JP5186908B2 - Pressurization system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a pressurization system in a substrate stacking process, and more particularly to a pressurization system that pressurizes a substrate and bonds a single substrate.

  In recent years, as electronic devices such as mobile phones and IC cards have become highly functional, semiconductor devices (LSI, IC, etc.) mounted therein have been made thinner or smaller. In addition, in order to increase the storage capacity without reducing the line width, a three-dimensional mounting type semiconductor device in which several layers of semiconductor wafers are stacked, such as an SD card or MEMS, is increasing.

Among these semiconductor device manufacturing processes, Patent Document 1 proposes a pressurizing system that superimposes and joins semiconductor wafers instead of one chip at a time in order to increase productivity. In the pressurization system as shown in Patent Document 1, a pair of one wafer holder on which one semiconductor wafer is placed is prepared, and a three-dimensional mounting type semiconductor device is manufactured by pressurizing each of them in a face-to-face relationship. ing.
JP 2007-115978 A

  However, in order to pressurize the semiconductor wafers by superimposing the semiconductor wafers, the semiconductor wafers must be heated, and it takes about 30 to 60 minutes to complete the bonding process. Since it takes time to pressurize in units of semiconductor wafers, a pressurization system with higher productivity is desired. Further, if it is attempted to install a plurality of pressurization systems in order to shorten the time, a plurality of vacuum chambers or inert gas chambers are prepared, which increases the cost and installation area.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and it is possible to reduce the volume in a vacuum chamber or an inert gas chamber as much as possible and to provide a highly productive pressurizing system using a plurality of pressurizing systems. It is intended to provide.

A pressurizing system according to this aspect includes a first chamber, a plurality of pressurizing apparatuses housed in the first chamber, pressurizing the first substrate and the second substrate, and processing the integrated substrate into the integrated substrate, 2 A drive device that sequentially moves a plurality of pressure devices to a carry-in position where the substrate is carried into the pressure device and a carry-out position where the integrated substrate is carried out of the pressure device; and a drive device arranged outside the first chamber; A transfer device that carries in the first substrate and the second substrate and unloads the integrated substrate from the carry-out position.
According to such a configuration, the volume of the first chamber can be reduced by disposing the transfer device outside the first chamber. And an installation area can be made small by arrange | positioning a several pressurization apparatus in a 1st chamber.

  The pressurization system of the present invention has an advantage that the productivity is high and the volume of the first chamber can be reduced.

<Overall configuration of wafer bonding apparatus>
FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of the wafer bonding apparatus 100, and FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the wafer bonding apparatus 100.
The wafer bonding apparatus 100 includes a wafer loader WL and a wafer holder loader WHL. The wafer loader WL and the wafer holder loader WHL are articulated robots, and are movable in directions of six degrees of freedom (X, Y, Z, θX, θY, θZ). Further, the wafer loader WL can move a long distance in the Y direction along the rail RA, and the wafer holder loader WHL can move a long distance in the X direction along the rail RA.

  The wafer bonding apparatus 100 has a wafer stocker 10 for storing a plurality of semiconductor wafers W in the periphery thereof. The wafer bonding apparatus 100 has a wafer stocker 10-1 for storing the first semiconductor wafer W1 and a wafer stocker 10-2 for storing the second semiconductor wafer W2 in order to bond the first semiconductor wafer W1 and the second semiconductor wafer W2. And are prepared. A wafer pre-alignment apparatus 20 that pre-aligns the semiconductor wafer W is provided in the vicinity of the wafer stocker 10. The semiconductor wafer W taken out from the wafer stocker 10 by the wafer loader WL is sent to the wafer pre-alignment apparatus 20. In particular, when there is no need to distinguish between the first semiconductor wafer W1 and the second semiconductor wafer W2, they are called semiconductor wafers W.

  The wafer bonding apparatus 100 includes a wafer holder stocker 30 that stores a plurality of wafer holders WH. Since the wafer holder WH can be used for both the first semiconductor wafer W1 and the second semiconductor wafer W2, the wafer holder stocker 30 is provided in one place. Further, a wafer holder pre-alignment apparatus 40 that pre-aligns the wafer holder WH is provided in the vicinity of the wafer holder stocker 30. The wafer holder WH taken out from the wafer holder stocker 30 by the wafer holder loader WHL is sent to the wafer holder pre-alignment apparatus 40. In the wafer holder pre-alignment apparatus 40, the pre-aligned semiconductor wafer W is placed on the pre-aligned wafer holder WH by the wafer loader WL.

  The wafer bonding apparatus 100 includes an aligner 50 that aligns a wafer holder WH on which a pair of semiconductor wafers W are placed and superimposes two semiconductor wafers W with line width accuracy of the semiconductor device. The wafer holder WH on which the semiconductor wafer W is placed is sent from the wafer holder pre-alignment apparatus 40 to the aligner 50 by the wafer holder loader WHL.

  Further, the wafer holder WH on which the semiconductor wafer W superimposed on the aligner 50 is placed is first transported to the loader / unloader chamber 60 and is sent to the pressurizing unit 71 by the wafer holder loader WHL in the robot chamber 80.

  The pressure unit 71 of the wafer bonding apparatus 100 heats, pressurizes, and bonds the semiconductor wafers W stacked on the aligner 50 via the wafer holder WH. The pressurizing unit 71 in the pressurizing chamber 70 is heated on the semiconductor wafer W by a heater to a predetermined temperature, and a predetermined pressure is applied for a predetermined time by the elevation module EM (see FIG. 5). Metal bumps such as Cu, which are through electrodes, are joined together. At this time, resin may be sealed between the semiconductor wafers W and heated. Further, the inside of the pressurizing chamber 70 is kept in a vacuum state.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the pressure unit 71 includes six pressure devices 72. The six pressure devices 72 are fixed on the carousel 84, and the carousel 84 rotates around the central axis 82. Then, the wafer holder WH on which the semiconductor wafer W is placed is loaded into one of the pressure devices 72, and the wafer holder WH is unloaded after the heat and pressure treatment. The pressurizing unit 71 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3A and the like.

The wafer bonding apparatus 100 has a loader / unloader chamber 60 and a robot chamber 80 next to the pressurizing chamber 70.
The loader / unloader chamber 60 is a chamber for temporarily storing the stacked semiconductor wafers W and temporarily storing the semiconductor wafers W bonded by the pressure unit 71.

  The semiconductor wafer W put into the loader / unloader chamber 60 from the aligner 50 is carried into the pressurizing unit 71 in the pressurizing chamber 70 by the wafer holder loader WHL in the robot chamber 80. Further, the semiconductor wafer W that has been pressed and bonded is carried out from the pressurizing unit 71 of the pressurizing chamber 70 to the loader / unloader chamber 60 by the wafer holder loader WHL in the robot chamber 80.

  The bonded semiconductor wafer W is sent to the bonded semiconductor wafer stocker 85 by the wafer loader WL. The wafer holder WH is taken out from the separation loader unloader chamber 60 by the wafer holder loader WHL and returned to the wafer holder stocker 30 again.

  The wafer bonding apparatus 100 is provided with a main controller 90 that controls the entire wafer bonding apparatus 100. The main control device 90 performs overall control by exchanging signals with a control device that controls each device such as the wafer loader WL, the wafer holder loader WHL, the aligner 50, and the pressure unit 71.

<Configuration of Pressurizing Unit 71>
FIG. 3A is a view showing the loader unloader chamber 60 to the pressurization chamber 70, and FIG. 3B is a view showing the periphery of the pressurization unit 71.

  3A (a) and 3 (b), a first load lock gate LRG1 is disposed between the loader chamber 60 and the robot chamber 80, and a first load lock gate LRG1 is disposed between the pressurization chamber 70 and the robot chamber 80. Two load lock gates LRG2 are arranged. A vacuum pump (not shown) is connected to the robot chamber 80 and the pressurizing chamber 70. The loader chamber 60 is disposed at room temperature under atmospheric pressure. A vacuum state is maintained during the operation of the pressurizing chamber 70. In the following description, it is assumed that the pressurization chamber 70 is vacuum, but the inside of the pressurization chamber 70 may be a chamber filled with an inert gas such as nitrogen.

  When the wafer holder WH is sent from the loader chamber 60 to the robot chamber 80, the loader unloader chamber 60 is vacuumed with the first load lock gate LRG1, the second load lock gate LRG2, and the third load lock gate LRG3 closed. Be pulled. Since the loader / unloader chamber 60 has a smaller internal volume than other chambers, it can be evacuated in a short time. Next, the first load lock gate LRG1 is opened with the third load lock gate LRG3 closed, and the wafer holder WH is carried to the robot chamber 80. The pressurizing chamber 70 and the robot chamber 80 are always evacuated. Next, the first load lock gate LRG 1 is closed, the second load lock gate LRG 2 is opened, and the wafer holder WH is transferred to the pressurizing device 72 at the delivery position LP in the pressurizing chamber 70.

  When the wafer holder loader WHL carries the wafer holder WH into the pressurizing chamber 70, as shown in FIG. 3A (a), one of the six pressurizers 72 is in the delivery position. The wafer holder WH is received by LP.

  Six pressure devices 72 are mounted on the carousel 84. As shown in FIG. 3A (b), the carousel 84 is configured to be rotatable by a rotating shaft 82, and the rotating shaft 82 is rotated by a carousel rotation driving unit 86 including an electric motor and a gear. All the pressurizing devices 72 can be sequentially moved to the delivery position LP.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B (a), a connecting rod 79 is connected to the carousel 84, and the top plate 73 of the pressure device 72 is supported. A plate or the like for heating the semiconductor wafer W is attached to the top plate 73. The rotating shaft 82 is provided with a magnetic seal unit 87 and a bearing 89, and is rotated by a carousel rotation driving unit 86. The magnetic seal unit 87 can seal the carousel rotation driving unit 86 disposed in the atmospheric pressure and the pressurizing chamber 70 in the vacuum, and can transmit the rotational force of the carousel rotation driving unit 86 to the rotary shaft 82.

  FIG. 3B (b) is a top view illustrating one elevation module EM on the rotating shaft 82 and the carousel 84. FIG. In the carousel 84, six rectangular portions 84A are formed on the disc so as to be 60 degrees apart from each other. Four connecting rods 79 are attached to the four corners of the rectangular portion 84A. The elevation module EM is placed in the center of the rectangular portion 84A.

  If six individual pressurizing devices 72 are provided, a vacuum pump or the like must be individually disposed, which causes an increase in cost. However, since six pressurizing devices 72 are disposed in one pressurizing chamber 70, Only one vacuum pump is required and the cost can be reduced. Further, since the wafer holder loader WHL is not disposed in the pressurizing chamber 70, the volume in the pressurizing chamber 70 can be reduced.

<Operation of Pressurizing Unit 71>
Next, the operation of the pressure unit 71 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart regarding delivery of the wafer holder WH between the pressurizing unit 71 and the robot chamber 80.
In step S <b> 11, the carousel rotation driving unit 86 rotates the carousel 84 by 60 degrees from the reference position (0 degree) or the current position, and moves one pressurizing device 72 to the delivery position LP in the pressurizing chamber 70.

  In step S12, the main controller 90 opens the second load lock gate LRG2 when the robot chamber 80 is in a vacuum state and the degree of vacuum is the same as that of the pressurizing chamber 70.

  In step S13, if the pressurizer 72 has a semiconductor wafer W that has been pressed and bonded, the wafer holder loader WHL in the robot chamber 80 is bonded to the semiconductor bonded from the pressurizer 72 at the delivery position LP. The wafer holder WH on which the wafer W is placed is unloaded. If the pressurizing device 72 does not have the bonded semiconductor wafer W, the operation of step S13 is not performed (dotted line arrow).

In step S14, the wafer holder loader WHL in the robot chamber 80 delivers the wafer holder WH on which a new semiconductor wafer W is placed to the pressurizing device 72 at the delivery position LP.
In step S15, main controller 90 closes second load lock gate LRG2.

  In step S16, main controller 90 determines whether carousel 84 has rotated 300 degrees from the reference position. If the carousel 84 has not rotated 300 degrees from the reference position, the process proceeds to step S11. If the carousel 84 has rotated 300 degrees, the process proceeds to step S17.

  In step S <b> 17, the carousel 84 rotates minus (−) 300 degrees, and the pressurizing device 72 is moved to the delivery position LP in the pressurizing chamber 70. The pressurizing device 72 has electrical wiring and the like, and the cable is twisted if it always rotates in the same direction. For this reason, when six pressurizing devices 72 are provided, when the carousel 84 is rotated from the reference position to 300 degrees, it is returned to the reference position again by rotating minus (−) 300 degrees. And it prevents the cables and the like from being twisted.

<Configuration of pressurizing device 72>
FIG. 5 is a detailed configuration diagram of the pressurizing device 72.
The first semiconductor wafer W1 and the second semiconductor wafer W2 are placed on the second top plate TP2 while being sandwiched between the first wafer holder WH1 and the second wafer holder WH2. The second top plate TP2 is supported by a second heat cool module HCM2 made of a material having high thermal conductivity. The second heat cool module HCM2 includes a heater (not shown) and a cooling pipe (not shown) inside. Further, the second heat cool module HCM2 is supported by the elevation module EM via the pressure profile control module PPCM2. The elevation module EM can be moved up and down by an electric motor or hydraulic pressure to move the second heat cool module HCM2 up and down. The elevation module EM is fixed to the carousel 84.

  On the other hand, the first top plate TP1 is supported downward by the first heat-cool module HCM1 made of a material having high thermal conductivity. The first top plate TP1 and the second top plate TP2 are made of a ceramic material such as silicon carbide (SiC) or aluminum nitride, and have high thermal conductivity or soaking characteristics. The first heat cool module HCM1 also includes a heater (not shown) and a cooling pipe (not shown). Further, the first heat cool module HCM1 is supported on the top board 73 via the pressure profile control module PPCM1. The top plate 73 is fixed by three or four connecting rods 79, and these connecting rods 79 are fixed to the carousel 84.

One cycle of the pressurization process of the pressurizer 72 is as follows.
When the first semiconductor wafer W1 and the second semiconductor wafer W2 are placed on the second top plate TP2, the pressing device 72 raises the elevation module EM and raises the second top plate TP2. Then, the first wafer holder WH1 and the second wafer holder WH2 are sandwiched and pressed between the first top plate TP1 and the second top plate TP2. After being in the pressurized state, the heaters in the first and second heat cool modules HCM1 and HCM2 are heated to heat the first semiconductor wafer W1 and the second semiconductor wafer W2. When heated and pressurized for a predetermined time, the first semiconductor wafer W1 and the second semiconductor wafer W2 are bonded. Then, the coolant flows into the cooling pipe and the bonded semiconductor wafer is cooled. Finally, the elevation module EM is lowered and the semiconductor wafer W sandwiched between the first wafer holder WH1 and the second wafer holder WH2 can be taken out.

  One cycle time of the pressurizing step varies depending on the heating temperature or the like, but is about 30 minutes, for example. In the present embodiment, six pressure devices 72 are prepared, and one of the pressure devices 72 is at the delivery position LP, and the wafer holder loader WHL carries in / out the wafer holder WH. There are five pressure devices 72 inside. Accordingly, the carousel rotation drive unit 86 rotates the carousel 84 by 60 degrees every 6 minutes.

  According to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, the wafer holder loader WHL in the robot chamber 80 sets the time for delivering the wafer holder WH on which the semiconductor wafer W is placed to the delivery pressure device 72 to 6 minutes or less.

  In the embodiment, the first wafer W1 and the second wafer W2 are bonded via the pair of wafer holders WH. However, even if the first wafer W1 and the second wafer W2 are directly bonded without using the wafer holder WH. Good.

  In this embodiment, six pressurizing devices 72 are arranged in the pressurizing chamber 70, but seven or more may be arranged, and one wafer holder loader WHL is arranged in the robot chamber 80. However, two or more units may be arranged.

  In the present embodiment, the wafer holder WH on which the semiconductor wafer W is placed is overlapped by the aligner 50, but an apparatus in which the function of the aligner 50 and the function of the pressure device 72 are combined may be used. The pressurizer 72 irradiates the surfaces of the first wafer W1 and the second wafer W2 with an inert gas ion beam or an inert gas fast atom beam without heating the first wafer W1 and the second wafer W2. It is also possible to bond at room temperature.

1 is an overall perspective view of a wafer bonding apparatus 100. FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a wafer bonding apparatus 100. FIG. FIG. 4 is a top view and a cross-sectional view showing a loader / unloader chamber 60, a robot chamber 80, and a pressurizing chamber 70. (A) It is sectional drawing of the pressurization unit 71. FIG. (B) A top view of the carousel 84. FIG. 10 is a flowchart regarding delivery of a wafer holder WH between a pressurizing unit 71 and a robot chamber 80. 3 is a detailed configuration diagram of a pressurizing device 72. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

EM ... Elevation module LRG ... Load lock gate W ... Semiconductor wafer (W1 ... 1st semiconductor wafer, W2 ... 2nd semiconductor wafer)
TP ... Top plate WH ... Wafer holder (WH1 ... First wafer holder, WH2 ... Second wafer holder)
WL ... Wafer loader WHL ... Wafer holder loader 10 ... Wafer stocker 20 ... Wafer pre-alignment device 30 ... Wafer holder stocker 40 ... Wafer holder pre-alignment device 50 ... Aligner 60 ... Loader unloader chamber 70 ... Pressure chamber 71 ... Pressure unit 72 ... Pressurizing device 73 ... Top plate 79 ... Connecting rod 80 ... Robot chamber 84 ... Carousel 86 ... Carousel rotation drive 90 ... Main controller 100 ... Wafer bonding device

Claims (12)

A first chamber;
A plurality of pressure devices housed in the first chamber, each of which individually pressurizes the first substrate and the second substrate to form an integrated substrate;
Unloading position for unloading from the pressure device the piece substrate which is processed at each of the loading position for loading respectively, said plurality of pressurizing device of the first substrate and the second substrate a plurality of pressure device And a driving device for sequentially moving the plurality of pressure devices,
A transfer device that carries the first substrate and the second substrate into the carry-in position and carries out the integrated substrate from the carry-out position;
The pressurizing system, wherein at least one of the movement, the carry-in, and the carry-out is performed with respect to at least one other pressurizing device during a processing step of any of the plurality of processing devices .   The pressurizing system according to claim 1, wherein the transfer device is disposed outside the first chamber.   The pressurization system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the atmosphere in the first chamber is the same during the processing and during the carry-in and the carry-out. The pressurization system according to claim 3, wherein the atmosphere of the first chamber is a vacuum or an inert atmosphere. The pressurization system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a second chamber that houses the transfer device. The pressurization system according to claim 5, wherein the carrying-in and the carrying-out of the first substrate and the second substrate are performed in an atmosphere of the first chamber and the second chamber. 7. The gate according to claim 6, wherein the first chamber and the second chamber are connected via a gate, and the gate is released when the atmosphere of the first chamber and the atmosphere of the second chamber are in the same state. The pressurization system as described. The pressurizing system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the carry-in position and the carry-out position are the same position. The said drive device is provided with the rotating plate connected to the bearing which has a magnetic seal, The said rotating plate mounts these several pressurization apparatus, The one of Claim 1 thru | or 8 characterized by the above-mentioned. The pressurization system as described. The pressure device includes a first pressure plate that supports the first substrate, a second pressure plate that supports the second substrate, and a connecting rod that holds the first pressure plate, The pressure system according to any one of claims 1 to 9 , wherein the connecting rod and the second pressure plate are fixed to the rotating plate. 8. The third chamber according to claim 5 , further comprising a third chamber connected to the second chamber and configured to carry in and out the first substrate, the second substrate, or the integrated substrate. Pressure system. The pressurizing system according to claim 9 , wherein the rotating plate rotates by a predetermined angle from a reference position and then reversely rotates to the reference position again.