Wafer processing equipment

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, and provides a wafer processing device which comprises an electrical assembly, a drying oven unit, a photoresist unit, a box station unit, a centrifugal unit and a process robot. Two glue uniformizing units and a glue injection mechanical arm shared by the two glue uniformizing units are arranged in each cavity of the centrifugal units, the glue injection mechanical arm is fixedly arranged on a sliding rail assembly and moves back and forth between the two glue uniformizing units in a hydraulic driving mode, and the shared glue injection mechanical arm is placed in the middle of the cavities of the two centrifugal units and is used for injecting glue. The time for the glue injection mechanical arm to move to the position above the wafer is shortened, the productivity is improved, the number of related accessories of the glue injection mechanical arm is reduced, the space utilization rate of a machine table is improved, and the manufacturing cost of equipment is reduced; one glue injection mechanical arm plays a role of two glue injection mechanical arms, resonance of the centrifugal unit is avoided, and the gluing uniformity of the centrifugal unit is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, and in particular to a wafer glue coating processing equipment. Background Art

[0002] Wafer coating is a very important equipment in the semiconductor manufacturing process. It is mainly used in the photolithography process with the photolithography machine to coat, bake and develop the wafer. In order to meet the technical requirements of high production capacity and small footprint, the existing wafer processing equipment has highly centralized each unit module. The commonly used coating and developing equipment adopts a symmetrical structure, that is, the liquid treatment module and the heat treatment module are symmetrically arranged in the length direction. The two manipulators in the liquid treatment module synchronously transfer the wafer in a symmetrical manner in the length direction, and increase the robots / robotic arms that serve each unit module. Although the addition of robots / robotic arms can effectively expand the production capacity of the equipment, it also greatly increases the manufacturing cost of the equipment.

[0003] For example, CN118759800ADisclosed is a glue coating and developing module and device, and the technical scheme adopted is as follows: a glue coating and developing module 6, comprising: a process component 61, including a plurality of process units for heat treatment or liquid treatment of wafers; a process robot 62, equipped with a plurality of independently moving actuators for adsorbing and moving wafers; the process units are symmetrically arranged on opposite sides of the process robot about a vertical plane; the process robot is used to move the wafer into or out of the process unit on either side; the process robot is configured to rotate around its rotation axis so that the actuator faces the process unit on one side; the compact symmetrical layout of the process component helps to reduce the overall footprint of the equipment. Due to the use of multiple independently working robots and symmetrical process component layout, the entire module can process wafers more quickly. The independently moving actuator reduces the risk of single point failure, and even if one of the process components fails, the other process components can still continue to work; the process robot is provided with an actuator that can rotate in both directions; the process component 61 includes a first process unit and a second process unit that are symmetrically arranged. Each process robot is used to execute the feeding of wafers into the first process unit and the second process unit at different times. Under limited floor space, by arranging several process components 61 symmetrically on both sides of the process robot about the vertical plane, the number of process components 61 can be increased, and the distribution positions of the process components on both sides can be made consistent, so as to improve the uniformity of the process and facilitate the improvement of production efficiency; several actuators include a first actuator and a second actuator with the same orientation direction, which are used to take out processed wafers from the process unit they are facing at different time periods, or to send wafers to be processed into the process unit they are facing; when the first actuator is used to take out the wafer from the process unit it is facing, the second actuator is used to place the wafer into the process unit it is facing; when the second actuator is used to take out the wafer from the process unit it is facing, the first actuator is used to place the wafer into the process unit it is facing. The actuators on the same process robot are configured to move asynchronously; by setting the actuators to move asynchronously, mutual interference between the actuators is avoided, which is conducive to the safe transmission of wafers; the liquid processing robot located on the top liquid processing frame is provided with two actuators, namely, the first liquid processing actuator 211 and the second liquid processing actuator 212. The first liquid processing actuator 211 and the second liquid processing actuator 212 are configured to move asynchronously; the manipulator in the wafer feeding liquid processing frame includes a coating robot 11, which is used to move the wafer from the interface with the cooling unit in the interlayer module 300 to the glue coating unit, and to move the wafer from the glue coating unit to the interface in the interlayer module 300; the coating robot is symmetrically provided with coating components COT on both sides. Specifically, the coating component COT is set as a coating unit symmetrical about the vertical plane XZ.

[0004] That is to say, although CN118759800A is equipped with two liquid processing robots, in fact the two liquid processing robots do not work at the same time. The efficiency is partially improved compared to only one robot, but the cost of the equipment is significantly increased; in addition, the conventional robot arm uses a screw drive or a motor drive, which has a large vibration and is easy to resonate with the centrifugal unit, interfering with the operation of the centrifugal unit and causing uneven glue coating of the centrifugal unit. Summary of the invention

[0005] This application is proposed in order to solve the above technical problems.

[0006] A wafer processing device includes electrical components, an oven unit, a photoresist unit, a box station unit, a centrifugal unit, and a process robot; the photoresist unit includes a flow meter, an on-off valve assembly, a photoresist barrel, and a waste liquid barrel assembly; the box station unit includes at least one box station robot; the centrifugal unit includes a cavity, a glue spreading unit, and a glue injection robot arm; it is characterized in that each cavity of the centrifugal unit includes two glue spreading units and a glue injection robot arm.

[0007] Preferably, the oven unit only includes a high-temperature hot plate, and the cold plate unit is eliminated, and the wafers coated with glue are baked by the high-temperature hot plate.

[0008] Preferably, the glue injection robot arm is arranged between the two glue spreading units, and the two glue spreading units share one glue injection robot arm for glue injection.

[0009] Preferably, the centrifugal unit comprises more than two chambers, and the more than two chambers are located on the same side of the wafer processing device in an up-and-down stacking manner.

[0010] Preferably, the glue injection robot arm is fixedly arranged on the slide rail assembly and is hydraulically driven to move back and forth between the two glue spreading units.

[0011] Preferably, the slide rail assembly includes: end seals, stoppers, liquid communication channels, hydraulic pipeline connection ports, mounting platforms, piston components, mounting platform and piston connection holes, cylinder bodies, and guide rails; the glue injection robot arm is installed on the mounting platform; the mounting platform and the piston are fixedly connected through the connection holes; a travel groove is provided in the middle of the cylinder body to facilitate the movement and limitation of the mounting platform; and end seals are provided at both ends of the piston cylinder.

[0012] Preferably, two hydraulic pipeline connection ports and two liquid communication channels are provided on the cylinder body, each hydraulic pipeline connection port is connected to the piston cylinder of the cylinder body through the liquid communication channel; and each of the liquid communication channels is arranged between the end seal and the piston.

[0013] Preferably, the slide rail assembly further comprises a positioning sensor mounting unit and a positioning sensor; the positioning sensor is mounted on the positioning sensor mounting unit.

[0014] Preferably, a hydraulically driven dividing plate is further provided between the glue injection robot arm and the mounting platform; the dividing plate is fixed on the mounting platform, and the glue injection robot arm is mounted on the mounting platform.

[0015] Preferably, the indexing plate and the piston rod move simultaneously, and when the indexing plate is at the indexing starting point, the piston cylinder is at the starting point of the stroke; when the indexing plate is at the indexing end point, the piston cylinder is at the end point of the stroke.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the technical solution of the present application include at least the following:

[0017] 1. Compared with common wafer gluing equipment, the cavity design of the centrifugal unit of the present invention eliminates the partition between the two cavities, and designs a glue injection robot arm shared by the two cavities. Compared with the original design of two glue injection robot arms, the shared glue injection robot arm is placed in the middle of the two centrifugal unit cavities, which reduces the time for the glue injection robot arm to move to the top of the wafer, improves production capacity, reduces the number of related accessories of the glue injection robot arm, improves the space utilization of the machine, and reduces the manufacturing cost of the equipment; in terms of cavity layout, the glue spreading units of common wafer centrifugal units are distributed on the left and right sides of the machine. In the present invention, the centrifugal unit cavity is stacked up and down to achieve that all glue spreading units are located on the same side, which reduces the time for the process robot to transfer the wafer to the centrifugal unit cavity and improves production capacity.

[0018] 2. In the existing wafer processing glue spreading process, the glue injection time is usually much shorter than the centrifugation time; and the movement of the glue injection robot arm of the existing wafer processing equipment is often driven by a screw or a motor, which has a large vibration and is easy to resonate with the centrifugal unit, interfering with the operation of the centrifugal unit and causing uneven glue coating of the centrifugal unit; the glue injection robot arm of the present application is fixedly arranged on the slide rail assembly and is hydraulically driven to move back and forth between the two glue spreading units; because it adopts hydraulic drive, it not only has a fast response speed and is vibration-free, but also one glue injection robot arm plays the role of two glue injection robot arms and avoids the resonance of the centrifugal unit, thereby improving the glue coating uniformity of the centrifugal unit.

[0019] 3. Different from the prior art, the present application creatively adopts a combination of a hydraulic guide rail assembly and a hydraulic dividing plate to drive the displacement and rotation of the glue injection robot arm; the dividing plate and the piston rod move simultaneously, and when the dividing plate is at the dividing starting point, the piston cylinder is at the starting point of the stroke; when the dividing plate is at the dividing end point, the piston cylinder is at the end point of the stroke; thereby, the stroke of the piston rod is shortened, which saves the manufacturing cost of the piston rod on the one hand, and saves the glue injection robot arm on the other hand, so that one glue injection robot arm can fully meet the use requirements of two glue spreading units.

[0020] 4. In the process of glue spreading, the glue is spread by centrifugation after injection, so the glue nozzle of the glue injection robot is aligned with the center of the wafer, which is related to the glue spreading effect and the utilization rate of the photoresist; and when a glue injection robot injects glue into two glue spreading units, the glue injection robot needs to move back and forth and / or rotate between the two glue spreading units, which is easy to cause position errors. The creative use of this review also includes a positioning sensor mounting unit and a positioning sensor in the slide rail assembly; the positioning sensor is installed on the positioning sensor mounting unit; through the position sensor, it is ensured that the glue injection nozzle of the glue injection robot is aligned with the center of the wafer when injecting glue.

[0021] The embodiments of the present application can achieve other advantageous technical effects that are not listed one by one. These other technical effects may be partially described below and are predictable and understandable to those skilled in the art after reading the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The above-mentioned features and advantages and other features and advantages of these embodiments and the manner in which they are achieved will become more apparent, and the embodiments of the present application can be better understood by referring to the following description together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0023] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the centrifugal unit of the existing wafer processing equipment.

[0024] Figures 2 to 4 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 5 It is a cross-sectional view of the guide rail assembly of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 6 It is a side view of the structural schematic diagram of the guide rail assembly of the present invention.

[0027] The features indicated by the numbers in the accompanying drawings are as follows:

[0028] A1, partition; A2, first glue injection robot arm; A3, first glue dispensing cavity; A4, second glue dispensing cavity; A5, second glue injection robot arm; B1, electrical components; B2, oven unit;

[0029] B3, photoresist unit; B4, box station unit; B5, box station robot; B6, flow meter, on-off valve assembly; B7, process robot; B8, centrifugal unit; B9, photoresist barrel; B10, waste liquid barrel assembly; C1, positioning sensor installation unit; C2, positioning sensor; C3, end seal; C4, stopper; C5, liquid communication channel; C6, hydraulic pipeline connection port;

[0030] C7, mounting table; C8, piston component; C9, connecting hole; C10, cylinder body; C11, guide rail. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In the following description of the drawings and specific embodiments, the details of one or more embodiments of the present application will be described. From these descriptions, drawings and claims, other features, purposes and advantages of the present application can be clearly seen.

[0032] It should be understood that the illustrated and described embodiments are not limited in application to the details of the construction and arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The illustrated embodiments may be other embodiments and may be implemented or executed in various ways. Each example is provided by explaining the disclosed embodiments rather than limiting them. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the scope or essence disclosed in the present application. For example, a feature illustrated or described as part of an embodiment may be used together with another embodiment to still produce another embodiment. Therefore, the present application discloses and covers such modifications and variations within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalent elements.

[0033] Likewise, it is understood that the phrases and terms used herein are for descriptive purposes and should not be considered restrictive. The use of "include," "comprise," or "have" and variations thereof herein is intended to be open-ended to include the items listed thereafter and their equivalents and additional items.

[0034] The present application will be described in more detail below with reference to different embodiments and examples of several aspects of the present application.

[0035] In the present application, the term "natural state" refers to a state where the elastic deformation unit is not subjected to an applied force.

[0036] Embodiment 1

[0037] A wafer processing device includes an electrical component B1, an oven unit B2, a photoresist unit B3, a box station unit B4, a centrifugal unit B8, and a process robot B7; the photoresist unit B3 includes a flow meter, an on-off valve assembly B6, a photoresist barrel B9, and a waste liquid barrel assembly B10; the box station unit B4 includes at least one box station robot B5; the centrifugal unit B8 includes a cavity, a glue spreading unit, and a glue injection robot arm; it is characterized in that each cavity of the centrifugal unit B8 includes two glue spreading units and a glue injection robot arm.

[0038] In one embodiment, the oven unit B2 only includes a high-temperature hot plate, and the cold plate unit is eliminated, and the wafers coated with glue are baked by the high-temperature hot plate.

[0039] In one embodiment, the glue injection robot arm is arranged between the two glue spreading units, and the two glue spreading units share one glue injection robot arm for glue injection.

[0040] In one embodiment, the centrifugal unit B8 includes more than two chambers, and the more than two chambers are stacked up and down and located on the same side of the wafer processing device.

[0041] In one embodiment, the glue injection robot arm is fixedly mounted on the slide rail assembly and is hydraulically driven to move back and forth between the two glue spreading units.

[0042] In one embodiment, the slide rail assembly includes: an end seal C3, a stopper C4, a liquid communication channel C5, a hydraulic pipeline connection port C6, a mounting platform C7, a piston component C8, a connecting hole C9, a cylinder body C10, and a guide rail C11; the glue injection robot arm is installed on the mounting platform; the mounting platform C7 and C8 and the piston component are fixedly connected through the connecting hole C9; a travel groove is provided in the middle of the cylinder body C10 to facilitate the movement and limitation of the mounting platform C7; and end seals C3 are provided at both ends of the piston cylinder that cooperates with the piston.

[0043] In one embodiment, two hydraulic pipeline connection ports C6 and two liquid communication channels C5 are provided on the cylinder body C10, each hydraulic pipeline connection port C6 is connected to the piston cylinder of the cylinder body C10 through the liquid communication channel C5; and each of the liquid communication channels is arranged between the end seal and the piston.

[0044] In one embodiment, the slide rail assembly further includes a positioning sensor installation unit C1 and a positioning sensor C2; the positioning sensor C2 is installed on the positioning sensor installation unit C1.

[0045] In one embodiment, a hydraulically driven indexing plate is further provided between the glue injection robot arm and the mounting platform C7; the indexing plate is fixed on the mounting platform C7, and the glue injection robot arm is mounted on the mounting platform.

[0046] In one embodiment, the indexing plate and the piston rod move simultaneously, and when the indexing plate is at the indexing starting point, the piston cylinder is at the stroke starting point; when the indexing plate is at the indexing end point, the piston cylinder is at the stroke end point.

[0047] The foregoing description of several embodiments of the present application is presented for illustrative purposes. The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive, nor is it intended to limit the present application to the precise configurations, constructions and / or steps disclosed, and it is apparent that many modifications and variations may be made in light of the teachings above. The scope of the present invention and all equivalents are intended to be defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A wafer processing device, comprising an electrical component, an oven unit, a photoresist unit, a box station unit, a centrifugal unit, and a process robot; the photoresist unit comprises a flow meter, an on-off valve assembly, a photoresist barrel, and a waste liquid barrel assembly; the box station unit comprises at least one box station robot; the centrifugal unit comprises a cavity, a glue-spreading unit, and a glue-injecting robot arm; characterized in that: Each cavity of the centrifugal unit includes two glue-spreading units and a glue-injecting robot arm.

2. A wafer processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The oven unit comprises a high-temperature hot plate, and the cold plate unit is eliminated, and the wafer coated with glue is baked by the high-temperature hot plate.

3. The wafer processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The glue injection mechanical arm is arranged between the two glue spreading units, and the two glue spreading units share one glue injection mechanical arm for glue injection.

4. The wafer processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The centrifugal unit comprises more than two chambers, and the more than two chambers are located on the same side of the wafer processing device in an up-and-down stacking manner.

5. The wafer processing device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The glue injection mechanical arm is fixedly arranged on the slide rail assembly and is hydraulically driven to move back and forth between the two glue spreading units.

6. The wafer processing device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The slide rail assembly includes: end seals, stoppers, liquid communication channels, hydraulic pipeline connection ports, mounting platforms, piston components, mounting platform and piston connection holes, cylinder bodies, and guide rails; the glue injection robot arm is installed on the mounting platform; the mounting platform and the piston are fixedly connected via the connection holes; a travel groove is provided in the middle of the cylinder body to facilitate the movement and limitation of the mounting platform; and end seals are provided at both ends of the piston cylinder.

7. The wafer processing device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The cylinder body is provided with two hydraulic pipeline connection ports and two liquid communication channels, each hydraulic pipeline connection port is connected to the piston cylinder of the cylinder body through the liquid communication channel; and each of the liquid communication channels is arranged between the end seal and the piston.

8. The wafer processing device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The slide rail assembly further comprises a positioning sensor installation unit and a positioning sensor; the positioning sensor is installed on the positioning sensor installation unit.

9. The wafer processing device according to claim 5, characterized in that: A hydraulically driven dividing plate is also arranged between the glue injection mechanical arm and the mounting platform; the dividing plate is fixed on the mounting platform, and the glue injection mechanical arm is mounted on the mounting platform.

10. The wafer processing device according to claim 9, characterized in that: The indexing plate and the piston rod move simultaneously, and when the indexing plate is at the indexing starting point, the piston cylinder is at the stroke starting point; when the indexing plate is at the indexing end point, the piston cylinder is at the stroke end point.

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