Vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace

Abstract

The invention relates to a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace which comprises a vertical furnace tube, a liftable furnace door arranged below the furnace tube, a wafer boat assembly, an overturning table assembly, a lifting table assembly, a storage area, a temporary storage area, a wafer conveying box manipulator assembly and a wafer fork hand assembly, the overturning table assembly comprises an overturning table and an overturning driving mechanism for driving the overturning table to overturn; the overturning table is provided with at least one storage position for fixing a wafer conveying box; the lifting table assembly comprises a lifting table arranged below the overturning table, a carrier roller horizontally arranged on the lifting table, a rotation driving mechanism for driving the carrier roller to rotate and a lifting driving mechanism. The automatic edge flattening and arraying device has the advantages that automatic edge flattening and arraying can be achieved, automatic assembly line work of arraying feeding is achieved, and production efficiency is improved. By designing the independent fork hand and the fork hand set which are driven respectively, the function that the independent fork hand stretches out independently during small-batch trial-manufacturing is achieved, the independent fork hand and the fork hand set conduct overall synchronous telescopic operation during large-batch production, and the production efficiency cannot be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor preparation technology, and in particular to a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace. Background Art

[0002] The edges of wafers include round edges and flat edges. The flat edges (also called positioning edges) are cut by diamond saws on silicon ingots before the silicon wafers are cut into single pieces. After cutting, the single wafers are in the shape of a major arc, and the bowstring part is the flat edge. The existence of the flat edge has the following important functions:

[0003] Positioning and alignment: Flat edges can help equipment accurately position and align silicon wafers during the manufacturing process, thereby ensuring the accuracy and consistency of subsequent processing steps. This is because precise control is crucial in the chip manufacturing process, and the presence of flat edges provides a physical reference and positioning point for this process.

[0004] Crystal orientation identification: The position and number of flat edges are closely related to the crystal orientation of the silicon wafer. By observing the configuration of the flat edges, the crystal orientation type of the silicon wafer can be quickly determined, such as <111> , <110> or <100> Etc. This is very important for ensuring the performance and reliability of the chip, because different crystal orientations affect the physical and chemical properties of the material.

[0005] In the semiconductor preparation process, the vertical chemical deposition furnace furnace tube is a widely used cluster deposition equipment, which has the advantages of high deposition efficiency and high-precision control. The conventional vertical chemical deposition furnace structure mainly includes a furnace tube and a furnace door arranged at the bottom of the furnace tube. The furnace tube serves as a deposition reaction chamber, and a precursor nozzle component is arranged inside. A crystal boat is fixedly arranged on the liftable furnace door. The number of nozzles in the precursor nozzle component varies depending on the requirements of the deposited film or the process requirements. One or more nozzles can be set. The nozzle components are distributed along the axial direction of the crystal boat and are arranged on one side of the crystal boat. The furnace tube is also provided with an air inlet and an air outlet.

[0006] It can be seen from the above structure that when performing the deposition process, no matter how the nozzle and wafer boat structure in the furnace tube are improved, the gas inside the furnace tube must be uneven, resulting in inconsistent deposition thickness distribution of wafers in different areas and uneven deposition film thickness on each wafer. At this time, the flat edge plays an extremely important role in judging the thickness distribution of the wafer deposition film. Therefore, the flat edges of each wafer need to be aligned before the flat edge wafer enters the vertical chemical deposition furnace.

[0007] At present, the wafer flat edge alignment is achieved by a roller abutting against the wafer circumference of the wafer transport box. A crank is connected to the end of the roller. When adjusting the wafer position, the staff often turns the crank to make the wafer abutting against the roller start to rotate until the flat edges of each wafer abut against the outer wall of the roller to achieve the flat edge alignment of each wafer. After that, the wafer is sent to the loading equipment of the vertical chemical deposition furnace for loading. Conventional loading equipment mainly includes two parts: a wafer transport box handling robot and a wafer handling robot.

[0008] Due to the manual roller turning, the wafer position needs to be checked manually after adjustment to avoid the wafer position not being adjusted properly. In addition, manual adjustment makes the efficiency of wafer adjustment depend on the proficiency of the staff, which makes it impossible to connect manual operations and subsequent robot operations, and the loading efficiency of the vertical chemical deposition furnace is not stable enough.

[0009] In addition, when a vertical chemical deposition furnace is performing a deposition process, there are often two modes: small-batch trial production and large-scale production. The existing wafer handling manipulators include single-fork manipulators and multi-fork manipulators. The gap between the multi-fork manipulators matches the gap between the wafers in the wafer boat / wafer transport box, and multiple wafers can be taken and placed each time they are extended and retracted. Obviously, a single-fork manipulator can only operate on one wafer at a time, and the operation efficiency is low during large-scale production; and when the wafers in the wafer transport box are closely arranged, the multi-fork manipulator must take and place multiple wafers each time it operates, so that the wafers in the wafer boat are still closely arranged, which does not meet the design requirements for small-batch trial production. At this time, if the wafers in the wafer boat need to be loosely arranged, the arrangement of the wafers in the wafer transport box must be manually adjusted in advance, which not only reduces production efficiency, but also may introduce pollution.

[0010] It is necessary to improve and optimize the existing vertical chemical deposition furnace so that it can better meet user needs. Summary of the invention

[0011] The purpose of the embodiment of the present invention is to address the shortcomings of the prior art structure and propose a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace. By designing a storage area and a flat edge alignment device, it can not only realize automatic flat edge alignment, but also realize automatic assembly line operation of the alignment loading, thereby improving production efficiency. In addition, by designing independent forks and fork groups that are driven separately, the function of independent forks extending separately during small-batch trial production is realized, and the independent forks and fork groups are synchronously extended and retracted as a whole during large-scale production, which will not reduce production efficiency. The equipment is fully automated for production, improves efficiency, reduces labor costs, and is safer to operate.

[0012] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose of the invention, a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace first proposed in the embodiment of the present invention is realized by the following technical scheme:

[0013] A vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace, relates to a wafer conveying box for loading superior arc-shaped wafers, the wafer conveying box has a cavity for inserting wafers which is through from top to bottom, the lower opening of the cavity is smaller than the upper opening and can prevent the wafer from falling off; the deposition furnace comprises a vertical furnace tube, a liftable furnace door arranged below the furnace tube, and a wafer boat assembly directly or indirectly fixed above the furnace door, characterized in that the deposition furnace also comprises:

[0014] The turning table assembly comprises a turning table and a turning driving mechanism for driving the turning table to turn between a first extreme position and a second extreme position; the turning table is provided with at least one storage position for selectively fixing a wafer conveying box, when the turning table is in the first extreme position, the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the storage position are placed roughly horizontally; when the turning table is in the second extreme position, the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the storage position are placed roughly vertically;

[0015] The lifting platform assembly comprises a lifting platform arranged below the turning platform, rollers arranged horizontally on the lifting platform, a rotation driving mechanism for driving the rollers to rotate, and a lifting driving mechanism; the lifting driving mechanism is in transmission connection with the lifting platform and is used to drive the lifting platform to rise so that the rollers on the lifting platform can just vertically abut against the outer edge of the wafer on the turning platform in the second position;

[0016] The storage area is equipped with multiple wafer transport box storage locations;

[0017] A temporary storage area is provided with at least one wafer transport box storage position;

[0018] A wafer conveyor box manipulator assembly is movable between the wafer conveyor box storage positions in the turning table, the storage area and the temporary storage area to correspondingly grab or place the wafer conveyor box;

[0019] The wafer fork assembly is used to take and place wafers into the wafer boat assembly and the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area.

[0020] Further preferably, a grooved roller is arranged on the lifting platform parallel to the supporting roller, and the grooved roller and the supporting roller are driven by the rotation driving mechanism to rotate synchronously, and grooves are evenly arranged on the circumferential surface of the grooved roller; when the lifting driving mechanism drives the lifting platform to rise: the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the flip table in the second position are just embedded in the groove of the grooved roller, and can be supported by the bottom of the groove and the supporting roller at the same time.

[0021] Further preferably, the lifting platform is also provided with a wafer counting device, and the wafer counting device includes a 2*n close-range through-beam sensor array: in two columns, each column is arranged in a manner that the transmitting end and the receiving end are staggered and evenly spaced, and the transmitting end and the receiving end in each column are paired to form a group of through-beam sensors; in n rows, the first row is provided with a transmitting end, the last row is provided with a receiving end, and the remaining rows are provided with a transmitting end and a receiving end; in addition, when the lifting drive mechanism drives the lifting platform to rise, the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the flip table in the second position just enter between the rows of the close-range through-beam sensor array.

[0022] Further preferably, the wafer counting device also includes a circuit board and a row of wedge blocks fixed on the circuit board, the transmitting end and the receiving end are both connected to the circuit board, and the wedge blocks and the close-range opposing-radiation sensor array form a 3*n array: a transmitting end and a wedge block are arranged in the first row, a receiving end and a wedge block are arranged in the last row, and the wedge blocks in the remaining rows are arranged between the transmitting end and the receiving end; the wedge blocks are arranged higher than the top ends of the transmitting end and the receiving end.

[0023] Further preferably, the wafer fork assembly includes a turntable driven to rotate by a rotating actuator, and an independent fork, a fork group consisting of at least two forks, a first actuator driving the independent fork to intermittently extend and retract, and a second actuator driving the fork group to intermittently extend and retract are arranged on the turntable; when the independent fork and the fork group are extended at the same time, the forks of the independent fork and the fork group are stacked up and down, and the independent fork is located at the top or the bottom.

[0024] Further preferably, the wafer fork assembly also includes a Y-axis linear drive module, and the turntable is arranged on the Y-axis linear drive module.

[0025] Further preferably, the first actuator and the second actuator both include a guide rail, a slider slidably arranged on the guide rail, a servo motor and a belt transmission assembly, and the belt transmission assembly connects the servo motor and the slider; the guide rails of the first actuator and the second actuator are arranged in parallel, and the fork arm group / independent fork arm is directly or indirectly fixedly mounted on the slider.

[0026] Further preferably, the flip table is provided with a clamping mechanism for clamping the wafer transport box.

[0027] In addition, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for loading a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace. The method relates to the vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace as described above. The method comprises the following steps:

[0028] S1, a wafer transport box is fixedly placed on the storage position of the turning table at the first extreme position; then the turning table is turned to the second extreme position; then the lifting platform is raised until the rollers abut against the wafers in the wafer transport box on the storage position of the turning table, and then the rollers rotate one circle and drive the wafers to rotate; then the lifting platform is lowered; then the turning table is turned back to the first extreme position;

[0029] S2, the wafer conveyor box robot assembly moves the wafer conveyor box on the flip table to the storage area or the temporary storage area; and, the wafer conveyor box robot assembly moves the wafer conveyor box in the storage area to the temporary storage area, and records the storage and retrieval storage location numbers in the storage area;

[0030] S3, the wafer fork assembly takes out the wafers from the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area and puts them into the wafer boat assembly until the empty wafer transport box is taken out; then the wafer fork assembly puts the empty wafer transport box back to the storage area and records the storage location number in the storage area;

[0031] S4, repeat the above steps S1-S4 until the number of wafers in the wafer boat assembly reaches the set number, close the furnace door and perform chemical vapor deposition; after completion, open the furnace door;

[0032] S5, the wafer fork assembly takes out the wafers from the wafer boat assembly and puts them into the empty wafer transport box in the temporary storage area until the wafer transport box is full; then the wafer transport box manipulator assembly puts the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area back to the storage area and records the storage location number in the storage area; then the wafer transport box manipulator assembly moves the empty wafer transport box in the storage area to the temporary storage area;

[0033] S6, repeat the above step S5 to take out the empty wafer boat assembly; then the wafer transport box robot assembly successively transports the wafer transport boxes in the storage area to the turning table.

[0034] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: by designing the storage area and the flat edge alignment device, not only can the automatic flat edge alignment be realized, but also the automatic assembly line operation of the alignment loading can be realized, thereby improving the production efficiency. In addition, by designing the independent forks and fork hand groups driven separately, the function of the independent forks extending separately during small batch trial production is realized, and the independent forks and fork hand groups are synchronously extended and retracted as a whole during large batch production, without reducing the production efficiency. The equipment is fully automated for production, improves efficiency, reduces labor costs, and is safer to operate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] The above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention will become more clear and easily understood through the following description of exemplary embodiments thereof in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0036] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 2 Schematic diagram I of the internal structure of a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0038] Figure 3 Schematic diagram II of the internal structure of a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the turning platform assembly and the lifting platform assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 5 This is a schematic structural diagram of a lifting platform assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of a wafer counting device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 7 A top view of a wafer counting device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 8 Schematic diagram I of the three-dimensional structure of the wafer fork assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] Fig. 9 Schematic diagram II of the three-dimensional structure of the wafer fork assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0045] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the turntable part of the wafer fork assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] Fig.11 It is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer transport box robot according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] The following is a description of the implementation of the present invention by specific embodiments. People familiar with the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the contents disclosed in this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0048] The terms such as "front", "rear", "left", "right", "inside", "outside" etc. used in this specification are only for the convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of implementation of the present invention. Changes or adjustments to their relative relationships shall be regarded as within the scope of implementation of the present invention without substantially changing the technical content.

[0049] In the description of the following embodiments, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "connection" and the like should be understood in a broad sense. For example, "connection" can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements, unless otherwise clearly defined. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0050] See also Figure 4 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a specific wafer conveying box 1, on which grooves are evenly arranged on two opposite side walls, and a cavity is formed between the two side walls for inserting wafers, and the lower opening of the cavity is smaller than the upper opening and can prevent the wafer from falling off.

[0051] See also Figure 1-3 As shown, in this embodiment, the furnace body 2 of the deposition furnace has the same structure as the existing deposition furnace, including a vertical furnace tube 21, a liftable furnace door 22 is arranged at the lower part of the furnace tube, the furnace tube 21 is used as a deposition reaction chamber, a precursor nozzle component is arranged inside, and a wafer boat 23 is fixedly arranged on the liftable furnace door 22. The furnace tube is also provided with an air inlet and an air outlet.

[0052] Different from the existing deposition furnace, the deposition furnace in this embodiment further includes:

[0053] Flip table assembly 3

[0054] See also Figure 2 , 3 As shown in , 4 , the turning table assembly 3 includes a turning table 31 , a turning drive mechanism 32 and a clamping mechanism 33 .

[0055] Two storage positions for fixing wafer conveyor boxes are arranged on the turning table 31. The storage positions and the lower opening of the wafer conveyor boxes are adapted in shape, so that the wafer conveyor boxes can be placed thereon in a manner that the lower opening is exposed. The clamping mechanism 33 is arranged next to the storage positions for clamping the wafer conveyor boxes. In this embodiment, the clamping mechanism 33 is a clamping block driven by a cylinder, which can clamp the wafer conveyor boxes in cooperation with the baffle plate on the other side of the storage position.

[0056] The flipping drive mechanism 32 is connected to the flipping table 31 by transmission, and drives the flipping table 31 to flip between the first extreme position and the second extreme position. When the flipping table 31 is in the first extreme position, the wafers in the wafer conveying box 1 on its storage position are placed roughly horizontally; when the flipping table 31 is in the second extreme position, the wafers in the wafer conveying box 1 on its storage position are placed roughly vertically. It should be pointed out here that the wafers do not need to be absolutely vertical or horizontal in the first extreme position and the second extreme position. For example, in the first extreme position, the wafer conveying box can have a slight tilt to prevent the wafer from slipping from the opening, but it must be satisfied that the robot can pick up the wafer horizontally in the first extreme position, and the wafer can be lifted by the rollers and groove rollers in the second extreme position.

[0057] In a preferred embodiment, the turning platform 31 is pivotally connected to the frame 34 , and the turning drive mechanism 32 is a cylinder, whose seat part is pivotally connected to the frame 34 and the piston part is pivotally connected to the turning platform 31 , thereby realizing the turning of the turning platform 31 .

[0058] Lifting platform assembly 4

[0059] See also Figure 2-5 As shown, the lifting platform assembly 4 includes a lifting platform 41 and a lifting drive mechanism 42 .

[0060] The lifting platform 41 is arranged directly below the turning platform, and the lifting platform 41 is provided with rollers 42, grooved rollers 43, a rotation drive mechanism 44 and a wafer counting device 5. The rollers 42 and grooved rollers 43 are both rotatably arranged horizontally and parallel to each other. The rollers 42 and grooved rollers 43 are driven by the rotation drive mechanism 44 to rotate synchronously. Specifically, a pulley 421 is fixedly installed at one end of the roller 42, and a pulley 431 is fixedly installed at one end of the grooved roller 43. The rotation drive mechanism 44 includes a stepping motor 441, and a pulley 442 is installed on the output shaft of the stepping motor 441. The pulleys 421 and 431 have the same diameter. The belt 443 is wound on the pulleys 442, 421 and 431, so that the rollers 42 and grooved rollers 43 are driven to rotate synchronously by the stepping motor 441.

[0061] The grooved roller 43 has a wafer sorting sleeve, that is, the circumferential surface thereof is evenly provided with grooves, and the grooves are in gap with the wafers in the wafer transport box. In a preferred embodiment, the wafer sorting sleeve of the grooved roller 43 is made of Teflon. The roller 42 has a silicone sleeve to increase the friction when in contact with the wafer.

[0062] The lifting drive mechanism 42 is a cylinder. When the lifting drive mechanism 42 drives the lifting platform 41 to rise, the rollers 42 and the groove rollers 43 rise. The wafers in the wafer conveying box on the flip table 41 in the second position are embedded in the grooves of the groove rollers 43 one by one, and are interference fit with the groove side plates. At this time, the wafer abuts against the bottom of the groove of the groove roller 43 and the rollers 42, and is slightly lifted and supported by the bottom of the groove of the groove roller 43 and the rollers 42 at the same time. When the rollers 42 and the groove rollers 43 rotate synchronously, they can drive the wafer to rotate until it rotates to the flat edge. When the wafer rotates to the flat edge facing down, the rollers 42 and the groove rollers 43 no longer contact the edge of the wafer at the same time, and the wafer falls and is supported by the wafer conveying box. Therefore, it can be seen that the spacing between the rollers 42 and the groove rollers 43 needs to match the width of the flat edge of the wafer.

[0063] When each wafer is facing down with its flat side, all wafers in the wafer transport box are aligned. Since the maximum rotation angle of the wafer will not exceed 360°, the wafer alignment can be completed by setting the roller 42 and the groove roller 43 to rotate one circle each time.

[0064] Wafer counting device 5

[0065] See also Figure 6-7 As shown, the wafer counting device 5 includes a circuit board 51 , a close-range through-beam sensor array and a row of wedge blocks 52 .

[0066] The close-range through-beam sensor array is a 2*n rectangular array:

[0067] In each of the two columns, the transmitting ends 53 and the receiving ends 54 are arranged in a staggered and evenly spaced manner, and the transmitting ends 53 and the receiving ends 54 in each column are paired to form a group of opposing beam sensors.

[0068] Among the n rows, the first row is provided with a transmitter 53, the last row is provided with a receiver 54, and the remaining rows are provided with a transmitter 53 and a receiver 54. The first row and the last row are in the same column, so one column has n transmitters plus a receiver, and the other column has n-2 transmitters plus a receiver.

[0069] The transmitting end 53 and the receiving end 54 are both established on the circuit board 51 through supporting pillars and are electrically connected to the circuit board 51 .

[0070] When the lifting drive mechanism 42 drives the lifting platform 41 to rise, the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the flip table 31 in the second position just enter between the rows of the close-range beam sensor array, and the pairs of transmitting ends 53 and receiving ends 54 detect whether there are wafers between them, thereby batch detecting the distribution of wafers in the wafer conveying box.

[0071] The wedge blocks 52 are also fixed on the circuit board 51, and the number of the wedge blocks 52 is n. The wedge blocks 52 and the close-range through-beam sensor array form a 3*n array: the first row is provided with a transmitter 53 and a wedge block 52, the last row is provided with a receiver 54 and a wedge block 52, and the wedge blocks 52 in the remaining rows are provided between the transmitter 53 and the receiver 54. The wedge blocks 54 are provided above the top of the transmitter and the receiver, and are used to guide the wafer into between the rows of the close-range through-beam sensor array.

[0072] Warehouse Area 6

[0073] See also Figure 2 , 3 As shown, the storage area 6 has a plurality of stacked box racks, and a plurality of storage positions for wafer transport boxes with corresponding numbers are formed in the box racks.

[0074] Temporary storage area 7

[0075] See also Figure 2 , 3 As shown, the temporary storage area 7 is provided with a stacked box rack, in which two storage spaces for wafer transport boxes are stacked one above the other.

[0076] Wafer conveyor box robot assembly 8

[0077] See also Figure 2 , 11 As shown, the wafer conveying box robot assembly 8 is an existing wafer conveying box robot, which has a Y-axis linear drive module 81, and a wafer conveying box robot 82 is arranged on the Y-axis linear drive module 81. The wafer conveying box robot 82 is a two-stage robot, including a servo motor (not shown in the figure), a first arm 821 and a second arm 822. One end of the first arm 821 is fixed to the servo motor drive shaft through a hinge structure, and the other end is connected to the second arm 822 through a hinge structure. The other end of the second arm 822 is installed with a clamp 823 for clamping the wafer conveying box. Since the above structure is a common technical means for those skilled in the art, its structure and operation principle will not be described in detail.

[0078] The wafer conveyor box robot assembly 8 can move between the wafer conveyor box storage positions of the turning table 31, the storage area 6 and the temporary storage area 7 to correspondingly grab or place the wafer conveyor box. Obviously, since the range of movement of the wafer conveyor box robot assembly 8 is determined by the range of movement of the Y-axis linear drive module 81 and the robot arm of the wafer conveyor box robot 82, the position and arrangement of the turning table 31, the storage area 6 and the temporary storage area 7 should be coordinated with the wafer conveyor box robot assembly 8, and on this basis, its arrangement can be freely adjusted according to the specific production line requirements.

[0079] Wafer fork assembly 9

[0080] See also Figure 2 ,3 As shown in FIGS. 8-10 , the wafer fork assembly 9 is used to take and place wafers into the wafer boat 23 and the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area 7 .

[0081] The wafer fork assembly 9 includes a Y-axis linear drive module 95, a turntable 91 and a rotation actuator 92. In this embodiment, the rotation actuator 92 is a servo motor and a gearbox. The turntable 91 is connected to the servo motor through the gear transmission structure of the gearbox, and rotates around the axis under the drive of the servo motor. The turntable 91 and the rotation actuator 92 are arranged on the Y-axis linear drive module.

[0082] An independent fork arm 93 , a fork arm group 94 , a first actuator and a second actuator are arranged on the turntable 91 .

[0083] The fork arm group 94 is composed of 4 forks. The independent fork arm 93 has the same structure as these 4 forks, and has a fork rod and a fork head. A front hook is fixed to the front of the fork head part, and a rear hook is fixed to the rear. The front hook has a first horizontal support surface and a front stop surface located in front of the first horizontal support surface. The rear hook has a second horizontal support surface and a rear stop surface located on the second horizontal support surface. The upper surface of the first horizontal support surface and the upper surface of the second horizontal support surface are located on the same horizontal plane. The purpose of this setting is to reduce the contact area between the fork rod and the product as much as possible, reduce the friction between the product and the fork rod, and avoid wear of the product.

[0084] The fork arm group 94 and the independent fork arm 93 are extended and retracted independently, wherein the first actuator drives the independent fork arm 93 to be intermittently extended and retracted, and the second actuator drives the fork arm group 94 to be intermittently extended and retracted. When the independent fork arm 93 and the fork arm group 94 are extended at the same time, the forks of the independent fork arm 93 and the fork arm group 94 are stacked up and down, and the independent fork arm 93 is located at the top.

[0085] The first actuator and the second actuator have the same structure, and both include a guide rail 96, a slider 97 slidably disposed on the guide rail 96, a servo motor 98, and a belt transmission assembly 99. The belt transmission assembly 99 connects the servo motor 98 and the slider 97. In this embodiment, the guide rails 96 of the first actuator and the second actuator are arranged in parallel, and the two sliders 97 are each equipped with a connecting piece on the outside, and the fork rod of the fork hand group 94 or the independent fork hand 93 is installed on the connecting piece.

[0086] In combination with the device structure of the vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace described above, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for loading a material in the vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace, comprising the following steps:

[0087] S1, a wafer transport box is fixedly placed on the storage position of the turning table at the first extreme position; then the turning table is turned to the second extreme position; then the lifting platform is raised until the rollers abut against the wafers in the wafer transport box on the storage position of the turning table, and then the rollers rotate one circle and drive the wafers to rotate; then the lifting platform is lowered; then the turning table is turned back to the first extreme position;

[0088] S2, the wafer conveyor box robot assembly moves the wafer conveyor box on the flip table to the storage area or the temporary storage area; and, the wafer conveyor box robot assembly moves the wafer conveyor box in the storage area to the temporary storage area, and records the storage and retrieval storage location numbers in the storage area;

[0089] S3, the wafer fork assembly takes out the wafers from the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area and puts them into the wafer boat assembly until the empty wafer transport box is taken out; then the wafer fork assembly puts the empty wafer transport box back to the storage area and records the storage location number in the storage area;

[0090] S4, repeat the above steps S1-S4 until the number of wafers in the wafer boat assembly reaches the set number, close the furnace door and perform chemical vapor deposition; after completion, open the furnace door;

[0091] S5, the wafer fork assembly takes out the wafers from the wafer boat assembly and puts them into the empty wafer transport box in the temporary storage area until the wafer transport box is full; then the wafer transport box manipulator assembly puts the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area back to the storage area and records the storage location number in the storage area; then the wafer transport box manipulator assembly moves the empty wafer transport box in the storage area to the temporary storage area;

[0092] S6, repeat the above step S5 to take out the empty wafer boat assembly; then the wafer transport box robot assembly successively transports the wafer transport boxes in the storage area to the turning table.

[0093] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: by designing the storage area and the flat edge alignment device, not only can the automatic flat edge alignment be realized, but also the automatic assembly line operation of the alignment loading can be realized, thereby improving the production efficiency. In addition, by designing the independent forks and fork hand groups driven separately, the function of the independent forks extending separately during small batch trial production is realized, and the independent forks and fork hand groups are synchronously extended and retracted as a whole during large batch production, without reducing the production efficiency. The equipment is fully automated for production, improves efficiency, reduces labor costs, and is safer to operate.

[0094] The above embodiments describe the inventive intent and implementation methods of the present invention in detail, but a person skilled in the art in the art will understand that the above embodiments of the present invention are only preferred embodiments of the present invention. Due to space limitations, not all implementation methods can be listed here one by one. Any implementation that can embody the technical solution of the claims of the present invention is within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0095] It should be noted that the above content is a further detailed description of the present invention in combination with specific implementation methods, and it cannot be determined that the specific implementation methods of the present invention are limited to these. Under the guidance of the above embodiments, technical personnel in this field can make various improvements and modifications on the basis of the above embodiments, and these improvements or modifications fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace, involving a wafer conveying box for loading superior arc-shaped wafers, the wafer conveying box having a vertically through cavity for inserting wafers, the lower opening of the cavity is smaller than the upper opening and can prevent the wafer from falling off; the deposition furnace comprises a vertical furnace tube, a liftable furnace door arranged below the furnace tube, and a wafer boat assembly directly or indirectly fixed above the furnace door, It is characterized in that The deposition furnace further comprises: The turning table assembly comprises a turning table and a turning driving mechanism for driving the turning table to turn between a first extreme position and a second extreme position; the turning table is provided with at least one storage position for selectively fixing a wafer conveying box, when the turning table is in the first extreme position, the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the storage position are placed roughly horizontally; when the turning table is in the second extreme position, the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the storage position are placed roughly vertically; The lifting platform assembly comprises a lifting platform arranged below the turning platform, rollers arranged horizontally on the lifting platform, a rotation driving mechanism for driving the rollers to rotate, and a lifting driving mechanism; the lifting driving mechanism is in transmission connection with the lifting platform and is used to drive the lifting platform to rise so that the rollers on the lifting platform can vertically abut against and lift the outer edge of the wafer on the turning platform in the second position; The storage area is equipped with multiple wafer transport box storage locations; A temporary storage area is provided with at least one wafer transport box storage position; A wafer conveyor box manipulator assembly is movable between the wafer conveyor box storage positions in the turning table, the storage area and the temporary storage area to correspondingly grab or place the wafer conveyor box; The wafer fork assembly is used to take and place wafers into the wafer boat assembly and the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area.

2. A vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to claim 1, Features: The lifting platform is also provided with a grooved roller parallel to the supporting roller. The grooved roller and the supporting roller are driven by the rotating drive mechanism to rotate synchronously, and grooves are evenly arranged on the circumferential surface of the grooved roller. When the lifting drive mechanism drives the lifting platform to rise, the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the flip table in the second position are just embedded in the groove of the grooved roller, and can be supported by the bottom of the groove and the supporting roller at the same time.

3. The vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The lifting platform is also provided with a wafer counting device, which includes a 2*n close-range through-beam sensor array: in two columns, each column is arranged in a manner that the transmitting end and the receiving end are staggered and evenly spaced, and the transmitting end and the receiving end in each column are paired to form a group of through-beam sensors; in n rows, the first row is provided with a transmitting end, the last row is provided with a receiving end, and the remaining rows are provided with a transmitting end and a receiving end; in addition, when the lifting drive mechanism drives the lifting platform to rise, the wafers in the wafer conveying box on the flip table in the second position just enter between the rows of the close-range through-beam sensor array.

4. A vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to claim 3, It is characterized in that The wafer counting device also includes a circuit board and a row of wedge blocks fixed on the circuit board. The transmitting end and the receiving end are both connected to the circuit board. The wedge blocks and the close-range opposing-radiation sensor array form a 3*n array: a transmitting end and a wedge block are arranged in the first row, a receiving end and a wedge block are arranged in the last row, and the wedge blocks in the remaining rows are arranged between the transmitting end and the receiving end; the wedge blocks are arranged higher than the top ends of the transmitting end and the receiving end.

5. The vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to claim 1, Features: The wafer fork assembly includes a turntable driven by a rotating actuator, on which an independent fork, a fork group consisting of at least two forks, a first actuator driving the independent fork to intermittently extend and retract, and a second actuator driving the fork group to intermittently extend and retract are arranged; when the independent fork and the fork group are extended at the same time, the forks of the independent fork and the fork group are stacked up and down, and the independent fork is located at the top or the bottom.

6. The vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to claim 5, Features: The wafer fork assembly also includes a Y-axis linear drive module, and the turntable is arranged on the Y-axis linear drive module.

7. The vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to claim 6, Features: The first actuator and the second actuator both include a guide rail, a slider slidably arranged on the guide rail, a servo motor and a belt transmission assembly, and the belt transmission assembly connects the servo motor and the slider; the guide rails of the first actuator and the second actuator are arranged in parallel, and the fork arm group / independent fork arm is directly or indirectly fixedly mounted on the slider.

8. The vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to claim 7, Features: The turning table is provided with a clamping mechanism for clamping the wafer conveying box.

9. A method for loading a vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace, It is characterized in that The loading method relates to the vertical chemical vapor deposition furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 8, and the method comprises the following steps: S1, a wafer transport box is fixedly placed on the storage position of the turning table at the first extreme position; then the turning table is turned to the second extreme position; then the lifting platform is raised until the rollers abut against the wafers in the wafer transport box on the storage position of the turning table, and then the rollers rotate one circle and drive the wafers to rotate; then the lifting platform is lowered; then the turning table is turned back to the first extreme position; S2, the wafer conveyor box robot assembly moves the wafer conveyor box on the flip table to the storage area or the temporary storage area; and, the wafer conveyor box robot assembly moves the wafer conveyor box in the storage area to the temporary storage area, and records the storage and retrieval storage location numbers in the storage area; S3, the wafer fork assembly takes out the wafers from the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area and puts them into the wafer boat assembly until the empty wafer transport box is taken out; then the wafer fork assembly puts the empty wafer transport box back to the storage area and records the storage location number in the storage area; S4, repeat the above steps S1-S4 until the number of wafers in the wafer boat assembly reaches the set number, close the furnace door and perform chemical vapor deposition; after completion, open the furnace door; S5, the wafer fork assembly takes out the wafers from the wafer boat assembly and puts them into the empty wafer transport box in the temporary storage area until the wafer transport box is full; then the wafer transport box manipulator assembly puts the wafer transport box in the temporary storage area back to the storage area and records the storage location number in the storage area; then the wafer transport box manipulator assembly moves the empty wafer transport box in the storage area to the temporary storage area; S6, repeat the above step S5 to take out the empty wafer boat assembly; then the wafer transport box robot assembly successively transports the wafer transport boxes in the storage area to the turning table.

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