A carrier device, equipment and silicon wafer for cleaning silicon wafer

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention discloses a carrier device, equipment and silicon wafer for cleaning silicon wafers; the carrier device includes a carrier frame composed of multiple support rods for carrying silicon wafers; each support rod includes: multiple slots for inserting silicon wafers; multiple grooves evenly distributed in the circumferential direction on opposite sides of the slots, allowing cleaning liquid to flow in the grooves.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of semiconductor technology, and in particular to a carrier device, equipment and silicon wafer for cleaning silicon wafers. Background Art

[0002] Typically, single crystal silicon rods undergo a series of production processes such as cutting, grinding, polishing, and epitaxial growth to produce silicon wafers used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices. During the above-mentioned production process, various foreign matter such as particulate pollutants and metal ion impurities are easily generated due to the silicon wafer itself or the external environment. These particulate pollutants and metal ion impurities will contaminate the silicon wafer, thereby reducing the production yield of semiconductor devices. Therefore, in order to completely remove these foreign matter, it is necessary to use a cleaning device to clean and rinse the silicon wafer. During the silicon wafer cleaning process, the silicon wafer carrier is one of the main tooling of the cleaning device. The structure of the carrier directly affects the cleaning quality of the silicon wafer. However, due to the unreasonable structural design of the existing silicon wafer carrier, the above-mentioned foreign matter still exists on the surface of the silicon wafer after cleaning. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention hopes to provide a carrier device, equipment and silicon wafer for silicon wafer cleaning; it is capable of removing contaminants remaining on the support rods in the carrier device, and at the same time reducing the accumulation rate of particulate contaminants on the support rods in the carrier device, thereby increasing the service life of the carrier device and reducing the frequency of preventive maintenance (PM) of the silicon wafer cleaning equipment.

[0004] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention is achieved as follows:

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a carrying device for cleaning silicon wafers, the carrying device comprising a carrying rack for carrying silicon wafers composed of a plurality of support rods; each support rod comprises:

[0006] Multiple slots for inserting silicon chips;

[0007] A plurality of grooves are evenly distributed along a circumferential direction on opposite sides of the slot, and cleaning fluid is allowed to flow in the grooves.

[0008] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus for cleaning silicon wafers, the apparatus comprising the carrier device according to the first aspect.

[0009] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a silicon wafer, which is cleaned by the device according to the second aspect.

[0010] An embodiment of the present invention provides a carrier device, equipment and silicon wafer for cleaning silicon wafers; the carrier device includes a carrier frame composed of multiple support rods for carrying silicon wafers; at the same time, for each support rod, multiple grooves are evenly distributed along the circumferential direction of the carrier device on the opposite sides of each slot, so that during the process of cleaning the silicon wafers, the fluidity of the cleaning liquid can be improved, the contaminants remaining on the surface of the support rods can be reduced, and the cleaning quality of the silicon wafers can be improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a production process flow for cleaning silicon wafers provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0012] Figure 2 A schematic top view of the structure of a cleaning tank in a conventional technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] Figure 3 A schematic side view of the structure of a cleaning tank in a conventional technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 4 A schematic front view of a support rod in a conventional technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] Figure 5 A schematic top view of a support rod in a conventional technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0016] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a partially enlarged side view of the contact position between the silicon wafer and the support rod in the conventional technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a partially enlarged top view of the contact position between the silicon wafer and the support rod in the conventional technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 8 A schematic structural diagram of a carrier device for cleaning silicon wafers provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of the groove structure provided on the support rod according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 10 A schematic diagram of the structure of the guide groove provided in the support rod according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 11 A schematic diagram of the positional relationship between the silicon wafer and the guide groove provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 12 A schematic diagram of a guide trough structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 13 A schematic diagram of another guide trough structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 14 A schematic diagram of another guide trough structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 15 A schematic diagram of another guide trough structure provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0027] At present, the related processes of silicon wafer cleaning in conventional technical solutions include cleaning process and rinsing process. Among them, the cleaning process mainly uses cleaning liquid to wet clean the silicon wafer. Specifically, Figure 1 As shown, a silicon wafer W is placed in a cleaning tank 1, and standard cleaning solution 1 (SC-1) and standard cleaning solution 2 (SC-2) are sequentially sprayed into the cleaning tank 1 to clean the silicon wafer W. SC-1 is usually a mixed solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, and SC-2 is usually a mixed solution of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The rinsing process is a production process set after the cleaning process. Specifically, Figure 1 As shown, a silicon wafer W with residual cleaning liquid on its surface is placed in a rinsing tank 2, and ultrapure water or ozone water is used to rinse the surface of the silicon wafer W. It should be noted that ultrasonic cleaning is used in both the cleaning and rinsing processes to remove the residual particulate contaminants and metal ion impurities on the surface of the silicon wafer W to the greatest extent possible.

[0028] It should be noted that during the cleaning process and the rinsing process, the cleaning liquid or the rinsing liquid that has been used a certain number of times will be discharged to the outside through the drain pipe (not shown in the figure) below the cleaning tank 1 or the rinsing tank 2 respectively. At the same time, the process personnel will fill the cleaning tank 1 and the rinsing tank 2 with new pollution-free cleaning liquid and new rinsing liquid again to clean the next batch of silicon wafers W.

[0029] However, see Figure 2 and Figure 3 , which shows a front view and a top view schematic diagram of the cleaning tank 1, wherein Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, the cleaning tank 1 includes a tank body 21, in which a cleaning liquid is contained; on the other hand, a carrying device 22A is also provided on the tank body 21, wherein the carrying device 22A includes a carrying frame 31A composed of three support rods 311A, and the structure of each support rod 311A is specifically described in detail. Figure 4 and Figure 5 , combined with Figure 4 and Figure 5 It can be seen that each support rod 311A is provided with multiple slots 3111 so that each silicon wafer W can be inserted into the support rod 311A through the slots 3111 to be fixed, and for a support rod 311A, the distance between two adjacent slots 3111 is equal. At the same time, the slots 3111 on the three support rods 311A correspond to each other one by one, and the bottoms of the three slots 3111 for inserting the same silicon wafer are on the same arc surface, and the radius of the arc surface is equal to the radius of the inserted silicon wafer W. However, it is understandable that in conventional technical solutions, when the cleaning liquid is discharged through the discharge pipe (not shown in the figure) at the bottom of the cleaning tank 1, contaminants in the cleaning liquid will remain on the surface of the support rod 311A. This is mainly because during the cleaning liquid discharge process, the support rod 311A provided in the tank body 21 slows down the flow of the cleaning liquid, causing the contaminants in the cleaning liquid to remain on the surface of the support rod 311A. It should be noted that even if the cleaning tank 1 is filled with new cleaning liquid, the above-mentioned contaminants will still remain in the new cleaning liquid and contaminate the silicon wafer W during the subsequent cleaning process. Secondly, when the silicon wafer W is inserted into the support rod 311A through the slot 3111, the impact of the cleaning liquid causes particles to be generated at the contact point between the silicon wafer W and the support rod 311A due to the influence of friction, such as Figure 6 and 7 As shown, it shows a local enlarged view of the contact positions. It can be understood that these contact positions are difficult to clean because the cleaning liquid cannot reach them, which causes a large amount of particulate matter to accumulate at these contact positions. In the subsequent cleaning process of the silicon wafer W, these particulate matter accumulated at the contact positions will affect the cleaning quality of the silicon wafer W, and will also affect the service life of the support rod 311A, and thus affect the service life of the carrying device 22A.

[0030] Based on the above description, the embodiment of the present invention expects to improve the carrier device 22A so that the improved carrier device can speed up the flow of the cleaning liquid and thus reduce the contaminants remaining on the surface of the support rod, while reducing the content and accumulation rate of particles at the contact position between the silicon wafer W and the support rod. Specifically, Figure 8 , which shows a carrier device 22 for cleaning a silicon wafer W provided by an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier device 22 includes a carrier frame 31 composed of multiple support rods 311 for carrying the silicon wafer W; each support rod 311 includes:

[0031] A plurality of slots 3111 for inserting silicon wafers W;

[0032] A plurality of grooves 3112 are evenly distributed along the circumferential direction on opposite sides of the slot 3111 , and the cleaning liquid is allowed to flow in the grooves 3112 .

[0033] for Figure 8 The illustrated carrier device 22 has multiple grooves 3112 uniformly formed along the circumference of the carrier device 22 on opposite sides of the slot 3111. This improves the fluidity of the cleaning liquid during cleaning of the silicon wafer W and reduces contaminants remaining on the surface of the support rod 311. Of course, it is also understood that the multiple grooves 3112 provided in the support rod 311 can also accelerate the flow of the cleaning liquid during the cleaning liquid discharge process, thereby reducing contaminants adhering to the surface of the support rod 311.

[0034] for Figure 8 In some possible implementations of the supporting device 22 shown, preferably, the width of the groove 3112 is not greater than the width of the slot 3111 , and the depth of the groove 3112 is not greater than the depth of the slot 3111 .

[0035] for Figure 8 In some possible embodiments of the bearing device 22 shown, preferably, the groove 3112 is connected to the slot 3111 on the opposite side along the circumferential direction to communicate with the slot 3111 on the opposite side. Figure 9 As shown, in an embodiment of the present invention, during the specific implementation process, corresponding grooves 3112 can be opened on the opposite sides of each slot 3111. At the same time, in order to facilitate the processing of the grooves 3112, the slots 3111 and the grooves 3112 can be processed simultaneously along the circumferential direction of the support rod 311, so that the grooves 3112 are connected to the slots 3111 and are distributed in a ring shape. In this way, while ensuring the stability of the silicon wafer W, the fluidity of the cleaning liquid can be maximized, so that the cleaning liquid can flow at the maximum flow rate at the position of each silicon wafer W, thereby improving the cleaning quality of each silicon wafer W.

[0036] On the other hand, for Figure 8 The carrying device 22 shown in FIG. 2 may be configured as follows: Figure 10 As shown, guide grooves 3113 are respectively provided along the radial direction at the contact position between the silicon wafer W and the support rod 311, and the cleaning liquid is allowed to flow in the guide grooves 3113. Figure 11 As shown, a guide groove 3113 is respectively provided at the contact position between each silicon wafer W and each support rod 311, so as to maximize the fluidity of the cleaning liquid at the contact position between the silicon wafer W and the support rod 311, thereby being able to clean the contact position between the silicon wafer W and the support rod 311, thereby reducing the aggregation and accumulation rate of particulate matter at the contact position between the silicon wafer W and the support rod 311.

[0037] Preferably, for the above possible implementations, in some examples, such as Figure 12As shown, each of the guide grooves 3113 includes a section of direct current groove 31131 and multiple sections of branched flow grooves 31132, so that the cleaning liquid flows through the direct current groove 31131 and then flows through the branched flow grooves 31132 of each section. It can be understood that in order to improve the fluidity of the cleaning liquid, in the embodiment of the present invention, the number of the branched flow grooves 31132 is not specifically limited, and the number of the branched flow grooves 31132 can be as follows: Figure 12 3 are shown, but it can also be Figure 13 As shown, the number of branched flow grooves 31132 is 5, and the specific number is determined according to the specific size of the support rod 311.

[0038] Preferably, for the above possible implementations, in some examples, such as Figure 14 As shown, the guide trough 3113 includes a section of direct current trough 31131, multiple sections of branched flow troughs 31132 and a section of diverter trough 31133, so that the cleaning liquid reaches the diverter trough 31133 after passing through the direct current trough 31131 and flows through the branched flow troughs 31132 in each section. It can be understood that in order to improve the cleaning fluidity at the contact position between the silicon wafer W and the support rod 311 while ensuring that the silicon wafer W does not shake during the cleaning process, a diverter trough 31133 can be added after the direct current trough 31131 to ensure that the cleaning liquid flowing through the above-mentioned contact position has a stable flow rate; similarly, in the above embodiment, the number of branched flow troughs 31132 is not specifically limited, and the number of branched flow troughs 31132 can be as follows: Figure 14 3 are shown, but it can also be Figure 15 As shown, the number of branched flow grooves 31132 is 5, and the specific number is determined according to the specific size of the support rod 311.

[0039] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present invention, only the carrier device 22A in the cleaning tank 1 is improved, but the improved carrier device 22 is also applicable to the rinsing tank 2 to fix the silicon wafer W while improving the rinsing quality of the silicon wafer W.

[0040] Secondly, an embodiment of the invention further provides a device for cleaning silicon wafers, the device comprising the carrying device according to the aforementioned technical solution.

[0041] Finally, a silicon wafer is provided in an embodiment of the invention, which is cleaned by the equipment described in the above technical solution.

[0042] It should be noted that the technical solutions described in the embodiments of the present invention can be arbitrarily combined without conflict.

[0043] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any modifications or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present invention should be included in the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A carrier device for cleaning silicon wafers, characterized in that: The carrying device includes a carrying frame composed of multiple support rods for carrying silicon wafers; each support rod includes: Multiple slots for inserting silicon chips; a plurality of grooves uniformly distributed along a circumferential direction on opposite sides of the slot, wherein the grooves allow a cleaning fluid to flow; Wherein, a guide groove is respectively opened in the radial direction at the contact position between each silicon wafer and the support rod, and the cleaning liquid is allowed to flow in the guide groove; and Each of the guide grooves includes a section of direct current groove and multiple sections of branched flow grooves, so that the cleaning liquid flows through the direct current groove and then flows through each section of the branched flow grooves.

2. The carrying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The width of the groove is not greater than the width of the slot, and the depth of the groove is not greater than the depth of the slot.

3. The carrying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The groove leads to the slot on the opposite side along the circumferential direction to communicate with the slot on the opposite side.

4. The carrying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guide trough includes a section of direct current trough, multiple sections of branched flow troughs and a section of diversion trough, so that the cleaning liquid reaches the diversion trough after passing through the direct current trough and flows through each section of the branched flow trough.

5. A device for cleaning silicon wafers, characterized in that: The device comprises the carrying device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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