Ejector pin mechanism, wafer lifting device and method for adjusting height of ejector pin

Abstract

The invention provides an ejector pin mechanism, a wafer lifting device and a method for adjusting the height of an ejector pin. The ejector pin mechanism comprises an ejector pin, a heavy hammer and a horizontal bolt; the ejector pin is in threaded connection with the heavy hammer; the height of the ejector pin is adjusted through spiral movement between the ejector pin and the heavy hammer, and a first through hole is formed in the lower portion of the ejector pin in the horizontal direction. A second through hole in the horizontal direction is formed in the counter weight, and the second through hole and the first through hole are communicated to form a pin hole so as to contain the horizontal plug pin.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, and in particular to an ejector pin mechanism of a wafer carrying device. Background Art

[0002] In the prior art, the ejector pins and the weight in the semiconductor process equipment are in direct contact with the aluminum cake under the heating plate, and the ejector pins passively lift the wafer by lifting the heating plate. This method is called a fixed ejector method. Another type of fixed ejector pin is that the ejector pin and the weight are in contact with the ejector pin support plate, and the ejector pin height can be adjusted by adjusting the height of the ejector pin support plate.

[0003] However, the above-mentioned ejector height adjustment methods have many defects:

[0004] First, when the heights of the three ejector pins are inconsistent, the wafer will deviate when it lands on the surface of the heating plate, causing a sensor alarm or resulting in poor process performance.

[0005] Secondly, after the current machine performs leveling on the heating plate, the height of the ejector pin will inevitably change, increasing the probability and amplitude of wafer deviation.

[0006] Third, for a fixed ejector machine with a large aluminum cake, the ejector height cannot be adjusted actively and can only change with the change of the heating plate. For a fixed ejector machine with an ejector support plate, the operation of adjusting the ejector height is more complicated and less efficient. Summary of the invention

[0007] In order to realize the active height adjustment function and safety of an ejector mechanism, the present invention provides an ejector mechanism, a wafer lifting device and a method for adjusting the ejector height.

[0008] The invention provides an ejector mechanism, which comprises an ejector, a weight and a horizontal latch.

[0009] The ejector pin is threadedly connected to the weight; the height of the ejector pin is adjusted by the spiral movement between the ejector pin and the weight, and the lower part of the ejector pin has a first through hole in the horizontal direction; the inside of the weight has a second through hole in the horizontal direction, and the second through hole is connected to the first through hole to form a pin hole to accommodate the horizontal plug.

[0010] In one embodiment, the ejector pin comprises an upper portion and the lower portion, and an outer surface of the lower portion is provided with threads.

[0011] In one embodiment, the weight has a cavity inside, the cavity has the same axial direction as the ejector pin, the cavity is used to accommodate the ejector pin, and the side wall of the cavity has a thread.

[0012] In one embodiment, the pin hole passes through the cavity.

[0013] In one embodiment, the second through hole is perpendicular to the cavity.

[0014] In one embodiment, the horizontal latch includes a main body and two ends, the main body is horizontal, and the two ends are respectively perpendicular to the main body.

[0015] In one embodiment, a height of the main body is smaller than a height of the second through hole or the first through hole.

[0016] In one embodiment, the height of the pin hole changes with the upward or downward spiral movement of the ejector pin, and the height of the pin hole is less than or equal to the height of the second through hole or the first through hole.

[0017] The present invention also provides a wafer lifting device, comprising: a plurality of groups of ejector pin mechanisms as described above.

[0018] The present invention also provides a method for adjusting the height of the ejector pin, the method including but not limited to the following steps:

[0019] Record the data measured by the automatic gap measurement system (AGS) on the heating plate before removing the heating plate;

[0020] Removing the heating plate to perform maintenance on the heating plate;

[0021] Reinstalling the heating plate and restoring the data measured by the automatic gap measurement system recorded before the removal;

[0022] The height of the ejector pin in the ejector pin mechanism as described above is adjusted, and the height adjustment is achieved through the spiral action between the ejector pin and the weight.

[0023] The ejector mechanism of the present invention has the following extremely beneficial technical effects:

[0024] Firstly, by adjusting the coordination between the ejector pin and the weight, the effect of actively adjusting the ejector pin height is achieved.

[0025] Secondly, after restoring AGS, there is no need to level the heating plate when re-running the machine to ensure that the height of the ejector pins remains consistent and reduce the risk of wafer deviation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] The above invention content and the following specific embodiments of the present invention will be better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the accompanying drawings are only examples of the claimed invention. In the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or similar elements.

[0027] Figure 1 A wafer carrying device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0028] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an ejector pin structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0029] Figure 3 A front view of a weight according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0030] Figure 4 A top view of a weight according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0031] Figure 5 A side view of a weight according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0032] Figure 6 Showing a horizontal latch according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 7 A method for adjusting the height of an ejector pin using an ejector pin mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The detailed features and advantages of the present invention are described in detail in the specific embodiments below, and the content is sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art to understand the technical content of the present invention and implement it accordingly, and according to the description, claims and drawings disclosed in this specification, those skilled in the art can easily understand the relevant purposes and advantages of the present invention. Although the description of the present invention will be introduced in conjunction with the preferred embodiment, this does not mean that the features of this invention are limited to this embodiment. On the contrary, the purpose of introducing the invention in conjunction with the embodiment is to cover other options or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present invention. In order to provide a deep understanding of the present invention, many specific details will be included in the following description. The present invention can also be implemented without using these details. In addition, in order to avoid confusion or blurring the focus of the present invention, some specific details will be omitted in the description.

[0035] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, 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 connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0036] In addition, the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "horizontal" and "vertical" used in the following description should be understood as the directions shown in the paragraph and the related drawings. Such relative terms are only used for the convenience of description and do not mean that the device described therein must be manufactured or operated in a specific direction, and therefore should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

[0037] It is understood that although the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. may be used herein to describe various components, channels, components, regions, layers and / or parts, these components, channels, components, regions, layers and / or parts should not be limited by these terms, and these terms are only used to distinguish different components, channels, components, regions, layers and / or parts. In addition, the terms "first", "second", "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0038] As shown in this application and claims, unless the context clearly indicates an exception, the words "a", "an", "an" and / or "the" do not refer to the singular and may also include the plural. Generally speaking, the terms "include" and "comprise" only indicate the inclusion of the steps and elements that have been clearly identified, and these steps and elements do not constitute an exclusive list. The method or device may also include other steps or elements.

[0039] In some embodiments, numbers describing the number of components and attributes are used. It should be understood that such numbers used in the description of the embodiments are modified by the modifiers "about", "approximately" or "substantially" in some examples. Unless otherwise specified, "about", "approximately" or "substantially" indicate that the numbers are allowed to vary by ±20%. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters used in the specification and claims are approximate values, which may change according to the required features of individual embodiments. In some embodiments, the numerical parameters should take into account the specified significant digits and adopt the general method of retaining digits. Although the numerical domains and parameters used to confirm the breadth of their range in some embodiments of the present application are approximate values, in specific embodiments, the setting of such numerical values ​​is as accurate as possible within the feasible range.

[0040] At the same time, the present application uses specific words to describe the embodiments of the present application. For example, "one embodiment", "an embodiment", and / or "some embodiments" refer to a certain feature, structure or characteristic related to at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, it should be emphasized and noted that "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" or "an alternative embodiment" mentioned twice or more in different positions in this specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, some features, structures or characteristics in one or more embodiments of the present application can be appropriately combined.

[0041] In most semiconductor IC process reaction chambers, a wafer carrier is usually included. On the one hand, it provides the function of carrying wafers so that the wafers can be subjected to specific processes in the reaction chambers. On the other hand, it also provides components that can load and unload wafers so that the wafers are not easily damaged when they are transferred between reaction chambers. Taking semiconductor chemical vapor deposition equipment as an example, the wafer carrier is arranged in the reaction chamber of the deposition equipment. The wafer carrier includes a base, a plurality of ejectors, an ejector support, and a lifting drive. The base can be a heating plate so that the wafer placed on the base is heated by heat conduction to perform the deposition process. The base has a plurality of through holes, and the ejectors are respectively arranged in these through holes. The ejectors are used to support the wafer placed thereon for lifting and lowering. The ejector support holds the bottom of the ejector and is driven by the lifting drive to move up and down. The wafer can be transferred to the reaction chamber by the robot arm. The lifting drive drives the ejector support to rise against the ejector, so that the ejector rises through the through hole to contact and lift the wafer upward, and the wafer leaves the robot arm.

[0042] Figure 1 A wafer carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The wafer carrier includes a base 102, multiple groups of ejector pin mechanisms and an ejector pin mechanism support plate 105. The base 102 is used to carry a wafer 101. The base 102 may include a heating plate so that the wafer 101 placed on the base 102 can be heated via heat conduction to perform a deposition process. Each group of ejector pin mechanisms includes an ejector pin 103, a weight 104 and a horizontal latch (not shown). There are multiple ejector pin holes on the platform of the base 102, and the ejector pin 103 of each group of ejector pin mechanisms is inserted into an ejector pin hole. The multiple groups of ejector pin mechanisms are used to support the wafer placed thereon for lifting and lowering. Each ejector pin mechanism in the multiple groups of ejector pin mechanisms of the present invention can actively adjust the height separately. The ejector pin 103 is threadedly connected to the weight 104, and is protected by a double lock through a horizontal latch to prevent the ejector pin from rotating and falling off.

[0043] It should be pointed out that Figure 1 This is just one application environment of the ejector mechanism of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this application environment.

[0044] Figure 2 The schematic diagram of the ejector pin structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The ejector pin comprises an upper portion 201 and a lower portion 202. The outer surface of the lower portion 202 is provided with a thread 203, so that the lower portion becomes a bolt. The lower portion 202 also has a first through hole 204 in the horizontal direction for inserting a horizontal pin.

[0045] Figure 3 FIG. 2 shows a front view of a heavy hammer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ejector mechanism of the present invention comprises an ejector (such as Figure 2 As shown), a heavy hammer 301 and a horizontal latch (as Figure 6As shown in FIG. 1 ). The weight 301 has a cavity 303 inside, and the cavity 303 is in the same axial direction as the ejector pin, and the cavity 303 is used to accommodate the ejector pin. The side wall of the cavity has a thread 302, so that the weight 301 can be used as a nut. The outer surface thread of the lower part of the ejector pin is threadedly connected with the thread on the side wall of the cavity of the weight 301 to form a tight fit.

[0046] The thread 302 on the side wall of the cavity is threadedly connected to the thread 203 at the bottom of the ejector pin. The height of the ejector pin can be adjusted by spiral motion, that is, the height of the ejector pin can be adjusted by twisting the ejector pin relative to the weight. For multiple sets of ejector pin mechanisms, each ejector pin mechanism can independently adjust the height of the ejector pin.

[0047] The weight has a second through hole 304 in the horizontal direction (i.e., in the direction perpendicular to the circumference of the ejector pin). The second through hole 304 is interconnected with the first through hole 204. The height of the second through hole 304 is consistent with the height of the first through hole 204. The second through hole 304 is connected with the first through hole 204 to form a pin hole that can accommodate a horizontal pin (the pin is as shown in FIG. Figure 6 shown).

[0048] It should be noted that when the top edges of the first through hole and the second through hole are aligned, the pin hole is the largest. When the ejector pin and the weight perform a spiral motion, for example, when the ejector pin is twisted upward to increase the height, the top edge of the first through hole will be higher than the top edge of the second through hole, and the pin hole (in height direction) will become smaller. Therefore, the height of the pin hole will change with the upward or downward spiral motion of the ejector pin, that is, the height of the pin hole is less than or equal to the height of the second through hole or the first through hole, but in any case, within the reasonable travel range of the ejector pin, the height of the pin hole should be able to accommodate the horizontal pin.

[0049] Figure 4 FIG. 2 shows a top view of a heavy hammer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 As shown, the second through hole 304 penetrates the weight in a horizontal direction and passes through the inner cavity 303 of the weight.

[0050] Figure 5 FIG. 2 shows a side view of a heavy hammer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 As shown, the second through hole 304 is perpendicular to the cavity 303 .

[0051] Figure 6 FIG. 2 shows a horizontal latch according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6As shown, the horizontal latch 601 is used to be inserted into the pin hole formed by the second through hole 304 and the first through hole 204. The horizontal latch 601 has a main body 602 and two ends 603, 604. The main body 602 is in a horizontal direction, and the two ends 603, 604 are respectively perpendicular to the main body 602 and are made in a right angle form to form gravity self-locking. The height of the main body 602 is less than the height of the second through hole 304 or the first through hole 204. The purpose of this design is to allow the horizontal latch to have a certain amount of activity space, so that after the height of the ejector pin is adjusted, for example, after the ejector pin moves upward and the pin hole becomes smaller, the horizontal latch pin still has space to be inserted into the pin hole. That is, there is an upper and lower activity space between the horizontal latch and the pin hole. In one embodiment, the length of the main body 602 is equal to the length of the pin hole.

[0052] After the ejector pins are screwed to the weight and each ejector pin is actively adjusted to the required height through the spiral action, the horizontal latch is inserted into the pin hole formed by the first through hole and the second through hole to prevent the ejector pin from rotating and falling off when the screw connection fails. The two ends of the horizontal latch are designed to be in a right angle form in order to form a gravity self-locking. The design of the pin hole and the horizontal latch of the present invention plays the role of a double lock to ensure the safety of the process.

[0053] Figure 7 A method for adjusting the height of an ejector pin using an ejector pin mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The method is generally applicable to a process flow in which a heating plate needs to be removed (for example, for cleaning) and then replaced.

[0054] The method includes but is not limited to the following steps:

[0055] Step 701: Record the AGS (Auto Gapping System) data of the heating plate before removing the heating plate. The data is used to ensure the spacing between the wafer and the shower plate.

[0056] Step 702: Remove the heating plate so as to perform normal maintenance work (eg, cleaning) on ​​the heating plate.

[0057] Step 703: Replace the heating plate and restore the AGS reading to preliminarily adjust the position of the heating plate to the previously recorded AGS state to keep the process performance consistent with that before removing the heating plate.

[0058] Step 704: The height of the ejector pins in each ejector pin mechanism is adjusted by a spiral action between the ejector pins and the weight.

[0059] Step 705: Adjust the film transmission.

[0060] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative components, modules, blocks, units, circuits, systems, and steps described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented by hardware, software (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or a combination of the two. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, modules, blocks, units, circuits, systems, and steps are described above in general terms in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. The technician may implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as resulting in a departure from the scope of the present invention.

[0061] Flowcharts are used in the present application to illustrate the operations or steps performed by the system according to the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the preceding or following operations or steps are not necessarily performed accurately in order. On the contrary, various operations or steps may be processed in reverse order or simultaneously. At the same time, other operations or steps may be added to these processes, or one or more operations or steps may be removed from these processes.

[0062] Unless explicitly stated in the claims, the order of the processing elements and sequences, the use of alphanumeric characters, or the use of other names described in the present application are not intended to limit the order of the processes and methods of the present application.

[0063] The terms and expressions used above are for descriptive purposes only, and the present invention should not be limited to these terms and expressions. The use of these terms and expressions does not mean to exclude any equivalent features of the illustrations and descriptions (or parts thereof), and it should be recognized that various modifications that may exist should also be included in the scope of the claims. Other modifications, changes and substitutions may also exist. Accordingly, the claims should be deemed to cover all such equivalents.

[0064] Similarly, it should be noted that in order to simplify the description of the disclosure of this application and thus facilitate the understanding of one or more embodiments of the invention, in the foregoing description of the embodiments of this application, multiple features are sometimes combined into one embodiment, drawing or description thereof. However, this disclosure method does not mean that the features required by the object of this application are more than the features mentioned in the claims.

[0065] Similarly, it should be pointed out that although the present invention has been described with reference to the current specific embodiments, ordinary technicians in this technical field should realize that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, and various equivalent changes or substitutions may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, as long as the changes and modifications to the above embodiments are within the scope of the essential spirit of the present invention, they will fall within the scope of the claims of this application.

Claims

1. A ejector mechanism, characterized in that: The ejector mechanism comprises: thimbles, weights and leveling pins; The ejector pin is threadedly connected to the weight; the height of the ejector pin is adjusted by the spiral movement between the ejector pin and the weight, and the lower part of the ejector pin has a first through hole in the horizontal direction; the inside of the weight has a second through hole in the horizontal direction, and the second through hole is connected to the first through hole to form a pin hole to accommodate the horizontal plug.

2. The ejector mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ejector pin comprises an upper portion and a lower portion, and a thread is arranged on an outer surface of the lower portion.

3. The ejector mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The weight hammer has a cavity inside, the cavity has the same axial direction as the ejector pin, the cavity is used to accommodate the ejector pin, and the side wall of the cavity has a thread; the pin hole passes through the cavity.

4. The ejector mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that: The second through hole is perpendicular to the cavity.

5. The ejector mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: There is a vertical movable space between the horizontal latch pin and the pin hole.

6. The ejector mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The horizontal latch comprises a main body and two ends, the main body is in a horizontal direction, and the two ends are respectively perpendicular to the main body.

7. The ejector mechanism according to claim 6, characterized in that: The height of the main body is smaller than the height of the second through hole or the first through hole.

8. The ejector mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The height of the pin hole changes with the upward or downward spiral movement of the ejector pin, and the height of the pin hole is less than or equal to the height of the second through hole or the first through hole.

9. A wafer lifting device, characterized in that: include: A plurality of groups of ejector mechanisms as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A method for adjusting the height of an ejector pin, characterized in that: The method comprises: Recording the data measured by the automatic gap measurement system on the heating plate before the heating plate is removed; Removing the heating plate to perform maintenance on the heating plate; Reinstalling the heating plate and restoring the data measured by the automatic gap measurement system recorded before the removal; The height of the ejector pin in the ejector pin mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is adjusted, and the height adjustment is achieved by a screw action between the ejector pin and the weight.

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