A rotating bearing mechanism and a thin film deposition apparatus

Abstract

This application provides a rotating support mechanism and a thin film deposition apparatus, relating to the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology. The apparatus includes a stage and a drive disk. The stage is positioned above the drive disk and is capable of circumferential rotation and axial floating relative to the drive disk. Multiple curved grooves are evenly distributed circumferentially on the drive disk, with each groove rotationally symmetrical about the central axis of the drive disk. The curved grooves are recessed downwards from the upper surface of the drive disk, extending along a smooth curve from near the center of the drive disk towards the edge. Along the circumferential direction, the center of curvature of each curved groove is located on the same side of the groove. Each curved groove has an independently connected air inlet at its end near the center of the drive disk. This mechanism enables stable low-speed rotation of the stage, alleviating the problem of significant changes in stage rotation speed due to fluctuations in airflow, making stage rotation speed easier to control, and improving the uniformity, consistency, and product yield of thin film deposition.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of semiconductor technology, specifically to a rotating support mechanism and a thin film deposition apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] In the modern semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, thin film deposition is a core and critical process that directly determines the insulation performance, conductivity, passivation protection effect, and the quality of the device's microstructure. Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), with its core advantages such as high-precision control, excellent step coverage, and low-temperature deposition adaptability, has become the most widely used thin film deposition process in the manufacturing of advanced semiconductor devices such as chips, 3D memories, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and optical devices.

[0003] Atomic layer deposition (ALD) relies on a thin film deposition apparatus, which includes a vacuum chamber, a gas delivery system, a temperature control system, a plasma generation system, and a rotating support mechanism. The rotating support mechanism supports semiconductor wafers and other workpieces, driving them to rotate along a preset trajectory and speed. This ensures that the process gas uniformly covers the workpiece surface, guaranteeing the uniformity of film thickness, composition, and morphological regularity across the entire workpiece surface, thus determining the film deposition quality and product yield.

[0004] The rotating support mechanism configured in existing thin film deposition apparatuses has the following technical defects: The first type of defect: The wafer only has a revolution function but lacks a self-rotation function, resulting in poor uniformity of thin film deposition. In some thin film deposition apparatuses, the rotating support mechanism can only drive the wafer to revolve around the central axis of the vacuum chamber; the wafer itself cannot rotate autonomously. Under this motion mode, the flow path of the process gas on the wafer surface is fixed, and the distribution is unbalanced. There are significant differences in gas adsorption, reaction rate, and deposition rate between the central and edge regions of the wafer, easily leading to uneven film thickness between the central and edge layers.

[0005] The second type of defect: Rotation achieved using non-gas-driven methods such as mechanical or magnetic transmission results in complex structures, high contamination risks, and large chamber volumes. To address the uniformity issue of a single revolution, the industry has gradually introduced rotating bearing mechanisms that combine revolution and rotation functions. These mechanisms often employ mechanical transmission methods such as gear meshing, belt drive, and bearing linkage, or magnetic transmission methods such as magnetohydrodynamics and magnetic coupling to drive the wafer stage's rotation. These non-gas-driven methods have significant drawbacks: First, the large number of transmission components, extremely high assembly precision requirements, and complex mechanical structures significantly increase the probability of equipment failure and maintenance difficulty; second, the numerous moving parts occupy a large amount of space inside the vacuum chamber, forcing the vacuum chamber to be designed as a large-volume structure, directly increasing equipment manufacturing costs, vacuum pumping energy consumption, and floor space; third, mechanical transmission components are prone to generating metal shavings and particulate impurities during high-speed operation, which can adhere to the wafer surface in a vacuum environment, forming particulate contamination, leading to device short circuits and failures, severely reducing product yield; fourth, mechanical transmissions have gaps and wear, resulting in decreased rotational stability after long-term use.

[0006] The third type of defect: The air-float pneumatic drive structure is difficult to control and the rotation speed is prone to being too high. To avoid the defects of mechanical transmission, the industry has begun to use air-float bearings to support the wafer stage, and the stage rotation is achieved by gas drive. This type of structure has no mechanical contact, no particulate contamination, and a simple structure. However, the drive air channel and the air-float air channel are independent of each other. When the air volume of the drive air channel increases slightly, the driving force will increase sharply, and the stage rotation speed will immediately spike. There are problems such as the speed being prone to being too high and the difficulty in control. High-speed rotation will cause the process gas to stay on the wafer surface for too short a time, resulting in insufficient reaction and a decrease in film quality. At the same time, the high-speed operation of the stage is prone to vibration and displacement, which further damages the deposition uniformity.

[0007] These defects have become the core bottleneck restricting the performance improvement of semiconductor thin film deposition equipment. Therefore, how to avoid these defects is a technical problem that needs to be solved by those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0008] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, this application provides the following solution: A rotating bearing mechanism includes a self-rotating bearing unit, which comprises a platform and a drive disk. The platform is disposed above the drive disk and is capable of axial floating and circumferential rotation relative to the drive disk. The drive disk has a plurality of curved grooves evenly distributed along its circumference, each curved groove being rotationally symmetrical about the central axis of the drive disk. The curved grooves are recessed downwards from the upper surface of the drive disk and extend along a smooth curve from a region near the center of the drive disk towards a region near the edge of the drive disk. Along the circumferential direction, the center of curvature of each curved groove is located on the same side of the groove. Each curved groove has an independently connected air inlet at its end near the center of the drive disk.

[0009] In one alternative embodiment of the rotating bearing mechanism, the curved groove is configured as an involute groove, and the center of the base circle corresponding to the involute groove is located on the central axis of the drive disk.

[0010] In one alternative embodiment of the rotating bearing mechanism, the width of the curved groove gradually decreases from the region near the center of the drive disk to the region near the edge of the drive disk, or the width remains constant.

[0011] In one alternative embodiment of the rotating bearing mechanism, the air outlet of the air inlet is located on the bottom wall of the curved groove.

[0012] In one optional embodiment of the rotating bearing mechanism, the self-rotating bearing unit includes an air intake plate, and a driving plate is disposed above the air intake plate and is axially floating relative to the air intake plate. The air intake plate is provided with multiple annular air equalization grooves, each of which is located on multiple concentric circles surrounding the central axis of the driving plate. The air intake plate is provided with a connecting air passage, and adjacent annular air equalization grooves are connected through the connecting air passage. The air passage and the air inlet of all the air intake holes are connected to the same annular air equalization groove.

[0013] In one alternative embodiment of the rotating bearing mechanism, a plurality of the communicating air passages are evenly distributed along the circumference of the annular air distribution groove.

[0014] In one alternative embodiment of the rotating bearing mechanism, the air passage and the air inlet of all the air inlets are connected to the innermost annular uniform air groove.

[0015] In one alternative embodiment of the rotating bearing mechanism, a plurality of air outlets of the ventilation channels are evenly distributed circumferentially along the innermost annular air distribution groove.

[0016] In one alternative embodiment of the rotating bearing mechanism, the rotating bearing mechanism includes a revolution disk, and a plurality of the rotating bearing units are disposed above the revolution disk and evenly distributed on the circumference of the revolution disk around the axis of rotation of the revolution disk.

[0017] A thin film deposition apparatus includes the rotating support mechanism described in any of the preceding claims, and further includes a vacuum chamber, wherein the rotating support unit of the rotating support mechanism is located within the vacuum chamber.

[0018] This application utilizes the airflow entering through the air inlet as both the stage's air buoyancy force and its rotational power. When the airflow increases, the additional airflow is prioritized for air buoyancy, increasing the air film thickness, and improving suspension stability. Therefore, the airflow used to drive the stage rotation will not suddenly increase, and the rotational speed will not spike instantaneously. This prevents the stage's rotational speed from changing drastically due to fluctuations in airflow, making the stage's rotational speed easy to control and less prone to sudden spikes. Simultaneously, the curved grooves decompose the airflow into circumferential and radial components. The radial component buffers and consumes some of the airflow pressure, further weakening the circumferential component as the rotational driving force. This further avoids the impact of high rotational speed on film deposition uniformity, circumventing the drawbacks of traditional air-float aerodynamic structures where "a slight increase in airflow causes a sharp rise in driving airflow, resulting in a sudden spike in rotational speed and difficulty in controlling the speed."

[0019] This application can drive the stage to rotate, thus avoiding the drawback of poor film deposition uniformity caused by the inability of the stage to rotate.

[0020] This application drives the stage to rotate by venting air into the curved groove of the drive disk. It eliminates mechanical transmission components such as gears, bearings, and belts, thus avoiding the drawbacks of complex structures, high failure rates, high manufacturing and maintenance costs, large space occupation in the vacuum chamber, and easy generation of particulate pollution during operation. This reduces costs and improves product yield. Attached Figure Description

[0021] Figure 1 A partial structural schematic diagram of one embodiment of the thin film deposition apparatus provided in this application; Figure 2 for Figure 1 A three-dimensional schematic diagram of a self-rotating load-bearing unit of a rotating load-bearing mechanism; Figure 3 for Figure 2 An explosion diagram; Figure 4 for Figure 2 A cross-sectional view; Figure 5 A three-dimensional schematic diagram of one embodiment of the drive disk; Figure 6 for Figure 5 A three-dimensional diagram from another perspective; Figure 7 for Figure 5 A plan view; Figure 8 A plan view of another embodiment of the drive disk; Figure 9 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the air intake disc; Figure 10 This is a cross-sectional view of the air intake disc.

[0022] The annotations in the attached figures are explained as follows: 1. Rotating bearing unit, 11. Platform, 12. Drive disk, 121. Curved groove, 122. Air inlet, 13. Air inlet disk, 131. Circular air distribution groove, 132. Connecting air passage, 133. Ventilation air passage, 14. First connecting shaft. 2 rotary tables, 3. Second connecting shaft; 4. Vacuum chamber. Detailed Implementation

[0023] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solution of this application, the following description is provided in conjunction with the appendix. Figures 1-10 The technical solutions of this application will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments.

[0024] This application provides a rotating bearing mechanism and a thin film deposition apparatus.

[0025] like Figure 1 As shown, the rotating bearing mechanism includes at least a self-rotating bearing unit 1. In this embodiment, the rotating bearing mechanism also includes a revolution disk 2, which can realize a combined motion of revolution and rotation. Multiple self-rotating bearing units 1 are arranged above the revolution disk 2 and are evenly distributed on the circumference of the rotation axis around the revolution disk 2. That is, the angle between adjacent self-rotating bearing units 1 is equal to 360° divided by the number of self-rotating bearing units 1.

[0026] The self-rotating support unit 1 is the core functional unit for realizing workpiece suspension and rotation, as shown in Figures 2, 3, and 4. Each self-rotating support unit 1 includes at least two core components: a platform 11 and a drive disk 12. In some embodiments, an air intake disk 13 is also added as a component for airflow stabilization, distribution, and equalization. The platform 11 is used to support workpieces such as semiconductor wafers; the drive disk 12 uses a curved groove structure to achieve rotational drive and air buoyancy support for the platform 11; and the air intake disk 13 achieves uniform airflow distribution, pressure stabilization, flow balance, air buoyancy support for the drive disk 12, and air supply.

[0027] The platform 11 is positioned above the drive disk 12, which in turn is positioned above the air intake disk 13. The platform 11 can perform two main movements relative to the drive disk 12: first, circumferential rotation, roughly around the central axis of the drive disk 12, to drive the workpiece to rotate; second, axial floating, roughly up and down along the central axis of the drive disk 12, to separate from the drive disk 12 and eliminate friction. The drive disk 12 can float axially relative to the air intake disk 13 to form an air film between the drive disk 12 and the air intake disk 13, serving to divert airflow, relieve pressure, and provide support.

[0028] like Figure 1 As shown, the thin film deposition apparatus includes the aforementioned rotating support mechanism. In addition to the rotating support mechanism, a vacuum chamber 4 is also configured. Furthermore, a gas delivery system, a temperature control system, a plasma generation system, etc., can also be configured. The orbital disk 2 of the rotating support mechanism and all the rotating support units 1 are located within the sealed space of the vacuum chamber 4. The vacuum chamber 4 provides a high-vacuum, clean, and sealed reaction environment for the thin film deposition process, meeting the stringent environmental requirements of thin film deposition processes such as atomic layer deposition.

[0029] A second connecting shaft 3 is fixedly connected to the center of the rotary disk 2. The second connecting shaft 3 extends from a sealed through-hole in the lower wall of the vacuum chamber 4 to the outside of the vacuum chamber 4, and is stably connected to external drive components such as a drive motor and a reduction mechanism. The external drive components transmit torque through the second connecting shaft 3, driving the rotary disk 2 to rotate smoothly, thereby causing all the rotating bearing units 1 to revolve around the central axis of the rotary disk 2, so that the workpiece on the platform 11 can revolve.

[0030] The stage 11 of the rotating support unit 1, driven by the gas of the drive disk 12, completes axial floating and rotation relative to the drive disk 12, enabling the workpiece on the stage 11 to rotate. During the thin film deposition process, the semiconductor wafer and other workpieces on the stage 11 simultaneously undergo revolution and rotation, forming a composite motion trajectory. This ensures that the process gas can uniformly, comprehensively, and stably cover the entire wafer surface, resulting in high uniformity and consistency in deposition rate, film thickness, and film composition in the wafer's central region, edge region, and different orientation regions, thereby improving the uniformity, consistency, and product yield of thin film deposition.

[0031] As shown in Figures 3 and 4, in this embodiment, the stage 11 and the drive disk 12 are connected by a first connecting shaft 14. This connection structure can stably ensure the rotational degree of freedom and axial floating degree of freedom of the stage 11, while ensuring that the stage 11 will not fall off the drive disk 12 during rotation. The specific connection method is as follows: a shaft hole (pointed to A in the figure) is opened at the center of the drive disk 12, and a corresponding shaft hole (pointed to B in the figure) is opened at the center of the platform 11. The upper part of the first connecting shaft 14 is tightly inserted into the shaft hole of the platform 11 and is fixedly connected by an interference fit to ensure that the first connecting shaft 14 and the platform 11 rotate and float synchronously. The lower part of the first connecting shaft 14 is movably inserted into the shaft hole of the drive disk 12. The inner diameter of the shaft hole is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the lower end of the first connecting shaft 14, and a reasonable radial clearance is maintained between the two. This clearance allows the platform 11 to float and rotate relative to the drive disk 12. When the platform 11 floats axially under the drive of airflow, the first connecting shaft 14 moves up and down inside the shaft hole of the drive disk 12. When the platform 11 rotates under the drive of airflow, the first connecting shaft 14 rotates freely inside the shaft hole of the drive disk 12.

[0032] It should be noted that the connection structure between the platform 11 and the drive disk 12 is not limited to the first connecting shaft 14 structure described in this embodiment. Any connection method that enables the platform 11 to rotate freely relative to the drive disk 12, float axially, and remain detached during rotation is acceptable. For example, an annular mounting groove can be formed at the center of the upper surface of the drive disk 12, allowing the bottom of the platform 11 to be movably accommodated inside the mounting groove, thus maintaining a reasonable gap between the outer circumferential surface of the platform 11 and the inner sidewall of the mounting groove. This also achieves the functions of rotation, floating, and preventing detachment. Those skilled in the art can flexibly select the connection structure between the platform 11 and the drive disk 12 according to actual processing requirements, assembly accuracy, cost control, and other factors. These modified structures are also within the scope of protection of this application.

[0033] As shown in Figure 4, in this embodiment, the upper surface of the stage 11 is machined with a workpiece receiving groove. This workpiece receiving groove is used to position and support circular workpieces such as semiconductor wafers, ensuring that the workpiece does not shift or slide during rotation. The inner side of the sidewall of the workpiece receiving groove is designed as an inclined slope structure, with the upper end of the slope expanding outward relative to the lower end, forming a guide structure that is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. This inclined slope design has two major advantages: first, it facilitates the quick and smooth placement of workpieces into the workpiece receiving groove, reducing loading difficulty and improving processing efficiency; second, during the placement of the workpiece, the edge will not rigidly scrape or collide with the sidewall of the receiving groove, effectively avoiding problems such as edge chipping, scratches, and breakage, protecting the integrity of the workpiece. The size of the workpiece receiving groove can be flexibly designed according to the specifications of the workpiece being processed, adapting to the carrying requirements of workpieces of different sizes (such as 8-inch and 12-inch wafers), and has good versatility and adaptability.

[0034] Drive disc 12 is the core component for realizing pneumatic rotation, pneumatic levitation, and speed control, such as Figure 5 As shown, multiple curved grooves 121 are evenly distributed along the circumference of the drive disk 12. The angle between adjacent curved grooves 121 is equal to 360° divided by the number of curved grooves 121. The number of curved grooves 121 can be flexibly set according to the size of the drive disk 12, the driving torque requirement, and the speed control requirement. In this embodiment, five curved grooves 121 are set, but in practical applications, two or more can be set. All curved grooves 121 are rotationally symmetrical about the central axis of the drive disk 12. That is, after any curved groove 121 is rotated around the central axis of the drive disk by a fixed angle, it can completely overlap with other curved grooves 121, ensuring that the airflow driving effect of each curved groove 121 is uniform, synchronous, and consistent, and avoiding uneven force on the platform causing shaking or displacement.

[0035] The curved groove 121 is recessed downwards from the upper surface of the drive disk 12. The extension path of the curved groove 121 extends from the inner end region near the center of the drive disk 12 along a smooth curve to the outer end region near the edge of the drive disk 12, without inflection points, abrupt changes, or sharp angles, ensuring smooth and stable airflow. A smooth curve refers to a curve with a continuously and gently changing curvature.

[0036] In the circumferential direction, the center of curvature of each curved groove 121 is located on the same side of the groove 121, causing all curved grooves 121 to bend unidirectionally in the same direction. For example, from the perspective of Figure 5, the center of curvature of all curved grooves 121 is located on their counterclockwise side, and the outer end of the curved groove 121 bends counterclockwise relative to the inner end, ensuring that the rotational driving force generated by all curved grooves is completely consistent in direction, avoiding mutual cancellation of driving forces, and ensuring stable rotation direction.

[0037] Each curved groove 121 has an independently connected air inlet 122 at its inner end near the center of the drive disk 12. That is, the inner end of each curved groove 121 corresponds to one or more air inlets 122, ensuring that each curved groove 121 can obtain a stable and independent airflow supply.

[0038] As a preferred embodiment, the air outlet of the air inlet 122 is located in the inner end region of the bottom wall of the curved groove 121. This design has two advantages: first, the air inlet 122 can be set as a straight hole, which simplifies the processing and eliminates the need for complex oblique or curved hole processing; second, the airflow enters the curved groove 121 in an upward direction and preferentially acts upward on the bottom of the platform 11, so that the platform 11 first completes the suspension and detachment, and then rotates under the circumferential driving force, which completely avoids the rotational wear between the platform 11 and the drive disk 12 caused by the rotation when the platform 11 is not suspended, and helps to extend the service life of the mechanism.

[0039] Alternatively, the air outlet of the air inlet 122 can also be located in the inner end region of the groove sidewall of the curved groove 121.

[0040] As a preferred embodiment, such as Figure 6 As shown, the air inlet of the air inlet 122 is located on the lower surface of the platform 11, which facilitates communication with the annular air distribution groove 131 on the air inlet plate 13 described below.

[0041] Alternatively, if the air intake plate 13 is not provided, the air intake port of the air intake hole 122 can also be provided on the outer side of the platform 11.

[0042] In a preferred embodiment, the curved groove 121 is configured as an involute groove, and the center of the base circle corresponding to the involute groove is located on the central axis of the drive disk 12. That is, the center line of the curved groove 121 (i.e., Figure 7 and Figure 8 The dashed line (in the middle) represents an involute, a curve with a continuous and smooth curvature change. The normal to any point on the involute is tangent to the corresponding base circle. This structure maximizes the airflow guidance effect: when the airflow flows along the involute groove, the circumferential force is uniform, stable, and continuous, resulting in high driving efficiency and excellent rotational smoothness.

[0043] In one embodiment, such as Figure 7 As shown, the width of the curved groove 121 gradually decreases from the inner end (center side) to the outer end (edge ​​side), so that the flow area of ​​the curved groove 121 gradually decreases from the inside to the outside. In this way, when the airflow flows to the outer end, it will overflow upward, ensuring the thickness of the air film between the edge area of ​​the drive disk 12 and the platform 11. This can improve the suspension stability of the platform 11 and prevent the edge of the platform 11 from falling or tilting.

[0044] In some embodiments, such as Figure 8 As shown, the width of the curved groove 121 remains constant from the inner end to the outer end, which is a uniform width groove. This structure has a simple processing technology, easy to ensure processing accuracy, and low manufacturing cost, making it suitable for the needs of mass production and low-cost industrialization.

[0045] The cross-sectional shape of the curved groove 121 can be flexibly designed. In this embodiment, a rectangular cross-section is adopted, with vertical sidewalls and flat bottomwalls, allowing for smooth airflow and convenient processing. In practical applications, it can also be designed into other shapes, such as arc, trapezoid, semi-circle, etc., all of which fall within the scope of protection of this application.

[0046] When the rotating bearing mechanism is running, the airflow enters the curved groove 121 of the drive disk 12 through the air inlet 122 and then splits into two main paths: First path: Part of the airflow flows from the inner end to the outer end of the curved groove 121 along the side wall of the curved groove 121. Under the guidance of the curved groove 121, the airflow is decomposed into circumferential and radial components. The circumferential component provides rotational driving force for the platform 11, while the radial component does not participate in rotational driving and only plays the role of airflow diversion and pressure buffering. This can effectively reduce the intensity of the rotational driving force and prevent the platform 11 from rotating too fast. Since the curvature centers of all curved grooves 121 are located on the same side and all curved grooves 121 are evenly distributed in the circumferential direction and rotationally symmetrical, the rotational driving force of the airflow in all curved grooves 121 acting on the platform is in the same direction and uniform in magnitude, ensuring the stability of the platform 11 during rotation.

[0047] The second path: Part of the airflow acts upward on the bottom of the platform 11, generating an upward thrust that pushes the platform 11 to float upward along the axis, separating the platform 11 from the upper surface of the drive disk 12 to avoid friction. At the same time, an air film is formed between the bottom of the platform 11 and the upper surface of the drive disk 12. The air film plays a supporting, lubricating, and buffering role, making the platform 11 stable and suspending without shaking or tilting, thus ensuring the smoothness of the platform 11 during rotation.

[0048] It can be seen that the airflow coming in from the air inlet 122 is not entirely used to drive the platform 11 to rotate, but is also partially used to drive the platform 11 to float and generate an air film between the platform 11 and the drive disk 12.

[0049] Compared to traditional air-bearing pneumatic structures, which suffer from drawbacks such as slightly increased airflow, simultaneous increase in driving airflow, and easily excessively high and difficult-to-control rotational speed, this mechanism prioritizes increasing the airflow to enhance the air film thickness when the airflow increases. This prevents a sudden increase in the airflow used to drive the rotation of the stage 11. Simultaneously, the orientation of the curved groove 121 generates radial and circumferential components in the airflow. While the radial component does not contribute to circumferential driving, it reduces the magnitude of the circumferential driving force. This effectively suppresses the tendency for the stage 11's rotational speed to spike uncontrollably during airflow fluctuations, achieving stable low-speed rotation of the stage 11.

[0050] Compared to traditional non-gas-driven structures, this rotating bearing mechanism occupies less space in the vacuum chamber, allowing for a smaller vacuum chamber volume. This reduces both manufacturing and operating costs. Furthermore, the rotating bearing mechanism lacks a complex mechanical transmission structure, making it less prone to particulate contamination and thus improving product yield.

[0051] As shown in Figures 9 and 10, in this embodiment, the self-rotating bearing unit 1 is equipped with an air intake plate 13 as a core component for airflow stabilization, diversion, and uniform air distribution, further improving airflow stability and reducing the difficulty of speed control. The upper surface of the air intake plate 13 is provided with multiple annular uniform air distribution grooves 131, each located on multiple concentric circles surrounding the central axis of the drive plate 12. In this embodiment, three annular uniform air distribution grooves 131 are provided. In practical applications, two or more grooves can be set in any number, which can be flexibly adjusted according to the size of the drive plate 12 and the weight of the drive plate 12 and the platform 11.

[0052] The intake plate 13 has a connecting air passage 132 inside. The connecting air passage 132 is located on the baffle part between adjacent annular air equalization grooves 131 and passes through the inner and outer sides of the baffle part, so that adjacent annular air equalization grooves 131 are connected through the connecting air passage 132, thereby achieving the balance of internal pressure and flow of multiple annular air equalization grooves 131.

[0053] In a preferred embodiment, multiple connecting air channels 132 are evenly distributed around the annular air distribution groove 131. The angle between adjacent connecting air channels 132 is equal to 360° divided by the number of connecting air channels 132 on the circumference. This ensures that the airflow is evenly distributed within the 360° circumferential range, ensuring the uniformity of airflow distribution within the annular air distribution groove 131. This, in turn, ensures the uniformity of the air film thickness between the intake plate 13 and the drive plate 12, and ensures that the drive plate 12 floats smoothly without easily tilting or shaking.

[0054] The air intake plate 13 is provided with a ventilation channel 133, which serves as an input channel for external airflow. The air outlet of the ventilation channel 133 is connected to one of the annular air distribution grooves 131, for introducing air into the annular air distribution groove 131. The air inlets of all the air intake holes 122 are connected to the annular air distribution groove 131 connected to the ventilation channel 133. That is to say, the orthographic projection of the annular air distribution groove 131 connected to the ventilation channel 133 on the lower surface of the platform 11 covers the air inlets of all the air intake holes 122.

[0055] In a preferred embodiment, the ventilation channel 133 is connected to the innermost annular air distribution groove 131. Correspondingly, the air inlet of the air inlet 122 is also connected to the innermost annular air distribution groove 131. This ensures that the inner end of the curved groove 121 where the air inlet 122 is located is relatively close to the center of the drive disk 12, which is beneficial to improving the suspension stability of the drive disk 12.

[0056] In a preferred embodiment, multiple air outlets of the connecting air passages 132 are evenly distributed along the circumference of the innermost annular air distribution groove 131. This can improve the uniformity of airflow distribution within the innermost annular air distribution groove 131, thereby ensuring that the air intake of each air inlet 122 is relatively uniform, and making the driving force of all curved grooves 121 balanced. This makes the platform 11 less prone to eccentricity or tilting during rotation, and has high rotational stability.

[0057] When the rotating bearing mechanism is running, the external airflow enters the annular uniform air groove 131 connected to it through the ventilation channel 133. Then, part of the airflow enters the curved groove 121 of the drive disk 12 through the air inlet 122, providing rotation and floating power for the platform 11. Part of the airflow enters other annular uniform air grooves 131 through the connecting air channel 132, realizing multi-stage flow diversion, pressure stabilization and pressure relief.

[0058] When the ventilation volume suddenly increases, some of the airflow acts on the bottom of the drive disk 12, causing the drive disk 12 to float and generate an air film between the drive disk 12 and the air distribution disk. This allows the increased airflow to be used first to increase the thickness of the air film, rather than causing the speed of the stage 11 to suddenly increase. As a result, the difficulty of controlling the speed of the stage 11 can be better reduced, and the problem of large fluctuations in the speed of the stage 11 with the ventilation volume can be avoided.

[0059] The working process of the above-mentioned thin film deposition apparatus is roughly as follows: The vacuum chamber 4 is sealed and evacuated to a high vacuum state to meet the environmental requirements of the thin film deposition process; external clean airflow is input through the ventilation channel 133 of the air inlet plate 13, and is stabilized, divided, and uniformly distributed through multiple annular gas equalization grooves 131; the airflow enters the inner end of each curved groove 121 from the annular gas equalization groove 131 through the air inlet hole 122 of the drive plate 12; part of the airflow acts upward on the bottom of the stage 11, pushing the stage 11 to float axially and disengage from the drive plate 12, forming a uniform gas film; part of the airflow flows smoothly along the curved groove 121, decomposing into circumferential and radial components, and the circumferential component drives the stage 11 to rotate smoothly at a low speed; the drive element drives the revolution disk 2 to rotate, causing all the rotating bearing units 1 to rotate synchronously; the workpiece synchronously performs a combined revolution and rotation motion, and the process gas is uniformly deposited on the surface of the workpiece to form a high-quality uniform thin film; after the process is completed, the gas supply is stopped, and the stage 11... The workpiece falls onto the surface of drive disk 12, stops rotating, and is then removed.

[0060] In summary, this application utilizes the curved groove 121 design of the drive disk 12 to achieve simultaneous airflow as both the buoyancy force and rotational power for the stage 11. This fundamentally solves the shortcomings of existing rotating bearing mechanisms, such as difficulty in controlling the rotational speed, large fluctuations in rotational speed with airflow, complex mechanical structure, severe particulate contamination, and poor film deposition uniformity. Furthermore, the design of multiple interconnected annular uniform air grooves 131 on the air inlet disk 13 further reduces the difficulty of controlling the rotational speed and alleviates the speed fluctuations caused by airflow fluctuations. The stage 11 exhibits easily controllable rotational speed, stable low-speed rotation, stable suspension, and is not easily tilted. Its overall structure is simple, occupies little vacuum chamber space, reduces the design volume of the vacuum chamber, lowers manufacturing and operating costs, eliminates the risk of particulate contamination, improves product yield, and enhances film deposition uniformity through a combination of revolution and rotation.

[0061] The above examples illustrate the principles and implementation methods of this application. The descriptions of the embodiments are merely for the purpose of helping to understand the methods and core ideas of this application. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various improvements and modifications to this application without departing from its principles, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A rotating bearing mechanism, characterized in that, The rotating bearing mechanism includes a self-rotating bearing unit (1), which includes a platform (11) and a drive disk (12). The platform (11) is disposed above the drive disk (12) and can float axially and rotate circumferentially relative to the drive disk (12). The drive disk (12) is provided with a plurality of curved grooves (121) evenly distributed in sequence along the circumferential direction. Each curved groove (121) is symmetrically distributed about the central axis of the drive disk (12). The curved grooves (121) are recessed downward from the upper surface of the drive disk (12), and the curved grooves (121) extend from the region near the center of the drive disk (12) along a smooth curve to the region near the edge of the drive disk (12). Along the circumferential direction, the curvature center of each curved groove (121) is located on the same side of the curved groove (121). Each curved groove (121) has an air inlet (122) independently connected to one end near the center of the drive disk (12).

2. The rotating bearing mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, The curved groove (121) is configured as an involute groove, and the center of the base circle corresponding to the involute groove is located on the central axis of the drive disk (12).

3. The rotating bearing mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, The width of the curved groove (121) gradually decreases from the region near the center of the drive disk (12) to the region near the edge of the drive disk (12), or remains constant.

4. The rotating bearing mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, The air outlet of the air inlet (122) is located on the bottom wall of the curved groove (121).

5. The rotating bearing mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, The self-rotating bearing unit (1) includes an air intake plate (13). The drive plate (12) is disposed above the air intake plate (13) and can float axially relative to the air intake plate (13). The air intake plate (13) is provided with multiple annular uniform air grooves (131). Each annular uniform air groove (131) is located on multiple concentric circles surrounding the central axis of the drive plate (12). The air intake plate (13) is provided with a connecting air passage (132) and a ventilation air passage (133). Adjacent annular uniform air grooves (131) are connected through the connecting air passage (132). The ventilation air passage (133) and the air inlets of all the air inlets (122) are connected to the same annular uniform air groove (131).

6. The rotating bearing mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that, Multiple connecting air passages (132) are evenly distributed along the circumference of the annular gas distribution groove (131).

7. The rotating bearing mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that, The air passage (133) and the air inlets of all the air inlets (122) are connected to the innermost annular uniform air groove (131).

8. The rotating bearing mechanism according to claim 7, characterized in that, The outlets of the ventilation channels (133) are evenly distributed along the circumference of the innermost annular gas distribution groove (131).

9. The rotating bearing mechanism according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, The rotating bearing mechanism includes a rotating disk (2), and a plurality of rotating bearing units (1) are arranged above the rotating disk (2) and evenly distributed on the circumference of the rotating axis surrounding the rotating disk (2).

10. A thin film deposition apparatus, characterized in that, The rotating bearing mechanism according to any one of claims 1-9 further includes a vacuum chamber (4), wherein the self-rotating bearing unit (1) of the rotating bearing mechanism is located in the vacuum chamber (4).

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