US20020034434A1 - Wafer flat zone aligner - Google Patents
Wafer flat zone aligner Download PDFInfo
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- US20020034434A1 US20020034434A1 US09/847,346 US84734601A US2002034434A1 US 20020034434 A1 US20020034434 A1 US 20020034434A1 US 84734601 A US84734601 A US 84734601A US 2002034434 A1 US2002034434 A1 US 2002034434A1
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- Prior art keywords
- wafer
- wafers
- aligner
- cassette
- guide roller
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- 235000012431 wafers Nutrition 0.000 claims abstract description 228
- 239000004696 Poly ether ether ketone Substances 0.000 claims description 10
- 229920002530 polyetherether ketone Polymers 0.000 claims description 10
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims description 8
- 229920001296 polysiloxane Polymers 0.000 claims description 7
- JUPQTSLXMOCDHR-UHFFFAOYSA-N benzene-1,4-diol;bis(4-fluorophenyl)methanone Chemical compound OC1=CC=C(O)C=C1.C1=CC(F)=CC=C1C(=O)C1=CC=C(F)C=C1 JUPQTSLXMOCDHR-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims 4
- 239000004033 plastic Substances 0.000 claims 4
- 239000013013 elastic material Substances 0.000 abstract description 3
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 description 23
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 15
- 239000004698 Polyethylene Substances 0.000 description 6
- 229920000573 polyethylene Polymers 0.000 description 6
- 239000010409 thin film Substances 0.000 description 6
- XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicon Chemical compound [Si] XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 5
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 5
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 description 5
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 4
- 239000002245 particle Substances 0.000 description 3
- 239000010453 quartz Substances 0.000 description 3
- VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N silicon dioxide Inorganic materials O=[Si]=O VYPSYNLAJGMNEJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 3
- 230000003028 elevating effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 229920006351 engineering plastic Polymers 0.000 description 2
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000003990 capacitor Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000007547 defect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000011161 development Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000006073 displacement reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000001746 injection moulding Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000010354 integration Effects 0.000 description 1
- -1 polyethylene Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 238000002360 preparation method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000630 rising effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000006748 scratching Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000002393 scratching effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/673—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere using specially adapted carriers or holders; Fixing the workpieces on such carriers or holders
- H01L21/67326—Horizontal carrier comprising wall type elements whereby the substrates are vertically supported, e.g. comprising sidewalls
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/68—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for positioning, orientation or alignment
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
- Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10S414/00—Material or article handling
- Y10S414/135—Associated with semiconductor wafer handling
- Y10S414/136—Associated with semiconductor wafer handling including wafer orienting means
Definitions
- the present invention relates to the manufacturing of semiconductor devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wafer flat zone aligner for orienting wafers prior to their introduction into a facility in which the wafers are to be processed.
- semiconductor products are being widely used in various industries, such as the electronics, computer and aerospace industries.
- semiconductor products are under a rapid technical development to achieve high integration and high performance, i.e., so as to be capable of storing large amounts of data per unit area and/or so as to be capable of processing large amounts of data per unit time.
- the semiconductor products are fabricated by carrying out a plurality of very precise fabricating processes in facilities through which the overall semiconductor fabricating process progresses.
- Data is stored or computations are performed in such semiconductor products by devices such as thin film transistors, thin film capacitors and thin film resistors.
- These semiconductor devices constitute minute electric circuits having a circuit pattern formed, based on a highly precise design rule of, for instance, about 0.10 microns, from a semiconductor thin film.
- the above-mentioned semiconductor fabricating facilities perform very precise semiconductor thin film processes on a pure silicon wafer at each of numerous semiconductor chip areas formed on the wafer. Therefore, the wafer must be aligned with each semiconductor fabrication facility just before the semiconductor process is to be carried out in the facility on the numerous semiconductor chip areas formed on the wafer.
- the wafer has a flat circumferential portion.
- This so-called “flat zone” of the wafer serves as a reference position in a process of aligning the wafer in preparation for introducing the wafer into the semiconductor fabrication facility in which the fabricating process is to be performed.
- Such a wafer having a flat zone is transferred to a wafer cassette after a first fabricating process is carried out, and is then transferred from the cassette to the next facility in which the subsequent semiconductor fabricating process is to be carried out.
- most semiconductor fabrication facilities perform a flat zone alignment process before the semiconductor fabricating process is carried out because the relative position of the wafer has likely changed from the designated position in the course of loading/unloading the wafer cassette or transferring the wafer.
- the orienting of a wafer to a designated position is mainly carried out by a piece of equipment referred to as a flat zone aligner.
- a flat zone aligner The structure and operation of a typical flat zone aligner is described below.
- a plurality of wafers are respectively disposed in slots of a wafer cassette having an open bottom.
- the wafer cassette is transferred to a designated position in the flat zone aligner.
- the flat zone aligner comprises two driving rollers made of a stainless material, and a guide roller made of quartz .
- the guide roller is disposed a little above the driving rollers. Once the cassette arrives at the designated position, the two driving rollers, and the guide roller are brought into contact with the wafers through the open bottom of the cassette.
- the driving rollers are rotated by a motor while in contact with the circumference of the wafers. Any wafer having a flat zone that is not in alignment is contacted by the guide roller and the two driving rollers, and is rotated by the two driving rollers. Once the flat zone of the wafer confronts the guide roller, the wafer stops rotating and is thereby oriented in a position in which the wafer is aligned
- the wafer flat zone aligner described above causes several problems.
- the rollers can break or scratch the edge of the wafer.
- the aligner can produce particles when the rollers thereof collide with the wafers disposed in the slots of the wafer cassette.
- Such problems can be caused by an inexact vertical displacement of the guide roller by an elevating mechanism of the wafer aligner.
- the guide roller is made of quartz which is a hard but fairly brittle material.
- the pure silicon wafer is also hard but rather brittle. If the guide roller is raised too far by the elevating mechanism of the flat zone wafer aligner, the quartz guide roller and silicon wafers can collide with such an impact that the guide roller breaks, or the edge of the wafer cracks or breaks.
- a mechanical stress concentration is produced at the crack when the wafer is thermally stressed during subsequent processing. As a result, the crack propagates from the edge to an active area of the wafer, thereby producing a defect in the semiconductor device(s).
- the conventional wafer flat zone aligner can also scratch the wafers and produce particles as follows.
- the flat zone aligner also includes a sensor unit for sensing whether there are wafers in the slots of the cassette.
- the sensor unit comprises confronting sensor plates that are inserted into the wafer cassette at positions at which each wafer, if disposed in a slot of the cassette, will lie between adjacent ones of the sensor plates. However, sometimes a wafer will but up against an upper flat surface of one of the sensor plates as the sensor plates are inserted into wafer cassette. Thus, the wafer will not come to lie in between adjacent ones of the sensor plates. Therefore, although this wafer is indeed present in a slot of the wafer cassette, the sensor unit issues an erroneous signal indicating that no wafer is present in the slot.
- the wafer cassette is generally tilted in the wafer flat zone aligner by about 2 degrees relative to the horizontal. Accordingly, the wafers become tilted by about 2 degrees relative to the vertical so that as the sensor plates are inserted vertically into the cassette, the wafers present in the slots are self-guided, if necessary, to positions at which they become located between adjacent ones of the sensor plates.
- the other portion of the wafer is seated in the slot.
- the portion of the wafer contacting the driving roller is moved by the flute axially along the driving roller, but the other portion of the wafer seated in the slot can not move. Therefore, the wafer is driven into contact with the wafer slot and strongly collides with the wafer slot, thereby causing friction and noise, scratching the wafer, creating particles which may contaminate the wafer, and preventing the wafer from being rotated into the designated aligned position.
- an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer flat zone aligner that substantially obviates one or more of the limitations and disadvantages of the prior art.
- one object of the present invention is to provide a wafer flat zone aligner that prevents wafers from being strongly forced against the walls of the cassette, that define the slots in which the wafers are seated, as the wafers are being rotated into designated aligned positions.
- the wafer flat zone aligner of the present invention comprises a wafer rotating roller that includes a shaft portion for rotating the wafers using friction, and a plurality of parallel spaced apart annular members protruding from the shaft portion.
- a wafer rotating roller that includes a shaft portion for rotating the wafers using friction, and a plurality of parallel spaced apart annular members protruding from the shaft portion.
- Each wafer seated in the cassette is inserted between adjacent ones of the annular members into contact with the shaft portion of the roller.
- the wafers are constrained from moving in the axial direction of the roller by the annular members.
- the wafers will not be forced against and bind to the walls of the cassette.
- the shaft portion of the wafer rotating roller may have an outer jacket of silicone.
- the silicone will provide just enough friction with the wafers to overcome any force causing the wafers to adhere to the walls of the cassette.
- Another object of the present invention is to provide a wafer flat zone aligner that when used will not cause an edge of a wafer to crack and will not prematurely degrade the guide roller thereof.
- the guide roller of the wafer aligner is made of an elastic material, such as polyethylene (PE) or polyetheretherketone (PEEK), that produces little friction with the wafers.
- PE polyethylene
- PEEK polyetheretherketone
- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wafer flat zone aligner in accordance with the present invention
- FIG. 2 is a front view of a wafer rotation driving roller of the wafer flat zone aligner of the present invention
- FIG. 3 is perspective view of an end portion of the wafer rotation driving roller
- FIG. 4 is a side view of the wafer flat zone aligner in accordance with the present invention, during operation.
- FIG. 5 is a front view of the end portion of the wafer rotation driving roller of the wafer flat zone aligner during operation.
- the flat zone aligner 100 of the present invention includes a housing 10 , a wafer rotating unit 20 , a wafer guide unit 30 and a wafer sensing unit 40 .
- the housing 10 comprises two upright vertical brackets 2 , 4 and one horizontal bracket 5 .
- the horizontal bracket 5 forms the bottom of the housing 10 .
- the two vertical brackets 2 , 4 extend perpendicularly from the ends of the horizontal bracket 5 , respectively.
- the wafer rotating unit 20 includes a pair of wafer rotation driving rollers 25 and a driving roller rotating unit 29 .
- Each wafer rotation driving roller 25 comprises a shaft portion, and a plurality of annular members 22 extending around the shaft portion and protruding radially outwardly therefrom.
- the shaft portion in turn, comprises a rotary shaft 21 , a bushing 24 made of industrial grade engineering plastic and interposed between the rotary shaft 21 and the annular members 22 , and an annular jacket 24 a made of silicone covering the bushing 24 .
- the annular members 22 are made of engineering plastic such as PEEK or PE.
- Each of the annular members 22 has a base having opposite outer surfaces extending from and perpendicular to the outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion, and a tapered outer circumferential portion extending radially outwardly from the base. That is, the outer circumferential portion of each annular member 24 has opposite outer surfaces that extend towards each other as taken in a direction radially outwardly from the base so as to define chamfers or fillets 22 a .
- the chamfers or fillets 22 a serve to guide the lowermost circumferential portions of the wafers towards the base of the annular members 22 and into contact with the shaft portion (see FIG. 5).
- the annular members 22 are wide enough, i.e. have sufficient outer diameters, to prevent a wafer guided into contact with the shaft portion from rising over an adjacent annular member 22 during high-speed rotation of the rotary shaft 21 . That is, the circumferential portion of each wafer is readily guided against the shaft portion as interposed between adjacent ones of the annular members 22 , but thereafter can only move laterally between the adjacent annular members 22 . Accordingly, during the alignment process (described in detail later on), the wafer can not bump into an adjacent wafer nor will the wafer be driven against the walls of the cassette 7 that define the slot in which the wafer is seated.
- the wafers can adhere to the walls defining the wafer slots of the cassette due to slight axial movement of the wafers during the alignment process. Such adhering, in turn, prevents the wafers from being rotated into the designated aligned positions.
- the shaft portions of the driving rollers 25 of the wafer aligner of the present invention each comprise an outer jacket 24 a made of silicone.
- the jacket 24 a thus generates a lot of friction with the circumferential portions of the wafers in contact therewith during rotation of the driving rollers 25 . The friction is sufficient to overcome any force binding the wafers to the cassette 7 . Accordingly, the wafers will be rotated to their designated aligned positions.
- the bushing 24 is mounted to the shaft 21 , the annular members 22 a are secured to the bushing 24 , and the jacket 24 a comprises a plurality of tubular segments that are each interposed between adjacent ones of the annular members 22 a .
- the segments of the jacket 24 a can be removed from the bushing 24 and replaced when they become excessively worn or abraded by the wafers.
- the present invention is not limited to such an arrangement.
- the shaft portion and the annular members 22 a can be formed as a unitary body by injection molding of PEEK or PE. Once the molded body is formed, the segments of the silicone jacket 24 a can be inserted onto the shaft portion between adjacent ones of the annular members 22 a.
- the pair of wafer rotation driving rollers 25 extend between and are supported by the vertical brackets 2 , 4 of the housing 10 . More specifically, the brackets 2 , 4 include journal or other bearings disposed across from one another. The ends of the rotary shaft 21 of each wafer rotation driving roller 25 extend into and are rotatably supported by respective ones of the bearings of the brackets 2 , 4 . As shown best in FIG. 2, one end of each rotary shaft 21 projects from the bushing 24 . These projecting ends of the rotary shafts 21 of the wafer rotation driving rollers 25 extend through the bracket 2 .
- the driving roller rotating unit 29 is connected to the wafer rotation driving rollers 25 at the projecting ends of the rotary shafts 21 thereof.
- the driving roller rotating unit 29 includes (FIG. 1) two driven pulleys 29 a secured to the projecting ends of the rotary shafts 21 , a driving motor 29 b , a driving pulley 29 c and a tension transferring belt 29 d wrapped around the pulleys 29 a and 29 c.
- the wafer guide unit 30 includes a guide roller 31 , a guide roller bracket 32 and an elevator 33 comprising a cylinder and vertically displaceable piston.
- the guide roller 31 is made of PEEK or PE. Such material has elasticity so as not to crack or break the edges of the wafers when the guide roller 31 is raised into contact therewith.
- the PEEK or PE also has a low coefficient of friction with silicon, i.e. the material of the wafer, so that the guide roller 31 will slip when it comes into contact with the flat zone of a wafer.
- the guide roller 31 is rotatably supported by the is guide roller bracket 32 , and the guide roller bracket 32 is supported by the elevator 33 so as to be movable up and down by the piston of the elevator 33 .
- the wafer sensing unit 40 comprises a wafer sensing block 41 and a plurality of wafer sensing sensor plates 42 mounted to the wafer sensor block 41 at the upper surface thereof.
- the sensor plates 42 are juxtaposed alongside the annular members 22 of a driving roller 25 .
- Each sensor plate 42 includes a light-emitting sensor on one side (the left) thereof and a light-receiving sensor on the other side (the right) thereof.
- the wafer blocks the light emitted by the light-emitting element of one of the sensor plates so that the light is not received by the light-receiving element of the other sensor plate.
- a plurality of wafers 6 are loaded in a wafer cassette 7 .
- the wafer cassette 7 is then transferred to the wafer flat zone aligner 100 so that the wafers 6 can be aligned with the next semiconductor fabricating facility in which the wafers are to be processed.
- the flat zone alignment process is initiated by lowering the wafer cassette 7 onto the flat zone aligner 100 atop the housing 10 so that the wafers 6 are inserted between the annular members 22 of the wafer rotating unit 20 . Then, the guide roller 31 of the wafer guide unit 30 is urged upwardly by the elevator 33 into contact with the wafers 6 .
- the driving roller(s) for rotating the wafers into the aligned positions includes annular members for limiting the ability of the wafers to move axially along the driving roller.
- the wafers will not bind with the walls of the cassette that define the slots in which the wafers are seated. Accordingly, the wafers are left free to rotate into the desired aligned positions.
- the wafer guide roller is made of an elastic material that will produce a low amount of friction with the wafers. Therefore, the wafer guide roller will not break, and will not break or crack the wafers when it is raised into contact with the wafers.
Abstract
Description
- 1. Field of the Invention
- The present invention relates to the manufacturing of semiconductor devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wafer flat zone aligner for orienting wafers prior to their introduction into a facility in which the wafers are to be processed.
- 2. Description of the Related Art
- Semiconductor products are being widely used in various industries, such as the electronics, computer and aerospace industries. Presently, such semiconductor products are under a rapid technical development to achieve high integration and high performance, i.e., so as to be capable of storing large amounts of data per unit area and/or so as to be capable of processing large amounts of data per unit time. The semiconductor products are fabricated by carrying out a plurality of very precise fabricating processes in facilities through which the overall semiconductor fabricating process progresses.
- Data is stored or computations are performed in such semiconductor products by devices such as thin film transistors, thin film capacitors and thin film resistors. These semiconductor devices constitute minute electric circuits having a circuit pattern formed, based on a highly precise design rule of, for instance, about 0.10 microns, from a semiconductor thin film. In forming such accurate semiconductor thin film patterns, the above-mentioned semiconductor fabricating facilities perform very precise semiconductor thin film processes on a pure silicon wafer at each of numerous semiconductor chip areas formed on the wafer. Therefore, the wafer must be aligned with each semiconductor fabrication facility just before the semiconductor process is to be carried out in the facility on the numerous semiconductor chip areas formed on the wafer.
- To this end, the wafer has a flat circumferential portion. This so-called “flat zone” of the wafer serves as a reference position in a process of aligning the wafer in preparation for introducing the wafer into the semiconductor fabrication facility in which the fabricating process is to be performed. Such a wafer having a flat zone is transferred to a wafer cassette after a first fabricating process is carried out, and is then transferred from the cassette to the next facility in which the subsequent semiconductor fabricating process is to be carried out. Thus, most semiconductor fabrication facilities perform a flat zone alignment process before the semiconductor fabricating process is carried out because the relative position of the wafer has likely changed from the designated position in the course of loading/unloading the wafer cassette or transferring the wafer.
- The orienting of a wafer to a designated position is mainly carried out by a piece of equipment referred to as a flat zone aligner. The structure and operation of a typical flat zone aligner is described below.
- A plurality of wafers are respectively disposed in slots of a wafer cassette having an open bottom. The wafer cassette is transferred to a designated position in the flat zone aligner. The flat zone aligner comprises two driving rollers made of a stainless material, and a guide roller made of quartz . The guide roller is disposed a little above the driving rollers. Once the cassette arrives at the designated position, the two driving rollers, and the guide roller are brought into contact with the wafers through the open bottom of the cassette.
- The driving rollers are rotated by a motor while in contact with the circumference of the wafers. Any wafer having a flat zone that is not in alignment is contacted by the guide roller and the two driving rollers, and is rotated by the two driving rollers. Once the flat zone of the wafer confronts the guide roller, the wafer stops rotating and is thereby oriented in a position in which the wafer is aligned
- However, the wafer flat zone aligner described above causes several problems. For instance, the rollers can break or scratch the edge of the wafer. In addition, the aligner can produce particles when the rollers thereof collide with the wafers disposed in the slots of the wafer cassette.
- Such problems can be caused by an inexact vertical displacement of the guide roller by an elevating mechanism of the wafer aligner. As mentioned above, the guide roller is made of quartz which is a hard but fairly brittle material. The pure silicon wafer is also hard but rather brittle. If the guide roller is raised too far by the elevating mechanism of the flat zone wafer aligner, the quartz guide roller and silicon wafers can collide with such an impact that the guide roller breaks, or the edge of the wafer cracks or breaks. In the case in which a fine crack is produced in the edge of the wafer, a mechanical stress concentration is produced at the crack when the wafer is thermally stressed during subsequent processing. As a result, the crack propagates from the edge to an active area of the wafer, thereby producing a defect in the semiconductor device(s).
- The conventional wafer flat zone aligner can also scratch the wafers and produce particles as follows.
- The flat zone aligner also includes a sensor unit for sensing whether there are wafers in the slots of the cassette. The sensor unit comprises confronting sensor plates that are inserted into the wafer cassette at positions at which each wafer, if disposed in a slot of the cassette, will lie between adjacent ones of the sensor plates. However, sometimes a wafer will but up against an upper flat surface of one of the sensor plates as the sensor plates are inserted into wafer cassette. Thus, the wafer will not come to lie in between adjacent ones of the sensor plates. Therefore, although this wafer is indeed present in a slot of the wafer cassette, the sensor unit issues an erroneous signal indicating that no wafer is present in the slot.
- To avoid such problems, the wafer cassette is generally tilted in the wafer flat zone aligner by about 2 degrees relative to the horizontal. Accordingly, the wafers become tilted by about 2 degrees relative to the vertical so that as the sensor plates are inserted vertically into the cassette, the wafers present in the slots are self-guided, if necessary, to positions at which they become located between adjacent ones of the sensor plates.
- The silicon wafers in such an inclined state are subsequently contacted and rotated by the driving rollers. Consequently, the wafers produce flutes in the circumference of the driving rollers due to friction. Due to the tilted state of the wafers, this flute extends over time as an oblique line relative to the outer circumference of the driving roller. Therefore, a portion of the wafer may be introduced into this flute during an alignment process and hence, will start to move along the flute, i.e., will start to move axially along the driving roller.
- In this case, however, the other portion of the wafer is seated in the slot. Thus, the portion of the wafer contacting the driving roller is moved by the flute axially along the driving roller, but the other portion of the wafer seated in the slot can not move. Therefore, the wafer is driven into contact with the wafer slot and strongly collides with the wafer slot, thereby causing friction and noise, scratching the wafer, creating particles which may contaminate the wafer, and preventing the wafer from being rotated into the designated aligned position.
- Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer flat zone aligner that substantially obviates one or more of the limitations and disadvantages of the prior art.
- More specifically, one object of the present invention is to provide a wafer flat zone aligner that prevents wafers from being strongly forced against the walls of the cassette, that define the slots in which the wafers are seated, as the wafers are being rotated into designated aligned positions.
- To achieve this object, the wafer flat zone aligner of the present invention comprises a wafer rotating roller that includes a shaft portion for rotating the wafers using friction, and a plurality of parallel spaced apart annular members protruding from the shaft portion. Each wafer seated in the cassette is inserted between adjacent ones of the annular members into contact with the shaft portion of the roller. As the wafers are being rotated by the shaft portion, the wafers are constrained from moving in the axial direction of the roller by the annular members. Thus, the wafers will not be forced against and bind to the walls of the cassette.
- In addition, the shaft portion of the wafer rotating roller may have an outer jacket of silicone. The silicone will provide just enough friction with the wafers to overcome any force causing the wafers to adhere to the walls of the cassette.
- Another object of the present invention is to provide a wafer flat zone aligner that when used will not cause an edge of a wafer to crack and will not prematurely degrade the guide roller thereof.
- To achieve this object, the guide roller of the wafer aligner is made of an elastic material, such as polyethylene (PE) or polyetheretherketone (PEEK), that produces little friction with the wafers. Thus, neither the wafers nor the wafer guide roller itself will be damaged when the wafer guide roller is moved into contact with the wafers.
- These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wafer flat zone aligner in accordance with the present invention;
- FIG. 2 is a front view of a wafer rotation driving roller of the wafer flat zone aligner of the present invention;
- FIG. 3 is perspective view of an end portion of the wafer rotation driving roller;
- FIG. 4 is a side view of the wafer flat zone aligner in accordance with the present invention, during operation; and
- FIG. 5 is a front view of the end portion of the wafer rotation driving roller of the wafer flat zone aligner during operation.
- The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail in connection with the accompanying drawings. The same or similar parts are designated by the same or similar reference numbers throughout the drawings.
- Referring first to FIG. 1, the
flat zone aligner 100 of the present invention includes ahousing 10, awafer rotating unit 20, awafer guide unit 30 and awafer sensing unit 40. - The
housing 10 comprises two uprightvertical brackets 2, 4 and onehorizontal bracket 5. Thehorizontal bracket 5 forms the bottom of thehousing 10. The twovertical brackets 2, 4 extend perpendicularly from the ends of thehorizontal bracket 5, respectively. - Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 3, the
wafer rotating unit 20 includes a pair of waferrotation driving rollers 25 and a drivingroller rotating unit 29. Each waferrotation driving roller 25 comprises a shaft portion, and a plurality ofannular members 22 extending around the shaft portion and protruding radially outwardly therefrom. The shaft portion, in turn, comprises arotary shaft 21, abushing 24 made of industrial grade engineering plastic and interposed between therotary shaft 21 and theannular members 22, and anannular jacket 24 a made of silicone covering thebushing 24. - The
annular members 22 are made of engineering plastic such as PEEK or PE. Each of theannular members 22 has a base having opposite outer surfaces extending from and perpendicular to the outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion, and a tapered outer circumferential portion extending radially outwardly from the base. That is, the outer circumferential portion of eachannular member 24 has opposite outer surfaces that extend towards each other as taken in a direction radially outwardly from the base so as to define chamfers orfillets 22 a. As therotation driving rollers 25 are raised into the wafer cassette, the chamfers orfillets 22 a serve to guide the lowermost circumferential portions of the wafers towards the base of theannular members 22 and into contact with the shaft portion (see FIG. 5). Theannular members 22 are wide enough, i.e. have sufficient outer diameters, to prevent a wafer guided into contact with the shaft portion from rising over an adjacentannular member 22 during high-speed rotation of therotary shaft 21. That is, the circumferential portion of each wafer is readily guided against the shaft portion as interposed between adjacent ones of theannular members 22, but thereafter can only move laterally between the adjacentannular members 22. Accordingly, during the alignment process (described in detail later on), the wafer can not bump into an adjacent wafer nor will the wafer be driven against the walls of thecassette 7 that define the slot in which the wafer is seated. - Moreover, as was described in connection with the prior art, the wafers can adhere to the walls defining the wafer slots of the cassette due to slight axial movement of the wafers during the alignment process. Such adhering, in turn, prevents the wafers from being rotated into the designated aligned positions. However, the shaft portions of the driving
rollers 25 of the wafer aligner of the present invention each comprise anouter jacket 24 a made of silicone. Thejacket 24 a thus generates a lot of friction with the circumferential portions of the wafers in contact therewith during rotation of the drivingrollers 25. The friction is sufficient to overcome any force binding the wafers to thecassette 7. Accordingly, the wafers will be rotated to their designated aligned positions. - The
bushing 24 is mounted to theshaft 21, theannular members 22 a are secured to thebushing 24, and thejacket 24 a comprises a plurality of tubular segments that are each interposed between adjacent ones of theannular members 22 a. The segments of thejacket 24 a can be removed from thebushing 24 and replaced when they become excessively worn or abraded by the wafers. However, the present invention is not limited to such an arrangement. - For instance, the shaft portion and the
annular members 22 a can be formed as a unitary body by injection molding of PEEK or PE. Once the molded body is formed, the segments of thesilicone jacket 24 a can be inserted onto the shaft portion between adjacent ones of theannular members 22 a. - Referring now back to FIG. 1, the pair of wafer
rotation driving rollers 25 extend between and are supported by thevertical brackets 2, 4 of thehousing 10. More specifically, thebrackets 2, 4 include journal or other bearings disposed across from one another. The ends of therotary shaft 21 of each waferrotation driving roller 25 extend into and are rotatably supported by respective ones of the bearings of thebrackets 2, 4. As shown best in FIG. 2, one end of eachrotary shaft 21 projects from thebushing 24. These projecting ends of therotary shafts 21 of the waferrotation driving rollers 25 extend through thebracket 2. The drivingroller rotating unit 29 is connected to the waferrotation driving rollers 25 at the projecting ends of therotary shafts 21 thereof. - The driving
roller rotating unit 29 includes (FIG. 1) two drivenpulleys 29 a secured to the projecting ends of therotary shafts 21, a drivingmotor 29 b, a drivingpulley 29 c and atension transferring belt 29 d wrapped around thepulleys - On the other hand, the
wafer guide unit 30 includes aguide roller 31, aguide roller bracket 32 and anelevator 33 comprising a cylinder and vertically displaceable piston. Theguide roller 31 is made of PEEK or PE. Such material has elasticity so as not to crack or break the edges of the wafers when theguide roller 31 is raised into contact therewith. The PEEK or PE also has a low coefficient of friction with silicon, i.e. the material of the wafer, so that theguide roller 31 will slip when it comes into contact with the flat zone of a wafer. Theguide roller 31 is rotatably supported by the isguide roller bracket 32, and theguide roller bracket 32 is supported by theelevator 33 so as to be movable up and down by the piston of theelevator 33. - The
wafer sensing unit 40 comprises awafer sensing block 41 and a plurality of wafersensing sensor plates 42 mounted to thewafer sensor block 41 at the upper surface thereof. Thesensor plates 42 are juxtaposed alongside theannular members 22 of a drivingroller 25. Eachsensor plate 42 includes a light-emitting sensor on one side (the left) thereof and a light-receiving sensor on the other side (the right) thereof. Thus, when a wafer is not present between an adjacent pair of thesensor plates 42, light from the light-emitting element of one of the sensor plates is detected by the light-receiving element of the other sensor plate. On the other hand, when a wafer is present between an adjacent pair of thesensor plates 42, the wafer blocks the light emitted by the light-emitting element of one of the sensor plates so that the light is not received by the light-receiving element of the other sensor plate. - The operation of the wafer
flat zone aligner 100 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. - After being processed, a plurality of
wafers 6 are loaded in awafer cassette 7. Thewafer cassette 7 is then transferred to the waferflat zone aligner 100 so that thewafers 6 can be aligned with the next semiconductor fabricating facility in which the wafers are to be processed. - The flat zone alignment process is initiated by lowering the
wafer cassette 7 onto theflat zone aligner 100 atop thehousing 10 so that thewafers 6 are inserted between theannular members 22 of thewafer rotating unit 20. Then, theguide roller 31 of thewafer guide unit 30 is urged upwardly by theelevator 33 into contact with thewafers 6. - In this state, if the arcuate portion of the circumferential surface the
wafer 6 is in contact with theguide roller 31, and the waferrotation driving rollers 25 start to rotate, the wafer begins to rotate as held in place between adjacent ones of theannular members 22. Once the flat zone of thewafer 6 arrives at theguide roller 31, the drivingrollers 25 will no longer rotate thewafer 6. Hence, the wafer is set in the designated aligned position. - In this way, all of the
wafers 6 in the wafer cassette are set in the designated aligned positions. Then, thewafer cassette 7 is transferred into the semiconductor fabricating facility where a semiconductor fabricating process is carried out on the wafers. - As mentioned above, the driving roller(s) for rotating the wafers into the aligned positions includes annular members for limiting the ability of the wafers to move axially along the driving roller. Thus, the wafers will not bind with the walls of the cassette that define the slots in which the wafers are seated. Accordingly, the wafers are left free to rotate into the desired aligned positions. In addition, the wafer guide roller is made of an elastic material that will produce a low amount of friction with the wafers. Therefore, the wafer guide roller will not break, and will not break or crack the wafers when it is raised into contact with the wafers.
- Finally, although the present invention has been described above in connection with certain preferred embodiments thereof, various changes thereto and modifications thereof will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, all such changes and modifications are seen to be within the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Claims (12)
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
KR2000-54931 | 2000-09-19 | ||
KR00-54931 | 2000-09-19 | ||
KR1020000054931A KR100364601B1 (en) | 2000-09-19 | 2000-09-19 | Wafer flat zone aligner |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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US20020034434A1 true US20020034434A1 (en) | 2002-03-21 |
US6382901B1 US6382901B1 (en) | 2002-05-07 |
Family
ID=19689310
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
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US09/847,346 Expired - Lifetime US6382901B1 (en) | 2000-09-19 | 2001-05-03 | Wafer flat zone aligner |
Country Status (2)
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US (1) | US6382901B1 (en) |
KR (1) | KR100364601B1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO2014149340A1 (en) * | 2013-03-15 | 2014-09-25 | Applied Materials, Inc. | Substrate position aligner |
Families Citing this family (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US6916147B2 (en) * | 2002-10-25 | 2005-07-12 | Applied Materials, Inc. | Substrate storage cassette with substrate alignment feature |
KR100541809B1 (en) * | 2003-05-22 | 2006-01-11 | 삼성전자주식회사 | Flat-zone alignment apparatus of semiconductor wafer |
US20050022851A1 (en) * | 2003-07-30 | 2005-02-03 | Jun-Ming Chen | [water cleaning apparatus] |
US20050172430A1 (en) * | 2003-10-28 | 2005-08-11 | Joseph Yudovsky | Wafer edge cleaning |
Family Cites Families (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
KR0139785B1 (en) * | 1990-03-20 | 1998-07-15 | 카자마 젠쥬 | Wafer counter having device for aligning wafers |
JPH0722495A (en) * | 1993-06-29 | 1995-01-24 | Kokusai Electric Co Ltd | Wafer aligning device |
JPH0778862A (en) * | 1993-09-09 | 1995-03-20 | Nec Kansai Ltd | Aligning roller |
TW275708B (en) * | 1993-12-28 | 1996-05-11 | Tokyo Electron Co Ltd | |
JP3439607B2 (en) * | 1996-09-04 | 2003-08-25 | 東京エレクトロン株式会社 | Notch alignment device |
US5853284A (en) | 1996-09-24 | 1998-12-29 | Kaijo Corporation | Notched wafer aligning apparatus |
KR19980078851A (en) * | 1997-04-30 | 1998-11-25 | 문정환 | Flat Zone Aligner of Semiconductor Wafer |
KR100257901B1 (en) * | 1997-12-08 | 2000-06-01 | 윤종용 | Wafer alignment apparatus for semiconductor device fabrication |
JP3610426B2 (en) * | 1998-06-04 | 2005-01-12 | 東京エレクトロン株式会社 | Substrate attitude control device |
-
2000
- 2000-09-19 KR KR1020000054931A patent/KR100364601B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
-
2001
- 2001-05-03 US US09/847,346 patent/US6382901B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO2014149340A1 (en) * | 2013-03-15 | 2014-09-25 | Applied Materials, Inc. | Substrate position aligner |
CN105051882A (en) * | 2013-03-15 | 2015-11-11 | 应用材料公司 | Substrate position aligner |
US9218996B2 (en) | 2013-03-15 | 2015-12-22 | Applied Materials, Inc. | Substrate position aligner |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
US6382901B1 (en) | 2002-05-07 |
KR20020022231A (en) | 2002-03-27 |
KR100364601B1 (en) | 2002-12-16 |
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