Transport platform and wafer transport method

Abstract

The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a transmission platform and a wafer transmission method, wherein the transmission platform comprises: a transmission chamber, which is provided with an opening on at least one side wall; a plurality of process chambers, which are respectively connected with one side wall of the transmission chamber, and are configured to simultaneously accommodate and process a plurality of wafers; a loading chamber, which is connected with one side wall of the transmission chamber; at least two sets of mechanical hands, which are symmetrically arranged on opposite sides in the transmission chamber, and are respectively a first mechanical hand and a second mechanical hand, each set of mechanical hand has a plurality of layers of fingers arranged from bottom to top; and a temporary storage rack, which is arranged in the center of the transmission chamber and between the two sets of mechanical hands, and has a plurality of layers of supports arranged from bottom to top. The technical scheme of the embodiment of the present disclosure greatly compresses the idle time of the process chamber through the cooperation of the multiple layers of fingers of the mechanical hand, and greatly improves the throughput of wafer handling.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment technology, and more particularly to a transmission platform and wafer transmission method. Background Technology

[0002] In the semiconductor manufacturing process, the transfer platform is a core component connecting various process chambers and loading chambers, and its performance directly determines the overall output efficiency and floor space of the machine.

[0003] Existing transfer platforms typically employ single-arm or simple dual-arm robotic arms for wafer handling. However, with the increasing complexity of wafer processing technologies and the growing demand for handling multiple wafers at a time, traditional robotic arms often suffer from path conflicts and long waiting times when scheduling between multiple workstations. Furthermore, to accommodate multiple process chambers, the transfer chambers are often quite large, resulting in excessive overall equipment footprint and increased chip manufacturing costs. Therefore, designing a compact, efficient, and space-saving transfer platform has become a pressing issue in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This disclosure provides a transmission platform and a wafer transmission method to solve or alleviate one or more technical problems in the prior art.

[0005] As one aspect of this disclosure, this embodiment provides a transmission platform, including: A transfer chamber having an opening on at least one side wall; Multiple process chambers are connected to one of the side walls of the transfer chamber, and the process chambers are configured to simultaneously accommodate and process multiple wafers. A loading chamber is connected to one of the side walls of the transmission chamber; At least two sets of robotic arms are symmetrically arranged on opposite sides of the transmission chamber, namely a first robotic arm and a second robotic arm, each set of robotic arms having multiple layers of fingers arranged from bottom to top; and A temporary storage rack is located at the center of the transmission chamber and between the two sets of robotic arms. The temporary storage rack has multiple layers of supports arranged from bottom to top.

[0006] In one embodiment, each robotic arm includes a base and two rotating shafts located at both ends of the base, the two rotating shafts being a first rotating shaft and a second rotating shaft, respectively; a first set of fingers is provided on the first rotating shaft, and a second set of fingers is provided on the second rotating shaft; the first set of fingers and the second set of fingers are arranged alternately in the vertical direction and can rotate independently in the horizontal direction.

[0007] In one embodiment, the temporary storage rack includes: a horizontal rotating rod configured to rotate about a central vertical axis and to rise and fall vertically; at least two uprights respectively located at both ends of the horizontal rotating rod and extending upward; and a multi-layer support structure spaced apart on the uprights, each layer of the support structure including at least two support arms, each support arm having multiple support points for forming a stable support structure.

[0008] As another aspect of this disclosure, this disclosure provides a wafer transmission method based on the above-described transmission platform, characterized by comprising the following steps: Step 1: Drive the temporary storage rack to rotate so that the opening faces the loading chamber; Step 2: Using the designated layer fingers of the first robotic arm and / or the second robotic arm, at least two wafers to be processed are transferred from the loading chamber to a preset layer of the temporary storage rack; Step 3: Drive the temporary storage rack to rotate so that the opening faces the target process chamber; Step 4: The robotic arm lifts the wafer to be processed on the temporary storage rack, and at the same time, the robotic arm or the fingers of another robotic arm remove the wafer that has completed the process from the process chamber. Step 5: Place the completed wafer on another preset level of the temporary storage rack, and send the wafer to be processed into the process chamber.

[0009] The embodiments of this disclosure, employing the above-described technical solution, achieve the following technical effects: By setting a multi-layer temporary storage rack with rotation and lifting functions at the center of the transfer chamber, and cooperating with two sets of robotic arms equipped with dual rotating axes and multi-layer fingers, parallel transfer and rapid exchange of wafers between the process chamber, loading chamber, and transfer station are realized. This compact architecture significantly reduces the overall footprint of the equipment, achieving higher space utilization; simultaneously, the multi-layer fingers of the dual robotic arms work together to greatly reduce the idle time of the process chamber and significantly improve the throughput of wafer handling.

[0010] The above overview is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. Further aspects, embodiments, and features of this disclosure will become readily apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description, in addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above. Attached Figure Description

[0011] In the accompanying drawings, unless otherwise specified, the same reference numerals throughout the various drawings denote the same or similar parts or elements. These drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. It should be understood that these drawings depict only some embodiments provided according to this disclosure and should not be construed as limiting the scope of this disclosure.

[0012] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the overall structure of the transmission platform according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown; Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a robotic hand finger structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown; Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a temporary storage rack structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown; Figures 4 to 11 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the process steps for a single wafer transfer example.

[0013] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures: 1: Wafer; 2: Transfer chamber; 3: First process chamber; 4: Second process chamber; 5: Third process chamber; 6: Loading chamber; 7: First robotic arm; 71, 72, 73, 74: Fingers of the first robotic arm; 8: The second robotic arm; 81, 82, 83, 84: The fingers of the second robotic arm; 9: Temporary storage rack; 911, 921, 931, 941: Long support; 912, 922, 932, 942: Short support; 95: Rotating rod; 96: Column. Detailed Implementation

[0014] In the following description, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As those skilled in the art will recognize, the described embodiments can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Therefore, the drawings and description are to be considered exemplary in nature and not restrictive.

[0015] like Figure 1 As shown, this disclosure presents a transfer platform for semiconductor manufacturing. The core of this platform lies in achieving high-yield wafer transfer by utilizing a highly integrated robotic arm structure and a centralized temporary storage mechanism.

[0016] The transfer chamber 2 serves as the core hub of the system, with its side walls sealed to three process chambers: the first process chamber 3, the second process chamber 4, the third process chamber 5, and a loading chamber 6. The shell material of the transfer chamber 2 can be made of hard anodized aluminum alloy or stainless steel to ensure a low outgassing rate under vacuum conditions.

[0017] The first process chamber 3, the second process chamber 4, and the third process chamber 5 can all be configured as a dual-station structure, meaning that each opening has two parallel or vertically stacked process stations, capable of processing two wafers 1 simultaneously. The loading chamber 6 serves as the gateway for the wafers to enter the vacuum system and typically contains multiple wafer cassettes. Inside this platform, the operating pressure is usually maintained at a vacuum level of less than 760 Torr, and the internal temperature environment can accommodate process requirements of less than 1000 degrees Celsius, depending on the process being processed.

[0018] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, a first robotic arm 7 and a second robotic arm 8 are symmetrically arranged inside the transmission chamber 2. Taking the first robotic arm 7 as an example, it includes a base (which can be the platform of the transmission chamber 2) and two rotating shafts.

[0019] Implementation method one: such as Figure 2 As shown, the two rotating axes are the first rotating axis and the second rotating axis, respectively. The first rotating axis is equipped with a first set of fingers (including fingers 71 and 73), and the second rotating axis is equipped with a second set of fingers (including fingers 72 and 74). This opposing arrangement allows the two sets of fingers to move in an alternating manner like scissors, so that a single robotic arm can cover one side of the transfer chamber and the adjacent temporary storage area without moving the base.

[0020] Implementation Method 2: In another embodiment not shown, multiple layers of fingers can share the same central axis of rotation, but by setting different starting rotation heights or angular velocities in the axial direction, it is ensured that each layer of fingers does not interfere with each other when rotating horizontally.

[0021] To achieve independent rotation and synchronous lifting of multiple layers of fingers, in one possible implementation, the first robotic arm 7 and the second robotic arm 8 employ the following mechanical structure: Each rotating axis employs a multi-layered nested sleeve shaft structure. For example, the first rotating axis contains two nested shafts that can rotate relative to each other; the inner shaft connects to finger 73, and the outer sleeve shaft connects to finger 71. Each axis layer is driven by an independent torque motor or servo motor, thereby enabling multiple fingers at the same axis position to rotate independently in the horizontal plane.

[0022] The first and second rotating axes are each mounted on a separate lifting platform. Alternatively, the first and second rotating axes can be mounted as a single unit on a common lifting platform. This lifting platform is driven by a precision lead screw and nut pair or linear module located inside the base and controlled by a Z-axis servo motor. This design ensures that the four layers of fingers can be synchronously adjusted in height as a whole before performing the wafer picking or placing action, simplifying the control logic and improving structural rigidity.

[0023] In one possible implementation, each robotic arm has four layers of fingers arranged from bottom to top. The fingers are made of high-stiffness, lightweight carbon fiber or ceramic materials to reduce vibration during high-speed movement. For example... Figure 2 As shown, the end of the finger has a Y-shaped fork structure, and the inner side of the fork is provided with a support pad to support the edge of the wafer.

[0024] To avoid cross-contamination and optimize the path, the top two layers of fingers (such as fingers 73 and 74) are specifically responsible for transporting wafers that have not undergone processing; the bottom two layers of fingers (such as fingers 71 and 72) are specifically responsible for transporting wafers that have undergone processing. The four layers of fingers achieve overall vertical lifting and lowering through an internal set of precision lead screw mechanisms to match workstations at different heights.

[0025] like Figure 3 As shown, the temporary storage rack 9 is located at the geometric center of the chamber, serving as a "transfer station" for wafer flow. The temporary storage rack 9 includes a horizontal rotating rod 95, the middle of which is connected to the rotating output shaft of a motor (not shown), allowing it to rotate 360 ​​degrees around a vertical axis. Each end of the rotating rod has one or a group of vertically extending columns. Four layers of supports are spaced vertically on the columns 96. Each layer of supports is formed by pairing long supports 911, 921, 931, and 941 on one side of the column with short supports 912, 922, 932, and 942 on the other side of the column.

[0026] In one possible implementation, the long support has two support points, and the short support has one support point. These three support points together define a wafer support surface. This asymmetrical three-point support structure not only provides sufficient stability but also allows enough clearance for the robotic arm's fingers to enter and exit. The support points are typically made of high-performance polymers or ceramics to prevent the generation of metal contamination particles.

[0027] In one possible implementation, the center of the horizontal rotating rod is connected to a rotary drive motor (such as a high-precision hollow rotary platform) located at the bottom of the transmission chamber via a vertical main shaft. By driving the main shaft to rotate via the motor, the temporary storage rack can be rotated without dead angles.

[0028] A lifting mechanism (such as a magnetic lifting support or a bellows-sealed screw structure) is fitted around the outer circumference of the vertical main shaft. The lifting motor drives the screw to rotate, causing the horizontal rotating rod, along with the column and support as a whole, to move smoothly in the vertical direction (Z-axis).

[0029] An open space is defined as the unobstructed space between two columns. For example... Figure 4-11As shown in the operation flow, the control logic of the temporary storage rack 9 is that its opening direction is always tracked in real time and oriented towards the target cavity direction of the wafer to be transferred. For example, when the robot arm is ready to pick up the wafer from the loading cavity 6, the temporary storage rack rotates to align the opening with the loading cavity direction.

[0030] Figures 4 to 11 A complete collaboration process was demonstrated in detail: Initial state ( Figure 4 ( ): The first process chamber is processing wafers, and the loading chamber 6 contains wafers to be processed. The fingers 74 of robotic arm 1 and 83 of robotic arm 2 work together to move to the loading chamber and remove two wafers. At the same time, the temporary storage rack rotates to align the opening with the loading chamber.

[0031] Fetching and caching ( Figure 5-6 After removing two wafers from the loading chamber, they are placed on the top two shelves of the temporary storage rack 9. The temporary storage rack is then rotated to align with the first process chamber. The fingers 74 of robotic arm 1 and 83 of robotic arm 2 return to their initial positions.

[0032] Synchronous switching ( Figure 7-8 ): Robotic arm 1 performs the core exchange action. The lower fingers 71 and 72 extend into the process chamber to retrieve the completed wafer, while the upper fingers 73 and 74 lift the wafer to be processed on the temporary storage rack and quickly send it into the process chamber.

[0033] Return of the film ( Figure 9-11 ): The temporary storage rack rotates back to the loading chamber direction, and the fingers 72 of robot arm 1 and 81 of robot arm 2 work together to return the completed piece.

[0034] It should be noted that, in addition to gravity support, the fingertips can also be selectively equipped with vacuum adsorption elements (for normal pressure or rough vacuum environments) or electrostatic adsorption elements (ESC, for ultra-high vacuum environments) to improve the safety of the wafer during high-speed movement.

[0035] The rotation drive of the temporary storage rack 9 can be driven by stepper motors or servo motors. For environments requiring high vacuum levels, magnetic levitation drive can also be used to completely eliminate dust generated by mechanical friction.

[0036] According to the solution of this disclosure embodiment, by using the dual-axis opposed layered design of the robotic arm and the rotating opening mechanism of the temporary storage rack, the original linear transmission path is transformed into a multi-task parallel circular scheduling scheme, which significantly improves the production efficiency of semiconductor equipment.

[0037] Other configurations of the transmission platform in the above embodiments can be derived from various technical solutions known now and in the future to those skilled in the art, and will not be described in detail here.

[0038] Based on the transmission platform provided in any embodiment of this disclosure, this disclosure provides a wafer transmission method, the specific steps of which are as follows: Step 1: The system controller issues a command to drive the temporary storage rack 9 to rotate so that the opening of the temporary storage rack's column faces the loading chamber 6.

[0039] Step 2: The first robotic arm 7 and the second robotic arm 8 move in sync, using the fingers of the specified level (e.g., fingers 74 and 83) to take out at least two wafers to be processed from the loading chamber 6 and place them smoothly on the preset high-level support of the temporary storage rack 9.

[0040] Step 3: Drive the temporary storage rack 9 to rotate around the central axis so that its opening is re-aligned with the target process chamber (such as the third process chamber).

[0041] Step 4: Robotic arm 7 performs a two-layer exchange operation. The upper layer fingers lift the wafer to be processed on the temporary storage rack 9, while the lower layer fingers extend into the process chamber 3 to remove the wafer that has completed the process, thus achieving the overlap of the "retrieve" and "place" actions.

[0042] Step 5: Place the completed wafer on the preset low-level support of the temporary storage rack 9, and at the same time send the wafer to be processed on your finger into the process chamber 3 for processing.

[0043] Step 6: The temporary storage rack 9 rotates again, and the opening turns back to face the loading chamber 6.

[0044] Step 7: The robotic arm uses its fingers to retrieve the completed wafer from the lower-level support of the temporary storage rack 9 and sends it back to the loading chamber 6.

[0045] By repeatedly executing the above method, the system can achieve continuous wafer replenishment and recycling without stopping the machine, which greatly improves the throughput capacity of the production line.

[0046] According to the solution of this disclosure embodiment, by using the dual-axis opposed layered design of the robotic arm and the rotating opening mechanism of the temporary storage rack, the original linear transmission path is transformed into a multi-task parallel circular scheduling scheme, which significantly improves the production efficiency of semiconductor equipment.

[0047] In the description of this specification, it should be understood that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "transverse," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," and "circumferential" indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are used only for the convenience of describing this disclosure and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this disclosure.

[0048] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this disclosure, "multiple" means two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0049] In this disclosure, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "linking," "fixing," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; they can refer to a mechanical connection, an electrical connection, or a communication connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; they can refer to the internal communication of two components or the interaction between two components. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this disclosure according to the specific circumstances.

[0050] In this disclosure, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, "above" or "below" the second feature can include direct contact between the first and second features, or contact between the first and second features through another feature between them. Furthermore, "above," "over," and "on top" of the second feature includes the first feature being directly above or diagonally above the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is at a higher horizontal level than the second feature. "Below," "below," and "under" the second feature includes the first feature being directly above or diagonally above the second feature, or simply indicates that the first feature is at a lower horizontal level than the second feature.

[0051] The foregoing disclosure provides many different implementations or examples for carrying out different structures of this disclosure. To simplify the disclosure, specific examples of components and arrangements have been described above. Of course, these are merely examples and are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Furthermore, reference numerals and / or letters may be repeated in different examples; such repetition is for simplification and clarity and does not in itself indicate a relationship between the various implementations and / or arrangements discussed.

[0052] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this disclosure, but the scope of protection of this disclosure is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of various variations or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this disclosure, and these should all be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of this disclosure should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A transmission platform, characterized in that, include: A transfer chamber having an opening on at least one side wall; Multiple process chambers are connected to one of the side walls of the transfer chamber, and the process chambers are configured to simultaneously accommodate and process multiple wafers. A loading chamber is connected to one of the side walls of the transmission chamber; At least two sets of robotic arms are symmetrically arranged on opposite sides of the transmission chamber, namely a first robotic arm and a second robotic arm, each set of robotic arms having multiple layers of fingers arranged from bottom to top; and A temporary storage rack is located at the center of the transmission chamber and between the two sets of robotic arms. The temporary storage rack has multiple layers of supports arranged from bottom to top.

2. The transmission platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each of the aforementioned robotic arms includes two rotating axes, which are a first rotating axis and a second rotating axis, respectively. The first rotating shaft has a first group of fingers, and the second rotating shaft has a second group of fingers; the first group of fingers and the second group of fingers are arranged alternately in the vertical direction, and the two groups of fingers can rotate independently in the horizontal direction.

3. The transmission platform according to claim 2, characterized in that, In each set of the robotic hand, the rotation axes of the fingers in the odd-numbered layers and the fingers in the even-numbered layers are located on different sides. Alternatively, the multiple layers of fingers may share the same axis of rotation, but the rotation radii or starting angles of each layer of fingers in the horizontal direction may be staggered.

4. The transmission platform according to claim 2, characterized in that, The multi-layered fingers can rotate freely in the horizontal direction without interfering with each other, and are configured to rise and fall together in the vertical direction; Alternatively, at least some of the fingers in the multi-layered fingers can independently perform vertical lifting and lowering movements.

5. The transmission platform according to claim 2, characterized in that, The transfer chamber has a polygonal structure, the loading chamber is located on one side of the transfer chamber, and the plurality of process chambers are respectively located on the other sides of the transfer chamber; The rotating shaft is located at a center point equidistant from its matched workstation, which includes the workstation in the loading chamber and some workstations in the adjacent process chamber.

6. The transmission platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The multi-layered fingers are functionally layered: one group of fingers is responsible for transferring the wafer from the loading chamber to the process chamber; the other group of fingers is responsible for transferring the wafer from the process chamber to the loading chamber.

7. The transmission platform according to claim 2, characterized in that, One end of the finger is connected to the corresponding rotation axis, and the other end has a Y-shaped fork structure.

8. The transmission platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The temporary storage rack includes: A horizontal rotating rod is configured to rotate about a central vertical axis and to rise and fall vertically. At least two columns are respectively located at both ends of the horizontal rotating rod and extend upward; The multi-layered support structure is spaced apart on the column. Each layer of the support structure includes at least two support arms, and the support arms are provided with multiple support points to form a stable support structure together.

9. The transmission platform according to claim 8, characterized in that, The support arm includes at least one of a long support and a short support, wherein the long support on one side column and the short support on the other side column are at the same horizontal height to jointly form a wafer support surface; The support point includes one or more of the following: a protruding structure, a grooved structure, or a planar support surface.

10. The transmission platform according to claim 9, characterized in that, The long support has two support points, the short support has one support point, and the wafer support surface achieves stable support for the wafer through three support points.

11. The transmission platform according to claim 8, characterized in that, The space on both sides of the line connecting the two columns is defined as the opening of the temporary storage rack. The horizontal rotating rod drives the columns to rotate so that the opening always faces the target chamber of the wafer to be transferred.

12. The transmission platform according to claim 8, characterized in that, One portion of the multilayer support structure is responsible for storing wafers entering the process chamber from the loading chamber; the other portion of the support structure is responsible for storing wafers entering the loading chamber from the process chamber.

13. The transmission platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The process chamber and the transfer chamber are fixed by flange connection, welding or integral molding; the process chamber is provided with at least two workstations arranged side by side or stacked on top of each other to realize the synchronous processing of multiple wafers.

14. The transmission platform according to claim 1, characterized in that, The fingertips of the robotic arm are equipped with at least one of a vacuum adsorption element, an edge clamping element, or an electrostatic adsorption element for fixing the wafer.

15. A wafer transmission method based on the transmission platform according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: Step 1: Drive the temporary storage rack to rotate so that the opening faces the loading chamber; Step 2: Using the designated layer fingers of the first robotic arm and / or the second robotic arm, at least two wafers to be processed are transferred from the loading chamber to a preset layer of the temporary storage rack; Step 3: Drive the temporary storage rack to rotate so that the opening faces the target process chamber; Step 4: The robotic arm lifts the wafer to be processed on the temporary storage rack, and at the same time, the robotic arm or the fingers of another robotic arm remove the wafer that has completed the process from the process chamber. Step 5: Place the completed wafer on another preset level of the temporary storage rack, and send the wafer to be processed into the process chamber.

16. The wafer transfer method according to claim 15, characterized in that, Also includes: Step 6: Drive the temporary storage rack to rotate again, so that the opening faces the loading chamber; Step 7: The robotic arm transfers the completed wafers from the temporary storage rack to the loading chamber.

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