Wafer transmission method

Abstract

The invention discloses a wafer transmission method, and relates to the technical field of wafer manufacturing. The wafer transmission method comprises the following steps: a front manipulator of a front unit places a wafer on a wafer clamping mechanism at an initial position of a track; the wafer clamping mechanism moves to the interaction position of the polishing unit along the track, and at the interaction position, the wafer clamping mechanism places the wafer on a loading disc of the loading assembly; a bearing head of the polishing unit adsorbs the wafer from the loading disc so as to carry out chemical mechanical polishing on the wafer; the bearing head unloads the polished wafer to the loading disc, and the wafer clamping mechanism clamps the wafer from the loading disc and continues to move along the track; the turnover manipulator transmits the polished wafer from the wafer clamping mechanism to the cleaning module and the drying module of the cleaning unit; the front manipulator of the front unit clamps the wafer from the drying module so as to place the dried wafer on the front unit.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, and in particular to a wafer transfer method. BACKGROUND

[0002] The integrated circuit industry is the core of the information technology industry and plays a key role in promoting the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry to digitalization and intelligence. Chips are the carriers of integrated circuits, and chip manufacturing involves integrated circuit design, wafer manufacturing, wafer processing, electrical measurement, cutting and packaging, and testing process flow. Among them, chemical mechanical polishing is one of the five core processes in the wafer manufacturing process.

[0003] Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is a global planarization ultra-precision surface processing technology. Chemical mechanical polishing usually attracts the wafer to the bottom surface of the carrier head, the side of the wafer with the deposited layer abuts against the upper surface of the polishing pad, and the carrier head rotates with the polishing pad in the same direction under the actuation of the drive assembly and gives the wafer a downward load; the polishing liquid is supplied to the upper surface of the polishing pad and distributed between the wafer and the polishing pad, so that the wafer completes the chemical mechanical polishing of the wafer under the joint action of chemical and mechanical.

[0004] The chemical mechanical polishing equipment usually includes a polishing unit and a cleaning unit. The existing chemical mechanical polishing equipment at least has the following problems:

[0005] 1) The polishing unit and the cleaning unit are horizontally arranged, which occupies a large area and affects the number of CMP equipment placed in the Fab factory;

[0006] 2) The number of wafer temporary storage stations of the existing CMP equipment is large, which increases the number of wafer turns and has the risk of cross contamination;

[0007] 3) The transmission system in the CMP equipment usually selects a standard mechanical hand, and the number of standard mechanical hands is large, which complicates the wafer turnover and also increases the overall cost of the equipment. SUMMARY

[0008] Therefore, embodiments of the present application provide a wafer transfer method to at least partially solve the above problems.

[0009] According to embodiments of the present application, a wafer transfer method is provided, which includes:

[0010] S1, the front mechanical hand of the front unit places the wafer on the wafer clamping mechanism at the starting position of the track;

[0011] S2, the wafer clamping mechanism moves along the track to the interaction position of the polishing unit, and at the interaction position, the wafer clamping mechanism places the wafer on the loading disc of the loading assembly;

[0012] S3, the polishing unit's carrier head adsorbs the wafer from the loading tray to perform chemical mechanical polishing on the wafer;

[0013] S4, the carrier head unloads the polished wafer on the loading tray, and the wafer clamping mechanism clamps the wafer from the loading tray and moves along the track;

[0014] S5, the wafer clamping mechanism transfers the polished wafer to the cleaning module and the drying module of the cleaning unit;

[0015] S6, the front-end unit's front-end robot clamps the wafer from the drying module to place the dried wafer on the front-end unit.

[0016] In step S2, the interaction between the wafer clamping mechanism and the loading assembly includes:

[0017] S21, before the wafer clamping mechanism moves to the interaction position, the loading tray moves vertically downward;

[0018] S22, when the wafer clamping mechanism moves to the interaction position, the loading tray moves vertically upward to support the wafer;

[0019] S23, the clamping arms of the wafer clamping mechanism are separated from each other, and the loading tray with the wafer moves vertically downward, so that the wafer clamping mechanism and the loading tray are vertically staggered;

[0020] S24, the wafer clamping mechanism continues to move along the track, and the loading tray with the wafer moves vertically upward to interact with the carrier head.

[0021] In step S4, the interaction steps of the wafer include:

[0022] S41, the loading tray of the loading assembly moves vertically upward to support the wafer unloaded from the carrier head;

[0023] S42, the loading tray supports the wafer and moves vertically downward, so that the loading tray is lower than the horizontal plane where the wafer clamping mechanism is located;

[0024] S43, the wafer clamping mechanism moves to the interaction position along the track, and the clamping arms thereon are separated from each other;

[0025] S44, the loading tray with the wafer moves vertically upward, so that the wafer is located between the clamping arms, and the clamping arms move towards each other to clamp the wafer;

[0026] S45, the loading tray moves vertically downward, and the wafer clamping mechanism with the wafer moves along the track.

[0027] In some embodiments, the track is a component of a wafer transfer device, which is arranged along a horizontal direction and a vertical direction of a CMP system and located in the CMP system, and the wafer clamping mechanism is connected to the track by a slider; the track comprises at least a horizontal section and a vertical section, which are connected as a whole, and the wafer clamping mechanism moves between the horizontal section and the vertical section by means of the slider to realize wafer flipping.

[0028] In some embodiments, the track comprises a pair of parallel horizontal sections and a pair of parallel vertical sections, which are connected as a ring structure by transition sections; when the wafer moves between opposite horizontal sections or vertical sections, the wafer clamped by the wafer clamping mechanism is flipped by 180°.

[0029] In some embodiments, the CMP system comprises a pre-processing unit, a polishing unit, a cleaning unit and a wafer transfer device, the polishing unit and the cleaning unit are arranged in a vertical stack, and the polishing unit is located below the cleaning unit.

[0030] In some embodiments, the horizontal section of the track extends at least to one cleaning module of the cleaning unit.

[0031] In some embodiments, the turnover robot is arranged between each functional module of the cleaning unit, which can grab a wafer from the wafer clamping mechanism of the track and transfer the wafer to a cleaning module or a drying module of the cleaning unit.

[0032] In some embodiments, the cleaning module and the drying module of the cleaning unit are arranged along the outer periphery of the top of the CMP system, and the drying module is arranged adjacent to the pre-processing unit.

[0033] In some embodiments, the track is a U-shaped structure, which comprises two horizontal sections and a vertical section arranged between the horizontal sections; the opening of the track faces the pre-processing unit of the CMP system, and the lower horizontal section is adjacent to the pre-processing unit.

[0034] In some embodiments, the wafer clamping mechanism moves unidirectionally along the track to sequentially transfer wafers to the polishing unit and the cleaning unit.

[0035] In some embodiments, the number of wafer clamping mechanisms is at least one; if the number of wafer clamping mechanisms is two or more, the wafer clamping mechanisms are arranged at intervals on the track.

[0036] The beneficial effects of the present application include:

[0037] a. The wafer conveying method provided by the application, the track of the wafer conveying device is arranged along the horizontal direction and the vertical direction of the CMP system, and the wafer clamping mechanism can realize the overturning of the wafer during movement, so that the CMP system does not need to be provided with a special mechanism for realizing the overturning of the wafer, the structure is effectively simplified, the number of wafer handovers is reduced, and the cross-contamination defects caused by wafer conveying are controlled;

[0038] b. The wafer conveying device is used to realize the conveying of the wafer between adjacent polishing modules, so that the number of manipulators can be saved, and the cost of the CMP system is controlled;

[0039] c. The drying module of the cleaning unit is arranged close to the pre-unit, so that the conveying path of the wafer is shortened, the cross-contamination of the wafer is reduced, and the wafer after drying can be quickly transferred to the wafer loading box of the pre-unit;

[0040] d. The loading disc of the loading assembly can move along the vertical direction, so as to support the wafer on the wafer clamping mechanism from bottom to top, so that the loading assembly and the carrier head can be interacted;

[0041] e. The cleaning module and the drying module of the cleaning unit are arranged along the outer periphery of the top of the CMP system, so that the operation space for installing and maintaining the cleaning module and the drying module is enlarged, and the convenience of operation is improved;

[0042] f. In the CMP system provided by the application, a traditional buffer station is not needed, and the wafer can be buffered on the wafer clamping mechanism, so that the structure is effectively simplified, the secondary pollution of the wafer in the buffer station is controlled, and the polishing quality of the wafer is guaranteed.

[0043] g. The polishing unit and the cleaning unit of the CMP system adopt the vertical stacking mode, compared with the traditional CMP system, the polishing unit and the cleaning unit are arranged horizontally, the land area of the polishing unit and the cleaning unit is reduced, the volume of the CMP is reduced, and the flexibility of equipment arrangement in the Fab factory is improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0044] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or the prior art description will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can also be obtained by those skilled in the art based on these drawings.

[0045] Figure 1 is a flowchart of the wafer conveying method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the CMP system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 3 is a schematic view of a wafer transfer device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 4 is a schematic view of a polishing module according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 5 is a flowchart of the interaction between the wafer clamping mechanism and the loading assembly according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 6 is a schematic view of the corresponding wafer interaction; Figure 5

[0051] Figure 7 is a flowchart of the wafer interaction in step S4 according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Figure 8 is a schematic view of the corresponding wafer interaction in step S4; Figure 7

[0053] Figure 9 is a schematic view of a CMP system according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Figure 10 is a schematic view of a wafer transfer device according to another embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] In order to make persons skilled in the art better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely in combination with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments in the embodiments of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by persons skilled in the art should belong to the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application.

[0056] The terms used in the present application are merely for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and are not intended to limit the present application. The singular forms "a", "an" and "the" used in the present application and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and / or" used herein refers to and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0057] ​​It should be understood that, although the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. can be used herein to describe various information, these information should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another type of information. For example, without departing from the scope of the present application, the first information can also be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information can also be referred to as the first information. Therefore, the features defined with "first", "second" can explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality of" is two or more, unless otherwise explicitly and specifically limited. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is also known as chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), wafer (Wafer) is also known as substrate (Substrate), and its meaning and actual role are the same.

[0058] Figure 1 is a flowchart of a wafer transfer method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The wafer transfer method is applied to the CMP system 100 mentioned below to perform chemical mechanical polishing and cleaning treatment on the wafer, so as to obtain a wafer with a film thickness meeting process requirements and a clean surface. The wafer transfer method comprises:

[0059] S1, the front-end robot of the front-end unit 2 places the wafer on the wafer clamping mechanism 30 at the starting position P0 of the track 10;

[0060] Specifically, the CMP system 100 comprises a wafer transfer device 1, a front-end unit 2, a polishing unit 3 and a cleaning unit 4, as shown in Figure 2 wherein the polishing unit 3 and the cleaning unit 4 are vertically stacked, and the polishing unit 3 is located below the cleaning unit 4, so as to reduce the floor area of the CMP system 100 and improve the flexibility of the layout of the CMP equipment.

[0061] It should be noted that the front-end unit 2 is an equipment front end module (EFEM), which is a core component in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, mainly used for automatic transmission of wafers between equipment and wafer loading boxes (such as FOUP / FOSB) and clean environment control. The inside of the equipment front end module is usually configured with a front-end robot to be responsible for the transmission of wafers between the wafer loading box and the equipment.

[0062] The wafer transfer device 1 comprises a track 10, which is arranged along the horizontal and vertical directions of the CMP system 100 and located in the CMP system 100. Here, the horizontal direction is the length direction of the CMP system, and the vertical direction is the height direction of the CMP system.

[0063] Figure 3This is a schematic diagram of a wafer transfer device 1 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The wafer transfer device 1 includes a track 10, which includes a horizontal section 11 and a vertical section 12 connected as a whole. The wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves between the horizontal section 11 and the vertical section 12 by means of a slider 20 to achieve wafer flipping. A transition section 13 is provided between the horizontal section 11 and the vertical section 12 to achieve smooth wafer flipping.

[0064] In this invention, the starting position P0 is the position of the horizontal segment 11 above the track 10 near the front unit 2. The front robot and the wafer clamping mechanism 30 realize wafer interaction at the starting position P0. That is, the front robot places the unpolished wafer held by the wafer loading pod (Front-Opening Unified Pod, FOUP) with its front side (the side where the wafer device layer is located) facing upwards in the wafer clamping mechanism 30 at the starting position P0.

[0065] Before the front-mounted robotic arm interacts with the wafer clamping mechanism 30, the clamping arm 301 of the wafer clamping mechanism 30 ( Figure 3 (As shown) they separate and open; then, the front robotic arm holding the wafer moves between the clamping arms 301 of the wafer clamping mechanism 30; finally, the clamping arms 301 move toward the wafer to clamp the wafer; the front robotic arm leaves the wafer clamping mechanism 30 and returns to its initial position.

[0066] S2, the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves along the track 10 to the interaction position P1, and at the interaction position P1, the wafer clamping mechanism 30 places the wafer on the loading tray 3131 of the loading assembly 313;

[0067] Specifically, the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves along the track 10 from the starting position P0. It first moves from the upper horizontal segment 11 to the vertical segment 12, and then from the vertical segment 12 to the lower horizontal segment 11. During this process, the wafer is flipped 180°, from face up to face down.

[0068] The wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves to the interaction position P1, where the interaction position P1 refers to the loading component 313 of the polishing module 31. Figure 4 (shown) The location of the loading component 313 is equivalent to the load cup; the loading component 313 interacts with the carrier head 3122 at the interaction position P1.

[0069] S3, the carrier head 3122 picks up the wafer from the loading disk 3131 so as to perform chemical mechanical polishing on the wafer in the polishing unit 3;

[0070] Figure 2 The polishing unit 3 shown includes two polishing modules 31, wherein each polishing module 31 includes a polishing disc 311, a polishing assembly 312, and a loading assembly 313, as shown.Figure 4 As shown, the loading assembly 313 is disposed on the side of the polishing disk 311, and the polishing assembly 312 is disposed above the polishing disk 311 and the loading assembly 313 to transfer the wafer between the loading assembly 313 and the polishing disk 311.

[0071] The polishing assembly 312 is equipped with a carrier head 3122, which can press the loaded wafer against the polishing pad above the polishing disk 311. The carrier head 3122 slides laterally to achieve chemical mechanical polishing. The loading assembly 313 is located near the wafer transport device 1 and can interact with the carrier head 3122 and the wafer clamping mechanism 30.

[0072] The polishing assembly 312 includes a support frame 3121 and two carrier heads 3122 suspended below the support frame 3121. The support frame 3121 rotates to move the wafers loaded on the carrier heads 3122 between the loading / unloading assembly 313 and the polishing pad 311. That is, while the carrier head 3122 is polishing the polishing pad above the polishing pad 311, the other carrier head 3122 can interact with the loading / unloading assembly 313 to pre-load the wafers to be polished, thereby shortening the waiting time and improving work efficiency.

[0073] S4, the carrier head 3122 unloads the polished wafer onto the loading tray 3131, and the wafer clamping mechanism 30 clamps the wafer from the loading tray 3131 and transmits it along the track 10;

[0074] S5, the turnover robot 5 transfers the polished wafer from the wafer clamping mechanism 30 to the cleaning module 41 and drying module 42 of the cleaning unit 4;

[0075] Specifically, the cleaning unit 4 includes multiple cleaning modules 41 and drying modules 42, with a transfer robot 5 configured between each module to transfer wafers between them. The transfer robot 5 can pick up wafers from the wafer gripping mechanism 30 on the track 10 and transfer the wafers to the cleaning module 41 or drying module 42 of the cleaning unit 4.

[0076] In this invention, there is at least one wafer clamping mechanism 30; if there are two or more wafer clamping mechanisms 30, the wafer clamping mechanisms 30 are spaced apart on the track 10, thereby flexibly adapting to the production cycle of wafer polishing and cleaning.

[0077] Figure 2 In the embodiment shown, the cleaning unit 4 includes two cleaning modules 41 and one drying module 42. The number of turnover robots 5 is three, which are arranged on both sides of the cleaning module 41 to be responsible for transferring wafers between the various functional modules.

[0078] S6, the front robotic arm of the front unit 2 clamps the wafer from the drying module 42 to place the dried wafer in the front unit 2.

[0079] Specifically, the drying module 42 is equipped with a switch door (not shown) on the side panel near the front unit 2, which allows the front robot arm to directly and quickly transfer the dried wafer to the wafer loading box of the front unit 2 through the switch door, thereby shortening the wafer transfer path and reducing the probability of the wafer being contaminated during the transfer process.

[0080] In this invention, the wafer is transferred at each station through the wafer clamping mechanism 30, the loading component 313 and the turnover robot 5. The CMP system does not need to be configured with a traditional buffer station. The wafer can be buffered on the wafer clamping mechanism, which effectively simplifies the structure, controls secondary contamination of the wafer at the buffer station, and helps to ensure the quality of wafer polishing and cleaning.

[0081] In step S2, the flowchart corresponding to the interaction between the wafer clamping mechanism 30 and the loading component 313 is as follows: Figure 5 As shown, the interaction between the wafer clamping mechanism 30 and the loading assembly 313 includes:

[0082] S21, before the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves to the interaction position P1, the loading disk 3131 moves vertically downward;

[0083] Figure 6 (a) shows the state after the loading tray 3131 is moved vertically downward, so that the loading tray 3131 is below the moving trajectory of the wafer clamping mechanism 30, so as to prevent the wafer clamping mechanism 30 from interfering with the loading tray 3131.

[0084] S22, the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves to the interaction position P1, and the loading tray 3131 moves vertically upward to support the wafer, as shown. Figure 6 As shown in (b);

[0085] S23, the clamping arms 301 of the wafer clamping mechanism 30 separate from each other, such as Figure 6 As shown in (c), the loading tray 3131 moves vertically downwards with the wafer, causing the wafer clamping mechanism 30 to vertically intersect with the loading tray 3131, as shown in (c). Figure 6 As shown in (d);

[0086] S24, the wafer clamping mechanism 30 continues to move along the track 10, as... Figure 6 As shown in (e), the loading tray 3131 moves vertically upwards with the wafer in preparation for interaction with the carrier head 3122, as... Figure 6 As shown in (f).

[0087] As can be seen from the above interactive actions, in this invention, the interaction between the loading component 313 and the carrier head 3122 is completed by the wafer clamping mechanism 30, without the need to configure an additional robotic arm for the wafer transfer device 1. This helps to simplify the wafer transfer structure, reduce the complexity of wafer transfer in the CMP system, and ensure the reliability of the CMP system operation.

[0088] In step S4, the flowchart corresponding to the wafer interaction steps is as follows: Figure 7 As shown in the diagram, the corresponding schematic diagrams for each component are as follows: Figure 8 As shown, the wafer interaction steps in S4 include:

[0089] S41, the loading disk 3131 of the loading assembly 313 moves vertically upward to support the wafer unloaded from the carrier head 3122;

[0090] S42, the loading tray 3131 supports the wafer and moves vertically downward, so that the loading tray 3131 is lower than the horizontal plane where the wafer clamping mechanism 30 is located;

[0091] S43, the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves along the track 10 to the interaction position P1, and the clamping arms 301 on it separate from each other;

[0092] S44, the loading tray 3131 moves vertically upward with the wafer, so that the wafer is located between the clamping arms 301, and the clamping arms 301 move towards each other to clamp the wafer;

[0093] S45, the loading tray 3131 moves vertically downward, and the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves along the track 10 with the wafer.

[0094] because Figure 8 The wafer interaction actions shown are Figure 6 The wafer interaction actions shown are roughly the opposite, so the specific actions of each step will not be described in detail here.

[0095] Figure 2 In the illustrated embodiment, the track 10 includes a pair of parallel horizontal segments 11 and a pair of parallel vertical segments 12, which are connected in a ring structure by four transition segments 13. When the wafer moves between the opposing horizontal segments 11 or vertical segments 12, the wafer held by the wafer clamping mechanism 30 rotates 180°. That is, after the wafer moves from one horizontal segment 11, through one vertical segment 12, to another horizontal segment 11, the wafer rotates 180°.

[0096] In this invention, the horizontal segment 11 of the track 10 extends to at least one cleaning module 41 of the cleaning unit 4, so that the wafer clamping mechanism 30 on the track 10 is closer to the turnover robot 5, so that the turnover robot 5 can clamp the wafer held by the wafer clamping mechanism 30.

[0097] In some embodiments, the turnover robot 5 can grab a wafer from the wafer clamping mechanism 30 of the track 10 and transfer the wafer to the cleaning module 41 or drying module 42 of the cleaning unit 4.

[0098] Specifically, when the wafer cleaning process requires only one cleaning process, Figure 2 The cleaning module 41 shown can operate in parallel. The turnover robot 5 located on the side of the cleaning module 41 can simultaneously grab wafers from the wafer clamping mechanism 30 on the track 10 to perform surface cleaning of the wafers in the cleaning module 41.

[0099] Alternatively, if the wafer only requires drying, the wafer is transported forward along the track 10 from the starting position P0. When the wafer holding mechanism 30 moves close to the drying module 42, the turnover robot 5 can grab the wafer from the wafer holding mechanism 30 and directly transport it to the drying module 42 to avoid the risk of increased surface contamination of the wafer by passing through the cleaning module 41.

[0100] In this invention, the cleaning module 41 and the drying module 42 of the cleaning unit 4 are arranged along the outer periphery of the top of the CMP system 100 to expand the operating space for installation and maintenance of the cleaning module 41 and the drying module 42 and improve the convenience of operation.

[0101] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of a CMP system 100 provided in one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the track 10 of the wafer transfer device 1 has a U-shaped structure, which includes two horizontal segments 11 and a vertical segment 12 disposed between the horizontal segments 11, as shown below. Figure 10 As shown; the opening of track 10 faces the front unit 2 of the CMP system, and the horizontal segment 11 below is adjacent to the front unit 2.

[0102] In this embodiment, the starting position P0 of the wafer clamping mechanism 30 is located in the lower horizontal segment 11 and close to the front unit 2, so that the front robot arm can transfer the wafer to the wafer clamping mechanism 30 at the starting position P0. Figure 3 Compared to the wafer transfer device 1 provided, the vertical stroke of the front-end robot in this embodiment is smaller, which helps to control the manufacturing cost of the front-end unit 2 and thus reduce the overall cost of the CMP system 100.

[0103] In this invention, the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves unidirectionally along the track 10 to sequentially transfer the wafer to the polishing unit 3 and the cleaning unit 4, thus avoiding the wafer clamping mechanism 30 returning and increasing the complexity of wafer transfer. Simultaneously, unidirectional wafer transfer prevents contaminant particles generated in subsequent wafer transfer processes from being transferred to the previous process, which helps improve the polishing and cleaning effects of the wafer, thereby obtaining wafers that meet process requirements.

[0104] Figure 9In the illustrated embodiment, the CMP system 100 includes two sub-CMP systems, namely a first sub-CMP system 100A and a second sub-CMP system 100B, which are arranged in parallel and operate independently to improve the fault tolerance of the CMP system 100. That is, if one sub-CMP system fails, the other sub-CMP system can operate normally.

[0105] The sub-CMP system includes a front-end unit 2, a polishing unit 3, a cleaning unit 4, and a wafer transfer device 1. The two sub-CMP systems share a front-end unit 2. The cleaning unit 4 is vertically stacked above the polishing unit 3 to reduce the floor space required.

[0106] The polishing unit 3, cleaning unit 4, and wafer transfer device 1 of the first sub-CMP system 100A and the second sub-CMP system 100B are symmetrically arranged along the horizontal center line L of the CMP system 100, as follows: Figure 9 As shown.

[0107] In this embodiment, the wafer transfer device 1 adopts... Figure 10 The technical solution shown has the opening of the track 10 facing the front unit 2 of the CMP system 100, and the horizontal section 11 located below is adjacent to the front unit 2, so that the front robot arm of the front unit 3 can place the wafer on the wafer clamping mechanism 30 of the horizontal section 11.

[0108] As a variant of this embodiment, the track 10 of the wafer transfer device 1 can also extend to the drying module 42 of the cleaning unit 4, so that the turnover robot 5 disposed between the cleaning modules 41 can directly transfer the wafer between the wafer clamping mechanism 30 of the track 10 and the cleaning module 41. After cleaning, the turnover robot 5 transfers the cleaned wafer to the drying module 42 for wafer drying and peeling off the water film on the wafer surface.

[0109] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and method steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0110] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the embodiments of this application, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of this application. Therefore, all equivalent technical solutions also fall within the scope of the embodiments of this application, and the patent protection scope of the embodiments of this application should be defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A wafer transfer method, characterized in that, include: S1, the front-end robot of the front unit places the wafer on the wafer clamping mechanism at the starting position of the track; S2, the wafer clamping mechanism moves along the track to the interaction position of the polishing unit, at which the wafer clamping mechanism places the wafer on the loading tray of the loading assembly; S3, the bearing head of the polishing unit picks up the wafer from the loading disk to perform chemical mechanical polishing on the wafer; S4, the carrier head unloads the polished wafer onto the loading tray, and the wafer clamping mechanism clamps the wafer from the loading tray and moves along the track; S5, the turnover robot transfers the polished wafer from the wafer clamping mechanism to the cleaning module and drying module of the cleaning unit; S6, the front-mounted robotic arm of the front unit clamps the wafer from the drying module to place the dried wafer in the front unit.

2. The wafer transfer method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S2, the interaction between the wafer clamping mechanism and the loading assembly includes: S21, Before the wafer clamping mechanism moves to the interaction position, the loading tray moves vertically downward; S22, the wafer clamping mechanism moves to the interaction position, and the loading tray moves vertically upward to support the wafer; S23, the clamping arms of the wafer clamping mechanism separate from each other, and the loading tray moves vertically downward with the wafer, so that the wafer clamping mechanism and the loading tray are vertically intersected; S24, the wafer clamping mechanism continues to move along the track, and the loading tray moves vertically upward with the wafer in preparation for interaction with the carrier head.

3. The wafer transfer method according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S4, the wafer interaction steps include: S41, the loading tray of the loading assembly moves vertically upward to support the wafer unloaded from the carrier head; S42, the loading tray supports the wafer and moves vertically downward, so that the loading tray is lower than the horizontal plane where the wafer clamping mechanism is located; S43, the wafer clamping mechanism moves along the track to the interaction position, and the clamping arms on it separate from each other; S44, the loading tray moves vertically upward with the wafer, so that the wafer is located between the clamping arms, and the clamping arms move towards each other to clamp the wafer; S45, the loading tray moves vertically downwards, and the wafer clamping mechanism moves along the track with the wafer.

4. The wafer transfer method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The track is a component of the wafer transfer device, which is set along the horizontal and vertical directions of the CMP system and located in the CMP system. The wafer clamping mechanism is connected to the track via a slider. The track includes at least a horizontal section and a vertical section, which are connected as one unit. The wafer clamping mechanism moves between the horizontal and vertical sections with the help of the slider to achieve wafer flipping.

5. The wafer transfer method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The track includes a pair of parallel horizontal segments and a pair of parallel vertical segments, which are connected by a transition segment to form a ring structure; when the wafer moves between the opposite horizontal or vertical segments, the wafer held by the wafer clamping mechanism is rotated 180°.

6. The wafer transfer method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The CMP system includes a front-end unit, a polishing unit, a cleaning unit, and a wafer transfer device. The polishing unit and the cleaning unit are stacked vertically, with the polishing unit located below the cleaning unit.

7. The wafer transfer method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The horizontal section of the track extends at least to one cleaning module of the cleaning unit.

8. The wafer transfer method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The turnover robot is positioned between the various functional modules of the cleaning unit. It can grab wafers from the wafer clamping mechanism on the track and transfer the wafers to the cleaning module or drying module of the cleaning unit.

9. The wafer transfer method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The cleaning module and drying module of the cleaning unit are arranged along the outer periphery of the top of the CMP system, and the drying module is arranged adjacent to the front unit.

10. The wafer transfer method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The track has a U-shaped structure, which includes two horizontal segments and a vertical segment between the horizontal segments; the opening of the track faces the front unit of the CMP system, and the lower horizontal segment is adjacent to the front unit.

11. The wafer transfer method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The wafer clamping mechanism moves unidirectionally along the track to sequentially transfer the wafer to the polishing unit and the cleaning unit.

12. The wafer transfer method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The number of wafer clamping mechanisms is at least one; if the number of wafer clamping mechanisms is two or more, the wafer clamping mechanisms are spaced apart on the track.

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