TW201944534A - Wafer clamp for electroplating equipment including a carrier, at least one linking ring, at least one electroplating carrier, at least one upper cap, and at least one actuating rod - Google Patents

Abstract

A wafer clamp for electroplating equipment includes a carrier, at least one linking ring, at least one electroplating carrier, at least one upper cap, and at least one actuating rod. A side wall of the carrier is fixed with the electroplating carrier in a concentric manner and mounted with the linking ring that can be rotated. The electroplating carrier has a plurality of positioning blocks at the peripheral outer wall edge thereof. The linking ring is provided with a gear section at a partial area of the peripheral outer wall bottom edge thereof, and a plurality of lower clamping blocks at the outer wall top edge thereof. The upper cap is a ring-shaped cover in which a plurality of positioning grooves are distributed on the top edge of the inner wall thereof, and a fixed ring is provided on the bottom edge of the inner wall thereof. The fixed ring is internally provided with a plurality of upper clamping blocks. The actuating rod is longitudinally installed in the carrier, and has a partial section provided with a rack. The rack is engaged with the gear section. Thereby, after the electroplating carrier is covered with the upper cap, the positioning block is fixed because the positioning block is located in the positioning groove. When an operator pushes the actuating rod, the rack meshes with the gear section to rotate the linking ring, and the lower clamping block is matched with the upper clamping block to screw the upper cap.

Description

Wafer fixture for electroplating equipment

The invention relates to the technical field of wafer clamps, in particular to a structure for holding wafers in electroplating equipment, which can avoid excessive clamping of wafers, and is beneficial to the operation of subsequent automated machinery.

As shown in FIG. 1, it is a wafer holding structure of a conventional electroplating equipment. A carrier 11 is fixed on a carrier 11, and an inner cover 13 and an upper cover 14 are used together. The outer peripheral wall of the electroplated carrier 12 has a plurality of lower bumps 121, and the inner wall edge of the upper cover 14 has a relative number of upper bumps 141. In use, the wafer A to be plated is first placed on the plating carrier 12, and the inner cover 13 is placed on the wafer A. The exposed area in the center of the wafer A is the surface to be plated, and then covered by the upper cover 14. The inner cover 13 and the plating carrier 12 are rotated, and the upper bump 141 and the lower bump 121 are moved relative to each other to produce a mutual urging effect, so that the plating carrier 12, the wafer A, and the inner cover 13 are achieved. And the purpose of clamping and fixing the upper cover 14 to each other.

However, the above structure has the following disadvantages in use: 1. Cannot be operated by automated machinery: Since the upper cover 14 must be rotated to be locked to the plating carrier 12, in order to avoid the upper cover 14 from scratching the surface of the wafer A, The inner cover 13 that does not rotate must be used as an intermediate medium. However, when an automated machine is used to assist the operation, the operation of the mechanism is prone to interference due to the existence of the inner cover 13. Therefore, the current operating procedures of such wafer clamping structures are all Manual movement of the upper and lower wafers cannot be automated by the machine; 2. During the clamping process, the edge of the wafer is likely to break: When the upper cover 14 is rotated and tightened, tools are usually used to assist the force, which is easy. The force applied every time cannot be fixed. When the upper cover 14 is over-tightened, it will press the inner cover 13 to exert an excessive force on the edge of the wafer A, which will easily cause the edge of the wafer A to crack and cause serious losses. Or after repeated use, excessive force will also cause part of the upper and lower projections 121 and 141 to be excessively worn, resulting in failure to provide uniformity on the circumference during clamping. Of force. 3. There must be multiple wires in the carrier, and the structure is too complicated: In the electroplating operation, the wafer A is the cathode, and it must be connected with related circuits to allow external power to be transmitted there. There are wires hidden and distributed inside, which will increase the difficulty of processing the carrier 11 and the trouble of subsequent assembly.

In view of this, in order to solve the shortcomings of conventional use, the inventors have designed this wafer fixture for electroplating equipment with many years of experience.

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a wafer fixture, which is used in electroplating equipment, and mainly adopts different operating methods to achieve the purpose of clamping the wafer and facilitate the operation of subsequent automated equipment.

To achieve the above object, the present invention includes a carrier, at least one interlocking ring, at least one electroplated carrier, at least one upper cover, and at least one actuating rod. The carrier fixes the electroplated carrier in a concentric manner at the side wall and installs the carrier. With the linking ring that can be rotated, the periphery of the outer wall of the electroplated carrier has a plurality of positioning blocks, a local area of the bottom edge of the outer wall of the linking ring has a gear section, and the top edge of the outer wall has several lower clamping blocks. The upper cover is a ring-shaped cover. A plurality of positioning grooves are distributed on the top edge of the inner wall of the ring, and a fixing ring is provided on the bottom edge of the inner wall of the wall. The fixing ring has several upper clamping blocks. When the positioning block is located in the positioning recess, When in the groove, the upper cover and the electroplated carrier cannot rotate relative to each other. The actuating rod is longitudinally installed in the carrier. A partial section of the actuating rod has a rack, and the rack is engaged with the gear section.

The operation mode of the present invention is: when a wafer is placed on the plating carrier, the plating cover is covered by the upper cover, and the two are fixed because the positioning block is located in the positioning groove. In addition, the operator pushes the actuating lever, and the linkage ring rotates because the rack meshes with the gear section, and the upper cover can be pressed to fit the lower cover to fix the upper cover, and if it is changed, otherwise The rotation direction of the interlocking ring is the unlocked state. With the structure of the present invention, the structure of the conventional inner cover can be omitted, and automatic machine assistance can be subsequently used to achieve the purpose of automatic wafer loading and unloading.

In addition, in the present invention, the actuating rod, the linking ring and the fixing ring can be made of metal materials. With the conductive line on the inner edge of the inner wall of the ring of the upper cover, it can be used as an external power transmission to the internal power supply line. The wafer is maintained in a cathode state. This design can eliminate the need to design a hidden wire in the vehicle, simplifying the complexity of the original structure and making the product more practical.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the linking ring is installed on the periphery of the plating carrier and has a size smaller than the top edge of the plating carrier. The plating carrier is fixed so that the linking ring can only rotate but cannot be separated from the plating carrier. .

In the present invention, the carrier is composed of a plate body and a support portion, forming a narrow T-shaped structure with upper and lower sides. The plate body is recessed at a side wall to form a receiving seat, the plating carrier and The linking ring is installed in the receiving slot seat. The receiving slot seat further has a limiting slot with a deeper depth. The gear section of the linking ring is located in the limiting slot. The limiting slot is arc-shaped. , Which limits the interlocking ring to rotate only by a predetermined angle.

In the present invention, the plate body has another accommodating space in a longitudinal direction, the accommodating space is partially and in communication with the accommodating slot seat, the actuating rod is installed in the accommodating space, and the rack is in the accommodating space and The accommodating groove seat is in mesh with the gear section of the linkage ring.

In the present invention, the engaging section of the actuating rod further includes a movable tube, a spring, and an adjusting member. The movable tube can linearly reciprocate. The rack is located on a side wall of the movable tube. The spring is limited to Between the movable pipe and the adjusting member, the adjusting member can change the distance from the movable pipe through rotation to adjust the pre-pressed value of the spring. Thereby, in the clamping state, a preset pressure is provided by the spring to the movable tube, so that the rack gear is continuously pressed on the gear section to maintain the tightness of the clamping state.

The following describes the embodiments of the present invention in more detail with reference to the drawings and element symbols, so that those skilled in the art can implement them after studying this specification.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, respectively, are perspective and exploded views of the present invention. The wafer holder for the creation includes a carrier 2, at least one interlocking ring 3, at least one electroplated carrier 4, at least one cover 5, and at least one action. Rod 6. In the embodiment, a wafer clamping structure is provided on both sides of the carrier 2 to increase production efficiency. Since the structures on both sides are the same, the present invention only describes the structure on one side. The interlocking ring 3 and the electroplated carrier 4 are mounted on one side wall of the carrier 2 in a concentric manner. The electroplated carrier 4 is fixed and the linkage ring 3 can be rotated by an angle. The actuating rod 6 is longitudinally installed in the carrier 2 and can contact the linking ring 3. When the upper cover 5 is covered on the electroplated carrier 4 and the linking ring 3 is driven to rotate through the linear movement of the actuating rod 6, the linking ring 3 can be tightened to the upper cover 5 to achieve the purpose of locking and fixing.

Then explain the structure of each component:

The carrier 2 is used for installation of various components here. The carrier 2 is composed of a plate body 21 and a support portion 22, forming a T-shaped structure with a narrow upper and lower sides, and the support portion 22 has a thickness and a thickness. Both are larger than the plate body 21, so that the plate body 21 can be submerged into a plating bath in a vertical shape during electroplating. The plate body 21 is recessed at a side wall to form an accommodating seat 23. The accommodating groove seat 23 is used for installing the linking ring 3 and the electroplating carrier 4 here. The receiving slot seat 23 further has a limiting slot 231 having a deeper depth. The limiting groove 231 is arc-shaped, and is used to limit the rotation angle of the linkage ring 3. In addition, the plate body 21 has another receiving space 24 in the longitudinal direction, and the receiving space 24 is partially and communicated with the receiving groove seat 23. The accommodating space 24 is used for receiving the actuating rod 6. The carrier 2 is made of an insulating material.

The linking ring 3 is ring-shaped. A partial area of the bottom edge of the circumferential outer wall has a gear section 31. The bottom of the gear section 31 protrudes from the bottom surface of the linking ring 3 and is partially located in the limiting groove 231 during assembly. The arc shape of the limiting slot 231 is greater than the distribution length of the gear section 31, and is used to limit the angle that the linkage ring 3 can rotate. A plurality of lower clamping blocks 32 are distributed on the top edge of the outer peripheral wall of the linking ring 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the lower clamping blocks 32 have downward inclined slopes. The lower clamping block 32 is used to lock the upper cover 5. During assembly, the linking ring 3 is installed at the circumference of the plating carrier 4 and has a size smaller than that of the top edge of the plating carrier 4. Therefore, the linking ring 3 can only rotate but cannot be separated from the plating carrier 4. The interlocking ring 3 is mainly used to rotate the upper cover 5, and since it is a metal material, it can also be used as a power transmission medium.

The top surface of the plating carrier 4 is where the wafer is placed during plating. The electroplated carrier 4 is locked to the bottom surface of the accommodating groove base 23 with screws so that it cannot move. The top circumferential edge of the electroplated carrier 4 has a plurality of positioning blocks 41 protruding outward, which are matched with the upper cover 5 during assembly to prevent the upper cover 5 from rotating.

The upper cover 5 is a ring-shaped cover body. A plurality of positioning grooves 51 are distributed on the top edge of the inner wall of the ring. The number and positions of the positioning grooves 51 correspond to the positioning blocks 41. A fixing ring 52 is fixed on the bottom edge of the inner wall of the upper cover 5. The fixing ring 52 includes a plurality of upper clamping blocks 53. The upper clamping block 53 partially has an inclined surface with an inclined surface facing upward. The number and position of the upper clamping blocks 53 are matched with the lower clamping blocks 32. The fixing ring 52 is made of a metal material. In addition, the inner wall of the upper cover 5 may be provided with a conductive block (illustrated in the figure) to contact or lock the fixing ring 52, or use a metal screw (illustrated in the figure). (Out) The fixing ring 52 is locked, and electricity is transmitted to the top edge of the inner wall of the ring by using a conductive block or a metal screw to act as a medium for power transmission during electroplating.

Please refer to FIG. 5 together. The actuating rod 6 is installed in the accommodating space 24 of the carrier 2 and is responsible for driving the linkage ring 3 to rotate. A part of the actuating rod 6 has a rack 61, and the rack 61 meshes with the gear section 31 of the linking ring 3. When the actuating rod 6 is pulled back and forth, the linking ring 3 can be driven to rotate, and further Clamp the upper cover 5. However, in order to ensure that it is not easy to loose and have proper tightness during use, in this embodiment, the engaging section of the linking ring 3 and the actuating rod 6 has some special designs. As shown in FIG. 5, the engaging section of the actuating rod 6 further includes a movable tube 62, a spring 63, and an adjusting member 64. The movable tube 62 is capable of linear reciprocating movement, and the rack 61 is located on a side wall of the movable tube 62. The spring 63 is restricted between the movable tube 63 and the adjusting member 64. The adjusting member 64 can change the distance from the movable tube 62 through rotation, thereby adjusting the pre-stressed value of the spring 63. The spring 63 maintains the tightness of the movable tube 62. In the actuated state, the actuating rod 6 is pushed into the plate body 21, and although the spring 63 is compressed, it continues to apply pressure to the movable tube 62 to maintain the tightness of the rack 61 meshing with the gear section 31. To ensure that the interlocking ring 3 is screwed onto the upper cover 5.

In the present invention, the actuating rod 6 can also become a conductor, as a medium for electrical transmission. This purpose can reduce the installation of other wires in the vehicle 2 and make the structure simpler. The actuating rod 6 is made of metal, and its movable tube 62, spring 63, and adjusting member 64 are also made of metal. The top of the actuating rod 6 further has a conductive block 65, and the shape of the conductive block 65 can be freely changed according to requirements, so as to facilitate contact with related electrodes after being installed in the electroplating equipment. A relative groove 221 is provided at the opposite position of the supporting portion 22 for the conductive block 65 to be disposed therein.

In addition, in order to fix the position where the actuating rod 6 is inserted into the carrier 2, a related positioning structure is provided at the support portion 22 to facilitate fixing the position, but it can be in various ways. Note that this does not limit the use of this method. A portion of the actuating rod 6 near the conductive block 65 has a first neck portion 66 with a smaller size. A corresponding pin 222 and a spring 223 are provided at a position corresponding to the supporting portion 22, and a portion of the pin 222 also has a second neck portion 224 with a smaller size. As shown in FIG. 3, the pin 222 is a large body and a small body. When assembling, the pin 222 is arranged in the hole in the corresponding shape of the support portion 22 from the top to the bottom in the drawing direction, and then locked by screws 235. , Using the spring 223 to maintain the tightness of the pin 222. In the locked state, the largest cylindrical section of the pin 222 is located at the first neck 66, so that the actuating rod 6 cannot be moved, but if an external force is applied, the structure on the left side of FIG. The pin 222 is pushed from the bottom up, so that the second neck 224 is located in the first neck 66, and the actuating rod 6 can be pulled out for a distance, so that the linking ring 3 touches the locked state with the upper cover 5. .

Then explain the assembly method and operation mode:

First insert the actuating rod 6 into the accommodating space 24, and then install the interlocking ring 3 and the electroplated carrier 4 into the accommodating groove seat 23 from top to bottom, and the gear section 31 of the interlocking ring 3 meshes with The rack 61 locks the electroplated carrier 4. Due to the relationship of the limiting groove 231, the linkage ring 3 can only rotate a specific angle, so that the engaging lever 6 engaged with it cannot be disengaged.

As shown in FIG. 6, when not in use, the actuating rod 6 is pulled out a short distance, that is, the conductive block 65 is separated from the groove 221. The operator can place a wafer B on the top surface of the plating carrier 4, align the positioning line 54 of the upper cover 5 with the reference line 211 on the board 21, and the upper cover 5 covers the plating carrier 4 from top to bottom. The positioning block 41 is located in the positioning groove 51 so that the upper cover 5 cannot be rotated. At this time, the actuating rod 6 is pushed into the plate body 21, the rack 61 is engaged with the gear section 31, the linking ring 3 starts to rotate, and the inclined surface of the lower clamping block 32 is in contact with the upper clamping block 53 A pressing effect is generated, and the upper cover 5 is locked by the linking ring 3, and then the wafer B is fixed therein. Conversely, if you want to remove the wafer B, you must first touch the pin 222 (as shown in the back direction on the left side of Figure 6) to release the latching state, and then pull the actuating rod 6 open and open the upper cover 5 to remove the wafer. B. In addition, in this embodiment, a set of wafer clamping structures are provided on each side of the carrier 2. The left-side actuating rod 6 controls the structure of the left side, and the right-side actuating rod 6 controls the structure of the back surface in the drawing.

To sum up, the wafer fixture of the present invention for electroplating equipment has the following advantages: 1. There is no customary inner cover structure in this structure, and it can use the assistance of automated machines to achieve automatic wafer picking and placing. 2. Use the linked ring to rotate a fixed angle each time to achieve the purpose of tightening to the upper cover, can maintain the uniformity of each force, and avoid the shortcomings of wafer damage caused by excessive force if used; 3. The actuating lever has a spring, and has a proper tightness after maintaining the tightness, to ensure the leak-proofness of the wafer held by the upper cover, and to prevent the plating solution from penetrating into the internal structure during plating; 4. The actuating lever, Both the interlocking ring and the fixed ring can be made of metal materials, and serve as the medium for external power transmission to the wafer. Therefore, there is no custom in the structure and it must have complicated wire configuration.

The above are only used to explain the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention in any form. Therefore, any modification or change related to the present invention made under the same spirit of the invention Should still be included in the scope of the present invention.

11‧‧‧ Vehicle

12‧‧‧plating carrier

121‧‧‧ under bump

13‧‧‧ inner cover

14‧‧‧ Upper cover

141‧‧‧upper bump

A‧‧‧ Wafer

2‧‧‧ Vehicle

21‧‧‧ plate

211‧‧‧Baseline

22‧‧‧ support

221‧‧‧Groove

222‧‧‧

223‧‧‧Spring

224‧‧‧Second Neck

235‧‧‧screw

23‧‧‧ receiving slot

231‧‧‧ limit slot

24‧‧‧ accommodation space

3‧‧‧ Linked ring

31‧‧‧Gear section

32‧‧‧ lower card block

4‧‧‧plating carrier

41‧‧‧ positioning block

5‧‧‧ Upper cover

51‧‧‧ positioning groove

52‧‧‧Fixed ring

53‧‧‧Up card block

54‧‧‧ positioning line

6‧‧‧ Actuator

61‧‧‧ Rack

62‧‧‧Activity tube

63‧‧‧Spring

64‧‧‧Adjustment

65‧‧‧Conductive block

66‧‧‧First Neck

B‧‧‧ Wafer

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a wafer clamping structure of a conventional electroplating equipment; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the present invention; FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the present invention; FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view of an upper cover, a plating carrier and a link ring of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged schematic diagram of an actuating lever of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an actual use state of the present invention.

Claims (7)

A wafer fixture for electroplating equipment includes a carrier, at least one interlocking ring, at least one electroplating carrier, at least one cover, and at least one actuating rod. The carrier fixes the electroplating carrier in a concentric manner at a side wall thereof. And the linking ring which can be rotated is restricted to be able to rotate only one angle, the periphery of the outer wall of the electroplated carrier has several positioning blocks, and the local area of the bottom edge of the outer wall of the linking ring has a gear section, The top edge of the outer wall is provided with several lower clamping blocks. The upper cover is a ring-shaped cover body. Several positioning grooves are distributed on the top edge of the inner wall of the ring. A fixed ring is provided on the bottom edge of the inner wall of the ring. A clamping block, the actuating rod is longitudinally installed in the carrier, and a partial section thereof has a rack, and the rack will mesh with the gear section. The wafer holder for electroplating equipment according to item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the link ring is installed on the periphery of the electroplated carrier and the size is smaller than the top edge of the electroplated carrier, the electroplated carrier is fixed, and the interlocking The ring can only rotate but cannot escape from the electroplated support. The wafer fixture for electroplating equipment as described in the first scope of the patent application, wherein the carrier is composed of a plate body and a support portion, forming a narrow T-shaped structure with upper and lower sides, and the side wall is the The side of the plate body, the side wall is recessed to form an accommodating seat, the electroplating carrier and the link ring are installed in the accommodating slot seat, and the accommodating slot seat has a deeper depth limiting slot. The gear section is located in the limiting groove, and the limiting groove is arc-shaped, restricting the linking ring to rotate only by a predetermined angle. According to the wafer fixture for electroplating equipment described in item 3 of the scope of the patent application, the plate body has another accommodating space in the longitudinal direction, the accommodating space is partially and communicated with the accommodating groove seat, and the actuating rod is installed In the accommodating space, the rack meshes with the gear region of the link ring at a point where the accommodating space communicates with the accommodating groove seat. According to the wafer clamp of the electroplating equipment described in item 3 of the patent application scope, a conductive block is provided on the top of the actuating rod, and a corresponding groove is provided at the support portion, and the conductive block is disposed in the groove. For example, the wafer fixture of the electroplating equipment described in item 3 of the patent application scope, wherein the actuating rod, the linking ring and the fixing ring are all made of metal and can be used as a medium for power transmission. For example, the wafer fixture of the electroplating equipment described in the first item of the patent application scope, wherein the engaging section of the actuating rod further includes a movable tube, a spring, and an adjusting member, and the movable tube can linearly reciprocate. The rack is located on the side wall of the movable tube, and the spring is restricted between the movable tube and the adjusting member. The adjusting member can be rotated to change the distance to the movable tube, thereby adjusting the tension of the spring.