Wafer supporting assembly, control method thereof and semiconductor equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a wafer supporting assembly, a control method thereof and semiconductor equipment, and belongs to the technical field of semiconductor processing, in the wafer supporting assembly, a supporting body is provided with a supporting surface used for supporting a wafer, and the supporting body is installed on a rotating mechanism; the number of the first driving parts and the number of the clamping mechanisms are both at least three, the first driving parts and the clamping mechanisms are in one-to-one correspondence, and the multiple first driving parts are installed below the supporting face in the supporting body at intervals in the rotating direction of the rotating mechanism. Each clamping jaw is rotationally mounted on the supporting body, any one of the first driving part and the second driving part which are correspondingly arranged comprises an electromagnet, each electromagnet has a first state and a second state, and under the condition that the electromagnets are in the first state, the first driving parts and the second driving parts repel each other, and the clamping jaws make contact with the outer edge of a wafer; and under the condition that the electromagnets are all in the second state, the first driving piece and the second driving piece attract each other. The wafer supporting assembly can solve the problem that an existing chuck is relatively complex in overall structure.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application belongs to the field of semiconductor processing technology, and specifically relates to a wafer support assembly, a control method thereof, and a semiconductor device. Background Art

[0002] In the semiconductor processing process, the chuck is an important auxiliary mechanism, which is used to support and fix the wafer. During the process, the chuck can also drive the wafer to rotate, thereby improving the process uniformity of the wafer.

[0003] At present, the chuck usually adopts vacuum adsorption and mechanical limiting to achieve the purpose of fixing the wafer. For the vacuum adsorption chuck, it needs to be connected to the negative pressure mechanism, and the overall structure is relatively complex. The clamping jaws of the mechanical limiting chuck usually use two magnetic parts to clamp the wafer. When the wafer needs to be released, it is usually necessary to use another movable magnet or a movable push rod to change the state of the clamping jaws. The structure of this chuck is also relatively complex, and the control of the movable device is relatively difficult. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the embodiments of the present application is to provide a wafer support assembly and a control method thereof and a semiconductor device to solve the problem that the overall structure of the current chuck is relatively complex.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application discloses a wafer support assembly, which includes a rotating mechanism, a supporting mechanism and a clamping mechanism, wherein: The support mechanism comprises a support body and a first driving member, the support body has a support surface for supporting a wafer, and the support body is mounted on the rotating mechanism, and the rotating mechanism is used to drive the support body to rotate; The number of the first driving members and the number of the clamping mechanisms are at least three, and the plurality of the first driving members are installed below the support surface in the support body at intervals along the rotation direction of the rotating mechanism, and the plurality of the clamping mechanisms are arranged one by one correspondingly to the plurality of the first driving members; Each of the clamping mechanisms includes a clamp and a second driving member installed on the clamp, and each of the clamps is rotatably installed on the support body. Any corresponding one of the first driving member and the second driving member includes an electromagnet, and each of the electromagnets has a first state and a second state. When the electromagnet is in the first state, the first driving member and the second driving member repel each other, and each of the clamps contacts the outer edge of the wafer; when the electromagnets are in the second state, the first driving member and the second driving member attract each other.

[0006] In a second aspect, the present application discloses a control method for controlling the above-mentioned wafer support assembly, the control method comprising: Controlling the first driving current flowing through each of the electromagnets to continuously increase to a first current value, so that each of the first driving members and the corresponding second driving members repel each other and thus clamp the wafer, wherein the first current value is less than a preset value; Each of the electromagnets is controlled to pass a second driving current, or each of the electromagnets is controlled to be powered off, so that each of the first driving members and the corresponding second driving members attract each other and release the wafer.

[0007] In a third aspect, the present application discloses a semiconductor device comprising the above-mentioned wafer support assembly.

[0008] The embodiment of the present application discloses a wafer support assembly, in which the support mechanism includes a support body having a support surface, on which the wafer can be supported, and the support body is mounted on a rotating mechanism, so that the support body can drive the wafer to rotate under the action of the rotating mechanism. At the same time, the number of the first driving member and the clamping mechanism are at least three, the two correspond to each other, and are arranged on the support body at intervals along the rotation direction to provide a good clamping effect for the wafer.

[0009] Furthermore, in the clamping mechanism, the second driving member is installed on the clamping claw, the clamping claw is rotatably connected to the supporting body, and any one of the first driving member and the second driving member corresponding to each other includes an electromagnet. Based on this, during the use of the wafer support assembly, by putting the electromagnet in the first state, the first driving member and the second driving member can be made to repel each other, and the clamping claws of each clamping mechanism can be made to contact the outer edge of the wafer, thereby achieving the purpose of clamping and positioning the wafer. Accordingly, when the wafer needs to be released, by switching the electromagnet to the second state, the first driving member and the second driving member can be attracted to each other, and then each clamping claw releases the wafer, which makes it convenient for equipment such as robots to grab the wafer and complete the purpose of taking the wafer.

[0010] Obviously, in the above-mentioned wafer support assembly disclosed in the embodiment of the present application, the opening and closing process of the clamping jaws utilizes the first driving member and the second driving member that cooperate with each other. The overall structure of the wafer support assembly is relatively simple, and in the process of opening and closing the clamping jaws, there is no need to make the first driving member and the second driving member move relative to the support body in a large range. It is only necessary to change the direction or magnitude of the current passed through the electromagnet, which makes the control difficulty of the wafer support assembly disclosed in the embodiment of the present application relatively small. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present application and constitute a part of the present application. The illustrative embodiments of the present application and their descriptions are used to explain the present application and do not constitute an improper limitation on the present application. In the drawings: Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a part of the structure of a wafer support assembly disclosed in an embodiment of the present application; Figure 2 A cross-sectional view of a portion of the structure of an electromagnet in a wafer support assembly disclosed in an embodiment of the present application in a first state; Figure 3 for Figure 2 A partial enlarged view of the structure shown; Figure 4 for Figure 3 A partial enlarged view of the structure shown; Figure 5 A cross-sectional schematic diagram of a clamping mechanism in a wafer support assembly disclosed in an embodiment of the present application; Figure 6 for Figure 5 A partial enlarged view of the structure shown; Figure 7 A cross-sectional view of a portion of the structure of an electromagnet in a wafer support assembly disclosed in an embodiment of the present application when the electromagnet is in a second state; Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the control method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application.

[0012] Reference numerals: 100-rotating mechanism, 200-support mechanism, 210-support body, 211-base, 212-mounting seat, 212a-first limiting surface, 213-support arm, 213a-hollow channel, 214-support block, 220-first driving member, 230-power cable, 240-rotating shaft, 300-clamping mechanism, 310-clamping claw, 311-clamping portion, 311a-clamping surface, 311b-second limiting surface, 312-fastening portion, 320-second driving member, 410-conductive slip ring, 411-rotating part, 412-sleeve, 413-rotating bearing, 414-bearing seat, 415-first electrical connection part, 416-second electrical connection part, 420-mounting frame, 500-test pieces, 900-wafer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0014] The terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described here, and the objects distinguished by "first", "second", etc. are generally of one type, and the number of objects is not limited. For example, the first object can be one or more. In addition, "and / or" in the specification and claims represents at least one of the connected objects, and the character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship.

[0015] like Figure 1-Figure 7 As shown, the embodiment of the present application discloses a wafer support assembly, which can be used to support a wafer 900. At the same time, the wafer support mechanism 200 can also drive the wafer 900 to rotate. The wafer support assembly includes a rotating mechanism 100, a supporting mechanism 200 and a clamping mechanism 300. The rotating mechanism 100 is used to drive the wafer 900 to rotate, the supporting mechanism 200 is used to provide support for the wafer 900, and the clamping mechanism 300 can stably support the wafer 900 on the supporting mechanism 200 by clamping.

[0016] like Figure 2-Figure 4 As shown, the support mechanism 200 includes a support body 210 and a first driving member 220. The support body 210 has a support surface for supporting the wafer, that is, the wafer can be supported on the support surface. At the same time, the support body 210 is installed on the rotating mechanism 100. The rotating mechanism 100 can specifically include devices such as a rotating motor, so that the rotating mechanism 100 can drive the support body 210 to rotate. During this process, the support body 210 can also drive the wafer to rotate.

[0017] Of course, in order to ensure that the wafer does not slip relative to the support body 210 during the process of the rotating mechanism 100 driving the wafer to rotate, in the embodiment of the present application, the number of the first driving member 220 and the clamping mechanism 300 are both at least three, and the multiple first driving members 220 are installed on the support body 210 at intervals along the rotation direction of the rotating mechanism 100. In order to ensure that the overall clamping uniformity of the wafer by the multiple clamping mechanisms 300 is relatively better, and to maximize the guarantee that the clamping mechanism 300 can provide a reliable clamping effect for the wafer, in a further embodiment of the present application, the multiple first driving members 220 and the multiple clamping mechanisms 300 can be evenly distributed along the rotation direction. For example, when the number of the first driving members 220 and the clamping mechanism 300 are both three, the angle between any two adjacent first driving members 220 can be 120°.

[0018] At the same time, in order to prevent the first driving member 220 from interfering with the normal supporting function of the supporting surface, in the process of arranging the first driving member 220, each first driving member 220 can be located below the supporting surface. It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the vertex of the first driving member 220 can be located in the plane where the supporting surface is located. In order to prevent the cleanliness of the wafer from being affected by the contact between the wafer and the first driving member 220, in the embodiment of the present application, any position on each first driving member 220 can be located below the supporting surface.

[0019] Accordingly, in the process of arranging the first driving member 220 and the clamping mechanism 300, it is necessary to set multiple clamping mechanisms 300 in one-to-one correspondence with multiple first driving members 220, so as to ensure that each first driving member 220 can drive the corresponding clamping mechanism 300 to operate and achieve the purpose of clamping the wafer.

[0020] In detail, each clamping mechanism 300 includes a clamping jaw 310 and a second driving member 320, wherein the second driving member 320 is a device in the clamping mechanism 300 that specifically cooperates with the first driving member 220, and the second driving member 320 is installed on the clamping jaw 310, so that the clamping jaw 310 can move relative to the support body 210 under the drive of the first driving member 220. Among them, each clamping jaw 310 is rotatably installed on the support body 210, so that the clamping jaw 310 can achieve the purpose of clamping and releasing the wafer by rotating in different directions relative to the support body 210. Specifically, the clamping jaw 310 can be connected to the support body 210 through the rotating shaft 240, so that the clamping jaw 310 and the support body 210 form a rotational cooperation relationship.

[0021] In order to reduce the difficulty of operating and assembling the clamping mechanism 300, in an embodiment of the present application, one of any correspondingly arranged first driving member 220 and second driving member 320 includes an electromagnet, and by changing the direction of current in the electromagnet, each electromagnet can have a first state and a second state. When the electromagnet is in the first state, the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 repel each other. In this case, the first driving member 220 can drive the clamp 310 to rotate relative to the support body 210, and the clamp 310 contacts the outer edge of the wafer. Accordingly, when each electromagnet is in the first state, each clamp 310 contacts the outer edge of the wafer, so that the wafer can be clamped by multiple clamps 310, thereby ensuring that the wafer can be stably supported on the support surface of the support body 210.

[0022] When the electromagnet is in the second state, the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 attract each other, so that the clamping jaw 310 can rotate in the opposite direction relative to the supporting body 210, thereby moving the clamping jaw 310 away from the outer edge of the wafer to release the wafer.

[0023] As described above, the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 have the ability to attract and repel each other. To this end, both of them can include electromagnets. In order to reduce the difficulty of assembly and control of the wafer support assembly, in another embodiment of the present application, one of the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 includes an electromagnet, and the other can include a permanent magnet. The installation position of the first driving member 220 on the support body 210 can be flexibly determined according to actual conditions such as the installation position of the second driving member 320 on the clamp 310 and the setting position of the rotating shaft 240 between the clamp 310 and the support body 210. Therefore, when the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 repel or attract each other, the clamp 310 can clamp and release the wafer accordingly.

[0024] The embodiment of the present application discloses a wafer support assembly, in which the support mechanism 200 has a support body 210 having a support surface on which the wafer can be supported, and the support body 210 is mounted on the rotating mechanism 100, so that the support body 210 can drive the wafer to rotate under the action of the rotating mechanism 100. At the same time, the number of the first driving member 220 and the clamping mechanism 300 are both at least three, the two correspond to each other, and are arranged on the support body 210 at intervals along the rotation direction to provide a good clamping effect for the wafer.

[0025] Furthermore, in the clamping mechanism 300, the second driving member 320 is installed on the clamping claw 310, and the clamping claw 310 is rotatably connected to the supporting body 210, and any one of the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 corresponding to each other includes an electromagnet. Based on this, during the use of the wafer support assembly, by putting the electromagnet in the first state, the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 can be made to repel each other, and the clamping claw 310 of each clamping mechanism 300 can be made to contact the outer edge of the wafer, thereby achieving the purpose of clamping and positioning the wafer. Accordingly, when the wafer needs to be released, by switching the electromagnet to the second state, the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 can be attracted to each other, and then each clamping claw 310 releases the wafer, which makes it convenient for equipment such as a robot to grab the wafer and complete the purpose of taking the wafer.

[0026] Obviously, in the above-mentioned wafer support assembly disclosed in the embodiment of the present application, the opening and closing process of the clamp 310 utilizes the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 that cooperate with each other. The overall structure of the wafer support assembly is relatively simple, and in the opening and closing process of the clamp 310, there is no need to make the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 move relative to the support body 210 in a large range. It is only necessary to change the direction or magnitude of the current passed through the electromagnet, which makes the control difficulty of the wafer support assembly disclosed in the embodiment of the present application relatively small.

[0027] As described above, when it is necessary to clamp the wafer, the electromagnet can be placed in the first state, so that the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 repel each other, and the clamping jaws 310 are driven to rotate relative to the supporting body 210 to achieve the purpose of clamping the wafer. In order to prevent the clamping force applied by the clamping jaws 310 to the wafer from being too large, thereby causing damage to the wafer, in a specific embodiment of the present application, a first limiting surface 212a can be provided on the outer side of the supporting body 210, and a second limiting surface 311b can be provided on the inner side of each clamping jaw 310. By setting the shapes of the first limiting surface 212a and the second limiting surface 311b, the relative positions between the two, and the size and shape of the clamping jaws 310, when each electromagnet is in the first state, each second limiting surface 311b can be limited to the first limiting surface 212a, and then the first limiting surface 212a can be used to limit each clamping jaw 310 from squeezing and damaging the wafer.

[0028] Of course, in the embodiment of the present application, as described above, the shape and size of the relevant devices, as well as the positional relationship and other parameters can be designed so that when each second limiting surface 311b is limited to the first limiting surface 212a, each clamping jaw 310 also just contacts the outer edge of the wafer, ensuring that the clamping jaw 310 can provide a reliable clamping and limiting effect for the wafer without squeezing the wafer, which can ensure that the clamping jaw 310 will not damage the wafer. In more detail, the first limiting surface 212a and the second limiting surface 311b can both be planar structures, so as to reduce the processing difficulty of the two while ensuring that the limiting stability between the two is relatively high.

[0029] Taking into account the influence of factors such as processing accuracy, in practical applications, it is usually difficult to ensure that when the second limiting surface 311b is limited to the first limiting surface 212a, there is only a contact relationship between the clamping jaw 310 and the outer edge of the wafer, and there is no force interaction relationship. Furthermore, in order to ensure that the wafer is clamped with relatively high stability, during the processing, each clamping jaw 310 can be made to just contact the outer edge of the wafer, each second limiting surface 311b has not yet contacted the first limiting surface 212a, and each clamping jaw 310 is further moved closer to the wafer. After rotating to a relatively small angle, the clamping jaws 310 and the wafer generate a clamping force that meets the requirements, so that each second limiting surface 311b is in contact with the first limiting surface 212a and is mutually limited, wherein the magnitude of the aforementioned clamping force can be flexibly determined according to the actual situation of the wafer and the structure of the clamping jaws 310, and it is ensured that under the action of the aforementioned clamping force, the wafer can be relatively stably fixed on the support surface, while the clamping force of the clamping jaws 310 will not have an adverse effect on the structure of the wafer, and will not cause damage to the wafer due to squeezing the wafer. It should be noted that the aforementioned content does not conflict with the technical solution defined in this application.

[0030] As described above, the installation positions of the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 are related to each other and are both related to the position of the rotating shaft 240 of the clamping jaw 310. In a specific embodiment of the application, the end of the supporting body 210 can be inserted into the clamping jaw 310. In this case, the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 can be located outside the rotating shaft 240, and the second driving member 320 can be located above the first driving member 220. In this case, when the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 repel each other, the second driving member 320 can rotate in a direction away from the first driving member 220, that is, the second driving member 320 can drive the clamping jaw 310 to rotate counterclockwise, so that the clamping jaw 310 contacts the outer edge of the wafer, thereby achieving the purpose of clamping the wafer.

[0031] In order to reduce the overall processing difficulty of the wafer support assembly, in another embodiment of the present application, the second driving member 320 can be located below the first driving member 220. Based on this, the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 can be located on the inner side of the rotation axis of the clamp 310, so that the clamp 310 is located on the outer side of the first driving member 220 as a whole, which facilitates the processing and assembly of the clamp 310. In addition, in this case, there is no need to open a perforation structure on the clamp 310, thereby making the structural strength of the clamp 310 relatively high.

[0032] As described above, the first driving member 220 is installed on the support body 210, the second driving member 320 is installed on the clamping jaw 310, and the clamping jaw 310 is connected to the support body 210 through the rotating shaft 240. Based on this, in order to further reduce the difficulty of assembling the wafer support assembly, in the embodiment of the present application, each first driving member 220 can include an electromagnet, so that the first driving member 220 can use the structure of the support body 210 to achieve the purpose of external power supply, thereby greatly reducing the difficulty of connecting the electromagnet. Specifically, the support body 210 can be provided with a hollow channel 213a, and the power cable 230 of the electromagnet is arranged in the hollow channel 213a to be electrically connected to the external power supply through the central area of ​​the support body 210. More specifically, the other end of the power cable 230 can be electrically connected to the external power supply through a ring structure, so as to ensure that the power cable 230 does not hinder the rotation of the support body 210, and form a reliable electrical connection relationship with the external power supply. In this case, correspondingly, each second driving member 320 includes a permanent magnet.

[0033] In another embodiment of the present application, the support body 210 can also be connected to the rotating mechanism 100 through a conductive slip ring 410. The conductive slip ring 410 can provide an electrical connection, and the conductive slip ring 410 will not hinder the rotating mechanism 100 from normally driving the support body 210 to rotate, thereby making the electrical connection reliability of each first driving member 220 relatively high.

[0034] Specifically, the conductive slip ring 410 includes a rotating part 411 and a sleeve 412, wherein the sleeve 412 is sleeved outside the rotating part 411, and a rotating bearing 413 is provided between the two, so that the rotating part 411 has the ability to rotate relative to the sleeve 412, and the rotating bearing 413 is installed on the bearing seat 414, and the bearing seat 414 is installed on the sleeve 412. In the process of assembling the support mechanism 200, the rotating shaft of the rotating mechanism 100 can be connected to one end of the rotating part 411 by using connecting parts such as bolts and flanges, and the support body 210 can be installed on the other end of the rotating part 411, so that when the rotating mechanism 100 is working, the rotating mechanism 100 can drive the support body 210 to rotate through the rotating part 411.

[0035] At the same time, the sleeve 412 can be assembled on the housing of the rotating mechanism 100 through the mounting frame 420, so that the entire conductive slip ring 410 can form a reliable assembly relationship with the rotating mechanism 100. In addition, the conductive slip ring 410 also includes a first electrical connection part 415 and a second electrical connection part 416, one of which is installed on the rotating part 411 and the other is installed on the sleeve 412. The first electrical connection part 415 and the second electrical connection part 416 have the ability to rotate relative to each other, and the two are always in contact with each other to maintain an electrical connection relationship. More specifically, the first electrical connection part 415 includes a rotating ring, which is installed on the rotating part 411, and the second electrical connection part 416 includes a brush, which is installed on the sleeve 412, and the brush is in contact with the rotating ring, so that the two can also maintain an electrical connection state during the relative rotation process. Of course, the power cable 230 can be connected to the rotating ring, and the brush can also be electrically connected to an external power supply through a wire extending out of the sleeve 412.

[0036] In order to further improve the clamping stability of the wafer by the clamp 310, in a specific embodiment of the present application, the technical solution can be further improved in terms of the directness and effectiveness of the interaction between the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320, so that the position stability of the wafer clamped by the clamp 310 is relatively higher. In detail, during the installation of the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320, the first driving member 220 can be tilted relative to the vertical direction, and when all the electromagnets are in the first state, the magnetic pole distribution directions of the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 are parallel to each other. More specifically, the straight lines where the magnetic pole distribution directions of the two are located can be collinear, that is, the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 are arranged directly opposite each other. In this case, the interaction direction between the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320 is in a linear direction, so that when other conditions remain unchanged, the driving force exerted by the first driving member 220 on the clamp 310 can be relatively larger, so that the clamp 310 can be more reliably maintained in a position in contact with the outer edge of the wafer, thereby improving the clamping stability of the wafer.

[0037] As described above, the clamping jaws 310 are rotatably connected to the supporting body 210 via the rotating shaft 240, and under the action of the first driving member 220 and the second driving member 320, the clamping jaws 310 can achieve the purpose of clamping the wafer by contacting the outer edge of the wafer. In order to further improve the clamping stability of the wafer by the multiple clamping jaws 310, in a specific embodiment of the present application, when each electromagnet is in the first state, the center of mass of each clamping mechanism 300 is located below the horizontal plane passing through the rotation axis of the clamping mechanism 300, and is located outside the vertical plane passing through the rotation axis of the clamping mechanism 300.

[0038] Intuitively speaking, Figure 5 As shown, the rotation axis of the clamping mechanism 300 is O, and the horizontal plane and vertical plane passing through the rotation axis are H and V respectively. A rectangular coordinate system is established with the plane where the cross-section of the clamping mechanism 300 perpendicular to the rotation axis is located, wherein the point where the rotation axis O is located is taken as the origin, and the straight lines where H and V are located are the X and Y axes respectively. In the embodiment of the present application, the center of mass of the clamping mechanism 300 is located in the fourth quadrant.

[0039] In the case of adopting the above technical solution, when the rotating mechanism 100 drives the supporting body 210 and the clamping mechanism 300 to rotate, since the center of mass of the clamping mechanism 300 is located outside and below the rotation axis, under the action of centrifugal force, the clamping mechanism 300 will have a tendency to move upward and outward relative to the supporting body 210, but limited by the connection of the rotating shaft 240, the clamping mechanism 300 cannot move outward relative to the supporting body 210, and the clamping mechanism 300 can only rotate upward relative to the supporting body 210. In this case, the stability of the clamping effect applied by the clamping jaw 310 on the wafer is relatively higher. Of course, in order to prevent the clamping force of the clamping jaw 310 on the wafer from being too large due to excessive centrifugal force, which has an adverse effect on the structural reliability of the wafer, in the embodiment of the present application, when the rotating mechanism 100 is working, the current passed into the electromagnet can be appropriately reduced to reduce the relative repulsive force between the first driving member and the second driving member, so as to ensure that the clamping force of the clamping jaw 310 on the wafer is not too large.

[0040] In order to further improve the position stability of the wafer when it is clamped by the clamping jaws 310, in a specific embodiment of the present application, the clamping jaws 310 can include a clamping portion 311 and a buckling portion 312, wherein the buckling portion 312 is connected to the top of the clamping portion 311, and the clamping portion 311 has a clamping surface 311a. When each electromagnet is in the first state, the clamping portion 311 contacts the outer edge of the wafer through the clamping surface 311a, thereby achieving the purpose of clamping the wafer from the outside of the wafer. At the same time, in the embodiment of the present application, when each electromagnet is in the first state, at least a part of the projection of the buckling portion 312 in the horizontal plane is located on the wafer, that is, the buckling portion 312 is turned inward relative to the clamping portion 311. In this case, the buckling portion 312 can cooperate with the supporting surface to achieve the purpose of providing a limiting effect for the wafer in the vertical direction, thereby further preventing the wafer from being separated from the multiple clamping jaws 310 during the rotation of the rotating mechanism 100, thereby improving the support stability of the wafer.

[0041] Of course, in the process of designing the clamping jaw 310, the size of the buckling portion 312 relative to the clamping portion 311 cannot be too large to prevent the buckling portion 312 from hindering the wafer from being normally placed on the support surface when all the electromagnets are in the second state. In addition, the buckling portion 312 and the clamping portion 311 can be formed in an integrated manner to ensure that the structural consistency of the clamping jaw 310 is relatively high and the processing difficulty of the clamping jaw 310 is relatively low.

[0042] As described above, the support body 210 has a support surface, so as to use the support surface to provide support for the wafer. In detail, the support body 210 can be a disc-shaped structure. In order to reduce the weight of the support body 210 and thus reduce the driving difficulty of the rotating mechanism 100, in a specific embodiment of the present application, the support body 210 includes a base 211, a mounting seat 212 and a support arm 213. As described above, the number of the first driving member 220 and the clamping mechanism 300 are both at least three. For this reason, in the embodiment of the present application, the number of the support arms 213 can also be at least three, and the support arms 213, the first driving member 220 and the clamping mechanism 300 correspond to each other one by one. Accordingly, the multiple support arms 213 are evenly and spacedly arranged along the rotation direction to ensure that the multiple support arms 213 can provide a good and uniform support effect for the wafer.

[0043] In detail, one end of each support arm 213 is fixedly connected to the base 211, and the other end of each support arm 213 is installed with a mounting seat 212, a first driving member 220 is arranged on the mounting seat 212, and the clamping mechanism 300 is rotatably connected to the mounting seat 212 via a rotating shaft 240. Specifically, the shapes and sizes of the base 211 and the mounting seat 212 can be flexibly selected according to actual conditions. For example, the base 211 can be fixedly connected to the rotating part 411 in the conductive slip ring 410 via connectors such as flanges and bolts, and the first driving member 220 can form a stable assembly relationship with the mounting seat 212 by bonding, clamping or connecting with connectors. In another embodiment of the present application, the first driving member 220 can be buried in the mounting seat 212 to make the assembly relationship between the first driving member 220 and the mounting seat 212 more stable. In addition, the base 211, the support arm 213 and the mounting seat 212 can be formed in an integral manner, or the base 211 and multiple support arms 213 can be formed in an integral manner first, and then the mounting seat 212 can be plugged and fixed to the end of the corresponding support arm 213 to complete the assembly of the support body 210.

[0044] Based on the above embodiment, the top surfaces of the multiple mounting seats 212 can all be used as support surfaces. In order to minimize the contact area between the support body 210 and the wafer, in a specific embodiment of the present application, the support body 210 can also include a support block 214, and by providing a support block 214 on the top surface of each mounting seat 212, the top surfaces of the multiple support blocks 214 are all support surfaces. Of course, in the embodiment of the present application, the sum of the areas of the top surfaces of the multiple support blocks 214 is less than the area of ​​the top surface of the mounting seat 212. Specifically, the support block 214 can be a cubic structure to facilitate the processing work. Of course, the specific size of the support block 214 can be flexibly determined according to the size of the wafer and other circumstances, and this article does not limit this.

[0045] In order to further reduce the control difficulty, in the present application, the wafer support assembly may further include a detection member 500, and the detection member 500 is used to detect whether a wafer is supported on the support surface of the support body 210. Specifically, the detection member 500 may be a distance sensor, more specifically, it may be an ultrasonic or infrared distance sensor. When the wafer is supported on the support surface, the distance detected by the detection member 500 is relatively small. On the contrary, when the wafer is not supported on the support surface, the distance detected by the detection member 500 is relatively large, or the detection member 500 cannot detect the effective distance.

[0046] Optionally, the number of detection parts 500 is one, which can achieve the purpose of detecting whether there is a supported wafer on the support surface. In order to further expand the detection items, in a specific embodiment of the present application, the number of detection parts 500 can be at least two. Of course, each detection part 500 is located below the support surface.

[0047] In this case, based on the distance detection results of each detection component 500, it is also possible to determine whether the wafer is stably placed on the support surface. During the rotation of the rotating mechanism 100, the distance detection results of multiple detection components 500 can also be used to determine whether the wafer has jumped, etc., and then, if the wafer jumps, the clamping effect of the multiple clamps 310 on the wafer can be further increased by increasing the magnitude of the current passed through the electromagnet, thereby ensuring that a stable relatively fixed relationship can be formed between the wafer and the support surface.

[0048] Based on the wafer support assembly disclosed in any of the above embodiments, the present application also discloses a control method, which can be used to control any of the above wafer support assemblies, such as Figure 8 As shown, the control method includes: S1. Control the first driving current passed through each electromagnet to continuously increase to a first current value, so that each first driving member and the corresponding second driving member repel each other and thus clamp the wafer, wherein the first current value is less than a preset value.

[0049] As described above, in the wafer support assembly disclosed in the embodiment of the present application, the first driving member and the second driving member are respectively installed on the support body and the clamping claw, and one of the first driving member and the second driving member includes an electromagnet. Furthermore, when it is necessary to clamp the wafer, a first driving current can be passed through the electromagnet to put the electromagnet in a first state, thereby causing the first driving member and the second driving member to repel each other, thereby achieving the purpose of clamping the wafer.

[0050] Furthermore, in order to ensure that the clamp can continuously achieve the purpose of clamping the wafer, in the present application, when the wafer needs to be clamped, the first driving current is continuously passed through each electromagnet. At the same time, considering that in the process of clamping the wafer, the first driving member and the second driving member repel each other, and the distance between the two continues to increase, and then, in order to ensure that the clamp can reliably clamp the wafer, in the embodiment of the present application, the first driving current passed through the electromagnet can be continuously increased until it is equal to the first current value. Of course, in order to prevent the clamping force of the clamp on the wafer from being relatively large due to the first current value being too large, and squeezing and damaging the wafer, in the embodiment of the present application, the first current value is less than the preset value, wherein the size of the preset value can be flexibly determined according to the actual situation of the wafer and the clamp, and this article does not limit this.

[0051] The control method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application also includes: S2, controlling each electromagnet to pass a second driving current, or controlling each electromagnet to cut off power, so that each first driving member and the corresponding second driving member attract each other and release the wafer.

[0052] As above, when the electromagnet is in the first state, the first driver and the second driver repel each other. Correspondingly, when the electromagnet is in the second state, the first driver and the second driver attract each other, so that the clamp rotates in the opposite direction to achieve the purpose of releasing the wafer. In detail, since one of the first driver and the second driver includes an electromagnet and the other includes a permanent magnet, and then, when the magnetic poles of the first driver and the second driver are opposite to each other, the first driver and the second driver can attract each other. At the same time, when the electromagnet is powered off, the iron core of the electromagnet is magnetically acted by the permanent magnet, which can also ensure that the first driver and the second driver can attract each other, thereby achieving the purpose of releasing the wafer. In addition, in addition to the magnetic force, since the clamp and the second driver are also acted on by other external forces such as their own gravity, and then, when the other external forces of the clamping mechanism are greater than the magnetic force between the first driver and the second driver, the aforementioned external force can overcome the magnetic force and the clamping mechanism rotates clockwise, thereby achieving the purpose of releasing the wafer.

[0053] For this reason, in general, in the embodiment of the present application, the direction of the second drive current can be the same as or opposite to the direction of the first drive current, wherein, when the direction of the second drive current is the same as the direction of the first drive current, the value of the second drive current must be less than the value of the first current, and as for the specific size of the difference between the two, it can be flexibly determined according to the parameters such as the specific structure and installation position of the clamp. In addition, since the spacing between the first drive member and the second drive member continues to decrease during the process of releasing the wafer, in order to prevent the second drive current with the same direction as the first drive current from hindering the release process of the wafer, the value of the second drive current is continuously reduced, thereby ensuring that when the second drive current with the same direction as the first drive current is passed, the clamp can also continue to rotate clockwise to complete the work of releasing the wafer.

[0054] Furthermore, in order to reduce the difficulty of placing the wafer on the support body under the drive of a robot or other equipment, in the embodiment of the present application, when the support body does not support the wafer, each electromagnet is controlled to remain in the second state. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, if the wafer has not been placed on the support body, the electromagnet is always controlled to remain in the second state, so that the first driving member and the second driving member attract each other, so that the space surrounded by the multiple clamps is relatively large, and the difficulty of placing the wafer is reduced.

[0055] As described above, during the wafer transfer process, a robot or other device can be used to grab the wafer and place the wafer on the support surface of the support body. Usually, the storage position of the wafer and the movement path of the robot can be preset, so that the wafer placed on the support surface by the robot can be in an aligned state, wherein the aligned state means that the center of the wafer corresponds to the center of the support surface, or in other words, the center of the wafer is located directly above the center of the support surface. In this case, it is considered that the center of the wafer matches the center of the support surface.

[0056] However, due to the influence of factors such as control accuracy or error, the center of the wafer placed on the support surface by the manipulator may still fail to align with the center of the support surface. Based on this, in order to improve the clamping stability of the wafer, in the embodiment of the present application, the rotation speed of multiple clamping mechanisms relative to the support body can be controlled by controlling the magnitude of the current passed through multiple electromagnets, thereby changing the position of the center of the wafer. Specifically, the rotation speed of the clamping mechanism with a relatively smaller spacing from the outer edge of the wafer can be made relatively faster, ensuring that the clamping mechanism can overcome the friction between the wafer and the support surface while also being able to rotate the same angle relative to the support body as other clamping mechanisms in the same time, thereby driving the wafer to move a corresponding distance and completing the purpose of aligning with the center of the support surface.

[0057] Based on the above situation, the control method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application may also include: Controlling the magnitude of the first driving current passed through each electromagnet to be equal so that the center of the wafer and the center of the supporting surface are kept matched; The magnitudes of the first driving currents flowing into the electromagnets are controlled to be different, so that the wafer moves relative to the supporting surface and the center of the wafer is matched with the center of the supporting surface.

[0058] As mentioned above, when the center of the wafer is aligned with the center of the supporting surface, it means that the initial position of the wafer is normal. At this time, there is no need to use the clamping mechanism to change the position of the wafer. Furthermore, the magnitude of the first driving current passed through each electromagnet can be made equal, thereby controlling the rotation speed of multiple clamping mechanisms relative to the supporting body to be the same, so that multiple clamping mechanisms can contact the outer edge of the wafer at the same time or substantially at the same time to complete the clamping of the wafer, and in this process, the center of the wafer is always kept in a matching state with the center of the supporting surface.

[0059] On the contrary, when the initial position of the wafer is abnormal, for example, the wafer is biased to the right as a whole, and a clamping mechanism is provided on the right side of the wafer, the distance between the clamping mechanism and the wafer is the smallest, and the wafer needs to be moved to the left by a preset distance to ensure that the wafer can be in a state of being aligned with the support surface. In this case, the magnitude of the first driving current passed into each electromagnet can be different. Specifically, compared with other clamping mechanisms, the current passed into the clamping mechanism located on the right side of the wafer can be relatively larger, so that the rotation speed of the clamping mechanism is relatively faster. When the clamping mechanism contacts the wafer before other clamping mechanisms, the clamping mechanism can drive the wafer to move to the left. In this process, the friction between the wafer and the support surface affects the rotation speed of the clamping mechanism. Since the rotation speed of the clamping mechanism before contacting the wafer is relatively large, the clamping mechanism can also rotate the same angle in the same time as other clamping mechanisms or substantially the same, so as to achieve the purpose of aligning the center of the wafer with the center of the support surface.

[0060] Furthermore, since the multiple clamps are located outside the outer edge of the wafer and the supporting body for supporting the wafer is installed on the rotating mechanism, when the rotating mechanism is working, the clamping mechanism will be affected by the centrifugal force, which will have an adverse effect on the clamping effect of the wafer. For example, the wafer may be affected by factors such as vibration and centrifugal force, causing it to jump relative to the supporting surface or be unstable in clamping, which will have an adverse effect on the process uniformity of the wafer.

[0061] To this end, in a further embodiment of the present application, a high-speed camera or other equipment can be used to detect whether the wafer moves relative to the supporting surface. In another embodiment of the present application, multiple detection components can be installed on the supporting body to detect the straight-line distance between the wafer and the multiple detection components. Based on multiple distance detection results, it can also be determined whether the wafer moves relative to the supporting surface. Of course, when the wafer moves relative to the supporting surface, the current passed through each electromagnet can be increased to increase the clamping force between the clamp and the wafer, thereby improving the clamping stability of the wafer.

[0062] Considering that the clamping stability of the wafer is directly related to the clamping force of the clamping mechanism, and the centrifugal force acting on the clamping mechanism when the rotating mechanism is working will affect the clamping force between the clamping mechanism and the wafer, in the embodiment of the present application, the control method may further include: In the case where the rotation speeds of the rotating mechanisms are different, the clamping forces between each clamping mechanism and the wafer are controlled to be equal. Specifically, based on parameters such as the actual position of the center of mass of the clamping mechanism, it can be determined whether the centrifugal force acting on the clamping mechanism has a positive or negative effect on the clamping effect when the rotating mechanism rotates, thereby correspondingly controlling the magnitude of the first drive current passed into the electromagnet. For example, the centrifugal force of the rotating mechanism acting on the clamping mechanism will reduce the clamping force between the clamp and the wafer, which can be achieved by increasing the magnitude of the first drive current passed into the electromagnet, and vice versa, the magnitude of the first drive current passed into the electromagnet can be reduced to ensure that the clamping force between the clamp and the wafer remains unchanged or substantially unchanged, thereby preventing the wafer from jumping due to unstable clamping or being damaged due to excessive clamping.

[0063] Based on any of the above-mentioned wafer support assemblies, an embodiment of the present application further discloses a semiconductor device, which includes any of the above-mentioned wafer support assemblies. Of course, the semiconductor device may also include a cavity, and at least a portion of the wafer support assembly may be installed in the cavity.

[0064] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "comprise", "include" or any other variant thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that the process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also includes other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprise one..." do not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element. In addition, it should be pointed out that the scope of the methods and devices in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, and may also include performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in reverse order according to the functions involved, for example, the described method may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted, or combined. In addition, the features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0065] The embodiments of the present application are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation methods. The above-mentioned specific implementation methods are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the guidance of the present application, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms without departing from the purpose of the present application and the scope of protection of the claims, all of which are within the protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A wafer support assembly, characterized in that: It comprises a rotating mechanism (100), a supporting mechanism (200) and a clamping mechanism (300), wherein: The support mechanism (200) comprises a support body (210) and a first driving member (220); the support body (210) has a support surface for supporting a wafer (900); the support body (210) is mounted on the rotating mechanism (100); and the rotating mechanism (100) is used to drive the support body (210) to rotate; The number of the first driving members (220) and the number of the clamping mechanisms (300) are at least three, and the plurality of the first driving members (220) are installed below the support surface in the support body (210) at intervals along the rotation direction of the rotating mechanism (100), and the plurality of the clamping mechanisms (300) are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of the first driving members (220); Each of the clamping mechanisms (300) comprises a clamping jaw (310) and a second driving member (320) mounted on the clamping jaw (310), and each of the clamping jaws (310) is rotatably mounted on the supporting body (210), and any one of the first driving member (220) and the second driving member (320) correspondingly arranged comprises an electromagnet, and each of the electromagnets has a first state and a second state. When the electromagnet is in the first state, the first driving member (220) and the second driving member (320) repel each other, and each of the clamping jaws (310) contacts the outer edge of the wafer (900); when the electromagnets are in the second state, the first driving member (220) and the second driving member (320) attract each other.

2. The wafer support assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: A first limiting surface (212a) is provided on the outer side of the support body (210), and a second limiting surface (311b) is provided on the inner side of each clamping jaw (310); when each electromagnet is in the first state, each second limiting surface (311b) is limited to the first limiting surface (212a), and the first limiting surface (212a) is used to limit each clamping jaw (310) from squeezing and damaging the wafer (900).

3. The wafer support assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: When each of the electromagnets is in the first state, the center of mass of each of the clamping mechanisms (300) is located below a horizontal plane passing through the rotation axis of the clamping mechanism (300) and outside a vertical plane passing through the rotation axis of the clamping mechanism (300).

4. The wafer support assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: The clamping claw (310) comprises a clamping portion (311) and a buckling portion (312), wherein the buckling portion (312) is connected to the top end of the clamping portion (311), and the clamping portion (311) has a clamping surface (311a). When each of the electromagnets is in a first state, the clamping surface (311a) contacts the outer edge of the wafer (900), and at least a portion of the projection of the buckling portion (312) in a horizontal plane is located on the wafer (900).

5. The wafer support assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: The support body (210) comprises a base (211), a mounting seat (212) and a support arm (213); one end of the support arm (213) is fixedly connected to the base (211), and the other end of the support arm (213) is mounted with the mounting seat (212); the mounting seat (212) is provided with the first driving member (220), and the clamping mechanism (300) is rotatably connected to the mounting seat (212) via a rotating shaft (240).

6. The wafer support assembly according to claim 5, characterized in that: The support body (210) further comprises a support block (214), the top surface of each mounting seat (212) being provided with the support block (214), and the top surfaces of the plurality of support blocks (214) are all the support surfaces.

7. The wafer support assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second driving member (320) is located below the first driving member, and the first driving member and the second driving member are both located inside the rotation axis of the clamping jaw (310).

8. The wafer support assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each of the first driving members (220) comprises an electromagnet, the supporting body (210) is connected to the rotating mechanism (100) via a conductive slip ring (410), and the supporting body (210) is provided with a hollow channel (213a), wherein the hollow channel (213a) is used to accommodate a power connection cable (230) of the first driving member (220).

9. The wafer support assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each of the first driving members (220) is arranged tilted relative to the vertical direction, and when each of the electromagnets is in the first state, the magnetic pole distribution directions of the corresponding first driving members (220) and second driving members (320) are parallel to each other.

10. The wafer support assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also comprises a detection member (500), wherein the detection member (500) is used to detect whether a wafer (900) is supported on the supporting surface.

11. A control method for controlling the wafer support assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: The control method comprises: Controlling the first driving current flowing through each of the electromagnets to continuously increase to a first current value, so that each of the first driving members and the corresponding second driving members repel each other and thus clamp the wafer, wherein the first current value is less than a preset value; Each of the electromagnets is controlled to pass a second driving current, or each of the electromagnets is controlled to be powered off, so that each of the first driving members and the corresponding second driving members attract each other and release the wafer.

12. The control method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The direction of the second driving current is the same as that of the first driving current, and the value of the second driving current decreases continuously; or, the direction of the second driving current is opposite to that of the first driving current.

13. The control method according to claim 11, characterized in that: Also includes: When the support body does not support a wafer, each of the electromagnets is controlled to remain in the second state.

14. The control method according to claim 11, characterized in that: Also includes: Controlling the magnitude of the first driving current flowing into each of the electromagnets to be equal so that the center of the wafer and the center of the supporting surface are kept matched; The magnitudes of the first driving currents flowing into the electromagnets are controlled to be different, so that the wafer moves relative to the supporting surface and the center of the wafer is matched with the center of the supporting surface.

15. The control method according to claim 11, characterized in that: Also includes: When the rotation speeds of the rotating mechanisms are different, the clamping forces between the clamping mechanisms and the wafer are controlled to be equal.

16. A semiconductor device, characterized in that: A wafer support assembly comprising any one of claims 1-10.

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