Pressure control assembly for etching equipment and etching equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a pressure control assembly for etching equipment and the etching equipment, and the pressure control assembly comprises a valve which comprises a valve body and a valve core located in the valve body; the gear assembly comprises a rotating shaft connected with the valve element, a driven gear connected with the rotating shaft and a driving gear meshed with the driven gear, and the rotating source is connected with the driving gear, drives the valve element to rotate in the valve body through the gear assembly and controls the opening degree of the valve; the encoder is connected with the rotating shaft and used for measuring the rotating angle of the valve element. According to the invention, the accuracy of controlling the opening degree of the valve is improved, so that the accuracy of controlling the pressure of the etching equipment is improved, and the quality and the consistency of etched products are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor processing equipment. More specifically, the present invention relates to a pressure control component for an etching equipment and an etching equipment. Background Art

[0002] Etching equipment plays a crucial role in semiconductor manufacturing. It forms microcircuit patterns by precisely removing materials from specific areas on a wafer. The structure of the etching equipment includes a main body, a pressure control component, and a magnetic levitation molecular pump. The magnetic levitation molecular pump is responsible for providing the required high vacuum or ultra-high vacuum environment for the etching chamber, while the pressure control component is used to adjust the pressure in the etching chamber to ensure the smooth progress of the etching operation. The efficiency of this etching process and the quality of the final product greatly depend on the accuracy of the pressure control in the etching chamber.

[0003] In the prior art, the pressure control component usually consists of a rotation source, a valve, a transmission mechanism connecting the rotation source and the valve and including a gear assembly, and an encoder installed on the output shaft of the motor. The function of the encoder is to detect the rotation angle of the output shaft of the motor, so that the controller can calculate the opening degree of the valve according to the rotation angle and control the pressure in the etching chamber accordingly.

[0004] However, due to the precision limitation of mechanical processing, there is a slight clearance between the gears in the gear assembly. In a medium or low vacuum environment, the influence of this clearance on pressure control is relatively small, but in a high vacuum or ultra-high vacuum environment, the influence of the clearance on pressure control becomes significant. Therefore, this clearance directly causes the measurement result of the encoder to not accurately reflect the actual opening degree of the valve, thereby affecting the fine adjustment of the pressure in the etching chamber and reducing the quality and consistency of the final product. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To solve one or more of the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention provides a pressure control component for an etching equipment and an etching equipment, which solves the disadvantages of poor quality and consistency of the etched products in the prior art due to the poor accuracy of valve opening degree control, and improves the quality and consistency of the etched products.

[0006] According to a first aspect of the present invention, it provides a pressure control component for an etching equipment, and the pressure control component includes:

[0007] A valve, which includes a valve body and a valve core located inside the valve body;

[0008] A transmission mechanism, which includes a rotating shaft connected to the valve core, a driven gear connected to the rotating shaft, and a driving gear meshing with the driven gear,

[0009] A rotation source, which is connected to the driving gear and drives the valve core to rotate in the valve body through a transmission mechanism to control the opening degree of the valve;

[0010] An encoder, which is connected to the rotating shaft and is used to measure the rotation angle of the valve core.

[0011] For the pressure control assembly as described above, optionally, the encoder includes an induction module for emitting and receiving light and an optical turntable rotatably arranged in the induction module and having a light-transmitting through hole, wherein the induction module is fixedly arranged relative to the valve body, and the optical turntable is fixedly sleeved on the end of the rotating shaft away from the valve core.

[0012] For the pressure control assembly as described above, optionally, it further includes a controller, the controller is connected to both the encoder and the rotation source, and controls the rotation angle of the rotation source according to the measurement result of the encoder.

[0013] For the pressure control assembly as described above, optionally, the rotation source includes a servo motor or a stepper motor.

[0014] For the pressure control assembly as described above, optionally, the driven gear is fixedly sleeved on the rotating shaft and is located between the valve body and the encoder.

[0015] For the pressure control assembly as described above, optionally, the driving gear is a cylindrical gear and the driven gear is a sector gear.

[0016] For the pressure control assembly as described above, optionally, the etching equipment is a plasma etching equipment or a dry etching equipment.

[0017] For the pressure control assembly as described above, optionally, the valve includes a butterfly valve or a ball valve.

[0018] According to the second aspect of the present invention, it provides an etching equipment, including any one of the above-mentioned pressure control assemblies.

[0019] For the etching equipment as described above, optionally, it further includes a main machine with an etching chamber and a magnetic suspension molecular pump, and the air inlet of the magnetic suspension molecular pump is connected to the etching chamber of the main machine through the valve of the pressure control assembly.

[0020] The pressure control component for an etching device and the etching device provided above include a valve, which includes a valve body and a valve core located inside the valve body. The first end of the valve core is fixedly connected to the valve body; a transmission mechanism, which includes a rotating shaft connected to the second end of the valve core, a driven gear connected to the rotating shaft, and a driving gear meshing with the driven gear; a rotation source, which is connected to the driving gear and drives the valve core to rotate in the valve body through the transmission mechanism to control the opening degree of the valve; an encoder, which is connected to the rotating shaft and is used to measure the rotation angle of the valve core. By fixing the encoder for measuring the opening degree of the valve core on the rotating shaft, it is ensured that the measurement result does not include the backlash error of the gear assembly, and the measured opening degree of the valve core is accurate, improving the accuracy of pressure control, and further improving the quality and consistency of the products etched by the etching device.

[0021] Further, in the embodiment, a controller is connected to both the encoder and the rotation source, and the measurement result of the encoder is obtained in real time and the rotation angle of the rotation source is adjusted in real time to respond in a timely manner to the control requirement for the opening degree of the valve, and further meet the pressure control requirement of the etching chamber of the etching device in a timely manner. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0022] By reading the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features and advantages of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention will become readily understood. In the drawings, several embodiments of the present invention are shown in an exemplary rather than restrictive manner, and the same or corresponding reference numerals represent the same or corresponding parts, wherein:

[0023] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a pressure control component in the related art;

[0024] Figure 2 shows a schematic structural diagram of the pressure control component according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 is a schematic composition diagram of the etching device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Description of the reference numerals: 1, rotation source; 2, valve; 3, transmission mechanism; 4, encoder; 6, host; 7, magnetic levitation molecular pump; 21, valve core; 31, rotating shaft; 32, driven gear; 33, driving gear. Detailed Embodiments

[0027] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative efforts belong to the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0028] As shown in the attached Figure 1 The pressure control component shown is a component for controlling the pressure in the etching chamber of an etching device in the prior art. It generally consists of a motor 1, a valve (including a valve core 21), a transmission mechanism connecting the motor 1 and the valve and including a gear assembly, and an encoder 4 installed on the output shaft of the motor 1. The function of the encoder 4 is to detect the rotation angle of the output shaft of the motor 1, so as to calculate the opening degree of the valve according to the rotation angle and control the pressure in the etching chamber accordingly. It can be found that the encoder 4 is directly installed on the output shaft of the motor 1, which is convenient for accurately measuring the rotation angle of the motor output shaft and determining the opening degree of 2 according to the rotation angle of the motor output shaft. The etching chamber of the etching device is in a high-vacuum or ultra-high-vacuum environment, and the requirement for the pressure adjustment accuracy is very high, that is, the requirement for the adjustment accuracy of the opening degree of the valve controlled by the electrode output shaft is very high.

[0029] The transmission mechanism between the motor 1 and the valve includes a gear assembly. The gear assembly is a component that realizes rotational connection through the engagement of several gears. Due to the precision limitation of mechanical processing, there is a slight clearance between the gears. Even a slight clearance will cause a control error in the opening degree of the valve, directly resulting in the measurement result of the encoder 4 being unable to accurately reflect the actual opening degree of the valve, making it impossible to accurately adjust the opening degree of the valve by the motor 1, thereby affecting the fine adjustment of the pressure in the etching chamber and reducing the quality and consistency of the final product.

[0030] To solve the problem that the opening degree of the valve cannot be accurately adjusted in the prior art, this embodiment provides a new type of pressure control component for an etching device, and its structural schematic diagram is as shown in the attached Figure 2 shown. The pressure control component includes a valve, which includes a valve body (not shown in the attached figure) and a valve core 21 located inside the valve body; a transmission mechanism 3, which includes a rotating shaft 31 connected to the valve core 21, a driven gear 32 connected to the rotating shaft 31, and a driving gear 33 meshing with the driven gear 32; a rotation source 1, which is connected to the driving gear 33 and drives the valve core 21 to rotate in the valve body through the transmission mechanism 3 to control the opening degree of the valve; an encoder 4, which is connected to the rotating shaft 31 and is used to measure the rotation angle of the valve core 21.

[0031] During operation, when the rotation source 1 drives the driving gear 33 to rotate, the driven gear 32 will rotate following the driving gear 33, and then drive the rotating shaft 31 to rotate, and then the rotating shaft 31 drives the valve core 21 to rotate in the valve body to control the opening degree of the valve.

[0032] In addition, the pressure control component in this embodiment further includes an encoder 4. The encoder 4 is connected to the rotating shaft 31 and is used to directly measure the rotation angle of the valve core 21. That is, the rotation angle of the valve core 21 can be directly obtained through the measurement result of the encoder 4. Furthermore, the rotation angle of the rotation source 1 can be controlled according to the measurement result without considering the influence of the clearance between the driving gear 33 and the driven gear 32 in the transmission mechanism 3 on the measurement result; this improves the accuracy of measuring the valve opening degree, ensures the accuracy of pressure control in the etching chamber of the etching equipment, and further improves the quality and consistency of the products etched by the etching equipment.

[0033] As an example, the encoder 4 includes an induction module for emitting and receiving light and an optical turntable rotatably arranged in the induction module and having a light-transmitting through hole, wherein the induction module is fixedly arranged relative to the valve body, and the optical turntable is fixedly sleeved on the end of the rotating shaft 31 away from the valve core 21.

[0034] The encoder 4 is used to measure the rotation angle or speed of the target component, and generally includes an induction module for emitting and receiving light and an optical turntable rotatably arranged in the induction module and having a light-transmitting through hole; the rotation angle is measured by the induction module measuring the light passing through the light-transmitting through hole arranged on the optical turntable when the optical turntable rotates. Therefore, the optical turntable is usually fixed on the component that needs to rotate and rotates with the component, while the induction module is fixed.

[0035] Specifically, in this embodiment, one end of the rotating shaft 31 is fixedly connected to the valve core 21, the other end of the rotating shaft 31 is fixedly connected to the driven gear 32, and the optical turntable is fixed on the end of the rotating shaft 31 away from the valve core 21 and rotates with the rotating shaft 31; the induction module is fixed on the valve body and emits light to the optical turntable. When the optical turntable rotates with the rotating shaft 31, the light passing through the light-transmitting through hole on the optical turntable is received to measure the rotation angle of the rotating shaft 31, and further measure the rotation angle of the valve core 21.

[0036] The pressure control component of this embodiment further includes a controller. The controller is connected to both the encoder 4 and the rotation source 1, and controls the rotation angle of the rotation source 1 according to the measurement result of the encoder 4. By the controller, the measurement result of the encoder 4 is obtained in real time and the rotation angle of the rotation source 1 is adjusted in real time to respond in time to the control requirement of the valve opening degree, and further meet the pressure control requirement of the etching chamber of the etching equipment in time, improving the quality of the etched products. Among them, the controller includes programmable logic control components (such as PLC or CPU), a memory, and electronic components connected to the programmable logic control components, etc., which are well known to those skilled in the art and will not be elaborated here.

[0037] The rotation source 1 in this embodiment includes a servo motor or a stepper motor. Among them, both the servo motor and the stepper motor can be used as the rotation source 1 to drive the valve core 21 to rotate in the valve body through the transmission mechanism 3. Comparatively speaking, the control accuracy of the servo motor is higher, so the price is also higher. Since the encoder 4 in this embodiment can directly measure the rotation angle of the valve core 21 and adjust the rotation angle of the rotation source 1 according to the measurement result, the control accuracy requirement for the rotation source 1 is relatively low. Therefore, the pressure control assembly in this embodiment preferably uses a stepper motor as the rotation source 1, which can not only ensure the accuracy of the valve opening, but also has a low price cost.

[0038] As shown in the Figure 2 accompanying drawings, the driven gear 32 is fixedly sleeved on the rotating shaft 31 and is located between the valve body and the encoder 4. The driven gear 32 is provided with a jack matching the rotating shaft 31, and the driven gear 32 is fixedly sleeved on the rotating shaft 31 through the jack. Among them, the encoder 4 is fixedly sleeved on the end of the rotating shaft 31 far from the valve core 21 through an optical turntable, and the driven gear 32 is sleeved on the shaft body between the valve body and the encoder 4 on the rotating shaft 31.

[0039] In this embodiment, the driving gear and the driven gear can be selected as cylindrical gears. However, in order to save the space occupancy rate, it is more recommended to select the driving gear 33 as a cylindrical gear, and the driven gear 3 as a sector gear. The pressure control assembly is used to control the pressure of the etching chamber of the etching equipment. The opening range of the valve is relatively small. Therefore, the rotation angle of the valve core 21 of the valve is relatively small. Selecting a driven gear 32 in the shape of a sector gear can meet the adjustment of the rotation angle of the rotation source 1 to the valve core 21, and the sector gear has a smaller volume, which is beneficial to making the structure of the pressure control assembly more compact.

[0040] The pressure control assembly in this embodiment can be used in a variety of etching equipment. For example, the etching equipment includes plasma etching equipment or dry etching equipment. In the field of semiconductor preparation, the etching equipment includes plasma etching equipment or dry etching equipment. Whether it is plasma etching equipment or dry etching equipment, the control requirement for the pressure of the etching chamber is relatively high. Using the pressure control assembly of the present invention can meet the accuracy requirement for pressure control of the etching chamber of the etching equipment.

[0041] In the prior art, valves can be divided into various types according to their types, such as gate valves, globe valves, butterfly valves, ball valves, plug valves, check valves, pressure reducing valves and other various types or other types. The valve in this embodiment is used to control the pressure of the etching chamber of the etching equipment. The valve is preferably a butterfly valve or a ball valve, which has a simple structure, a small volume, and a relatively fast response speed, and can quickly respond to the pressure adjustment requirement of the etching chamber of the etching equipment.

[0042] Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present invention also provides an etching equipment, including the pressure control assembly of any one of the above.

[0043] As shown in the attached Figure 3 figure, the etching equipment of this embodiment further includes a main machine 6 with an etching chamber and a magnetic levitation molecular pump 7. The air inlet of the magnetic levitation molecular pump 7 is connected to the etching chamber of the main machine 6 through the valve of the pressure control component. The magnetic levitation molecular pump 7 is responsible for providing the required high vacuum or ultra-high vacuum environment for the etching chamber, while the pressure control component is used to adjust the pressure of the etching chamber to ensure the smooth progress of the etching operation.

[0044] In the above description of the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, terms such as "fixed", "installed", "connected" or "coupled" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, regarding the term "connected", it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or integrated; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the communication inside two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements. Therefore, unless otherwise clearly limited in the present invention, those skilled in the art can understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention according to specific circumstances.

[0045] According to the above description of the present invention, those skilled in the art can also understand the following terms used. For example, terms indicating orientation or position relationship such as "inner", "outer", etc. are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the drawings of the present invention. It is only for the purpose of facilitating the description of the solution of the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than explicitly or implicitly indicating that the device or element involved must have the specific orientation, be constructed and operated in the specific orientation. Therefore, the above terms of orientation or position relationship cannot be understood or interpreted as a limitation to the solution of the present invention.

[0046] In addition, the terms "first" or "second" etc. used in the present invention to refer to numbers or ordinals are only for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as explicitly or implicitly indicating relative importance or implicitly specifying the quantity of the indicated technical features. Thus, the features defined with "first" or "second" can explicitly or implicitly include at least one of such features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is at least two, such as two, three or more, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically limited.

[0047] Although multiple embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided only by way of example. Those skilled in the art can think of many changes, alterations and alternative ways without departing from the spirit and concept of the present invention. It should be understood that various alternative solutions to the embodiments of the present invention described herein can be adopted during the practice of the present invention. The appended claims are intended to define the protection scope of the present invention and thus cover equivalents or alternative solutions within the scope of these claims.

Claims

1. A pressure control component for an etching device, characterized in that, The pressure control component includes: a valve, which includes a valve body and a valve core located in the valve body; a transmission mechanism, which includes a rotating shaft connected to the valve core, a driven gear connected to the rotating shaft, and a driving gear meshing with the driven gear, a rotation source, which is connected to the driving gear and drives the valve core to rotate in the valve body through the transmission mechanism to control the opening degree of the valve; an encoder, which is connected to the rotating shaft and is used to measure the rotation angle of the valve core.

2. The pressure control component according to claim 1, wherein The encoder includes an induction module for emitting and receiving light and an optical turntable rotatably arranged in the induction module and having a light-transmitting through hole. Wherein, the induction module is fixedly arranged relative to the valve body, and the optical turntable is fixedly sleeved on the end of the rotating shaft far from the valve core.

3. The pressure control assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that, It further includes a controller, which is connected to both the encoder and the rotation source and controls the rotation angle of the rotation source according to the measurement result of the encoder.

4. The pressure control assembly according to claim 3, wherein The rotation source includes a servo motor or a stepper motor.

5. The pressure control assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The driven gear is fixedly sleeved on the rotating shaft and is located between the valve body and the encoder.

6. The pressure control assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The driving gear is a cylindrical gear, and the driven gear is a sector gear.

7. The pressure control assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The etching equipment includes a plasma etching equipment or a dry etching equipment.

8. The pressure control assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The valve includes a butterfly valve or a ball valve.

9. An etching device, characterized in that, It includes the pressure control component according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The etching apparatus according to claim 9, wherein It further includes a main machine with an etching chamber and a magnetic suspension molecular pump. The air inlet of the magnetic suspension molecular pump is connected to the etching chamber of the main machine through the valve of the pressure control component.

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