TW201838085A - Clamping mechanism and carrier device having the same capable of leveling wafer for effectively enhancing production yield - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a clamping mechanism for clamping a wafer, wherein the wafer is carried and sucked by a carrying disc. The clamping mechanism comprises a support rack and a pressing assembly. The support rack is fixed with the carrying disc. The carrying disc may drive the support rack for rotation along a rotating direction and the support rack may be abutted against the bottom surface of the wafer. The pressing assembly comprises a shaft, a pressing member, a windshield member, and a biasing spring. The shaft is rotatably pivoted to the support rack. The pressing member is disposed on the shaft and is in a bending shape. The pressing member is used to press the outer periphery of the wafer. The windshield member is used to drive the shaft for rotation. The biasing spring is used to apply an elastic force onto the windshield member in the same direction as the rotating direction. When the carrying disc is rotating in the rotating direction, the windshield member is driven by wind force to drive the shaft and the pressing member for rotation in a rotating direction, so that the pressing member may press down the outer periphery along a pressing direction.

Description

Clamping mechanism and carrying device having the same

The present invention relates to a clamping mechanism, and more particularly to a clamping mechanism for carrying and holding a wafer and a carrier device having the same.

In the lithography process of the existing wafer, the wafer is driven by the carrier to perform a wet process such as photoresist coating, development, photoresist removal, and etching. The carrying device comprises a vacuum chuck and a plurality of clamping mechanisms disposed on the periphery of the vacuum chuck. The vacuum chuck is used to adsorb the wafer, and the pressing member of each clamping mechanism is rotated to a position of pressing the wafer as the vacuum chuck rotates to prevent the wafer from being detached from the vacuum chuck.

Since the wafer is warped due to factors such as size, thickness, and manufacturing, the wafer is warped near the outer peripheral edge, resulting in poor flatness. Therefore, it is easy to directly hit the periphery of the wafer during the rotation of each pressed member. The edge causes cracks or damage to the wafer and affects the yield of the wafer.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a clamping mechanism which can gradually press the outer periphery of the wafer during the rotation process to achieve the effect of leveling the wafer, thereby effectively raising the crystal. The yield of the round output.

Therefore, the clamping mechanism of the present invention is adapted to hold a wafer, the wafer is carried and adsorbed by a carrier having an outer periphery, the clamping mechanism comprising a bracket, and a pressing assembly.

The bracket is fixedly coupled to an outer edge of the carrier, the carrier can drive the bracket to rotate in a rotation direction, and the bracket is used to abut against a bottom surface of the wafer. The pressing assembly is disposed on the bracket and includes a rotating shaft, a pressing member, a windshield member, and a biasing spring. The rotating shaft is rotatably pivotally connected to the bracket. The pressing member is disposed on the rotating shaft and is bent, and the pressing member is pressed on the outer circumference of the wafer. The wind shield is fixedly coupled to the rotating shaft for driving the rotating shaft. The biasing spring is configured to apply an elastic force to the windshield in the same direction as the rotation direction. When the carrier is rotated in the rotating direction, the wind deflector is driven by the wind to rotate the rotating shaft and the pressing member in a rotating direction opposite to the rotating direction, so that the pressing member lowers the outer circumference in the pressing direction Pressure.

The pressing member has a pressing surface in an arc shape for pressing the outer periphery.

The pressing member is bent and extended by the top end of the rotating shaft facing upward and obliquely outward.

The pressing member is a pressing rod integrally formed on the top end of the rotating shaft, and the pressing member has a connecting end connected to the top end of the rotating shaft, and an end opposite to the connecting end.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a carrying device having a clamping mechanism, wherein the pressing member of the clamping mechanism can gradually press the outer periphery of the wafer during the rotation process to achieve the effect of leveling the wafer. Therefore, the yield of wafer output can be effectively improved.

Therefore, the present invention has a holding device for holding a wafer for carrying and adsorbing a wafer having a bottom surface and an outer circumference. The carrying device comprises a carrier tray and at least three clamping mechanisms.

The carrier disk is configured to carry and adsorb the bottom surface of the wafer, and the carrier disk includes an outer edge, and the carrier disk is rotatable in a rotation direction. Three clamping mechanisms are disposed on the outer edge of the carrier tray, and each of the clamping mechanisms includes a bracket and a pressing assembly. The bracket is fixedly coupled to the outer edge and is rotatable by the carrier plate for abutting against the bottom surface of the wafer. The pressing assembly is disposed on the bracket and includes a rotating shaft, a pressing member, a wind blocking member, and a biasing spring, the rotating shaft is rotatably pivotally connected to the bracket, and the pressing member is disposed on the rotating shaft and is bent The pressing member is for pressing on the outer circumference of the wafer, the wind shield is fixedly coupled to the rotating shaft for driving the rotating shaft, and the biasing spring is configured to apply a rotation direction to the wind deflecting member. The same direction of elasticity. When the carrier is rotated in the rotating direction, the wind deflector is driven by the wind to rotate the rotating shaft and the pressing member in a rotating direction opposite to the rotating direction, so that the pressing member lowers the outer circumference in the pressing direction Pressure.

The effect of the invention is that in the process of rotating the initial pressing position from the initial position to the pressing position, the outer peripheral edge of the wafer is gradually pressed through the arc-shaped pressing surface to make the outer peripheral portion close to flat, thereby achieving The effect of smoothing the outer peripheral portion and avoiding direct impact on the outer periphery of the wafer to cause cracks or damage to the wafer can effectively improve the yield of the wafer.

Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that in the following description, similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Referring to FIG. 1 , FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , an embodiment of a carrying device having a clamping mechanism for carrying and adsorbing a wafer 1 is provided. In the embodiment, the wafer 1 is exemplified by a warped and non-flat wafer. The wafer 1 has a central portion 11 and a periphery around the central portion 11 and is warped upward. Warped outer peripheral portion 12.

Referring to Figures 4, 5 and 6, the carrier device 200 includes a carrier tray 2 and three clamping mechanisms 3. The carrier tray 2 is a circular vacuum chuck for carrying the wafer 1 and adsorbing to a bottom surface 13 of the wafer 1. The carrier tray 2 includes an outer edge 21 which is rotatable in a rotational direction R1 (shown in Figure 7). The three clamping mechanisms 3 are disposed on the outer edge 21 of the carrier 2 and are equally spaced apart. The clamping mechanism 3 is used to clamp the wafer 1 . It should be noted that although the number of the clamping mechanisms 3 of the embodiment is three, in other embodiments, the number of the clamping mechanisms 3 can be designed into four or more according to requirements, not The number disclosed in the examples is limited.

Each clamping mechanism 3 includes a bracket 31 and a pressing assembly 32. The bracket 31 includes a frame body 311 fixedly connected to the outer edge 21 of the carrier plate 2, two ejector pins 312 protruding from the top surface of the frame body 311, and a blocking block 313 protruding from the bottom surface of the frame body 311. Each of the thimbles 312 abuts against the bottom surface 13 of the wafer 1. The pressing assembly 32 includes a rotating shaft 33, a pressing member 34, a windshield member 35, and a biasing spring 36. The rotating shaft 33 is in an upright shape and is rotatably pivotally coupled to the frame 311 of the bracket 31. The pressing member 34 is disposed on the rotating shaft 33 and has a bent shape, and the pressing member 34 is pressed against an outer peripheral edge 121 of the outer peripheral portion 12 of the wafer 1. In the present embodiment, the pressing member 34 is bent and extended obliquely upward from the top end of the rotating shaft 33, and the pressing member 34 has a pressing surface 341 which is curved in shape to press the outer peripheral edge 121. More specifically, the pressing member 34 is a pressing rod integrally formed on the top end of the rotating shaft 33. The pressing member 34 has a connecting end 342 connected to the top end of the rotating shaft 33, and an end 343 opposite to the connecting end 342 and away from the rotating shaft 33. By the design of the pressing member 34 integrally formed on the top end of the rotating shaft 33, the complexity of the structural design can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

The wind deflector 35 is fixedly coupled to the rotating shaft 33 for driving the rotating shaft 33 to rotate, whereby the rotating shaft 33 can drive the pressing member 34 at an initial position as shown in FIG. 4 and a pressing position as shown in FIG. Rotate between. The windshield 35 includes a sleeve 351 and a windshield 352. The sleeve 351 is sleeved on a portion of the rotating shaft 33 protruding from the bottom surface of the frame body 311, and the sleeve 351 is locked to the rotating shaft 33 by screwing. A top end of the sleeve 351 is formed with a recess 353 for receiving the stop block 313. The sleeve 351 has a first side elevation 354 (shown in FIG. 11) and a second side elevation on the opposite side of the recess 353. 355, the stop block 313 is used to block the first side elevation 354 or the second side elevation 355. The wind deflector 352 has a windward surface 356. The biasing spring 36 is a set of torsion springs disposed on the rotating shaft 33 and located under the frame 311. The two ends of the biasing spring 36 are respectively connected to the stopping block 313 of the bracket 31 and the sleeve 351 of the windshield 35, and are biased. The spring 36 is used to apply an elastic force in the same direction as the rotational direction R1 to the wind shield 35.

Since the sleeve 351 of the windshield 35 is fixedly coupled to the rotating shaft 33, and the pressing member 34 is formed at the top end of the rotating shaft 33, the elastic force applied to the wind blocking member 35 by the biasing spring 36 is transmitted to the pressing member 34 via the rotating shaft 33. On top of this, the pressing member 34 is kept in the initial position. When the pressing member 34 is in the initial position, the blocking block 313 is blocked by the first side elevation 354 of the sleeve 351 to restrict the rotation of the wind deflector 35, and the pressing member 34 is not blocked in the transfer mechanism (not shown) The wafer 1 is placed on the carrier 2 or a pick-and-place path of the wafer 1 is taken up by the carrier 2. At this time, the transfer mechanism can transfer the wafer 1 through the pick-and-place path and place it on the carrier 31 and the holder 31 of each clamping mechanism 3, so that the carrier 2 is carried and adsorbed on the bottom surface 13 of the wafer 1. .

Referring to Figures 7 and 8, when the carrier device 200 is in operation, the carrier tray 2 (shown in Figure 5) will rotate in the direction of rotation R1. During the rotation of the wafer 1 by the carrier 2, when the wind pressure of the windward surface 356 of each wind deflector 352 is greater than the elastic force applied by the biasing spring 36, the wind deflector 35 is driven by the wind and reversed. Rotation in the rotation direction R2 of the rotation direction R1. During the rotation of the wind deflector 35 in the rotational direction R2, one end of the biasing spring 36 is rotated to gradually deform the biasing spring 36 and accumulate the return elastic force. At the same time, the wind deflector 35 drives the pressing member 34 to rotate toward the outer peripheral edge 121 of the wafer 1 through the rotating shaft 33. During the rotation of the pressing member 34 in the rotational direction R2, the pressing surface 341 of the pressing member 34 adjacent to the position at the end 343 first touches the outer peripheral edge 121 of the outer peripheral portion 12 of the wafer 1. Since the pressing surface 341 has an arc shape, the pressing surface 341 presses the outer peripheral edge 121 downward in the pressing direction F during the rotation of the pressing member 34, so that the outer peripheral edge 121 moves along the pressing surface 341 toward the connecting end 342. . Thereby, the outer peripheral portion 12 can be gradually deformed downwardly and approached to be flat.

Referring to Figures 9, 10 and 11, when the wind deflector 35 is rotated to a position where the second side elevation 355 (shown in Figure 5) abuts the stop block 313, the second side elevation 355 is blocked. Block 313 blocks and cannot continue to rotate, causing the extrusion 34 to be positioned in the pressed position. Due to the continuous rotation of the carrier tray 2 in the rotational direction R1, the wind continuously applies pressure to the windward surface 356 of each wind deflector 352, whereby the pressing member 34 can be stably positioned in the pressing position. When the pressing member 34 is in the pressing position, the pressing surface 341 is pressed against the outer peripheral portion 12 at a position adjacent to the connecting end 342, and the ejector pin 312 of each of the brackets 31 abuts against the bottom surface 13 of the wafer 1, whereby The bracket 31 and the pressing member 34 jointly hold the wafer 1 in a flat shape, so that the wafer 1 can be stably positioned on the carrier 2 to prevent the wafer 1 from being detached from the carrier 2 during the rotation of the carrier 2. produce. During the rotation of the pressing member 34 from the initial position to the pressing position, the outer peripheral edge 121 of the wafer 1 is gradually pressed through the arc-shaped pressing surface 341 to bring the outer peripheral portion 12 closer to flatness, thereby achieving leveling. The effect of the outer peripheral portion 12 can avoid direct impact on the outer periphery 121 of the wafer 1 to cause cracks or damage to the wafer 1.

Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, when the carrier disk 2 stops rotating, the wind pressure on the windward surface 356 of the wind deflector 352 is less than the reset spring force accumulated by the biasing spring 36. At this time, by biasing the spring 36 The returning elastic force drives the wind deflector 35 to rotate, and the wind deflecting member 35 simultaneously drives the pressing member 34 to rotate in the rotating direction R1 and away from the outer peripheral edge 121 of the wafer 1 through the rotating shaft 33. When the stopper 313 blocks the first side elevation 354 of the sleeve 351 and restricts the rotation of the wind shield 35, the pressing member 34 automatically releases the state of pressing the outer periphery 121 of the wafer 1, and the pressing member 34 is returned and Position in the initial position. At this time, the transfer mechanism can grip the wafer 1 via the pick and place path to move it away from the carrier tray 2 and the bracket 31.

In summary, in the carrying device 200 of the present embodiment, during the rotation of the pressing member 34 from the initial position to the pressing position, the outer peripheral edge 121 of the wafer 1 is gradually pressed through the arc-shaped pressing surface 341 to the outer periphery. The portion 12 is nearly flat, thereby achieving the effect of leveling the outer peripheral portion 12, and avoiding direct impact on the outer periphery 121 of the wafer 1 to cause cracks or damage to the wafer 1, thereby effectively lifting the wafer. 1 The yield of output, so it is indeed possible to achieve the object of the present invention.

However, the above is only the embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the invention is not limited thereto, and all the equivalent equivalent changes and modifications according to the scope of the patent application and the patent specification of the present invention are still The scope of the invention is covered.

1‧‧‧ wafer

11‧‧‧ Central Department

12‧‧‧Outer peripheral parts

121‧‧‧ outer periphery

200‧‧‧ Carrying device

2‧‧‧ Carrying tray

21‧‧‧ outer edge

3‧‧‧Clamping mechanism

31‧‧‧ bracket

311‧‧‧ ‧ body

312‧‧‧ thimble

313‧‧‧ block

32‧‧‧Repression assembly

33‧‧‧ shaft

34‧‧‧Sold parts

341‧‧‧ pressed surface

342‧‧‧Connected end

End of 343‧‧

35‧‧‧ windshield

351‧‧‧Sleeve

352‧‧‧wind shield

353‧‧‧ Groove

354‧‧‧First side façade

355‧‧‧Second side façade

356‧‧‧ Windward side

36‧‧‧bias spring

F‧‧‧down direction

R1‧‧‧Rotation direction

R2‧‧‧ turning direction

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the embodiments of the present invention, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a carrier having a clamping mechanism of the present invention; 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line S1-S1 in FIG. 2, illustrating the wafer having a central portion and a warped outer peripheral portion; FIG. 4 is a plan view of the embodiment illustrating the clamping mechanism Figure 5 is a front view of Figure 4, illustrating the pressing member of the clamping mechanism in the initial position; Figure 6 is a partial enlarged view of Figure 5, illustrating the pressing member of the clamping mechanism in the initial position; Figure 7 is a plan view of the embodiment, illustrating that the carrier disk drives the wafer to rotate in the direction of rotation, and the windshield member rotates in the direction of rotation; Figure 8 is a partial enlarged view similar to Figure 6, illustrating the pressed surface of the pressed member. Figure 9 is a plan view of the embodiment illustrating the pressing member of the clamping mechanism in the pressing position; Figure 10 is a front elevational view of Figure 9 illustrating the pressing member of the clamping mechanism in the pressing position; 11 is a partial enlarged view of FIG. Description of the pressing member clamping mechanism located in the pressing position.

Claims (8)

A clamping mechanism is adapted to hold a wafer, the wafer is carried and adsorbed by a carrier, the wafer has an outer circumference, and the clamping mechanism comprises: a bracket fixedly connected to the carrier tray The rim is configured to rotate the bracket in a rotational direction, the bracket is configured to abut against a bottom surface of the wafer; a pressing assembly is disposed on the bracket and includes: a rotating shaft rotatably pivoted The pressing member is disposed on the rotating shaft and is bent, and the pressing member is pressed on the outer circumference of the wafer; a wind blocking member is fixedly coupled to the rotating shaft for driving the rotating shaft And a biasing spring for applying an elastic force in the same direction of the rotating direction; when the carrier is rotated in the rotating direction, the wind deflector is driven by the wind toward a direction opposite to the rotating direction The rotating direction drives the rotating shaft and the pressing member to rotate, so that the pressing member presses the outer peripheral edge in the pressing direction. The holding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member has a pressing surface in an arc shape for pressing the outer periphery. The clamping mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the pressing member is bent and extended by the top end of the rotating shaft facing upward and obliquely outward. The clamping mechanism of claim 3, wherein the pressing member is a pressing rod integrally formed on the top end of the rotating shaft, the pressing member has a connecting end connected to the top end of the rotating shaft, and a connecting end opposite to the connecting end End. A carrier device having a clamping mechanism for carrying and adsorbing a wafer having a bottom surface and an outer periphery, the carrier device comprising: a carrier tray for carrying and adsorbing the bottom surface of the wafer The carrier disk includes an outer edge, the carrier disk is rotatable in a rotation direction; at least three clamping mechanisms are disposed on the outer edge of the carrier disk, and each clamping mechanism comprises: a bracket fixedly connected The rim can be rotated and rotated by the carrier, the bracket is used to abut the bottom surface of the wafer; and a pressing assembly is disposed on the bracket and includes a rotating shaft, a pressing member, and a wind shield. And a biasing spring, the rotating shaft is rotatably pivotally connected to the bracket, the pressing member is disposed on the rotating shaft and is bent, and the pressing member is pressed on the outer circumference of the wafer, the wind is blocked The rotating shaft is fixedly coupled to the rotating shaft for driving the rotating shaft, and the biasing spring is configured to apply an elastic force to the wind deflecting member in the same direction of the rotating direction; when the supporting plate rotates in the rotating direction, the wind is blocked The piece is driven by the wind to the opposite side of the rotation The direction of rotation of the drive shaft and the rotation of the pressing member, so that the pressing member along the pressing direction at the outer peripheral edge of the depression. A carrier device having a clamping mechanism according to claim 5, wherein the pressing member has a pressing surface in an arc shape for pressing the outer periphery. A carrier device having a clamping mechanism according to claim 6, wherein the pressing member is bent and extended by the top end of the rotating shaft facing upward and obliquely outward. The carrying device with a clamping mechanism according to claim 7, wherein the pressing member is a pressing rod integrally formed on the top end of the rotating shaft, the pressing member has a connecting end connected to the top end of the rotating shaft, and a reverse At the end of the connection.