A hafnium chloride source bottle raw material adding device

Abstract

The application relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, and particularly provides a hafnium tetrachloride source bottle raw material adding device.The device comprises two parts of a source bottle moving mechanism and a discharging mechanism.In the source bottle moving mechanism, the source bottle is movably arranged along a first guide rail, and the source bottle is driven to rotate by a connecting body composed of a switch rod and a switch pin, and the switch pin drives the source bottle to move along a second guide rail.In the discharging mechanism, a rotary rod is fixedly connected with a skip, one end of the rotary rod is screw-connected with a driving rod, the other end of the driving rod is fixedly provided with a switch ball, the switch ball is movably arranged in a through hole of the second guide rail, and the switch pin can touch the switch ball in a moving stroke.The application solves the problems of complicated and uneven manual discharging and poor correspondence between a screen and a source bottle serpentine channel.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, and in particular to an apparatus for assisting in adding raw materials to a hafnium tetrachloride source bottle. Background Technology

[0002] As device dimensions continue to shrink to 45nm and below, the thickness of the gate dielectric layer SiON has also decreased to below 2nm. To improve gate leakage current, the semiconductor industry is using high-k dielectric materials HfO2 and HfSiON to replace SiON as the gate oxide layer. HfO2 is generated on an atomic layer by reacting a layer of HfCl4 and a layer of H2O. The HfCl4 (hafnium tetrachloride) source bottle is the container for storing and transporting HfCl4. Currently, this chemical is added manually in a glove box using a spoon to add it into the hafnium tetrachloride source bottle, roughly leveling it manually. First, this operation is very cumbersome; second, the uniformity is greatly affected by manual operation and is not very uniform; third, the material channel inside the hafnium tetrachloride source bottle is a serpentine channel, and hafnium tetrachloride only needs to be placed in the serpentine channel, while the rest of the space does not need to be filled with hafnium tetrachloride, making it difficult to add.

[0003] Therefore, there is a need for a device for adding raw materials to a hafnium tetrachloride source bottle in the High-k Metal Gate process of integrated circuits. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Therefore, this invention provides a hafnium tetrachloride source bottle raw material adding device, aiming to solve the problems of tedious and uneven manual feeding, and the inability to ensure strict alignment between the serpentine channel inside the source bottle and the screen during screen feeding. This invention uses a mechanically automated feeding method, saving time and labor, and automatically adjusts the serpentine channel inside the source bottle to automatically align with the screen through a crank-slider-like mechanism, thus saving raw materials.

[0005] The technical solution of the present invention is as follows: a hafnium tetrachloride source bottle raw material addition device, comprising a source bottle moving mechanism and a feeding mechanism; The source bottle moving mechanism includes a source bottle, a first guide rail, a second guide rail, a switch rod, and a switch pin. The source bottle is moved along the first guide rail and is driven to rotate by a connecting body composed of the switch rod and the switch pin. The switch pin moves along the second guide rail. The feeding mechanism includes a hopper, a tipping bucket, a feeding cylinder, and a screen. The hopper, tipping bucket, feeding cylinder, and screen are arranged from top to bottom above the first guide rail. The rotating shaft of the tipping bucket is fixedly connected to a rotating rod. The other end of the rotating rod is threadedly connected to a drive rod. The other end of the drive rod is fixed with a switch ball. The switch ball is movably arranged in a through hole opened on the second guide rail. The switch pin can touch the switch ball during its movement stroke.

[0006] Furthermore, a limit block is provided on the first guide rail. When the source bottle moves to the limit position, the source bottle has been rotated to be aligned with the feeding mechanism and has completed one feeding operation.

[0007] Furthermore, the second guide rail consists of an inclined rail and a straight rail, with the inclined rail being inclined to the first guide rail and the straight rail being parallel to the first guide rail.

[0008] Furthermore: the source bottle is fixed above a rotating platform, the rotating platform is rotatably supported on a cover plate, the cover plate is slidably disposed on a first guide rail, and one end of the switch rod is connected to the edge of the rotating platform.

[0009] Furthermore: a first spring is connected to the rod of the switch lever, and the other end of the first spring is connected to the cover plate.

[0010] Furthermore: the tipping bucket is a 4-blade type, with the 4 blades coaxially and circumferentially distributed. When two of the blades are horizontal, they block the channel of the feed cylinder.

[0011] Furthermore: the source bottle has a serpentine channel, and the screen has a serpentine mesh with the same shape as the serpentine channel.

[0012] Furthermore, a second spring is provided in the screw hole gap between the rotating rod and the driving rod.

[0013] Furthermore, the drive rod is guided by a drive rod guide rail fixed on the second guide rail, wherein the cross section of the drive rod guide rail and the drive rod is square or inverted trapezoidal.

[0014] Furthermore: when the switch pin touches the switch ball, the source bottle has rotated so that its serpentine channel is vertically aligned with the serpentine mesh of the screen.

[0015] This invention employs a relatively flexible installation method, allowing the source bottle to move along the first guide rail while simultaneously rotating under the drive of a switch rod and switch pin running along the second guide rail. This enables the source bottle to perform both translational and rotational movements, ultimately ensuring a perfect fit between the serpentine channel of the source bottle and the mesh of the screen above. When adding raw materials at once, the materials can fall completely into the serpentine channel, requiring only pushing and pulling throughout the entire process, thus simplifying the operation. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is a front view of the device of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a top view of the device of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram showing the connection between the drive rod and the rotating rod of the device of the present invention; Figure 4This is a schematic diagram of the source bottle and the feeding mechanism of the device of the present invention when they are misaligned; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the alignment of the source bottle and the feeding mechanism in the device of the present invention; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the source bottle moving mechanism of the device of the present invention approaching the feeding mechanism.

[0017] Drawing number markings: 100-First guide rail; 200-Cover plate; 210-Limit block; 220-Rotating table; 300-Source bottle; 400-Discharge cylinder; 410-Second guide rail; 411-Drive rod guide rail; 420-Drive rod; 421-Switch ball; 422-Screw hole; 423-Second spring; 424-Thread; 430-Switch rod; 431-Switch pin; 432-First spring; 440-Screen; 500-Tipping bucket; 510-Rotating rod; 600-Hopper. Detailed Implementation

[0018] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. Those skilled in the art should know that the following embodiments are not the only limitation on the technical solution of the present invention. Any equivalent transformations or modifications made under the spirit and essence of the technical solution of the present invention should be considered as falling within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0019] Hafnium tetrachloride source bottles only require hafnium tetrachloride material within the serpentine channel; the rest of the bottle does not. Existing manual feeding methods are time-consuming and labor-intensive, while machine feeding is difficult to execute accurately. Even using a screen with the same shape as the serpentine channel still results in misalignment between the two channels, leading to significant waste with each feeding operation.

[0020] The present invention provides a hafnium tetrachloride source bottle raw material addition device, which uses a relatively free installation method to adjust the direction of the corresponding screen in the source bottle and automatically feed the material through a crank-slider-like form, so that the serpentine channel in the source bottle can finally correspond to the shape of the screen above, thus making the one-time addition of raw materials without waste. The whole process only requires pushing and pulling the tool, simplifying the operation.

[0021] like Figures 1-5 As shown, the present invention provides a hafnium tetrachloride source bottle raw material addition device, comprising a lower source bottle moving mechanism and an upper feeding mechanism.

[0022] The source bottle moving mechanism of the present invention mainly includes a first guide rail 100, a cover plate 200, a source bottle 300, a rotating table 220, a second guide rail 410, a switch rod 430, a switch pin 431, and a first spring 432.

[0023] The cover plate 200 is mounted on the first guide rail 100 and can move along the first guide rail 100; a limit block 210 is provided on the first guide rail 100. Figure 2 As shown), when the cover plate 200 moves to the limiting block 210, it is restricted and stopped. By reasonably setting the position of the limiting block, when the cover plate 200 drives the source bottle 300 to move along the first guide rail 100 to the limiting position, the rotary table 220 has already driven the source bottle 300 to rotate to align with the upper feeding mechanism and complete one feeding.

[0024] A rotating platform 220 is rotatably mounted on the cover plate 200 via bearings. The source bottle 300 is fixedly connected above the rotating platform 220. The cover plate 200 can drive the rotating platform 220 and the source bottle 300 to move together. The rotating platform 220 can drive the source bottle 300 to rotate together. Therefore, through reasonable stroke control, when the source bottle 300 moves to the bottom of the feeding mechanism, the serpentine channel can rotate to an angle corresponding to the screen 440 in the feeding mechanism.

[0025] The rotation of the rotary table 220 is achieved through the following mechanism: the edge of the rotary table 220 is fixedly connected to one end of the switch rod 430, and a switch pin 431 is fixed to the other end of the switch rod 430. The switch pin 431 and the switch rod 430 are set at a certain angle to meet the movement requirements, preferably vertically. The rod part of the switch rod 430 is connected to one end of the first spring 432, and the other end of the first spring 432 is connected to the cover plate 200. The second guide rail 410 is set beside the first guide rail 100, and both the second guide rail 410 and the first guide rail 100 are fixed to the ground or the frame. By setting a reasonable angle, the switch pin 431 can be placed on the surface of the second guide rail 410 and move along the second guide rail 410 under the action of external force, while the switch rod 430 does not interfere with the movement of the switch pin 431, and under the pull of the first spring 432, the switch pin 431 is always kept in close contact with the surface of the second guide rail 410.

[0026] In this embodiment, the first guide rail 100 is a strip-shaped track with a track bar. The bottom sides of the cover plate 200 are provided with grooves that are embedded in the track bar and move. Of course, the first guide rail can also be in other forms. The second guide rail 410 is a planar track with a guide rail surface. The switch pin 431 moves along the guide rail surface. The second guide rail 410 is formed by connecting two tracks, an inclined track and a straight track. The inclined track is at a certain angle to the first guide rail 100, while the straight track is parallel to the direction of the first guide rail 100.

[0027] By properly setting the connection position between the rotary table 220 and the switch rod 430, as well as the travel of the inclined track of the second guide rail 410, the serpentine channel of the source bottle 300 can be rotated to correspond to the shape of the mesh of the screen 440 when the source bottle 300 moves to the bottom of the feeding mechanism, thus preventing the hafnium tetrachloride from falling outside the serpentine channel of the source bottle 300.

[0028] The cover plate 200 can move along the first guide rail 100 by manual or mechanical means. The switch pin 431 can move along the second guide rail 410 by manual means, in which case the guide surface of the second guide rail 410 can be made into a smooth surface; or it can be moved by mechanical means, in which case the second guide rail 410 can be made into a conveyor belt or sprocket type, so that the switch pin 431 moves under the drive of the belt or chain.

[0029] Therefore, the working process of the source bottle moving mechanism is as follows: the rotary table 220 and the source bottle 300 are connected as one unit and move along the linear first guide rail 100 under the drive of the cover plate 200; at the same time, the rotary table 220 is rotatably supported on the cover plate 200 and is pulled by the switch rod 430 and the switch pin 431. Under the traction of the switch pin 431 along the second guide rail 410, the rotary table 220 rotates when the switch pin 431 moves along the inclined plane trajectory, but does not rotate when it moves along the straight plane trajectory. Through reasonable design of the size and stroke of each component, the rotary table 220 makes the serpentine channel of the source bottle 300 align with the orientation of the screen 440 above after completing the rotation. During the process of the rotary table 220 moving in a straight line without rotating, the posture of the serpentine channel remains unchanged until it moves to the limit position and corresponds vertically with the upper feeding mechanism. This ensures that when the cover plate 200 moves to the limit block, the serpentine channel of the source bottle 300 rotates to align with the mesh of the screen 440, preventing the hafnium tetrachloride from falling outside the serpentine channel of the source bottle 300.

[0030] After the lower source bottle moving mechanism moves into place, the upper feeding mechanism feeds the material. The feeding mechanism of this invention mainly includes a feeding cylinder 400, a tipping bucket 500, a hopper 600, a drive rod 420, a switch ball 421, a second spring 423, a screen 440, and a rotating rod 510.

[0031] Hafnium tetrachloride powder is stored in the hopper 600. A feed cylinder 400 is located below the hopper 600. A tipping bucket 500 is installed at the passage between the hopper 600 and the feed cylinder 400. The tipping bucket 500 can rotate under mechanical control. When the tipping bucket 500 blocks the passage between the hopper 600 and the feed cylinder 400, material cannot be discharged. When the tipping bucket 500 opens the passage between the hopper 600 and the feed cylinder 400, material can be discharged. In this embodiment, the tipping bucket 500 is further configured as a four-blade type, with the four blades coaxially and circumferentially distributed. When two blades are horizontal, they precisely block the passage inside the feed cylinder 400. When the blades rotate, the passage opens, and the material can be evenly dispersed and fall under the rotation of the four blades. By controlling whether the hopper 600 discharges material and the rotation speed of the tipping bucket 500, the amount of material discharged at one time can be controlled. The screen 440 is located at the bottom of the feed cylinder 400. The mesh of the screen 440 is arranged in a shape that matches the serpentine channel inside the source bottle 300. When the serpentine mesh and the serpentine channel are completely aligned vertically, the material can only fall into the serpentine channel.

[0032] In this invention, the tilting control of the tipping bucket 500 is achieved through the following mechanism: a rotating rod 510 is fixedly connected to the rotating shaft of the tipping bucket 500, and the other end of the rotating rod 510 is threadedly connected to the drive rod 420, as shown below. Figure 3 As shown, a thread 424 is provided on the outer surface of the other end of the rotating rod 510, and a threaded hole 422 is provided at one end of the driving rod 420; the reverse arrangement is also possible. The rotating rod 510 is connected to the driving rod 420, and a second spring 423 is provided in the threaded hole gap between the rotating rod 510 and the driving rod 420. The driving rod 420 is guided by the driving rod guide rail 411, which is fixed to the second guide rail 410. The cross section of the driving rod guide rail 411 and the driving rod 420 that mates is non-circular to prevent the driving rod 420 from rotating; preferably, it is square or inverted trapezoidal. A switch ball 421 is fixed to the other end of the drive rod 420. The switch ball 421 is mounted via a second guide rail 410. A through hole is provided on the straight track of the second guide rail 410, and the switch ball 421 is disposed in the through hole. The switch ball 421 can contact the switch pin 431. When the switch pin 431 moves to the position of the through hole, it contacts the switch pin 431, causing the switch pin 431 to retract, thereby driving the drive rod 420 to move axially. The second spring 423 is used to assist the axial movement of the drive rod 420. The axial movement of the drive rod 420 forces the rotating rod 510, which is threadedly connected to it, to rotate, so that the drive rod 420, which only moves axially and does not rotate, drives the rotating rod 510, which does not move axially and only rotates, to rotate. The rotating rod 510 thereby drives the tipping bucket 500 to flip, completing one unloading operation. The helix angle of the thread must be large enough to avoid thread self-locking.

[0033] Therefore, the working process of the feeding mechanism is as follows: Initially, the tipping bucket 500 does not flip, and the blades block the feeding cylinder 400; when the switch pin 431 in the source bottle moving mechanism moves to the through hole position, it pushes the switch pin 431, thereby causing the switch pin 431 to exit the through hole, and then pushes the drive rod 420 to move axially; the drive rod 420 is threadedly connected to the rotating rod 510, and both ends of the rotating rod 510 are fixedly connected, so when the drive rod 420 moves, it forces the rotating rod 510 to rotate, and the rotating rod 510 drives the tipping bucket 500 to flip; at this time, when the hopper 600 discharges material, the tipping bucket 500 flips to discharge material, and the hafnium tetrachloride powder is discharged from the sieve 440 with a serpentine mesh in the feeding cylinder 400. If the source bottle 300 happens to be below the sieve 440 at this time, and the serpentine channel of the source bottle is completely opposite to the serpentine mesh of the sieve, then the hafnium tetrachloride powder can fall into the serpentine channel of the source bottle.

[0034] Therefore, the linkage process between the source bottle moving mechanism and the feeding mechanism is as follows: the source bottle 300 moves and rotates along the first guide rail 100 until it stops at the limit position. When it stops at the limit position, the source bottle 300 is rotated by the control of the rotary table 220 until its serpentine channel is completely aligned with the serpentine mesh of the screen above. The rotary table 220 rotates under the traction of the switch rod 430 and the switch pin 431. The switch pin 431 moves along the second guide rail 410, and the first spring 432 assists the switch pin 431 to stick tightly to the guide rail surface. When the switch pin 431 passes the inclined guide rail surface of the second guide rail 410, the angle with the first guide rail 100 changes, thus forcing the rotary table 220 to rotate. When the switch pin 431 passes the straight guide rail surface of the second guide rail 410, it becomes parallel to the first guide rail 100, so the rotary table 220 stops rotating and only moves horizontally. When the switch pin 431 moves along the straight guide rail surface of the second guide rail 410 and touches the switch ball 421 set in the through hole on the guide rail, it forces the switch ball 421 to exit the through hole. The switch ball 421 is fixedly connected to the drive rod 420, and the drive rod 420 is threadedly connected to the rotating rod 510. The other end of the rotating rod 510 is connected to the tipping bucket 500. Therefore, when the switch ball 421 exits the through hole and pushes the drive rod 420, the drive rod 420 has an axial movement tendency. Since the drive rod 420 is threadedly connected to the rotating rod 510, the axial movement of the drive rod 420 is converted into the rotational movement of the rotating rod 510, which in turn drives the tipping bucket 500 to flip. The second spring 423 assists in applying pressure to push the rotating rod 510 to rotate. When switch pin 431 touches switch ball 421, it is also the position where source bottle 300 moves to the limit position. The stop of source bottle 300 is exactly below the feed cylinder 400. The tipping bucket 500 flips, the screen 440 feeds, and the serpentine channel of the source bottle is completely opposite to the serpentine mesh of the screen. Hafnium tetrachloride powder falls into the serpentine channel of the source bottle.

[0035] The source bottle moving mechanism and the feeding mechanism are linked by the second guide rail 410, the switch ball 421, and the switch pin 431. It should be noted that: the linear travel of the second guide rail 410 should not be too short, so as to avoid the source bottle 300 rotating and moving too short a travel time to feed the material. The radius of the switch ball 421 and the switch pin 431 should not be too large, so as to avoid the feeding process taking too long, resulting in a large deviation between the serpentine channel of the source bottle 300 and the serpentine mesh of the screen 440, causing the hafnium tetrachloride powder to fall outside the serpentine channel. The radius of the switch ball 421 and the switch pin 431 should not be too small, so as to avoid the drive rod 420 having too short a travel and the rotating rod 510 having too small a rotation angle, resulting in too large an error after multiple repetitions.

Claims

1. A raw material addition device for a hafnium tetrachloride source bottle, characterized in that: This includes the source bottle moving mechanism and the feeding mechanism; The source bottle moving mechanism includes a source bottle (300), a first guide rail (100), a second guide rail (410), a switch rod (430), and a switch pin (431). The source bottle (300) is moved along the first guide rail (100), and the source bottle (300) is driven to rotate by a connecting body composed of the switch rod (430) and the switch pin (431), wherein the switch pin (431) moves along the second guide rail (410). The feeding mechanism includes a hopper (600), a tipping bucket (500), a feeding cylinder (400), and a screen (440). The hopper (600), tipping bucket (500), feeding cylinder (400), and screen (440) are arranged from top to bottom above the first guide rail (100). The rotating shaft of the tipping bucket (500) is fixedly connected to a rotating rod (510). The other end of the rotating rod (510) is threadedly connected to a drive rod (420). The other end of the drive rod (420) is fixed with a switch ball (421). The switch ball (421) is movably arranged in a through hole opened on the second guide rail (410). The switch pin (431) can touch the switch ball (421) during its movement stroke. The first guide rail (100) is provided with a limit block (210). When the source bottle (300) moves to the limit position, the source bottle (300) has been rotated to be aligned with the feeding mechanism and has completed one feeding operation. The second guide rail (410) is composed of an inclined rail and a straight rail connected together. The inclined rail is inclined to the first guide rail (100), and the straight rail is parallel to the first guide rail (100). The source bottle (300) is fixed above a rotating platform (220), which is rotatably supported on a cover plate (200). The cover plate (200) is slidably mounted on a first guide rail (100). One end of the switch rod (430) is connected to the edge of the rotating platform (220). A first spring (432) is connected to the rod of the switch rod (430), and the other end of the first spring (432) is connected to the cover plate (200). The source bottle (300) has a serpentine channel, and the screen (440) has a serpentine mesh with the same shape as the serpentine channel; When the switch pin (431) touches the switch ball (421), the source bottle (300) has rotated so that its serpentine channel is vertically aligned with the serpentine mesh of the screen.

2. The hafnium tetrachloride source bottle raw material addition device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tipping bucket (500) is a 4-blade type, with the 4 blades coaxially and evenly distributed around the circumference. When two of the blades are horizontal, they block the channel of the feed cylinder (400).

3. The hafnium tetrachloride source bottle raw material addition device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A second spring (423) is provided in the screw hole gap between the rotating rod (510) and the driving rod (420).

4. The hafnium tetrachloride source bottle raw material addition device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The drive rod (420) is guided by the drive rod guide rail (411) fixed on the second guide rail (410), wherein the cross section of the drive rod guide rail (411) and the drive rod (420) is square or inverted trapezoidal.

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