CN217008389U

CN217008389U - Delay detection early warning system for etching machine and wet etching machine

Info

Publication number: CN217008389U
Application number: CN202220517952.0U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨春辉; 陈露
Original assignee: Warship Chip Manufacturing Suzhou Ltd By Share Ltd
Current assignee: Warship Chip Manufacturing Suzhou Ltd By Share Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-09
Filing date: 2022-03-09
Publication date: 2022-07-19
Anticipated expiration: 2032-03-09

Abstract

The utility model provides a delay detection early warning system for an etching machine, which comprises an optical sensor and a delay alarm device. The optical sensor is arranged on a manipulator arm in the etching machine and comprises an emitting end and a receiving end; the time delay alarm device is in communication connection with the optical sensor, comprises a timing module and an alarm module for setting a working time threshold value, and is configured to send out an alarm signal in response to the optical sensor sensing that the actual working time of the mechanical arm in the working area is greater than the working time threshold value. The utility model realizes intelligent detection and alarm, effectively prevents the mechanical arm of the wet etching machine from generating the condition that the acid tank exceeds the second in the working process, eliminates the damage to the product caused by the acid tank exceeding the second, reduces the rejection rate of the wafer and reduces the labor cost. The utility model also provides a wet etching machine comprising the delay detection early warning system.

Description

Delay detection early warning system for etching machine and wet etching machine

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to a delay detection early warning system for an etching machine and a wet etching machine comprising the delay detection early warning system.

Background

With the continuous development of integrated circuits, the critical dimension of semiconductor devices is smaller and smaller, and the etching process is also more and more important as an essential process in semiconductor production. Currently, there are two main etching methods: wet etching and dry plasma etching. Acid bath treatment is a critical step in wet etching, and wafers are usually placed in an acid bath, soaked for a certain period of time, then taken out and moved into a close proximity water bath for cleaning, so that unnecessary material layers on the wafers can be etched. However, when the etching operation of the acid tank is overtime, the problem that the damaged layer is too large easily occurs in the transition of the etching of the back surface of the wafer, so that the accurate control of the etching time by the wet etching is particularly critical. However, when the current etching machine is used for processing an acid tank, the situation that the wafer is damaged by the acid tank within a super-second period due to the loss of a signal of a timing control system often occurs.

Therefore, there is still a need in the art for an improved wet etch time detection scheme.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the above, the present invention provides a delay detection and early warning system for an etching machine, which captures a working position of a robot arm by using an optical sensor and a diffuse reflection plate, and determines whether the robot arm is overtime and gives an alarm by using a delay alarm device to solve the technical problem of etching overtime. The utility model also provides a wet etching machine comprising the delay detection early warning system.

According to the utility model, a delay detection early warning system for an etching machine is provided, the etching machine comprises a mechanical arm and a detection early warning system, wherein the system comprises:

the optical sensor is arranged on a mechanical arm in the etching machine and comprises an emitting end and a receiving end;

the time delay alarm device is in communication connection with the optical sensor, comprises a timing module and an alarm module which are used for setting a working time threshold value, and is configured to send out an alarm signal in response to the fact that the optical sensor senses that the actual working time of the mechanical arm in a working area is larger than the working time threshold value.

In some embodiments, the etching machine further includes a diffuse reflection plate disposed in the etching machine, and the diffuse reflection plate is configured to reflect the light emitted from the emission end to the receiving end.

In some embodiments, the light sensor is a reflective light sensor.

In some embodiments, the light sensor further comprises a signal processing circuit, and the signal processing circuit converts the light signal received by the receiving end into an electric signal and sends the electric signal to the time delay alarm device.

In some embodiments, the emission end is provided with an infrared emission tube, and the wavelength of the light emitted by the infrared emission tube is between 830 and 950 nm.

In some embodiments, the reflectivity of the diffuse reflection plate to light within the wavelength bands of 250-1500nm is greater than 98%.

In some embodiments, the alarm module is a buzzer.

The utility model further provides a wet etching machine which is provided with the delay detection early warning system.

By adopting the technical scheme, the utility model at least has the following beneficial effects:

(1) by arranging the diffuse reflection plate, light rays from different angles can be reflected, so that the irradiation range of the light rays in the working direction of the mechanical arm is enlarged, and the optical sensor can more accurately capture the position of the mechanical arm; on the other hand, the illumination intensity entering the receiving end of the optical sensor is enhanced through reflection, and the signal intensity is ensured.

(2) The time-delay detection early warning device realizes intelligent detection and warning, effectively prevents the mechanical arm of the wet etching machine from generating the condition that the acid tank exceeds the second in the working process, eliminates the damage to the product caused by the acid tank exceeding the second, reduces the rejection rate of the wafer, and greatly reduces the labor cost because the system does not need a detector to follow at any time.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a delay detection and early warning system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the following embodiments of the present invention are described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It is to be noted that the specific structures, features, advantages, etc. of the present invention are specifically illustrated by way of example, but all descriptions are for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as limiting the utility model in any way. Furthermore, any single feature described or implicit in the embodiments described herein or shown or implicit in the drawings may continue to be combined or subtracted from any single feature or equivalent thereof to obtain still further embodiments of the utility model that may not be directly mentioned herein.

Fig. 1 is a structural diagram of a delay detection and warning system for an etching machine, which is mainly applied to a wet etching machine, especially to a step of performing an acid bath treatment by a robot arm, however, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the application of the delay detection and warning system disclosed in the present invention to the wet etching machine is only an example and is not a limitation to the protection scope.

In the embodiment of the utility model, the etching machine mainly comprises an acid tank, a mechanical arm and a delay detection early warning system. The processing liquid is placed in the acid tank, the wafer is grabbed by the mechanical arm and placed in the acid tank for back etching, the position of the mechanical arm is captured by the delay detection early warning system, the working time of the mechanical arm at the working position is detected, and an alarm signal is sent out when the working time is overtime.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the delay detecting and warning system includes an optical sensor and a delay warning device.

The optical sensor is arranged on a mechanical arm in the etching machine and comprises an emitting end and a receiving end, an infrared emitting tube is arranged at the emitting end, the wavelength of light emitted by the infrared emitting tube is in the range of 830-950nm, and an optical receiver can be arranged at the receiving end and used for receiving the light, converting the light into an electric signal and sending the electric signal to the time delay alarm device.

The time delay alarm device is in communication connection with the optical sensor, comprises a timing module and an alarm module which are used for setting a working time threshold value, and is configured to send out an alarm signal in response to the fact that the optical sensor senses that the actual working time of the mechanical arm in the working area is larger than the working time threshold value.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the delay detecting and warning system includes an optical sensor, a diffuse reflection plate, and a delay warning device.

The optical sensor is arranged on a mechanical arm, for example, a movable part of the mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm is mainly used for grabbing the wafer and placing the wafer in an acid tank for back etching. In an embodiment of the present invention, the optical sensor is a reflective optical sensor having an emitting end and a receiving end. In one embodiment of the present invention, the transmitting end and the receiving end may be arranged in parallel. The emission end is provided with an infrared emission tube and is characterized by large luminous power, the wavelength of the emitted light is between 830-950nm, such as 940nm, 870nm, 830nm, and the specific wavelength can be selected according to actual conditions. The receiving end can be provided with an optical receiver for receiving light, the received light is processed in the optical sensor by a relevant circuit such as a signal processing circuit and the like into an electric signal, and the electric signal is further transmitted to the time delay alarm device, wherein the electric signal indicates the actual working time of the mechanical arm in the working area.

And the diffuse reflection plate is arranged above the acid groove in the etching machine and is used for reflecting the light from the transmitting end to the receiving end when the mechanical arm is positioned in a working area in the etching machine. In the embodiment of the utility model, the reflectivity of the diffuse reflection plate to the light in the wave bands of 250-1500nm is more than 98%, and the diffuse reflection plate mainly plays a role in reflecting the light from the optical sensor at multiple angles, so that the illumination intensity entering the receiving end of the optical sensor is enhanced, and the optical sensor can capture the position of the mechanical arm more accurately. Specifically, when the mechanical arm moves to a working area, namely moves to a position above the acid tank, light emitted by an emitting end of the optical sensor irradiates the diffuse reflection plate and is further reflected to a receiving end of the optical sensor so as to determine whether the mechanical arm reaches a specified position, and in the process that the mechanical arm grabs a wafer for etching, the light is continuously reflected to the receiving end through the diffuse reflection plate, so that the actual working time of the mechanical arm is recorded in an auxiliary manner.

The time delay alarm device is in communication connection with the optical sensor and is provided with a timing module and an alarm module. The timing module can preset a working time threshold, the working time threshold can be set at will according to actual etching requirements, and the preset working time threshold is preferably 90 s. When the optical sensor transmits the electric signal to the time delay alarm device, the timing module of the time delay alarm device records the actual working time of the mechanical arm in real time, compares the actual working time of the mechanical arm with the preset working time threshold of the timing module, and when the actual working time is greater than the working time threshold, namely greater than 90s, the alarm module in the time delay alarm device sends out an alarm signal, preferably, the alarm module can select a buzzer to send out a sound alarm signal to prompt a technician to check the abnormal condition.

The specific use method of the delay detection early warning device comprises the following steps:

(1) presetting a working time threshold value of the delay alarm device as 60 s;

(2) moving the mechanical arm to a working area, namely above the acid tank, wherein light rays emitted by the light sensor at the emitting end irradiate the diffuse reflection plate arranged above the acid tank, and the diffuse reflection plate further reflects the light rays to the receiving end of the diffuse reflection plate so as to position whether the mechanical arm reaches a specified position;

(3) after the positioning mechanical arm reaches the designated position, the mechanical arm places the wafer in an acid tank to start etching, meanwhile, the optical sensor transmits a signal to the delay alarm device to start timing, and the optical sensor continuously transmits a signal to the delay alarm device to record the actual working time of the mechanical arm;

(4) and the timing module of the time delay alarm device compares the actual working time of the mechanical arm with a preset working time threshold, and when the actual working time is greater than the working time threshold, for example, 61s, the alarm module of the time delay alarm device sends out a sound alarm signal.

The time-delay detection early warning device realizes intelligent detection and warning, effectively prevents the mechanical arm of the wet etching machine from generating the condition that the acid tank exceeds the second in the working process, eliminates the damage to the product caused by the acid tank exceeding the second, reduces the rejection rate of the wafer, and greatly reduces the labor cost because the system does not need a detector to follow at any time.

In this application, the use of the conjunction of the contrary intention is intended to include the conjunction. The use of definite or indefinite articles is not intended to indicate cardinality. In particular, references to "the" object or "an" and "an" object are intended to mean one of many such objects possible. Furthermore, the conjunction "or" may be used to convey simultaneous features, rather than mutually exclusive schemes. In other words, the conjunction "or" should be understood to include "and/or". The term "comprising" is inclusive and has the same scope as "comprising". The above-described embodiments are possible examples of the embodiments of the present invention and are given only for clearly understanding the principles of the present invention by those skilled in the art.

Those skilled in the art will understand that: the above discussion of any embodiment is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, of embodiments of the utility model is limited to those examples; features from the above embodiments or from different embodiments can also be combined with each other under the general idea of the utility model and produce many other variations of the different aspects of the embodiments of the utility model as described above, which are not provided in the detailed description for the sake of brevity. Therefore, any omissions, modifications, equivalents, improvements, and the like that may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the embodiments of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A delay detection early warning system for an etching machine is characterized by comprising:

2. The delay detection and early warning system for an etching machine according to claim 1, further comprising a diffuse reflection plate, wherein the diffuse reflection plate is disposed in the etching machine, and the diffuse reflection plate is configured to reflect the light emitted from the emitting end to the receiving end.

3. The delay detection and early warning system for an etching machine as recited in claim 1, wherein the optical sensor is a reflective optical sensor.

4. The delay detection and early warning system for an etching machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical sensor further comprises a signal processing circuit, and the signal processing circuit converts the optical signal received by the receiving end into an electrical signal and sends the electrical signal to the delay warning device.

5. The delay detection and alarm system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the emission end is provided with an infrared emission tube, and the wavelength of the light emitted from the infrared emission tube is in the range of 830-950 nm.

6. The delay detection and alarm system of claim 2, wherein the reflectivity of the diffuse reflection plate to light within the wavelength range of 1500nm and 250 nm is greater than 98%.

7. The delay detection and early warning system for an etching machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the alarm module is a buzzer.

8. A wet etching machine, characterized in that the wet etching machine is provided with the delay detection early warning system as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 7.