WO2023125158A1

WO2023125158A1 - Semiconductor processing device and wafer transport system thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2023125158A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/140406
Authority: WO
Inventors: 赵东华; 杜林昕; 李晓军; 王磊磊; 李世凯; 刘晶晶; 王铁然; 孙小芹; 宫兆辉; 许利飞
Original assignee: 北京北方华创微电子装备有限公司
Priority date: 2021-12-28
Filing date: 2022-12-20
Publication date: 2023-07-06
Also published as: TWI828481B; CN114361086A; TW202326919A

Abstract

The present invention provides a wafer transport system. The wafer transport system comprises a transport cavity, a first transport assembly, a loading cavity, a second transport assembly and a calibration cavity, the transport cavity being used to be in communication with a reaction cavity; one side of the loading cavity is in communication with the transport cavity, and the other side of the loading cavity is provided with a transport opening; the second transport assembly is used to transport a wafer to a tray in the loading cavity via the transport opening, pick up the wafer from the tray in the loading cavity and transport the wafer out of the loading cavity; a calibration assembly is disposed in the calibration cavity, and is used to calibrate the position of the tray; the first transport assembly is used to transport the tray into the calibration cavity to calibrate the position of the tray, remove the calibrated tray from the calibration cavity and transport the calibrated tray into the loading cavity, and is also used to remove the tray bearing the wafer from the loading cavity and transport the tray into the reaction cavity. In the present invention, the first transport assembly can cooperate with the calibration cavity to calibrate the position of the tray, so that automatic transport and pickup of silicon carbide wafers is realized. The present invention also provides a semiconductor processing device.

Description

Semiconductor process equipment and its wafer transfer system

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor process equipment, in particular to a wafer transmission system and a semiconductor process equipment including the wafer transmission system.

Background technique

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a semiconductor material with unique physical and chemical properties. The silicon-carbon bond that makes up the silicon carbide crystal has a very large bond energy (4.6eV), its band gap is 2.3-3.3eV, and it has high hardness. , high chemical inertness, wide bandgap, and good thermal stability enable silicon carbide power devices to work at a high temperature of 300 ° C, and even ensure that the performance of silicon carbide power devices will not decrease in higher temperature environments. Under the same voltage conditions, the on-state resistance of silicon carbide power devices is more than an order of magnitude smaller than that of silicon-based power devices, which also makes the power conversion rate of silicon carbide power devices higher than that of silicon-based power devices. However, it is precisely because of its special performance that silicon carbide devices are difficult to manufacture, the yield is low, and the device price is high, which limits the pace of its comprehensive promotion.

Epitaxial growth is the first process in the manufacturing process of silicon carbide power semiconductor devices. Different from the epitaxial temperature of 1000 ℃ ~ 1200 ℃ used in the silicon carbide epitaxy process, the temperature used for silicon carbide epitaxy is usually 1500 ℃ ~ 1800 ℃, and the temperature of silicon carbide epitaxy The growth time is generally longer. Under this condition, if the previous method of directly taking wafers under silicon epitaxy process conditions is used, the surface defects of silicon carbide wafers will easily increase. Therefore, it is necessary to put the tray loaded with silicon carbide wafers into or out of the process chamber as a whole. That is, it is necessary to place the pre-process wafer on the tray first, and then transfer the tray and the wafer into the reaction chamber as a whole to carry out the process. Remove the wafer.

However, in the prior art, the process steps of placing the wafer on the tray and removing it from the tray require human participation, which greatly reduces the efficiency of the semiconductor process; Dropping onto the surface of the wafer will cause contamination of the wafer or scratch the surface of the wafer, affecting the yield of silicon carbide wafers.

Therefore, how to provide a transfer system that is applied to silicon carbide wafers and can realize automatic transfer and removal of wafers has become a technical problem to be solved urgently in this field.

Contents of the invention

The present invention aims to provide a wafer transfer system and semiconductor process equipment including the wafer transfer system, the wafer transfer system can realize automatic transfer and removal of silicon carbide wafers.

In order to achieve the above object, as an aspect of the present invention, a wafer transfer system is provided, the wafer transfer system includes a transfer chamber, a first transfer assembly, a loading chamber, a second transfer assembly and a calibration chamber, wherein,

The transfer chamber has a chamber docking port for communicating with the reaction chamber;

One side of the loading chamber communicates with the transmission chamber, and the other side has a selectively opened transmission port;

The second transfer assembly is used to transfer the wafer to the tray in the loading chamber through the transfer port, and remove the wafer from the tray in the loading chamber and pass the wafer through the The transmission port passes out of the loading chamber;

The calibration cavity communicates with the transfer cavity, and a calibration component is arranged in the calibration cavity, and the calibration component is used to calibrate the position of the tray introduced into the calibration cavity;

The first transmission component is arranged in the transmission cavity, and is used to pass the tray into the calibration cavity, cooperate with the calibration component to calibrate the position of the tray, and transfer the calibrated The tray is taken out from the calibration chamber and passed into the loading chamber, and is also used to take out the tray carrying the wafer in the loading chamber from the loading chamber and pass it through the chamber docking port into the reaction chamber, and take out the tray in the reaction chamber.

Optionally, the loading chamber includes a cavity, a base, a thimble driving assembly and a plurality of thimbles, the base is disposed in the cavity, the base has a bearing surface for carrying the tray, The thimble drive assembly is used to drive a plurality of thimbles from the bottom of the bearing surface to pass upwards from the base and pass through the plurality of thimble holes on the tray one by one, or to drive a plurality of thimbles. The thimble is lowered below the bearing surface.

Optionally, the thimble drive assembly includes a mounting plate, a lifting rod and a lifting drive assembly, a plurality of the thimbles are arranged on the mounting plate, and a mounting groove is formed on the bearing surface of the base, and the mounting groove The bottom of the base is formed with a first through hole penetrating to the bottom of the base, the mounting plate is arranged in the mounting groove, and the top end of the lifting rod passes through the first through hole and is fixedly connected with the mounting plate , the lifting drive assembly is used to drive the lifting rod up and down, so as to drive the mounting plate and the plurality of thimbles arranged on it to lift up and down.

Optionally, the plurality of thimbles are divided into multiple groups, and the radial distances between the plurality of thimbles in each group and the axis of the base are equal.

Optionally, the lifting drive assembly is disposed below the cavity, a second through hole is formed on the bottom wall of the cavity, and the second through hole is coaxially arranged with the first through hole; The bottom end of the lifting rod passes through the second through hole to the outside of the cavity;

The lift drive assembly includes a lift drive part and an elastic drive part; the drive shaft of the lift drive part is used to contact the bottom end of the lift rod when rising, and push the lift rod up; the elastic drive part It is used to apply downward elastic force to the lifting rod, so as to drive the lifting rod to descend when the driving shaft descends.

Optionally, the bottom end of the lift rod has an arc-shaped convex surface; the top end of the drive shaft of the lift drive part has a horizontal contact surface, and when the drive shaft of the lift drive part pushes the lift rod up, the The horizontal contact surface is in contact with the arc-shaped convex surface.

Optionally, the elastic drive part includes a spring, a retaining ring and a guide seat, the guide seat is fixedly connected to the bottom of the cavity, a guide groove is formed on the bottom surface of the guide seat, and a guide groove is formed on the bottom surface of the guide groove. A third through hole penetrating to the top surface of the guide seat is formed, and the third through hole communicates with the second through hole;

The bottom end of the lifting rod passes through the third through hole and the guide groove, and the retaining ring and the spring are both sleeved on the lifting rod, wherein the retaining ring is located in the guiding groove Below the bottom surface of the guide groove, and fixedly connected with the lifting rod; the spring is located in the guide groove and between the stop ring and the bottom surface of the guide groove, and the spring is used to apply the stop ring to the stop ring. Said elasticity.

Optionally, the calibration assembly includes a tray aligner and a rotating seat, the tray aligner is used to detect the rotation angle of the tray introduced into the calibration cavity and the horizontal position of the center of the tray; the first The transmission assembly is used to adjust the horizontal position of the tray according to the feedback signal of the tray calibrator after the tray is introduced into the calibration cavity, so that the horizontal position of the center of the tray is consistent with the rotation of the rotating seat The horizontal position of the axis is aligned, and then the tray is placed on the rotating seat; the rotating seat is used to drive the tray around the rotating axis until the characteristic structure on the tray faces a first preset angle .

Optionally, the pallet calibrator is located above the rotating seat, and can transmit a detection signal vertically downward at a preset position, and judge whether the characteristic structure on the pallet rotates toward the first position according to the reflected signal. a preset angle.

Optionally, the wafer transfer system further includes a fixed platform, and both the loading chamber and the second transfer assembly are fixedly arranged on the fixed platform.

Optionally, the wafer transfer system further includes a wafer aligner fixedly arranged on the fixed platform, and the wafer aligner is used to calibrate the rotation direction of the wafer so that the features on the wafer The structure faces the second preset angle; the fixed platform also includes a first film box fixing position and a second film box fixing position for setting the film box, the second transmission assembly, the loading chamber and the transmission chamber The center of the film box is located on the same straight line, and the first film box fixing position and the second film box fixing position are respectively located at the center of the second transmission assembly perpendicular to the center of the second transmission assembly and the loading chamber. Both sides in the direction of the connecting line between the centers;

The second conveying assembly is used to transfer the wafer into the wafer aligner after taking the wafer out of the cassette fixed in the first cassette, and After the wafer aligner calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer, the wafer is transferred to the tray in the loading chamber through the transfer port; and, after the wafer is transported from the loading chamber After being taken out of the wafer, the wafer is first passed into the wafer aligner, and after the wafer aligner calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer, the wafer is transferred to the second In the film box of the fixed position of the two-piece box.

Optionally, the wafer transfer system further includes a tray support block fixedly arranged on the fixed platform, the top of the tray support block has a tray support surface for carrying the tray, and the tray support block is facing an opening is formed in the direction of the second transport assembly;

The second transmission assembly is also used to extend into the opening and rise from below the tray support surface to a position higher than the tray support surface, so as to remove the trays carried on the tray support surface , and then put the tray into the loading chamber.

Optionally, the wafer transfer system further includes a cooling chamber, the cooling chamber communicates with the transfer chamber, and the first transfer assembly is used for transferring the tray containing the wafer from the reaction After being taken out of the cavity, it is first put into the cooling cavity, and after the tray and the wafer carried on it are cooled to a preset temperature, they are then transferred to the calibration cavity;

The line between the center of the transmission cavity and the center of the calibration cavity and the line between the center of the transmission cavity and the center of the cooling cavity are all connected to the center of the second transmission assembly and the center of the cooling cavity. The connecting line between the centers of the transmission cavities forms an included angle of 45°.

As a second aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor process equipment is provided, including a wafer transfer system and a reaction chamber, the wafer transfer system is used to transfer a tray carrying a wafer into the reaction chamber and transfer the carrier The tray with wafers is taken out from the reaction chamber, and the wafer transfer system is the aforementioned wafer transfer system.

In the wafer transfer system and semiconductor process equipment provided by the present invention, the wafer transfer system includes a transfer chamber, a calibration chamber and a loading chamber, the first transfer assembly can cooperate with the calibration chamber to calibrate the position of the tray, and the calibrated tray into the loading chamber. The second transport component can place the wafer before the process on the calibrated tray, or remove the wafer whose position is determined from the calibrated tray, so that the wafer can be placed on the tray automatically and the wafer can be automatically placed on the tray. Removed from the tray, the entire transfer process of the wafer and the tray does not require human intervention, thereby improving the efficiency of the semiconductor process, and reducing the probability of wafer contamination or damage caused by particles attached to the wafer surface, and improving the wafer (for example, carbonization). Silicon wafer) product yield.

Description of drawings

The accompanying drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention, and constitute a part of the description, together with the following specific embodiments, are used to explain the present invention, but do not constitute a limitation to the present invention. In the attached picture:

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer transfer system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic structural diagram of a loading chamber in a wafer transfer system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural view of the loading chamber in another viewing angle in the wafer transfer system provided by the embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a partial schematic view of area A of the loading chamber in Fig. 3;

5 is a schematic structural diagram of a mounting plate in a loading chamber in a wafer transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of the tray in the embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a partial schematic view of area A of the tray in Fig. 6;

8 is a schematic diagram of the positional relationship between the tray and the wafer in the embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a schematic structural view of a tray support block in a wafer transfer system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

10 is a schematic diagram of the principle of removing the tray from the tray support block by the second transfer component in the wafer transfer system provided by the embodiment of the present invention;

11 is a schematic diagram of the principle of taking out the tray from the loading chamber by the first transport component in the wafer transport system provided by the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of the principle of transferring wafers to trays in the loading chamber by the second transfer assembly in the wafer transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described here are only used to illustrate and explain the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention.

In order to solve the above technical problems, as one aspect of the present invention, a wafer transfer system is provided. As shown in FIG. and the second transmission assembly 500, wherein,

The transfer chamber 100 has a chamber docking port for communicating with the reaction chamber 30;

One side of the loading chamber 400 communicates with the transmission chamber 100, and the other side has a selectively opened transmission port, that is, the transmission port can be opened or closed;

The second transfer assembly 500 is used to transfer the wafer 10 to the tray 20 in the loading chamber 400 through the transfer port, and remove the wafer 10 from the tray 20 in the loading chamber 400 and transfer the wafer 10 out through the transfer port loading chamber 400;

The calibration cavity 300 communicates with the transfer cavity 100, and a calibration component is arranged in the calibration cavity 300, and the calibration component is used to adjust the position of the tray 20 introduced into the calibration cavity 300 (specifically including the horizontal position of the tray 20 and the rotation angle of the tray 20). to calibrate;

The first transmission component 200 is arranged in the transmission cavity 100, and is used for introducing the tray 20 into the calibration cavity 300, and cooperates with the calibration component to calibrate the position of the tray 20, and the calibrated tray 20 is taken out from the calibration cavity 300 and It is also used to take out the tray 20 carrying the wafer 10 in the loading chamber 400 from the loading chamber 400 and transfer it into the reaction chamber 30 through the chamber docking port, and transfer the tray in the reaction chamber 30 20 take out.

Exemplarily, the first transport assembly 200 is a vacuum robot, and the second transport assembly 500 is an atmospheric robot.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the wafer transfer system includes a transfer chamber 100, a calibration chamber 300, and a loading chamber 400. The first transfer assembly 200 can cooperate with the calibration assembly to calibrate the position of the tray 20, and put the calibrated tray 20 into the Load chamber 400. The second transport assembly 500 can place the wafer 10 before the process on the calibrated tray 20, or remove the wafer 10 determined by the position from the calibrated tray 20, so that the wafer 10 can be automatically placed on the tray 20 and automatically remove the wafer 10 from the tray 20, the entire transfer process of the wafer 10 and the tray 20 does not require human intervention, thereby improving the efficiency of the semiconductor process, and reducing wafer contamination or damage caused by particles attached to the wafer surface The probability of increasing the product yield of wafers (for example, silicon carbide wafers).

It should be noted that the transmission chamber 100 has the function of controlling the internal gas pressure. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 , a gate valve 410 and a gate valve drive mechanism 420 are provided at the transmission port of the loading chamber 400. The gate valve drive mechanism 420 is used to drive the gate valve 410 to selectively close the transmission port, that is, to open or close the transmission port. Before the second transport assembly 500 performs pick-and-place operations on the loading chamber 400 (i.e., transfer the wafer 10 into the loading chamber 400 or take out the wafer 10 from the loading chamber 400), the internal pressure of the transport chamber 100 is changed by the vacuum ( or close to vacuum) to the same as the external atmospheric pressure, and then the door valve driving mechanism 420 drives the door valve 410 to open the transfer port; The port is closed, and the transfer chamber 100 is evacuated so as to communicate with the reaction chamber 30 through the chamber interface, so that the first transfer assembly 200 can take and place slices from the reaction chamber 30 in a vacuum environment, thereby preventing particles and pollution in the atmosphere substances into the reaction chamber 30, improving the cleanliness of the wafer processing environment.

As an optional embodiment of the present invention, both the wafer 10 and the tray 20 have a characteristic structure for distinguishing the orientation, and the pattern or component formed on the wafer can be determined by identifying the orientation of the characteristic structure on the wafer 10 ( For example, the position of the chip), and similarly, by identifying the orientation of the characteristic structure on the tray 20, the rotation direction of the tray 20 can be determined, and then the precise positioning of the wafer 10 carried on it can be realized.

Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 , the characteristic structure on the tray 20 can be a notch 21 formed on the edge of the tray 20; as shown in FIG. 8 , the characteristic structure on the wafer 10 can be formed on the wafer 10. The flat edge f of one side edge; As shown in Figure 6 and Figure 8, a receiving groove 22 for accommodating the wafer 10 is formed on the carrying surface of the tray 20, and the edge profile of the receiving groove 22 corresponds to the edge profile of the wafer 10, That is, the receiving groove 22 also has a corresponding flat side g, and the wafer 10 is placed on the tray 20 and embedded into the receiving groove 22, thereby improving the connection between the wafer 10 and the tray 20 when the tray 20 drives the wafer 10 to rotate in the reaction chamber 30. relative positional stability.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 , the orientation of the characteristic structure of the tray 20 (for example, the notch 21 ) is the same as the orientation of the flat side g of the receiving groove 22 . Optionally, the tray 20 may be made of graphite.

As an optional embodiment of the present invention, the calibration assembly includes a tray aligner 310 and a rotating seat (the rotating seat is blocked by the tray 20 in FIG. 1 and is not shown), and the tray aligner 310 is used to detect the The rotation angle of the tray 20 and the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20; the first transmission assembly 200 is used to adjust the horizontal position of the tray 20 according to the feedback signal of the tray calibrator 310 after the tray 20 is introduced into the calibration chamber 300, so that the tray The horizontal position of the center of 20 is aligned with the horizontal position of the rotating shaft of the rotating seat, and then the tray 20 is placed on the rotating seat; the rotating seat is used to drive the tray 20 to rotate around the rotating shaft until the characteristic structure (for example, notch) 21) Towards a first preset angle.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first transmission assembly 200 can adjust the horizontal position of the tray 20 according to the feedback signal of the tray aligner 310, so that the axis of the tray 20 is aligned with the axis of the rotating shaft of the rotary seat, that is, the axis of the tray 20 The center of the projection of the axis on the horizontal plane coincides with the center of the projection of the axis of the rotation shaft of the rotary seat on the horizontal plane. Specifically, the tray aligner 310 can feed back to the first transmission assembly 200 the offset of the axis of the tray 20 relative to the axis of the rotation axis of the rotating seat along the X-axis and Y-axis, and the X-axis and Y-axis are the tray aligners. The two axes of the X-Y horizontal rectangular coordinate system established at 310, the first transmission assembly 200 moves the horizontal position of the tray 20 according to the above-mentioned feedback information of the tray aligner 310, and performs reverse position compensation on the tray 20 (that is, makes the tray 20 move along the X Axis and Y-axis carry out the displacement equal to the offset amount and in the opposite direction), so that the axis of the tray 20 is aligned with the axis of the rotating shaft of the rotating seat.

The rotating seat can drive the tray 20 to rotate around the rotation axis until the characteristic structure on the tray 20 (for example, the notch 21) faces the first preset angle, thereby realizing the calibration of the horizontal position and orientation of the tray 20, thereby ensuring that the first transmission assembly 200 calibrates the accuracy of the horizontal position and orientation of the tray 20 when the tray 20 is taken out from the calibration chamber 300 and sent into the loading chamber 400 .

As an optional implementation manner of the present invention, the tray aligner 310 detects the characteristic structure on the tray 20 based on the principle of optical distance measurement, so as to determine whether the characteristic structure on the tray 20 faces the first preset angle. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1 , the tray aligner 310 is located above the rotating seat, and can transmit a detection signal vertically downward at a preset position, and judge whether the characteristic structure on the tray 20 is facing the first preset position according to the reflected signal. Angle, the rotating seat stops rotating after the tray aligner 310 determines that the characteristic structure is facing the first preset angle according to the reflection signal, so as to realize the calibration of the rotation direction of the tray 20 .

For example, when the characteristic structure on the tray 20 is a notch 21, the tray aligner 310 can vertically emit a detection signal downward at a preset position, and when the notch 21 is not facing the first preset angle, the notch 21 does not reach the tray aligner 310 is directly below the preset position. At this time, the detection signal will be reflected on the upper surface of the tray 20 to form a reflected signal. When the notch 21 faces the first preset angle, the notch 21 reaches the preset position where the tray aligner 310 is located. Directly below, at this time, the detection signal passes through the gap 21 and propagates downward to the object below the tray 20 (such as the cavity bottom wall of the calibration chamber 300, the rotating seat or other objects arranged below the tray 20) and then reflects, thereby The reflection signal received by the tray aligner 310 is changed, and then it is determined that the notch 21 is facing the first preset angle.

It should be noted that when the second transport assembly 500 picks up the wafer 10, the orientation of the wafer 10 is a certain angle to ensure that the flat side f of the wafer 10 is aligned with the flat side g of the receiving groove 22 on the tray 20 . Specifically, the wafer 10 before being put into the loading chamber 400 can be calibrated by other calibration modules in the wafer transfer system. For example, as an optional implementation of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the wafer transport system further includes a wafer aligner 600, and the wafer aligner 600 is used to calibrate the rotation direction of the wafer 10, so that The feature structure (for example, the flat edge f) on the wafer 10 faces a second predetermined angle, and the second transfer assembly 500 is used to transfer the wafer 10 into the wafer after the wafer 10 is taken out from the cassette 40 In the aligner 600 , after the wafer aligner 600 calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer 10 , the wafer 10 is transferred to the tray 20 in the loading chamber 400 through the transfer port.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the calibration assembly in the calibration chamber 300 can calibrate the rotation angle of the tray 20, the wafer aligner 600 can calibrate the rotation angle of the wafer 10, the first preset angle and the second preset angle The angle is set such that the characteristic structure (for example, the notch 21) faces the tray 20 at the first preset angle after being taken out from the calibration chamber 300 by the first transport assembly 200 and introduced into the loading chamber 400, the characteristic structure (for example, the flat edge f ) the wafer 10 facing the second preset angle is taken out from the wafer aligner 600 by the second transfer assembly 500 and introduced into the loading chamber 400. The positions and angles of the flat sides g of the receiving grooves 22 on the tray 20 correspond to each other.

In order to improve the stability of placing the wafer 10 on the tray 20 or taking it off from the tray 20 in the loading chamber 400, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the loading chamber 400 includes A cavity 430, a base 440, a thimble driving assembly and a plurality of thimbles 450 (PIN), the base 440 is arranged in the cavity 430, the base 440 has a bearing surface for carrying the tray 20, and the thimble driving assembly is used to drive multiple Each ejector pin 450 passes upward from the base 20 from the lower side of the carrying surface and passes through the plurality of ejector pin holes on the tray 20 one by one, or drives the plurality of ejector pins 450 to descend below the carrying surface.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the loading chamber 400 includes a chamber body 430, a base 440, a thimble driving assembly and a plurality of thimbles 450, and the thimble driving assembly can drive a plurality of thimbles 450 upwards to pass through the bearing surface of the base 440 and pass through the tray 20, or drive a plurality of thimbles 450 to retract below the carrying surface, so that when the second transport assembly 500 places the wafer 10 on the tray 20, the thimble drive assembly first drives the plurality of thimbles 450 rises, the wafer 10 is placed on a plurality of thimbles 450, and then a plurality of thimbles 450 are driven down by the thimble driving assembly, so that the wafer 10 falls smoothly on the tray 20; When the wafer 10 is removed from the tray 20, the ejector pins 450 are first driven up by the ejector driving assembly, and the wafer 10 is lifted up to the tray 20, so that the wafer 10 can be removed from the plurality of ejector pins 450 by the second transport assembly 500 The wafer 10 further improves the stability of placing the wafer 10 on the tray 20 or removing it from the tray 20 in the loading chamber 400 , ensuring the stability of the position between the wafer 10 and the tray 20 .

In order to ensure the consistency of the top heights of multiple thimble pins 450 and improve the levelness of the wafer 10, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. Drive assembly 480, a plurality of thimbles 450 are arranged on the mounting plate 460, a mounting groove is formed on the bearing surface of the base 440, the bottom of the mounting groove is formed with a first through hole a penetrating to the bottom of the base 440, the mounting plate 460 is set In the installation slot, the top of the lifting rod 470 is fixedly connected to the mounting plate 460 through the first through hole a, and the lifting drive assembly 480 is used to drive the lifting rod 470 to move in the first through hole a to drive the mounting plate 460 and its A plurality of thimbles 450 that are set on the top are lifted.

In the embodiment of the present invention, multiple thimbles 450 are arranged on the mounting plate 460, and the lifting drive assembly 480 drives the mounting plate 460 through the lifting rod 470 to drive the multiple thimbles 450 up and down, thereby realizing the synchronous movement of the multiple thimbles 450, ensuring multiple The consistency of the feeding amount of each thimble 450 in the vertical direction ensures the parallelism between the wafer 10 and the tray 20 .

In order to improve the compatibility of the wafer transfer system with wafers 10 and trays 20 of different sizes, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. , the radial distances between the plurality of ejector pins 450 in each group and the axis of the base 440 are equal, so that compatibility with wafers 10 and trays 20 of different sizes can be realized. Optionally, the radial distances between the plurality of ejector pins 450 in different groups and the axis of the base 440 may be equal or unequal.

As an optional embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5 , the mounting plate 460 includes a connecting portion 461 and three bar-shaped portions 462 fixedly arranged around the connecting portion 461 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The center of the connecting portion 461 forms a There is a connecting hole 463, and the top end of the lifting rod 470 is fixedly arranged in the connecting hole 463; the bar-shaped part 462 extends radially, and a plurality of thimble fixing holes 464 distributed radially at intervals are formed on the bar-shaped part 462, each group The thimble 450 includes three thimbles 450 whose bottom ends are fixed in three thimble fixing holes 464 on the three strip parts 462 one by one.

That is, for wafers 10 and trays 20 of any size, three thimbles 450 on the same scale circle on the three strips 462 can be used to form a corresponding three-pin structure, and the three-pin structure passes through the tray 20 The three thimble holes on the top of the three thimble pins form stable positioning on the plane of the wafer 10 through the tops of the three pins, and the force on the top of each thimble pin 450 is equal, so that the wafer 10 will not be tilted due to uneven force, and the wafer 10 can be realized. The steady rise and fall of the circle 10.

In order to ensure the stability of the movement direction of multiple thimbles 450, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. Two through holes b, the second through hole b is coaxially arranged with the first through hole a; the bottom end of the lift rod 470 passes through the second through hole b to the outside of the cavity 430; the lift drive assembly 480 includes a lift drive part 480a And the elastic driving part 480b; the drive shaft of the lifting driving part 480a is used to contact the bottom end of the lifting rod 470 when rising, and promotes the lifting rod 470 to rise; the elastic driving part 480b is used to apply downward elastic force to the lifting rod 470, When the driving shaft of the lifting driving part 480a descends, the lifting rod 470 is driven to descend.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the bottom end of the lifting rod 470 has an arc-shaped convex surface 471, and the arc-shaped convex surface 471 is, for example, a hemispherical surface; the top end of the driving shaft of the lifting driving part 480a has a horizontal contact surface e. When the drive shaft pushes the elevating rod 470 up, the horizontal contact surface e contacts the arc-shaped convex surface 471 . The lifting rod 470 is driven up by pushing up the arc-shaped convex surface 471 at the bottom end of the lifting rod 470 through the horizontal contact surface e, which can effectively ensure that the lifting driving part 480a only applies a vertical upward lifting force to the lifting rod 470 without causing any damage to the lifting rod 470. The force in the horizontal direction applied by the lifting rod 470 causes the direction of the lifting rod 470 to be deflected, thereby effectively ensuring the stability of the movement direction of the plurality of thimble pins 450 and improving the levelness of the wafer 10 .

As an optional embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4 , the elastic driving part 480b includes a spring 481, a retaining ring 482 and a guide seat 483. The guide seat 483 is fixedly connected to the bottom of the cavity 430, and the bottom surface of the guide seat 483 A guide groove d is formed, and a third through hole c penetrating to the top surface of the guide seat 483 is formed on the bottom surface of the guide groove d, and the third through hole c communicates with the second through hole b.

The bottom end of the lifting rod 470 passes through the third through hole c and the guide groove d of the guide seat 483, and the stop ring 482 and the spring 481 are both sleeved on the lift rod 470, wherein the stop ring 482 is located below the bottom surface of the guide groove d, And it is fixedly connected with the lifting rod 470; the spring 481 is located in the guide groove d and between the stop ring 482 and the bottom surface of the guide groove d, and the spring 481 is used to apply elastic force to the stop ring 482 to make the lift rod 470 descend.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the elastic driving part 480b includes a spring 481, a retaining ring 482 and a guide seat 483. The spring 481 is sleeved on the lifting rod 470 and located in the guide groove d of the guide seat 483, so that the spring 481 can effectively prevent the spring 481 from The outer ejection improves the overall reliability of the device. Moreover, under the double guiding effect of the outer wall of the lifting rod 470 and the inner wall of the guide groove d, the spring 481 pushes the retaining ring 482 to drive the lifting rod 470 to descend through elastic force, further reducing the component force received by the lifting rod 470 in the horizontal direction, thereby further ensuring The stability of the moving direction of the plurality of thimbles 450 is improved, and the levelness of the wafer 10 is improved.

When starting to carry out the semiconductor process, for example, when performing the semiconductor process on the first wafer 10 in the same batch of wafers 10, the tray 20 needs to be introduced into the transfer chamber 100 by the outside through the loading chamber 400, in order to realize automatic operation This step realizes full automatic control. As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 20 , and the tray support block 700 is formed with an opening 710 in the direction toward the second transport assembly 500 .

As shown in FIG. 10 , the second transport assembly 500 is also used to extend into the opening 710 when the semiconductor process starts, and rise from below the tray support surface to be higher than the tray support surface, so that the tray 20 carried on the tray support surface Take it off, and then put the tray 20 into the loading chamber 400 .

In order to improve the cooling efficiency of the wafer 10 after the semiconductor process is completed, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. After the processing of each wafer 10 is completed, the first transfer assembly 200 takes out the tray 20 containing the wafer 10 from the reaction chamber 30, and then puts it into the cooling chamber 800, and waits for the tray 20 and the wafers carried on it to After the wafer 10 is cooled to room temperature, it is transferred to the calibration chamber 300 , the tray 20 is calibrated, and then put into the loading chamber 400 to separate the wafer 10 from the tray 20 .

In order to ensure the stability of the positions between different chambers, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. Both the support block 700 and the second transmission assembly 500 are fixed on the fixed platform 900 .

Specifically, as an optional embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1 , the transfer chamber 100 is a regular octagonal prism structure, the loading chamber 400 and the chamber interface are respectively located on two opposite sides of the transfer chamber 100, and the fixed platform 900 corresponds to the position of the loading chamber 400. The calibration chamber 300 and the cooling chamber 800 are respectively arranged on the two side walls of the transmission chamber 100 adjacent to the side of the loading chamber 400, that is, the upper and lower right sides of the transmission chamber 100 in FIG. 1 On the two sides with an included angle of 45°, the connection line between the center of the transmission cavity 100 and the center of the calibration cavity 300 and the connection line between the center of the transmission cavity 100 and the center of the cooling cavity 800 are all consistent with the second transmission The connecting line between the center of the assembly 500 and the transfer chamber 100 is at an angle of 45°; the second transfer assembly 500 is located on the side of the loading chamber 400 away from the transfer chamber 100, the second transfer assembly 500, the loading chamber 400 and the transfer chamber 100 The centers are on the same straight line.

Optionally, the fixing platform 900 also includes two cassette fixing positions for setting the cassette 40, including a first cassette fixing position (located above the second transport assembly 500 in FIG. 1 ) and a second cassette fixing position (located below the second transport assembly 500 in FIG. 1 ), respectively used to set the cassettes 40 for loading pre-process wafers and post-process wafers.

In order to improve the compactness of the structure of the wafer transfer system and improve the transfer accuracy and transfer efficiency of the wafer 10, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figure 1, the two cassette fixing positions are respectively located in the second transfer assembly 500 on both sides perpendicular to the direction of the connection between the second transport assembly 500 and the loading chamber 400 (that is, the upper and lower sides of the second transport assembly 500 in FIG. 1 ).

The second transfer assembly 500 is used to transfer the wafer 10 into the wafer aligner 600 after the wafer 10 is taken out from the cassette 40 fixed in the first cassette, and align the wafer 10 in the wafer aligner 600. After the rotation direction of the circle 10 is calibrated, the wafer 10 is transferred to the tray 20 in the loading chamber 400 through the transfer port; and, after the wafer 10 is taken out from the loading chamber, the wafer 10 is first introduced into the wafer In the aligner 600, and after the wafer aligner 600 calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer 10, the wafer 10 is transferred to the cassette 40 at the second cassette fixing position.

Optionally, the tray support block 700 and the wafer aligner 600 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the line between the second transport assembly 500 and the loading chamber 400, for example, taking the up, down, left, and right directions in FIG. 1 as a reference, the tray support block 700 The wafer aligner 600 is located at 48° to the lower left of the second transport assembly 500 , and the opening 710 of the tray support block 700 faces the center of the second transport assembly 500 .

It should be noted that, in order to show the positional relationship between the tray 20 or the wafer 10 and the chamber and the device when the tray 20 or the wafer 10 is on each chamber or device station, each chamber and device in FIG. 1 are shown as being loaded with a tray 20 or the state of the wafer 10 . For example, the calibration chamber 300, the loading chamber 400, and the cooling chamber 800 are all shown as being loaded with the tray 20 and the wafer 10 carried thereon, the tray support block 700 is shown as being loaded with the tray 20, and the wafer aligner 600 is shown as This is the state where the wafer 10 is loaded. However, in actual use, only some of these chambers and device stations are loaded with trays 20 or wafers 10 .

As a second aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor process equipment is provided, including a wafer transfer system and a reaction chamber 30, the wafer transfer system is used to transfer the tray 20 carrying the wafer 10 into the reaction chamber 30 and transfer the wafer 10 to the reaction chamber 30. The tray 20 carrying the wafer 10 is taken out from the reaction chamber 30, and the wafer transfer system is the wafer transfer system provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

In the semiconductor process equipment provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the wafer transfer system includes a transfer chamber 100, a calibration chamber 300, and a loading chamber 400. The first transfer assembly 200 can cooperate with the calibration chamber 300 to calibrate the position of the tray 20, and the calibration The finished tray 20 is put into the loading chamber 400, so that the wafer 10 before the process can be placed on the calibrated tray 20 in the second transfer assembly 500, or the wafer determined by the position can be removed from the calibrated tray 20 10. Automatically place the wafer 10 on the tray 20 and automatically remove the wafer 10 from the tray 20. The entire transfer process of the wafer 10 and the tray 20 does not require human intervention, thereby improving the efficiency of the semiconductor process and reducing The probability of wafer contamination or damage caused by particles attached to the surface of the wafer improves the product yield of the wafer (for example, a silicon carbide wafer).

For the convenience of technical personnel to understand, the following provides a specific embodiment of semiconductor processing of the same batch of wafers using the wafer transfer system provided by the embodiment of the present invention:

Before the first process starts (that is, before the semiconductor process is performed on the first wafer 10), the second transport assembly 500 extends into the opening 710 of the tray support block 700, and is lifted from below the tray support surface to be higher than the tray support The pallet support surface of block 700 (as shown in Figure 10), thereby the pallet 20 carried on the pallet support surface is removed;

The gate valve driving mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to open, and the second transport assembly 500 sends the tray 20 into the loading chamber 400 and places it on the base 440 (the rotation direction of the tray 20 is not calibrated at this time).

The gate valve driving mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to close and isolate the outside atmosphere from the chamber environment, and the first transport assembly takes out the tray 20 from the loading chamber 400 (as shown in FIG. 11 ).

The first transmission assembly sends the tray 20 into the calibration cavity 300, and according to the feedback signal of the tray aligner 310 (the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 relative to the horizontal position of the rotation axis of the rotary seat along the X-axis and the Y-axis direction) amount) adjust the horizontal position of the tray 20 so that the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 is aligned with the horizontal position of the rotary shaft of the rotary seat. Then the tray 20 is placed on the rotating base, and the rotating base drives the tray 20 to rotate until the tray aligner 310 detects that the notch 21 on the driving tray 20 rotates to a preset position and then stops the rotation.

The first transfer assembly takes out the calibrated tray 20 from the calibration cavity 300 and puts it back on the base 440 in the loading cavity 400 again, and the thimble drive assembly drives a plurality of thimbles 450 upwards to pass through the plurality of thimbles on the tray 20 hole.

The gate valve driving mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to open, and the second transport assembly 500 takes the first wafer 10 out of the cassette 40 fixed in the first cassette and puts it into the wafer aligner 600 to check the rotation direction of the wafer. Calibrate, and then transfer the calibrated wafer 10 to a plurality of ejector pins 450 raised in the loading chamber 400 (as shown in FIG. 12 ). The gate valve driving mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to close and isolate the outside atmosphere from the chamber environment.

The thimble driving assembly drives the plurality of thimbles 450 to retract downward, so that the wafer 10 falls into the receiving groove 22 on the tray 20 .

The first transport assembly takes the tray 20 and the wafer 10 carried thereon out of the loading chamber 400 and into the reaction chamber 30 for semiconductor processing.

After each wafer 10 completes the semiconductor process, the first transport assembly takes out the tray 20 and the wafer 10 carried on it from the reaction chamber 30 and transfers it into the cooling chamber 800 to be served on the tray 20 and the wafer 10 carried thereon. After the wafer 10 is cooled to room temperature, it is transferred to the calibration chamber 300 , the tray 20 is calibrated, and then put into the loading chamber 400 . , the ejector pin driving assembly drives a plurality of ejector pins 450 upwards through the plurality of ejector pin holes on the tray 20 to separate the wafer 10 from the tray 20 .

The gate valve drive mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to open, and the second transfer assembly 500 removes the wafer 10 from the plurality of ejector pins 450 and puts it into the wafer aligner 600 to calibrate the rotation direction of the wafer, and then the calibrated wafer 10 The circles 10 are transferred into the cassette 40 in the second cassette holding position.

Subsequently, the second transport assembly 500 takes the next wafer 10 out of the cassette 40 fixed in the first cassette and puts it into the wafer aligner 600 to calibrate the rotation direction of the wafer, and then the calibrated wafer The circles 10 are transferred onto a plurality of ejector pins 450 raised in the loading chamber 400 . The gate valve driving mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to close and isolate the outside atmosphere from the chamber environment.

Repeat the second transfer assembly 500 to take out the wafer 10 to be processed from the cassette 40 at the fixed position of the first cassette to the second transfer assembly 500 to pass the processed wafer 10 into the cassette at the fixed position of the second cassette 40 steps, the fully automated production of the wafer 10 can be realized.

It can be understood that, the above embodiments are only exemplary embodiments adopted for illustrating the principle of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For those skilled in the art, various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, and these modifications and improvements are also regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

A wafer transfer system, characterized in that the wafer transfer system includes a transfer chamber, a first transfer assembly, a loading chamber, a second transfer assembly, and a calibration chamber, wherein,

The transfer chamber has a chamber docking port for communicating with the reaction chamber;

One side of the loading chamber communicates with the transmission chamber, and the other side has a selectively opened transmission port;

The second transfer assembly is used to transfer the wafer to the tray in the loading chamber through the transfer port, and remove the wafer from the tray in the loading chamber and pass the wafer through the The transmission port passes out of the loading chamber;

The calibration cavity communicates with the transfer cavity, and a calibration component is arranged in the calibration cavity, and the calibration component is used to calibrate the position of the tray introduced into the calibration cavity;

The first transmission component is arranged in the transmission cavity, and is used to pass the tray into the calibration cavity, cooperate with the calibration component to calibrate the position of the tray, and transfer the calibrated The tray is taken out from the calibration chamber and passed into the loading chamber, and is also used to take out the tray carrying the wafer in the loading chamber from the loading chamber and pass it through the chamber docking port into the reaction chamber, and take out the tray in the reaction chamber.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the loading chamber comprises a cavity, a base, a thimble driving assembly and a plurality of thimbles, the base is arranged in the cavity, and the base The seat has a bearing surface for carrying the tray, and the thimble driving assembly is used to drive a plurality of thimbles to pass upward from the base from the bottom of the bearing surface and pass through the tray one by one Multiple thimble holes on the top, or drive multiple thimbles to descend below the bearing surface.
The wafer transport system according to claim 2, wherein the thimble driving assembly comprises a mounting plate, a lifting rod and a lifting driving assembly, a plurality of the thimbles are arranged on the mounting plate, and the thimble of the base An installation groove is formed on the bearing surface, the bottom of the installation groove is formed with a first through hole penetrating to the bottom of the base, the installation plate is arranged in the installation groove, and the top end of the lifting rod passes through the The first through hole is fixedly connected with the mounting plate, and the lifting drive assembly is used to drive the lifting rod up and down, so as to drive the mounting plate and the plurality of thimbles arranged on it to lift up and down.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of ejector pins are divided into multiple groups, and the radial distances between the plurality of ejector pins in each group and the axis of the base are equal.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 3, wherein the lifting drive assembly is arranged below the cavity, a second through hole is formed on the bottom wall of the cavity, and the second through hole is formed on the bottom wall of the cavity. The hole is arranged coaxially with the first through hole; the bottom end of the lifting rod passes through the second through hole to the outside of the cavity;

The lift drive assembly includes a lift drive part and an elastic drive part; the drive shaft of the lift drive part is used to contact the bottom end of the lift rod when rising, and push the lift rod up; the elastic drive part It is used to apply downward elastic force to the lifting rod, so as to drive the lifting rod to descend when the driving shaft descends.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 5, wherein the bottom end of the lifting rod has an arc-shaped convex surface; the top end of the driving shaft of the lifting driving part has a horizontal contact surface, and the lifting driving part has a horizontal contact surface. When the drive shaft pushes the elevating rod up, the horizontal contact surface is in contact with the arc-shaped convex surface.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 5, wherein the elastic driving part comprises a spring, a stop ring and a guide seat, the guide seat is fixedly connected to the bottom of the cavity, and the bottom surface of the guide seat A guide groove is formed, and a third through hole penetrating to the top surface of the guide seat is formed on the bottom surface of the guide groove, and the third through hole communicates with the second through hole;

The bottom end of the lifting rod passes through the third through hole and the guide groove, and the retaining ring and the spring are both sleeved on the lifting rod, wherein the retaining ring is located in the guiding groove Below the bottom surface of the guide groove, and fixedly connected with the lifting rod; the spring is located in the guide groove and between the stop ring and the bottom surface of the guide groove, and the spring is used to apply the stop ring to the stop ring. Said elasticity.
The wafer transfer system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the calibration assembly includes a tray aligner and a rotating seat, and the tray aligner is used to detect all the The rotation angle of the tray and the horizontal position of the center of the tray; the first transmission assembly is used to adjust the tray according to the feedback signal of the tray aligner after the tray is passed into the calibration cavity Horizontal position, align the horizontal position of the center of the tray with the horizontal position of the rotating shaft of the rotating seat, and then place the tray on the rotating seat; the rotating seat is used to drive the tray around the The rotating shaft is rotated until the feature structure on the tray faces a first preset angle.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 8, wherein the tray aligner is located above the rotating seat, and can transmit a detection signal vertically downward at a preset position, and judge the Whether the feature structure on the pallet is facing the first predetermined angle.
The wafer transfer system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the wafer transfer system further comprises a fixed platform, and both the loading chamber and the second transfer assembly are fixedly arranged on the on a fixed platform.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 10, wherein the wafer transfer system further comprises a wafer aligner fixedly arranged on the fixed platform, and the wafer aligner is used to rotate the wafer The direction is calibrated so that the feature structure on the wafer faces a second preset angle; the fixed platform also includes a first cassette fixing position and a second cassette fixing position for setting the cassette, the second The centers of the transmission assembly, the loading chamber and the transmission chamber are located on the same straight line, and the first film cassette fixing position and the second film cassette fixing position are respectively located in the second transmission assembly perpendicular to the two sides in the direction of the line between the center of the second transmission assembly and the center of the loading chamber;

The second conveying assembly is used to transfer the wafer into the wafer aligner after taking the wafer out of the cassette fixed in the first cassette, and After the wafer aligner calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer, the wafer is transferred to the tray in the loading chamber through the transfer port; and, after the wafer is transported from the loading chamber After being taken out of the wafer, the wafer is first passed into the wafer aligner, and after the wafer aligner calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer, the wafer is transferred to the second In the film box of the fixed position of the two-piece box.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 11, wherein the wafer transfer system further comprises a tray support block fixedly arranged on the fixed platform, and the top of the tray support block has a support for carrying the tray. a tray support surface, and the tray support block is formed with an opening in the direction toward the second transport assembly;

The second transmission assembly is also used to extend into the opening and rise from below the tray support surface to a position higher than the tray support surface, so as to remove the trays carried on the tray support surface , and then put the tray into the loading cavity.
The wafer transfer system according to claim 12, wherein the wafer transfer system further comprises a cooling chamber, the cooling chamber communicates with the transfer chamber, and the first transfer assembly is used for After the tray of the wafer is taken out from the reaction chamber, it is put into the cooling chamber first, and after the tray and the wafer carried on it are cooled to a preset temperature, the which is transported into said calibration cavity;

The line between the center of the transmission cavity and the center of the calibration cavity and the line between the center of the transmission cavity and the center of the cooling cavity are all connected to the center of the second transmission assembly and the center of the cooling cavity. The connecting line between the centers of the transmission cavities forms an included angle of 45°.
A semiconductor process equipment, characterized in that it includes a wafer transfer system and a reaction chamber, the wafer transfer system is used to transfer a tray carrying a wafer into the reaction chamber and transfer the tray carrying the wafer from The reaction chamber is taken out, and the wafer transfer system is the wafer transfer system according to any one of claims 1-13.