A cluster type vacuum transmission platform for panel level packaging

Abstract

The application discloses a cluster type vacuum transmission platform for panel level packaging, which comprises an EFEM module, an atmospheric mechanical arm, a glass substrate, a transmission valve, a degas module, a per clean module, an LL module, a process module, a TM module, a vacuum mechanical arm and a glass substrate at the end of the vacuum mechanical arm. The application has the beneficial effects that: the square glass substrate always maintains a 0° straight posture during the whole flow direction carrying from the atmosphere to the vacuum, eliminates any rotation correction action in the horizontal plane, completely solves the tangential inertia slip, introduces a longitudinal vertical three-dimensional double-layer independent vacuum LL cavity architecture, supports double-mode adaptive scheduling to realize complete decoupling and parallelization of space and time sequence, the transmission platform has the ability of "software definable / hardware in-place quick change", and supports directly changing and reconstructing the peripheral processing cavity module in place into an additional independent LL cavity when facing high production capacity requirements, so as to realize horizontal leapfrog expansion of the platform WPH production capacity.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of semiconductor advanced packaging (PLP) physical vapor deposition (PVD) equipment manufacturing technology, specifically a clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging. Background Technology

[0002] In panel-level advanced packaging (PLP) processes for large-size square glass substrates (such as 310mm*310mm high-density glass substrates), depositing highly uniform titanium (Ti) barrier layers and copper (Cu) seed layers on the glass surface and the inner walls of high aspect ratio glass vias (TGVs) is a key process for realizing high-density redistribution layer (RDL) interconnects. Currently, the most similar existing solutions in the industry usually follow or extend the traditional wafer equipment polygon cluster platform (Cluster Tool PVD).

[0003] This solution typically includes: a central vacuum transport module (TM) with a multi-axis rotating vacuum handling robot inside; two pre-processing chambers mounted obliquely on the periphery (for large-area infrared radiation degassing baking and plasma cleaning pre-cleaning, respectively); and several vacuum process chambers (PM) arranged around it for high-speed sputtering of Ti / Cu. At the front end of the transport platform, the atmospheric front-end module (EFEM) is connected to the central transport module through obliquely placed or horizontally arranged vacuum lock chambers (Load-Lock, LL chambers) to perform atmospheric-vacuum environment conversion of the square glass substrate in a serial or alternating manner. The existing technology has the following drawbacks: 1. Risk of substrate slippage under high WPH transmission: Under the high WPH (Wafers Per Hour) requirements of the platform, the traditional non-linear axial layout requires the square glass substrate to perform horizontal rotation correction actions with high frequency of rapid acceleration and deceleration during high-speed transmission. Due to the extremely low coefficient of friction of the glass surface and the large rotational inertia of the large square size (310mm rectangular piece, diagonal length is about 438mm), the substrate is very likely to slip tangentially on the gripper, causing serious alignment errors or impact failures. 2. Edge interference risk caused by unreasonable cluster layout: The non-linear topology layout of the existing platform is unreasonable, which means that the square glass substrate must be rotated and corrected when entering or exiting the cavity or passing through the slit valve. This rotation causes the dynamic motion envelope area of ​​the square substrate to increase significantly, which squeezes the spacing of the outer cavity to the limit. This results in a serious lack of mechanical safety margin between the substrate edge and the inner wall of the equipment and the valve port, which makes it very easy to scratch and generate hard glass particles, which will damage the yield of titanium / copper thin film. 3. Traditional LL cavity layout leads to a systemic capacity bottleneck caused by serial process execution: The traditional layout uses a single or horizontally parallel LL cavity, which cannot cope with complex mass production scheduling. When facing degassing or high-temperature cooling after high-power sputtering, the vacuum cycle of gas extraction and degassing in the LL cavity and the temperature field control (baking / cooling) can only be executed serially on the time axis. This not only makes the cavity wall very easy to condense when the high-temperature wafer is recharged and degassed, but also greatly prolongs the subsequent vacuuming time, forming a capacity bottleneck and severely limiting the continuous high-speed operation capability of the downstream process cavities. 4. Rigid platform configuration and capacity, lacking modular topology reconfiguration and dynamic WPH expansion capabilities: Although the physical flange interfaces around the central transmission chamber of the existing cluster platform remain consistent, its underlying process control, pipeline fluid configuration, and material transmission routing are rigidly fixed at the factory. The equipment cannot dynamically change the functional attributes of the modules according to mass production needs (such as switching the pretreatment chamber in situ or upgrading it to an LL chamber function). This results in the platform being unable to break the capacity bottleneck by directly expanding horizontally to connect a third LL chamber in parallel on the original interface when facing the demand for high throughput (high WPH) process upgrades. The equipment's flexible mass production adaptability and capacity scalability throughout its entire life cycle are extremely poor. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging to solve the problems mentioned in the background art.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: a clustered vacuum transfer platform for panel-level packaging, comprising an EFEM module, an atmospheric manipulator, a glass substrate, a transfer valve, a degas module, a per-clean module, an LL module, a process module, a TM module, a vacuum manipulator, and a glass substrate at the end of the vacuum manipulator; The degas module, LL module and per clean module are located at one end of the EFEM module. Multiple process modules are symmetrically arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the outside of the TM module. The TM module mainly serves to establish an atmospheric pressure clean environment, isolate external factory workshop pollution and provide an initial loading interface for materials, maintain the basic vacuum degree of the whole machine center, and provide standardized physical mounting interfaces and interconnection hubs for each peripheral module. The TM module is equipped with a vacuum manipulator at its circumference center, which is used to perform precise gripping, lifting and linear transport scheduling of glass substrates under normal pressure. The vacuum manipulator is specifically used to perform non-rotational straight telescopic transport and precise handover of glass substrates under high vacuum conditions. The TM module has a polygonal cylindrical structure. Each EFEM module has a transmission valve connected to it at the center of its rear wall. As a mechanical valve isolation component, the transmission valve mainly serves to physically isolate the vacuum from the atmospheric environment between the cavities and to open and close the vacuum channel as needed according to the transmission command.

[0006] In a further optimized configuration, the transmission valve is rigidly connected to the LL module, and the LL module has a vertical stacked structure, which mainly serves to buffer and switch pressure between atmospheric pressure environment and internal high vacuum environment and to lock and rotate the substrate.

[0007] In a further optimized version, the LL module includes an LL cavity and a degas lamp disposed at the upper end of the cavity.

[0008] In a further optimized configuration, a vacuum partition is provided within the LL cavity, with the upper and lower ends of the vacuum partition being the upper vacuum chamber and the lower vacuum chamber, respectively.

[0009] In a further optimized configuration, the atmospheric pressure end of the upper vacuum chamber and the lower vacuum chamber are located near the EFEM module, and the high vacuum transmission end of the upper vacuum chamber and the lower vacuum chamber are located near the TM module. Both chambers are symmetrically provided with multiple slit material channels, and correspondingly fitted with transmission valves that can rigidly shut off gas or connect materials.

[0010] In a further optimized configuration, four transmission valves are symmetrically arranged near the LL cavity, and the four transmission valves are respectively connected to the upper vacuum chamber and the lower vacuum chamber for control.

[0011] In a further optimized configuration, the other ends of the four transmission valves, which are located away from the upper and lower vacuum chambers, are all connected to the TM module in an upright position.

[0012] In a further optimized configuration, the degas module and the per clean module are respectively located on the left and right sides of the axis of the EFEM module. The degas module and the per clean module mainly utilize plasma bombardment technology to perform microscopic cleaning and reverse sputtering etching on the substrate surface to expose a fresh contact interface. The front wall surfaces of the degas module and the per clean module are also respectively equipped with transfer valves and directly connected to both sides of the rear wall surface of the EFEM module.

[0013] In a further optimized configuration, the TM module has multiple flange ports around its outer periphery, and these flange ports are respectively connected to the process modules. The process modules serve as the core sputtering reaction chamber in the system, mainly playing the role of performing a high-uniformity titanium / copper metal thin film physical vapor deposition (PVD) process on the surface of the glass substrate. Furthermore, transfer valves are provided between the multiple process modules and the TM module.

[0014] In a further optimized configuration, a cold plate is horizontally fixedly mounted on the bottom surface of the lower vacuum chamber. The cold plate is densely covered with interlaced coolant channels, and its inlet and outlet are connected to a cooling machine outside the chamber via pipe through-wall flanges. A cooling pin mechanism that can float up and down is vertically inserted on the cold plate. A high-temperature pin mechanism that can reciprocate up and down is also vertically embedded inside the bottom wall of the upper vacuum chamber. Beneficial effects

[0015] The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging provided by this invention ensures that the square glass substrate maintains a 0° upright posture during the omnidirectional transport from atmosphere to vacuum, eliminates any rotational correction action in the horizontal plane, and eradicates tangential inertial slippage from the mechanical source; it eliminates edge interference and particle contamination under high-density clustered structures, minimizes the spatial motion envelope area of ​​the substrate when passing through the channel, increases the mechanical safety margin between the substrate edge and the internal structure of the equipment, and prevents contamination by hard glass micro-fragment particles caused by scratches and abrasions. It adopts a vertical, three-dimensional, dual-layer independent vacuum LL cavity architecture and supports dual-mode adaptive scheduling. When there is a high WPH demand, it serves as a unidirectional parallel pipeline turnaround channel. When there is a low WPH and high integration demand, the upper LL cavity is controlled to also perform in-situ degassing and baking, and the lower LL cavity is used to perform in-situ outlet cooling, achieving complete decoupling and parallelization of space and timing. It breaks the rigid control limitations of the system on the functions of each mounted module, enabling the transmission platform to have the reconfiguration capability of "software-definable / hardware in-situ quick replacement". It not only supports flexible switching between different process functions of each peripheral processing cavity, but also supports the direct in-situ modification and reconstruction of peripheral processing cavity modules into additional independent LL cavities when facing high capacity requirements, realizing the horizontal leapfrog expansion of the platform's WPH capacity. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall mechanism of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the LL module structure of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the LL module of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0017] The following are specific embodiments of the present invention, which are described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Example

[0018] A clustered vacuum transfer platform for panel-level packaging includes an EFEM module 1, an atmospheric robot 2, a glass substrate 3, a transfer valve 4, a degas module 5, a per clean module 6, an LL module 7, a process module 8, a TM module 9, a vacuum robot 10, and a glass substrate 3 at the end of the vacuum robot 10. A vertically stacked multi-layer locking cavity expansion structure; the locking cavity modules are arranged in a vertically stacked structure, not limited to a two-layer structure. Without increasing the horizontal footprint, it can be expanded into a three-, four-, or more-layer independent locking cavity structure; the functional configuration of different locking cavity levels can be allocated according to process requirements. The upper locking cavity is used for substrate pretreatment processes, including preheating or degassing. The intermediate layer locking cavity is used for substrate feeding, temporary storage, or buffer control; The lower locking chamber is used for vacuum breaking and material discharge, as well as temperature stabilization. Through the above multi-layer structure, the substrate can be processed and scheduled in a hierarchical manner in the vertical direction, thereby improving the material exchange efficiency and system throughput. Example

[0019] A clustered vacuum transfer platform for panel-level packaging includes an EFEM module 1, an atmospheric robot 2, a glass substrate 3, a transfer valve 4, a degas module 5, a per clean module 6, an LL module 7, a process module 8, a TM module 9, a vacuum robot 10, and a glass substrate 3 at the end of the vacuum robot 10.

[0020] Multi-locking cavity parallel reconfiguration structure; In clustered vacuum transfer equipment, the process chamber module is connected to the transfer chamber module through a standardized interface, allowing some process chamber modules to be configured as lockable chamber functional units under different process configuration conditions. In a specific process flow, when the system reduces or eliminates the pre-processing requirements, one or more process cavity modules can be reconstructed into independent locked cavity modules, thereby forming a structure in which multiple locked cavities operate in parallel, realizing a multi-channel wafer entry and exit path; This structure improves the parallelism of material exchange and reduces the limitation of a single locked chamber on the system's throughput capacity.

[0021] Linear zero-rotation docking avoids glass inertial slippage from the mechanical source. The square glass substrate maintains a 0-degree upright posture throughout the entire process from entering the vertical LL cavity from the atmospheric end until being grasped by the vacuum robot. The transmission system only requires pure one-dimensional linear extension and retraction. By completely eliminating high-dynamic rotational correction actions, the tangential inertial slippage of the low-friction coefficient square glass substrate is avoided from the mechanical source, significantly improving the alignment accuracy and handling safety of continuous sputtering.

[0022] By compressing the spatial motion envelope and forcibly creating a topological mechanical safety margin, the one-dimensional absolute linear transmission design maximizes the compression of the spatial occupancy envelope of the square glass substrate when entering and exiting the cavity and passing through the slit valve. Under the same dense cluster layout, the mechanical safety margin between the substrate edge and internal rigid structures such as equipment valve ports is significantly increased, fundamentally eliminating contamination from hard glass fragments caused by corner scratch interference, and effectively protecting the process yield of the nanoscale thin film layer.

[0023] Vertical three-dimensional multi-functional integration, complete decoupling of space and time: Unlike the rigid design of traditional platform front-end dual LL cavities that can only simply enter and exit samples, it adopts a vertical three-dimensional double-layer LL cavity, which gives it the ability to integrate multiple functions such as baking and cooling. When low production capacity is required, the upper LL cavity can be controlled to also perform in-situ degassing and the lower LL cavity can also perform in-situ cooling, realizing "one cavity for multiple uses" in terms of physical space. This not only simplifies the overall machine footprint, but also completely eliminates the industry problem of condensation on the cavity walls caused by high-temperature plates.

[0024] Horizontal topology can be freely reconfigured, supporting dynamic changes in functions and leapfrog upgrades of WPH: It truly realizes the "de-fixed" design of the platform architecture. By utilizing the consistent physical flange interfaces around the central transmission cavity, the functional attributes of the peripheral modules can be flexibly changed and defined according to the mass production formula. When high-throughput processes require maximum capacity, the system's underlying control and pipeline configuration support the direct in-situ modification and upgrade of the original horizontal processing cavity into a third independent LL cavity, which greatly increases the overall turnover capacity of the LL cavity and completely breaks the historical bottleneck of the rigidly locked capacity limit of the traditional cluster platform. For the first time in panel-level packaging equipment, the motion axis of atmospheric pressure gripping, locking environment conversion and vacuum internal handling is strictly locked on the same one-dimensional horizontal straight line, so that the glass substrate maintains a 0-degree upright posture throughout the entire process, eliminating the inherent rotation and angle correction actions of the cluster platform, and solving the tangential slippage and interference contamination problems of large-size substrates with extremely low friction coefficients during rapid acceleration and deceleration from the source. Breaking the limitations of traditional single-layer pure LL cavity on the central straight axis, through vertical and longitudinal rigid physical isolation, the high-temperature thermal field generated by the degas lamp is locked in the upper vacuum chamber, and the low-temperature cold field generated by the cold plate is locked in the lower vacuum chamber, realizing the three-dimensional multi-functional operation of "in-situ vacuum baking + in-situ gas release and cooling". By utilizing the completely consistent physical interfaces around the central TM module, and the connection architecture between the transmission valves originally reserved at the front end of the two pre-processing modules and the EFEM module, and by de-solidifying the underlying valve gas pipeline control logic, the peripheral processing chamber can be seamlessly reconstructed and upgraded in place into the third and fourth parallel independent LL turnover modules under high capacity requirements. Process flow: During the parallel execution of substrate upright handling and three-dimensional temperature field, the unprocessed glass substrate is loaded via the EFEM module. The atmospheric robot maintains its initial 0-degree posture in the assembly state and extends unidirectionally along the one-dimensional absolute straight main symmetry axis. The glass substrate is pushed into the upper or lower vacuum chamber of the LL module through the opened atmospheric pressure end transfer valve. At this time, the horizontal plane rotation angle of the substrate is locked at 0 degrees throughout the process. Subsequently, the corresponding atmospheric pressure end transfer valve is closed. If the substrate is located in the upper vacuum chamber, the control system controls the high vacuum pumping pipeline in the chamber to perform high-efficiency vacuuming and controls the high-temperature ejector mechanism to move upwards and reciprocate to lift the substrate. At the same time, the matrix-type degas lamps are turned on to perform in-situ high-power radiation heating and degassing baking on the substrate surface. After the vacuum is achieved and the baking process is completed, the high vacuum end transfer valve is opened. The vacuum robot inside the TM module also performs a unidirectional pure one-dimensional straight line extension along the coaxial one-dimensional straight line axis, smoothly entering the glass substrate in a 0-degree upright position to extract it and send it into the subsequent process module to perform the titanium / copper metal thin film physical vapor deposition process. During this period, the high-temperature finished substrate, which has been processed in the previous process, is sent back to the lower vacuum chamber with rigid physical isolation by a vacuum robot. At this time, the control system starts the high-pressure cold nitrogen rapid refill pipeline to release the gas and break the vacuum, and controls the cooling pin mechanism to extend the contact plate upward and then retract downward, so as to smoothly attach the high-temperature substrate to the surface of the cold plate that is always maintained at a constant low temperature to perform forced contact in-situ cooling. In this way, the heat source and the cold source are completely separated in vertical height to ensure that the cavity wall does not condense and the substrate does not generate thermal stress cracks when the finished product leaves the cavity. During the high-load reconfiguration operation phase, the system operation logic further executes the displacement diversion and pressure reduction strategy. When the LL module channel on the central main axis is completely occupied due to the gas extraction and desorption circulation, or when the system faces ultra-high load throughput requirements, the control system automatically starts multi-path diversion scheduling and controls the atmospheric manipulator to perform multi-axis sliding to laterally divert and transport the subsequent glass substrates to the degas module or per clean module, which has been upgraded to an additional turnover module through in-situ reconfiguration. In this reconfigured state, since the glass substrate inevitably needs to perform angular rotation when entering and exiting the above-mentioned oblique non-central axis module, the control system will utilize the basic throughput already met by the LL module on the central axis, and actively and adaptively reduce and strictly limit the angular acceleration and rotation speed of the atmospheric manipulator and the vacuum manipulator on the oblique handling and picking / placing path through the underlying algorithm. This multi-directional flow diversion scheduling margin, by increasing the number of parallel channels, achieves a slow and smooth mechanical motion in each inclined channel. This allows the overall turnover capacity of the substrate to increase dramatically in lateral expansion, while avoiding the risks of tangential inertial slippage and corner scratches of the substrate under non-linear transport from the source of mechanical dynamics. It perfectly achieves a system-level balance between high output and high transmission safety.

[0025] It is equipped with a lateral topology free reconfiguration and WPH leapfrog upgrade system. The physical interfaces of the mounting flanges set up around the TM module, including the flanges used to connect the degas module, per clean module, process module and LL module, are completely consistent in physical geometry, thread hole position and slit seal ring specifications. Furthermore, the front end of the degas module and per clean module and the EFEM module are pre-installed with transmission valves for switching on and off atmospheric pressure and vacuum environment. This platform employs a de-fixed, universal design for its underlying vacuum valve control bus, gas pipeline network, and material routing. When process formulations change or high-throughput mass production demands arise, the system can directly shut down the built-in heating of the degas module and the RF glow discharge of the per-clean module via software control logic without altering any polygonal cluster structure of the TM module. This allows the software to redefine the module as an LL module with evacuation / venting capabilities. By activating and jointly controlling the transfer valves pre-reserved at the front end of the degas or per-clean module, the atmospheric robot can slide laterally and directly feed the glass substrate into it to perform atmospheric-to-vacuum conversion. This seamlessly reconstructs and upgrades the original pre-processing module in situ into an additional parallel independent LL turnaround module, thereby breaking through the WPH capacity bottleneck of a single machine by increasing the total number of LL channels laterally.

[0026] In this reconstructed multi-LL parallel operation state, although the glass substrate inevitably needs to perform angular rotation when entering or exiting the degas module or per clean module on the non-central axis, the LL modules on the central straight axis have already distributed and met the basic high-speed throughput capacity. The additional sub-channels with lateral expansion give the system a scheduling margin for high-frequency multi-flow diversion. This allows the vacuum robot and atmospheric robot to significantly reduce the angular acceleration and rotation speed of the robot arm when facing the above rotation path. This dynamic speed reduction, while maintaining the overall high throughput (WPH) index of the entire platform, avoids the risk of tangential slippage and corner scratches of the substrate under non-linear movements from the source of mechanical dynamics, perfectly achieving a system-level balance between high output rate and high transmission safety.

[0027] Finally, it should be noted that the above descriptions are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art can still modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments or make equivalent substitutions for some of the technical features. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging, characterized in that: Includes EFEM module (1), atmospheric manipulator (2), glass substrate (3), transfer valve (4), degas module (5), per clean module (6), LL module (7), process module (8), TM module (9), vacuum manipulator (10) and glass substrate (3) at the end of the vacuum manipulator (10); The degas module (5), LL module (7) and per clean module (6) are located at one end of the EFEM module (1), and multiple process modules (8) are symmetrically arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the outside of the TM module (9). The TM module (9) has a vacuum manipulator (10) at its circumference center, and the TM module (9) has a polygonal cylindrical structure; Each of the EFEM modules (1) is equipped with a transmission valve (4) connected to the center of the rear wall.

2. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 1, characterized in that: The transmission valve (4) is rigidly connected to the LL module (7), and the LL module (7) is a vertical stacked structure.

3. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 2, characterized in that: The LL module (7) includes an LL cavity (71) and a degas lamp (74) disposed at the upper end of the cavity.

4. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 3, characterized in that: The LL cavity (71) is provided with a vacuum partition, and the upper and lower ends of the vacuum partition are the upper vacuum chamber (72) and the lower vacuum chamber (73), respectively.

5. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 4, characterized in that: The atmospheric pressure end of the upper vacuum chamber (72) and the lower vacuum chamber (73) is close to the side of the EFEM module (1), and the high vacuum transmission end of the upper vacuum chamber (72) and the lower vacuum chamber (73) is close to the side of the TM module (9). Both are symmetrically provided with multiple slit material channels, and the corresponding transmission valves (4) that can rigidly shut off gas or connect materials are fastened in them.

6. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 5, characterized in that: The four transmission valves (4) located near the LL cavity (71) are symmetrically arranged, and the four transmission valves (4) are respectively connected to the upper vacuum chamber (72) and the lower vacuum chamber (73).

7. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 6, characterized in that: The other ends of the four transmission valves (4) away from the upper vacuum chamber (72) and the lower vacuum chamber (73) are all positively connected to the TM module (9).

8. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 6, characterized in that: The degas module (5) and the per clean module (6) are respectively located on the left and right sides of the axis of the EFEM module (1).

9. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 1, characterized in that: The TM module (9) has multiple flange ports on its outer periphery, and the multiple flange ports are respectively connected to the process module (8), and a transmission valve (4) is provided between the multiple process modules (8) and the TM module (9).

10. The clustered vacuum transport platform for panel-level packaging according to claim 4, characterized in that: A cold plate (76) is horizontally fixed on the bottom surface of the lower vacuum chamber (73). The cold plate (76) is densely covered with interlaced coolant channels. Its inlet and outlet are connected to the cooler outside the chamber through pipe through-wall flanges. A cooling pin mechanism (77) that can float up and down is vertically inserted on the cold plate (76). A high-temperature pin mechanism (75) that can reciprocate up and down is also vertically embedded in the bottom wall of the upper vacuum chamber (72).

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