Protective cover dust collection assembly, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and protective cover cleaning method

Abstract

The invention provides a protective cover dust collection assembly, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and a protective cover cleaning method, and the protective cover dust collection assembly comprises a protective cover which is used for sleeving a conductive ring to form a dust collection area; an accommodating cavity communicated with the dust collection area is formed in the bottom of the protective cover; the dust collection box is detachably arranged in the accommodating cavity; the dust collection box is provided with a box body and a box cover; the box cover has a sealing position and an opening position; when the box cover is located at the sealing position, the box body is completely covered; when the box cover is located at the open position, at least part of the box cover extends out of the box body, and an opening is formed in the box body so that dust can fall into the box body. A suction hole is further formed in the side wall of the protection cover. According to the configuration, the containing cavity for containing the dust collecting box is additionally arranged at the bottom of the protective cover, the box cover is arranged, the box body can be covered with the box cover in the dust collecting box replacing process, it is guaranteed that dust in the dust collecting box cannot overflow in the dust collecting box replacing process, and then the stability of the chamber environment is guaranteed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to a protective cover dust collecting component, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and a protective cover cleaning method. Background Art

[0002] As a ring-shaped electrical component, the conductive ring is mainly used to realize current transmission, signal transmission, etc. It is widely used in power transmission systems, mechanical equipment, communications and signal transmission fields.

[0003] In semiconductor equipment, the conductive ring usually uses a carbon brush structure. The carbon brush is prone to drop carbon powder during use and accumulates at the bottom of the conductive ring protective cover, requiring regular cleaning of the protective cover.

[0004] Existing cleaning methods usually require removing the protective cover first and then cleaning the accumulated dust. During the disassembly process, the accumulated dust is disturbed by external forces and easily spreads around, further polluting the chamber environment and causing a significant increase in the number of particles in the chamber.

[0005] Based on this, how to reduce the diffusion of dust during the cleaning process of the protective cover has become a technical problem that technicians in this field need to solve. Summary of the invention

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a protective cover dust collection component, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and a protective cover cleaning method to solve the problem of the existing cleaning method that dust is easily diffused due to external force disturbance during the removal of the protective cover.

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a protective cover dust collecting assembly, comprising:

[0008] A protective cover is used to be sleeved on the outside of the conductive ring to form a dust collection area; a receiving cavity connected to the dust collection area is provided at the bottom of the protective cover;

[0009] A dust collecting box is detachably arranged in the accommodating cavity; the dust collecting box comprises a box body and a box cover, the box cover has a sealing position and an open position; when the box cover is in the sealing position, the box body is completely covered, and a sealed space is formed inside the box body; when the box cover is in the open position, the box body is at least partially extended out of the box body, and an opening is formed in the box body, so that the dust inside the dust collecting area falls into the inside of the box body;

[0010] A suction hole is also provided on the side wall of the protective cover for sucking the dust remaining inside the dust collecting area.

[0011] Optionally, a dust collecting hole is provided at the top of the accommodating cavity to connect the accommodating cavity and the dust collecting area.

[0012] Optionally, a side wall of the accommodating cavity is provided with a take-in / take-out opening, and the dust box is put into or taken out of the accommodating cavity through the take-in / take-out opening.

[0013] Optionally, a handle is provided on the side wall of the dust box, and when the dust box is located in the accommodating cavity, the handle extends out of the accommodating cavity at the access opening to drive the dust box to move toward or away from the accommodating cavity.

[0014] Optionally, the length of the box body along the first direction matches the length of the accommodating cavity along the first direction; and the length of the box cover along the first direction is greater than the length of the accommodating cavity along the first direction.

[0015] Optionally, the protective cover dust collecting assembly further includes a suction device, which is connected to the suction hole during the suction process and is used to form a negative pressure in the dust collecting area to suck the residual dust.

[0016] Optionally, the protective cover dust collection assembly further includes a shielding plate, and the shielding plate is detachably arranged on the outer side of the suction hole;

[0017] The shielding plate has a covering position and a suction position. When the shielding plate is in the covering position, the suction hole is completely blocked to prevent the dust from overflowing from the suction hole; when the shielding plate is in the suction position, the suction hole is exposed to allow the suction device to be connected to the suction hole.

[0018] Optionally, there are multiple suction holes, and the multiple suction holes are respectively arranged on different side walls of the protective cover.

[0019] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention also provides a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, comprising: a conductive ring and the protective cover dust collection assembly as described above;

[0020] The protective cover is sleeved around the conductive ring to form a dust collection area to collect dust scattered during the operation of the conductive ring;

[0021] The dust collecting box is located below the conductive ring and is used to collect the dust falling into the dust collecting area; the suction hole is arranged on the side wall of the protective cover and is used to suck the residual dust in the dust collecting area that has not fallen into the dust collecting box.

[0022] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention also provides a protective cover cleaning method, using the protective cover dust collecting assembly as described above, comprising:

[0023] After a preset time interval or after processing a preset number of wafers, the machine operation is stopped and a cleaning step is performed on the protective cover;

[0024] The cleaning step comprises:

[0025] Move the box cover from the open position to the sealed position, and take out the dust box containing dust from the accommodating cavity;

[0026] Putting the dust box to be replaced into the accommodating cavity and keeping the box cover in the sealing position;

[0027] Sucking the dust remaining in the dust collection area through the suction hole;

[0028] The box cover is moved from the sealing position to the opening position.

[0029] Compared with the existing protective cover dust collection method, the protective cover dust collection assembly, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and protective cover cleaning method provided by the present application have the following advantages:

[0030] In the protective cover dust collecting assembly provided in the present application, a accommodating cavity is added at the bottom of the protective cover, and the dust box is detachably placed in the accommodating cavity, so that the dust scattered during the operation of the conductive ring can fall into the dust box, which is convenient for replacement and cleaning; at the same time, the dust box is provided with a box cover. During the process of disassembling the dust box, the box cover can completely cover the box body to form a sealed space, thereby ensuring that the dust inside the box body will not overflow to the outside of the dust collecting area during the process of disassembling the dust box; in addition, suction holes are added on the side walls of the protective cover to suck out the residual dust that is not collected by the dust box. Cleaning can be completed without disassembling the protective cover, which further reduces the risk of dust overflow and thus ensures the stability of the internal environment of the process chamber.

[0031] In the semiconductor manufacturing equipment provided in the present application, a protective cover is arranged around the conductive ring and a dust collecting box is arranged below the conductive ring, so that dust scattered by the conductive ring during operation can fall into the dust collecting box. At the same time, suction holes are added on the side walls of the protective cover, and cleaning can be completed without removing the protective cover. This prevents dust from being disturbed by external forces and overflowing into the process chamber during the removal of the protective cover, thereby ensuring the stability of the internal environment of the process chamber.

[0032] In the protective cover cleaning method provided in the present application, the protective cover is cleaned by using the above-mentioned protective cover dust collecting assembly. It is only necessary to replace the dust collecting box containing dust and use the suction hole to clean the residual dust to complete the cleaning of the protective cover. There is no need to remove the protective cover. While improving the cleaning efficiency, it also avoids the situation where the dust is disturbed by external force and overflows. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the dust collection effect of the protective cover in the prior art;

[0034] Figure 2A schematic diagram of the structure of a dust collecting assembly for a protective cover provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of a protective cover provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the structure of a dust collection box provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 5 A top view of the structure of the box cover provided by the embodiment of the present invention when it is in a sealing position;

[0038] Figure 6 A structural cross-sectional view of a box cover provided by an embodiment of the present invention when the box cover is in a sealing position;

[0039] Figure 7 A top view of the structure of the box cover provided by the embodiment of the present invention when it is in an open position;

[0040] Figure 8 A structural cross-sectional view of a box cover provided by an embodiment of the present invention when the box cover is in an open position;

[0041] Fig. 9 A flow chart of a protective cover cleaning method provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] The description of each reference numeral is as follows:

[0043] 1-conductive ring; 2-dust;

[0044] 3-protection cover; 30-dust collection area; 31-accommodation chamber; 32-suction hole; 33-dust collection hole; 34-shielding plate; 310-access opening;

[0045] 4-dust box; 40-box body; 41-box cover; 42-handle;

[0046] X - first direction. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] In order to make the purpose, advantages and features of the present invention clearer, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be noted that the drawings are all in a very simplified form and are not drawn to scale, and are only used to conveniently and clearly assist in explaining the purpose of the embodiments of the present invention. In addition, the structure shown in the drawings is often a part of the actual structure. In particular, the emphasis of each drawing is different, and sometimes different scales are used.

[0048] As used in this specification, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural objects, the term "or" is generally used to include the meaning of "and / or", the term "several" is generally used to include the meaning of "at least one", and the term "at least two" is generally used to include the meaning of "two or more". In addition, the terms "first", "second" and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first", "second" and "third" may explicitly or implicitly include one or at least two of the features, "one end" and "the other end" and "the proximal end" and "the distal end" generally refer to two corresponding parts, which include not only the endpoints, and the terms "installed", "connected" and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral body; it can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, it can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements. In addition, as used in this specification, an element disposed on another element generally only indicates that there is a connection, coupling, cooperation or transmission relationship between the two elements, and the connection, coupling, cooperation or transmission between the two elements may be direct or indirect through an intermediate element, and it cannot be understood as indicating or implying the spatial position relationship between the two elements, that is, one element may be in any orientation such as inside, outside, above, below or on one side of another element, unless the content clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "upper", "lower", "top" and "bottom" are generally relative position relationships arranged in the direction of gravity; the terms "vertical, vertical direction" generally refer to the direction of gravity, which is generally perpendicular to the ground, and "horizontal, horizontal plane direction" generally refers to the direction parallel to the ground; for ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in this specification can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0049] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a protective cover dust collection component, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and a protective cover cleaning method to solve the problem of the existing cleaning method that dust is easily diffused due to external force disturbance during the removal of the protective cover.

[0050] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conductive ring mainly utilizes the conductive properties of the conductive material to transmit current or signals through rotating or rotating contact points. Figure 1The transmission of current or signal can be realized by a static conductive element and a dynamically rotating conductive ring 1. The conductive ring 1 can contact the static conductive element. Through these contact points, the conductive ring 1 can effectively distribute the current to multiple directions, thereby realizing the simultaneous transmission of multiple power supplies or signals. The existing conductive ring 1 mostly adopts a carbon brush structure, which is easy to drop dust 2 during the rotating contact process. The existing dust collection method is to use a protective cover 3 to be set on the outside of the conductive ring 1 so that the dust 2 can fall on the bottom of the protective cover. When cleaning, the protective cover 3 needs to be removed for cleaning. The dust 2 is easily disturbed by external forces during the removal of the protective cover 3 and then overflows into the process chamber, causing the particles in the process chamber to exceed the standard and affecting the stability of the internal environment of the chamber. Based on this, the present embodiment provides a protective cover dust collection assembly, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and a protective cover cleaning method. By adding a accommodating cavity for placing a dust box at the bottom of the protective cover and providing a box cover, the box cover can be placed on the box body during the process of replacing the dust box, ensuring that the dust in the dust box will not overflow during the process of replacing the dust box, thereby ensuring the stability of the chamber environment.

[0051] Please refer to Figures 2 to 8 The present invention provides a protective cover dust collecting assembly, comprising: a protective cover 3, which is used to be sleeved on the outside of a conductive ring to form a dust collecting area 30; a receiving cavity 31 connected to the dust collecting area 30 is provided at the bottom of the protective cover 3; a dust collecting box 4 is detachably arranged in the receiving cavity 31; the dust collecting box 4 has a box body 40 and a box cover 41, and the box cover 41 has a sealing position and an open position; when the box cover 41 is in the sealing position, it completely covers the box body 40, and a sealed space is formed inside the box body 40; when the box cover 41 is in the open position, it at least partially extends out of the box body 40, and the box body 40 forms an opening, so that the dust inside the dust collecting area 30 falls into the inside of the box body 40; a suction hole 32 is also provided on the side wall of the protective cover 3, which is used to suck the dust remaining inside the dust collecting area 30. Figures 2 to 3 In the illustrated example, the protective cover 3 has a bottom surface and a plurality of side walls, which can be mounted outside the conductive ring and enclosed together with the outer wall of the equipment platform to form a closed dust collection area 30. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that during the operation of the conductive ring, it is usually not disturbed by external forces, so the dust dropped by the conductive ring will mostly accumulate on the bottom surface of the protective cover 3 (such as Figure 1 In this embodiment, the top surface of the accommodating cavity 31 is in contact with the bottom surface of the protective cover 3, that is, the accommodating cavity 31 is arranged outside the protective cover 3; in some optional embodiments, the accommodating cavity 31 may also be arranged inside the protective cover 3, or partially arranged inside the protective cover 3, that is, the bottom surface of the accommodating cavity 31 may be in contact with the bottom surface of the protective cover 3, or the top of the accommodating cavity 31 may be located inside the protective cover 3, and the bottom may be located outside the protective cover 3, and it is only necessary to ensure that the accommodating cavity 31 is located below the conductive ring.

[0052] Please refer to Figures 4 to 8 In this embodiment, the dust box 4 is a rectangular box body 40 and is provided with a matching box cover 41, which is slidably connected to the box body 40. The box cover 41 has a sealed position and an open position. When the conductive ring is working normally, the dust box 4 is located in the accommodating cavity 31, the box cover 41 is located in the open position, and the box body 40 forms an opening so that the dust dropped by the conductive ring can fall into the box body 40 (such as Figures 7 and 8 When the dust in the dust box 4 reaches a certain amount or the equipment needs to be shut down for maintenance, the dust box 4 needs to be replaced. At this time, the box cover 41 is moved from the open position to the sealed position so that the box cover 41 completely covers the box body 40, and a closed space is formed inside the box body 40 (as shown in FIG. Figures 5 and 6 As shown), to ensure that when the dust box 4 is replaced, the dust inside the box body 40 will not overflow. Of course, in some other embodiments, the dust box 4 and the accommodating cavity 31 can also be components of other shapes, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0053] Please continue to refer to Figures 2 to 3 , a suction hole 32 is also provided on the side wall of the protective cover 3 for sucking the dust remaining inside the dust collecting area 30. With such a configuration, even if the fallen dust does not fall into the dust collecting box 4, resulting in a small amount of dust remaining at the bottom of the protective cover 3, the operator can directly extract the remaining dust out of the protective cover 3 through the suction hole 32, which improves the cleaning efficiency and cleaning effect, and also makes it unnecessary to remove the protective cover 3 during the cleaning process of the entire protective cover 3, further ensuring that the dust in the protective cover 3 will not overflow into the process chamber.

[0054] Please refer to Figures 2 to 3 ,as well as Figure 5 and Figure 7 , a dust collecting hole 33 is provided at the top of the accommodating cavity 31 to connect the accommodating cavity 31 and the dust collecting area 30. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, only one dust collecting hole 33 is provided in the central area of ​​the bottom surface of the protective cover 3 to connect the accommodating cavity 31 and the dust collecting area 30. This is because, after preliminary tests and observations, the dust dropped by the conductive ring will mostly only accumulate in the central area of ​​the bottom surface of the protective cover 3. Therefore, a dust collecting hole 33 is opened here to ensure that most of the dust can fall from the dust collecting area 30 into the dust collecting box 4 through the dust collecting hole 33, and the dust scattered in the outer area of ​​the dust collecting hole 33 can be cleaned by the subsequent suction process. Of course, in other embodiments, a plurality of dust collecting holes 33 may be provided, and the shape of the dust collecting hole 33 may also be circular, rectangular, triangular or other irregular shapes, which is not limited in the present embodiment.

[0055] Please continue to refer to Figures 2 to 3, the side wall of the accommodating cavity 31 is provided with a take-in and take-out opening 310, and the dust box 4 is put into or taken out of the accommodating cavity 31 from the take-in and take-out opening 310. In this embodiment, the size of the take-in and take-out opening 310 is adapted to the size of the dust box 4, and the size of the accommodating cavity 31 is also adapted to the size of the dust box 4, thereby ensuring that the dust box 4 can fit closely with the accommodating cavity 31, and there is no gap between the two, so that the dust falling from the dust collecting hole 33 from the dust collecting area 30 into the accommodating cavity 31 can directly fall into the box body 40 of the dust box 4. It should be noted that the size of the dust box 4 here refers to the size after the box cover 41 is covered on the box body 40. Of course, the size of the take-in and take-out opening 310 can also be slightly larger than the size of the dust box 4, so as to facilitate the take-in and take-out of the dust box 4, and the size of the accommodating cavity 31 can also be set with a variable diameter, that is, the size at the take-in and take-out opening 310 is slightly larger than the size of the dust box 4, and the size inside it is adapted to the size of the dust box 4.

[0056] Furthermore, a handle 42 is provided on the side wall of the dust box 4. When the dust box 4 is located in the accommodating chamber 31, the handle 42 extends out of the accommodating chamber 31 at the access opening 310 to drive the dust box 4 to move toward or away from the accommodating chamber 31. With such a configuration, the operator can pull or push the position of the dust box 4 in the accommodating chamber 31 by the handle 42 according to actual conditions, thereby adjusting the relative position of the dust box 4 and the accommodating chamber 31; at the same time, during the process of replacing the dust box 4, the operator can pull the dust box 4 containing dust out of the accommodating chamber 31 by the handle 42, and push the dust box 4 to be replaced into the accommodating chamber 31 by the handle 42, thereby realizing the operation of replacing the dust box 4.

[0057] As an optional embodiment, the length of the box body 40 along the first direction X is adapted to the length of the accommodating cavity 31 along the first direction X; the length of the box cover 41 along the first direction X is greater than the length of the accommodating cavity 31 along the first direction X. Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 6 as well as Figure 8 In the present embodiment, the length of the box body 40 along the first direction X is consistent with the length of the accommodating cavity 31 along the first direction X, that is, the box body 40 can be fully extended into the accommodating cavity 31; and the length of the box cover 41 along the first direction X is greater than the length of the accommodating cavity 31 along the first direction X, and also greater than the length of the box body 40 along the first direction X, which makes it possible for the box cover 41 to partially extend out of the accommodating cavity 31 when the box body 40 is fully extended into the accommodating cavity 31, and the operator can drive the box cover 41 to move between the sealed position and the open position by the extended box cover 41, thereby ensuring that the box body 40 is in a sealed state during the process of replacing the dust collecting box 4.

[0058] Optionally, the dust collecting assembly of the protective cover further includes a suction device (not shown in the figure), which is connected to the suction hole 32 during the suction process, and is used to form a negative pressure in the dust collecting area 30 to suck the residual dust. It should be noted that the suction device can be a suction pump, which is connected to a suction pipeline (not shown in the figure), and the suction pipeline is connected to the suction hole 32. The suction pump can form a negative pressure inside the dust collecting area 30, so that the residual dust is sucked out of the dust collecting area 30 through the suction hole 32, further improving the cleanliness of the inside of the protective cover 3.

[0059] Please refer to Figures 2 to 3 The protective cover dust collecting assembly also includes a shielding plate 34, which is detachably arranged on the outside of the suction hole 32; the shielding plate 34 has a covering position and a suction position. When the shielding plate 34 is in the covering position, the suction hole 32 is completely blocked to prevent dust from overflowing from the suction hole 32; when the shielding plate 34 is in the suction position, the suction hole 32 is exposed to allow the suction device to be connected to the suction hole 32. It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the baffle plate 34 is connected to the side wall of the protective cover 3 by bolts. When the conductive ring is working normally, the baffle plate 34 is in the covering position, the bolts are tightened, the position of the baffle plate 34 is fixed, and the suction hole 32 is completely covered, thereby preventing dust from overflowing from the suction hole 32; when the dust box 4 needs to be replaced and the residual dust needs to be sucked out, the baffle plate 34 is in the suction position, the bolts are loosened, the baffle plate 34 is in a movable state, and the suction hole 32 can be exposed, thereby allowing the suction hole 32 to be connected to the suction pipeline and the suction device.

[0060] Furthermore, there are multiple suction holes 32, and the multiple suction holes 32 are respectively arranged on different side walls of the protective cover 3. Figure 2 and Figure 3 In the illustrated example, three suction holes 32 are provided, and are respectively provided on three side walls of the protective cover 3. The operator can observe the position of the residual dust and select the suction hole 32 closest to the residual dust for suction to ensure the suction effect.

[0061] In another embodiment, the present invention also provides a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, including: a conductive ring and the protective cover dust collection assembly as described above; the protective cover 3 is arranged around the conductive ring to form a dust collection area 30 to collect dust scattered during the operation of the conductive ring; the dust collecting box 4 is located below the conductive ring, for collecting dust falling into the dust collecting area 30; the suction hole 32 is arranged on the side wall of the protective cover 3, for sucking the residual dust in the dust collecting area 30 that has not fallen into the dust collecting box 4.

[0062] With such configuration, by using the above-mentioned protective cover dust collecting assembly, the protective cover 3 is sleeved around the conductive ring, and the dust collecting box 4 is arranged below the conductive ring, so that the dust scattered by the conductive ring during operation can fall into the dust collecting box 4, and at the same time, a suction hole 32 is added on the side wall of the protective cover 3, and cleaning can be completed without removing the protective cover 3, thereby preventing dust from being disturbed by external force and overflowing into the process chamber during the removal of the protective cover 3, thereby ensuring the stability of the internal environment of the process chamber.

[0063] In another embodiment, please refer to Figures 5 to 9 The present invention also provides a protective cover cleaning method, using the protective cover dust collecting assembly as described above, comprising:

[0064] Step S1: After a preset time interval or after processing a preset number of wafers, the machine operation is stopped and a cleaning step is performed on the protective cover 3;

[0065] Cleaning steps include:

[0066] Step S20: Move the box cover 41 from the open position to the sealed position (eg Figures 5 and 6 As shown), take out the dust collecting box 4 containing dust from the accommodating chamber 31;

[0067] Step S21: placing the dust box 4 to be replaced into the accommodating cavity 31, and keeping the box cover 41 in a sealed position;

[0068] Step S22: Sucking the dust remaining in the dust collecting area 30 through the suction holes 32;

[0069] Step S23: Move the box cover 41 from the sealed position to the open position (eg Figures 7 and 8 shown).

[0070] As an optional embodiment, in step S1, the preset time can be the time that the operator believes is required for a certain amount of dust to be collected in the dust box 4, or the scheduled maintenance time set by the machine; processing a preset number of wafers can be combined with the regular maintenance of the machine; the above preset time or the condition of processing a preset number of wafers can be reasonably adjusted by the operator based on the operating conditions of the machine. After entering the cleaning step, it is necessary to first move the box cover 41 from the open position to the sealed position so that the box cover 41 completely covers the box body 40, and a sealed space is formed inside the box body 40 to ensure that dust will not overflow into the chamber during the process of taking and placing the dust box 4; then the operator drives the handle 42 to take the dust box 4 containing dust out of the self-take-out port 310 and put it into the accommodating chamber 31; then drive the handle 42 to put the dust box 4 to be replaced from the self-take-out port 310 into the accommodating chamber 31, and keep the box cover 41 in the sealed position to completely cover the box body 40 to ensure that dust will not fly to the chamber during the process of sucking residual dust. In the replaced dust box 4; the operator decides whether to perform suction according to the residual dust in the protective cover 3. If suction is required, the shielding plate 34 is moved from the covering position to the suction position, and the residual dust in the protective cover 3 is sucked through the suction hole 32 by the suction device. After the suction is completed, the shielding plate 34 is moved from the suction position to the covering position, and the box cover 41 is moved from the sealing position to the open position to ensure that the dust can fall into the dust box 4 through the dust collecting hole 33; if suction is not required, the box cover 41 can be directly moved from the sealing position to the open position to complete the cleaning. It should be noted that the dust box 4 to be replaced refers to an empty dust box 4 that does not contain dust or has been cleaned.

[0071] With such configuration, the protective cover 3 can be cleaned by using the above-mentioned protective cover dust collection assembly. It is only necessary to replace the dust box 4 containing dust and use the suction hole 32 to clean the residual dust to complete the cleaning of the protective cover 3. There is no need to remove the protective cover 3. While improving the cleaning efficiency, it also avoids the situation where dust is disturbed by external force and overflows.

[0072] In summary, in the protective cover dust collecting assembly, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and protective cover cleaning method provided in the embodiments of the present invention, the protective cover dust collecting assembly includes: a protective cover, which is used to be sleeved on the outside of the conductive ring to form a dust collecting area; the bottom of the protective cover is provided with a accommodating cavity connected to the dust collecting area; a dust collecting box, which is detachably arranged in the accommodating cavity; the dust collecting box has a box body and a box cover, and the box cover has a sealing position and an open position; when the box cover is in the sealing position, it completely covers the box body, and a sealed space is formed inside the box body; when the box cover is in the open position, it at least partially extends out of the box body, and the box body forms an opening, so that the dust inside the dust collecting area falls into the inside of the box body; a suction hole is also provided on the side wall of the protective cover, which is used to suck the dust remaining inside the dust collecting area.

[0073] With such configuration, a accommodating cavity is added at the bottom of the protective cover, and the dust box is detachably placed in the accommodating cavity, so that the dust scattered during the operation of the conductive ring can fall into the dust box, which is convenient for replacement and cleaning; at the same time, the dust box is provided with a box cover, and during the process of disassembling the dust box, the box cover can completely cover the box body to form a sealed space, thereby ensuring that the dust inside the box body will not overflow to the outside of the dust collecting area during the process of disassembling the dust box; in addition, suction holes are added on the side walls of the protective cover to suck out the residual dust that is not collected by the dust box, and cleaning can be completed without removing the protective cover, further reducing the risk of dust overflow, thereby ensuring the stability of the internal environment of the process chamber.

[0074] The above description is only a description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any changes or modifications made by a person skilled in the art in the field of the present invention based on the above disclosure shall fall within the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A protective cover dust collection assembly, characterized in that: include: A protective cover is used to be sleeved on the outside of the conductive ring to form a dust collection area; a receiving cavity connected to the dust collection area is provided at the bottom of the protective cover; A dust collecting box is detachably arranged in the accommodating cavity; the dust collecting box comprises a box body and a box cover, the box cover has a sealing position and an open position; when the box cover is in the sealing position, the box body is completely covered, and a sealed space is formed inside the box body; when the box cover is in the open position, the box body is at least partially extended out of the box body, and an opening is formed in the box body, so that the dust inside the dust collecting area falls into the inside of the box body; A suction hole is also provided on the side wall of the protective cover for sucking the dust remaining inside the dust collecting area.

2. The protective cover dust collecting assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: A dust collecting hole is provided at the top of the accommodating cavity to connect the accommodating cavity and the dust collecting area.

3. The protective cover dust collecting assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: The side wall of the accommodating cavity is provided with a taking-in and putting-out opening, and the dust collecting box is put into or taken out of the accommodating cavity through the taking-in and putting-out opening.

4. The protective cover dust collecting assembly according to claim 3, characterized in that: A handle is provided on the side wall of the dust box. When the dust box is located in the accommodating cavity, the handle extends out of the accommodating cavity at the access opening to drive the dust box to move toward or away from the accommodating cavity.

5. The protective cover dust collecting assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: The length of the box body along the first direction matches the length of the accommodating cavity along the first direction; the length of the box cover along the first direction is greater than the length of the accommodating cavity along the first direction.

6. The protective cover dust collecting assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: The protective cover dust collecting assembly also includes a suction device, which is connected to the suction hole during the suction process and is used to form a negative pressure in the dust collecting area to suck the residual dust.

7. The protective cover dust collecting assembly according to claim 6, characterized in that: The protective cover dust collecting assembly further comprises a shielding plate, and the shielding plate is detachably arranged on the outer side of the suction hole; The shielding plate has a covering position and a suction position. When the shielding plate is in the covering position, the suction hole is completely blocked to prevent the dust from overflowing from the suction hole; when the shielding plate is in the suction position, the suction hole is exposed to allow the suction device to be connected to the suction hole.

8. The protective cover dust collecting assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that: There are multiple suction holes, and the multiple suction holes are respectively arranged on different side walls of the protective cover.

9. A semiconductor manufacturing equipment, characterized in that: include: A conductive ring and a protective cover dust collecting assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8; The protective cover is sleeved around the conductive ring to form a dust collection area to collect dust scattered during the operation of the conductive ring; The dust collecting box is located below the conductive ring and is used to collect the dust falling into the dust collecting area; The suction hole is arranged on the side wall of the protective cover, and is used for sucking the residual dust in the dust collecting area that has not fallen into the dust collecting box.

10. A protective cover cleaning method, characterized in that: The protective cover dust collection assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 8 comprises: After a preset time interval or after processing a preset number of wafers, the machine operation is stopped and a cleaning step is performed on the protective cover; The cleaning step comprises: Move the box cover from the open position to the sealed position, and take out the dust box containing dust from the accommodating cavity; Putting the dust box to be replaced into the accommodating cavity and keeping the box cover in the sealing position; Sucking the dust remaining in the dust collection area through the suction hole; The box cover is moved from the sealing position to the opening position.

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