WO2023074962A1

WO2023074962A1 - In-chamber wafer conveyance robot

Info

Publication number: WO2023074962A1
Application number: PCT/KR2021/015394
Authority: WO
Inventors: 장현석; 정광민; 변혜원; 양희웅
Original assignee: 주식회사 라온테크
Priority date: 2021-10-29
Filing date: 2021-10-29
Publication date: 2023-05-04
Also published as: KR20230063904A

Abstract

The present invention relates to an in-chamber wafer conveyance robot comprising: a hand module that includes first and second hands connected via ends of first and second hand arms, respectively; a multi-link hive including first and second hand link coupling members, which face each other and respectively connect the other ends of the first and second hand arms, and a chamber link coupling member, which is positioned in a central region outside the straight line positions of the first and second hand link coupling members; and a chamber link that has one end coupled to the chamber link coupling member and moves the multi-link hive inside a linear chamber.

Description

In-chamber wafer transfer robot

The present invention relates to a wafer transfer robot technology, and more particularly, to an in-chamber wafer transfer robot capable of responding to a process chamber that is spatially enlarged and elongated in order to process a large amount of wafers.

In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a wafer transfer device for transferring a wafer is used to process a wafer, which is an object. In general, semiconductor devices are implemented by depositing and patterning various materials in the form of thin films on a wafer, which is a substrate. To this end, several process steps such as deposition, etching, cleaning, and drying are performed on the wafer.

At this time, in order to perform the above process, the wafer needs to be transferred or returned to the process chamber where the process is performed so that the process can be performed in an optimal environment.

As described above, the wafer transfer device may include a load port, an equipment front end module (EFEM), a load lock module, a transfer module, and a process chamber in order to transfer the wafer to the process chamber where the process is performed.

In a conventional wafer transfer device, a plurality of processor chambers are coupled to surround one transfer module, so that a wafer processing process can be performed simultaneously in the plurality of processor chambers. That is, a robot included in the transfer module transfers the wafer to each process chamber in a manner of transferring the wafer from the load lock module to one of the plurality of processor chambers.

However, when a process chamber is additionally expanded to process a large amount of wafers as the process time of semiconductor wafers increases, a new wafer transfer robot capable of transferring wafers is required in response to this.

[Prior art literature]

[Patent Literature]

Korean Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1845797 (2018.03.20.)

According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is intended to provide an in-chamber wafer transfer robot capable of coping with a spatially enlarged and elongated process chamber in order to process a large amount of wafers.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is intended to provide an in-chamber wafer transfer robot capable of coping with process chambers having different process times.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is intended to provide an in-chamber wafer transfer robot capable of simultaneously transferring and delivering wafers to a plurality of processes within a chamber.

Among embodiments, an in-chamber wafer transfer robot includes a hand module including first and second hands respectively connected via ends of first and second hand arms; First and second hand link coupling members facing each other and connecting different ends of the first and second handarms, respectively, and located in the central region out of the straight position of the first and second hand link coupling members A multi-link hive including a chamber link coupling member; and a chamber link having one end coupled to the chamber link coupling member to move the multi-link hive within the linear chamber.

The hand module further includes third and fourth hands respectively connected through ends of the third and fourth handarms, and controls the other ends of the first and third handarms through the first hand link coupling member. The first and third handarms are operated independently by connecting them at a predetermined height difference, and the other ends of the second and fourth handarms are connected at a second predetermined height difference through the second hand link coupling member to It is characterized in that the second and fourth handarms operate independently, and collision prevention between the first and third hands or the second and fourth hands is controlled.

The hand module sets the first predetermined height difference so that the wafer can be loaded on either the first or third hand and overlapped based on the first hand link coupling member, and the second or fourth hand It is characterized in that the second predetermined height difference is set so that the wafer is loaded on any one of them and overlapped based on the second hand link coupling member.

The multi-link hive is formed through at least three vertices, and the first and second hand link coupling members are disposed on each side, and the chamber link coupling member is disposed on each other side.

The multi-link hive is characterized in that it is implemented to form an isosceles triangle having the same length between the chamber link coupling member and each of the first and second hand link coupling members through an imaginary straight line of the at least three vertices.

The multi-link hive performs a wafer loading or unloading operation in a process chamber disposed in the linear chamber by rotating the other end of the corresponding hand arm coupled to the first and second hand link coupling members. do.

The chamber link is implemented as an interconnected articulated link, one end of the articulated link is coupled to the chamber link coupling member, and the other end of the articulated link is coupled to another chamber link coupling member disposed on the central side of the linear chamber. characterized in that they are combined.

The disclosed technology may have the following effects. However, it does not mean that a specific embodiment must include all of the following effects or only the following effects, so it should not be understood that the scope of rights of the disclosed technology is limited thereby.

An in-chamber wafer transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention may correspond to a process chamber that is spatially enlarged and elongated in order to process a large amount of wafers.

An in-chamber wafer transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention can correspond to process chambers with different process times.

An in-chamber wafer transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention can simultaneously transfer and transfer wafers to a plurality of processes within a chamber.

1 is a plan view illustrating an in-chamber wafer transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view for explaining the in-chamber wafer transfer robot of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining a state in which the chamber links in FIG. 1 are overlapped.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a linear chamber apparatus including the in-chamber wafer transfer robot of FIG. 1 .

5A-5K are diagrams for explaining an operation example of the in-chamber wafer transfer robot in FIG. 1 .

6A-6C are diagrams for explaining a state of use of an in-chamber wafer transfer robot in the linear chamber device of FIG. 4 .

Since the description of the present invention is only an embodiment for structural or functional description, the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the embodiments described in the text. That is, since the embodiment can be changed in various ways and can have various forms, it should be understood that the scope of the present invention includes equivalents capable of realizing the technical idea. In addition, since the object or effect presented in the present invention does not mean that a specific embodiment should include all of them or only such effects, the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited thereto.

Meanwhile, the meaning of terms described in this application should be understood as follows.

Terms such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish one component from another, and the scope of rights should not be limited by these terms. For example, a first element may be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element may be termed a first element.

It should be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” to another element, it may be directly connected to the other element, but other elements may exist in the middle. On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” to another element, it should be understood that no intervening elements exist. Meanwhile, other expressions describing the relationship between components, such as “between” and “immediately between” or “adjacent to” and “directly adjacent to” should be interpreted similarly.

Expressions in the singular number should be understood to include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, and terms such as “comprise” or “have” refer to an embodied feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or these. It is intended to specify that a combination exists, but it should be understood that it does not preclude the possibility of the existence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

In each step, the identification code (eg, a, b, c, etc.) is used for convenience of explanation, and the identification code does not describe the order of each step, and each step clearly follows a specific order in context. Unless otherwise specified, it may occur in a different order than specified. That is, each step may occur in the same order as specified, may be performed substantially simultaneously, or may be performed in the reverse order.

All terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs, unless defined otherwise. Terms defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as consistent with meanings in the context of the related art, and cannot be interpreted as having ideal or excessively formal meanings unless explicitly defined in this application.

1 is a plan view for explaining an in-chamber wafer transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view for explaining the in-chamber wafer transfer robot in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is FIG. It is a plan view for explaining the state in which the chamber links in are overlapped.

1 to 3 , the in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 may include a hand module 110, a multi-link hive 130, and a chamber link 150.

The hand module 110 may be formed by connecting a plurality of hand arms, and the hand arms connected to each other may freely rotate around each part to which the hand arms are connected.

The hand module 110 may include first to

fourth handarms

111, 112, 113, and 114 and first to

fourth hands

121, 122, 123, and 124 respectively connected through ends of the first to

fourth handarms

111, 112, 113, and 114. there is.

The hand module 110 may connect the first and

third handarms

111 and 113 to each other through different ends of the first and

third handarms

111 and 113 . The hand module 110 may connect the second and

fourth handarms

112 and 114 to each other through the other ends of the second and

fourth handarms

112 and 114 . The first and

third handarms

111 and 113 may be connected with a first predetermined height difference, and the second and

fourth handarms

112 and 114 may be connected with a second predetermined height difference and independently operate. Here, the first and second predetermined height differences may be the same or different. When the first and second predetermined height difference is the same, the hand module 110 may prevent a collision between the first and

third hands

121 and 123 or the second and

fourth hands

122 and 124 connected to the handarms. The operation between the first and

third handarms

111 and 113 or the second and

fourth handarms

112 and 114 can be controlled so as to

The first predetermined height difference may be set as a height difference in which either the first hand 121 or the third hand 123 may be loaded with a wafer and the

hands

121 and 123 may be stacked vertically. The second predetermined height difference may be set as a height difference in which either the second hand 122 or the fourth hand 124 may be loaded with a wafer and the

hands

122 and 124 may be stacked vertically.

The hand module 110 may connect the first and third handarms 111 and 113 and the second and fourth handarms 112 and 114 connected to each other through the multi-link hive 130 .

The multi-link hive 130 includes first and second hand

link coupling members

131 and 132 facing each other and connecting different ends of the first and second handarms 111 and 112, respectively, and the first and second hands. It may include a chamber link coupling member 133 located in a central area deviated from a straight line position of the

link coupling members

131 and 132 .

The first hand link coupling member 131 connects the other ends of the first and third handarms 111 and 113 with a first predetermined height difference so that the first and third handarms 111 and 113 can be independently operated. do. The first and third handarms 111 and 113 may be overlapped by rotating with respect to the first hand link coupling member 131 . The second hand link coupling member 132 connects the other ends of the second and fourth handarms 112 and 114 with a second predetermined height difference so that the second and fourth handarms 112 and 114 can be independently operated. do. The second and fourth handarms 112 and 114 may be overlapped by rotating with respect to the second hand link coupling member 132 .

The multi-link hive 130 is formed through at least three vertices, disposing the first and second hand

link coupling members

131 and 132 on each side, and having the chamber link coupling member 133 on each other side. place The multi-link hive 130 may place the first and second hand

link coupling members

131 and 132 on the upper surface and the chamber link coupling member 133 on the lower surface.

The multi-link hive 130 will be implemented to form an isosceles triangle having the same length between the chamber link coupling member 133 and the first and second hand

link coupling members

131 and 132, respectively, through an imaginary straight line of at least three vertices. can The first and second hand

link coupling members

131 and 132 are disposed opposite to each other at equal intervals with respect to the chamber link coupling member 133 and rotate the other end of the coupled handarm.

The multi-link hive 130 rotates the other end of the corresponding handarm coupled to the first and second hand

link coupling members

131 and 132 to perform a wafer loading or unloading operation in a process chamber disposed in a linear chamber. make it possible The multi-link hive 130 rotates the other end of the first or

third handarms

111 and 113 coupled to the first hand link coupling member 131, and the first or third hand connected to one end of the corresponding handarm ( 121 and 123) may perform a transfer operation of the loaded wafer. The multi-link hive 130 rotates the other end of the second or

fourth handarm

112 or 114 coupled to the second hand link coupling member 132 to rotate the second or fourth hand connected to one end of the corresponding handarm ( 122 and 124) may perform a transfer operation of the loaded wafer.

The chamber link 150 has one end coupled to the chamber link coupling member 133 to move the multi-link hive 130 in the linear chamber. The chamber link 150 is implemented as an articulated link 151 connected to each other. The multi-joint link 151 may be composed of an upper link and a lower link. In the chamber link 150, one end of the articulated link 151 is coupled to the chamber link coupling member 133 and the other end of the articulated link 151 is coupled to another chamber leak coupling member 170 disposed in the linear chamber. do. Here, another chamber link coupling member 170 may be disposed on the central side of the linear chamber. The chamber link coupling member 133 is coupled to the upper link of the multi-joint link 151 and the other chamber link coupling member 170 is coupled to the lower link. The chamber link 150 operates the multi-joint link 151 to move the multi-link hive 130 within the linear chamber. The multi-joint link 151 may freely move the multi-link hive 130 coupled to one end of the upper link in the linear chamber according to the joint movement between the upper link and the lower link.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the linear chamber apparatus 400 includes a process chamber 410 and a chamber transfer path 430, and in the chamber transfer path 430 according to the present invention, in-chamber wafer transfer A robot 100 may be included.

The process chamber 410 is composed of first and second process chambers that are linearly disposed on both sides of the chamber transfer path 430 . The first-side and second-side process chambers 410 may perform a deposition process or the like on a wafer. Each of the first-side and second-side process chambers 410 may be driven independently. Wafer processing is performed in each process chamber 410 . In this case, processing of wafers in each process chamber 410 may be performed in the same process, or may be performed in different processes if necessary.

The chamber transfer path 430 may be formed between the first side and the second side process chambers 410 and may include a first chamber link coupling member 170 at a center side.

The chamber transfer path 430 includes a plurality of process chambers 410 disposed in first and second outer directions, a load lock 200 disposed in a third outer direction, and includes an opening area therein, , wafers can be transferred cyclically. The chamber transfer path 430 may serve to transfer wafers loaded on the load lock 200 to the first and second side process chambers 410 , respectively. To this end, the chamber transfer path 430 may have a circular shape like a conveyor belt. The chamber transfer path 430 may transfer wafers through a transfer rail, and at this time, stop and move repeatedly at designated locations to deliver wafers to a corresponding process chamber at designated locations. The load lock 200 may be disposed on a short side of the chamber transfer path 430 , and the process chambers 410 may be disposed facing each other on a long side of the transfer path 430 . Here, the length of each side of the chamber transport path 430 may vary depending on the size and number of the load lock 200 and the process chambers 410 to be disposed.

The inner space of the chamber transport passage 430 is kept sealed against the outside, and may be maintained in a vacuum state or filled with an inert gas as needed. Accordingly, when a wafer is provided into the chamber transfer path 430 or discharged therefrom, it passes through the load lock 200 . The interior space of the chamber transfer path 430 is maintained at a level of cleanliness higher than a predetermined level because wafers in which manufacturing processes are performed are transferred.

The load lock 200 is disposed between the equipment front end module (EFEM) 300 and the chamber transfer path 430, and loads wafers transferred from the EFEM 300. In addition, the load lock 200 loads wafers transferred from the chamber transfer path 430 . To this end, the load lock 200 has at least two chambers, in which a wafer to be processed, i.e., a wafer provided to the chamber transfer path 430, is waiting in one chamber, and in the other chamber, a wafer to be processed, i.e., a wafer to be processed is prepared. Wafers that have completed the process may be on standby. At this time, since the load lock 200 is disposed between the EFEM 300 in an atmospheric state and the chamber transport path 430 in a vacuum state, it serves to switch between an atmospheric pressure state and a vacuum state. That is, when a wafer is transferred from the EFEM 300 in an atmospheric pressure state, the load lock 200 converts the atmospheric pressure state into a vacuum state. In addition, the load lock 200 transfers or receives wafers to the chamber transfer path 430 in a vacuum state, and converts the vacuum state to atmospheric pressure to transfer the wafer transferred from the chamber transfer path 430 to the EFEM 300 do.

The in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 is coupled to the central side of the chamber transfer path 430 in an opening area inside. As described with reference to FIG. 1 , the in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 includes a hand module 110 , a multi-link hive 130 and a chamber link 150 . The in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 is coupled to the chamber transfer path 430 through a chamber link 150 . The chamber link 150 is implemented as an interconnected multi-joint link, one end coupled to the multi-link hive 130 and the other end coupled to the central side of the chamber transfer path 430. The in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 continuously moves at a first position adjacent to the load lock 200 and at a first position around the central side of the chamber transfer path 430 by multi-joint movement of the chamber link 150. It can be moved to the second position. The in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 couples between the hand module 110 and the chamber link 150 through the multi-link hive 130 . The multi-link hive 130 can load or unload wafers from the load lock 200 to the chamber transfer path 430 by rotating corresponding hand arms without collision between the hands of the hand module 110. A wafer on the transfer path 430 may be moved to a corresponding process chamber or a wafer may be moved from the corresponding process chamber onto the chamber transfer path 430 .

In one embodiment, the in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 moves the multi-link hive 130 to a first position adjacent to the load lock 200 by multi-joint movement of the chamber link 150 and moves the multi-link The hand module 110 may be rotated through the hive 130 to take out the load lock wafer in the load lock 200, and the load lock wafer may be provided with priority to a process chamber adjacent to the first position. The in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 may carry out a chamber wafer in a process chamber adjacent to the first position and directly provide the chamber wafer to the load lock 200 . The in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 moves the multi-link hive 130 to a second position adjacent to the first and second side process chambers 410 by multi-joint movement of the chamber link 150 and By rotating the hand module 110 through the multi-link hive 130, the wafer on the chamber transfer path 430 is moved to the corresponding process chamber or the wafer is moved from the corresponding process chamber onto the chamber transfer path 430. can be moved Here, since the transfer distance of the in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 can be spatially extended, the position of the process chamber in charge is not specified.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining an operation example of the in-chamber wafer transfer robot in FIG. 1 .

As shown in (a) to (k) of FIG. 5, in the in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100, the chamber link 150 is implemented as an articulated link, and one end of the articulated link is connected by the operation of the articulated link. The combined multi-link hive 130 may be moved within the linear chamber device 400. The multi-link hive 130 is made of an isosceles triangular shape having three vertices, and the first and second hand

link coupling members

131 and 132 are disposed on the upper surfaces of the vertices on both sides to face each other, and on the lower surfaces of the remaining vertices. The chamber link coupling member 133 is disposed and moves within the linear chamber device 400 along the multi-joint movement of the chamber link 150 coupled through the chamber link coupling member 133, and at the same time, the first and second hand links At least one of the handarms may be rotated through the

coupling members

131 and 132 to move the handarms in various positions as shown in (a) to (k) of FIG. 5 .

Accordingly, the in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 may transfer wafers to process chambers that are spatially larger and longer without designating the location of the process chambers.

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining a state of use of an in-chamber wafer transfer robot in the linear chamber device of FIG. 4 .

Referring to FIG. 6, the in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 rotates the corresponding handarm coupled to the first and second hand

link coupling members

131 and 132 of the multi-link hive 130 as shown in (a). Thus, both hands of the hand module 110 may be used in one of the first and second side process chambers 410 .

The in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 also moves one of the

hands

121, 122, 123, and 124 to the first and second process chambers 410 by moving the multi-joint link of the chamber link 150 as shown in (b). ) can be used for all

The in-chamber wafer transfer robot 100 may also move the multi-link hive 130 as shown in (c) to move the wafer from the first process to the second process without a hand swap operation.

The in-chamber wafer transfer robot according to an embodiment can expand the spatial movement for wafer transfer without additionally disposing the wafer transfer robot in the linear chamber, enabling additional arrangement of process chambers and improving wafer throughput. .

An in-chamber wafer transfer robot according to an embodiment is capable of responding to process chambers with different processing times, and is in charge of two process chambers at the same time, or is in charge of one process chamber in which the process is completed first or later because the wafer processing time is different. All movements are possible.

Although the above has been described with reference to preferred embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will variously modify and change the present invention within the scope not departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention described in the claims below. You will understand that it can be done.

[Description of code]

100: In-chamber wafer transfer robot

110: hand module

111, 112, 113, 114: handarms

121,122,123,124: hands

130: multi-link hive

131,132: hand link coupling members

133: chamber link coupling member (second chamber link coupling member)

150: chamber link

151: articulated link

170: another chamber link coupling member (first chamber link coupling member)

200: load lock

300: EFEM (Equipment Front End Module)

400: linear chamber device

410: process chambers

430: chamber conveyance

Claims

a hand module including first and second hands respectively connected through ends of first and second hand arms;

First and second hand link coupling members facing each other and connecting different ends of the first and second handarms, respectively, and located in the central region out of the straight position of the first and second hand link coupling members A multi-link hive including a chamber link coupling member; and

An in-chamber wafer transfer robot comprising a chamber link having one end coupled to the chamber link coupling member to move the multi-link hive in a linear chamber.
The method of claim 1, wherein the hand module

further comprising third and fourth hands connected through ends of the third and fourth handarms, respectively;

The first and third handarms are operated independently by connecting the other ends of the first and third handarms with a first predetermined height difference through the first hand link coupling member;

The second and fourth handarms are operated independently by connecting the other ends of the second and fourth handarms with a second predetermined height difference through the second hand link coupling member;

Controlling collision prevention between the first and third hands or the second and fourth hands.
The method of claim 1, wherein the hand module

The first predetermined height difference is set so that the wafer is loaded in either the first or the third hand and overlapped based on the first hand link coupling member,

The in-chamber wafer transfer robot, characterized in that the second predetermined height difference is set so that the wafer can be loaded on one of the second or fourth hands and overlapped with respect to the second hand link coupling member.
The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-link hive

In-chamber wafer transfer robot, characterized in that formed through at least three vertices, disposing the first and second hand link coupling members on each side and disposing the chamber link coupling member on each other side.
The method of claim 4, wherein the multi-link hive

In-chamber wafer transfer robot, characterized in that implemented to form an isosceles triangle having the same length between the chamber link coupling member and each of the first and second hand link coupling members through an imaginary straight line of the at least three vertices.
The method of claim 4, wherein the multi-link hive

In-chamber wafer transfer characterized in that performing a wafer loading or unloading operation in the process chamber disposed in the linear chamber by rotating the other end of the corresponding hand arm coupled to the first and second hand link coupling members. robot.
The method of claim 1, wherein the chamber link

It is implemented as an interconnected multi-joint link, one end of the multi-joint link is coupled to the chamber link coupling member, and the other end of the multi-joint link is coupled to another chamber link coupling member disposed on the central side of the linear chamber. In-chamber wafer transfer robot.