Semiconductor process equipment, wafer transmission system and loading cavity

Abstract

The invention provides a loading cavity. The loading cavity comprises a cavity body, a base, an ejector pin driving assembly and a plurality of ejector pins, the base is arranged in the cavity and is provided with a bearing surface for bearing the tray; the ejector pin driving assembly comprises a mounting plate, a lifting rod and a lifting driving assembly, and a plurality of ejector pins are arranged on the mounting plate; a second through hole is formed in the bottom wall of the cavity, the top end of the lifting rod is fixedly connected with the mounting plate, and the bottom end of the lifting rod penetrates out of the cavity through the second through hole; the lifting driving assembly is arranged below the cavity, and the lifting driving assembly drives the lifting rod to ascend and descend along the second through hole so as to drive the mounting plate and the ejector pins arranged on the mounting plate to ascend and descend; and the plurality of thimbles are used for penetrating upwards from the lower part of the bearing surface in the lifting process or descending to the lower part of the bearing surface. The invention also provides semiconductor process equipment and a wafer transmission system. The possibility is provided for automatically placing the wafer on the tray and automatically taking the wafer down from the tray through automatic lifting of the plurality of ejector pins.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of semiconductor process equipment, and more specifically, to a semiconductor process equipment, a wafer transport system, and a loading cavity. Background Technology

[0002] Silicon carbide (SiC) is a semiconductor material with unique physical and chemical properties. The silicon-carbon bonds that make up silicon carbide crystals have very large bond energies (4.6 eV), and its band gap is 2.3–

[0003] With a voltage of 3.3 eV, high hardness, high chemical inertness, wide bandgap, and good thermal stability, silicon carbide power devices can operate at high temperatures of 300°C, and their performance is guaranteed not to degrade even at higher temperatures. Under the same voltage conditions, the on-state resistance of silicon carbide power devices is more than an order of magnitude lower than that of silicon-based power devices, resulting in higher energy conversion efficiency. However, precisely because of its unique properties, silicon carbide devices are difficult to manufacture, have low yield rates, and are relatively expensive, limiting their widespread adoption.

[0004] Epitaxial growth is the first step in the manufacturing process of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor devices. Unlike the 1000–1200°C epitaxial temperature of silicon epitaxy, SiC epitaxy typically operates at 1500–1800°C, and the growth time is generally longer. Under these conditions, directly removing the wafer as in silicon epitaxy would easily increase surface defects in the SiC wafer. Therefore, it is necessary to place the entire tray containing the SiC wafer into and out of the process chamber. That is, the wafer must first be placed on the tray before processing, then the tray and wafer are transferred together into the reaction chamber for processing. After processing, the tray and wafer are removed from the reaction chamber, and the wafer is then removed from the tray.

[0005] However, in the existing technology, the process steps of placing wafers on the tray and removing them from the tray both require human intervention, which greatly reduces the efficiency of semiconductor processes. Furthermore, human handling of wafers can easily cause small particles to fall onto the wafer surface, causing wafer contamination or scratches, and affecting the yield of silicon carbide wafers.

[0006] Therefore, how to provide a transfer system for silicon carbide wafers that can achieve automated wafer transfer and retrieval has become a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present invention aims to provide a semiconductor process equipment, a wafer transfer system and a loading cavity to realize automated wafer transfer and pick-up of silicon carbide wafers.

[0008] To achieve the above object, as one aspect of the present application, a loading cavity is provided, comprising: a cavity, a base, a needle driving assembly and a plurality of needles;

[0009] The base is arranged in the cavity, and the base has a bearing surface for bearing a tray;

[0010] The needle driving assembly comprises a mounting plate, a lifting rod and a lifting driving assembly, wherein the plurality of needles are arranged on the mounting plate; a second through hole is formed in the bottom wall of the cavity, the top end of the lifting rod is fixedly connected with the mounting plate, and the bottom end of the lifting rod passes through the second through hole to the outside of the cavity; the lifting driving assembly is arranged below the cavity, and the lifting driving assembly drives the lifting rod to lift along the second through hole to drive the mounting plate and the plurality of needles arranged thereon to lift;

[0011] The plurality of needles are arranged to pass upward from the bottom surface of the bearing surface or to descend below the bearing surface during the lifting process.

[0012] Optionally, the lifting driving assembly comprises a lifting driving part and an elastic driving part, the lifting driving part is used to push the lifting rod to ascend, and the elastic driving part is used to drive the lifting rod to descend by elastic force.

[0013] Optionally, the top of the lifting driving assembly has a horizontal contact surface, the bottom end of the lifting rod has a hemispherical part, and the horizontal contact surface drives the lifting rod to ascend by pushing the hemispherical part during the process of pushing the lifting rod to ascend.

[0014] Optionally, the elastic driving part comprises a spring, a stop ring and a guide seat, the top surface of the guide seat is formed with a guide hole, the bottom surface of the guide hole is formed with a third through hole coaxial with the guide hole and penetrating through the bottom surface of the guide seat, the bottom of the guide seat is fixedly connected with the bottom of the cavity, and the third through hole is in communication with the second through hole.

[0015] The lifting rod passes through the guide hole and the third through hole of the guide seat, the stop ring and the spring are both sleeved on the lifting rod, the spring is located in the guide hole and between the stop ring and the bottom surface of the guide hole, and the spring is used to push the stop ring and the bottom surface of the guide hole away from each other by elastic force to make the lifting rod descend.

[0016] Optionally, the bearing surface of the base is formed with a mounting groove, the bottom of the mounting groove is formed with a first through hole penetrating through the bottom of the base, and the mounting plate is arranged in the mounting groove.

[0017] Optionally, multiple sets of ejector pins are fixedly arranged on the mounting plate, and the distance between the multiple ejector pins in each set and the axis of the base is equal.

[0018] Optionally, the tray supported by the base has multiple pin holes; multiple pins are used to extend from the lower surface of the supporting surface and pass through the multiple pin holes on the tray in a corresponding manner during the lifting process, or to descend from the multiple pin holes to below the supporting surface.

[0019] As a second aspect of the present invention, a wafer transport system is provided, comprising: a transport cavity, the aforementioned loading cavity, and a second transport component, wherein...

[0020] The transmission cavity has a chamber docking interface for communicating with the reaction chamber;

[0021] One side of the loading cavity is connected to the transmission cavity, and the other side has a selectively openable transmission port;

[0022] The second transmission component is used to transmit the wafer through the transmission port to the multiple raised ejector pins in the loading cavity, and is also used to remove the wafer from the multiple raised ejector pins and transmit the wafer out of the loading cavity through the transmission port;

[0023] The multiple ejector pins are used to lift the wafers carried on the tray by rising until they are detached from the tray; and also to lower the wafers located on the multiple ejector pins so that they eventually fall onto the tray.

[0024] Optionally, the wafer transfer system further includes a fixed platform, on which the loading cavity and the second transfer component are fixedly mounted, and the centers of the second transfer component, the loading cavity, and the transfer cavity are located on the same straight line.

[0025] As a third aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor process apparatus is provided, including a wafer transport system and a reaction chamber, wherein the wafer transport system is used to transfer a tray carrying a wafer into the reaction chamber and to remove the tray carrying the wafer from the reaction chamber, and the wafer transport system includes the aforementioned wafer transport system, a transport cavity, a calibration cavity, and a first transport component;

[0026] The transmission cavity has a chamber interface for communicating with the reaction chamber;

[0027] The calibration cavity is connected to the transmission cavity and is used to calibrate the incoming tray;

[0028] The first transmission component is disposed in the transmission cavity and is used to transfer the tray into the calibration cavity, and to remove the tray after rotational direction calibration from the calibration cavity and transfer it into the loading cavity.

[0029] In the semiconductor process equipment, wafer transfer system and loading cavity provided by the present invention, the automatic lifting and lowering of multiple ejector pins makes it possible to automatically place the wafer on the tray and automatically remove the wafer from the tray. The entire wafer transfer process does not require human intervention, thereby improving the efficiency of semiconductor process and reducing the probability of wafer contamination or damage caused by particles attached to the wafer surface, thus improving the product yield of wafers (e.g., silicon carbide wafers). Attached Figure Description

[0030] The accompanying drawings are provided to further illustrate the invention and form part of the specification. They are used together with the following detailed description to explain the invention, but do not constitute a limitation thereof. In the drawings:

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the wafer transmission system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the loading cavity structure in the wafer transfer system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the loading cavity in the wafer transport system provided in an embodiment of the present invention from another perspective;

[0034] Figure 4 yes Figure 3 A partial schematic diagram of region A in the loading cavity;

[0035] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the mounting plate in the loading cavity of the wafer transfer system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the tray structure in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 7 yes Figure 6 A partial schematic diagram of area A on the middle tray;

[0038] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the tray and the wafer in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the tray support block in the wafer transport system provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of the second transmission component in the wafer transmission system provided in this embodiment of the invention removing the tray from the tray support block;

[0041] Figure 11This is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of the first transmission component in the wafer transmission system provided in this embodiment of the invention removing the tray from the loading cavity;

[0042] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of the second transmission component in the wafer transfer system provided in this embodiment of the invention transferring a wafer to a tray in the loading cavity.

[0043] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures:

[0044] 100: Transmission cavity; 200: First transmission component

[0045] 300: Calibration chamber; 310: Tray calibrator

[0046] 400: Loading chamber; 410: Valve

[0047] 420: Valve drive mechanism; 430: Cavity

[0048] 440: Base; 450: Ejector pin

[0049] 460: Mounting plate 461: Connecting part

[0050] 462: Strip-shaped part; 463: Connecting hole

[0051] 464: Pin fixing hole; 470: Lifting rod

[0052] 471: Hemispherical section; 480: Lifting drive assembly

[0053] 480a: Lifting drive unit; 480b: Flexible drive unit

[0054] 481: Spring; 482: Retaining ring

[0055] 483: Guide seat; 500: Second transmission component

[0056] 600: Wafer calibrator; 700: Tray support block

[0057] 710: Opening; 800: Cooling chamber

[0058] 900: Fixed platform; 10: Wafer

[0059] 20: Pallet 21: Notch

[0060] 22: Receiving tank; 30: Reaction chamber

[0061] 40: Tablet Box Detailed Implementation

[0062] The specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for illustration and explanation only and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0063] To address the aforementioned technical problems, as one aspect of the present invention, a wafer transmission system is provided, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the wafer transport system includes a transport cavity 100, a first transport component 200, a calibration cavity 300, a loading cavity 400, and a second transport component 500, wherein...

[0064] The transfer cavity 100 has a chamber docking interface for communicating with the reaction chamber 30;

[0065] One side of the loading cavity 400 is connected to the transmission cavity 100, and the other side has a selectively openable transmission port;

[0066] The second transmission component 500 is used to transmit the wafer 10 to the tray 20 in the loading cavity 400 through the transmission port, and to remove the wafer 10 from the tray 20 in the loading cavity 400 and transmit the wafer 10 out of the loading cavity 400 through the transmission port.

[0067] The calibration cavity 300 is connected to the transmission cavity 100, and a calibration component is provided in the calibration cavity 300. The calibration component is used to calibrate the position of the tray 20 (specifically including the horizontal position of the tray 20 and the rotation angle of the tray 20) that is transmitted into the calibration cavity 300.

[0068] The first transmission component 200 is disposed in the transmission cavity 100 and is used to transmit the tray 20 into the calibration cavity 300 to coordinate with the calibration component to calibrate the position of the tray 20, and to remove the calibrated tray 20 from the calibration cavity 300 and transmit it into the loading cavity 400. It is also used to remove the tray 20 carrying the wafer 10 from the loading cavity 400 and transmit it into the reaction chamber 30 through the chamber interface, and to remove the tray 20 from the reaction chamber 30.

[0069] For example, the first transmission component 200 is a vacuum manipulator, and the second transmission component 500 is an atmospheric manipulator.

[0070] In this embodiment of the invention, the wafer transport system includes a transport cavity 100, a calibration cavity 300, and a loading cavity 400. The first transport component 200 can cooperate with the calibration cavity 300 to calibrate the position of the tray 20 and place the calibrated tray 20 into the loading cavity 400. Thus, the second transport component 500 can place the pre-process wafer 10 onto the calibrated tray 20, or remove the wafer 10 from the calibrated tray 20 at a determined position. This achieves automatic placement of the wafer 10 onto the tray 20 and automatic removal of the wafer 10 from the tray 20. The entire transport process of the wafer 10 and the tray 20 does not require human intervention, thereby improving semiconductor process efficiency and reducing the probability of wafer contamination or damage caused by particles attached to the wafer surface, thus improving the product yield of the wafer (e.g., silicon carbide wafer).

[0071] It should be noted that the transmission cavity 100 has the function of controlling the internal gas pressure. Specifically, as shown in the figure... Figures 1 to 3 As shown, a gate valve 410 and a gate valve driving mechanism 420 are provided at the transfer port of the loading cavity 400. The gate valve driving mechanism 420 is used to drive the gate valve 410 to selectively close the transfer port. Before the second transfer assembly 500 performs wafer pick-and-place operations on the loading cavity 400 (i.e., transferring wafer 10 into or removing wafer 10 from the loading cavity 400), the internal air pressure of the transfer cavity 100 changes from vacuum (or near vacuum) to the same as the external atmospheric pressure. Then, the gate valve driving mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to open the transfer port. After the second transfer assembly 500 performs wafer pick-and-place operations on the loading cavity 400, the gate valve driving mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to close the transfer port, and the transfer cavity 100 is evacuated so that it can be connected to the reaction chamber 30 through the chamber interface. This allows the first transfer assembly 200 to perform wafer pick-and-place operations on the reaction chamber 30 in a vacuum environment, thereby preventing particles and pollutants in the atmosphere from entering the reaction chamber 30 and improving the cleanliness of the wafer processing environment.

[0072] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, both the wafer 10 and the tray 20 have feature structures for distinguishing orientation. By identifying the orientation of the feature structures on the wafer 10, the position of the pattern or component (e.g., chip) formed on the wafer can be determined. Similarly, by identifying the orientation of the feature structures on the tray 20, the rotation direction of the tray 20 can be determined, thereby achieving precise positioning of the wafer 10 carried on it.

[0073] Specifically, such as Figure 6 , Figure 7 As shown, the feature structure on the tray 20 can be a notch 21 formed on the edge of the tray 20; as Figure 8 As shown, the feature structure on wafer 10 can be a flat edge f formed on one side edge of wafer 10; such as Figure 6 , Figure 8As shown, a receiving groove 22 for accommodating the wafer 10 is formed on the bearing surface of the tray 20. The edge contour of the receiving groove 22 corresponds to the edge contour of the wafer 10. That is, the receiving groove 22 also has a corresponding flat edge g. After the wafer 10 is placed on the tray 20, it is embedded into the receiving groove 22, thereby improving the stability of the relative position between the wafer 10 and the tray 20 when the tray 20 drives the wafer 10 to rotate in the reaction chamber 30.

[0074] Optionally, such as Figure 6 , Figure 7 As shown, the orientation of the feature structure (e.g., notch 21) of the tray 20 is the same as the orientation of the flat edge g of its receiving groove 22. Optionally, the material of the tray 20 may be graphite.

[0075] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, the calibration assembly includes a tray calibrator 310 and a rotating base ( Figure 1 (The rotating seat is obscured by the tray 20 and is not shown). The tray calibrator 310 is used to detect the rotation angle of the tray 20 and the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 when it is passed into the calibration cavity 300. The first transmission component 200 is used to adjust the horizontal position of the tray 20 according to the feedback signal of the tray calibrator 310 after the tray 20 is passed into the calibration cavity 300, so that the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 is aligned with the horizontal position of the rotation axis of the rotating seat, and then the tray 20 is placed on the rotating seat. The rotating seat is used to drive the tray 20 to rotate around the rotation axis until the feature structure (e.g., notch 21) on the tray 20 is oriented towards a first preset angle.

[0076] In this embodiment of the invention, the first transmission component 200 can adjust the horizontal position of the tray 20 according to the feedback signal of the tray calibrator 310, so that the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 is aligned with the horizontal position of the rotation axis of the rotating seat, that is, the projection of the center of the tray 20 on the horizontal plane coincides with the projection of the rotation axis of the rotating seat on the horizontal plane. Specifically, the tray calibrator 310 can feed back the offset of the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 relative to the horizontal position of the rotation axis of the rotating seat along the X-axis and Y-axis (the X-axis and Y-axis are the two axes of the XY horizontal rectangular coordinate system established by the tray calibrator 310) to the first transmission component 200. The first transmission component 200 moves the horizontal position of the tray 20 according to the feedback information, and performs reverse position compensation on the tray 20 (that is, makes the tray 20 displace along the X-axis and Y-axis in the opposite direction to the offset), so that the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 is aligned with the horizontal position of the rotation axis of the rotating seat.

[0077] The rotating seat can drive the tray 20 to rotate around the rotation axis until the feature structure (e.g., notch 21) on the tray 20 is oriented towards a first preset angle, thereby calibrating the horizontal position and orientation of the tray 20, and thus ensuring the accuracy of the horizontal position and orientation of the tray 20 when the first transmission component 200 takes the tray 20 out of the calibration cavity 300 and sends it into the loading cavity 400.

[0078] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, the tray calibrator 310 detects the feature structures on the tray 20 based on the principle of optical ranging to determine whether the feature structures on the tray 20 have rotated to face a first preset angle. Specifically, as shown... Figure 1 As shown, the tray calibrator 310 is located above the rotating seat and can emit a detection signal vertically downward at a preset position. It can determine whether the feature structure on the tray 20 has rotated to face the first preset angle based on the reflected signal. The rotating seat stops rotating after the tray calibrator 310 determines that the feature structure has faced the first preset angle based on the reflected signal, thereby realizing the calibration of the rotation direction of the tray 20.

[0079] For example, when the feature structure on the tray 20 is a notch 21, the tray calibrator 310 can vertically emit a detection signal downwards at the position (i.e., the preset position) where the notch 21 is facing the first preset angle. When the notch 21 has not rotated to face the first preset angle, the detection signal will be reflected on the upper surface of the tray 20 to form a reflected signal. When the notch 21 rotates to the preset position, the detection signal passes through the notch 21 and propagates downwards to an object below the tray 20 (such as the bottom wall of the calibration cavity 300, the rotating seat, or other objects set below the tray 20) and then is reflected, thereby changing the reflected signal received by the tray calibrator 310, and thus determining that the feature structure notch 21 is facing the first preset angle.

[0080] It should be noted that when the second transmission component 500 picks up the wafer 10, the orientation of the wafer 10 is a specific angle to ensure that the flat edge f of the wafer 10 is aligned with the flat edge g of the receiving slot 22 on the tray 20. Specifically, the wafer 10 before being placed into the loading cavity 400 can be calibrated by other calibration modules in the wafer transmission system. For example, as an optional embodiment of the present invention, such as Figure 1 As shown, the wafer transfer system also includes a wafer calibrator 600, which is used to calibrate the rotation direction of the wafer 10 so that the feature structure (e.g., flat edge f) on the wafer 10 is rotated to face a second preset angle. The second transfer component 500 is used to transfer the wafer 10 into the wafer calibrator 600 after the wafer 10 is taken out of the wafer cassette 40, and after the wafer calibrator 600 calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer 10, the wafer 10 is transferred to the tray 20 in the loading cavity 400 through the transfer port.

[0081] In this embodiment of the invention, the calibration component in the calibration cavity 300 can calibrate the rotation angle of the tray 20, and the wafer calibrator 600 can calibrate the rotation angle of the wafer 10. The first preset angle and the second preset angle are set such that after the tray 20 with the feature structure (e.g., notch 21) facing the first preset angle is taken out of the calibration cavity 300 by the first transmission component 200 and transferred into the loading cavity 400, the flat edge g of its receiving groove 22 corresponds to the position and angle of the flat edge f of the wafer 10 with the feature structure (e.g., flat edge f) facing the second preset angle after it is taken out of the wafer calibrator 600 by the second transmission component 500 and transferred into the loading cavity 400.

[0082] To improve the stability of placing or removing the wafer 10 from the tray 20 in the loading cavity 400, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as Figure 3 , Figure 4 As shown, the loading cavity 400 includes a cavity 430, a base 440, a pin drive assembly, and multiple pins 450 (PINs). The base 440 is disposed in the cavity 430 and has a bearing surface for supporting the tray 20. The pin drive assembly is used to drive the multiple pins 450 to pass through the multiple pin holes on the tray 20 from below the bearing surface and pass through them one by one, or to drive the multiple pins 450 to descend below the bearing surface.

[0083] In this embodiment of the invention, the loading cavity 400 includes a base 440, a pin driving assembly, and multiple pins 450. The pin driving assembly can drive the multiple pins 450 upward through the bearing surface of the base 440 and through multiple pin holes on the tray 20, or drive the multiple pins 450 downward below the bearing surface. Therefore, when the second transfer assembly 500 places the wafer 10 onto the tray 20, the pin driving assembly first drives the multiple pins 450 to rise, placing the wafer 10 on the multiple pins 450, and then the pin driving assembly drives... Multiple ejector pins 450 descend, allowing the wafer 10 to fall smoothly onto the tray 20. Similarly, when the second transfer component 500 removes the wafer 10 from the tray 20, the ejector pin drive component first drives the multiple ejector pins 450 to rise, lifting the wafer 10 until it is detached from the tray 20. Thus, the wafer 10 can be removed from the multiple ejector pins 450 by the second transfer component 500. This improves the stability of placing or removing the wafer 10 from the tray 20 in the loading cavity 400, ensuring the stability of the position between the wafer 10 and the tray 20.

[0084] To ensure the consistency of the tip height of multiple ejector pins 450, thereby improving the levelness of wafer 10, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as... Figure 4As shown, the ejector pin drive assembly includes a mounting plate 460, a lifting rod 470, and a lifting drive assembly 480. Multiple ejector pins 450 are disposed on the mounting plate 460. A mounting groove is formed on the bearing surface of the base 440. A first through hole a is formed at the bottom of the mounting groove, extending to the bottom of the base 440. The mounting plate 460 is disposed in the mounting groove. The top end of the lifting rod 470 is fixedly connected to the mounting plate 460. The lifting drive assembly 480 is used to drive the lifting rod 470 to move in the first through hole a, thereby driving the mounting plate 460 and the multiple ejector pins 450 disposed thereon to rise and fall.

[0085] In this embodiment of the invention, multiple ejector pins 450 are disposed on the mounting plate 460. The lifting drive assembly 480 drives the mounting plate 460 to lift the multiple ejector pins 450 through the lifting rod 470, thereby realizing the synchronous movement of the multiple ejector pins 450, ensuring the consistency of the feed amount of the multiple ejector pins 450 in the vertical direction, and thus ensuring the parallelism between the wafer 10 and the tray 20.

[0086] To improve the compatibility of the wafer transport system with wafers 10 and trays 20 of different sizes, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as... Figure 4 , Figure 5 As shown, multiple sets of ejector pins 450 are fixedly arranged on the mounting plate 460. The distance between the multiple ejector pins 450 in each set and the axis of the base 440 is equal, thereby enabling compatibility with wafers 10 and trays 20 of different sizes.

[0087] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, such as Figure 5 As shown, the mounting plate 460 includes a connecting portion 461 and three strip-shaped portions 462 that are circumferentially and equally spaced around the connecting portion 461. A connecting hole 463 is formed in the center of the connecting portion 461, and the top end of the lifting rod 470 is fixedly disposed in the connecting hole 463. The strip-shaped portions 462 extend radially, and a plurality of radially spaced ejector pin fixing holes 464 are formed on the strip-shaped portions 462. Each set of ejector pins 450 includes three ejector pins 450 whose bottom ends are fixedly disposed in the three ejector pin fixing holes 464 on the three strip-shaped portions 462.

[0088] That is, for any size wafer 10 and tray 20, a corresponding three-pin structure can be formed by three pins 450 located on the same pitch circle on the three strips 462. The three-pin structure passes through the three pin holes on the tray 20 and forms a stable position on the plane of the wafer 10 through the top of the three pins. The top of each pin 450 is subjected to equal force, and the wafer 10 will not tilt due to uneven force, thus achieving stable lifting and lowering of the wafer 10.

[0089] To ensure the stability of the movement direction of the multiple ejector pins 45°, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as... Figure 4As shown, the lifting drive assembly 480 is disposed below the cavity 430. A second through hole b is formed on the bottom wall of the cavity 430. The bottom end of the lifting rod 470 extends through the second through hole b to the outside of the cavity 430, and the bottom end of the lifting rod 470 has a hemispherical portion 471. The lifting drive assembly 480 includes a lifting drive part 480a and an elastic drive part 480b. The top of the lifting drive part 480a has a horizontal contact surface e, and the lifting drive part 480a is used to drive the horizontal contact surface e to rise, so that the horizontal contact surface e pushes the lifting rod 470 to rise along the first through hole a and the second through hole b, or to drive the horizontal contact surface e to fall. The elastic drive part 480b is used to drive the lifting rod 470 to fall by elastic force.

[0090] In this embodiment of the invention, the top of the lifting drive unit 480a has a horizontal contact surface e. The lifting rod 470 is driven to rise by pushing the hemispherical part 471 at the bottom of the lifting rod 470 upward through the horizontal contact surface e. This can effectively ensure that the lifting drive unit 480a only applies a vertically upward lifting force to the lifting rod 470, and will not apply a horizontal force to the lifting rod 470, causing the lifting rod 470 to deviate in direction. This can effectively ensure the stability of the movement direction of the multiple ejector pins 450 and improve the levelness of the wafer 10.

[0091] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, such as Figure 4 As shown, the elastic drive unit 480b includes a spring 481, a retaining ring 482, and a guide seat 483. A guide hole d is formed on the top surface of the guide seat 483, and a third through hole c is formed on the bottom surface of the guide hole d, which is coaxial with the guide hole d and extends through to the bottom surface of the guide seat 483. The bottom of the guide seat 483 is fixedly connected to the bottom of the cavity 430, and the third through hole c communicates with the second through hole b.

[0092] The lifting rod 470 passes through the guide hole d and the third through hole c of the guide seat 483. The retaining ring 482 and the spring 481 are both sleeved on the lifting rod 470. The spring 481 is located in the guide hole d and between the bottom surface of the retaining ring 482 and the guide hole d. It is used to push the retaining ring 482 and the bottom surface of the guide hole d away from each other through elastic force, so that the lifting rod 470 descends.

[0093] In this embodiment of the invention, the elastic drive unit 480b includes a spring 481, a retaining ring 482, and a guide seat 483. The spring 481 is sleeved on the lifting rod 470 and located in the guide hole d of the guide seat 483, thereby effectively preventing the spring 481 from popping outward and improving the overall reliability of the device. Furthermore, under the dual guiding action of the lifting rod 470 and the inner wall of the guide hole d, the spring 481 pushes the retaining ring 482 away from the bottom surface of the guide hole d, causing the lifting rod 470 to descend. This further reduces the component force on the lifting rod 470 in the horizontal direction, thereby further ensuring the stability of the movement direction of the multiple ejector pins 450 and improving the levelness of the wafer 10.

[0094] When initiating a semiconductor process, for example, when performing a semiconductor process on the first wafer 10 in the same batch of wafers 10, the tray 20 needs to be transferred from the outside through the loading cavity 400 to the transfer cavity 100. To automate this step and achieve fully automated control, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as... Figure 1 , Figure 9 As shown, the wafer transfer system also includes a tray support block 700, the top of which has a tray support surface for supporting the tray 20, and the tray support block 700 has an opening 710 in the direction toward the second transfer component 500.

[0095] like Figure 10 As shown, the second transfer component 500 is also used to extend into the opening 710 when the semiconductor process begins, and to rise from below the tray support surface to above the tray support surface, thereby removing the tray 20 carried on the tray support surface and placing the tray 20 into the loading cavity 400.

[0096] To improve the cooling efficiency of wafer 10 after semiconductor processing, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the wafer transport system also includes a cooling chamber 800, which is connected to the transport chamber 100. After each wafer 10 is processed, the first transport assembly 200 removes the tray 20 containing the wafer 10 from the reaction chamber 30 and places it into the cooling chamber 800. After the tray 20 and the wafer 10 it carries are cooled to room temperature, it is then transported to the calibration chamber 300 for calibration. Finally, it is placed into the loading chamber 400 to separate the wafer 10 from the tray 20.

[0097] To ensure the stability of the positions between different chambers, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as Figure 1 As shown, the wafer transfer system also includes a fixed platform 900, a loading cavity 400, a wafer calibrator 600, a tray support block 700, and a second transfer component 500, all of which are fixedly mounted on the fixed platform 900.

[0098] Specifically, as an optional embodiment of the present invention, such as Figure 1 As shown, the transmission cavity 100 is a regular octagonal prism structure. The loading cavity 400 and the cavity interface are located on two opposite sides of the transmission cavity 100. The fixed platform 900 corresponds to the loading cavity 400. The calibration cavity 300 and the cooling cavity 800 are respectively set on two side walls of the transmission cavity 100 adjacent to one side of the loading cavity 400. Figure 1 On the two sides of the right side of the transmission cavity 100 at an upper and lower 45° angle, the line connecting the center of the transmission cavity 100 and the center of the calibration cavity 300, and the line connecting the center of the transmission cavity 100 and the center of the cooling cavity 800, all form a 45° angle with the line connecting the center of the second transmission component 500 and the center of the transmission cavity 100; the second transmission component 500 is located on the side of the loading cavity 400 away from the transmission cavity 100, and the centers of the second transmission component 500, the loading cavity 400, and the transmission cavity 100 are located on the same straight line.

[0099] Optionally, the fixing platform 900 also includes two film cassette fixing positions for setting the film cassette 40, including a first film cassette fixing position (in... Figure 1 The middle position is located above the second transmission component 500) and the second cassette fixing position (in Figure 1 Located below the second transmission component 500, the wafer cassette 40 is used to set up the wafers for loading pre-process wafers and post-process wafers, respectively.

[0100] To improve the compactness of the wafer transmission system structure and enhance the transmission accuracy and efficiency of wafer 10, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the two cassette fixing positions are respectively located on both sides of the second transmission assembly 500 in the direction perpendicular to the line connecting the second transmission assembly 500 and the loading cavity 400 (i.e., Figure 1 (The upper and lower sides of the second transmission component 500);

[0101] The second transmission component 500 is used to, after removing the wafer 10 from the wafer cassette 40 of the first wafer cassette fixing position, first transmit the wafer 10 to the wafer calibrator 600, and after the wafer calibrator 600 calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer 10, transmit the wafer 10 to the tray 20 in the loading cavity 40 through the transmission port; and, after removing the wafer 10 from the loading cavity, first transmit the wafer 10 to the wafer calibrator 600, and after the wafer calibrator 600 calibrates the rotation direction of the wafer 10, transmit the wafer 10 to the wafer cassette 40 of the second wafer cassette fixing position.

[0102] Optionally, the tray support block 700 and the wafer calibrator 600 are symmetrically arranged with respect to the line connecting the second transfer component 500 and the loading cavity 400, for example, with Figure 1Based on the vertical and horizontal directions, the tray support block 700 is located at an upper left 48° direction of the second transmission component 500, and the opening 710 of the tray support block 700 faces the center of the second transmission component 500. The wafer calibrator 600 is located at a lower left 48° direction of the second transmission component 500.

[0103] It should be noted that, in order to demonstrate the positional relationship between the tray 20 or wafer 10 and the chamber or device at each workstation, Figure 1 Each chamber and device is displayed as having either a tray 20 or a wafer 10 loaded. For example, the calibration chamber 300, loading chamber 400, and cooling chamber 800 are all displayed as having a tray 20 and the wafer 10 it supports, the tray support block 700 is displayed as having a tray 20 loaded, and the wafer calibrator 600 is displayed as having a wafer 10 loaded. However, in actual use, only some of these chambers and device stations have a tray 20 or a wafer 10 loaded.

[0104] As a second aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor process apparatus is provided, including a wafer transport system and a reaction chamber 30. The wafer transport system is used to transfer a tray 20 carrying a wafer 10 into the reaction chamber 30 and to remove the tray 20 carrying the wafer 10 from the reaction chamber 30. The wafer transport system is the wafer transport system provided in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0105] In the semiconductor process equipment provided in this embodiment of the invention, the wafer transport system includes a transport cavity 100, a calibration cavity 300, and a loading cavity 400. The first transport component 200 can cooperate with the calibration cavity 300 to calibrate the position of the tray 20 and place the calibrated tray 20 into the loading cavity 400. Thus, the second transport component 500 can place the wafer 10 before the process onto the calibrated tray 20, or remove the wafer 10 at a determined position from the calibrated tray 20. This realizes the automatic placement of the wafer 10 onto the tray 20 and the automatic removal of the wafer 10 from the tray 20. The entire transport process of the wafer 10 and the tray 20 does not require human intervention, thereby improving the semiconductor process efficiency and reducing the probability of wafer contamination or damage caused by particles attached to the wafer surface, thus improving the product yield of the wafer (e.g., silicon carbide wafer).

[0106] To facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art, the following is a specific embodiment of semiconductor processing of the same batch of wafers using the wafer transfer system provided in this invention:

[0107] Before the first process begins (i.e., before the semiconductor process is performed on the first wafer 10), the second transfer component 500 extends into the opening 710 of the tray support block 700 and rises from below the tray support surface to above the tray support surface of the tray support block 700 (e.g., ...). Figure 10(As shown), thereby removing the pallet 20 supported on the pallet support surface;

[0108] The valve drive mechanism 420 drives the valve 410 to open, and the second transmission component 500 sends the tray 20 into the loading cavity 400 and places it on the base 440 (at this time, the rotation direction of the tray 20 is not calibrated).

[0109] The valve drive mechanism 420 drives the valve 410 to close and isolates the outside atmosphere from the chamber environment. The first transfer component removes the tray 20 (e.g., from the loading chamber 400) from the loading chamber 400. Figure 11 (As shown).

[0110] The first transmission component feeds the tray 20 into the calibration chamber 300 and adjusts the horizontal position of the tray 20 according to the feedback signal from the tray calibrator 310 (the offset of the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 relative to the horizontal position of the rotation axis of the rotating seat along the X and Y axes), so that the horizontal position of the center of the tray 20 is aligned with the horizontal position of the rotation axis of the rotating seat. Then the tray 20 is placed on the rotating seat, and the rotating seat drives the tray 20 to rotate until the tray calibrator 310 detects that the notch 21 on the driven tray 20 has rotated to a preset position and stops rotating.

[0111] The first transmission component removes the calibrated tray 20 from the calibration chamber 300 and places it back onto the base 440 in the loading chamber 400. The ejector pin drive component drives multiple ejector pins 450 upward through multiple ejector pin holes on the tray 20.

[0112] The valve drive mechanism 420 drives the valve 410 to open, and the second transfer assembly 500 removes the first wafer 10 from the wafer cassette 40 in the first wafer cassette fixing position and places it into the wafer calibrator 600 to calibrate the rotation direction of the wafer. Then, the calibrated wafer 10 is transferred to the multiple ejector pins 450 that rise in the loading cavity 400 (e.g., ...). Figure 12 (As shown). The valve drive mechanism 420 drives the valve 410 to close and isolates the outside atmosphere from the chamber environment.

[0113] The ejector pin drive assembly drives multiple ejector pins 450 to retract downwards, causing the wafer 10 to fall into the receiving slot 22 on the tray 20.

[0114] The first transfer component removes the tray 20 and the wafer 10 it carries from the loading cavity 400 and transfers them to the reaction chamber 30 for semiconductor processing.

[0115] After each wafer 10 completes the semiconductor process, the first transfer component removes the tray 20 and the wafer 10 it carries from the reaction chamber 30 and transfers it to the cooling chamber 800. After the tray 20 and the wafer 10 it carries are cooled to room temperature, they are transferred to the calibration chamber 300 for calibration. Then, the tray 20 is placed into the loading chamber 400. The ejector pin drive component drives multiple ejector pins 450 upward through multiple ejector pin holes on the tray 20, so that the wafer 10 is separated from the tray 20.

[0116] The valve drive mechanism 420 drives the valve 410 to open, and the second transmission component 500 removes the wafer 10 from the multiple pins 450 and places it into the wafer calibrator 600 to calibrate the rotation direction of the wafer. Then, the calibrated wafer 10 is transmitted to the wafer cassette 40 in the second wafer cassette fixing position.

[0117] Subsequently, the second transfer component 500 removes the next wafer 10 from the wafer cassette 40 in the first wafer cassette fixing position and places it into the wafer calibrator 600 to calibrate the wafer's rotation direction. The calibrated wafer 10 is then transferred to the multiple ejector pins 450 that rise in the loading cavity 400. The gate valve drive mechanism 420 drives the gate valve 410 to close, isolating the external atmosphere from the chamber environment.

[0118] By repeating the steps of the second transfer component 500 taking the wafer 10 to be processed from the wafer cassette 40 at the first wafer cassette fixing position and transferring the processed wafer 10 into the wafer cassette 40 at the second wafer cassette fixing position, the fully automated production of the wafer 10 can be achieved.

[0119] It is understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary implementations used to illustrate the principles of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto. For those skilled in the art, various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, and these modifications and improvements are also considered to be within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A loading cavity, characterized in that, include: Cavity, base, ejector drive assembly and multiple ejector pins; The base is disposed in the cavity, and the base has a bearing surface for bearing the tray; The ejector pin driving assembly includes a mounting plate, a lifting rod, and a lifting drive assembly. Multiple ejector pins are disposed on the mounting plate. A second through hole is formed on the bottom wall of the cavity. The top end of the lifting rod is fixedly connected to the mounting plate, and the bottom end of the lifting rod extends through the second through hole to the outside of the cavity. The lifting drive assembly is disposed below the cavity. The lifting drive assembly drives the lifting rod to move up and down along the second through hole, thereby causing the mounting plate and the multiple ejector pins disposed thereon to move up and down. The plurality of said pins are used to extend upward from below the bearing surface or descend below the bearing surface during the lifting and lowering process.

2. The loading cavity according to claim 1, characterized in that, The lifting drive assembly includes a lifting drive unit and an elastic drive unit. The lifting drive unit is used to push the lifting rod upward; the elastic drive unit is used to drive the lifting rod downward by elastic force.

3. The loading cavity according to claim 2, characterized in that, The top of the lifting drive assembly has a horizontal contact surface, and the bottom of the lifting rod has a hemispherical portion. When the lifting drive assembly pushes the lifting rod upward, the horizontal contact surface pushes the hemispherical portion upward to drive the lifting rod upward.

4. The loading cavity according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The elastic drive unit includes a spring, a retaining ring, and a guide seat. A guide hole is formed on the top surface of the guide seat, and a third through hole is formed on the bottom surface of the guide hole, which is coaxial with the guide hole and extends through to the bottom surface of the guide seat. The bottom of the guide seat is fixedly connected to the bottom of the cavity, and the third through hole communicates with the second through hole. The lifting rod passes through the guide hole and the third through hole of the guide seat. The retaining ring and the spring are both sleeved on the lifting rod. The spring is located in the guide hole and between the bottom surface of the retaining ring and the guide hole. It is used to push the retaining ring and the bottom surface of the guide hole away from each other by elastic force so that the lifting rod descends.

5. The loading cavity according to claim 1, characterized in that, A mounting groove is formed on the bearing surface of the base, and a first through hole extending to the bottom of the base is formed at the bottom of the mounting groove. The mounting plate is disposed in the mounting groove.

6. The loading cavity according to claim 1, characterized in that, Multiple sets of ejector pins are fixedly arranged on the mounting plate, and the distance between the multiple ejector pins in each set and the axis of the base is equal.

7. The loading cavity according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The base supports a tray with multiple pin holes; multiple pins are used to extend from the lower surface of the support surface and pass through the multiple pin holes on the tray in a corresponding manner during the lifting process, or to descend from the multiple pin holes to below the support surface.

8. A wafer transmission system, characterized in that, The wafer transport system includes a transport cavity, a loading cavity as described in any one of claims 1-7, and a second transport component, wherein... The transmission cavity has a chamber docking interface for communicating with the reaction chamber; One side of the loading cavity is connected to the transmission cavity, and the other side has a selectively openable transmission port; The second transmission component is used to transmit the wafer through the transmission port to the multiple raised ejector pins in the loading cavity, and is also used to remove the wafer from the multiple raised ejector pins and transmit the wafer out of the loading cavity through the transmission port; The multiple ejector pins are used to lift the wafers carried on the tray by rising until they are detached from the tray; and also to lower the wafers located on the multiple ejector pins so that they eventually fall onto the tray.

9. The wafer transmission system according to claim 8, characterized in that, The wafer transfer system also includes a fixed platform, on which the loading cavity and the second transfer component are fixedly mounted. The centers of the second transfer component, the loading cavity, and the transfer cavity are located on the same straight line.

10. A semiconductor process apparatus, characterized in that, The device includes a wafer transport system and a reaction chamber. The wafer transport system is used to transfer a wafer-carrying tray into the reaction chamber and to remove the wafer-carrying tray from the reaction chamber. The wafer transport system includes the wafer transport system and transport cavity, calibration cavity and first transport component as described in any one of claims 8 or 9. The transmission cavity has a chamber interface for communicating with the reaction chamber; The calibration cavity is connected to the transmission cavity and is used to calibrate the incoming tray; The first transmission component is disposed in the transmission cavity and is used to transfer the tray into the calibration cavity, and to remove the tray after rotational direction calibration from the calibration cavity and transfer it into the loading cavity.

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