CN216864305U

CN216864305U - Self-righting subassembly and sputter platform

Info

Publication number: CN216864305U
Application number: CN202220239614.5U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨文林
Original assignee: Beijing Yandong Microelectronic Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Yandong Microelectronic Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-01-28
Filing date: 2022-01-28
Publication date: 2022-07-01
Anticipated expiration: 2032-01-28

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a self-righting assembly and a sputtering platform, and relates to the technical field of metal sputtering. The self-righting assembly comprises: the inner diameter of the support ring is larger than the diameter of the wafer; the support rods are vertically arranged on the ring surface of one side of the support ring; a plurality of cantilevers respectively arranged at the tail ends of the plurality of support rods in a manner of horizontally extending along the radial direction of the support ring and towards the inner side; the cantilever comprises an inclined resetting part and a horizontal part which are connected, and the surfaces of the horizontal parts of the cantilevers jointly construct a bearing ring surface; the inclined correcting parts of the cantilevers jointly form an inverted frustum-shaped correcting structure. The embodiment of the application solves the technical problem that the lifting assembly in the existing process chamber cannot realize automatic righting, so that the wafer is easy to fragment in the process chamber. The plurality of cantilevers of the self-righting assembly construct a bearing ring surface and also construct a reverse circular platform-shaped righting structure, and the wafer slides along the inclined surface under the action of gravity to slide into the bearing ring surface, so that self-righting adjustment is realized.

Description

Self-righting subassembly and sputter platform

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of semiconductor processing equipment, in particular to a self-righting assembly and a sputtering platform.

Background

Physical vapor deposition is a metal film forming process commonly used in the processing and manufacturing of semiconductor devices and integrated circuits, and magnetron sputtering is one of the most commonly used methods for physical vapor deposition of metals.

The magnetron sputtering platform mainly comprises a plurality of cavities with different functions, such as a transfer cavity, a buffer cavity, a process cavity and the like. With reference to fig. 1, the metal film forming process is as follows: the wafer is taken out from the loading cavity A012 or the loading cavity B013 by the buffer cavity manipulator 011 of the buffer cavity 010, and is sent to the degassing positioning cavity 014 for high temperature baking and rotary positioning, so that the V groove (notch) or the flat groove (flat) of the wafer faces to the same direction, and the degassing has the function of removing the water vapor remained on the wafer in the previous process or environment, thereby improving the film forming quality. After the steam removal positioning is finished, the buffer cavity manipulator 011 carries the wafer from the steam removal positioning cavity 014 to the transition cavity 015; subsequently, the transfer chamber robot 021 in the transfer chamber 020 transfers the wafer from the transition chamber 015 to the first sputtering chamber 022, where a first metal film, such as a titanium film, which mainly plays an adhesion role in a semiconductor process, is formed on the surface of the wafer. After the first metal film is formed, the transfer chamber robot 021 transfers the wafer from the first sputtering chamber 022 into the second sputtering chamber 023, where a second metal film, for example, a titanium nitride (TiN) film is formed on the first metal film. The second metal film mainly plays a role of blocking between two adjacent metal films (namely the first metal film and a subsequently formed third metal film) so as to avoid the physical and chemical reactions of the two metal films. After the second metal film is formed, the transfer chamber robot 021 transfers the wafer from the second sputtering chamber 023 into the third sputtering chamber 024, where a third metal film, for example, an aluminum film is formed on the wafer. For the aluminum film obtained by the hot aluminum process, the robot 021 of the transfer chamber needs to transport the wafer from the third sputtering chamber 024 into the cooling chamber 025 for cooling because the wafer temperature is high.

Therefore, in the metal film forming process, the robot is used for conveying wafers among the process chambers, and in order to ensure that the positions of the wafers on the robot are in a normal state in the conveying process, the existence and the position conditions of the wafers on the robot need to be sensed and judged. The prior art senses and judges the condition of a wafer on a manipulator as follows: after the manipulator returns to a buffer cavity or a transmission cavity from a process chamber (such as a steam removal positioning cavity, a transition cavity, a sputtering cavity and the like), the manipulator stays at a zero position to wait for sensing and judging, a circular transparent window (the diameter is about 60mm) is arranged on a cavity cover right above a wafer (namely, right above the zero position), and a reflective photoelectric sensor is arranged at the center of the window and used for sensing whether the wafer or the wafer deviates on the manipulator. If the photoelectric sensor senses that the wafer exists and the wafer does not deviate from the central point, the wafer is judged to be normal in position, and meanwhile, the manipulator continues to act next step; otherwise, the equipment alarms, stops acting and waits for manual processing.

For the above determination method, as long as the offset of the wafer does not exceed the radius of the wafer, the sensor cannot sense the abnormality of the wafer position, so the robot continues to transfer the wafer to the next process chamber for process treatment. However, if the wafer is misaligned and the offset does not exceed the radius of the wafer, the wafer may be directly placed on the stage in the next process chamber, which may affect the film deposition quality and may cause chipping.

In the existing process chamber, a pressure ring is mostly adopted to fix the wafer on the process table, and the metal sputtered on the surface of the wafer often causes the wafer to be adhered to the pressure ring. For example, for a power semiconductor device, the thickness of an aluminum film obtained by a hot aluminum process is generally more than 4 μm, which easily causes the wafer to be stuck on a pressure ring, and when the manipulator picks up the wafer, the position of the wafer on the manipulator may be deviated, but if the condition cannot be sensed and accurately judged in time, after the manipulator brings the wafer with the deviated position into a cooling cavity, a lifting device in the cooling cavity receives the wafer on the manipulator and places the wafer on a cooling table, and the wafer edge is easily pressed in the process to cause fragments.

To avoid the above-mentioned adverse effects, it is desirable to provide an assembly that can automatically reform the wafer.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The embodiment of the application provides a self-righting assembly and a sputtering platform, and can solve the technical problem that a lifting assembly in an existing process chamber cannot realize automatic righting, so that a wafer is prone to fragment in the process chamber. The wafer can be automatically corrected under the condition that the position of the wafer on the manipulator deviates within the detection tolerance of the existing detection device, so that the film forming process of the next process chamber is ensured, and fragments are not caused.

A first aspect of embodiments of the present application provides a self-righting assembly, including: the inner diameter of the support ring is larger than the diameter of the wafer; the support rods are vertically arranged on the ring surface of one side of the support ring; a plurality of cantilevers respectively arranged at the ends of the support rods in a manner of horizontally extending along the radial direction of the support ring and inward; the cantilever comprises an inclined return part and a horizontal part which are connected, the inclined return part is connected with the supporting rod, the horizontal part extends towards the inner side, and the inclined return part is higher than the horizontal part; a bearing ring surface is formed on the surfaces of the horizontal parts of the cantilevers together, and the outer diameter of the bearing ring surface is equal to the diameter of the wafer; the inclined correcting parts of the cantilevers jointly form an inverted frustum-shaped correcting structure.

A second aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a sputtering station, including a process chamber having a process operation station disposed therein; the self-righting assembly is arranged in the process chamber and is positioned right above the process operation platform; a lifting mechanism having a lifting end; the lifting tail end extends into the process chamber and is connected with the self-righting assembly so as to drive the self-righting assembly to ascend or descend.

The self-righting assembly provided by the embodiment of the application, construct through a plurality of cantilevers and accept the torus and still construct the structure of falling round platform form righting in the top of accepting the torus, like this when the wafer that has certain offset gets into and accepts the subassembly from righting in the structure of falling round platform form righting, thereby the wafer can slide along the inclined plane under the action of gravity and get into and accept in the torus, thereby wafer automatic adjustment to normal position in certain offset, make the wafer position of placing on the technology operation panel reach the technological requirement, avoid influencing the technological property and taking place the piece.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a chamber configuration of a conventional magnetron sputtering station;

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a prior art process chamber;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a self-righting assembly according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of a self-righting assembly according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic top view of a self-righting assembly according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the support bar and cantilever structure of the self-righting assembly of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic top view of a support rod and cantilever of the self-righting assembly of an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view taken along line C-C in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view taken along line D-D in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cooling chamber of a sputtering station according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cooling chamber of a sputtering station according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cooling chamber of a sputtering station according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic top view of a self-righting assembly within a cooling chamber of a sputtering station in accordance with an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic top view of a prior art transfer chamber and buffer;

FIG. 15 is a schematic plan view of a partial chamber configuration of a sputtering station according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram illustrating a top view of a sensor assembly for detecting a position of a wafer on a robot in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a schematic sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a schematic sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 16;

FIG. 19 is a schematic view of the internal decomposition principle of the photosensor of the sensor assembly of the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 20 is a circuit diagram of the logical relationship between and of the sensor assembly according to the embodiment of the present application.

Reference numerals:

010: a buffer chamber; 011: a buffer chamber manipulator; 012: a loading chamber A; 013: a loading chamber B; 014: a steam removal positioning cavity; 015: a transition chamber; 020: a transfer chamber; 021: a transfer chamber robot; 022: a first sputtering chamber; 023: a second sputtering chamber; 024: a third sputtering chamber; 025: a cooling chamber; 026: a circular transparent window; 030: a lifting mechanism; 040: a receiving assembly; 041: a support ring; 042: a support bar; 043: a cantilever; 050: a process chamber: 051: a process operating table;

100: a sensor assembly; 110: fixing a bracket; 111: a strut; 112. mounting the bar holes; 113. installing edges; 120: a photosensor; 131: locking the nut; 132: a lower lock nut;

200: a self-righting component; 210: a support ring; 220: a support bar; 221: a terminal end; 222: a notch groove; 230: a cantilever; 231: an inclination return section; 232: a horizontal portion;

300: a sputtering station; 301: a transparent window; 302: a zero position; 303: a manipulator; 310: a transfer chamber; 320: a buffer chamber; 330: a cooling chamber; 331: a cooling table; 3310: a containing groove; 340: an aluminum cavity; 350: a lifting mechanism; 351: a cylinder; 352: a support pillar; 400: and (5) a wafer.

Detailed Description

In order to make the technical solutions and advantages in the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application are further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

As shown in fig. 1, the conventional magnetron sputtering station includes two chambers for the robot to act, namely a buffer chamber 010 and a transfer chamber 020, in which a robot (011, 021) is disposed; and the process chambers are respectively communicated with the buffer chamber 010 and the transmission chamber 020, a circular transparent window is arranged on a chamber cover of each process chamber, and the communication or the closing of each process chamber and the communicated buffer chamber 010 and transmission chamber 020 is controlled by a gate valve. The robot can rotate 360 degrees, so the robot can be controlled to rotate to stay at any position of the process chamber through instructions. After the gate valve of the process chamber is opened, the robot extends through the chamber door, enters the process chamber, transfers the wafer to the process chamber, then retracts, closes the gate valve, and the wafer is processed in the process chamber. And after the processing is finished, the mechanical arm extends into the process chamber again to take out the wafer, then the mechanical arm retracts to a zero position, at the moment, the equipment judges whether the position of the wafer on the mechanical arm is normal or not, and if no problem exists, the next process is carried out.

As shown in fig. 2, a lifting assembly is further disposed in the process chamber 050 of the sputtering station, the robot carries the wafer into the process chamber 050, the lifting assembly lifts to receive the wafer, and after the robot releases the wafer, the lifting assembly carries the wafer down and places the wafer on the process console 051 to perform corresponding process on the wafer. The lifting assembly mainly comprises a lifting mechanism 030 and a receiving assembly 040, and the lifting tail end of the lifting mechanism 030 is positioned in the process chamber 050; the receiving assembly 040 is provided at the lifting end of the lifting mechanism 030, and is driven by the lifting mechanism 030 to ascend or descend; the receiving assembly 040 comprises a support ring 041, a plurality of support rods 042 and a plurality of cantilevers 043, wherein the support rods 042 are vertically arranged on the annular surface of one side of the support ring 041; a plurality of cantilevers 043 are provided at the distal end of the support rod 042 in such a manner as to extend horizontally radially and inwardly of the support ring 041. The upper surfaces of the cantilevers 043 are constructed to be a bearing ring surface, that is, when the lifting assembly ascends to bear the wafer, the bearing ring surface corresponds to the release position of the manipulator, if the position of the wafer on the manipulator is not deviated, the wafer is just arranged on and matched with the bearing ring surface; if the wafer is displaced, a portion of the edge of the wafer is located outside the receiving ring surface, and a portion of the edge may be located in the middle ring hole of the receiving ring surface. Thus, during the lowering of the lift assembly to place the wafer on the process platen 051, it may occur that the edge of the wafer within the intermediate ring contacts the process platen 051 before the cantilever 043 comes into contact with the wafer edge, causing debris.

To this problem, the embodiment provides a self-righting subassembly, on the basis of the aforesaid hold subassembly, improve cantilever structure, still establish the structure of falling round platform form righting above holding the anchor ring when making a plurality of cantilevers establish and hold the anchor ring, like this when the wafer that has certain offset gets into in the structure of falling round platform form righting, thereby the wafer can slide along the inclined plane of falling round platform under the effect of gravity and the landing gets into in holding the anchor ring, realize self-righting adjustment, finally make the wafer position of placing on the technology operation platform also can reach the technological requirement, avoid appearing technology unstability and debris scheduling problem.

The structure, function and implementation of the self-righting element 200 are illustrated in conjunction with fig. 3-13.

The self-righting assembly 200 of the present embodiment includes a support ring 210, a plurality of support rods 220 and a plurality of cantilevers 230. The support ring 210 has an inner diameter that is larger than the diameter of the process platen to ensure that the support ring 210 can be raised through the process platen to receive a wafer and lowered to place the wafer on the process platen. The process station may be, for example, a cooling station of a cooling chamber. The diameter of the process platen is typically adapted to the wafer diameter, so that the inner diameter of the support ring 210 is also larger than the wafer diameter d 0. The support ring 210 is also used to connect to the lifting end of the lifting mechanism 350 so as to be able to be lifted or lowered by the lifting mechanism 350, thereby lifting or lowering the whole self-righting assembly 200.

A plurality of support rods 220 are vertically disposed on a lateral ring surface of the support ring 210. The plurality of support rods 220 enclose a hollow channel of the self-righting assembly 200, which can accommodate a process console, so that the hollow channel provides a channel for the process console during the ascending or descending process of the self-righting assembly 200, ensuring smooth ascending or descending. The number of the supporting rods 220 is preferably not less than 3, and all the supporting rods are arranged on the side ring surface of the supporting ring 210. In a specific application, the number of the support rods 220 is 3.

A plurality of cantilevers 230 are respectively disposed at the ends of the support rods 220 in such a manner as to horizontally extend along the radial direction of the support ring 210 and inward. Here, the end of the support bar 220 refers to the end away from the support ring 210. The number of the cantilevers 230 is the same as that of the supporting rods 220, and one cantilever 230 is correspondingly arranged at the end of each supporting rod 220.

The cantilever 230 includes a tilt return portion 231 and a horizontal portion 232 connected to each other, the tilt return portion 231 is connected to a distal end of the support bar 220, the horizontal portion 232 extends inward, and the tilt return portion 231 is higher than the horizontal portion 232. The surfaces of the horizontal portions 232 of the cantilevers 230 together form a supporting ring surface, and the outer diameter of the supporting ring surface is equal to the diameter of the wafer; the inclination returning parts 231 of the plurality of cantilevers 230 together form an inverted circular truncated cone-shaped returning structure, that is, in the circular truncated cone structure formed by the inclination returning parts 231 together, the diameter of the bottom surface of the circular truncated cone located at the high position is larger than that of the bottom surface of the circular truncated cone located at the low position.

The self-righting assembly 200 of this embodiment is disposed at the lifting end of the lifting mechanism 350, and the receiving ring surface of the self-righting assembly 200 is located right above the process platen, so that the self-righting assembly 200 can be driven by the lifting mechanism 350 to ascend or descend so as to be away from or close to the process platen.

In one example, the body of the lift mechanism 350 is located within the process chamber and its drive end is coupled to the self-righting assembly 200. More specifically, the driving end of the elevating mechanism 350 is connected to the support ring 210; the lifting end is driven to lift and further drive the support ring 210 to lift.

In a particular application, as shown in fig. 10-12, the lift mechanism 350 includes a cylinder 351 including a drive shaft and a support post 352; the support column 352 is provided at the end of the drive shaft; the support ring 210 of the self-righting assembly 200 is fixedly mounted on the support column 352 so as to be raised or lowered by the elevating mechanism 350.

In the self-righting assembly 200 of the present embodiment, the inclined righting portion 231 of the cantilever 230 has an inclined surface that extends and inclines inwardly and downwardly for constructing a reverse truncated cone-shaped righting structure. The small-size end (namely, the end of the circular truncated cone positioned at the lower part) of the inverted circular truncated cone-shaped correcting structure is consistent with the outer diameter of the bearing ring surface, and the wafer enters from the large-size end (namely, the end of the circular truncated cone positioned at the higher part) of the inverted circular truncated cone-shaped correcting structure and then slides down to the small-size end under the action of gravity so as to be corrected to the bearing ring surface.

In a specific application, the intersection of the surface of the tilt return portion 231 of the cantilever 230 and the vertical plane passing through the radial line of the radial direction where the cantilever 230 is located is an intersecting straight line, and the intersecting straight lines on the surfaces of the tilt return portions 231 of the plurality of cantilevers 230 can define a reversed circular truncated cone-shaped return structure, wherein the intersecting straight line serves as a generatrix.

In this embodiment, the orthographic projection of the side surface of the rounded frustum-shaped correcting structure is in a circular ring shape, and the radial width of the circular ring shape is the maximum allowable offset δ of the wafer. When the position of the wafer exceeds the maximum allowable offset, the edge of the wafer falls outside the large-size end of the inverted round platform-shaped correcting structure, so that the wafer cannot automatically slide and be corrected.

In a specific application, as shown in fig. 4, 5 and 7, the relationship among the radial extension M of the horizontal portion 232 of the cantilever 230, the wafer diameter d0 and the diameter d1 of the large-dimension end of the rounded frustum-shaped righting structure satisfies the following relation (1):

M≥(d1-d0)/2 (1)

in the formula (1), (d1-d0)/2 is the radial length of the orthographic projection ring of the inverse truncated cone-shaped correcting structure, namely the maximum allowable offset delta of the wafer. M is not less than the maximum allowable offset, so that the edge of the wafer can not fall into the middle ring hole part of the bearing ring surface, and the wafer can be successfully and automatically corrected.

In the case where the radial length (i.e., the maximum allowable offset δ) of the orthographic projection ring of the rounded frustum-shaped correcting structure is constant, the greater the inclination of the surface of the inclination correcting portion 231 with respect to the horizontal plane, the more easily the wafer slides onto the support ring surface by gravity, and therefore, the inclination of the surface of the inclination correcting portion 231 with respect to the horizontal plane can be set as required.

In one example, as shown in fig. 6, the inclined restoring portion 231 surface of the cantilever 230 (e.g., an intersection straight line of the inclined restoring portion 231 surface and a vertical plane passing through a radial line of the radial direction in which the cantilever 230 is located) makes an angle α of greater than or equal to 30 ° and less than 90 ° with the horizontal plane. The larger the included angle α is, the more the surface of the inclined correcting portion 231 is inclined, and the easier the wafer automatically slides onto the supporting ring surface, thereby completing the self-correcting adjustment. Optionally, the included angle α is greater than or equal to 45 ° and less than 60 °, and the slip rate can be moderate on the basis of easy automatic slip.

In this embodiment, the surface of the inclined restoring portion 231 of the cantilever 230 may be a plane or a curved surface, but is not limited to this, as long as the edge of the wafer and the restoring surface are ensured to be in point contact. The point contact can reduce friction, reduce the resistance of reforming, and effectively finish self-reforming adjustment.

In one example, as shown in fig. 8 and 9, the surface of the inclined return portion 231 is a convex curved surface, and the convex curved surface has an inclined ridge in the radial direction; and/or, the surface of the horizontal portion 232 is a convex curved surface having a horizontal ridge in the radial direction. The intersecting straight line of the surface of the inclined correcting part 231 and the vertical surface is located on the inclined ridge, and the intersecting horizontal line of the horizontal part 232 and the vertical surface is also located on the horizontal ridge. The ridges are connected and located in the same radial direction. The edge of the wafer is ensured to be in point contact with the correcting surface.

In a specific application, as shown in fig. 8 and 9, the surface of the inclined restoring portion 231 is an axial cylindrical surface of a cylinder, and the surface of the horizontal portion 232 is an axial cylindrical surface of a cylinder, so that the processing is easy.

In one example, the surface of the inclined restoring portion 231 and the surface of the horizontal portion 232 are smooth surfaces, such as those formed by mirror polishing, to reduce the friction coefficient of the surface of the cantilever 230 and reduce the friction between the cantilever 230 and the wafer.

In some examples, as shown in fig. 6, the end surface 221 of the supporting rod 220 is an inclined surface that is identical to the surface of the tilt returning portion 231 of the cantilever 230, and is connected to the surface of the tilt returning portion 231 of the cantilever 230 to form an integral inclined surface, so as to jointly construct a reverse truncated cone-shaped returning structure. At this time, the circumference of the large-sized end of the rounded frustum-shaped return structure is the circumference formed by the outer sidewall of the distal end 221 of the support rod 220.

Alternatively, the outer side wall of the support bar 220 is in the same vertical direction as the outer side wall of the support ring 210. That is, the circumferential diameter d1 of the large dimension end of the rounded frustum-shaped righting structure is the same as the outer diameter of the support ring 210, so that the outer profile of the self-righting assembly 200 is generally cylindrical.

In one example, as shown in fig. 7, the end 221 of the supporting rod 220 is opened with a notch 222 along the axial direction thereof, and the inclined restoring portion 231 of the cantilever 230 is embedded in the notch 222; the end surface 221 of the support rod 220 and the surface of the inclined reset part 231 smoothly transit to form an integral inclined surface. In this example, the embedding manner is not limited, and may be fixing by a fastener, for example, a screw, a bolt, or the like; welding is also possible.

In one example, the inclined return portion 231 of the cantilever 230 is integrally formed with the horizontal portion 232. For example, the support rod 220 may be integrally molded and may further be interferingly embedded (e.g., welded) in the notch 222 at the end of the support rod 220 to provide rigidity to the entire support rod 220.

In this embodiment, the self-righting assembly 200 is lowered to place the wafer on the process platform, and at this time, the horizontal portion 232 of the cantilever 230 is located below the wafer, which may hinder the wafer from contacting the process platform, so, as shown in fig. 13, a receiving groove is formed in the process platform at a position corresponding to the cantilever 230, so that a contact portion between the cantilever 230 and the process platform enters the receiving groove, and the wafer is ensured to be sufficiently contacted with the process platform. The size of the receiving groove is slightly larger than the size of the portion of the cantilever 230 in contact with the process platform, so that the portion of the cantilever 230 can enter the receiving groove. For example, as shown in fig. 13, a receiving vessel 3310 is provided on a cooling stage 331 in the cooling chamber 330.

After the self-righting assembly 200 is raised to receive the wafer, the robot releases the wafer and evacuates the process chamber. To ensure that the robot releases the wafer after it has been in full contact with the surface of the support ring of the self-righting assembly 200, it is desirable that the robot be able to pass through the space between the ends of the horizontal portions 232 of adjacent cantilevers 230.

The maximum allowable offset δ of the self-righting assembly 200 of the present embodiment is influenced by a plurality of factors, including the width h of the robot, the diameter of the outer circle formed by the tops of the tilt-righting sections 231 of the plurality of cantilevers 230 (i.e., the diameter d1 of the large-dimension end of the rounded-truncated-shaped righting structure), the diameter of the outer circle of the support ring formed by the horizontal sections 232 of the plurality of cantilevers 230 (i.e., the diameter d0 of the wafer), the diameter d2 of the inner circle of the support ring, and the number n of cantilevers 230.

With reference to fig. 4 and 5, the maximum allowable offset δ of the self-righting assembly 200, the width h of the robot 303, the circumferential diameter d1 of the large-sized end of the rounded-truncated-shaped righting structure, the wafer diameter d0, the inner circle diameter d2 of the support ring, the number n of the cantilevers 230, and the radial extension M of the horizontal portion 232 of the cantilevers 230 satisfy the following relationships:

the calculation shows that d2 is less than or equal to 2d0-d1, and h is less than or equal to (2d0-d1) sin (180 degrees/n). Namely, the circumferential diameter d1 of the large-size end of the inverse round platform-shaped correcting structure, the wafer diameter d0, the number n of the cantilevers 230 and the width h of the manipulator satisfy the following relation: h is less than or equal to (2d0-d1) sin (180 degrees/n), wherein n is more than or equal to 3 and is an integer. Wherein 180/n is the angle designated "β" in FIG. 5.

In a specific application, the number of the cantilever 230 is generally 3, and h is less than or equal to (2d0-d 1). sin60 degrees, namely h is less than or equal to 1.73d0-0.86d 1. That is, to set the width h of the robot 303 to be less than 1.73d0-0.86d1, the size of the horizontal portion 232 of the cantilever 230 is equal to the projected size of the inclined restoring portion 231 of the cantilever 230 on the horizontal plane, i.e., M is δ, and the maximum allowable wafer offset is reached from the restoring assembly 200. If the width h of the robot 303 is greater than 1.72d0-0.86d1, the arm of the robot 303 is replaced to meet the requirement.

In one example, the sputtering station 300 of the present embodiment further comprises a process chamber, the aforementioned self-righting assembly 200, and a lift mechanism 350; a process operating platform is arranged in the process chamber; for example, a cooling stage 331 is disposed within the cooling chamber 330. The self-righting assembly 200 is disposed within the process chamber and directly above the process platen. The lift mechanism 350 includes a lift tip; the lift tip extends into the process chamber and is coupled to the self-righting element 200 to drive the self-righting element 200 up or down.

In this embodiment, the process chamber in which the self-righting assembly 200 is disposed includes, but is not limited to: a cooling chamber 330 and a film forming chamber. The film forming chamber is determined according to a material to be sputtered and formed on the surface of the wafer, such as a titanium sputtering film forming chamber, a TiN sputtering film forming chamber, an aluminum film chamber, and the like.

Referring to fig. 10-14, taking the cooling chamber 330 as an example, the self-righting assembly 200 is disposed on the lifting end of the lifting mechanism 350, and the operation of the self-righting assembly 200 is described as follows: as shown in fig. 10, the drive shaft of the cylinder 351 is in a contracted state, the arm 230 of the self-righting assembly 200 is in the receiving slot 3310 on the cooling table 331, and the self-righting assembly 200 is in a Down position (low position), and the robot 303 carries and stops the wafer 400 into the cooling chamber 330. Next, as shown in fig. 11, the self-righting assembly 200 is moved upward by the drive mechanism, the wafer is received by the receiving ring formed by the horizontal portion 232 of the arm 230, and the horizontal portion 232 of the arm 230 is raised above the robot 303, whereupon the robot 303 releases the wafer and exits the cooling chamber 330, and the self-righting assembly 200 is in the up position (i.e., raised). Thereafter, as shown in fig. 12 and 13, the self-aligning assembly with the wafer thereon is lowered to the cooling stage by the lifting mechanism 350, and the cantilever 230 is sunk into the receiving slot 3310 of the cooling stage, so that the wafer is completely placed on the cooling stage 331 for cooling, and the self-aligning assembly 200 is located at the process site.

As shown in fig. 14, in the transfer chamber and/or the buffer chamber of the conventional sputtering station, a circular transparent window 026 is disposed on the chamber cover right above the zero point position of the robot arm corresponding to the front of each process chamber, and a reflective photoelectric sensor is mounted at the center of the circular transparent window 026 for detecting whether there is a wafer on the robot arm. Since the existing equipment only has a reflective photoelectric sensor at the center of the circular transparent window 026, the equipment can only think that the wafer position on the manipulator is abnormal when the wafer position offset on the manipulator is larger than half of the wafer diameter (d0/2), and the central point can not detect the wafer, obviously, the tolerance range is too large, so that the abnormal condition when the offset is smaller than d0/2 can not be sensed, and the wafer is continuously conveyed to the next process chamber (for example, a cooling chamber) to cause fragments, thereby causing loss.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the sputtering station 300 further comprises a sensor assembly 100 for detecting the position of the wafer on the robot, so as to ensure that the wafer can be self-aligned to the normal position in accordance with the maximum allowable offset of the self-alignment assembly. In the sensor assembly 100, a plurality of photoelectric sensors are disposed on a fixed support in an annular array manner to form an annular detection structure, so as to perform position confirmation on a wafer. The sensitivity of the wafer position detection can be determined by controlling the diameter of the circular ring-shaped detection structure, namely the closer the diameter of the circular ring-shaped detection structure is to the diameter of the wafer, the higher the detection sensitivity is, so that the diameter of the circular ring-shaped detection structure can be determined according to the maximum allowable offset of each process chamber to the wafer position offset, and when the offset exceeds the maximum allowable offset range of the next process chamber, the operation is stopped, and manual intervention processing is carried out. The wafer position detection sensitivity is improved, meanwhile, the process requirement of the next process chamber can be matched, the wafer film forming process efficiency is improved, and the fragment rate is reduced.

The structure, function and implementation of a sensor assembly for detecting the position of a wafer on a robot according to an aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 15 to 20.

Fig. 16 is a schematic top view of the sensor assembly provided in this embodiment, fig. 17 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along a direction a-a in fig. 16, fig. 18 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along a direction B-B in fig. 16, and fig. 15 is a schematic plan view of a sputtering table in which the self-aligning assembly is disposed in a cooling chamber and the sensor assembly is disposed directly above a zero point of a robot arm in front of the cooling chamber.

The sensor assembly for detecting the position condition of the wafer on the manipulator of the embodiment of the application comprises: a fixed support 110 and a plurality of photosensors 120. The fixed bracket 110 includes a plurality of supporting rods 111, and the plurality of photoelectric sensors 120 are correspondingly disposed on the plurality of supporting rods 111 and located on the same circumference to form a circular ring detection structure; the diameter of the circular ring-shaped detection structure is equal to or smaller than that of the wafer to be detected. The sensor assembly 100 is configured to be disposed above a wafer to be detected, such that an orthographic projection of the annular detection structure can be projected onto the wafer to determine whether the wafer position on the robot is normal.

In a particular application, the sensor assembly 100 is disposed on a transparent window directly above the robot zero position of the transfer chamber and/or buffer chamber. Therein, for better understanding, a transparent window structure is shown in fig. 16, but the transparent window structure is not an integral structural member of the sensor assembly.

The firmware support 110 includes a plurality of support rods 111, and each support rod 111 is provided with a photoelectric sensor 120, which can detect a plurality of orientations of the wafer to improve detection sensitivity. The greater the number of photosensors 120, the higher the detection sensitivity, and therefore, the number of struts 111 and the corresponding number of photosensors 120 may be determined depending on the required detection sensitivity. In a specific application, the number of the struts 111 is not less than 3, and correspondingly, the number of the photosensors 120 is not less than 3. Preferably, the number of the struts 111 is not less than 4, and accordingly, the number of the photosensors 120 is not less than 4.

Preferably, the plurality of photosensors 120 are uniformly distributed, i.e., the distance between each adjacent two photosensors 120 is equal. Alternatively, as shown in fig. 16, the number of the struts 111 is 4, and the 4 struts 111 are connected in a cross shape to construct a cross-shaped fixing bracket 110; one photosensor 120 is disposed on each strut 111.

The difference Δ d between the diameter d0 of the wafer to be detected and the diameter R of the circular ring detection structure formed by the plurality of photosensors 120 is the detection sensitivity of the sensor assembly 100, and Δ d is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to a set value. Δ d may be determined according to the maximum allowable offset of the next process chamber, and the set value is less than or equal to the maximum allowable offset.

In some examples, the plurality of struts 111 are radially scattered about a center point of the fixed support 110; the photo sensors 120 are movably disposed on the supporting rod 111, so that the diameter of the circular ring-shaped detection structure formed by the plurality of photo sensors 120 is adjustable. That is, the detection sensitivity for the sensor assembly 100 is adjustable. In addition, the diameter of the circular ring of the detection structure is adjustable, so that the sensor assembly can be used for detecting wafers with different sizes. The circular ring diameter R of the circular ring detection structure formed by the photoelectric sensors 120 is adjusted according to the diameter d0 of the wafer to be detected, so that the circular ring detection structure can be suitable for detecting the positions of wafers with different sizes.

Optionally, a plurality of mounting positions are arranged on the supporting rod 111, so that the plurality of mounting positions form a plurality of circular ring-shaped mounting structures; the plurality of photosensors 120 are detachably disposed at a plurality of mounting positions of a circular ring-shaped mounting structure to constitute a circular ring-shaped detecting structure. For example, each of the support rods 111 is provided with 3 mounting positions, and 3 mounting positions on one of the support rods 111 and 3 mounting positions on the other support rods 111 correspond to form 3 circular ring-shaped mounting structures.

The structure of the strut 111 is not limited, and may be determined so that the photoelectric sensor 120 can be mounted. Optionally, the cross-section of the strut 111 is in a U-shaped channel shape.

In a specific application, as shown in fig. 16, the fixing bracket 110 includes 4 struts 111, for example, struts having a U-shaped cross section, and the 4 struts 111 are connected in a cross-shaped arrangement to form a cross-shaped fixing bracket 110. Each of the struts 111 is detachably provided with a photosensor 120.

The detachable arrangement of the photosensor 120 is not limited. Alternatively, the photoelectric sensor 120 is detachably provided on the stay 111 by a lock nut. As shown in fig. 17, the photoelectric sensor 120 is provided on the strut 111 by engaging the upper lock nut 131 with the lower lock nut 132.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 16 and 18, a mounting bar hole 112 is formed in the groove bottom of the strut with the U-shaped cross section along the length direction, and mounting edges 113 are formed on the groove bottom with a certain width reserved on two sides of the mounting bar hole 112. The photosensor 120 is mounted in the mounting bar hole 112 via the mounting edge 113, and the sensing end of the photosensor 120 is located on the notch side of the strut. Of course, the mounting method of the photosensor 120 is not limited to the above-described method, and any other method capable of being mounted on the strut 111 may be used.

In a specific application, the photo sensor 120 is a reflective photo sensor. In conjunction with the internal decomposition principle of the photoelectric sensor shown in fig. 19, the reflective photoelectric sensor includes a light emitting diode and a photo transistor, when a wafer is located below the reflective photoelectric sensor, light emitted from the light emitting diode is reflected by the wafer, the reflected light is received by the photo transistor, and the photo transistor is turned on; on the contrary, when no wafer is arranged below the reflective sensor, the phototriode cannot receive reflected light, and the phototriode is cut off, so that the purpose of sensing whether the wafer is arranged below is achieved.

In a specific application, and as shown in fig. 15, a transparent window 301 is provided on the cover of the sputtering station 300 directly above the robot zero position of the transfer chamber 310 or the buffer chamber 320, and the size of the transparent window 301 is not smaller than the size of the wafer, for example, 8-inch wafer, and the diameter of the transparent window 301 is typically 200mm or slightly larger. The fixing bracket 110 is disposed outside the transparent window 301, and the center of the circular ring-shaped detection structure formed by the plurality of photoelectric sensors 120 and the center of the zero point position of the manipulator are in the same vertical direction, so as to ensure that the orthographic projection of the circular ring-shaped detection structure can be projected on the wafer. Whether the wafer position is normal is determined by detecting whether the plurality of photosensors 120 are all projected on the wafer. When the plurality of photoelectric sensors 120 can detect the wafer, the wafer position can be determined to be normal; when any one of the photoelectric sensors 120 fails to detect the wafer, the robot stops operating if the wafer is determined to be abnormal, and manual intervention processing is performed.

In some embodiments, the sensor assembly 100 further includes a controller electrically connected to the plurality of photosensors 120, respectively, and receiving electrical signals of the photosensors 120; when receiving the plurality of electrical signals of all the photoelectric sensors 120, the controller outputs a wafer position in-place signal, that is, the wafer position is normal; when the number of the received electric signals is smaller than that of the photoelectric sensors 120, the control unit sends out an alarm signal and outputs a wafer position abnormal signal. That is, the controller obtains an indication signal indicating whether the position of the wafer is shifted according to the received electrical signal.

In this example, the wafer position in-place signal indicates that the wafer position can be determined to be normal, and the robot can be controlled to transfer the wafer from the current zero position to the next process chamber. And if the wafer position abnormal signal indicates that the wafer offset exceeds the maximum allowable offset, the manipulator can be controlled to stop at the current zero position to wait for manual intervention processing.

In a specific application, the controller includes an and logic circuit, the signal output terminals of the plurality of photosensors 120 are electrically connected to the plurality of input terminals of the and logic circuit, respectively, and the output terminal of the and logic circuit outputs the position signal. When the photo sensors 120 are triggered, for example, the reflective photo sensor 120 receives a reflected signal, a logic signal output by a signal output end of the reflective photo sensor 120 is "1", and when logic signals output by signal output ends of the plurality of photo sensors 120 are all "1", a logic signal output by an and gate logic circuit is "1", that is, a wafer position normal signal is output; otherwise, if the logic signal output from the signal output terminal of any one or more of the photosensors 120 is "0", the logic signal output from the and logic circuit is "0", that is, the wafer position abnormality signal is output.

Specifically, the and gate logic circuit is a chip with the model number of 74LS 08. As shown in fig. 20, a connection structure between the photosensor 120 and the and logic circuit and determination logic will be described by taking 4 photosensors 120 (respectively referred to as a first photosensor 121, a second photosensor 122, a third photosensor 123, and a fourth photosensor 124) as an example. The signal output terminals of the 4 photosensors 120 are respectively connected to four input ports of an and logic circuit (such as interfaces a1, B1, A3, and B3 shown in fig. 20), so as to implement the logical and function of the 4 signals of the 4 photosensors, and then output the logical and result signal of the 4 signals through a pin Y2, where the output port of the logical and result signal replaces the signal output port of the existing center point sensor.

Of course, the controller may further include a Micro Controller Unit (MCU) connected to an output of the AND logic circuit (e.g., pin Y2 of the chip of 74LS 08) to receive the position signal and control the next operation of the robot according to the position signal.

The sputtering station 300 of the present embodiment includes a transfer chamber 310 and a buffer chamber 320, in which a robot is disposed, and the robot can rotate 360 degrees and can be controlled to rotate to stay at any position of each chamber by instructions. In the transfer chamber 310 and the buffer chamber 320, a transparent window 301 is provided on the chamber cover directly above the robot zero point position 302 in front of the process chamber to enable position sensing of the wafer through the transparent window 301. In the sensor assembly 100, the sensor assembly 100 is disposed outside the transparent window on the cover directly above the zero point 302 of the robot in the transfer chamber 310 and/or the buffer chamber 320, and the center of the circular ring-shaped detection structure of the sensor assembly 100 and the center of the zero point are in the same vertical direction. Wherein the size of the transparent window 301 is greater than or equal to the diameter of the annular sensing structure of the sensor assembly 100.

In the sputtering station 300 of the embodiment, the sensor assembly 100 is disposed outside the transparent window 301 directly above the zero point 302 of the robot in the transfer chamber 310 and/or the buffer chamber 320, so as to detect the position of the wafer on the robot, thereby improving the detection sensitivity of the position of the wafer, and matching with the process requirement of the next process chamber, improving the efficiency of the wafer film forming process, and reducing the fragment rate.

In this embodiment, the size of the transparent window 301 ensures that the orthographic projection of the annular ring detection structure of the sensor assembly 100 is located in the transparent window 301 so as to be able to perform position sensing determination on the wafer through the transparent window 301. Specifically, the size of the transparent window 301 is greater than or equal to the diameter of the annular sensing structure of the sensor assembly 100. Further, the size of the transparent window 301 is equal to or larger than the diameter of the wafer. For example, when the wafer size transported by the robot is 8 inches, the diameter of the transparent window 301 is not less than 200mm, and for example, the diameter of the transparent window 301 is generally 205 mm. The shape of the transparent window 301 is not limited, and all wafers located right below can be exposed therethrough, and may be, for example, a square shape, a circular shape, or the like.

In a specific application, the fixing bracket 110 of the sensor assembly 100 is disposed outside the transparent window 301, and the sensing end of the photoelectric sensor 120 is directed vertically downward.

Referring to fig. 15, the transfer chamber and the buffer chamber of the sputtering station, and the plurality of process chambers respectively communicating with the transfer chamber/the buffer chamber are provided with robot zero point positions, so that the sensor assembly 100 may be provided at each robot zero point position 302 of the transfer chamber 310 and the buffer chamber 320 on the sputtering station 300 of this embodiment, or the sensor assembly 100 may be provided at any one or more robot zero point positions 302 thereof according to actual process requirements.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 15, the aforementioned sensor assembly 100 is disposed at least at the robot zero point position in front of the cooling chamber 330 of the transfer chamber 310. The wafer entering the cooling chamber 330 for cooling is generally a wafer obtained by an aluminum film obtained by a hot aluminum process in the aluminum chamber 340, and the wafer is generally pressed in the aluminum chamber 340 by a pressure ring, so the aluminum film formed on the surface of the wafer by the hot aluminum process can cause the wafer to be adhered to the pressure ring, and when the wafer is taken by a manipulator, the position of the wafer on the manipulator is easy to shift, and the wafer is easy to fragment in the cooling chamber 330 due to the shift. By arranging the sensor assembly 100 at least at the zero point 302 of the robot in front of the cooling chamber 330, the detection sensitivity of the wafer position at the zero point 302 is adapted to the maximum allowable offset of the wafer in the cooling chamber 330, and once the wafer position offset on the robot exceeds the maximum allowable offset of the wafer in the cooling chamber 330, the robot stops working and performs manual intervention, so that the problem of fragments in the cooling chamber 330 can be effectively avoided.

Of course, the sensor assembly 100 is not limited to be disposed on the transfer chamber 310, and may also be disposed on the chamber cover directly above the robot zero point 302 of the buffer chamber 320.

In one example, the maximum allowable offset δ of self-righting assembly 200 (i.e., the radial width d of the orthographic projection circle of the rounded frustum-shaped righting structure)_Reforming) The circular ring detection structure diameter R and the wafer diameter d0 of the sensor assembly 100 satisfy the relation: delta (d)_Reforming) Not less than (d 0-R)/2. Ensuring that wafer excursions within the detection sensitivity range of the sensor assembly 100 can be auto-normalized by the self-normalization assembly 200.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations based on the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application also includes such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A self-righting assembly, comprising:

the inner diameter of the support ring is larger than the diameter of the wafer;

the support rods are vertically arranged on the ring surface of one side of the support ring;

a plurality of cantilevers respectively arranged at the tail ends of the support rods in a manner of horizontally extending along the radial direction of the support ring and inwards; the cantilever comprises an inclined resetting part and a horizontal part which are connected, the inclined resetting part is connected with the supporting rod, the horizontal part extends towards the inner side, and the inclined resetting part is higher than the horizontal part; a bearing ring surface is formed on the surfaces of the horizontal parts of the cantilevers together, and the outer diameter of the bearing ring surface is equal to the diameter of the wafer; the inclined correcting parts of the cantilevers jointly form an inverted frustum-shaped correcting structure.

2. The self-righting assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein the relationship of the horizontal portion radial extent M, the wafer diameter d0, and the rounded frustum-shaped righting structure major dimension end diameter d1 satisfies the relationship: m is not less than (d1-d 0)/2.

3. The self-righting assembly of claim 1, wherein the inclined righting surface makes an angle a with a horizontal plane that is greater than or equal to 30 ° and less than 90 °.

4. The self-righting assembly of any one of claims 1-3,

the surface of the inclined correcting part is a convex curved surface, and the convex curved surface is provided with an inclined convex ridge in the radial direction; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the surface of the horizontal part is a convex curved surface, and the convex curved surface is provided with a horizontal convex ridge in the radial direction.

5. The self-righting assembly of any one of claims 1-3, wherein a surface of the inclined righting portion and a surface of the horizontal portion are smooth surfaces.

6. The self-righting assembly of any one of claims 1-3,

the end face of the tail end of the supporting rod is an inclined plane which is consistent with the surface of the inclined correcting part of the cantilever, and the inclined correcting part of the cantilever is connected with the surface of the inclined correcting part to form an integral inclined plane so as to jointly construct a reverse round platform-shaped correcting structure.

7. The self-righting assembly of claim 6, wherein the distal end of the support rod is provided with a notch along an axial direction thereof, and the inclined righting portion of the cantilever is fixedly embedded in the notch; and the end surface of the tail end of the supporting rod and the surface of the inclined resetting part are in smooth transition to form an integral inclined surface.

8. The self-righting assembly as defined in any one of claims 1-3, wherein the cantilevered inclined righting portion is integrally formed with the horizontal portion.

9. The self-righting assembly as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein the rounded frustum-shaped righting structure has a major dimension end circumference diameter d1, a wafer diameter d0, a number n of said cantilevers, and a robot width h satisfying the relationship: h is less than or equal to (2d0-d1) sin (180 degrees/n), wherein n is more than or equal to 3 and is an integer.

10. A sputtering station, comprising:

a process chamber in which a process operation table is disposed;

the self-righting assembly of any one of claims 1 to 9 disposed within the process chamber directly above the process platen;

a lifting mechanism having a lifting end; the lifting tail end extends into the process chamber and is connected with the self-righting assembly so as to drive the self-righting assembly to ascend or descend.