JPS62130536A - Semiconductor holding pincers - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To hold a wafer in an extremely clean state by providing injecting means at one of a pair of pincers and attracting means at the other. CONSTITUTION:One pincers 2 are opened by a pin 4, a wafer 5 is placed at its back on the upper surface of a branch 32 of the other pincers 3, and the one pincers 2 are closed. When N2 is injected from nozzles 22 of the one pincers 2, the wafer 5 is pressed on the other pincers 3, and attracted by a hole face 33. The wafer 5 is supported between branches 21 and 32, and fixed by the injection and the attraction. When the lower portion of the wafer is engaged with a recess 61 of a base 6 to stop the attraction of the other pincers 3 and the other pincers 3 are horizontally moved, the wafer 5 is pressed into the recess of the one pincers 2 by the injected gas. After the process, the pincers 3 are inserted at its end to a gap formed by a projection 61 of the recess 61, the pincers 2 are closed, the wafer is fixed by the injection and the attraction, and removed. According to this method, the wafer surface can be held extremely cleanly only by applying gas injecting pressure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to semiconductor gripping tweezers used, for example, to grip a wafer and move it to each processing step when subjecting the wafer to surface treatment.

(b) Conventional technology Normally, for example, when manufacturing a silicon planar epitaxial transistor, a high resistivity N-type silicon layer is placed on the surface of a low resistivity N-type silicon wafer (substrainer silicon substrate) that forms the substrate of the transistor. (epitaxial layer) is formed. For the formation of this epitaxial layer, a so-called epitaxial apparatus, for example a barrel-shaped vertical furnace, is used. A rotating support called a susceptor is provided at the center of the furnace, and a large number of wafer-accommodating recesses are provided in columns on the inclined surface of the support. The wafer gripped by the gripping member is guided to this recess and loaded, and then a gas phase reaction is promoted using the high temperature and gas in the furnace as a medium, growing an epitaxial layer on the wafer surface and forming a collector (N type semiconductor) is known to lower resistance.

Conventionally, ordinary tweezers or vacuum tweezers have been used as a gripping member for loading and unloading the wafer into the recess.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention Among the ordinary tweezers currently in use, there are those whose gripping pieces are made of metal, and those whose surfaces are coated with Teflon. The former metal type has the risk of contaminating the wafer surface with metal powder and oxides, while the latter Teflon coated type has no risk of metal contamination due to oxidation, etc. There is a risk that the peeled off Teflon debris may contaminate the wafer surface.

In addition, the vacuum type tweezers that have been used in recent years have a hollow flat rod with an opening at the bottom of the tip, and a vacuum device is connected to this flat rod. This is a method in which the opening side of the rod is brought into contact with the other side and lifted by suction.

However, while these vacuum tweezers eliminate the problem of wafer contamination that occurs with regular tweezers, they hold the wafer with one hand on a single suction surface, so depending on the angle when lifting and moving the wafer, There were disadvantages such as falling off.

It is an object of the present invention to provide semiconductor gripping tweezers that solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional tweezers, do not contaminate wafers, and can be carried properly and stably.

(d) Means and operation for solving the problem In order to achieve this object, the semiconductor gripping tweezers of the present invention have the following configuration.

The semiconductor gripping tweezers include a pair of clamping members pivoted so as to be movable in the horizontal direction, one of which is equipped with suction means, and the other clamping member is equipped with gas spraying means corresponding to the suction means. .

In the tweezers having such a configuration, the wafer is held between the pair of clamping members with a gap between the pair of clamping members, with the back surface of the wafer positioned on the upper surface of the lower clamping member.

In this state, gas is injected from the upper nipping member to the front side of the wafer, and the wafer is pressed toward the lower nipping member and at the same time is attracted by the suction of the lower nipping member. The wafer is clamped and fixed in a stable state by this interaction from both sides.

(E) Embodiment FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a specific embodiment of the semiconductor gripping pincer according to the present invention.

The semiconductor gripping tweezers 1 are comprised of a pair of clamping members, an upper clamping member 2 and a lower clamping member 3.

The upper clamping member 2 and the lower clamping member 3 overlap with each other at a constant interval, are pivotally connected via a support pin 4, and are movable in the horizontal direction.

The lower clipping member 3 is a flat case body with a hollow interior, and has a planar shape of approximately a 7-shape.

The distal end side of the operating base 31 having a certain length is bifurcated, and the distal branch parts 32 and 32 are integrally protruded, and the distal branch parts 32 extending left and right are used as supporting parts for the wafer 5, A suction opening 33.33 is opened on the distal end surface of this distal branch 32.32. Further, the base end of the operating base 31 is connected to a small vacuum device 35 via a hose 34 to suck the wafer 5 that is in contact with the opening 33.

The upper sandwiching member 2 has substantially the same structure as the lower sandwiching member 3, and is a flat case body with a Y-shaped planar shape and a hollow interior. An opening nozzle 22 is provided to protrude downward from the lower part of the tip of the tip branch portion 21.21. Further, the base end of the operating base 23 is connected via a hose 24 to a small gas pressure feeding device 25 equipped with a nitrogen gas tank, so that inert nitrogen gas is sprayed from a nozzle 22 onto the wafer 5.

In the embodiment, an example was shown in which the tip of the hose 24 of the gas pressure feeding device 25 is connected to the base end of the upper sandwiching member 2, that is, the end of the hollow passage (see FIG. 2). , the hose 24 may be inserted into the hollow passage 26 and the tip of the hose 24 may be directly connected to the opening nozzle 22. Similarly, the hose 34 of the vacuum device 35 may also be inserted into the hollow passage 36 and directly connected to the suction opening 33. in this case,
In addition to further improving suction and ejection efficiency, the pinching member 2.
3 smooth horizontal movement can be achieved.

When using the semiconductor gripping tweezers having such a configuration, first, the upper clamping member 2, which is usually overlapped in the vertical direction, is moved laterally (horizontally) via the holding pin 4, and the lower part Tip branch part 32.32 of pinch member 3
Wafer 5 (back side) is placed 331fff on the top surface. In this state, the upper clamping member 2 is returned to its original position, and the wafer 5 is held between the upper and lower clamping members 2.3. In this state, the surface of the wafer 5 is not in contact with the upper sandwiching member 2.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the wafer 5 is mounted on a support 6 of an epitaxial apparatus (barrel-type vertical furnace). A plurality of wafer accommodating recesses 61 are provided in a vertical line on the inclined surface of the support base 6, and the bottom surface of the recesses 61 is provided with wafers 5.
A plurality of protrusions 62 are provided to support the back surface of the protrusion.

With respect to the wafer 5 held between the pair of sandwiching members 2.3,
Now, when nitrogen gas is ejected from the opening nozzle 22 of the upper sandwich member 2, the wafer 5 is strongly pressed against the lower sandwich member 3. At the same time, the lower sandwich member 3 presses the wafer 5
is suctioned by the suction opening surface 33. Here, the wafer 5 is supported at two points between the upper and lower tip branch portions 21 and 32 which are opened at a certain angle, and is completely fixed by the spraying and suction action on both sides.

Thus, the wafer 5 is moved to the open side of the recess 61 of the support stand as shown in FIG. During this movement, the surface of the wafer 5 is only subjected to the gas injection action and does not come into contact with the upper sandwiching member 2, ensuring that there is no risk of contamination.
The wafer is inserted with the front side aligned with the opening surface.

After the lower part of the wafer 5 is inserted into the recess 61, when the suction of the lower gripping member 3 is stopped and only the lower gripping member 3 is moved horizontally, the wafer 5 is pushed into the recess 61 by the gas jet of the upper gripping member 2. It is pressed and completely inserted into the position.

FIG. 3 shows a situation in which the wafer 5 on which the epitaxial layer growth process has been completed is taken out from the accommodation recess 61.

When taking out the wafer, insert the tip of the lower clamping member 3 into the gap between the wafer 5 and the cavity 61 created by the protrusions 62 of the cavity 61, and then move the upper clamping member 2 over the wafer 5, and then move it up and down. The wafer is held between the sandwiching members 2 and 3 and fixed by the interaction of spraying and suction from both sides, and
Pull upward from 1.

It should be noted that even if the recess is flat without the protrusion 62, if the tip branch part 32 is made flatter and thinner, it can be inserted between the wafer and the recess 61, and there will be no problem in taking it out.

(f) Effects of the Invention In this invention, as described above, one of the pair of pinching members is provided with a spraying means, and the other is provided with a suction means.

According to this invention, a wafer held with a gap between a pair of sandwiching members is pressed by a spraying force from one opposing side and simultaneously sucked from the other, and is completely fixed between the sandwiching members.

Therefore, unlike conventional tweezers, the wafer is not held in one hand, so disadvantages such as the wafer falling off unexpectedly during movement cannot be completely eliminated, and the wafer is less susceptible to metal contamination caused by gripping. There is no danger.

Moreover, in this invention, the surface of the wafer on which the epitaxial layer is grown is only affected by the spraying force from the gas jet and does not come into contact with the sandwiching member, so it can be held in an extremely clean state, which is an advantage that achieves the purpose of the invention. It has a good effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the tweezers for gripping a half-casing body according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part showing a state in which a wafer is gripped and inserted into a housing recess of a support base, and FIG. , is an enlarged front view of main parts showing a state in which a wafer is taken out from a recessed part of a support base. 2: Upper sandwich member, 3: Lower sandwich member, 5: Wafer,
22: Opening nozzle, 33: Suction opening.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) For semiconductor gripping, comprising a pair of clamping members pivoted so as to be movable in the horizontal direction, one clamping member equipped with suction means, and the other clamping member equipped with gas spraying means corresponding to the suction means. tweezers. (2) The pair of pinching members have their tip portions, which are semiconductor gripping portions, branched into two branches, one of which is provided with a suction portion, and the other of which is provided with a gas spray portion. Tweezers for gripping semiconductors according to scope 1.