TWM450053U - Wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control - Google Patents

Description

Wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control

The present invention relates to a wafer carrier gas filling device, and more particularly to a wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control.

The conventional wafer carrier (Foup) is filled with nitrogen or clean air (CDA, XCDA) in the wafer carrier to remove oxygen and moisture contained in the wafer carrier by means of driving. To avoid the wafers contained in the wafer carrier, it is affected by oxygen and moisture, and oxides are generated on the surface of the wafer, which affects the yield on subsequent processes.

However, the conventional wafer carrier gas filling device uses a mass flow controller to control the supply flow rate of a gas supply device (for example, a nitrogen gas cylinder or a clean gas cylinder, etc.) at an intake end. Setting a fixed gas flow rate, filling the above-mentioned nitrogen or clean gas into the wafer carrier, as the wafer size becomes larger, such as 18 吋 wafer, which accommodates the crystal of the 18 吋 wafer The size of the round carrier also needs to be increased. If the conventional filling gas flow filling technique is used to drive out the above oxygen and moisture, the following disadvantages exist:

1. Due to the large size of the wafer carrier, it may cause inefficient gas replacement or poor replacement rate, resulting in the need for additional filling gas to allow the oxygen and moisture in the wafer carrier to be completely discharged. As a result, it is easy to cause waste of nitrogen or clean gas use.

2. When the gas supply device is changed or used for a long time, it is easy to produce errors. The parameters such as the gas flow rate and time set originally need to be heavy. New adjustments.

Third, the gas filled into the wafer carrier is relatively unstable and cannot be accurately controlled, which will greatly affect the quality of subsequent processes.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control that automatically regulates gas flow at the inlet and outlet ends.

Therefore, the novel wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control is suitable for connecting a wafer carrier, the wafer carrier gas filling device comprises an inlet end mass flow controller, an intake end, and an exhaust end, A gas characteristic sensor, an exhaust end mass flow controller, an air extracting device, and a control device.

The intake end is coupled between the intake end mass flow controller and the wafer carrier.

The exhaust end is coupled to the wafer carrier.

The gas characteristic sensor is coupled to the exhaust end.

The exhaust end mass flow controller is coupled to the gas characteristic sensor.

The air suction device is connected to the exhaust end mass flow controller.

The control device is electrically connected to the gas characteristic sensor for receiving a sensing signal of the gas characteristic sensor, and then performing an arithmetic processing to control the quality of the inlet end mass flow controller and the exhaust end Flow controller to automatically regulate the flow of incoming and outgoing gases.

The utility model has the beneficial effects that the sensing signal of the gas characteristic sensor is received by the control device, and then the operation is processed to control the a gas end mass flow controller and the exhaust end mass flow controller to automatically adjust the flow rate of the ingress and egress gases, so that the internal gas of the wafer carrier can be quickly replaced within a set time to effectively control the process Time and filling gas usage, which in turn increases throughput in the process.

The foregoing and other technical aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a preferred embodiment of the novel wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control is suitable for connecting a wafer carrier 100 capable of accommodating 18 wafers. The wafer carrier gas filling device comprises An intake end mass flow controller 2, an intake end 3, an exhaust end 4, a gas characteristic sensor 5, an exhaust end mass flow controller 6, an air extracting device 7, and a control device 8.

The intake end mass flow controller 2 is connected at one end to a gas supply device 200 and at the other end to the intake end 3. In the preferred embodiment, the gas supply device 200 is a nitrogen gas cylinder to provide nitrogen gas for replacing the gas. Of course, the gas supply device may also be a clean gas (CDA, XCDA) cylinder.

The intake end 3 is connected between the intake end mass flow controller 2 and the wafer carrier 100.

One end of the exhaust end 4 is connected to the wafer carrier 100, and the other end of the exhaust end 4 is connected to the gas characteristic sensor 5. In the preferred embodiment, the gas characteristic sensor 5 is a humidity sensor for sensing gas. Humidity.

The exhaust end mass flow controller 6 is connected to the gas characteristic sensor 5 at one end and to the air suction device 7 at the other end. The gas accommodated in the wafer carrier 100 is discharged by the air suction device 7. Wherein, the air suction device 7 may be one of a Roche pump, a spiral pump, and a scroll pump.

The control device 8 is electrically connected to the gas characteristic sensor 5, and includes a human-machine control interface 81, a program operation processing module 82 electrically connected to the human-machine control interface 81, and an electrical connection to the program operation processing. The module 82 receives a sensing signal of the gas characteristic sensor 5 and controls the intake end mass flow controller 2 and the control module 83 of the exhaust end mass flow controller 6.

In operation, the user can first set the time and humidity value required for filling the gas on the man-machine interface interface 81, and the control module 83 can receive the exhaust end 4 detected by the gas characteristic sensor 5. After the sensing signal of the internal gas humidity value is immediately processed by the program operation processing module 82, the intake air mass flow controller 2 is controlled according to the ratio of the most appropriate gas input and output ratio. The exhaust end mass flow controller 6 is configured to automatically adjust the flow rate of the ingress and egress gases, so that the gas can be effectively controlled in the large size of the wafer carrier 100 by the instant detection monitoring and the linear feedback mode. In and out flow and precise control of the time required for gas replacement and gas replacement efficiency, thereby improving the quality of the process.

According to the above description, the novel wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control has the following advantages and effects:

The control module 83 of the control device 8 receives the sensing signal of the gas characteristic sensor 5, and then performs processing processing via the program operation processing module 82 to control the intake end mass flow controller 2 And the exhaust end mass flow controller 6 to automatically adjust the flow rate of the incoming and outgoing gases, so that the internal gas of the wafer carrier 100 can be quickly replaced within a set time to effectively control the process time and the filling gas. The amount of use, which in turn increases the capacity of the process.

However, the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention cannot be limited thereto, that is, the simple equivalent change and modification made by the novel patent application scope and the novel description content, All remain within the scope of this new patent.

100‧‧‧ wafer carrier

200‧‧‧ gas supply device

2‧‧‧Intake end mass flow controller

3‧‧‧ intake end

4‧‧‧Exhaust end

5‧‧‧ gas characteristic sensor

6‧‧‧Exhaust end mass flow Controller

7‧‧‧Exhaust device

8‧‧‧Control device

81‧‧‧Human control interface

82‧‧‧Programming Processing Module

83‧‧‧Control module

1 is a schematic view of a preferred embodiment of a novel wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control; and FIG. 2 is a system block diagram of the preferred embodiment, illustrating a control device, a gas characteristic sensor, The relationship between an intake end mass flow controller and an air outlet mass flow controller.

100‧‧‧ wafer carrier

200‧‧‧ gas supply device

2‧‧‧Intake end mass flow controller

3‧‧‧ intake end

4‧‧‧Exhaust end

5‧‧‧ gas characteristic sensor

6‧‧‧Exhaust end mass flow controller

7‧‧‧Exhaust device

8‧‧‧Control device

Claims (4)

A wafer carrier gas filling device with flow control is suitable for connecting a wafer carrier, the wafer carrier gas filling device comprises: an inlet end mass flow controller; and an inlet end connected to the inlet end mass Between the flow controller and the wafer carrier; an exhaust end coupled to the wafer carrier; a gas characteristic sensor coupled to the exhaust end; an exhaust end mass flow controller coupled to the gas a characteristic sensor; an air suction device connected to the exhaust end mass flow controller; and a control device electrically connected to the gas characteristic sensor for receiving a sensing signal of the gas characteristic sensor Then, through the arithmetic processing, the intake end mass flow controller and the exhaust end mass flow controller are controlled to automatically adjust the flow rate of the incoming and outgoing gases. The flow control wafer carrier gas filling device according to the first aspect of the invention, wherein the control device comprises a human-machine control interface, a program operation processing module electrically connected to the human-machine control interface, and a The sensing signal is electrically connected to the program processing module and receives the sensing signal of the gas characteristic sensor to control the air inlet mass flow controller and the control module of the exhaust end mass flow controller. The flow-controlled wafer carrier gas filling device according to claim 1, wherein the gas characteristic sensor is a humidity sensor. A flow-controlled wafer carrier gas filling device according to the first aspect of the invention, wherein the suction device is one of a Roche pump, a spiral pump, and a scroll pump.