A cooling device and a thin film deposition apparatus

Abstract

This invention discloses a cooling device and a thin film deposition equipment, comprising: a cooling chamber; a gas delivery system disposed above the interior of the cooling chamber, including a blower head matching the wafer surface size and multiple air outlets disposed on the blower head; and a cooling platform disposed within the cooling chamber, comprising a base, a cooling water channel integrated within the base, and a gas transport system; wherein the gas transport system includes a suction unit and a gas injection unit with the air outlets facing the back side of the wafer. Compared with the prior art, this invention can accelerate the cooling speed of the wafer in the cooling chamber and reduce the time required for deposited wafers to queue outside the cooling chamber, thereby improving the overall production efficiency of the physical vapor deposition equipment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of temperature control technology, and in particular to a cooling device and a thin film deposition equipment. Background Technology

[0002] In the semiconductor manufacturing industry, physical vapor deposition (PVD) equipment is typically equipped with a cooling chamber to quickly reduce the surface temperature and remove surface moisture after the wafer has completed the deposition process (DEP), so that the wafer can be safely recycled into a front-opening unified pod (FOUP) at room temperature.

[0003] The existing cooling process works as follows: after the high-temperature wafer exits the process cavity, due to its excessively high surface temperature, it does not directly enter the front-opening wafer transfer box, but instead enters the cooling cavity via the transfer cavity. Inside the cooling cavity, high-purity, dry nitrogen gas is blown onto the wafer surface to achieve cooling and dehumidification.

[0004] However, existing equipment operates with four process chambers simultaneously at full capacity, but only has one cooling chamber. This means that wafers that have completed deposition need to queue outside the cooling chamber to wait for cooling. During this waiting period, the wafers may continue to heat up, which will increase the actual cooling time required inside the cooling chamber.

[0005] Therefore, improving the cooling rate of wafers within the cooling chamber has become a key optimization direction for overcoming current production efficiency bottlenecks and shortening the overall wafer processing cycle time. There is an urgent need to improve existing cooling chambers to increase cooling efficiency and reduce queuing time to meet the cooling demands of full-capacity operations. Utility Model Content

[0006] Purpose of the utility model: To address the problems existing in the prior art, this utility model provides a cooling device and thin film deposition equipment to accelerate the cooling speed of wafers in the cooling chamber and reduce the time required for deposited wafers to queue outside the cooling chamber, thereby improving the overall production efficiency of physical vapor deposition equipment.

[0007] Technical solution: This utility model provides a cooling device, comprising: Cooling chamber; A gas delivery system is located inside the upper part of the cooling chamber, including a blower head that matches the size of the wafer surface and multiple air outlets disposed on the blower head; A cooling platform is disposed within the cooling cavity, and includes a base, a cooling water channel integrated within the base, and a gas transport system; The gas transport system includes a suction unit and a gas injection unit with the air outlet facing the back of the wafer.

[0008] Furthermore, the air injection unit includes an injection pipe and multiple injection air ports arranged in a ring on the upper surface of the base, and the suction unit includes a suction pipe and multiple suction air ports arranged in a ring on the upper surface of the base. The rings formed by the injection air ports and the rings formed by the suction air ports are concentric rings on the upper surface of the base and are alternately spaced in the radial direction.

[0009] Furthermore, a self-circulating pipe is also provided on the main tank, which extends from the bottom of the main tank and connects to the top of the main tank, and a pump is provided on the self-circulating pipe.

[0010] Furthermore, the base is provided with multiple lifting pins, the top of the suction port protrudes from the upper surface of the base, and its height is lower than the top height of the lifting pin in the unlifted state. The top of the injection port is flush with or lower than the top height of the suction port on the upper surface of the base.

[0011] Furthermore, the projected area of ​​the blower head is not less than the effective heat dissipation area of ​​the wafer, and the air outlets are evenly distributed to cover the surface of the blower head.

[0012] Furthermore, the injection air vents and the suction air vents form at least two concentric rings on the upper surface of the base, and the cooling water channels pass between adjacent air vents, with the innermost rings being suction air vents.

[0013] Furthermore, the concentric ring distribution consists of 5 rings, with each ring containing 8 air vents.

[0014] Furthermore, the air outlet has 49 outlets.

[0015] Furthermore, the total power of the suction unit is greater than that of the gas injection unit, so as to generate a net adsorption force on the wafer.

[0016] This utility model also discloses a thin film deposition apparatus, wherein the thin film deposition apparatus is provided with the above-mentioned cooling device. Beneficial effects

[0017] 1. This invention uses an upper nozzle to blow high-purity, dry nitrogen gas onto the front of the wafer for rapid surface cooling and dehumidification. The lower cooling platform uses internal cooling water channels to conduct heat to cool the back of the wafer, and a gas transport system creates an active airflow on the back of the wafer, enhancing convective heat transfer and adsorption to fix the wafer in place. This simultaneous, coordinated cooling from both top and bottom significantly improves the overall cooling rate of the wafer, helping to shorten the wafer's residence time in the cooling chamber and reduce the waiting time for subsequent wafers.

[0018] 2. This utility model can form a radially flowing airflow field on the back side of the wafer by using annularly alternating injection and suction air outlets, covering the entire back side area of ​​the wafer, eliminating cooling dead zones, improving back side convective heat transfer efficiency, and ensuring the uniformity and efficiency of gas flow on the back side of the wafer.

[0019] 3. The area of ​​the blower head of this utility model is not less than the effective heat dissipation area of ​​the wafer and the air outlet is evenly distributed, so that all areas on the front side of the wafer that need heat dissipation can be covered by the cold nitrogen airflow, thereby maximizing the efficiency of front-side purging and cooling, and ensuring the uniformity and full coverage of nitrogen cooling on the front side of the wafer. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of this utility model; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the air vent distribution structure of this utility model.

[0021] Figure 3 This is a bottom view of the nozzle structure of this utility model.

[0022] Among them, 1-cooling cavity, 2-air nozzle, 3-air outlet, 4-base, 5-cooling water channel, 6-suction unit, 7-air injection unit, 8-injection pipe, 9-injection air outlet, 10-suction pipe, 11-suction air outlet, 12-wafer. Detailed Implementation

[0023] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0024] In the description of this utility model, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "transverse", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc., indicating the orientation or positional relationship are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing this utility model and simplifying the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of this utility model.

[0025] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of indicated technical features. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of that feature. In the description of this utility model, "a plurality of" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise explicitly specified. Example

[0026] See Figure 1-3 A cooling device, comprising: Cooling chamber 1; A gas delivery system is located inside the upper part of the cooling chamber 1, including a blower head 2 that matches the size of the wafer surface and multiple air outlets 3 disposed on the blower head 2; The cooling platform is set inside the cooling chamber 1, and includes a base 4, a cooling water channel 5 integrated in the base 4, and a gas transport system. The gas transport system includes a suction unit 6 with the air vent facing the back of the wafer and a gas injection unit 7.

[0027] The air injection unit 7 includes an injection pipe 8 and multiple injection air ports 9 arranged in a ring on the upper surface of the base 4. The suction unit 6 includes a suction pipe 10 and multiple suction air ports 11 arranged in a ring on the upper surface of the base 4. The rings formed by the injection air ports 9 and the rings formed by the suction air ports 11 are concentric rings on the upper surface of the base 4 and are alternately spaced in the radial direction.

[0028] The injection pipe 8 is connected via piping to a conventional external gas source (usually high-purity nitrogen, which can be independent of or from the same source as the gas source of the upper nozzle) and conventional gas injection drive and flow control components (such as a gas injection pump or blower, flow control valve, etc., not shown). The suction pipe 10 is connected via piping to conventional external vacuum generator and flow / pressure control components (such as a vacuum pump or suction blower, flow / pressure control valve, etc., not shown).

[0029] The cooling chamber 1 adopts a conventional design in the prior art (e.g., having a double-wall structure, with a cooling water circulation channel formed between the walls connected to an external cooling water supply system) to continuously remove heat from the chamber, reduce the overall temperature, reduce the impact of heat radiation, and accelerate heat dissipation.

[0030] At least three pressure feet are spaced at intervals around the center of the upper circumference of the base 4. These pressure feet are located on the telescopic end of the rotating downward pressure cylinder and contact the wafer to limit its movement and prevent it from deviating. This is a common and conventional feature of cooling platforms in the prior art. In this invention, it also prevents the wafer from being blown upwards.

[0031] The base 4 is provided with multiple lifting pins. The top of the suction port 11 protrudes from the upper surface of the base 4 and its height is lower than the top height of the lifting pins when they are not lifted. The top of the injection port 9 is flush with or lower than the top height of the suction port 11 on the upper surface of the base 4.

[0032] Lift pins (not shown in the figure) are a standard feature of existing cooling cavities. This invention does not involve improvements to them. The base 4 also integrates an RTD (Resistance Temperature Detector, not shown in the figure) for real-time monitoring of the base 4 temperature or indirect monitoring of the wafer 12 temperature, providing feedback signals to the control system. This is a standard feature of the prior art.

[0033] The suction vent 11 is higher than the surface of the base 4 (preferably 1-3cm) to ensure that a negative pressure suction area can still be effectively formed after the wafer is placed. The injection vent 9 is not higher or lower than the suction vent 11 to prevent its airflow from directly impacting the edge of the wafer or hindering the suction effect. In addition, the height of all vents is lower than the lifting pin to ensure that the lifting pin can lift the wafer normally without being blocked by the vents.

[0034] Preferably, the total power of the suction unit 6 is greater than that of the gas injection unit 7, so as to generate a net adsorption force on the wafer.

[0035] The gas delivery system also includes an inlet line, a gas temperature control unit (not shown), a gas filtration unit (not shown), and a flow control valve (such as a mass flow controller, MFC, not shown). The inlet line is connected to an external high-purity, dry inert gas source (typically a nitrogen-N2 source). The gas temperature control unit cools the nitrogen delivered to nozzle 2 to a predetermined low temperature. The gas filtration unit ensures that the gas cleanliness meets semiconductor process requirements. The flow control valve is used to precisely regulate and maintain the flow rate and pressure of the purging nitrogen.

[0036] Low-temperature, high-purity, dry nitrogen gas is blown onto the front side of the wafer 12 by the blower nozzle 2, and forced convection heat transfer is used to quickly reduce the temperature of the front side of the wafer and remove surface moisture. At the same time, the gas pressure in the cooling chamber 1 is increased (slightly higher than atmospheric pressure), which helps to improve the heat transfer efficiency of the gas.

[0037] The projected area of ​​the blower head 2 is not less than the effective heat dissipation area of ​​the wafer, and the air outlets 3 are evenly distributed and cover the surface of the blower head 2. Preferably, there are 49 air outlets 3.

[0038] The air inlet 9 and the air outlet 11 form at least two concentric rings on the upper surface of the base 4. The cooling water channel 5 passes through the adjacent air inlets. The innermost ring is composed of air outlets 11. A gas flow structure is provided in the area through which the cooling water channel 5 passes, so that a gas flow channel is formed between the ring-shaped air inlet 9 and the air outlet 11. The specific form of the gas flow structure is not limited. Any structure that can realize the gas connection between adjacent ring intervals is within the scope of this embodiment.

[0039] The multi-ring layout enhances the uniformity and intensity of back-side cooling. The cooling water channel 5, which runs between the air vents, allows the cooling water to carry away the heat from the wafer and cool the airflow, thus enhancing the conductive cooling effect.

[0040] The innermost ring consists of suction vents 11, which can form a stable negative pressure zone in the center area of ​​the wafer, effectively adsorbing the center part of the wafer, ensuring good contact between the wafer and the cooling platform to maximize the conduction cooling efficiency, while ensuring smooth airflow.

[0041] To achieve a multi-ring concentric distribution of air vents, both the suction pipe 10 and the injection pipe 8 adopt a ring-shaped main pipe structure. Specifically, the suction pipe 10 includes a ring-shaped main suction pipe disposed inside the base 4 (corresponding to the ring containing each suction vent 11). Multiple upwardly extending suction branch pipes are evenly connected along the circumference of this ring-shaped main suction pipe. The upper ends of these suction branch pipes pass through the base 4 and protrude from its surface, thus forming the suction vents 11 protruding from the upper surface of the base 4.

[0042] The injection pipe 8 also includes an annular main injection pipe (corresponding to the annular ring where each injection vent 9 is located) disposed inside the base 4. Multiple upward-extending injection branch pipes are evenly connected along the circumference of this annular main injection pipe. The upper ends of these injection branch pipes are located on or slightly below the upper surface of the base 4, thus forming the injection vents 9.

[0043] Preferably, the concentric ring distribution consists of 5 rings, each containing 8 air vents, with the innermost ring consisting entirely of 11 exhaust vents (a total of 40 air vents). Figure 2 The small black circle in the middle is the air intake vent 11, the small white circle is the air inlet vent 9, and the connection between the six rings is the cooling water channel 5.

[0044] Cooling water channel 5 is connected to an external conventional cooling water circulation system (not shown). This system typically includes a water pump, a heat exchanger (such as a chiller), and a temperature control unit to continuously supply low-temperature cooling water to channel 5. The cooling water directly cools the base 4 through heat conduction, thereby cooling the back side of the wafer 12 that is in contact with or adjacent to it. Example

[0045] This embodiment also discloses a thin film deposition apparatus. The wet thin film deposition apparatus is equipped with a cooling device as shown in Embodiment 1. Other structures are conventional structures in the art and will not be described in detail here.

[0046] After the high-temperature wafer is fed into the cooling chamber 1, it is placed on the cooling platform. The nozzles 2 of the upper gas delivery system blow high-purity, dry, low-temperature nitrogen gas onto the front side of the wafer through evenly distributed outlets 3. Forced convection removes heat from the wafer surface and removes moisture. Simultaneously, the cooling platform conducts heat to the back side of the wafer through its integrated cooling water channel 5. The gas delivery system on the platform works in concert. The gas injection unit 7 injects cooling gas (such as nitrogen) into the edge area of ​​the back side of the wafer through annularly distributed injection nozzles 9, while the suction unit 6 generates a stronger suction force in the central area of ​​the back side of the wafer through annularly distributed suction nozzles 11. This forms an active airflow field that flows radially from the injection nozzles 9 to the suction nozzles 11, further removing heat by enhancing back-side convection heat transfer. Since the total suction power is greater than the injection power, a net adsorption force is generated on the back side of the wafer, stably adsorbing the wafer onto the platform. This optimizes the conduction cooling effect and ensures safety, accelerates the cooling speed of the wafer in the cooling chamber, and reduces the time required for deposited wafers to queue outside the cooling chamber, thereby improving the overall production efficiency of the physical vapor deposition equipment.

[0047] The above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical concept and features of this utility model, and are intended to enable those skilled in the art to understand the content of this utility model and implement it accordingly. They should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of this utility model. All equivalent transformations or modifications made in accordance with the spirit and essence of this utility model should be included within the scope of protection of this utility model.

Claims

1. A cooling device, characterized in that, include: Cooling chamber (1); A gas delivery system is located inside the cooling chamber (1) and includes a blower head (2) that matches the size of the wafer surface and multiple air outlets (3) on the blower head (2). A cooling platform is provided inside the cooling cavity (1), which includes a base (4), a cooling water channel (5) integrated in the base (4), and a gas transport system; The gas transport system includes a suction unit (6) with the air outlet facing the back of the wafer and a gas injection unit (7).

2. The cooling device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The air injection unit (7) includes an injection pipe (8) and multiple injection air ports (9) arranged in a ring on the upper surface of the base (4). The suction unit (6) includes a suction pipe (10) and multiple suction air ports (11) arranged in a ring on the upper surface of the base (4). The ring formed by the injection air ports (9) and the ring formed by the suction air ports (11) are concentric rings on the upper surface of the base (4) and are alternately spaced in the radial direction.

3. The cooling device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The base (4) is provided with multiple lifting pins. The top of the suction port (11) protrudes from the upper surface of the base (4) and its height is lower than the top height of the lifting pin in the unlifted state. The top of the injection port (9) is flush with or lower than the top height of the suction port (11) on the upper surface of the base (4).

4. The cooling device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The projected area of ​​the blower head (2) is not less than the effective heat dissipation area of ​​the wafer, and the air outlet (3) is evenly distributed to cover the surface of the blower head (2).

5. A cooling device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The air inlet (9) and the air outlet (11) form at least two concentric rings on the upper surface of the base (4). The cooling water channel (5) passes between adjacent air inlets, and the innermost ring is an air outlet (11).

6. A cooling device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The concentric ring distribution consists of 5 rings, with each ring containing 8 air vents.

7. A cooling device according to claim 1 or 4, characterized in that: The air outlet (3) has 49 outlets.

8. A cooling device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The total power of the suction unit (6) is greater than that of the gas injection unit (7) to generate a net adsorption force on the wafer.

9. A thin film deposition apparatus, characterized in that, The thin film deposition equipment is provided with a cooling device as described in any one of claims 1 to 8.

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