CN218585171U

CN218585171U - Photomask picking device and photoetching equipment

Info

Publication number: CN218585171U
Application number: CN202222001040.0U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谭明富
Original assignee: Guangzhou Yuexin Semiconductor Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Yuexin Semiconductor Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-07-29
Filing date: 2022-07-29
Publication date: 2023-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2032-07-29

Abstract

The application relates to a light shield picking device and a photoetching device. The light shield pickup device comprises an installation base, a rotating body, a pickup assembly and a sensing assembly. The mounting seat body comprises a base, a first driving piece and a lifting seat; the rotating main body comprises a rotating seat and a second driving piece, the rotating seat is rotatably arranged at the top of the lifting seat around the axis in the first direction, and the second driving piece is used for driving the rotating seat to rotate to a picking position; the picking assembly comprises a contact element and a picking element, and when the rotating seat is at a picking position, the contact element is contacted with the part of the cover plate protruding out of the box body; the sensing assembly comprises a controller and a first sensor arranged on the contact piece; the first sensor is used for acquiring a contact signal of the contact element contacting with the cover plate, the controller controls the picking element to pick up the photomask according to the contact signal, and when the contact signal is not received or the contact signal is abnormal, the controller can also control the first driving element and the second driving element to stop, so that the photomask is prevented from being damaged due to collision.

Description

Reticle pick-up device and lithographic apparatus

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of lithography equipment, and more particularly, to a reticle pick-up device and a lithography apparatus.

Background

In the production of lithographic products, lithographic apparatus often require the transportation of a reticle. A lithographic apparatus typically transports a reticle into the apparatus via a reticle pick device, which is important in picking up the reticle during transport of the reticle. When the photomask picking device picks up the photomask, the photomask box needs to be opened first, and then the photomask stored in the photomask box needs to be picked up, and the position of the photomask picking device needs to be accurate. However, when the photolithography equipment is in accident or malfunction, the position of the mask picking device may be deviated, so that the mask cannot be picked normally. Therefore, the mask picking device generally senses whether the mask box is opened smoothly, so as to judge whether the position of the mask picking device is normal, but the existing mask picking device generally senses whether the mask box is opened in a micro switch mode, but the micro switch has obvious deviation after long-term use, and the subsequent use of the mask picking device is influenced.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

Accordingly, it is necessary to provide a mask picking apparatus, which is capable of detecting whether a mask box is opened or not, and is prone to be deviated.

The utility model provides a light shield pickup apparatus for pick up the light shield in the light shield box, the light shield box includes that box body and lid locate the apron of box body, light shield pickup apparatus includes:

the mounting base comprises a base, a first driving piece mounted on the base and a lifting base arranged on the base in a telescopic mode along a first direction, and the first driving piece is connected with the lifting base so as to drive the lifting base to move towards one side close to the bottom of the cover plate along the first direction;

the rotating main body comprises a rotating seat and a second driving piece, the rotating seat is rotatably arranged at the top of the lifting seat around the axis in the first direction, and the second driving piece is connected with the rotating seat so as to drive the rotating seat to rotate around the axis to a picking position;

the picking assembly comprises a contact element and a picking element which are respectively arranged on the rotating seat, and when the rotating seat is at the picking position, the contact element is contacted with the part of the cover plate protruding out of the box body and is positioned below the cover plate;

the sensing assembly comprises a controller and a first sensor arranged on the contact element, and the controller is electrically connected with the first sensor, the first driving element, the second driving element and the picking element respectively;

the first sensor is used for acquiring a contact signal of the contact piece and a part of the cover plate protruding out of the box body, wherein the part of the cover plate protruding out of the box body is contacted with each other, and the controller is used for controlling the picking piece to pick up the photomask in the photomask box according to the contact signal.

In one embodiment, the picking member comprises a main body part extending along the second direction and a plurality of air suction holes arranged on the main body part;

when the rotating seat is at the picking position, a plurality of air suction holes are arranged towards the photomask box so as to suck the photomask;

wherein the first direction and the second direction are arranged at an angle.

In one embodiment, the main body portion is telescopically mounted to the rotating seat along the second direction, and the driving assembly further includes a third driving member connected to the main body portion;

the controller is electrically connected with the third driving piece, so that the controller can control the third driving piece to drive the main body part to move towards the photomask box in a telescopic mode according to the received contact signal.

In one embodiment, the pick-up assembly further includes an abutting member disposed on one side of the pick-up member, the abutting member is provided with a contact surface facing the plurality of suction holes, and the contact surface is configured to be attached to the reticle when the reticle is sucked by the plurality of suction holes.

In one embodiment, the sensing assembly further comprises a second sensor which is concavely arranged on the contact surface and electrically connected with the controller, and the second sensor is used for sensing an in-place signal when the contact surface and the photomask are attached to each other.

In one embodiment, the picking members are arranged in a plurality at intervals, and the abutting member is arranged between two adjacent picking members.

In one embodiment, two contact pieces are arranged on the rotating seat at intervals;

and when the rotating seat is positioned at the picking position, the two contact members are respectively positioned at two opposite sides of the box body and are in contact with the part of the cover plate protruding out of the box body.

In one embodiment, each of the contact members is provided with at least one first sensor.

In one embodiment, the picking member is disposed between two of the contact members, and a top surface of the picking member and a top surface of the contact member have a predetermined spacing in the first direction such that the top surface of the picking member is closer to the base than the top surface of the contact member.

The present application further provides a lithographic apparatus, including as above any one the light shield pickup device for pick up the light shield in the light shield box, the light shield box includes that box body and lid locate the apron of box body, the light shield pickup device includes:

the picking assembly comprises a contact element and a picking element which are respectively arranged on the rotating seat, and when the rotating seat is at the picking position, the contact element is in contact with the part of the cover plate protruding out of the box body and is positioned below the cover plate;

In the technical scheme of this application, will rotate the seat earlier and rotate to predetermineeing the angle for rotate the seat and be located pick up the position, the rethread the seat that goes up and down drives rotate the seat and together stretch outward, thereby make the contact backs up the apron of light cover box. When the cover plate of the photomask box is pushed open, the picking piece picks up the photomask in the photomask box, and therefore picking and transportation of the photomask are completed. The first sensor is mounted on the contact member and can sense whether the contact member and the cover plate of the photomask box are in contact with each other or not and generate a corresponding contact signal. The controller can control the picking piece to pick up the photomask according to the contact signal, and when the contact signal is not received or the contact signal is abnormal, the controller can also control the first driving piece and the second driving piece to stop, so that the photomask is prevented from being collided, and damage is avoided.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a mask picking apparatus according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the mask pick-up of FIG. 1;

fig. 3 is a side view of the mask pick-up device of fig. 1.

The reference numbers illustrate:

reference numerals	Name (R)	Reference numerals	Name (R)
				100	Light shield pick-up device	1	Mounting base
11	Lifting seat	12	Base seat
				2	Rotating seat	3	Pick-up assembly
31	Contact element	32	Picking piece
				321	Main body part	33	Abutting part
331	Contact surface	4	First sensor

Detailed Description

In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present application more comprehensible, embodiments accompanying the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application. This application is capable of embodiment in many different forms than those described herein and those skilled in the art will be able to make similar modifications without departing from the spirit of the application and therefore the application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," "circumferential," and the like are used in the orientations and positional relationships indicated in the drawings for convenience in describing the present application and for simplicity in description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the referenced devices or elements must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and are therefore not to be considered limiting of the present application.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the feature. In the description of the present application, "plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

In this application, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and encompass, for example, both fixed and removable connections or integral parts thereof; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be directly connected or indirectly connected through intervening media, or they may be connected internally or in any other suitable relationship, unless expressly stated otherwise. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

In this application, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the first feature "on" or "under" the second feature may be directly contacting the first and second features or indirectly contacting the first and second features through intervening media. Also, a first feature "on," "over," and "above" a second feature may be directly or diagonally above the second feature, or may simply indicate that the first feature is at a higher level than the second feature. A first feature "under," "beneath," and "under" a second feature may be directly under or obliquely under the second feature, or may simply mean that the first feature is at a lesser elevation than the second feature.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "secured to" or "disposed on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. As used herein, the terms "vertical," "horizontal," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," and the like are for purposes of illustration only and do not denote a single embodiment.

In the production of lithographic products, lithographic apparatus often require transportation of a reticle. The photolithography equipment generally transports the mask to the inside of the equipment through a mask picking device, and the mask picking device is important for picking the mask in the process of transporting the mask. When the light cover picking device picks up the light cover, the light cover box needs to be opened firstly, then the light cover stored in the light cover box needs to be picked up, and the position of the light cover picking device needs to be accurate. However, when the photolithography equipment is in accident or malfunction, the position of the mask picking device may be deviated, so that the mask cannot be picked normally. Therefore, the mask picking device generally senses whether the mask box is opened smoothly, so as to judge whether the position of the mask picking device is normal, but the existing mask picking device generally senses whether the mask box is opened in a micro switch mode, but the micro switch has obvious deviation after long-term use, and the subsequent use of the mask picking device is influenced.

In view of this, the present application proposes a lithographic apparatus comprising a mask pick-up device, to which the present application refers as long as the lithographic apparatus comprises a mask pick-up device. Fig. 1 to 3 are schematic views illustrating an embodiment of a mask picking apparatus according to the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, the mask picking apparatus 100 provided by the present application is used for picking up a mask in a mask box, the mask box includes a box body and a cover plate covering the box body, the mask picking apparatus 100 includes: installation pedestal 1, main part, pickup assembly 3 and sensing component rotate. The mounting base body 1 comprises a base 12, a first driving piece mounted on the base 12 and a lifting base 11 arranged on the base 12 in a telescopic mode along a first direction, wherein the first driving piece is connected with the lifting base 11 so as to drive the lifting base 11 to move towards one side close to the bottom of the cover plate along the first direction; the rotating main body comprises a rotating seat 2 and a second driving piece, the rotating seat 2 is rotatably arranged at the top of the lifting seat 11 around an axis in the first direction, and the second driving piece is connected with the rotating seat 2 so as to drive the rotating seat 2 to rotate to a picking position around the axis; the picking assembly 3 comprises a contact element 31 and a picking element 32 which are respectively arranged on the rotating seat 2, and when the rotating seat 2 is at the picking position, the contact element 31 is contacted with the part of the cover plate protruding out of the box body and is positioned below the cover plate; the sensing assembly comprises a controller and a first sensor 4 arranged on the contact element 31, and the controller is respectively electrically connected with the first sensor 4, the first driving element, the second driving element and the picking element 32; the first sensor 4 is used for acquiring a contact signal that the contact member 31 and the part of the cover plate protruding from the box body contact each other, and the controller is used for controlling the picking member 32 to pick up the photomask in the photomask box according to the contact signal.

In the present application, the first direction is a relative direction, and is actually a lifting direction of the lifting base 11.

In the technical scheme of this application, rotate seat 2 earlier and to predetermineeing the angle for rotate seat 2 and be located the pick-up position, rethread lift seat 11 drives and rotates seat 2 together overhanging, thereby makes contact 31 push open the apron of light cover box. When the cover plate of the mask box is pushed open, the picking member 32 picks up the mask in the mask box, thereby completing the picking and transporting of the mask. The first sensor 4 is mounted to the contact member 31, and the first sensor 4 is capable of sensing whether the contact member 31 and the cover plate of the reticle box contact each other and generating a corresponding contact signal. The controller can control the picking piece 32 to pick up the photomask according to the contact signal, and when the contact signal is not received or is abnormal, the controller can also control the first driving piece and the second driving piece to stop, so that the photomask is prevented from being collided, and damage is avoided.

When the mask box is used specifically, the mask box is not only a simple box body, but also is provided with a structure for protecting the mask. And after contact piece 31 backs up the lid, the mounting structure that corresponds the light cover setting in the light cover box can lift the light cover to transport to the opening part of light cover box, thereby make the light cover be in the state protected all the time at the pick-up in-process, and also let the light cover be closer to picking up piece 32, make things convenient for picking up of picking up piece 32.

Further, the picking member 32 includes a main body 321 extending along the second direction and a plurality of suction holes provided on the main body 321; when the rotating seat 2 is at a picking position, a plurality of air suction holes are arranged towards the photomask box so as to suck the photomask; wherein, the first direction and the second direction are arranged in an angle.

In the present application, the second direction is an opposite direction, and the second direction is an opposite direction of the pick-up member 32 and the reticle when the contact member 31 pushes open the cover plate of the reticle box.

In the embodiment, after the rotating base 2 rotates to the picking position, the lifting base 11 extends outward to the reticle pod along the first direction. The contact 31 comes into contact with the cover plate of the mask case and pushes the cover plate of the mask case open, thereby opening the mask case. At this time, the plurality of suction holes attract the mask, thereby completing the mask pickup.

It should be noted that the picking member 32 may be in other embodiments, and the picking member 32 may also grip the side edge of the mask through the clamp, so that only the membrane of the mask needs to be avoided.

Further, the main body 321 is telescopically mounted on the rotating base 2 along the second direction, and the driving assembly further includes a third driving element connected with the main body 321; the controller is electrically connected with the third driving member, so that the controller can control the third driving member to drive the main body 321 to move towards the reticle box according to the received contact signal.

In this embodiment, when the contact member 31 pushes the cover plate of the mask box open, the pick-up member 32 is still located outside the mask box and is at a certain distance from the mask. Therefore, when the contact 31 pushes the cover plate of the mask box open, the main body 321 is driven by the third driving member to move toward the mask in the second direction, so that the distance between the mask and the plurality of suction holes is shortened, and the plurality of suction holes can stably suck the mask. In specific application, the controller receives the contact signal to indicate that the contact member 31 normally jacks the cover plate of the mask box, and at this time, the controller can control the third driving member to drive the main body portion 321 to extend outwards towards the mask box, so that it is ensured that no deviation occurs in the position of the picking member 32 when the mask is sucked, and thus, unnecessary loss of the mask is avoided.

Further, the pick-up unit 3 further includes an abutting member 33 provided on the side of the pick-up member 32, the abutting member 33 is provided with a contact surface 331 facing the plurality of suction holes, and the contact surface 331 is configured to be brought into contact with the mask when the mask is sucked by the plurality of suction holes.

When the plurality of suction holes suck the mask, the mask is sucked toward the main body 321, and the suction force of the plurality of suction holes fixes the mask to the main body 321, which may deform the main body 321 to some extent, possibly causing damage to the mask. Therefore, in the embodiment, the abutting member 33 is attached to the mask through the contact surface 331, so that the mask can be attached to the outside sufficiently when being absorbed by the plurality of suction holes, thereby reducing the deformation of the mask and preventing the mask from being damaged.

Furthermore, the sensing device further includes a second sensor recessed in the contact surface 331 and electrically connected to the controller, and the second sensor is used for sensing an in-place signal generated when the contact surface 331 and the mask are attached to each other.

In the present embodiment, when the plurality of suction holes suck the mask, the mask may move a certain amount, and when the mask deviates in the movement, the mask may be damaged in the subsequent operation of the mask picking apparatus 100. Therefore, the second sensor can sense whether the contact surface 331 is attached to the mask and trigger the in-place signal, and the second sensor can transmit the in-place signal to the controller. When the in-place signal is absent or abnormal, the controller can control the first driving part and the second driving part to stop, so that the follow-up movement of the photomask is limited, and the photomask is prevented from being damaged. In addition, the second sensor is recessed on the contact surface 331, so that the second sensor does not affect the contact between the mask and the contact surface 331.

Further, the picking members 32 are provided in plural at intervals, and the abutting member 33 is provided between two adjacent picking members 32.

In this embodiment, the plurality of picks 32 are arranged at intervals, and can adsorb different positions of the reticle when sucking the reticle, so that the adsorption of the reticle is firmer. The plurality of picking pieces 32 suck the photomask together, so that the suction force on the photomask is larger, and the abutting pieces 33 are arranged between the adjacent picking pieces 32 to better support the photomask, so that the photomask is prevented from being bent, and unnecessary damage is reduced.

In the specific embodiment, two contact pieces 31 are arranged on the rotating seat 2 at intervals; when the rotary base 2 is in the picking position, the two contact members 31 are respectively located at two opposite sides of the box body and are both in contact with the portion of the cover plate protruding from the box body.

In specific application, in order to ensure that the contact between the contact piece 31 and the photomask box is normal, only one contact piece 31 is not arranged, so that the influence on use caused by accidental conditions such as dislocation of the contact piece 31 is avoided. In addition, the two contact members 31 are also contacted with the portion of the cover plate protruding from the box body, so that when the lifting seat 11 extends outwards, different contact members 31 can be contacted with different portions of the cover plate, and the cover plate is very stable when being pushed open, thereby being more convenient for the picking member 32 to pick up the photomask.

In a specific application, at least one first sensor 4 is disposed on each contact member 31. The specific number of the contact members 31 can be set according to the use requirement, but each contact member 31 is provided with the first sensor 4, so that when any one contact member 31 is in contact with the photomask box or the cover body of the photomask box, the controller can receive a contact signal, and judge whether the contact of the contact member 31 with the photomask box or the cover body is normal according to each contact signal, so as to judge whether the photomask has a risk of damage in advance, ensure the safety of the photomask and reduce unnecessary loss.

Further, referring to fig. 3, the picking member 32 is disposed between the two contacts 31, and a top surface of the picking member 32 and a top surface of the contact 31 have a predetermined interval along the first direction, so that the top surface of the picking member 32 is closer to the base 12 than the top surface of the contact 31.

In particular applications, the top surface of the picking member 32 is closer to the base 12 than the top surface of the contact member 31 in the first direction, indicating that the contact member 31 should be closer to the reticle pod than the picking member 32. This makes contact 31 and apron contact, and when pushing open the apron a distance, picks up piece 32 and just lies in the opening of photomask box, and the distance of this moment picking up piece 32 and photomask is in the nearer position, and this facilitates the picking up of photomask by picking up piece 32 more. The specific value of the preset interval needs to be set according to the use requirement, and therefore, is not particularly limited herein.

The technical features of the embodiments described above may be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments described above are not described, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present application, and the description thereof is specific and detailed, but not to be construed as limiting the scope of the utility model. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, which falls within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. The utility model provides a light cover pickup apparatus for pick up the light cover in the light cover box, the light cover box includes that box body and lid locate the apron of box body, its characterized in that, light cover pickup apparatus includes:

the rotating main body comprises a rotating seat and a second driving piece, the rotating seat is rotatably mounted at the top of the lifting seat around the axis in the first direction, and the second driving piece is connected with the rotating seat so as to drive the rotating seat to rotate around the axis to a picking position;

2. The mask pick-up device of claim 1 wherein the pick-up member comprises a main body portion extending in the second direction and a plurality of suction holes formed in the main body portion;

wherein the first direction and the second direction are arranged at an angle.

3. The reticle pick device of claim 2 wherein the body portion is telescopically mounted to the rotation mount in the second direction, the pick assembly further comprising a third drive member connected to the body portion;

4. The reticle pick-up device of claim 2 wherein the pick-up assembly further comprises an abutment member disposed on a side of the pick-up member, the abutment member having a contact surface facing in the same direction as the plurality of suction holes, the contact surface for engaging the reticle when the reticle is sucked through the plurality of suction holes.

5. The mask pick-up apparatus of claim 4 wherein the sensing assembly further comprises a second sensor recessed in the contact surface and electrically connected to the controller, the second sensor being configured to sense an in-position signal indicating that the contact surface and the mask are in contact with each other.

6. The mask pick device of claim 4 wherein the pick members are spaced apart in opposing relation and the abutment member is disposed between two adjacent ones of the pick members.

7. The mask picking apparatus of claim 1 wherein two of the contact members are spaced apart on the rotating base;

and when the rotating seat is positioned at the picking position, the two contact pieces are respectively positioned at two opposite sides of the box body and are in contact with the part of the cover plate protruding out of the box body.

8. The mask pick device of claim 7 wherein at least one of the first sensors is disposed on each of the contact members.

9. The mask pick-up device of claim 7 wherein the pick-up member is disposed between two of the contact members and the top surface of the pick-up member is spaced from the top surfaces of the contact members by a predetermined distance along the first direction such that the top surface of the pick-up member is closer to the base than the top surfaces of the contact members.

10. A lithographic apparatus comprising a reticle picking apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9.