of the two adjacent operation regions, and two opposite sides of each operation region are provided with corresponding protection plates, which can be specifically shown in fig. 1. In step S105, the step of transferring the wafer from the pre-processing region to the first notch polishing region by using the wafer transferring apparatus may specifically include: opening a protection plate PA at the rear side of the pretreatment area, driving a turntable in the wafer transfer device to rotate, rotating 30 DEG in a first direction (for example, counterclockwise) from an initial position by a transfer robot located between the pretreatment area and a first notch polishing area and passing through an opening of the protection plate PA to enter the pretreatment area, taking a first wafer from a rotary susceptor at the pretreatment area, opening a protection plate PB at the front side of the first notch polishing area, driving the turntable to rotate, rotating 60 DEG in a second direction (for example, clockwise) by the transfer robot and passing through the opening of the protection plate PA to exit the pretreatment area and passing through the opening of the protection plate PB to enter the first notch polishing area, transferring the first wafer into the first notch polishing area and placing the first wafer on the wafer susceptor in the first notch polishing area, at this time, closing the protection plate PA at the rear side of the pretreatment area, the protection plate PB on the front side of the first notch polishing area is closed after being rotated by 30 degrees in the first rotation direction by the transfer robot and passing through the opening of the protection plate PB to exit the first notch polishing area and then returning to the initial position.

In fact, in step S105, in addition to transferring the first wafer from the pre-processing station to the first notch polishing station, at the same time, the second wafer is loaded to the pre-processing station by the wafer handling device. In step S105, the operation flow of loading the second wafer to the pre-processing area by the wafer handler may refer to step S101, which is not described herein again.

Step S107, a rough notch polishing operation is performed on the wafer at the first notch polishing region.

As mentioned above, in an embodiment, the notch rough polishing apparatus may include a wafer carrier and a wafer notch rough polishing mechanism, wherein the wafer notch rough polishing mechanism may include a rough polishing roller, a roller rotating motor, and a roller shifting mechanism. Therefore, in step S107, the step of performing the rough notch polishing operation on the first wafer by using the rough notch polishing apparatus specifically includes: the wafer bearing table bears a first wafer and keeps the first wafer fixed, and the roller rotating motor drives the rough polishing roller to rotate; and enabling the roller shifting mechanism to drive the rough polishing roller to shift to the notch polishing position according to the notch position of the first wafer, and enabling the rough polishing roller to gradually approach until the rough polishing roller contacts the notch of the first wafer to perform notch rough polishing operation.

In step S107, besides the rough notch polishing operation performed on the first wafer, the method further includes performing wafer notch detection and centering operations on the second wafer on the pre-processing region in step S103, which is not described herein again.

Step S109, the wafer is transferred from the first notch polishing region to the second notch polishing region.

In step S109, the step of transferring the wafer from the first recess polishing region to the second recess polishing region by using the wafer transferring apparatus may specifically include: opening a protection plate PA on the rear side of a first notch polishing area for a wafer, driving a turntable in a wafer transfer device to rotate, rotating 30 degrees in a first direction (for example, anticlockwise) from an initial position by a transfer manipulator between the first notch polishing area and a second notch polishing area and penetrating through an opening of the protection plate PA to enter the first notch polishing area, taking a first wafer from a wafer bearing table of the first notch polishing area, opening a protection plate PB on the front side of the second notch polishing area, driving the turntable to rotate, rotating 60 degrees in a second direction (for example, clockwise) by the transfer manipulator and penetrating through the opening of the protection plate PA to exit the first notch polishing area and penetrate through an opening of the protection plate PB to enter the second notch polishing area, transferring the first wafer into the second notch polishing area and placing the first wafer on the wafer bearing table in the second notch polishing area, at this time, the shielding plate PA at the rear side of the first notch polishing area may be closed, and the shielding plate PB at the front side of the second notch polishing area may be closed by returning to the initial position after being rotated by the transfer robot in the first turn by 30 ° and passing through the opening of the shielding plate PB to exit the second notch polishing area.

In step S109, the first wafer is transferred from the first notch polishing region to the outside of the second notch polishing region by the wafer transfer device, and at the same time, the second wafer is transferred from the preprocessing region to the first notch polishing region by the wafer transfer device, as shown in step S105. In addition, at the same time, a third wafer is loaded to the pre-processing area by the wafer loading and unloading device, which is described in detail in step S101.

Step S111, performing notch fine polishing operation on the wafer on the second notch polishing region.

As described above, in an embodiment, the notch finishing polishing apparatus may include a wafer carrier and a wafer notch finishing polishing mechanism, wherein the wafer notch finishing polishing mechanism may include a finishing polishing roller, a roller rotating motor, and a roller shifting mechanism. Therefore, in step S111, the step of performing the notch finishing operation on the first wafer by using the notch finishing device specifically includes: the wafer bearing table bears a first wafer and keeps the first wafer fixed, and the roller rotating motor drives the fine polishing roller to rotate; and enabling the roller shifting mechanism to drive the fine polishing roller to shift to a notch polishing position according to the notch position of the first wafer, and enabling the fine polishing roller to gradually approach until the fine polishing roller contacts the notch of the first wafer to perform notch fine polishing operation.

In step S111, besides the notch fine polishing operation performed on the first wafer by the wafer notch fine polishing device, the notch rough polishing operation performed on the second wafer by the wafer notch rough polishing device, the wafer notch detection and centering operation performed on the third wafer in the pre-processing region, and the like are also included, and details are not repeated herein.

In step S113, the wafer is transferred from the second notch polishing region to the first edge polishing region.

In step S113, the step of transferring the wafer from the second notch polishing region to the first edge polishing region by using the wafer transferring apparatus may specifically include: opening a protection plate PA on the rear side of the second notch polishing area, driving a turntable in the wafer transfer device to rotate, rotating 30 degrees in a first direction (for example, anticlockwise) from an initial position by a transfer manipulator between the second notch polishing area and the first edge polishing area and penetrating through an opening of the protection plate PA to enter the second notch polishing area, taking a first wafer from a wafer bearing table in the second notch polishing area, opening a protection plate PB on the front side of the first edge polishing area, driving the turntable to rotate, rotating 60 degrees in a second direction (for example, clockwise) by the transfer manipulator and penetrating through the opening of the protection plate PA to exit the second notch polishing area and penetrate through an opening of the protection plate PB to enter the first edge polishing area, transferring the first wafer into the first edge polishing area and placing the first wafer on the wafer bearing table in the first edge polishing area, at this time, the shielding plate PA at the rear side of the second notch polishing area may be closed, and the shielding plate PB at the front side of the first edge polishing area may be closed by returning to the initial position after being rotated by the transfer robot in the first turn by 30 ° and passing through the opening of the shielding plate PB to exit the first edge polishing area.

In step S113, the method includes transferring the first wafer from the second notch polishing region to the outside of the first edge polishing region by using the wafer transferring apparatus, and at the same time: transferring the second wafer from the first notch polishing zone to the second notch polishing zone by the wafer transfer device, transferring the third wafer from the pre-processing zone to the first notch polishing zone by the wafer transfer device, and loading the fourth wafer to the pre-processing zone by the wafer loading and unloading device.

Step S115, performing an edge rough polishing operation on the wafer at the first edge polishing region.

As mentioned above, in an embodiment, the circular edge rough polishing apparatus may include a wafer carrier and a wafer edge rough polishing mechanism, wherein the wafer edge rough polishing mechanism may include a rough polishing turntable, an edge rough polishing assembly, a turntable rotating motor, and a turntable shifting mechanism. Therefore, in step S115, the step of performing the edge rough polishing operation on the first wafer by using the circular edge rough polishing apparatus specifically includes: driving the rough polishing turntable to rotate in a first direction by the turntable rotating motor, so that the turnover main bodies and the edge rough polishing pieces in the edge polishing assemblies are turned outwards relative to the rough polishing turntable under the drive of the blades; under the state that the rough polishing rotary disc is kept to rotate in the first direction, the lifting mechanism drives the rough polishing rotary disc to reach a preset edge rough polishing position through lifting displacement, so that each edge rough polishing assembly on the periphery of the rough polishing rotary disc corresponds to the edge of a first wafer in the edge rough polishing position, and the first wafer falls into a polishing space surrounded by a plurality of edge rough polishing assemblies; and driving the rough polishing turntables to rotate in a second rotation direction by the turntable rotating motor, so that the overturning main bodies and the edge rough polishing pieces in the edge rough polishing assemblies are inwards overturned relative to the rough polishing turntables under the drive of the blades, and the edge rough polishing operation is carried out on the first wafer by the edge rough polishing pieces in the edge rough polishing assemblies.

In step S115, in addition to performing the edge rough polishing operation on the first wafer by using the wafer edge rough polishing apparatus, the method further includes: and performing notch fine polishing operation on the second wafer by using the wafer notch fine polishing device, performing notch rough polishing operation on the third wafer by using the wafer notch rough polishing device, performing wafer notch detection and centering operation on the fourth wafer on the pretreatment area, and the like, which are not described herein again.

Step S117, the wafer is transferred from the first edge polishing region to the second edge polishing region.

In step S117, the step of transferring the wafer from the first edge polishing region to the second edge polishing region by using the wafer transferring apparatus may specifically include: opening a protection plate PA on the rear side of a first edge polishing area, driving a rotary table in a wafer transfer device to rotate, rotating 30 degrees in a first direction (for example, anticlockwise) from an initial position by a transfer manipulator between the first edge polishing area and a second edge polishing area and penetrating through an opening of the protection plate PA to enter the first edge polishing area, taking a first wafer from a wafer bearing table in the first edge polishing area, opening a protection plate PB on the front side of the second edge polishing area, driving the rotary table to rotate, rotating 60 degrees in a second direction (for example, clockwise) by the transfer manipulator and penetrating through the opening of the protection plate PA to exit the first edge polishing area and penetrate through the opening of the protection plate PB to enter the second edge polishing area, transferring the first wafer into the second edge polishing area and placing the first wafer on the wafer bearing table in the second edge polishing area, at this time, the shielding plate PA at the rear side of the first edge polishing region may be closed, and the shielding plate PB at the front side of the second edge polishing region may be closed by returning to the initial position after being rotated by the transfer robot in the first turn by 30 ° and passing through the opening of the shielding plate PB to exit the second edge polishing region.

In step S117, the method includes transferring the first wafer from the first edge polishing region to the outside of the second edge polishing region by using the wafer transferring apparatus, and at the same time: transferring the second wafer from the second notch polishing zone to the first edge polishing zone by using a wafer transfer device, transferring the third wafer from the first notch polishing zone to the second notch polishing zone by using a wafer transfer device, transferring the fourth wafer from the pre-processing zone to the first notch polishing zone by using a wafer transfer device, and loading the fifth wafer to the pre-processing zone by using a wafer loading and unloading device.

Step S119, performing edge finish polishing operation on the wafer on the second edge polishing region.

As mentioned above, in an embodiment, the circular edge fine polishing apparatus may include a wafer carrier and a wafer edge fine polishing mechanism, wherein the wafer edge fine polishing mechanism may include a fine polishing turntable, an edge fine polishing assembly, a turntable rotating motor, and a turntable displacing mechanism. Therefore, in step S119, the step of performing the edge finishing operation on the first wafer by using the circular edge finishing device specifically includes: the rotary table rotating motor drives the fine polishing rotary table to rotate in a first direction, so that the turnover main bodies and the edge fine polishing pieces in the edge polishing assemblies are turned outwards relative to the fine polishing rotary table under the driving of the blades; under the state that the fine polishing rotary disc is kept to rotate in the first direction, the lifting mechanism drives the fine polishing rotary disc to reach a preset edge fine polishing position through lifting displacement, so that each edge fine polishing assembly on the periphery of the fine polishing rotary disc corresponds to the edge of a first wafer at the edge fine polishing position, and the first wafer falls into a polishing space surrounded by a plurality of edge fine polishing assemblies; and driving the fine polishing turntables to rotate in a second rotation direction by the turntable rotating motor, so that the overturning main bodies and the edge fine polishing pieces in the edge fine polishing assemblies are inwards overturned relative to the fine polishing turntables under the drive of the blades, and the edge fine polishing pieces in the edge fine polishing assemblies perform edge fine polishing operation on the first wafer.

In step S119, in addition to performing the edge finish polishing operation on the first wafer by using the wafer edge finish polishing apparatus, the method further includes: the rough edge polishing operation is performed on the second wafer by using the wafer edge rough polishing device, the notch fine polishing operation is performed on the third wafer by using the wafer notch fine polishing device, the notch rough polishing operation is performed on the fourth wafer by using the wafer notch rough polishing device, the wafer notch detection and centering operation is performed on the fifth wafer on the preprocessing area, and the like, which are not described herein again.

Step S121, transferring the wafer from the second edge polishing area to a post-processing area.

In step S121, the step of transferring the wafer from the second edge polishing zone to the post-processing zone by using the wafer transferring apparatus may specifically include: opening a protection plate PA on the rear side of the second edge polishing zone for wafer transfer, driving a turntable in the wafer transfer device to rotate, rotating 30 degrees in a first direction (for example, anticlockwise) from an initial position by a transfer manipulator 93 between the second edge polishing zone and the post-processing zone and penetrating through an opening of the protection plate PA to enter the second edge polishing zone, taking a first wafer from a wafer bearing table of the second edge polishing zone, opening a protection plate PB on the front side of the post-processing zone, driving the turntable to rotate, rotating 60 degrees in a second direction (for example, clockwise) by the transfer manipulator 93 and penetrating through an opening of the protection plate PA to exit the second edge polishing zone and penetrating through an opening of the protection plate PB to enter the post-processing zone, transferring the first wafer into the post-processing zone and placing the first wafer on the wafer bearing table in the post-processing zone, and at the moment, closing the protection plate PA on the rear side of the second edge polishing zone, the transfer robot rotates 30 degrees in the first direction and passes through the opening of the shielding plate PB to exit the post-processing area, and then returns to the initial position, and the shielding plate PB on the front side of the post-processing area is closed.

In step S121, the method includes transferring the first wafer from the second edge polishing zone to the post-processing zone by using the wafer transferring apparatus, and at the same time: transferring the second wafer from the first edge polishing zone to the second edge polishing zone by using a wafer transfer device, transferring the third wafer from the second notch polishing zone to the first edge polishing zone by using the wafer transfer device, transferring the fourth wafer from the first notch polishing zone to the second notch polishing zone by using the wafer transfer device, transferring the fifth wafer from the preprocessing zone to the first notch polishing zone by using the wafer transfer device, and loading the sixth wafer to the preprocessing zone by using a wafer loading and unloading device.

Step S123, cleaning the wafer on the post-processing zone.

In step S123, the step of cleaning the first wafer by using the wafer cleaning apparatus specifically includes: the wafer cleaning device is driven to move, so that a nozzle on the wafer cleaning device corresponds to the edge of the first wafer, and then the nozzle on the wafer cleaning device is controlled to spray a cleaning agent towards the edge of the wafer for cleaning.

In step S123, in addition to the cleaning operation performed on the first wafer by the wafer cleaning apparatus, the method further includes: the edge fine polishing operation is performed on the second wafer by using the wafer edge fine polishing device, the edge rough polishing operation is performed on the third wafer by using the wafer edge rough polishing device, the notch fine polishing operation is performed on the fourth wafer by using the wafer notch fine polishing device, the notch rough polishing operation is performed on the fifth wafer by using the wafer notch rough polishing device, the wafer notch detection and centering operation is performed on the sixth wafer on the preprocessing area, and the like, which are not described herein again.

Step S121, unloading the polished wafer from the post-processing area of the wafer operation platform.

In step S121, the step of unloading the wafer from the post-processing zone by using the wafer handling apparatus may specifically include: driving a mechanical arm of the wafer loading and unloading device to move from an initial position to a post-processing zone; controlling a mechanical arm to extract a first wafer from a wafer bearing table on the post-processing zone; driving the mechanical arm to move from the post-processing zone to the wafer loading and unloading zone, and placing the first wafer in a wafer box on the wafer loading and unloading zone; and driving the mechanical arm to return to the initial position.

In step S121, the method further includes, in addition to unloading the first wafer from the post-processing zone by the wafer handler: transferring the second wafer from the second edge polishing zone to the post-processing zone by using a wafer transfer device, transferring the third wafer from the first edge polishing zone to the second edge polishing zone by using the wafer transfer device, transferring the fourth wafer from the second notch polishing zone to the first edge polishing zone by using the wafer transfer device, transferring the fifth wafer from the first notch polishing zone to the second notch polishing zone by using the wafer transfer device, transferring the sixth wafer from the pre-processing zone to the first notch polishing zone by using the wafer transfer device, and loading the seventh wafer to the pre-processing zone by using a wafer loading and unloading device.

According to the wafer multi-station edge polishing method, wafers to be polished are quickly, stably and nondestructively transferred among the operation regions, so that the wafers can sequentially finish wafer notch polishing operation and wafer edge polishing operation in the same equipment, corresponding polishing operation can be simultaneously performed on a plurality of wafers, and the production efficiency and the operation quality of wafer edge polishing are improved.

The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and utilities of the present application and are not intended to limit the application. Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical concepts disclosed in the present application shall be covered by the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. The utility model provides a wafer transfer device of wafer multistation edge polishing equipment which characterized in that, wafer multistation edge equipment has wafer work platform is fitted with a contraceptive ring and is equipped with a plurality of operation zone bits of equiangular arrangement, wafer transfer device includes:

the rotary table is arranged in the middle area of the wafer operation platform;

the plurality of transfer manipulators are arranged on the rotary table at equal angles; each transfer manipulator is positioned between two adjacent operation areas and is used for transferring the wafer from the previous operation area to the adjacent next operation area under the driving of the rotary table.

2. The wafer transfer device according to claim 1, wherein a turntable driving motor is provided on the turntable for driving the turntable to rotate in forward and reverse directions.

3. The wafer transfer device of claim 1, wherein the angle between two adjacent transfer robots is equal to the angle between two corresponding adjacent working zones.

4. The wafer transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the initial state, the initial position of each transfer robot is a middle position of two adjacent working areas.

5. The wafer transfer device of claim 1, wherein the transfer robot comprises: the wafer supporting device comprises a supporting part for supporting a wafer and a supporting arm for connecting the supporting part to the rotary table.

6. The wafer transfer device according to claim 5, wherein the supporting portion is provided with a suction unit.

7. The wafer transfer device of claim 5, wherein the support is a tray or a support arm.

8. The wafer transfer device of claim 1, wherein the transfer robot comprises two gripper arms connected to the turntable.

9. The wafer transfer device according to claim 8, wherein a buffer structure is disposed on the clamping arm.