IL256289A - Wafer aligning assembly - Google Patents
Wafer aligning assemblyInfo
- Publication number
- IL256289A IL256289A IL256289A IL25628917A IL256289A IL 256289 A IL256289 A IL 256289A IL 256289 A IL256289 A IL 256289A IL 25628917 A IL25628917 A IL 25628917A IL 256289 A IL256289 A IL 256289A
- Authority
- IL
- Israel
- Prior art keywords
- wafer
- lever
- pushing mechanism
- assembly
- movement
- Prior art date
Links
- 230000033001 locomotion Effects 0.000 claims description 60
- 230000007246 mechanism Effects 0.000 claims description 59
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 claims description 16
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 claims description 10
- 238000006073 displacement reaction Methods 0.000 claims description 6
- 230000001360 synchronised effect Effects 0.000 claims description 5
- 238000005259 measurement Methods 0.000 description 8
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 description 8
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 5
- 230000004913 activation Effects 0.000 description 3
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000003287 optical effect Effects 0.000 description 3
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 description 3
- 238000012546 transfer Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000009471 action Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000003213 activating effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000003139 buffering effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 239000012530 fluid Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000007689 inspection Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000000630 rising effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000013519 translation Methods 0.000 description 2
- XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicon Chemical compound [Si] XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 238000003491 array Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000001514 detection method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000005484 gravity Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000003993 interaction Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000003550 marker Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000011084 recovery Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000011664 signaling Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 description 1
Classifications
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- 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
- H01L21/682—Mask-wafer alignment
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- 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
- H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
- H01L21/50—Assembly of semiconductor devices using processes or apparatus not provided for in a single one of the subgroups H01L21/06 - H01L21/326, e.g. sealing of a cap to a base of a container
- H01L21/52—Mounting semiconductor bodies in containers
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- 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
- H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/67242—Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking
- H01L21/67259—Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection
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- 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
- H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/67242—Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking
- H01L21/67276—Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput
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- 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
- H01L21/683—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 supporting or gripping
- H01L21/687—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 supporting or gripping using mechanical means, e.g. chucks, clamps or pinches
- H01L21/68707—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 supporting or gripping using mechanical means, e.g. chucks, clamps or pinches the wafers being placed on a robot blade, or gripped by a gripper for conveyance
Landscapes
- 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)
- Robotics (AREA)
- Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
- Container, Conveyance, Adherence, Positioning, Of Wafer (AREA)
Description
256289/2 WAFER ALIGNING ASSEMBLY TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD The present invention provides an article aligning assembly for handling articles while in manufacturing equipment. The invention is particularly useful in the semiconductor industry for wafer handling during processing by a semiconductor processing tools’ arrangement.
BACKGROUND In many types of semiconductor processing tools (e.g. manufacturing, metrology inspection, etc.), it is very important to align the semiconductor wafer with respect to internal positioning. Such alignment usually requires defining of two main parameters: wafer orientation and wafer center displacement. Wafer orientation is usually defined with the help of a marker on the wafer, such as a flat or a notch, which is oriented to certain crystallographic axes on the silicon substrate.
Various wafer handling mechanisms are described for example in US 6,038,029; US 6,964,276 and US 6,860,790, all assigned to the assignee of the present application.
For example, a wafer handling system, suitable to be used with an integrated metrology tool, is associated with a robot (or robot arm, e.g. vacuum gripper) which brings a wafer to the handling system.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION There is a need in the art for a novel article aligning assembly. The present invention is mainly aimed for use in the semiconductor industry for the wafer handling procedure, and is therefore described below with respect to this specific application. It should, however, be understood that the principles of the invention are not limited to this specific application, and the term “wafer” used herein should be interpreted broadly covering any article / structure / substrate. As described above, the wafer handling system is associated with automated mechanical manipulators or robots. The robot picks up a 256289/2 wafer and places the wafer at various locations within the semiconductor processing equipment. Wafer movement within the processing equipment is based on the assumption that the wafer is centered as the wafer is moved from one location to another. The position of the wafer can be shifted due to movement in any module of the processing equipment.
This might even result in wafer breakage and/or wafer misplacement.
Therefore, an important factor in semiconductor processing (metrology) tools performance is to ensure that the substrate or wafer is properly centered before and during the performance of processing (measuring) steps on said wafer. This is because decentering of the wafer might impede or make it impossible to find the flat/notch. In such cases, the wafer may not be measured (processed) at all, or wafer misplacement causes frequent notch finder retry, being a time consuming procedure. Metrology systems perform measurements on a plurality of pre-defined measurement sites on the wafer. This requires system “navigation” into these sites on the wafer being measured, and wafer decentering (even if the flat/notch is found) may disturb the navigating process, resulting in that navigating requires more time (due to retry), or, in certain cases, even making navigation is impossible.
The novel wafer aligning assembly of the present invention is an active assembly which is a pure mechanical mechanism and enables to reduce notch errors, as well as the wafer orientation error. These errors are usually induced by the wafer movement within the processing equipment performed by a robot creating an inaccurate location of the wafer on the supporting elements of the wafer handling system. Also, the active wafer aligning mechanical mechanism of the present invention improves repeatability of the wafer placement.
According to a broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wafer aligning mechanism for use in a wafer’s handling system, configured to control a wafer’s correct position in a holding site defined by a plurality of wafer’s supporting elements holding the wafer at an external surface thereof before transferring the wafer onto a gripper. The wafer aligning assembly comprises a wafer pushing mechanism with a predetermined range of operation movement in the plane of the wafer, such that when the wafer is in the correct position in the holding site, the wafer pushing mechanism does not make contact with the wafer, and when the wafer is not in the correct position in the holding site, the pushing mechanism interacts with an edge portion of the wafer, pushing 256289/2 the wafer into the correct position thereof. Operation of the pushing mechanism is synchronized with the gripper movement.
The term "wafer's handling system" will refer hereinbelow to a handling system suitable for use in a metrology / measurement system. The novel active wafer aligning mechanism of the present invention may be mounted on (e.g. integrated to) any commercially available integrated metrology tools such as NovaScan 3090, NovaScan 3090 Next, Nova i500, Nova i500Plus, (commercially available from Nova Measuring Instruments, Ltd., Israel).
In some embodiments, the pushing mechanism comprises a lever configured for pivotal movement about a horizontal pivot axis from a back to a front position and vice versa. The lever may have a front facet configured with a curved external surface such that when the wafer is not in the correct position in the holding site, the curved external surface of the lever during the pivotal movement interacts with an edge portion of the wafer, pushing the wafer into the correct position thereof.
In some embodiments, when the wafer is in the correct position in the holding site, the lever can “freely” pivotally move from back to front position thereof without interaction with the wafer’s edge.
In some embodiments, the pushing mechanism is configured to be mounted on a metrology system, wherein the front position is at the holding site's plane.
In some embodiments, the pushing mechanism is pneumatically operated. The pushing mechanism comprises a driving module connected to the lever, and is configured to selectively pivotally displace the lever from its back position to its front position and vice versa. The driving module may be configured also for operating the gripper.
In some embodiments, the wafer aligning assembly comprises a sensor configured for monitoring an operation movement of the pushing mechanism. The wafer aligning assembly may comprise a control unit connected to the sensor and configured for receiving a signal from the sensor indicative of the operation movement of the pushing mechanism. The control unit may be configured for monitoring a period of time defined by the range of operation movement of the pushing mechanism and/or a period of time defined by displacement of the lever from its back position to its front position and vice versa. The control unit may be configured for stopping operation of the gripper when the period of time is above a certain threshold. 256289/2 According to another broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wafer's handling system comprising a plurality of wafer’s supporting elements configured for holding a wafer at an external surface thereof thereby defining a holding site before transferring the wafer onto a gripper, a gripper for holding the wafer during a wafer processing, and a wafer aligning assembly being configured and operable to control a wafer’s correct position in the holding site; wherein the wafer aligning assembly comprises a wafer pushing mechanism with a predetermined range of operation movement in the plane of the wafer, such that when the wafer is in the correct position in the holding site, the wafer pushing mechanism is not in contact the wafer, and when the wafer is not in the correct position in the holding site, the pushing mechanism interacts with an edge portion of the wafer, pushing the wafer into the correct position thereof, wherein operation of the pushing mechanism is synchronized with the gripper movement.
The pushing mechanism may be configured as described above.
In some embodiments, the wafer's handling system comprises a sensor configured for monitoring an operation movement of the pushing mechanism.
In some embodiments, the wafer's handling system comprises a control unit connected to the sensor and configured for receiving a signal from the sensor indicative of the operation movement of the pushing mechanism. The control unit may be configured for monitoring a period of time defined by the range of operation movement of the pushing mechanism and/or a period of time defined by displacement of the lever from its back position to its front position and vice versa. The control unit may be configured for stopping operation of the gripper when the period of time is above a certain threshold.
According to another broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for centering a wafer in an wafer’s handling system, the method comprising activating a wafer pushing mechanism at a predetermined range of operation movement in the plane of the wafer, such that when the wafer is in the correct position in a holding site, the wafer pushing mechanism is not in contact with the wafer, and when the wafer is not in the correct position in the holding site, the pusher assembly interacts with an edge portion of the wafer pushing the wafer into the correct position thereof, and synchronizing operation of the pushing mechanism with the gripper movement. 256289/2 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order to better understand the subject matter that is disclosed herein and to exemplify how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1A illustrates a general configuration and operation of a wafer handling system suitable for use in a metrology / measurement system; Figs. 1B-1C are schematic simplified side views of the wafer aligning assembly of the present invention when the wafer is in an accurate position (Fig. 1B) and when the wafer is misplaced (Fig. 1C); Fig. 1D is a schematic simplified side view of a lever of the wafer aligning assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention; Figs. 2A-2B are top views of a wafer handling unit (system) of a wafer's processing (measurement) system on which the wafer aligning assembly of the present invention is mounted when the wafer is in an inaccurate position and in an accurate position respectively; Figs. 3A-3D illustrate partial different views of the wafer aligning assembly of the present invention; in particular, Fig. 3A shows a back view of the wafer aligning assembly; Figs. 3B-3C show a side view of the same; Fig. 3D shows an enlarged side view of the back portion of the lever; Fig. 4A is a schematic simplified side view of the wafer aligning assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention; and Fig. 4B is an exploded picture of an example of pipeline routing between the driving module and the air supply of a gripper.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Fig. 1A schematically illustrates the general configuration and operation of a wafer handling unit (system) or handler 10 suitable for use in a metrology / measurement system, e.g. integrated metrology system. The wafer handling system 10 is configured generally similar to the system described in the above-indicated US Patent No. 6,964,276, assigned to the assignee of the present application. 256289/2 The wafer handling system 10 includes a gripper 12 (e.g. vacuum gripper) holding the wafer. Gripper 12 is rotatable (as indicated by arrow 15) and is movable along vertical axis 17. To this end, gripper 12 may be mounted on a linear drive for translation along vertical axis 17. System 10 includes a bottom (lower) buffering unit 16, which is located above the gripper 12 and includes supporting element(s) 34 for supporting a wafer W, and may include a top (upper) buffering unit 22 including wafer supporting elements 24.
Wafer supporting elements 34 are preferably stationary and are respectively provided with two differently inclined sloped portions 34A and 34B. As also shown in the figure, the wafer handling system 10 may be part of an integrated measuring/metrology system 28, including an optical window 30 for optical inspection or measuring the wafer being held.
As further shown in Fig. 1A, the wafer handling system 10 according to the invention further includes a wafer aligning unit/assembly 100. As will be described more specifically further below, the wafer aligning assembly 100 is configured and operable to control the correct position of the wafer in a holding site defined by the supporting elements 34, by selectively pushing the wafer towards the correct position. As illustrated in the figure, wafer aligning assembly 100 is placed on the front of the wafer's handling system 10 preferably equidistantly from the front supporting members 34.
As will be described further below, the wafer aligning assembly 100 is configured for movement from its initial position, being a back or retracted position with respect to a holding site to a final position which is a front or extracted position, such that while moving into its final position it is in physical contact with the wafer at its periphery (edge portion) and effects a pushing action on the wafer only when the wafer is in the incorrect position, and is not in contact with the wafer in cases where it is initially brought by the robot (robotic arm) into the correct position. As also will be described further below, operation of the wafer aligning assembly (i.e. the pushing action) is synchronized with the movement of the gripper.
Typically the different processing steps (e.g. measurements) of the wafer handling system are performed on wafer W while handled by gripper 12. Wafer W is typically brought to the wafer's handling system 10 via a robot (robotic arm - not shown) to bottom supporting elements 34. Wafer's handling system 10 controls that wafer W is placed on bottom supporting elements 34. Gripper 12 moves up and takes wafer W from bottom 256289/2 supporting elements 34. Further, wafer W is measured while kept by gripper 12. After completing the processing (measuring) step(s), gripper 12 transfers wafer W to the top supporting elements 24. In order to be able to transfer wafer W to top supporting elements 24, they move outwards (keep away from each other) to enable vacuum gripper 12 to move up wafer W therebetween. Following this, the top supporting elements 24 move inward, gripper 12 is lowered, and wafer W is then loaded onto top supporting elements 24. The robotic arm further will grip wafer W from top supporting elements 24 to exit wafer's handling system 10.
Gripper 12 may have on its surface, which faces wafer W, holes or sticker-like regions, which, when in contact with the surface of wafer W at respective surface regions, adhere to it by suction. Gripper 12 may be a vacuum gripper of the type described for example in Israeli patent application number 160297 assigned to the same assignee of the present patent application. Bottom supporting elements 34 are preferably stationary and have two differently sloped (inclined) portions 34A and 34B (i.e. stop). If the wafer W is not in an accurate position in the holding site, as the wafer aligning assembly 100 moves wafer W towards the correct position, wafer W slides on sloped portion 34A till it abuts against the more vertical (stop) portion 34B of supporting elements 34 and is centered.
Figs. 1B-1C show a schematic simplified view of the wafer aligning assembly 100 configured to control a wafer’s correct position. Wafer aligning assembly 100 comprises inter alia a wafer pushing mechanism 120 having a predetermined range of operation movement in the plane of the wafer denoted as P. The wafer is supported by a plurality of wafer’s supporting elements (34 of Fig. 1A) defining a holding site H and holding the wafer at an external surface thereof. Wafer pushing mechanism 120 may be of a lever- type assembly and may comprise a lever configured for pivotal movement about a horizontal pivot axis A between a back position B and a front position F, as illustrated by the dashed position in the figure. When the wafer pushing mechanism 120 is not actuated, the lever is in the normally-back B position. Upon actuation of the wafer pushing mechanism 120, the lever moves / pivots into the operative front position F, and is then released back to the retracted back B position.
The lever is thus configured for pivotal movement about a horizontal pivot axis from back to front position and vice versa. It should be noted that the wafer aligning assembly 100 is configured such that the range of the motion of the lever in the horizontal 256289/2 plane (wafer’s plane) is limited. This range can be appropriately adjusted by fitting an adjusting screw, as will be described below with respect to Figs. 3B-3C. As illustrated in the figure, when the wafer is in an accurate position on the holding site H, the wafer’s edge is outside the motion range of the lever, and thus the lever while moving from the back to front position, is not in contact with wafer W.
As illustrated in Fig. 1C by a solid line, wafer W may be in an incorrect position in holding site H, typically due to robot inaccuracy. As described above, the robot transfers the wafer and loads it onto the wafer’ supporting elements 34 of Fig. 1A. The elements 34 have slopes, and ideally the wafer W should “slide” into centered correct position in the holding site H by gravity. However, if the robot puts the wafer W in an inaccurate position, because of the light weight of the wafer W, the wafer W might stay in such an inaccurate position. Typically this may occur when wafer W is not “inserted” completely into the holding site H (is displaced in a direction towards the front side of the system).
It should be understood that the term “front side” refers to a side wherefrom the wafer is entered into the handling system by the robot. Hence, in the incorrect position of the wafer, the wafer’s edge projects from the holding site towards the front of the system, and the lever pushes the wafer for an “inward” movement of the wafer towards the “back” side of the system to be properly centered in the holding site. More specifically, when operated, the lever of the pushing mechanism 120 interacts with an edge portion of wafer W, pushing wafer W to move inwardly into the correct position thereof. As the wafer W moves inwardly, W abuts against the stopping lugs or slopes 34A of supporting elements 34 and is thus centered. More specifically, the front facet 110 of the lever is operated and is displaced from its back position B to its front position F displacing the wafer W inward as shown by arrow I. In this way, wafer W is pushed and centered at an accurate/correct position in the holding site.
The dimensions of the lever and the angular movement of the lever when moving between the back and front positions are appropriately selected such that front facet/surface 110 of lever 120 (by which it faces the holding site) pushes the wafer inward when the wafer is not in an accurate position. After operating of pushing mechanism 120, the wafer is brought into the correct position, as illustrated by the dashed line. 256289/2 As shown in the example of Figs. 1B-1C, the front facet 110 of the lever may be planar or substantially planar. Fig. 1D shows a side view of the front facet 110 of the lever of another example, in which the facet 110 is not planar, but is an irregularly (e.g. cam-like) curved surface. As shown in the figure, the geometrical shape of such a curved facet 110 could define an eccentric portion being inclined at a certain angle, having a bulge profile configured for pushing the wafer inward. The irregularly (e.g. cam-like) curved surface of the front facet 110 of the lever enables a smooth displacement of the wafer (e.g. semiconductor wafer) inwardly.
Figs. 2A-2B show a top view of the wafer handling unit (system) or handler 10 with the wafer aligning assembly 100. The wafer W is held by the arrays of supporting elements (whether 24 or 34 in Fig. 1A) in its bottom and top position respectively – each such array including a plurality of supporting elements holding the wafer at spaced-apart circumferential regions thereof. In the figure, four such top supporting elements 24 are shown. The wafer W is in its bottom position and is held by the bottom supporting elements 34 (not seen in the figure) defining a holding site hidden below. The wafer aligning assembly 100 is placed at the plane defined by the bottom supporting elements (i.e. substantially same height region) preferably on the front face of the wafer's handling system 10. In this connection, it should be noted that the novel wafer aligning assembly 100 of the present invention can be used with any existing wafer's processing (measurement) system/tool. In particular, the novel wafer aligning assembly 100 may be mounted on the existing handlers of NovaScan 3090 Next tool, Nova i500, (commercially available from Nova Measuring Instruments, Ltd., Israel). The novel wafer aligning assembly 100 is configured such that the power for operating the wafer aligning assembly 100 is received from the current handler’s power inputs. Moreover, the power consumption of the wafer aligning assembly 100 does not require to change existing power consumption system and cables. It should be noted that the wafer aligning assembly 100 of the present invention is preferably purely mechanical, made by using mechanical elements only, providing an accurate, reliable and simple solution to wafer misalignment problems.
In the example of Fig. 2A, wafer W is in an “inaccurate” position on the holding site in the plane of the bottom supporting elements (not shown). In the figure, the wafer W is represented in its two positions, before and after actuation of the wafer aligning 256289/2 assembly 100: the solid line shows the wafer in an inaccurate position before actuation of wafer aligning assembly 100, while the dashed line shows the wafer being brought into (moved towards) an accurate position after actuation of wafer aligning assembly 100 in which the front facet 110 of the lever interacts with the wafer’s edge and pushes wafer W into its accurate position on the holding site.
In Fig. 2B (which is an enlarged partial view of elements in Fig. 2A), wafer W is in the accurate position being held by the bottom supporting elements (not shown). Here, a distance D between the lever and the wafer’s edge is larger than the top limit of the range of lever movement (in the wafer’s plane). In such a case, the lever “freely” pivots, such that the front facet 110 of the lever (which is being operated for movement from the back to front position of the lever) is not in contact with the external surface of wafer W.
Reference is made to Figs. 3A-3C more specifically illustrating an example of the configuration and operation of the wafer aligning assembly 100 (lever mechanism) of the present invention.
Fig. 3A shows a back view of the wafer aligning assembly 100 comprising a lever 102 configured for pivotal movement about a (horizontal) pivot axis A from a back position B to a front position F and vice versa and having a front facet 110. In Figs. 3A- 3C, the back non-actuated position of the lever is represented. The pivot axis A passes through a pivot point at an intermediate portion of the lever. As indicated above, the wafer aligning assembly 100 is configured such that the range of the motion of the lever is limited and can be adjusted. The range of horizontal movement (in the plane of the wafer) is defined by a relatively small angular range of pivotal movement. This range can be adjusted by providing an adjustment mechanism (e.g. screw) 116 which, when fixed, restricts the angular (pivotal) movement of the lever.
As shown in the present specific but not limiting example of Fig. 3B, the configuration is such that the alignment assembly 100 and adjustment mechanism 116 are coupled to / supported by a common support frame 113, such that the pivot axis A of the lever (which passes through the pivot point on the lever), is fixed to a portion of the frame, and adjustment mechanism 116 includes a screw which is mounted at a position / location on the frame in a plane P of pivotal movement of the lever 102 below the pivotal axis A, such that a screw-thread adjustment axis is perpendicular to the pivotal axis. More specifically, the pivotal axis A passes through a location at an upper portion 113A of the 256289/2 frame and the adjustment axis – at a lower portion 113B of the frame. The screw 116 movement, between its closed and various opened (threaded) positions along the adjustment axis, defines a range of movement of the bottom portion of the lever, and in such a way defines the max range of the top portion of the lever, i.e. operational range of the pushing mechanism. Fig. 3B also partially shows a driving module, generally designated as 104 which is configured and operable for actuating (driving the movement of) both the gripper and the lever 102. Such a driving module is preferably implemented as a pneumatic module.
Fig. 3C shows the same side view as Fig. 3B with a semitransparent frame to enable to show the internal part of wafer aligning assembly 100. The lever can pivot about a horizontal pivot axis A and may be driven by a driving module including inter alia a pneumatic cylinder 114. Upon actuation of the cylinder 114, the lower end portion 112 of the lever is moved between predetermined positions in which the lever is pivotally rotated around axis A from its back position to its front position.
In some embodiments, wafer aligning assembly 100 may be activated together with the activation of gripper 12 such that the lever 112 will not damage wafer W during processing or unload of wafer W. During activation of wafer aligning assembly 100, vacuum gripper 12 moves up at a certain height below wafer W and is not in contact with wafer W. After operation of the wafer aligning assembly, vacuum gripper 12 moves up to securely hold wafer W. Gripper 12 may thus be mounted on a linear drive for translation along vertical axis 14 and may be pneumatically activated. In this case, pneumatic cylinder 114 may be connected to the same pneumatic pipeline actuating vacuum gripper 12, such that each time the gripper 12 is pneumatically activated to move up, the wafer aligning assembly 100 is rapidly activated to push the wafer to the center of the holding site H and is released back to its lever’s initial back position. Pneumatic cylinder 114 may receive a short pulse of air parallel to the pulse or pressure of air aimed at moving up vacuum gripper 12. In this way, in case of mechanical failure, the wafer loaded on the vacuum gripper will not be damaged. For example, the time period of the motion of the wafer aligning assembly 100 forwards and backwards (push and release time) is about 100msec. The wafer aligning assembly 100 is configured such that the air consumption of the wafer aligning assembly 100 does not affect the gripper motion. The pneumatic cylinder may obtain pulses e.g. from the pneumatic logic module (being a 256289/2 purely pneumatic based module) that convert any pneumatic input, (slow rising or sharp) to a momentary output (e.g. by using commercially available KLG-121 (brown spool).
Fig. 3D shows an enlarged side view of the front facet 110 of the lever having an irregularly (e.g. cam-like) curved external surface of its top portion. As shown in the figure, the geometrical shape of the front facet 110 defines an eccentric portion being inclined at a certain angle, having a bulge profile configured for pushing the wafer inward during operation.
Reference is made to Fig. 4A showing a schematic simplified view of the wafer aligning assembly 200 according to other embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, wafer aligning assembly 200 can include sensors, control unit, mounting plate, indicators or a reset button as detailed below. Sensor 140 is configured and operable for controlling movement of the lever, and detection of lever back position (movement) may be added for safety. Preferably, an optical sensor with no moving parts, and thus increased reliability, may be used.
Wafer aligning assembly 200 may also comprise sensor 142 configured for controlling movement of the gripper 12 of Fig. 1A. All the moving parts and sensors of the wafer aligning assembly 200 may be connected to control unit 130 which controls all movements with the help of appropriate updatable software. Control unit 130 is connected to sensors 140 and 142 and may be configured to stop operation of the gripper 12 if the lever has been displaced and has not been released in its back position after a certain time period.
For example, control unit 130 will stop the motion of gripper 12 in case the lever is not be fully released over a period of about 800msec. Wafer aligning assembly 200 may also comprise a safety indicator 144 (e.g. LED) signaling an error in operation of the wafer pushing mechanism 120 and/or a reset button 146 for resetting the operation of the wafer pushing mechanism 120. Activation of reset button 146 clears safety indicator 144 and re-connects controlled signals. If control unit 130 receives an error signal from sensor 140, control unit 130 disconnects sensor 142 and activates safety indicator 144 that will be changed for example to red from green. Recovery will be enabled when signal communication is re-established by resetting the control unit error switch.
Fig. 4B shows a picture of an exploded (not assembled) driving module 104 according to some embodiments of the present invention. Driving module 104 is 256289/2 configured as a pneumatic module including a pneumatic logic impulse element 106 capable of converting any pneumatic input, slow rising or sharp to a momentary output and an actuated pneumatic cylinder in fluid communication with pneumatic logic impulse element 106 via an air pipeline 104A. In a specific and non-limiting example, actuated pneumatic cylinder 114 may be of the type EZH-2.5/9-10-B of Festo and pneumatic logic impulse element 106 may be of the type Bachman Valve Co. Klg-121. In some embodiments, driving module 104 also comprises an air pipeline 104B in fluid communication with pneumatic logic impulse element 106 connected to a pneumatic structure activating vacuum gripper 12.
Claims (21)
1. A wafer aligning assembly for use in a wafer’s handling system and being configured to control a wafer’s correct position in a holding site defined by a plurality of wafer’s supporting elements holding the wafer at an external surface thereof before 5 transferring the wafer onto a gripper; said wafer aligning assembly comprising: a wafer pushing mechanism with a predetermined range of operation movement in the plane of the wafer such that when the wafer is in the correct position in the holding site, the wafer pushing mechanism is not in contact with the wafer, and when the wafer is not in the correct position in the holding site, the pushing mechanism interacts with an 10 edge portion of the wafer, pushing the wafer into the correct position thereof; a pneumatic system configured and operable for actuation of the operation movement of the pushing mechanism and for actuation of the gripper movement, to provide that the operation of the pushing mechanism and the gripper are synchronized.
2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said pushing mechanism comprises a lever 15 configured for pivotal movement about an horizontal pivot axis, from a back to a front position and vice versa.
3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein said lever has a front facet configured with a curved external surface such that when the wafer is not in the correct position in the holding site, said curved external surface of the lever during the pivotal movement 20 interacts with an edge portion of the wafer, pushing the wafer into the correct position thereof.
4. The assembly of claim 2 or 3, wherein when the wafer is in the correct position in the holding site, the lever is freely pivotal from a back to a front position thereof.
5. The assembly of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said pushing mechanism is 25 configured to be mounted on a metrology system, wherein said front position is at the holding site's plane.
6. The assembly of any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein said pneumatic system is connected to said lever, and is configured to selectively pivotally displace said lever from its back position to its front position. 30
7. The assembly of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a sensor configured for monitoring an operation movement of the pushing mechanism. 256289/2 - 15 -
8. The assembly of claim 7, further comprising a control unit connected to said sensor and configured for receiving a signal from said sensor indicative of the operation movement of said pushing mechanism.
9. The assembly of claim 8, wherein said control unit is configured for monitoring a 5 period of time defined by the range of operation movement of said pushing mechanism.
10. The assembly of claim 9, wherein said control unit is configured for monitoring a period of time defined by displacement of said lever from its back position to its front position and vice versa.
11. The assembly of any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein said control unit is configured 10 for stopping operation of the gripper when said period of time is above a certain threshold.
12. A wafer's handling system comprising: a plurality of wafer’s supporting elements configured for holding a wafer at an external surface thereof thereby defining a holding site before transferring the wafer onto a gripper; 15 a gripper for holding the wafer during a wafer processing; and a wafer aligning assembly being configured and operable to control a wafer’s correct position in the holding site; wherein said wafer aligning assembly comprises a wafer pushing mechanism with a predetermined range of operation movement in the plane of the wafer such that when the wafer is in the correct position in the holding site, the wafer 20 pushing mechanism is not in contact with the wafer, and when the wafer is not in the correct position in the holding site, the pushing mechanism interacts with an edge portion of the wafer, pushing the wafer into the correct position thereof; a pneumatic system configured and operable for actuation of the operation movement of the pushing mechanism and for actuation of the gripper movement, to provide that the 25 operation of the pushing mechanism and the gripper are synchronized.
13. The wafer's handling system of claim 12, wherein said pushing mechanism comprises a lever configured for pivotal movement about an horizontal pivot axis, from a back to a front position and vice versa.
14. The wafer's handling system of claim 13, wherein said lever has a front facet 30 configured with a curved external surface such that when the wafer not in the correct position in the holding site, said curved external surface of the lever during the pivotal 256289/2 - 16 - movement interacts with an edge portion of the wafer pushing the wafer into the correct position thereof.
15. The wafer's handling system of claim 13 or 14, wherein when the wafer is in the correct position in the holding site, the lever is freely pivotal from a back to a front 5 position thereof.
16. The wafer's handling system of any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein said pneumatic system is connected to said lever, and configured to selectively pivotally displace said lever from its back position to its front position.
17. The wafer's handling system of any one of the preceding claims, further 10 comprising a sensor configured for monitoring an operation movement of the pushing mechanism.
18. The wafer's handling system of claim 17, further comprising a control unit connected to said sensor and configured for receiving a signal from said sensor indicative of the operation movement of said pushing mechanism. 15
19. The wafer's handling system of claim 18, wherein said control unit is configured for monitoring a period of time defined by the range of operation movement of said pushing mechanism.
20. The wafer's handling system of claim 19, wherein said control unit is configured for monitoring a period of time defined by displacement of said lever from its back 20 position to its front position and vice versa.
21. The wafer's handling system of any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein said control unit is configured for stopping operation of the gripper when said period of time is above a certain threshold.
Priority Applications (3)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| IL256289A IL256289B (en) | 2017-12-13 | 2017-12-13 | Wafer aligning assembly |
| CN201822097058.9U CN209298091U (en) | 2017-12-13 | 2018-12-13 | Wafer aligned component and wafer processing process |
| KR2020180005797U KR200498392Y1 (en) | 2017-12-13 | 2018-12-13 | Wafer aligning assembly |
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| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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| IL256289A IL256289B (en) | 2017-12-13 | 2017-12-13 | Wafer aligning assembly |
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| IL256289A true IL256289A (en) | 2018-02-01 |
| IL256289B IL256289B (en) | 2019-01-31 |
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| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
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| IL256289A IL256289B (en) | 2017-12-13 | 2017-12-13 | Wafer aligning assembly |
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| KR (1) | KR200498392Y1 (en) |
| CN (1) | CN209298091U (en) |
| IL (1) | IL256289B (en) |
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| KR20220090946A (en) | 2020-12-23 | 2022-06-30 | 서동수 | Fish detection Bluetooth fishing gear |
| CN113380685B (en) * | 2021-04-22 | 2024-06-21 | 碳芯微电子科技(深圳)有限公司 | Automatic adjustable integrated circuit chip manufacturing equipment |
| CN117153760B (en) * | 2023-11-01 | 2024-04-12 | 迈为技术(珠海)有限公司 | Bonding sheet centering mechanism and bonding sheet centering method |
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| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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| KR100234693B1 (en) * | 1996-09-21 | 1999-12-15 | 김영환 | Wafer centering device of stepper apparatus |
| KR19990018393A (en) * | 1997-08-27 | 1999-03-15 | 윤종용 | Wafer centering device to improve alignment during exposure |
| KR100506494B1 (en) * | 2003-04-17 | 2005-08-05 | 주식회사 제일 | Centering Apparatus |
| KR20050066114A (en) * | 2003-12-26 | 2005-06-30 | 동부아남반도체 주식회사 | Device for sensing and aligning the position of a wafer and the method thereof |
| KR101553709B1 (en) * | 2008-11-14 | 2015-09-17 | 주성엔지니어링(주) | Loadrock chamber for manufacturing semiconductor device and apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor device using the same |
| US9859141B2 (en) * | 2010-04-15 | 2018-01-02 | Suss Microtec Lithography Gmbh | Apparatus and method for aligning and centering wafers |
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| Publication number | Publication date |
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| CN209298091U (en) | 2019-08-23 |
| KR20190001530U (en) | 2019-06-21 |
| KR200498392Y1 (en) | 2024-09-30 |
| IL256289B (en) | 2019-01-31 |
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