Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
  • H01L21/677—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
  • H01L21/67739—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations into and out of processing chamber
  • H01L21/67754—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations into and out of processing chamber horizontal transfer of a batch of workpieces
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
  • H01L21/68—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for positioning, orientation or alignment
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
  • H01L21/677—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
  • H01L21/67763—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading
  • H01L21/67769—Storage means
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10S414/00—Material or article handling
  • Y10S414/135—Associated with semiconductor wafer handling
  • Y10S414/141—Associated with semiconductor wafer handling includes means for gripping wafer

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a device for loading and unloading wafers of semiconductor materials such as silicon in chemical and thermal treatment equipment such as horizontal diffusion ovens.
• This invention is intended for the manufacturing industry of semiconductor components.
• the silicon wafers are conveyed in the clean rooms in plastic boxes containing twenty-five wafers arranged in a plastic cassette with twenty-five positions called basket, the different positions being materialized by grooves formed in the cassette.
• These silicon wafers are heat treated in horizontal ovens after transfer from the plastic cassette to nacelles made of thermally refractory material such as quartz and Silicon Carbide.
• nacelles made of thermally refractory material such as quartz and Silicon Carbide.
• These quartz or Silicon Carbide nacelles are placed manually on a Silicon Carbide cantilever in the form of a cantilever shovel, or bitubes. Six to eight pods of fifty plates are the normal load.
• control plates for evaluation of the thermal process must be placed on specific places of the nacelles and recovered after heat treatment for measurements. The operator places them on the cantilever manually despite the automatic loading by the lift.
• the load of the nacelles filled with silicon wafers and loaded on the cantilever must be supervised by nacelles with quartz or silicon carbide disc screens.
• the operator can return the platelets to the wrong baskets after treatment, which would not allow the batch to be monitored during the various stages of production. The same problem is posed with regard to the recovery of witnesses in relation to their position on the charge.
• the present invention aims to provide solutions to these drawbacks by proposing a new device integrating the loading and unloading of the load of the cantilever without human presence.
• the new device according to the invention for automatic loading and automatic unloading of a load to be treated in a heat treatment unit comprising at least one cantilever intended to receive the entire load to be treated, which load is made up by several charge elements physically independent of each other, said charge being able to be constituted by a set of silicon wafers arranged in batches, each charge element then being constituted by a wafer and said heat treatment unit being able to be constituted by at least a diffusion oven into which the cantilever enters and the load it carries, which then at this level is distributed in nacelles made of quartz or other suitable material, is essentially characterized in that it comprises an automatic multi-basket transfer equipment receiving on a reception area, the entire load to be treated, co consisting of several load elements, and ensuring the transfer from the reception area to the cantilever, of all of the load to be treated and possibly of false hair, screen charges and control elements and vice versa after heat treatment, transfer of the entire load treated to the reception area as well as the transfer, from the cantilever
• the operator before the cantilever loading operation begins, will be able to place on the receiving area all of the load to be treated, which at this precise location can be presented in several physically separate batches.
• each other consisting of several load elements arranged at a distance from each other in a suitable basket.
• the load at this precise location therefore consists of several removable baskets each containing several load elements.
• the user is therefore required to place on the reception area several baskets each containing several load elements.
• the baskets are made of a synthetic material which cannot withstand the temperature required by the heat treatment.
• the automatic transfer equipment first ensures the transfer of the load elements contained in the plastic baskets to the quartz pods and once each pod is full, the transfer from the latter to the cantilever.
• the supervisor unit comprises a flat screen of the touch type on which said unit displays different parameters as well as the various possible scenarios as regards the loading operation, each scenario defining in particular the positions of the nacelles, the number of wafers produced or hairpieces, the positions of the witness plates on the dedicated nacelles, the automatic loading of the nacelles screens.
• each scenario defining in particular the positions of the nacelles, the number of wafers produced or hairpieces, the positions of the witness plates on the dedicated nacelles, the automatic loading of the nacelles screens.
• the multi-basket automatic transfer equipment comprises:
• a multi-basket transfer station comprising the load reception area constituted by the upper face of a horizontal plate, on which the baskets are arranged in an orderly manner in precise locations, said area being designed to receive eight to twelve baskets which can each contain twenty-five load elements,
• a manipulator lift with a gripping head system electrically connected to the supervisor unit
• a manipulator lift with a gripping head system electrically connected to the supervisor unit
• an automatic multi-basket loading / unloading station electrically connected to the supervisor unit
• the load reception area of the multi-basket transfer station comprises several pairs of basket positioning means, materializing the different basket locations.
• the positioning means may be constituted by oblong slots made in the horizontal plate of the transfer station, designed to receive in the form of interlocking vertical positioning lips formed in the baskets.
• the loading elements of each basket are gripped by their sections by the automatic loading / unloading station.
• the automatic loading / unloading station captures the latter by their edges. This avoids any alteration of their large faces.
• This station allows the automatic transfer of eight to twelve baskets on nacelles loaded in order on the rotary support leading to full nacelle and empty nacelle.
• the witness plates are automatically placed on the positions of the nacelles defined by the scenario of the supervisor unit.
• the movement of the load during its transfer between the corresponding basket and the nacelle breaks down into a vertical upward movement of translation, followed by a horizontal movement of translation according to a higher level itself followed by a vertical downward movement of translation .
• This transfer movement thus broken down can be ensured by the loading / unloading station but according to a preferred embodiment at least the vertical transfer movement of the load elements from or to the basket is ensured by an auxiliary lifting member.
• this lifting member is placed under the horizontal plate of the transfer station and said plate in line with each basket has a through opening for passage of the lifting member while the basket does not have a bottom so that said member lifting can act pushing on the load elements while ensuring the maintenance of their relative position with respect to each other.
• a second lifting member is associated with the horizontal pivoting orientation support.
• This second lifting member is preferably placed under the horizontal support, the latter then being provided with a through opening for the passage of said member.
• each nacelle does not have a bottom to allow the passage of the lifting member so that the latter can come to act in thrust on the load elements while ensuring the maintenance of their relative position with respect to each other.
• At least one of the lifting members is movable in rotation by a quarter turn along a vertical axis.
• This arrangement is particularly advantageous since thanks to it it is now possible to greatly improve the ergonomics of the automatic transfer station. Indeed it is now possible to get rid of a transverse or longitudinal positioning of each basket imposed by the transfer movement of the loading / unloading station and / or by the movements of the lifting manipulator. It is now possible to position the baskets on the tray in the most ergonomic way for the user, thus reducing the operator's back movements to the bare essentials and reducing the risk of pathologies linked to poor back positions.
• the lifting manipulator is of the four-axis type and comprises a manipulating arm movable in a vertical direction and in two horizontal directions perpendicular to each other, said manipulating arm being equipped with the head gripping.
• this elevator is associated with temperature sensors, force detectors and a means for adjusting the positioning of the cantilever by laser sight.
• the automatic transfer station is equipped with an automatic device for orienting the plates contained in each basket, each plate having an orientation flat.
• This device housed under the tray of the automatic transfer station ensures the orientation of the wafers while the latter are still in their basket.
• This device is electrically connected to the supervisor unit and is controlled and controlled by the latter.
• the tray of the automatic transfer station is movable in a horizontal plane so that in combination with the movements of the loading / unloading station position in turn each basket within reach of said station.
• the baskets are arranged in rows and columns on the tray.
• the latter is mounted movable on horizontal guide rails in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the horizontal movement of the loading and unloading station.
• the baskets are arranged on the plate in a circle, in this case the plate is movable in rotation along a vertical axis passing through the center of the aforementioned circle.
• the position occupied by the user for loading the tray is angularly offset by ninety degrees relative to the lifting members.
• this loading position can then be an ergonomic position.
• the device is equipped with a set of sensors to check the normal progress of the transfer sequences.
• a temperature sensor checks the temperature of the cradles compatible with the plastic of the baskets.
• FIG. 1c shows a left side view of the device according to the invention.
• FIG. 1 d shows a top view of the device according to the invention.
• FIG. 2 and 3 show perspective views of the automatic transfer device of the wafers between the baskets and the nacelles.
• the direction X will represent the longitudinal direction of the device, Y the lateral direction and Z the vertical direction. These axes are clearly represented in FIG. 1a to 1 d.
• FIG. 1 a to 1 d is shown the device according to the invention for the automatic loading and automatic unloading of a load to be treated in a heat treatment unit constituted by a diffusion furnace 1 with several stages comprising several cantilevers intended for receive quartz nacelles containing all of the charge to be treated, which charge is constituted by several charging elements in this case silicon wafers initially installed in baskets 5 of synthetic material.
• the cantilever are each movable in X in order to put the wafers in the oven 1.
• This device includes an automatic multi-basket transfer equipment receiving on a reception area, the entire load to be treated, consisting of silicon wafers, arranged in plastic baskets and ensuring the transfer from the reception area to the cantilever, of all of the load to be treated and possibly of false hair, screen charges and control elements and vice versa after heat treatment, the transfer of the entire load processed to the reception area as well as the transfer, from the cantilever to their original locations, of screen loads and witness elements, the various transfer operations being carried out according to a predefined scenario and prerecorded in a memory of a multitasking supervisor unit, electrically connected to said transfer equipment, said unit ensuring the control and command of the various transfer operations at least.
• the plates initially contained in baskets 5 made of synthetic material must be transferred to nacelles 6 generally composed of quartz.
• the shapes of the baskets and baskets can be variable.
• the baskets can have a parallelepiped shape open on the upper part.
• the inner part of the baskets has notches for positioning and holding the pads.
• the nacelles can be in the form of a receptacle of curved shape holding the base of the plates in notches. All other forms of basket 7 and nacelles are of course conceivable.
• the baskets and the nacelles can contain twenty-five or fifty silicon wafers arranged in a row and spaced apart from each other by a few millimeters.
• the device further comprises:
• a multi-basket transfer station 3 comprising a load reception area constituted by the upper face of a horizontal plate 7, on which the basket baskets 5 are arranged in an orderly manner in precise locations, said area being provided to receive eight to twelve baskets which can each contain twenty-five load elements,
• One or more docks 14 for storing empty pods - One or more intelligent docks 15 for storing pods containing screen charges, these docks being placed within reach of the manipulator lift above the multi-basket automatic transfer station.
• the supervisor unit includes a touch screen flat screen on which said unit displays different parameters as well as the various possible scenarios for the loading operation, each scenario defining in particular the positions of the nacelles, the number of wafers produced or hairpieces, the positions of the witness plates on the dedicated nacelles, the automatic loading of the screens.
• each scenario defining in particular the positions of the nacelles, the number of wafers produced or hairpieces, the positions of the witness plates on the dedicated nacelles, the automatic loading of the screens.
• the user via the touch screen chooses the scenario and initiates multi-basket transfer operations.
• the supervisor unit for the loading operations of the cantilever 2 commands the elevator / manipulator 11 to pick up by its gripping head 17 an empty basket 6 in the corresponding dock 15 and to transport and place this basket on the pivoting support orientation 8. Then this unit controls the loading / unloading station 10 the removal of the entire batch of load element contained in one of the baskets 5 and the placing of this batch in the nacelle. Subsequently, if the capacity of the nacelle makes it possible to receive two batches of load elements, the supervisor unit controls the rotation by a half-turn and along a vertical geometric axis, of the horizontal orientation support 8 and then control of again at the loading / unloading station 10 picking up the entire batch of load element contained in another basket 5 and placing this batch in the nacelle.
• a nacelle 6 of greater capacity is loaded than the capacity of each basket.
• the supervisor unit controls the manipulator elevator 11 so that the latter can by its gripping head 17 grasp the nacelle 8 and then transport and place the latter on the cantilever 2.
• the supervisor unit also controls the manipulator elevator 11 so that the latter loads on the cantilever 2 screens nacelles. The previous steps are repeated until charging is complete.
• the cantilevers 2 then introduce the full nacelles into the oven 1.
• the nacelles are unloaded and the plates reintroduced into the cassettes according to the same cycle but in an inverted manner.
• the advantage of automating the loading loads of the cantilever and of controlling the movements of the various elements participating in the loading lies in the fact that the nacelles are arranged in a particularly precise manner on the cantilever which ensures the repetitiveness of the results.
• the supervisor unit can command and control the manipulator elevator 11 so that the latter accomplishes simultaneously and therefore in masked time, other tasks, for example loading on the cantilever screens nacelles.
• the tray 7 of the automatic transfer station 3 is movable in a horizontal plane so that, in combination with the movements of the loading / unloading station 10, each basket is positioned in turn within reach of said station.
• the tray 7 of the reception area of the multi-basket transfer station is arranged to simultaneously receive several baskets 5, for example eight to twelve and for this purpose according to a first embodiment, this tray has several locations in which the operator comes to arrange the baskets. These various locations are preferably materialized by several pairs of basket positioning means, materializing the different locations of the baskets.
• the positioning means may be constituted by oblong slots made in the horizontal plate of the transfer station. These lights are designed to receive in the form of interlocking vertical positioning lips formed in the baskets.
• the baskets 5 are arranged in rows and columns on the tray. In this case, the latter is mounted mobile on horizontal guide rails in the direction Y, this direction being perpendicular to the direction of the horizontal movement of the loading and unloading station 10.
• the baskets 5 are arranged on the plate 7 in a circle, in this case the plate is movable in rotation along a vertical axis passing through the center of the aforementioned circle.
• the position occupied by the user for loading the tray is angularly offset by ninety degrees relative to the lifting members.
• the orientation of the basket when the latter is located above one or the other lifting element is offset by ninety degrees relative to that which it has when it is loaded on the tray.
• this loading position can then be an ergonomic position.
• the movement of the load elements 4 during their transfer between the corresponding basket 5 and the nacelle is broken down into an upward vertical movement of translation, followed by a horizontal movement of translation according to a higher level itself followed by a vertical movement translation descendant.
• This transfer movement thus broken down can be ensured by the loading / unloading station but according to a preferred embodiment at least the vertical movement of translation of the load elements from or to the basket is ensured by a lifting member 9 movable vertically .
• this lifting member 9 is disposed under the horizontal plate 7 of the transfer station 3 and said plate in line with each basket has a through opening for passage of the lifting member while the basket 5 does not have a bottom so that said lifting member can come to act in pushing on the load elements 4 while ensuring the maintenance of their relative position with respect to each other.
• the purpose of this lifting member is to bring the load of platelets contained in the basket to a height level at which it can be gripped by the loading / unloading station 10.
• a second lifting member is associated with the horizontal pivoting support of orientation 8.
• this second lifting member ensures the vertical movement of the load elements towards or from the nacelle, and is arranged under the horizontal support, the latter then being provided a through opening for the passage of said member.
• each nacelle does not have a bottom to allow the passage of the lifting member so that the latter can come to act in thrust on the load elements while ensuring the maintenance of their relative position with respect to each other.
• at least one of the lifting members is movable in rotation according to a quarter turn along a vertical axis, namely the Z axis.
• This arrangement is particularly advantageous since thanks to it it is now possible to greatly improve the ergonomics of the automatic transfer station. Indeed it is now possible to get rid of a transverse or longitudinal positioning of each basket 5 imposed by the transfer movement from the loading / unloading station 10 and / or by the movements of the lifting manipulator 11. It is now possible to position the baskets on the plate 7 in the most ergonomic manner for the user, thus reducing the movements operator's backbones as strictly necessary and the risks of pathologies linked to poor backbone positions are reduced.
• the lifting member 9 is constituted by two horizontal pushers 13 and 13 'spaced apart from each other provided with slots for holding the plates, said pushers being fixed to the same support structure a motor element electrically connected to the supervisor unit.
• the automatic transfer station 10 is equipped with an automatic device for orienting the wafers contained in each basket, each wafer comprising an orientation flat.
• This device housed under the tray of the automatic transfer station ensures the orientation of the plates while the latter are still in their basket.
• This device is electrically connected to the supervisor unit and is controlled and controlled by the latter.
• the loading / unloading station 10 is movable horizontally along the X axis and vertically along the Z axis.
• This station is equipped with a device for gripping and holding the wafers during transfer, consisting of two jaws 12 and 12 ' each driven by an opposite rotational movement and coming to tighten the base of the series of basket plates by their edges.
• the jaws 12 and 12 'each have slots for positioning the pads.
• the horizontal pivoting orientation support 8 receives the nacelles to be filled to be treated or the nacelles to be unloaded.
• the support 8 is rotatably mounted around a Z-axis and has at least two locations which are alternately present in the loading or unloading position by the unloading loading station 10.
• the lifting manipulator 11 is of the four-axis type and comprises a manipulating arm movable in a vertical direction and in two directions horizontal perpendicular to each other, said manipulator arm being equipped with the gripping head 17.
• the manipulator arm is mounted vertically movable on a vertical guide column which is itself mounted movable by at least one its ends on a horizontal guide rail extending in the direction X.
• the arm extends in the direction Y and is for example shaped telescopically to be movable in the direction Y.
• the gripping head 17 is mounted at the end of the arm and is arranged to come and grasp the different nacelles from below for transport.
• the gripping head is positioned under the nacelle, lifts it from its support, disengages from the device along the Y axis, and moves it from one position to another.
• This elevator is associated with temperature sensors, force detectors and a means of adjusting the positioning of the cantilever using a laser scope.
• the device is equipped with a set of sensors to check the normal course of the transfer sequences.
• a temperature sensor checks the temperature of the cradles compatible with the plastic of the baskets.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Container, Conveyance, Adherence, Positioning, Of Wafer (AREA)
• Crystals, And After-Treatments Of Crystals (AREA)

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• 2001
  • 2001-05-14 FR FR0106756A patent/FR2824543B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2002
  • 2002-05-14 CN CNB028135970A patent/CN1295744C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2002-05-14 KR KR10-2003-7014784A patent/KR20040012825A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-05-14 EP EP02730403A patent/EP1388163A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2002-05-14 US US10/477,425 patent/US7326021B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2002-05-14 JP JP2002590393A patent/JP2004531890A/ja active Pending
  • 2002-05-14 WO PCT/FR2002/001619 patent/WO2002093617A2/fr not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-05-14 AU AU2002302725A patent/AU2002302725A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2004
  • 2004-12-31 HK HK04110395A patent/HK1067787A1/xx not_active IP Right Cessation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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