JPH10249613A - Holding chuck for rotating disc - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To apply processing such as etching, cleaning, drying and the like to both the surfaces of a disc while the disc is being rotated. SOLUTION: Paired fixing pins 4a and 4B on which a wafer 21 is rested, are provided for each tip end of three supporting arms 2a through 2b whose base ends are mounted to a rotating shaft 3. An auxiliary supporting pins 8 are also provided for the aforesaid paired pins in such a way that the rotated wafer 21 can be supported horizontally regardless of the position of the orientation flat 22 of the wafer 22. Furthermore, paired movable pins 9a and 9b are provided for each tip end of the respective supporting arms 2a through 2b while each space between the paired movable pins is kept wider as specified than a chord L between the orientation flats 22, and the rocking in the radial direction of the wafer 21 of the aforesaid paired movable pins thereby allows the wafer 21 to be held at its outer circumferential part. Thus as mentioned above, processing is applied thereto while the water 21 is being rotated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a holding chuck for rotating a disk, and more particularly, to holding a disk such as a semiconductor wafer or a hard disk of a magnetic recording medium while rotating the disk.
The present invention relates to a disc-rotating holding chuck for performing processes such as etching, cleaning, and drying on both surfaces of a disc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a typical holding chuck for holding a disk such as a semiconductor wafer or a hard disk of a magnetic recording medium, and performing processes such as etching, washing and drying while rotating the disk, There is a vacuum chuck system that vacuum-adsorbs the center of the lower surface of a disk.

However, this vacuum chuck method has a drawback in that the center of the lower surface of the disk is held by suction, so that this portion cannot be processed. For this reason,
In recent years, various attempts have been made for holding chucks that mechanically hold the outer peripheral portion of a disk with a claw-shaped mechanism and perform processing while rotating the disk in a state where the entire upper and lower surfaces of the disk are exposed.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an example of a conventional holding chuck having the claw-like mechanism, and FIG. 8 is a front vertical sectional view thereof. In this holding chuck 101, the support arm
The base ends of 102 a to 102 f are attached to the rotating shaft 103 at an equal angle to each other. Among them, the step of the fixed claw 104 provided at the tip of the support arms 102a to 102c supports the vicinity of the outer periphery of the lower surface of the disk 105, while the movable claw member 106 provided on the support arms 102d to 102f forms a circle. The outer peripheral portion of the plate 105 is configured to be mechanically held. For this reason, the contact of the holding chuck 101 to the disk 105 is made up of the fixed claw 104 and the claw-shaped member.
Only 106, the lower surface of the disk 105 can be subjected to processing such as etching.

[0005]

However, such a conventional rotating chuck for rotating a disk is required to handle a disk having a notch in a part of the outer periphery such as an orientation flat of a semiconductor wafer. However, since the claw-shaped member corresponding to the notch cannot sufficiently hold the outer peripheral portion of the disk, there has been a problem that the holding stability during high-speed rotation is deteriorated.

In this respect, in consideration of the holding stability at the time of high-speed rotation, it is conceivable to increase the number of claw-shaped members for holding the outer peripheral portion of the disk and to hold the outer peripheral portion of the disk at many points. In order to arrange the claw members evenly on the outer circumference of the disk, if the same number of support arms as the number of claw members are provided, it is possible to uniformly supply the processing liquid to the lower surface of the disk. However, there is a problem in that the processing on the upper and lower surfaces of the disk becomes uneven.

Further, there is a problem in that the processing liquid or the like easily accumulates in the claw-shaped member holding the outer peripheral portion of the disk, and the processing state in the vicinity thereof becomes more uneven than in other places. In addition, if the disc is not accurately placed at a predetermined position on the fixed claw, the claw-shaped member may not be able to hold the disc sufficiently. Therefore, a transfer device capable of controlling the transfer position of the disc with high accuracy has been developed. There was also a problem that it was required.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems,
While holding the disc securely and rotating it, processing such as etching, cleaning, drying, etc. on both sides simultaneously and uniformly,
It is another object of the present invention to provide a disk rotation holding chuck that can be performed in a short time.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk rotating holding chuck according to the first aspect, wherein a plurality of support arms each having a base end mounted on a rotating shaft, and each support arm being mounted near a distal end thereof. A mounting portion on which the vicinity of the outer peripheral portion of the lower surface of the disk is mounted, and at the tip of each of the support arms, a predetermined distance in the circumferential direction of the disk, disposed in a manner to sandwich the mounting portion, And a pair of movable pins, each of which has a cylindrical surface that can be moved toward and away from the outer periphery of the disk.

Thus, the outer peripheral portion of the disk is held at two locations per support arm. Further, even in a disk having a notch in a part of the outer periphery, such as an orientation flat of a semiconductor wafer, at least one of the movable pins is formed by making the interval between the pair of movable pins larger than the string of the notch. Hold the outer periphery of the disc. Further, since the movable pin for holding the outer peripheral portion of the disk is cylindrical, the processing liquid and the like do not accumulate and are smoothly discharged.

In the invention according to claim 2, the plurality of support arms are three, so that the outer peripheral portion of the disc is 6
At the same time, the effect on the processing on the lower surface of the disk is reduced as much as possible. Further, in the invention according to claim 3, the plurality of support arms are arranged so as to be equiangular with each other in a circumferential direction of a circle centered on the rotation axis, so that the disc is more stably held. And

Further, in the invention according to claim 4, the movable pin has a groove corresponding to the shape of the outer peripheral portion of the disk at a position where the movable pin comes into contact with the disk. Hold the part and increase the stability at high speed rotation. In the invention according to claim 5, the groove has a wedge-shaped cross section so that the outer peripheral portion of the disk can easily enter the groove.

In the invention according to claim 6, the mounting portion is a step formed at the tip of a fixing pin protruding from the support arm, and the disk can be easily and reliably formed with a small contact area. Is placed. Further, in the invention according to claim 7, the step formed at the tip of the fixing pin is formed in a tapered shape tapering toward the projecting direction of the fixing pin, and the contact area with the disk is reduced. Make it smaller.

Further, in the invention according to claim 8, the fixing pin has a guide portion at a tip end thereof for guiding the disk to the stepped portion, thereby expanding a permissible range of an error in the transport position of the disk. To facilitate the transfer of the disk. Further, in the invention according to claim 9, the guide portion is a conical protrusion, which reduces the contact area between the disc and the guide portion, and smoothly introduces the disc onto the fixing pin.

In the invention according to a tenth aspect, an auxiliary support pin for supporting the lower surface of the disk by a distal end portion is provided on a base end side of the support arm by a predetermined distance from the mounting portion, and an outer peripheral pin is provided. Even if the disk has a notch, it can be supported from below.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an example of a holding chuck for rotating a disk of the present invention, and is a plan view showing a holding chuck for holding and rotating a semiconductor wafer. FIG. 2 is a front vertical sectional view thereof.

The three support arms 2a to 2c of the holding chuck 1 for rotating a wafer have their base ends attached to a rotating shaft 3, and are mutually equiangular in the circumferential direction of a circle centered on the rotating shaft 3. (120 °). FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 2 and shows the structure of the distal ends of the support arms 2a to 2c.

A pair of fixing pins 4a and 4b are provided at the tip of each of the support arms 2a to 2c so as to be located on the same circumference around the rotation shaft 3. Each fixing pin 4
4A and 4B, as shown in FIG. 4, a tapered portion 5 tapering in a protruding direction, a straight portion 6 following the tapered portion 5,
Further, a conical guide portion 7 is formed following this. Fixed pins 4a, 4b
Is supported by the slope of the tapered portion 5 corresponding to the step portion of
The contact area between the fixing pins 4a and 4b and the wafer 21 is reduced.

FIG. 5 is a view taken in the direction of arrow B in FIG. When the position of the orientation flat 22 of the transferred wafer 21 matches the position of the fixing pins 4a and 4b,
a, 4b cannot support the wafer 21;
May tilt, making it difficult to hold. For this reason, the fixing pins 4 are provided on the support arms 2a to 2c.
Auxiliary support pins 8 for supporting the lower surface of the wafer 21 at the distal end thereof are provided on the base end side of the base plate a predetermined distance longer than the cut amount of the orientation flat 22 from a and 4b. This allows the wafer 21 to be supported horizontally regardless of the position of the orientation flat 22.

A pair of movable pins 9a for holding the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 21 are provided at the tips of the support arms 2a to 2c.
9b are provided at predetermined intervals longer than the chord L of the orientation flat 22 of the wafer 21 so as to sandwich the fixing pins 4a and 4b, each of which is disposed on the same circumference around the rotation shaft 3. It is. These movable pins 9a, 9b
Are connected to each other by a link mechanism 10, and the link mechanism
In conjunction with the movement of 10, the wafer 21 swings in the radial direction of the wafer 21 to hold and release the wafer 21.

The movable pins 9a and 9b are cylindrical bodies having axes in the same direction as the rotating shaft 3. As shown in FIG. 6, a peripheral groove 11 having a wedge-shaped cross section is provided at a portion in contact with the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 21.
By fitting the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 21 into the peripheral groove 11 and fixing it, the wafer 21 can be held easily and reliably. Further, as described above, since the movable pins 9a and 9b are provided at a predetermined interval longer than the chord L of the orientation flat 22 of the wafer 21, the orientation flat 22
In any position, at least one of the pair of movable pins 9a and 9b can hold the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 21.

In the holding chuck 1 for rotating a disk having such a configuration, first, when the wafer 21 transferred to the upper part of the holding chuck 1 is released from the transfer arm 23, the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 21 is fixed to the fixing pin 4a. 4b, comes into contact with the inclined surface of the conical guide portion 7 and descends along the inclined surface. And the wafer
The outer peripheral portion of 21 abuts against the slope of the tapered portion 5 and stops,
It is placed horizontally. At this time, even if there is an error in the transported position of the wafer 21, the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 21 only needs to be inside the vertex of the guide portion 7, and the wafer 21 is guided to the tapered portion 5 of the fixing pins 4a and 4b.

The link mechanism 10 is driven by a drive device (not shown), and the movable pins 9a, 9b
Swings in the direction toward the rotating shaft 3. At this time, the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 21 enters the opening of the wedge-shaped peripheral groove 11 provided on the movable pins 9a and 9b, and gradually fits into the back. In this way, the wafer 21 is securely fixed to the wafer rotation holding chuck 1 with a small contact area, and the displacement in the vertical direction is particularly suppressed.

Thereafter, the rotating shaft 3 is driven by a motor (not shown).
Is rotated, and the wafer 21 held by the wafer rotation holding chuck 1 rotates. If a predetermined chemical solution, pure water, or the like is supplied to the upper and lower surfaces during the rotation of the wafer 21, etching and cleaning can be performed, and the entire wafer 21 can be uniformly processed. At this time, the supply of the chemical solution or pure water to the lower surface of the wafer 21 is slightly hindered by the three support arms 2a to 2c, but the influence is small, and the lower surface can be subjected to substantially the same processing as the upper surface. Therefore, the processing time can be reduced.

Further, by rotating the etched or cleaned wafer 21 at a high speed, the chemical solution and water droplets remaining on the surface can be scattered and dried. The contact area between the wafer 21 and the wafer rotation holding chuck 1 is small, and the fixed pins 4a, 4b, the auxiliary support pins 8, and the movable pins 9a, 9
Since the surface of b is a smooth curved surface, a chemical solution, pure water, or the like does not accumulate in the contact portion.

The rotation speed of the rotating shaft 3 is determined by etching,
What is necessary is just to adjust suitably according to the objectives, such as washing and drying.
When the predetermined processing for the wafer 21 is completed, the rotating shaft 3 stops. Then, the link mechanism 10 is driven by a driving device (not shown), and the movable pins 9a and 9b interlocked with the link mechanism 10 swing in a direction to release the wafer 21. Fixing pins 4a, 4
The wafer 21 placed on the tapered portion 5 of FIG.
After that, it is transferred by the transfer arm 23 to the next step.

Thus, the holding chuck 1 for rotating the wafer 1
Then, while holding and rotating the wafer 21 securely, it is possible to perform substantially the same processing on the entire upper and lower surfaces thereof,
It can be dried without leaving residues such as chemicals and dust.
The disk rotation holding chuck of the present invention can be similarly applied to other disks such as a hard disk of a magnetic recording medium.

[0028]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the outer peripheral portion of the disk is held by two movable pins per support arm, the number of arms is at least stable. This has the effect of being able to be held. In addition, there is an effect that even in a disk having a notch in a part of the outer periphery, the outer periphery can be reliably held.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the number of support arms is as small as three, there is little influence on the supply of a chemical solution or the like to the lower surface of the disk, and substantially uniform processing is performed on both the upper and lower surfaces. And the processing time can be shortened. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the disk can be stably held by the plurality of support arms arranged so as to be mutually equiangular in the circumferential direction of the circle about the rotation axis. There is an effect that can be.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the outer peripheral portion of the disk can be reliably gripped by the groove provided in the movable pin, whereby the stability during high-speed rotation can be improved. effective. Further, according to the invention according to claim 5, the cross section of the groove provided in the movable pin is formed in a wedge shape,
There is an effect that the outer peripheral portion of the disc can be easily and reliably held in the groove, and particularly, the displacement in the vertical direction can be suppressed, and a stable holding state against centrifugal force and vibration can be maintained. Further, since the contact area between the movable pin and the outer peripheral portion of the disk is reduced, there is also an effect that the liquid pool at the contact portion can be suppressed.

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, there is an effect that the disk can be reliably mounted with a small contact area on the tip end surface of the fixing pin protruding from each support arm. According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the disk is placed with a smaller contact area, it is possible to suppress the attachment of contaminants to the disk.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that the allowable range of the error of the transport position of the disk is expanded and the disk can be reliably guided to a predetermined position on the fixing pin. . According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, since the guide portion is formed by the conical projection, the contact area between the disk and the guide portion is reduced, so that contaminants such as dust are removed from the guide portion. There is an effect that adhesion to the disk can be prevented as much as possible.

Further, according to the tenth aspect of the present invention, even a disk having a notch in a part of the outer periphery can be reliably supported from below without requiring special alignment. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a holding chuck for rotating a disk according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a holding chuck for rotating a disk according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view illustrating the structure of a fixing pin.

FIG. 5 is a view taken in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view illustrating the structure of a movable pin.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an example of a conventional holding chuck.

FIG. 8 is a front vertical sectional view showing an example of a conventional holding chuck.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Holding chuck 2a-2c Support arm 3 Rotating shaft 4a, 4b Fixed pin 5 Taper part 6 Straight part 7 Guide part 8 Auxiliary support pin 9a, 9b Movable pin 10 Link mechanism 11 Peripheral groove 21 Wafer 22 Orientation flat 23 Transfer arm

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of support arms each having a base end attached to a rotating shaft, a mounting portion attached to a distal end of each of the support arms, and mounted near an outer peripheral portion of a lower surface of the disc; A pair of movable pins, each of which is disposed at a predetermined distance in a circumferential direction of the disk and sandwiches the mounting portion, and a cylindrical surface of each of which is capable of coming into contact with and separating from the outer periphery of the disk. A holding chuck for rotating a disc, comprising: 2. The holding chuck for rotating a disk according to claim 1, wherein the number of the plurality of support arms is three. 3. The disk rotation holder according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of support arms are mutually equiangular in a circumferential direction of a circle about the rotation axis. Chuck. 4. The movable pin according to claim 1, wherein the movable pin has a groove on a cylindrical surface that contacts the disk, the groove corresponding to a shape of an outer peripheral portion of the disk. A holding chuck for rotating a disc according to item 1. 5. The holding chuck for rotating a disk according to claim 4, wherein the groove has a wedge-shaped cross section. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mounting portion is a step formed at a tip of a fixing pin protruding from the support arm. Holding chuck for disk rotation. 7. A step formed at a tip of the fixing pin,
The holding chuck for rotating a disk according to claim 6, wherein the holding chuck is formed in a tapered shape tapering in a protruding direction of the fixing pin. 8. The holding chuck for rotating a disk according to claim 6, wherein said fixing pin has a guide portion at a tip end thereof for guiding said disk to said stepped portion. 9. The holding chuck for rotating a disk according to claim 8, wherein the guide portion is a conical projection. 10. An auxiliary support pin for supporting a lower surface of the disc by a distal end thereof at a base end of the support arm by a predetermined distance from the mounting portion. 10. The holding chuck for rotating a disk according to any one of 9 above.