CN219303629U - Equipment for carrying out heat treatment on wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model discloses an apparatus for heat treating a wafer, the apparatus comprising: the heating unit is used for heating the wafer; a buffer unit for slowly cooling the wafer subjected to heating to avoid breakage of the wafer; a rapid cooling unit for rapidly cooling the wafer subjected to the slow cooling to improve the heat treatment efficiency; and the conveying unit is used for conveying the wafer in a horizontal mode so that the wafer is subjected to heat treatment of the heating unit, the buffer unit and the rapid cooling unit in sequence.

Description

Equipment for carrying out heat treatment on wafer

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the field of semiconductor wafer production, in particular to equipment for carrying out heat treatment on a wafer.

Background

Wafer heat treatment is a very important treatment process in the production process of semiconductor wafers, and is mainly aimed at eliminating the influence of carriers generated by oxygen donors on the resistivity of the wafers, and eliminating the oxygen donors in the high-temperature annealing process to obtain wafers with relatively stable resistivity.

At present, a mode of matching a double-wafer boat with a single heating bin is commonly adopted in wafer heat treatment equipment, namely, two wafer boats carrying wafers are lifted into the heating bin through vertical upward movement to heat the wafers, and after the heating is completed, the two wafer boats are lifted out of the heating bin through vertical downward movement, and the heat treatment process of the Wen Wancheng wafers is rapidly reduced.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional wafer heat treatment apparatus, since the shipment and the shipment of the wafer require the wafer boat to be moved vertically and the wafer is stacked vertically on the wafer boat, it takes a lot of time to shipment and the shipment, resulting in low heat treatment efficiency, and the heated wafer is directly exposed to the normal temperature after leaving the heating chamber, resulting in an excessively fast temperature decrease from the high temperature, and on the other hand, breakage may not occur when the temperature of the wafer is lowered to some extent, but the temperature decrease rate is excessively slow due to a decrease in the difference from the ambient temperature, the process cycle is prolonged, and the production efficiency is low.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above technical problems, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for performing heat treatment on a wafer, which can avoid the problem that a lot of time is required for unloading and loading the wafer, avoid the problem that the wafer is broken due to too fast cooling, and avoid the problem that the cooling rate of the wafer is too slow to prolong the process period under the condition that the wafer cannot be broken.

The technical scheme of the utility model is realized as follows:

an embodiment of the present utility model provides an apparatus for thermally processing a wafer, the apparatus including:

the heating unit is used for heating the wafer;

a buffer unit for slowly cooling the wafer subjected to heating to avoid breakage of the wafer;

a rapid cooling unit for rapidly cooling the wafer subjected to the slow cooling to improve the heat treatment efficiency;

and the conveying unit is used for conveying the wafer in a horizontal mode so that the wafer is subjected to heat treatment of the heating unit, the buffer unit and the rapid cooling unit in sequence.

In the apparatus for heat-treating a wafer according to the embodiment of the present utility model, since the wafer is transferred in the horizontal direction, in the case where a plurality of wafers are vertically stacked, the plurality of wafers can be simultaneously positioned at a position where the wafers are subjected to heat treatment such as a heating unit, thereby saving time spent for transferring the wafers, and since the wafers are heated to be away from the heating unit, the process of the buffer unit, i.e., slow cooling, is accepted, the problem of breakage due to too fast cooling of the wafers is avoided, and further since the wafers are slowly cooled to be away from the buffer unit, the process of the fast cooling unit, i.e., fast cooling, is accepted, the problem of too slow cooling rate of the wafers to lengthen the process cycle without breakage is avoided.

Preferably, the transfer unit includes:

a drive motor;

the transmission crawler belt is used for advancing under the drive of the transmission motor;

the wafer boat fixing device is fixedly arranged on the transmission track and is used for fixing the wafer boat bearing the wafer,

wherein the number of the driving tracks is two, so that the boat fixture, the boat, and the wafer, which are respectively transferred by the two driving tracks, can be transferred independently of each other.

Preferably, the heating unit includes:

a heating housing defining a heating chamber and heating chamber inlet and heating chamber outlet for receiving the wafer to subject the wafer to heating;

a heating chamber access door for opening or closing the heating chamber access;

a heating chamber outlet door for opening or closing the heating chamber outlet,

wherein the wafer conveyed by the conveying unit enters the heating chamber via the heating chamber inlet and exits the heating chamber via the heating chamber outlet.

Preferably, the buffer unit includes:

the buffer shell is used for containing the wafer so as to enable the wafer to undergo slow cooling;

a buffer cavity entrance door for opening or closing the buffer cavity entrance;

a buffer chamber outlet door for opening or closing the buffer chamber outlet,

wherein the wafer transferred by the transfer unit enters the buffer chamber via the buffer chamber inlet and exits the buffer chamber via the buffer chamber outlet.

Preferably, the buffer chamber is also used for operator access to troubleshoot the heating unit and the rapid cooling unit.

Preferably, the rapid cooling unit includes:

the rapid cooling shell is used for containing the wafer so as to enable the wafer to undergo rapid cooling, and the rapid cooling shell is provided with a rapid cooling cavity, a rapid cooling cavity inlet and a rapid cooling cavity outlet;

the rapid cooling cavity entrance door is used for opening or closing the rapid cooling cavity entrance;

a rapid cooling cavity outlet door for opening or closing the rapid cooling cavity outlet,

the wafer conveyed by the conveying unit enters the rapid cooling cavity through the rapid cooling cavity inlet and leaves the rapid cooling cavity through the rapid cooling cavity outlet.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises:

the shell is used for defining a containing space, a containing space inlet and a containing space outlet, and the containing space is used for containing the heating unit, the buffer unit, the rapid cooling unit and the conveying unit;

the accommodating space inlet door is used for opening or closing the accommodating space inlet;

the accommodating space outlet door is used for opening or closing the accommodating space outlet.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises:

the wafer loading platform is opposite to the accommodating space inlet so that a wafer placed on the wafer loading platform can be conveniently loaded into the accommodating space through the accommodating space inlet;

and the wafer unloading platform is opposite to the accommodating space outlet so that the wafer unloaded from the interior of the accommodating space through the accommodating space outlet is placed on the wafer unloading platform.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises:

the first wafer transfer unit is arranged in the accommodating space and is used for transferring the wafer placed on the wafer loading table into the accommodating space;

and the second wafer transfer unit is arranged in the accommodating space and is used for transferring the wafers in the accommodating space to the wafer unloading table.

Preferably, the first wafer transfer unit and the second wafer transfer unit each include:

a rotatable base;

a rotating arm eccentrically hinged to the rotatable base;

a chuck arm hinged to a distal end of the rotating arm, the chuck arm being formed with a vacuum hole for vacuum-sucking the wafer.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of an apparatus for heat treating a wafer according to an embodiment of the present utility model;

fig. 2 is a schematic top view of a transfer unit of the apparatus according to an embodiment of the present utility model;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the front view of the heating unit of the apparatus according to an embodiment of the present utility model;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the front view of the buffer unit of the apparatus according to an embodiment of the present utility model;

fig. 5 is a schematic elevational structural view of a rapid cooling unit of the apparatus according to an embodiment of the present utility model;

fig. 6 is a schematic front view of an apparatus for thermally processing a wafer according to another embodiment of the present utility model;

fig. 7 is a schematic top view of a wafer transfer unit of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present utility model.

Detailed Description

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present utility model or the technical solutions in the prior art, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present utility model will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present utility model, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present utility model, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the utility model without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the utility model.

Referring to fig. 1, an embodiment of the present utility model provides an apparatus 1 for heat treating a wafer W, the apparatus 1 may include:

a heating unit 10, wherein the heating unit 10 is used for heating the wafer W;

a buffer unit 20, wherein the buffer unit 20 is used for slowly cooling the heated wafer W to avoid cracking of the wafer W;

a rapid cooling unit 30, wherein the rapid cooling unit 30 is used for rapidly cooling the wafer W subjected to slow cooling to improve the heat treatment efficiency;

and a transfer unit 40 for transferring the wafers W in a horizontal manner such that the wafers W are sequentially subjected to the heat treatment by the heating unit 10, the buffer unit 20, and the rapid cooling unit 30, more specifically, the wafers W may be carried on the boat T in a vertically stacked manner, and the transfer unit 40 may transfer the boat T such that the wafers W are transferred together with the boat T.

In the apparatus 1 for heat-treating the wafers W according to the above-described embodiment of the present utility model, since the wafers W are transferred in the horizontal direction, in the case where a plurality of wafers W are vertically stacked, the plurality of wafers W can be simultaneously placed at a position where they are subjected to heat treatment such as the heating unit 10, or in the case where the heating unit 10 includes a heating chamber as described in detail below, the plurality of wafers W can be brought into the heating chamber in a more direct manner, thereby saving the time taken to transfer the wafers W, and since the wafers W are heated to be completely separated from the heating unit 10, the process of the buffer unit 20 is received, i.e., the wafer W is cooled down too quickly, which results in breakage, and in addition, since the wafer W is cooled down slowly to be completely separated from the buffer unit 20, the process of the rapid cooling unit 30 is received, i.e., the wafer W is cooled down too slowly, which results in a problem of prolonging the process cycle without breakage.

For the above-mentioned transfer unit 40, in a preferred embodiment of the present utility model, referring to fig. 1 and 2, the transfer unit 40 may include:

a drive motor 41 as shown only in fig. 1;

a drive track 42 as shown in both fig. 1 and 2, the drive track 42 being for traveling under the drive of the drive motor 41;

as shown only in fig. 2, a boat holding device 43 fixedly provided on the drive belt 42, the boat holding device 43 being for holding a boat T carrying the wafers W,

wherein, as can be seen more clearly in the top view of fig. 2, the number of the driving tracks 42 is two, so that the boat fixture 43, the boat T, and the wafers W, which are respectively transferred by the two driving tracks 42, can be transferred independently of each other.

In the above embodiment, the double tracks 42 horizontally transport the boat T, not only improves the heat treatment efficiency of the apparatus 1, but also effectively avoids the reduction of the heat treatment efficiency caused by downtime of a single track.

For the heating unit 10 described above, in a preferred embodiment of the present utility model, the heating unit 10 described with reference to fig. 3 may include:

a heating housing 11, the heating housing 11 defining a heating chamber 11C and a heating chamber inlet 11A and a heating chamber outlet 11B, the heating chamber 11C for accommodating the wafer W to subject the wafer W to heating;

a heating chamber inlet door 12, the heating chamber inlet door 12 being for opening or closing the heating chamber inlet 11A;

a heating chamber outlet door 13, the heating chamber outlet door 13 for opening or closing the heating chamber outlet 11B,

wherein the wafer W conveyed by the conveying unit 40 enters the heating chamber 11C via the heating chamber inlet 11A and exits the heating chamber 11C via the heating chamber outlet 11B.

More specifically, for opening or closing of the heating chamber entrance door 12 and the heating chamber exit door 13, it may be realized by a heating chamber entrance door motor hinge driving mechanism 14 and a heating chamber exit door motor hinge driving mechanism 15 shown in fig. 3, respectively, and in addition, the heating unit 10 may further include a heating temperature sensor 16 for monitoring the temperature in the heating chamber 11C in real time.

Preferably, the temperature of the heating chamber 11C may be maintained at 750 ℃.

For the above-mentioned buffer unit 20, in a preferred embodiment of the present utility model, referring to fig. 4, the buffer unit 20 may include:

a buffer housing 21 defining a buffer chamber 21C and buffer chamber inlets 21A and buffer chamber outlets 21B, the buffer chamber 21C for accommodating the wafer W to subject the wafer W to slow cooling;

a buffer chamber inlet door 22, the buffer chamber inlet door 22 being for opening or closing the buffer chamber inlet 21A;

a buffer chamber outlet door 23, said buffer chamber outlet door 23 for opening or closing said buffer chamber outlet 21B,

wherein the wafer W conveyed by the conveying unit 40 enters into the buffer chamber 21C via the buffer chamber inlet 21A and exits the buffer chamber 21C via the buffer chamber outlet 21B.

More specifically, for opening or closing of the buffer chamber inlet door 22 and the buffer chamber outlet door 23, it may be realized by a buffer chamber inlet door motor hinge driving mechanism 24 and a buffer chamber outlet door motor hinge driving mechanism 25 shown in fig. 4, respectively, and in addition, the buffer unit 20 may further include a buffer temperature sensor 26 for monitoring the temperature in the buffer chamber 21C in real time.

Preferably, the temperature in the buffer chamber 21C may be maintained at 600 ℃.

In the preferred embodiment of the present utility model, the buffer chamber 21C may also be used for operator access to troubleshoot the heating unit 10 and the rapid cooling unit 30, as is readily understood in connection with fig. 1. In this case, the buffer chamber 21C may preferably have a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a length of 1m, a width of 1m, and a height of 2 m.

Preferably, the buffer chamber 21C may also be used to purge the boat T with hydrogen chloride gas in the buffer chamber 21C in the event of contamination of the boat T, avoiding contamination of the boat T from entering the heating chamber 11C.

For the above-mentioned buffer unit 30, in a preferred embodiment of the present utility model, referring to fig. 5, the rapid cooling unit 30 may include:

a rapid cooling housing 31, wherein the rapid cooling housing 31 defines a rapid cooling chamber 31C, and a rapid cooling chamber inlet 31A and a rapid cooling chamber outlet 31B, and the rapid cooling chamber 31C is used for accommodating the wafer W so as to enable the wafer W to undergo rapid cooling;

a rapid cooling chamber inlet door 32, the rapid cooling chamber inlet door 32 being used to open or close the rapid cooling chamber inlet 31A;

a rapid cooling chamber outlet door 33, the rapid cooling chamber outlet door 33 for opening or closing the rapid cooling chamber outlet 31B,

wherein the wafer W conveyed by the conveying unit 40 enters the rapid cooling chamber 31C via the rapid cooling chamber inlet 31A and exits the rapid cooling chamber 31C via the rapid cooling chamber outlet 31B.

More specifically, for the opening or closing of the rapid cooling chamber entrance door 32 and the rapid cooling chamber exit door 33, it may be realized by a rapid cooling chamber entrance door motor hinge driving mechanism 34 and a rapid cooling chamber exit door motor hinge driving mechanism 35 shown in fig. 5, respectively, and in addition, the rapid cooling unit 30 may further include a rapid cooling temperature sensor 36 for monitoring the temperature in the rapid cooling chamber 31C in real time.

In a preferred embodiment of the utility model, see fig. 6, the device 1 may further comprise:

a housing 51 defining a receiving space 51C and a receiving space inlet 51A and a receiving space outlet 51B, the receiving space 51C for receiving the heating unit 10, the buffer unit 20, the rapid cooling unit 30, and the transfer unit 40;

a housing space entrance door 52, the housing space entrance door 52 being for opening or closing the housing space entrance 51A;

a housing outlet door 53, the housing outlet door 53 being for opening or closing the housing outlet 51B.

More specifically, for opening or closing of the accommodation space entrance door 52 and the accommodation space exit door 53, it may be realized by the accommodation space entrance door motor hinge driving mechanism 54 and the accommodation space exit door motor hinge driving mechanism 55 shown in fig. 6, respectively.

In addition, as shown in fig. 6, for example, in the case where the heating housing 11 and the buffer housing 21 are adjacent to each other, the heating chamber outlet 11B and the buffer chamber inlet 21A can be simultaneously opened and closed by a single door, and accordingly, the motor hinge driving mechanism for opening and closing the single door can be also single, whereby the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be saved.

In a preferred embodiment of the utility model, see fig. 6, the device 1 may further comprise:

a wafer loading stage 61, the wafer loading stage 61 being opposed to the accommodation space inlet 51A so that a wafer W placed on the wafer loading stage 61 is loaded into the interior of the accommodation space 51C via the accommodation space inlet 51A;

a wafer unloading stage 62, the wafer unloading stage 62 being opposite to the accommodation space outlet 51B so that the wafer W unloaded from the inside of the accommodation space 51C via the accommodation space outlet 51B is placed on the wafer unloading stage 62.

In a preferred embodiment of the utility model, see fig. 6, the device 1 may further comprise:

a first wafer transfer unit 71 provided inside the accommodation space 51C and for transferring the wafer W placed on the wafer loading stage 61 into the accommodation space 51C, more specifically, as shown in fig. 6, a first wafer transfer cassette P1 may be placed on the wafer loading stage 61 while the wafer W to be transferred is accommodated in the first wafer transfer cassette P1, so that the first wafer transfer unit 71 may take out the wafer W from the first wafer transfer cassette P1 and transfer it into the accommodation space 51C;

a second wafer transfer unit 72, the second wafer transfer unit 72 being disposed inside the accommodating space 51C and configured to transfer the wafer W of the accommodating space inside 51C to the wafer unloading stage 62, more specifically, as shown in fig. 6, a second wafer transfer cassette P2 may be placed on the wafer unloading stage 62, and the wafer W to be transferred may be transferred into the second wafer transfer cassette P2, so that the second wafer transfer unit 72 may transfer the wafer W from inside the accommodating space 51C to outside the accommodating space 51C and into the second wafer transfer cassette P2.

Furthermore, preferably, referring to fig. 6, the apparatus 1 may further include a heating air inlet device 81, a buffer air supply device 82, and a rapid cooling device 83, so as to supply, for example, a protective gas into the heating chamber 11C, the buffer chamber 21C, and the rapid cooling chamber 31C, respectively, to avoid unnecessary chemical reactions of the wafer W.

In a preferred embodiment of the present utility model, referring to fig. 7, the first wafer transfer unit 71 and the second wafer transfer unit 72 may each include:

a rotatable base 701;

a rotating arm 702 eccentrically hinged to the rotatable base 701;

a chuck arm 703 hinged to the end of the rotating arm 702 is formed with a vacuum hole 703H for vacuum-sucking the wafer W.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present utility model, and the present utility model is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions easily contemplated by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present utility model should be included in the present utility model. Therefore, the protection scope of the present utility model shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (10)

1. An apparatus for thermally processing a wafer, the apparatus comprising:

the heating unit is used for heating the wafer;

a buffer unit for slowly cooling the wafer subjected to heating to avoid breakage of the wafer;

a rapid cooling unit for rapidly cooling the wafer subjected to the slow cooling to improve the heat treatment efficiency;

and the conveying unit is used for conveying the wafer in a horizontal mode so that the wafer is subjected to heat treatment of the heating unit, the buffer unit and the rapid cooling unit in sequence.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transfer unit comprises:

a drive motor;

the transmission crawler belt is used for advancing under the drive of the transmission motor;

the wafer boat fixing device is fixedly arranged on the transmission track and is used for fixing the wafer boat bearing the wafer,

wherein the number of the driving tracks is two, so that the boat fixture, the boat, and the wafer, which are respectively transferred by the two driving tracks, can be transferred independently of each other.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heating unit comprises:

a heating housing defining a heating chamber and heating chamber inlet and heating chamber outlet for receiving the wafer to subject the wafer to heating;

a heating chamber access door for opening or closing the heating chamber access;

a heating chamber outlet door for opening or closing the heating chamber outlet,

wherein the wafer conveyed by the conveying unit enters the heating chamber via the heating chamber inlet and exits the heating chamber via the heating chamber outlet.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the buffer unit comprises:

the buffer shell is used for containing the wafer so as to enable the wafer to undergo slow cooling;

a buffer cavity entrance door for opening or closing the buffer cavity entrance;

a buffer chamber outlet door for opening or closing the buffer chamber outlet,

wherein the wafer transferred by the transfer unit enters the buffer chamber via the buffer chamber inlet and exits the buffer chamber via the buffer chamber outlet.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the buffer chamber is further used for operator access to troubleshoot the heating unit and the rapid cooling unit.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the rapid cooling unit comprises:

the rapid cooling shell is used for containing the wafer so as to enable the wafer to undergo rapid cooling, and the rapid cooling shell is provided with a rapid cooling cavity, a rapid cooling cavity inlet and a rapid cooling cavity outlet;

the rapid cooling cavity entrance door is used for opening or closing the rapid cooling cavity entrance;

a rapid cooling cavity outlet door for opening or closing the rapid cooling cavity outlet,

the wafer conveyed by the conveying unit enters the rapid cooling cavity through the rapid cooling cavity inlet and leaves the rapid cooling cavity through the rapid cooling cavity outlet.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the apparatus further comprises:

the shell is used for defining a containing space, a containing space inlet and a containing space outlet, and the containing space is used for containing the heating unit, the buffer unit, the rapid cooling unit and the conveying unit;

the accommodating space inlet door is used for opening or closing the accommodating space inlet;

the accommodating space outlet door is used for opening or closing the accommodating space outlet.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

the wafer loading platform is opposite to the accommodating space inlet so that a wafer placed on the wafer loading platform can be conveniently loaded into the accommodating space through the accommodating space inlet;

and the wafer unloading platform is opposite to the accommodating space outlet so that the wafer unloaded from the interior of the accommodating space through the accommodating space outlet is placed on the wafer unloading platform.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

the first wafer transfer unit is arranged in the accommodating space and is used for transferring the wafer placed on the wafer loading table into the accommodating space;

and the second wafer transfer unit is arranged in the accommodating space and is used for transferring the wafers in the accommodating space to the wafer unloading table.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first wafer transfer unit and the second wafer transfer unit each comprise:

a rotatable base;

a rotating arm eccentrically hinged to the rotatable base;

a chuck arm hinged to a distal end of the rotating arm, the chuck arm being formed with a vacuum hole for vacuum-sucking the wafer.

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