WO2023092640A1

WO2023092640A1 - Placement system for wafer loading cassette door body

Info

Publication number: WO2023092640A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/135593
Authority: WO
Inventors: 张冬峰; 鲍伟成; 王文广; 王旭晨; 叶莹
Original assignee: 上海果纳半导体技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-11-26
Filing date: 2021-12-06
Publication date: 2023-06-01
Also published as: JP2023079172A; CN114121745B; CN114121745A; JP7256574B1

Abstract

Disclosed in the present invention is a placement system for a wafer loading cassette door body, comprising: a wafer load port body. A butt joint port is provided on the load port body; a placement mechanism is provided on one side surface of the wafer load port body, and comprises a swing assembly, a driven assembly, and a butt joint plate; the swing assembly is provided above the butt joint plate; the driven assembly is provided below the butt joint port; the swing assembly and the driven assembly are respectively connected to the butt joint plate; the swing assembly can drive the butt joint plate and place the butt joint plate above the side of the butt joint port; and the driven assembly can restrain the degree of freedom of the rotation of the butt joint plate such that the inner side surface of the butt joint plate placed in place can face upwards. A space at the top of a wafer load port is used, such that the structural layout of the wafer load port is more reasonable; and after the door body is placed at a designated position, the butt joint plate is placed approximately horizontally, and supporting force can be provided for the door body by means of the butt joint plate, such that dependence on vacuum suction force is reduced, effects caused by air pressure fluctuation are avoided, and the modular design of a mechanism for opening, retrieving, and placing the wafer loading cassette door body is realized.

Description

A placement system for the door of a wafer loading box

technical field

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor processing, in particular to a placement system for a wafer loading box door body.

Background technique

In the process of semiconductor processing, wafers need to be transported and transferred at different positions in the production line. Usually, a wafer loader (Loadport) is used to load the wafer. The basic working principle is that the wafer loader loads the wafer into the cassette. After operation, after reaching the designated position, the door of the wafer loading box is opened, and the wafer is taken out by a robot arm or other equipment to realize the loading of the wafer.

In the process of semiconductor processing, wafers need to be transported and transferred between different processing stations or wafers need to be re-sorted, usually using wafer front-end transport equipment (EFEM), wafer sorter (Sorter) Realize the above functions. The wafer loader (Loadport) is usually installed in the above-mentioned equipment. Its main function is to first send the wafer loading box to the docking port, then open the door of the wafer loading box and place it in the designated position, and then pass the wafer The sensor detects the pose of the wafer. After the wafer loader completes the above functions, the manipulator in EFEM, Sorter or other equipment will take the wafer out of the loading box and transfer it to the processing station to complete the loading of the wafer.

However, the docking plate and the wafer detection sensor in the current wafer loader (Loadport) move vertically downward together, resulting in an overly compact structure of the wafer loader, which is not conducive to the assembly, debugging and operation of the wafer loader. Maintenance; at the same time, the door of the wafer loading box is always in a vertical position throughout the process. The stability of the door is maintained by the vacuum suction of the front side suction cup of the docking plate of the wafer loader, which is easily affected by air pressure fluctuations. In addition, the wafer loader (Loadport) in EFEM and Sorter, after opening the door of the wafer transfer box, place the door on the bottom of EFEM and Sorter. In order to avoid the manipulator installed at the bottom of EFEM and Sorter, it is necessary to add EFEM and Sorter In fact, there is a lot of free space on the top of EFEM and Sorter, and the wafer loader does not fully combine, play and use this part of the free space, resulting in waste, and the cost of maintaining a clean environment required for semiconductor processing is expensive. Therefore, the design volume of the machine should not be redundant.

The present application provides a placement system for the door body of a wafer loading box, which aims to reduce the volume of the machine and reduce the production cost.

Contents of the invention

In order to overcome the above disadvantages, the object of the present invention is to provide a placement system for the wafer loading box door.

In order to achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is: a placement system for the door of a wafer loading box, including a wafer loading body, the wafer loading body includes a substrate, a box body and a loading platform, so A docking port is provided on the substrate, the size of the docking port matches the door of the wafer loading box, and a placement mechanism is provided on the side of the substrate facing away from the loading platform, and the placement mechanism includes a swing assembly, a driven assembly, and a docking plate, the swing assembly is arranged above the docking port, the driven assembly is arranged below the docking port, and the swing assembly and the driven assembly are respectively connected to the docking plate, and the The swing assembly can drive the docking plate to place the docking plate above the side of the docking port, and the driven assembly can constrain the rotational freedom of the docking plate and make the front side of the docking plate placed in place face upward.

Preferably, the oscillating assembly includes a oscillating rod, a cross bar and a driving member. There are two oscillating rods, which are arranged symmetrically on the left and right sides of the docking plate. The two first fixed seats on the board are hinged, and the other ends are respectively hinged with the two second fixed seats fixed on the base plate, and the swing bar is provided with bosses, and the two ends of the cross bar are respectively connected with the two swing bars. The boss of the rod is fixedly connected, and a driving part is hingedly arranged between the cross bar and the base plate. The purpose is that after the docking plate is opened, it is located above the docking port, and when the driving member is driven, the swing rod swings around the hinge point at the upper end, and drives the docking plate to be positioned above the side of the docking port.

Preferably, the driving member is a linear motion cylinder, the cylinder tail end of the linear motion cylinder is fixedly connected to the cylinder end plate fixed on the base plate, and the cylinder end plate is hinged to the support fixed on the base plate, The piston rod of the linear motion cylinder is fixedly connected to the double elbow joint, the middle part of the cross bar is provided with a boss, and the double elbow joint is hinged to the boss of the cross bar.

Preferably, the driven assembly includes a connecting rod, a movable rod, a slider and a sliding rail, two of the connecting rods are arranged in parallel and symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the docking plate, and one end of the two connecting rods is It is fixed on the rear side of the docking plate, and the other ends are respectively hinged with the movable rod, and at the same time, the movable rod is fixedly connected with the slider through the connecting plate, and the slider is sleeved on the slide rail, and the slide rail is vertically fixed set on the substrate. That is, the driven component realizes the limitation of the rotational freedom of the butt plate.

Preferably, the movable rod is in the shape of "凵", the shape and size of the movable rod match the docking port, and the movable rod and the slider are synchronously moved in linear translation along the direction of the slide rail in a plane parallel to the base plate. This setting, on the one hand, can realize the control of the movement path of the docking plate, and place it on the side of the docking port, and on the other hand, it will not interfere with the manipulator in EFEM or Sorter to pick and place wafers from the wafer loading box through the docking port .

Preferably, the swing rod of the swing assembly is hinged to the first fixed seat through a first rotating shaft, the first fixed seat is arranged on the rear side of the docking plate, the swing rod of the swing assembly is hinged to the second fixed seat through a third rotating shaft, The connecting rod and the movable rod of the driven assembly are hinged through the second rotating shaft. When the door of the wafer loading box is closed, the docking plate is placed vertically and parallel to the substrate, and the axis of the third rotating shaft and the axis of the second rotating shaft form a vertical plane parallel to the substrate.

When the door of the wafer loading box is closed, the docking plate is placed vertically and parallel to the substrate, while the axis of the third rotating shaft and the axis of the second rotating shaft form a vertical plane parallel to the substrate.

Preferably, the distance from the axis of the first rotating shaft to the rear side of the docking plate is smaller than the distance from the axis of the second rotating shaft to the rear side of the docking plate. Since the wafer loading box door body is embedded in the wafer loading box, the upper, lower, left and right sides of the door maintain a certain distance from the wafer loading box, which can avoid the upper and lower contact between the door body and the wafer loading box. There is no contact or friction between the lower and left and right inner walls. However, in the process of taking the door out of the loading box, the docking plate does not move the door out of the wafer loading box in parallel, but swings out at a certain angle. During the swinging process, the door body is tilted relative to the wafer loading box. The greater the degree, the easier it is to cause friction or even stress with the inner wall of the wafer loading box, which will not only cause the inner wall of the wafer loading box to wear and affect the sealing effect, but also the fine dust particles generated during the abrasion process will also affect the wafer loading. The cleanliness of the cassette and even the inside of the EFEM and Sorter will also affect the stability of the wafer loading cassette on the wafer loader, so reducing the relative inclination of the door during the process of taking it out of the wafer loading cassette can be effective Avoid the generation of above-mentioned hidden danger. For this reason, the distance from the first rotating shaft to the rear side of the docking plate is designed to be smaller than the distance from the second rotating shaft to the rear side of the docking plate, so that the initial position of the pendulum relative to the docking plate presents a certain degree of reverse inclination. This initial reverse The inclination reduces the relative inclination of the docking plate in the process of taking the door out of the wafer loading box, avoiding the friction or thrust of the door with the inner wall of the wafer loading box when it is taken out of the wafer loading box.

Driven by the placement system, the docking plate can be closed or opened with the docking port. When closing, the wafer loading box door on the other side of the docking port is sucked by the suction cup on the front side of the docking board, and then driven by the placement system. , put the door body to the designated position. A rear cover is also arranged on the rear side of the docking plate. Since a suction cup for absorbing the door body is provided on the front side of the docking board, the vacuum pipeline for providing suction for the suction cup is arranged on the rear side of the docking plate. In order to avoid interference to the pipeline during movement and Keep the environment around the pipeline clean, so set the back cover to seal the vacuum pipeline.

A placement system for the door of the wafer loading box, which makes full use of the space on the top of the wafer loader, making the structural layout of the wafer loader more reasonable. The traditional wafer loading machine can pick and place the wafer loading box When the door body is installed, the door body is always placed vertically, and the door panel is completely attached to the docking plate by vacuum suction. However, vacuum adsorption does not have the function of keeping the air off, and the stability of the adsorption is easily affected by air pressure fluctuations. The swing system for the door body of the wafer loading box of the present invention puts the door body at a designated position, and the docking plate is placed close to the level, which can give the door body a supporting force through the docking plate, reducing the dependence on vacuum suction, and realizing The modular design of the opening and pick-and-place mechanism for the wafer loading box door on the wafer loader is improved, and the mechanical structure integration of the wafer loader is reduced, which is beneficial to the production, assembly, transportation and maintenance of the wafer loader.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional structural schematic diagram of a placement system for a door body of a wafer loading box.

Fig. 2 is a partial schematic diagram of the swing assembly.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the positions of the swing assembly and the drive assembly.

Figure 4 is a side view of the closed state.

Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a closed state.

Figure 6 is a side view during opening.

Fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view of the opening process.

Figure 8 is a side view of the fully opened state.

Fig. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a fully opened state.

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the cross bar.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of the tail plate of the cylinder.

In the picture:

1. Wafer loading body, 2. Docking port, 3. Docking plate, 4. Swing assembly, 5. Driven assembly, 6. First shaft, 7. Second shaft, 8. Wafer loading box door, 9 , rear cover, 10, wafer loading box,

101, base plate, 102, box body, 103, loading platform,

301, the front side of the butt plate, 302, the rear side of the butt plate,

401, pendulum, 402, cross bar, 403, driving member, 404, first fixed seat, 405, second fixed seat, 406, cylinder tail plate, 407, support, 408, double elbow joint, 409, the first three axis,

501, connecting rod, 502, movable rod, 503, connecting plate, 504, slide block, 505, slide rail.

Detailed ways

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, so that the advantages and features of the present invention can be more easily understood by those skilled in the art, so as to define the protection scope of the present invention more clearly.

Referring to Figures 1-11, a placement system for the door of a wafer loading box in this embodiment includes a wafer loading body 1, and the wafer loading body 1 includes a substrate 101, a box 102, and a loading stage 103, the substrate 101 is provided with a docking port 2, the size of the docking port 2 matches the wafer loading box door 8, and a placement mechanism is provided on the side of the substrate 101 facing away from the loading table 103, and the placement mechanism It includes a swing assembly 4, a driven assembly 5 and a docking plate 3, the swing assembly 4 is arranged above the docking port 2, the driven assembly 5 is arranged below the docking port 2, and the swing assembly 4 and the driven assembly 5 are respectively connected to the docking plate 3 connected, and the swing assembly 4 can drive the docking plate 3 to place the docking plate 3 above the side of the docking port 2, and the driven component 5 can constrain the rotational freedom of the docking plate 3, and make the front side 301 of the docking plate placed in place up.

The swing assembly 4 includes a swing rod 401, a cross bar 402 and a driver 403. There are two swing rods 401 arranged symmetrically on the left and right sides of the butt plate 3. The two first fixed seats 404 are hinged through the first rotating shaft 6, and the other ends are respectively hinged with the two second fixed seats 405 fixed on the base plate 101 through the third rotating shaft 409, and the swing bar 401 is provided with a boss, a cross bar Two ends of the 402 are respectively fixedly connected to the bosses of the two swing bars 401 , and a driving member 403 is hingedly arranged between the cross bar 402 and the base plate 101 . The purpose is to make the docking plate 3 open so that it is positioned above the docking port 2 . When the driver 403 is driven, the swing bar 401 swings around the third rotating shaft 409 and drives the docking plate 3 to be positioned above the docking port 2 .

The driving part 403 is a linear motion cylinder, the cylinder tail end of the linear motion cylinder is fixedly connected with the cylinder tail plate 406 fixed on the base plate 101, the cylinder tail plate 406 is hinged with the support 407 fixed on the base plate 101, and the linear motion cylinder The piston rod is fixedly connected with the double elbow joint 408, the middle part of the cross bar 402 is provided with a boss, and the double elbow joint 408 is hinged with the boss of the cross bar 402.

The driven assembly 5 includes a connecting rod 501, a movable rod 502, a slide block 504 and a slide rail 505, two connecting rods 501 are arranged in parallel, and are symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the docking plate 3, and one end of the two connecting rods 501 is fixed On the rear side 302 of the docking plate, the other ends are respectively hinged with the movable rod 502, while the movable rod 502 is fixedly connected with the slider 504 through the connecting plate 503, and the slider 504 is sleeved on the slide rail 505, and the slide rail 505 is vertically fixed set on the substrate 101. During the process in which the driving member 403 drives the docking plate 3 to move upward on the side of the docking port 2 through the swing assembly 4, the driven assembly 5 can constrain the rotation of the docking plate 3, so that the docking plate 3 rotates counterclockwise relative to the wafer loader 1 ( With reference to accompanying drawing 1), realize that butt plate 3 is changed to the state that the front side faces up gradually from vertical state.

The movable rod 502 is in the shape of "凵", the shape and size of the movable rod 502 match the docking port 2, and the movable rod 502 and the slider 504 are synchronously moved in linear translation along the direction of the slide rail 505 in a plane parallel to the base plate 101. Such a setting, on the one hand, can realize the control of the movement path of the docking plate 3, so that it can be placed on the side of the docking port 2, and on the other hand, it will not interfere with the manipulator in the EFEM or Sorter from the wafer loading cassette through the docking port 2. 10 Pick and place the wafer.

Referring to accompanying drawings 3-4, when the door body of the wafer loading box is closed, the docking plate 3 is placed vertically, parallel to the base plate 101, and the axis of the third rotating shaft 409 and the axis of the second rotating shaft 7 are on the same plane. The parallel vertical planes of the substrate 101 (see dotted lines shown in FIG. 4 ). The swing rod 401 of the swing assembly 4 is hinged to the first fixed seat 404 through the first rotating shaft 6, the first fixed seat 404 is arranged on the rear side of the docking plate 3, the connecting rod 501 and the movable rod 502 of the driven assembly 5 pass through the second rotating shaft 7 is hinged, and the distance (d) from the axis of the first rotating shaft 6 to the rear side 302 of the docking plate is smaller than the distance (D) from the axis of the second rotating shaft 7 to the rear side 302 of the docking plate. Referring to accompanying drawing 3, the swing rod 401 is a part of the swing assembly 4, and the swing rod 401 presents a certain degree of reverse inclination toward the docking plate 3 at the initial position, and the initial reverse inclination reduces the effect of the docking plate 3 on moving the door body 8 from The relative inclination in the process of taking out the wafer loading box 10 avoids the contact of the door body 8 with the inner wall of the wafer loading box 10 in the process of taking out the wafer loading box 10, thereby preventing the door body 8 from coming out of the wafer loading box 10. Friction or thrust against the inner wall of the wafer loading box 10 during removal.

Driven by the placement system, the docking plate 3 can be closed or opened with the docking port 2. When closing, the wafer loading box door 8 on the other side of the docking port 2 is sucked by the suction cup on the front side 301 of the docking board, and then Driven by the placement system, the door body 8 is placed to a designated position (the structure and principle of opening the door by suction are well known in the art, and will not be repeated here). Back cover 9 is also set on the butt plate rear side 302, because the suction cup for absorbing the door body 8 is provided on the butt plate front side 301, the vacuum pipeline that provides suction for the suction cup is arranged on the butt plate rear side 302, in order to avoid damage to the door body 8 during the movement. The interference of the pipeline keeps the environment around the pipeline clean, so the back cover 9 is set to seal the vacuum pipeline.

The placement system for the door of the wafer loading box makes full use of the space on the top of the wafer loader 1, EFEM and Sorter, making the structural layout of the wafer loader 1, EFEM and Sorter more reasonable. In a traditional wafer loader, when taking and placing the door 8 of the wafer loading box, the door 8 is always placed vertically, and the door 8 is brought close to the docking plate 3 entirely by vacuum suction. The wafer loading box of the present invention The swing system of the door body 8 puts the door body 8 to the designated position, and the docking plate 3 is placed close to the horizontal, and the door body 8 can be supported by the docking plate 3, which reduces the dependence on vacuum suction and realizes wafer loading. The modular design of the opening and pick-and-place mechanism for the wafer loading box door 8 on the machine reduces the mechanical structure integration of the wafer loading machine, and is more conducive to the production, assembly, transportation and maintenance of the wafer loading machine.

Refer to Figure 4-9 for details, which is a schematic diagram of closed state-opening process-full opening. The basic working principle: in the initial position, the docking plate 3 is placed in the center relative to the docking port 2, and the docking port 2 is closed. When the Loadport wafer When the loader 1 starts to work, the control system placed in the box 102 receives information and sends instructions to control the movement of all the driving parts on the wafer loader 1, and the wafer loading cassette 10 is placed on the loading table 103, and then The loading table 103 pushes the wafer loading box 10 to the docking port 2, and then the suction cup installed on the docking plate 3 sucks the wafer loading box door 8, and the door 8 is attached to the docking plate 3 under the action of the suction force of the suction cup Together, the unlocking load installed on the docking plate 3 opens the wafer loading box door 8, the wafer loading box door 8 and the wafer loading box 10 are unlocked, the placement system starts to work, and the piston rod of the driving part 403 is extended. Push the cross bar 402 to move, and then drive the swing bar 401 to swing clockwise around the first fixed seat 404 (from the perspective of the figure), the swing bar 401 drives the butt plate 3 to move, and the butt plate 3 further drives the movable bar 502 together with the slider 504 move vertically upward along the slide rail 505 together, the docking plate 3 rotates counterclockwise around the rotating shaft of the movable rod 502 while moving upward together with the movable rod 502, the docking plate 3 swings synchronously with the wafer loading box door 8, Swing the wafer loading box door body 8 out of the wafer loading box 10, the driving part 403 swings around the support 407 under the reaction of the cross bar 402, the piston rod of the driving part 403 continues to extend and the upper part of the movable rod 502 Moving, the wafer loading box door 8 is gradually swung to the upper side of the docking port 2, and the wafer loading box 10 is fully opened. At this time, the door body 8 is placed nearly horizontally, relying on the butt plate 3 to provide support, which reduces the dependence on vacuum suction, and the butt plate 3 relies on the driver 403 to provide support. Under the action of compressed air, the driver 403 passes through the three-position The five-way valve can maintain the extended state of the piston rod for a long time, and will not be affected by the fluctuation of external air pressure.

The above embodiments are only to illustrate the technical concept and characteristics of the present invention. All equivalent changes or modifications shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

A placement system for the door of a wafer loading box, comprising a wafer loading body, characterized in that: the wafer loading body includes a base plate, a box body, and a loading platform, and the base plate is provided with a docking port, so that The size of the docking port matches the wafer loading box door, and a placement mechanism is provided on the side of the substrate facing away from the loading platform, and the placement mechanism includes a swing assembly, a driven assembly, and a docking plate. The swing assembly is arranged above the docking port, the driven assembly is arranged below the docking port, and the swing assembly and the driven assembly are respectively connected to the docking plate, and the swing assembly can drive the docking plate to connect the docking plate Placed above the side of the docking port, the driven assembly can constrain the degree of freedom of rotation of the docking plate, and make the front side of the docking board placed in place face upward.
A placement system for a wafer loading box door according to claim 1, wherein the swing assembly includes a swing bar, a cross bar and a driving member, and two swing bars are arranged symmetrically On the left and right sides of the butt plate, one ends of the two swing rods are respectively hinged to the two first fixed seats fixed on the butted plate, and the other ends are respectively hinged to the two second fixed seats fixed on the base plate , and the swing bar is provided with a boss, the two ends of the cross bar are respectively fixedly connected with the bosses of the two swing bars, and a driving member is hingedly arranged between the cross bar and the base plate.
The system for placing the door body of a wafer loading box according to claim 2, wherein the driving part is a linear motion cylinder, and the tail end of the cylinder body of the linear motion cylinder is fixed on the substrate The tail joint plate of the cylinder is fixedly connected, the tail joint plate of the cylinder is hinged with the support fixed on the base plate, the piston rod of the linear motion cylinder is fixedly connected with the double elbow joint, and the middle part of the cross bar is provided with a boss, The double elbow joint is hinged with the boss of the cross bar.
A placement system for a wafer loading box door according to claim 1, wherein the driven assembly includes a connecting rod, a movable rod, a slider and a sliding rail, and the connecting rods are arranged in parallel Two, and symmetrically arranged on the left and right sides of the docking plate, one end of the two connecting rods is fixed on the rear side of the docking plate, and the other ends are respectively hinged with the movable rod, and the movable rod is connected to the slider through the connecting plate It is fixedly connected, and the slider is sleeved on the slide rail, and the slide rail is vertically and fixedly arranged on the base plate.
The system for placing the door body of a wafer loading box according to claim 4, wherein the movable rod is in the shape of "凵", and the shape and size of the movable rod match the docking port, so that The movable rod and the slide block are synchronously moved along the direction of the slide rail in a plane parallel to the base plate in a linear translation motion.
A placement system for the door of a wafer loading box according to claim 2, characterized in that: the swing bar of the swing assembly is hinged to the first fixed seat through a first rotating shaft, and the first fixed seat is arranged at On the rear side of the docking plate, the swing rod of the swing assembly is hinged with the second fixed seat through the third rotating shaft, and the connecting rod and the movable rod of the driven assembly are hinged through the second rotating shaft.
A placement system for the wafer loading pod door according to claim 6, characterized in that: when the wafer loading pod door is closed, the docking plate is placed vertically and parallel to the substrate, At the same time, the axis of the third rotating shaft and the axis of the second rotating shaft form a vertical plane, and the vertical plane is parallel to the base plate.
A placement system for a wafer loading box door according to claim 7, wherein the distance from the axis of the first rotating shaft to the rear side of the docking plate is smaller than the distance from the axis of the second rotating shaft to the rear side of the docking plate distance.