CN219190236U - Mechanical arm - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides a manipulator for supporting a wafer, which comprises a support hand and a plurality of supporting parts; the plurality of supporting parts are distributed on the first surface of the supporting hand along a preset circumference and are used for supporting the edge of the wafer, one end, far away from the supporting hand, of each supporting part is provided with a supporting surface used for supporting the wafer, and a yielding space is formed between the supporting surface of each supporting part and the first surface. When the manipulator supports the warped wafer, the supporting surface of the supporting part is attached to and supports the wafer, the lowest point of the warped wafer is located in the abdication space, the wafer is prevented from being contacted with the support hand, and then the wafer is prevented from being scratched by the manipulator in the process of transferring the wafer.

Description

Mechanical arm

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, and in particular, to a manipulator.

Background

Physical vapor deposition (Physical Vapor Deposition, PVD) refers to the deposition of vaporized substances and their reaction products on a wafer by the acceleration of an electric field under vacuum conditions by vaporizing a target material by a gas discharge and ionizing both the vaporized substances and the gas. The technology is widely applied to the fields of ICs, packaging, LEDs and the like.

In the physical vapor deposition process, a wafer needs to be transported by a manipulator, and when the existing manipulator transports the wafer with relatively large warpage, the back surface of the wafer is in contact with the manipulator, so that the surface of the wafer can be damaged, and the wafer is scratched and scrapped.

Therefore, how to avoid scratching the wafer when the warped wafer is lifted is a technical problem that the skilled person is urgent to solve.

Disclosure of Invention

The application aims at solving at least one of the technical problems that exists in the prior art, and provides a manipulator which supports a wafer through a supporting part, wherein a yielding space is formed between a supporting surface of the supporting part and a first surface of a supporting hand, so that the wafer is yielding for the warped wafer, the wafer is prevented from contacting the supporting hand, and then the wafer is prevented from being scratched.

To achieve the object of the present application, there is provided a robot for holding up a wafer, including a hand and a plurality of support parts;

each supporting part is distributed along a preset circumference on the first surface of the support hand and is used for supporting the edge of the wafer, one end, far away from the support hand, of each supporting part is provided with a supporting surface for supporting the wafer, a yielding space is formed between the supporting surface of each supporting part and the first surface, and the yielding space is used for yielding the warped wafer when the wafer is supported.

In some embodiments, the distance between the support surface and the first surface is gradually reduced along a direction approaching the center of the preset circumference.

In some embodiments, the end of the supporting portion away from the supporting hand is further provided with a limiting portion, the limiting portion protrudes from the supporting surface and is located on one side of the supporting surface away from the center of the preset circumference, and the limiting portion is used for radially limiting the wafer.

In some embodiments, a side of the limiting portion, which is close to the supporting surface, is provided with a limiting surface, and a distance between the limiting surface and a circle center of the preset circumference gradually increases along a direction away from the first surface.

In some embodiments, the hand rest and the support are of an integrally formed structure.

In some embodiments, the hand support comprises a hand support body and two support arms, one end of each support arm is connected with the hand support body, the other end of each support arm is suspended, and a support part is arranged on the hand support body and/or the support arms;

and a yielding gap is formed between the two supporting arms, and the orthographic projection of the center of the preset circumference on the first surface is positioned in the yielding gap.

In some embodiments, the hand support body is provided with an arc-shaped abdication opening, and the arc-shaped abdication opening is communicated with the abdication notch.

In some embodiments, the two supporting arms are parallel to each other and symmetrically distributed about a preset straight line in the first surface, and the supporting portions are symmetrically distributed on two sides of the preset straight line.

In some embodiments, the number of the supporting parts is 6, one supporting part is arranged at one end of the supporting arm far away from the supporting hand body, and the other 4 supporting parts are arranged on the supporting hand body.

In some embodiments, the hand rest and the support are ceramic structures.

The application has the following beneficial effects:

the manipulator is used for supporting a wafer and comprises a support hand and a plurality of supporting parts; the plurality of supporting parts are distributed on the first surface of the supporting hand along a preset circumference and are used for supporting the edge of the wafer, one end, far away from the supporting hand, of each supporting part is provided with a supporting surface used for supporting the wafer, and a yielding space is formed between the supporting surface of each supporting part and the first surface.

When the manipulator supports the warped wafer, the supporting surface of the supporting part is attached to and supports the wafer, the lowest point of the warped wafer is located in the abdication space, the wafer is prevented from being contacted with the support hand, and then the wafer is prevented from being scratched by the manipulator in the process of transferring the wafer.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a physical vapor deposition apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a manipulator apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a robot holding a wafer according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the support portion of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the robot of FIG. 3 holding a warped wafer;

FIG. 6 is a front view of the robot of FIG. 3 holding a warped wafer;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the robot of FIG. 3 holding a warpage-free wafer;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the robot of FIG. 3 holding a warpage-free wafer;

fig. 9 is an enlarged view of a in fig. 5.

Wherein reference numerals in fig. 1 to 9 are:

the wafer baking device comprises a front module 01, a transition cavity 02, a baking cavity 03, an etching cavity 04, a first reaction cavity 05, a second reaction cavity 06, a third reaction cavity 07, a fourth reaction cavity 08, a transmission platform 09, a manipulator device 010, a control device 011, a rotating shaft 012, a driving arm 013, an end effector 014, a hand 1, a supporting part 2, a wafer 3, a hand body 11, a supporting arm 12, a supporting surface 21 and a limiting surface 22.

Detailed Description

In order to better understand the technical solutions of the present application, the following describes the manipulator provided in the present application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The physical vapor deposition apparatus has a structure as shown in fig. 1, and includes a pre-module 01, a transfer platform 09, a transition chamber 02 between the pre-module 01 and the transfer platform 09, and a bake chamber 03, an etch chamber 04, a first reaction chamber 05, a second reaction chamber 06, a third reaction chamber 07, and a fourth reaction chamber 08 distributed around the transfer platform. In the physical vapor deposition process, wafers are loaded on a wafer handler and then transferred into the transition chamber 02 by a robot device in the equipment pre-module 01. After the transition cavity 02 is vacuumized, the wafer is transferred into the transmission platform 09 by a manipulator device arranged in the transition cavity, the manipulator device in the transmission platform 09 drives the wafer, and the wafer is finally transferred back to the wafer loading and unloading machine for unloading after the wafer is subjected to a degassing process, a pre-cleaning process and a plurality of process chamber processes in sequence.

The robot apparatus mounted on the transport table 09, as shown in fig. 2, includes a control unit 011, a rotation shaft 012, a driving arm 013, and an end effector 014. The end effector 014 is typically a manipulator, and the manipulator is mounted on a drive arm 013, and the drive arm 013 is connected to a rotation shaft 012. The control unit 011 can drive the rotation shaft 012 and the driving arm 103 to vertically lift, control the rotation shaft 012 to drive the driving arm 013 to rotate left and right, and control the driving arm 013 to extend back and forth, so that the manipulator can support the wafer and drive the wafer to be transferred from one position to the other. Along with the market diversification demands, not only the types of wafers are more and more, but also the warpage of the wafers is larger than that of the original wafers, and the warpage of the wafers such as (thin sheets) after the film plating process is finished is larger, so that the wafer transmission of warpage is completed, and a larger test is brought to the compatibility of mechanical fingers.

The robot provided herein is used to hold up a wafer 3. As shown in fig. 3, the robot includes a hand 1 and a plurality of support portions 2. The hand rest 1 has a first surface facing upwards, which is generally planar and mainly serves as a bearing surface for the bearing support 2. Each support 2 is on the first surface of the hand rest 1 and distributed along a predetermined circumference. The diameter of the predetermined circumference may be equal to the diameter of the wafer 3, and the support portion 2 supports the edge of the wafer 3 when the wafer 3 is placed on the robot. Of course, the central angle of the preset circumference corresponding to the distribution area of the supporting part 2 is larger than 180 degrees, so that the wafer 3 is effectively supported, and the wafer 3 is prevented from sliding off.

The end of the supporting part 2 far away from the hand support 1 is provided with a supporting surface 21, and the supporting surface 21 can be attached to the edge of the wafer 3, so that effective support is formed. The distance between the support surface 21 of each support 2 and the first surface may be substantially the same, so that the wafer 3 may be substantially parallel to the first surface when the wafer 3 is supported. The support surface 21 is spaced from the first surface by a distance such that a space surrounded by the support surface 21 of each support portion 2 forms a relief space with the first surface. If the wafer 3 supported by the manipulator is warped, the yielding space can yield for the warped wafer 3, so that the lowest point of the wafer 3 is prevented from being contacted with the supporting hand 1. At present, the warpage of the wafer 3 is not more than 10mm, so that the wafer 3 with large warpage, which is larger than or equal to 5mm and smaller than or equal to 10mm, can be adapted to the situation that the height of the space for yielding is larger than 10mm in theory.

In this embodiment, the supporting surface 21 at the top of the supporting portion 2 contacts the edge of the wafer 3 to support the wafer 3. The support surface 21 is spaced from the first surface so as to form a relief space above the first surface. When the manipulator holds up the warped wafer 3, the yielding space can be used for accommodating the warp yielding of the wafer 3, so that the wafer 3 is prevented from being contacted with the holder 1, and the wafer 3 is prevented from being scratched in the moving process.

In some embodiments, the hand rest 1 includes a hand rest body 11 and two hand rest arms 12. As shown in fig. 3, one end of the bracket arm 12 is connected to the bracket body 11, and the other end is suspended. The upper surface of the hand rest body 11 and the upper surface of the hand rest arm 12 may lie in the same plane and form a first surface of the hand rest 1. The supporting part 2 is arranged on the supporting body 11 and the supporting arm 12, and the supporting body 11 and the supporting arm 12 support the wafer 3 through the supporting part 2. Of course, the user may set all of the support portions 2 on the bracket arm 12, which is not limited thereto.

A yielding gap is formed between the two supporting arms 12, and the orthographic projection of the center of the preset circumference on the first surface is positioned in the yielding gap. The center of the preset circumference is close to the center of the wafer 3, and when the wafer 3 warps, the lowest point of the wafer 3 is usually close to the center of the wafer 3. As shown in fig. 5 and fig. 6, the handle 1 adopts a hollow structure at a position close to the center of the circle of the wafer 3, and the lowest point of the wafer 3 can enter the hollow structure, so that the possibility that the wafer 3 is contacted with the handle 1 is further reduced, and the surface of the wafer 3 is protected from being scratched. In addition, the requirement of the manipulator on the yielding space can be reduced due to the arrangement of the hollow structure, and the wafer 3 can be in contact with the hand support 1 even under the condition that the height of the yielding space is small.

Further, the hand supporting body 11 is provided with an arc-shaped abdicating opening, as shown in fig. 3, the circle center of the arc-shaped abdicating opening is close to the circle center of the preset circumference, and the arc-shaped abdicating opening is communicated with the abdicating notch. Therefore, the arc-shaped abdication opening can increase the area of the hollowed-out part in the handle 1, further avoid the lower part of the warped wafer 3, and reduce the possibility of contact between the wafer 3 and the handle 1. In addition, the arc-shaped abdication port can also reduce the weight of the manipulator and reduce the energy consumption in the conveying process of the wafer 3.

In addition, the robot arm supports the wafer 3 by matching the supporting arm body 11 and the supporting arm 12, so that the wafer 3 needs to be prevented from overturning during the supporting process. The orthographic projection of the circle center of the preset circumference on the first surface is positioned in the yielding notch, and when the manipulator supports the wafer 3, the gravity center of the wafer 3 is also positioned between the two supporting arms 12, so that the manipulator can be ensured to stably support the wafer 3, and the wafer 3 is prevented from overturning.

Alternatively, in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the arms 12 extend in a straight line, with the arms 12 being parallel to each other. The distance between the two support arms 12 is smaller than the diameter of the preset circumference, the support arms 12 can correspond to the secant of the preset circumference, and the support arms 12 extend to the outside of the orthographic projection range of the preset circumference on the first surface, so that the center of gravity of the wafer 3 is ensured to be positioned between the two support arms 12. Of course, the bracket arm 12 may take other shapes, such as a curved shape, etc., and is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the manipulator adopts a hollow structure, and a yielding notch is arranged in the hand support 1. The orthographic projection of the circle center of the preset circumference on the first surface is positioned in the yielding gap, and the wafer 3 is avoided through the yielding gap, so that the possibility of contact between the wafer 3 and the hand support 1 is reduced, the requirement on the height of the yielding space is also reduced, the yielding gap is matched with the yielding space even if the yielding space is smaller, the contact between the wafer 3 and the hand support 1 can be effectively avoided even if the height of the yielding space is smaller than 10mm, the height of the manipulator can be reduced, and the space occupied by the manipulator is reduced.

To improve the processing efficiency, the robot arm is often required to move at a higher speed when transporting the wafer 3. However, during the high-speed movement, the wafer 3 may shift or even fall off, which affects the subsequent processing of the wafer 3. In this embodiment, the supporting surface 21 is an inclined surface. As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the distance between the support surface 21 and the first surface is gradually reduced in a direction approaching the center of the preset circumference. Thus, when the robot arm lifts the wafer 3, the supporting surface 21 applies a supporting force obliquely upward to the wafer 3, and the component of the supporting force is directed to the center of the wafer 3. When the manipulator moves at a high speed, the component force pointing to the circle center of the wafer 3 can balance the inertia force in the moving process of the wafer 3, so that the risk of the wafer 3 shifting is reduced. In addition, since the supporting surface 21 is an inclined surface, even if the wafer 3 is warped greatly, the contact position between the supporting surface 21 and the wafer 3 can be ensured to be positioned at the edge of the wafer 3 as long as the warping angle is smaller than the tilting angle of the supporting surface 21, and the supporting surface 21 is prevented from damaging the inside of the wafer 3. Of course, the inclination angle of the support surface 21 may be set by the user as needed, and is not limited herein.

In addition, the robot arm provided in the present embodiment can be used not only for holding up the wafer 3 having warpage but also for holding up the wafer 3 having no warpage. There are some differences in the sizes of the wafer 3 that is warped and the wafer 3 that is not warped, and since the support surfaces 21 are inclined surfaces, the support surfaces 21 are formed to have a structure similar to a cone around each support surface 21, and thus the support surfaces 21 can still be bonded to the edge of the wafer 3 regardless of whether the wafer 3 is warped or not. As shown in fig. 7 and 8, when the wafer 3 without warpage is supported, the robot arm can support and transfer the wafer 3.

Further, the end of the supporting part 2 far away from the hand support 1 is further provided with a limiting part, and the limiting part protrudes from the supporting surface 21 and is positioned on one side of the supporting surface 21 far away from the center of the preset circumference. When the robot hand lifts up the wafer 3, the limiting part surrounds the periphery of the wafer 3. When the manipulator moves at a high speed, if the wafer 3 shifts, the limiting part can be in contact with the wafer 3 to radially limit the wafer 3, so that the wafer 3 is prevented from falling off the manipulator.

Optionally, a side of the limiting portion, which is close to the supporting surface 21, has a limiting surface 22, and the limiting surface 22 may be an inclined surface, where a distance between the inclined surface and a center of a preset circumference increases gradually along a direction away from the first surface. As shown in fig. 9, the included angle between the limiting surface 22 and the supporting surface 21 is an obtuse angle. When the robot arm lifts the wafer 3, the edge of the wafer 3 contacts the support surface 21. When the wafer 3 shifts and contacts with the limiting surface 22, the included angle between the limiting surface 22 and the lower surface of the wafer 3 is also an obtuse angle, so that the impact between the wafer 3 and the limiting surface 22 can be reduced, and the wafer 3 is prevented from being damaged due to collision with the limiting surface 22. In the embodiment shown in fig. 9, the supporting surface 21 and the limiting surface 22 are both planar, and the user may set both to be curved surfaces, which is not limited herein.

In this embodiment, the supporting surface 21 is an inclined surface. The support surface 21 applies a support force to the wafer 3 having a component force directed toward the center of the wafer 3, which component force can balance the inertial force when moving the wafer 3, reducing the risk of the wafer 3 being displaced. In addition, the supporting portion 2 is provided with a limiting portion protruding from the supporting surface 21, and when the supporting surface 21 is insufficient to limit the wafer 3, the limiting portion can abut against the wafer 3 to further limit the wafer 3. In addition, the side of the limiting part, which is close to the supporting surface 21, is a limiting surface 22, and the limiting surface 22 is an inclined surface. On one hand, the impact of the wafer 3 when contacting the limiting part can be reduced, and the wafer 3 is prevented from being damaged due to the impact of the limiting part; on the other hand, the limiting surface 22 can play a guiding role, so that the wafer 3 can smoothly contact the supporting surface 21.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 3, the hand rest 1 may have an axisymmetric structure, where the hand rest 1 is symmetric about a predetermined straight line in the first surface. The two supporting arms 12 in the supporting arm 1 are also symmetrically distributed about a preset straight line, and each supporting part 2 is symmetrically distributed on two sides of the preset straight line. The supporting parts 2 are symmetrically distributed, so that the uniformity of stress on two sides of the wafer 3 can be improved.

In the specific embodiment shown in fig. 3, the number of the supporting portions 2 is 6. Wherein each of the 2 support arms 12 is provided with a support portion 2, and the support portion 2 is located at an end of the support arm 12 away from the handle body 11. The 2 support parts 2 are farthest from the handle body 11, and the center of gravity of the wafer 3 is located between the 2 support parts 2 and the handle body 11. There are also 2 support portions 2 provided on both sides of the hand support body 11, respectively, at positions connected to the support arms 12. The distance between the 2 support parts 2 is the largest, so that the stability of supporting the wafer 3 can be effectively improved. The rest 2 supporting parts 2 are positioned at two sides of the bottom of the arc-shaped abdication opening. The support portions 2 on both sides of the preset straight line form two obtuse triangles, respectively, so as to form stable support for the wafer 3. Of course, the number and distribution of the supporting portions 2 may be set as required by the user, and for example, 4 supporting portions 2 distributed in a rectangular shape or an isosceles trapezoid shape may be used to support the wafer 3, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, the supporting arm 1 and the supporting part 2 are ceramic structural members, and the ceramic structural members have the advantages of high temperature resistance, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, high hardness, small expansion coefficient, low density and the like, and are more suitable for semiconductor processing compared with metal materials. Specifically, the hand support 1 and the support 2 may be made of alumina ceramics, silicon carbide ceramics, or the like, and the user may select the materials of the hand support 1 and the support 2 as needed, which is not limited herein.

Further, the hand support 1 and the support part 2 are integrally formed. The integrated forming structure not only can ensure the machining precision between the supporting hand 1 and the supporting part 2, but also can avoid the inconvenience of replacing consumable materials, can also ensure the stability of transmission, and reduces the fragmentation rate of the wafer 3 in the transmission process.

In this embodiment, the plurality of supporting parts 2 are distributed in a symmetrical distribution manner, so that the limiting effect is improved, the wafer 3 is prevented from sliding on the manipulator, and the safety and stability of transmission are ensured.

It is to be understood that the above embodiments are merely illustrative of the exemplary embodiments employed to illustrate the principles of the present application, however, the present application is not limited thereto. Various modifications and improvements may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and substance of the application, and are also considered to be within the scope of the application.

Claims (10)

1. A manipulator for supporting a wafer, comprising a support and a plurality of support parts;

each supporting part is distributed along a preset circumference on the first surface of the supporting hand and is used for supporting the edge of the wafer, one end, far away from the supporting hand, of each supporting part is provided with a wafer supporting surface, a yielding space is formed between the supporting surface of each supporting part and the first surface, and the yielding space is used for yielding the wafer when the wafer is warped.

2. The manipulator according to claim 1, wherein the distance between the support surface and the first surface is tapered in a direction approaching the center of the preset circumference.

3. The manipulator according to claim 1, wherein a limiting portion is further disposed at an end of the supporting portion away from the hand support, the limiting portion protrudes from the supporting surface and is located at a side of the supporting surface away from a center of the preset circumference, and the limiting portion is used for radially limiting the wafer.

4. A manipulator according to claim 3, wherein a side of the limiting portion adjacent to the supporting surface has a limiting surface, and a distance between the limiting surface and a center of the predetermined circumference increases gradually in a direction away from the first surface.

5. The manipulator of claim 1, wherein the hand rest and the support are of an integrally formed construction.

6. The manipulator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the manipulator comprises a manipulator body and two support arms, one end of each support arm is connected with the manipulator body, the other end of each support arm is suspended, and the manipulator body and/or the support arms are/is provided with the supporting parts;

and a yielding gap is formed between the two supporting arms, and the orthographic projection of the center of the preset circumference on the first surface is positioned in the yielding gap.

7. The manipulator of claim 6, wherein the hand support body is provided with an arc-shaped relief port, and wherein the arc-shaped relief port is in communication with the relief notch.

8. The manipulator according to claim 6, wherein the two support arms are parallel to each other and symmetrically arranged with respect to a predetermined straight line in the first surface, and the support portions are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the predetermined straight line.

9. The manipulator according to claim 7, wherein the number of the supporting portions is 6, one supporting portion is provided at one end of the supporting arm away from the supporting arm body, and the remaining 4 supporting portions are provided on the supporting arm body.

10. The manipulator of claim 7, wherein the support and the hand rest are ceramic structures.

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