Load lock chamber and semiconductor apparatus

Abstract

The application discloses a load lock chamber and a semiconductor device, and relates to the technical field of semiconductor devices, in particular to a load lock chamber and a semiconductor device. The load lock chamber comprises: a cavity, which is provided with a plurality of chambers in a stacked manner, and each chamber can carry a wafer; a lifting assembly, which is used for placing the wafer in each chamber or taking out the wafer from each chamber; a vacuum assembly, which is connected with each chamber respectively and is used for carrying out vacuumizing treatment on each chamber; a backfilling assembly, which is connected with each chamber respectively and is used for carrying out backfilling treatment on each chamber; and a water cooling assembly, which is arranged in each chamber and is used for carrying out cooling treatment on the wafer in each chamber. The application divides a plurality of independent sealed chambers through a stacked layout, can avoid the structural limitation of a traditional single-layer paving cavity, can effectively eliminate the production capacity bottleneck under the configuration of a plurality of process chambers, and greatly improves the process production capacity of the whole semiconductor thin film device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of semiconductor equipment technology, and in particular to a load-locking chamber and a semiconductor device. Background Technology

[0002] In semiconductor thin film fabrication processes, after wafer deposition, cooling is required in a low-oxygen vacuum environment. The oxygen content within the cooling chamber directly alters core electrical performance indicators such as film resistivity. Therefore, the vacuum cooling process within the load-locked chamber (LL) is a crucial step in ensuring wafer process yield. To improve wafer cooling uniformity and efficiency, existing load-locked chambers are equipped with water-cooled pans as cooling carriers.

[0003] Driven by the trend towards more refined and diversified semiconductor processes, the number of process chambers on complete equipment continues to increase. The industry generally chooses to integrate cooling units in the wafer common transport path to meet stringent cooling requirements. However, due to inherent structural limitations and overall assembly space constraints, existing load-locking chambers can only accommodate 2 to 3 water-cooling stations per unit. The insufficient number of cooling stations is gradually becoming a core bottleneck restricting the throughput efficiency of the entire machine, and cannot meet the production needs of simultaneous processing in multiple process chambers.

[0004] The existing load locking chamber adopts a single-layer flat layout design. Its bottom structure dictates that only one water-cooling plate can be installed at the bottom of a single chamber. Simply adding four water-cooling plates through a flat layout would significantly increase the overall lateral dimension of the load locking chamber. On the one hand, the vacuum robot's wafer picking stroke and movement trajectory have hardware limitations. If the lateral dimension of the chamber exceeds the limit, the robot cannot complete the stable picking, placing, and transferring of wafers. On the other hand, the lengthened chamber structure would encroach on the arrangement space of the internal process chambers of the entire machine, further reducing the number of process chambers that the equipment can accommodate. Based on the above structural and robot movement constraints, the existing technology cannot achieve a four-water-cooling-plate cooling station arrangement through a flat layout. When the entire machine is equipped with four or more process chambers, insufficient cooling station supply will cause some process chambers to be idle, resulting in significant production capacity loss. This makes it difficult to adapt to the mass production scenarios of short-process, high-cycle vacuum-cooled thin films such as TiN. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This invention provides a load-locking chamber and a semiconductor device, aiming to improve the load-bearing capacity of the load-locking chamber and thereby improve the overall process capacity of the semiconductor device.

[0006] This invention provides a load-locking chamber for use in semiconductor devices, the load-locking chamber comprising: The cavity is provided with multiple chambers stacked together, and each chamber can hold a wafer. A lifting assembly for placing the wafer in or removing it from each of the chambers; A vacuum assembly is connected to each of the chambers and is used to perform vacuuming on each of the chambers. The backfill assembly is connected to each of the chambers and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling treatment on each of the chambers; A water-cooling assembly is disposed in each of the chambers and is used to cool the wafers in each of the chambers.

[0007] Furthermore, the cavity includes an upper chamber and a lower chamber arranged in a stacked configuration. The upper chamber is divided into an independent upper left chamber and an upper right chamber, and the lower chamber is divided into an independent lower left chamber and a lower right chamber.

[0008] Furthermore, the lifting assembly includes an upper lifting support assembly and a lower lifting support assembly. The upper lifting support assembly is used to place the wafer in the upper chamber or remove it from the upper chamber, and the lower lifting support assembly is used to place the wafer in the lower chamber or remove it from the lower chamber.

[0009] Furthermore, the vacuum assembly includes an upper left suction pipe angle valve, an upper right suction pipe angle valve, a lower left suction pipe angle valve, and a lower right suction pipe angle valve, which are respectively connected to the upper left chamber, the upper right chamber, the lower left chamber, and the lower right chamber. The upper left suction pipe angle valve and the lower left suction pipe angle valve converge to form the first suction pipe, and the upper right suction pipe angle valve and the lower right suction pipe angle valve converge to form the second suction pipe. The first suction pipe and the second suction pipe are controlled independently.

[0010] Furthermore, the backfill assembly includes an upper backfill unit and a lower backfill unit. The upper backfill unit is connected to the upper chamber and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling on the upper chamber. The lower backfill unit is connected to the lower chamber and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling on the lower chamber.

[0011] Furthermore, the water-cooling assembly includes an upper water-cooling plate and a lower water-cooling plate. The upper water-cooling plate is installed in the upper chamber via a first pressure block, and the lower water-cooling plate is installed in the lower chamber via a second pressure block.

[0012] Furthermore, the upper water-cooling plate is a side-outlet water-cooling plate, and the lower water-cooling plate is a bottom-outlet water-cooling plate, with the bottom-outlet water-cooling plate installed on the cover plate of the lower chamber.

[0013] Furthermore, the side-outlet water cooling plate includes a water-cooling connector that extends from the side wall opening of the upper chamber.

[0014] Furthermore, a sealing unit is provided between the upper chamber and the lower chamber to isolate the upper chamber and the lower chamber independently.

[0015] This invention also provides a semiconductor device, including a front-end module, a transmission module, a process module, and a load locking chamber as described above.

[0016] This invention provides a load-locking chamber and a semiconductor device. The load-locking chamber, applied to a semiconductor device, includes: a cavity having multiple stacked chambers, each capable of holding a wafer; a lifting assembly for placing or removing the wafer from each chamber; a vacuum assembly connected to each chamber for evacuating the chambers; a backfill assembly connected to each chamber for atmospheric backfilling; and a water-cooling assembly disposed within each chamber for cooling the wafers. The load-locking chamber provided by this invention divides multiple independent sealed chambers through a stacked layout. Each independent chamber is equipped with a water-cooling assembly, a vacuum assembly, and a backfill assembly. This allows for the addition of multiple water-cooling stations without increasing the lateral dimensions of the load-locking chamber, thus avoiding the structural limitations of traditional single-layer flat chambers, effectively eliminating production bottlenecks in multi-process chamber configurations, and significantly improving the overall process capacity of semiconductor thin-film equipment. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the following description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a load locking chamber provided in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 A partial cross-sectional schematic diagram of a load locking chamber provided in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a cavity structure in a load locking chamber provided in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a lifting assembly structure in a load locking chamber provided by an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the vacuum assembly piping in a load-locking chamber provided in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a water-cooled component structure in a load-locking chamber provided by an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a semiconductor device provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0020] It should be understood that, when used in this specification and the appended claims, the terms "comprising" and "including" indicate the presence of the described features, integrals, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integrals, steps, operations, elements, components and / or collections thereof.

[0021] It should also be understood that the terminology used in this specification is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the invention. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0022] It should also be further understood that the term "and / or" as used in this specification and the appended claims refers to any combination of one or more of the associated listed items and all possible combinations, and includes such combinations.

[0023] Please see below. Figure 1 and Figure 2 This invention provides a load-locking chamber 20 for use in semiconductor devices, the load-locking chamber 20 comprising: The cavity 21 has multiple chambers stacked together, and each chamber can hold a wafer; A lifting assembly for placing the wafer in or removing it from each of the chambers; Vacuum assembly 24 is connected to each of the chambers respectively and is used to perform vacuuming on each of the chambers; The backfill assembly is connected to each of the chambers and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling treatment on each of the chambers; A water-cooling assembly is disposed in each of the chambers and is used to cool the wafers in each of the chambers.

[0024] In this embodiment, the load locking chamber 20 includes a cavity 21, a lifting assembly, a vacuum assembly 24, a backfill assembly, and a water-cooling assembly. The cavity 21 adopts a stacked layout to separate multiple independent sealed chambers. Unlike the traditional single-layer flat structure in the industry, multiple cooling stations can be added without extending the lateral dimension of the cavity 21. This avoids exceeding the wafer picking stroke limit of the vacuum robot and does not encroach on the internal process chamber layout space of the entire machine. The load locking chamber 20 in this embodiment is divided into multiple independent sealed chambers through a stacked layout. Each independent chamber is equipped with a water-cooling assembly, a vacuum assembly 24, and a backfill assembly. Multiple water-cooling stations can be added without lengthening the lateral dimension of the load locking chamber 20. This avoids the structural limitations of the traditional single-layer flat cavity, effectively eliminates the production capacity bottleneck under multi-process chamber configuration, and significantly improves the overall process capacity of the semiconductor thin film equipment.

[0025] In one embodiment, such as Figure 3 As shown, the cavity 21 includes an upper chamber and a lower chamber arranged in a stacked manner. The upper chamber is divided into an independent upper left chamber 211 and an upper right chamber 212, and the lower chamber is divided into an independent lower left chamber 213 and a lower right chamber 214.

[0026] In this embodiment, the cavity 21 specifically adopts a double-layer stacked structure with four independently partitioned cavities. For thin film processes like TiN, which have short process cycles and require cooling in a vacuum environment, this structure can solve the bottleneck problem in overall machine production capacity caused by insufficient cooling stations in traditional flat-layer load-locking chambers. Specifically, existing conventional load-locking chambers are constrained by their single-layer flat structure, the travel of the vacuum robot, and the overall machine space, allowing for a maximum of only 2-3 sets of water-cooled stations. When the machine is equipped with four process chambers (PMs) for simultaneous production, insufficient cooling station supply will cause one process chamber to remain idle, resulting in significant production capacity loss. In this embodiment, the cavity 21 is vertically stacked into four independent sealed chambers: an upper double chamber and a lower double chamber. Each chamber can be equipped with an independent vacuum pumping pipeline and a backfilling pipeline. The vacuum pumping and backfilling processes of each chamber do not interfere with each other. The upper and lower chambers can also be matched with corresponding water-cooling components, which can take turns carrying 4 to 5 wafers to complete vacuum constant temperature cooling. It can stably match at least 4 process chambers to operate simultaneously, eliminating the production capacity waste under the multi-process chamber configuration and greatly improving the overall throughput efficiency of TiN-type short-cycle thin film processes.

[0027] In a specific embodiment, combined with Figure 4The upper left chamber 211, upper right chamber 212, lower left chamber 213 and lower right chamber 214 are all provided with side wafer transfer ports 215 to realize side wafer loading, which makes it convenient for the vacuum robot to reach into the chamber from the side to grab or place the wafer; at the same time, the vertical stacking layout does not increase the lateral space occupied, nor does it impose additional requirements on the wafer picking stroke of the robot. The existing vacuum robot can be adapted without modifying the structure, without increasing the equipment modification cost.

[0028] In one embodiment, the lifting assembly includes an upper lifting support assembly 22 and a lower lifting support assembly 23. The upper lifting support assembly 22 is used to place the wafer in the upper chamber or remove it from the upper chamber, and the lower lifting support assembly 23 is used to place the wafer in the lower chamber or remove it from the lower chamber.

[0029] In this embodiment, the lifting components are independently adapted to a stacked four-chamber structure: the upper lifting support component 22 corresponds to the upper left chamber 211 and the upper right chamber 212, and the lower lifting support component 23 corresponds to the lower left chamber 213 and the lower right chamber 214. The two components work together to complete the wafer transfer, receiving, and placement actions in all chambers. For example, during the wafer feeding stage, after the atmospheric robot at the front end of the equipment sends the wafer into the corresponding chamber, the upper lifting support component 22 or the lower lifting support component 23 lifts and receives the wafer. After the atmospheric robot withdraws, it works with the chamber to complete the vacuuming. Or, when the vacuum robot enters to pick up the wafer, the lifting mechanism descends, places the wafer stably on the vacuum robot, and then transfers it to the process module 40. During the cavity cooling stage after wafer processing, a vacuum robot carries the wafer into the target cavity. A lifting mechanism raises and supports the wafer. After the vacuum robot withdraws, the lifting mechanism returns to its lowest position, ensuring the wafer is fully in contact with the water-cooling pan for vacuum constant-temperature cooling. Once the wafer cooling timer is complete and the cavity is backfilled to atmospheric pressure, the lifting mechanism raises the wafer again for the atmospheric robot to retrieve and unload. The upper lifting support assembly 22 and the lower lifting pillar assembly 23 are respectively matched to the internal space structure of the upper and lower cavities, eliminating the need for multiple lifting mechanisms for the four independent cavities. This simplifies the overall mechanical structure and reduces equipment costs. Furthermore, the layered independent lifting design ensures no interference between the layers, allowing simultaneous wafer loading / unloading and cooling operations in both the upper and lower cavities. This fully leverages the advantages of multi-station parallel production in four independent cavities, adapting to the production cycle of simultaneous processing in multiple process cavities.

[0030] In a specific embodiment, combined with Figure 4The lower lifting support assembly 23 mainly consists of a lifting mechanism 231, a pin support plate 232, and pins 233. It is installed and fixed as a whole by the frame 234 and is adapted to the lower chamber of the load locking chamber 20 to carry out wafer lifting and transfer operations. The frame 234 is fixed on the outside of the cavity 21, providing a rigid installation reference for the entire lifting structure. The vertically arranged lifting mechanism 231 serves as a power drive unit, which can drive the pin support plate 232 connected above to reciprocate vertically. The multiple pins 233 arranged on the pin support plate 232 move synchronously with the support plate.

[0031] During operation: After the vacuum robot sends the wafer with thin film processing completed into the lower chamber through the wafer transfer port on the side wall of the chamber, the lifting mechanism 231 is raised upward, and the wafer is supported by the ejector pin 233. Then the robot is withdrawn from the chamber 21. Next, the lifting mechanism 231 is lowered and the wafer is placed stably on the surface of the pre-placed lower water-cooling plate 28 in the chamber for vacuum constant temperature cooling. After the cooling process is completed and the chamber is backfilled to atmospheric pressure, the lifting mechanism 231 is raised again, and the ejector pin 233 lifts the wafer, allowing the atmospheric robot to complete the unloading and picking up of the wafer from the side wafer transfer port 215.

[0032] This pillar-type vertical lifting layout is adapted to the limited internal assembly space of the lower cavity, occupying very little lateral space. It fits the overall design of the stacked cavities 21 without increasing the lateral dimensions of the cavities 21. The multi-point support pins 233 on the wafers reduce the risk of warping and damage from impacts to thin wafers. The entire assembly is independently controlled and can perform loading and unloading operations in parallel with the upper lifting bracket assembly 22, matching the production cycle of four independent cavities. It supports multi-station alternating cooling operations, making up for the capacity limitations of traditional flat layouts with fewer workstations. It is suitable for semiconductor processing scenarios such as TiN, which have short processes and stringent vacuum cooling requirements. The lower cover plate 219 of the lower cavity seals and limits the top of the cavity, and together with the sealing structure of the cavity 21, ensures the airtightness of the lower cavity during vacuuming and atmospheric backfilling, preventing excessive oxygen content in the cavity 21 and preventing the degradation of wafer thin film resistivity.

[0033] In one embodiment, combined with Figure 5 The vacuum assembly 24 includes an upper left suction pipe angle valve 241, an upper right suction pipe angle valve 242, a lower left suction pipe angle valve 243, and a lower right suction pipe angle valve 244, which are respectively connected to the upper left chamber 211, the upper right chamber 212, the lower left chamber 213, and the lower right chamber 214. The upper left suction pipe angle valve 241 and the lower left suction pipe angle valve 243 converge to form the first suction pipe 245, and the upper right suction pipe angle valve 242 and the lower right suction pipe angle valve 244 converge to form the second suction pipe 246. The first suction pipe 245 and the second suction pipe 246 are independently controlled.

[0034] In this embodiment, the vacuum assembly 24 consists of four independent chambers, each equipped with a suction angle valve. The suction angle valve pipelines corresponding to the upper and lower chambers on the left converge to form an independent evacuation pipeline, and the suction angle valve pipelines corresponding to the upper and lower chambers on the right converge to form another independent evacuation pipeline. The two evacuation systems do not interfere with each other and can be controlled independently. Each chamber independently completes the vacuuming action through a matched suction angle valve. Any chamber can start the evacuation process independently according to the wafer processing sequence without interfering with the vacuum environment of other chambers. After the wafer is sent into the target chamber and the atmospheric manipulator is withdrawn, the corresponding suction angle valve opens, and the gas in the chamber is quickly extracted through the matching evacuation pipeline to establish a low-oxygen vacuum environment, ensuring the stability of the oxygen content during the wafer cooling stage and avoiding the deterioration of the thin film resistivity. The layout of separate control of the left and right exhaust pipelines simplifies the overall vacuum pipeline arrangement and enables simultaneous parallel vacuuming operations in the upper and lower chambers. It is compatible with the operating logic of stacked four cooling stations working simultaneously, supports the vacuum cooling of multiple wafers in turn, fully releases the production capacity advantages brought by the multi-station structure, and solves the problems of low exhaust efficiency and mutual constraints between stations caused by traditional single-path exhaust and multi-cavity shared vacuum pipelines.

[0035] In practical applications, independent vacuum dry pumps can be configured for the first extraction pipeline 245 and the second extraction pipeline 246, so that the two extraction systems do not interfere with each other. When a single chamber is being extracted, the vacuum stability of the other chambers will not be affected, the extraction efficiency is higher, and it can better match the production rhythm of multi-chamber parallel operation.

[0036] In one embodiment, the backfill assembly includes an upper backfill unit 25 and a lower backfill unit 26. The upper backfill unit 25 is connected to the upper chamber and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling on the upper chamber. The lower backfill unit 26 is connected to the lower chamber and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling on the lower chamber.

[0037] In this embodiment, the backfilling assembly specifically includes an upper backfilling unit 25 and a lower backfilling unit 26. The upper backfilling unit 25 and the lower backfilling unit 26 are configured independently in layers, corresponding to upper and lower independent chambers, respectively. Each chamber can be matched with a dedicated backfilling path to achieve independent backfilling of a single chamber, and the backfilling operations of each chamber do not interfere with each other. After the wafer completes vacuum cooling on the water-cooled tray of the corresponding chamber and the timing reaches the target, the backfilling unit matched to the corresponding chamber starts working, introducing atmospheric air into the sealed chamber to restore the vacuum environment inside the chamber to normal pressure, eliminating the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the chamber, so that the atmospheric manipulator of the front-end module 10 of the equipment can reach into the chamber to complete the wafer picking and unloading. The layered independent backfilling structure design can realize the asynchronous execution of the upper and lower chamber backfilling processes. For example, when the lower chamber completes cooling, backfilling, and unloading, the upper chamber can still maintain a vacuum state to continue cooling the wafer, without damaging the low-oxygen cooling environment of other stations, ensuring the stability of key process indicators such as thin film resistivity. The backfilling assembly works in conjunction with the independent vacuum suction assembly, enabling each of the four stacked chambers to have a complete and independent vacuuming, cooling, and backfilling process. This fully leverages the structural advantages of parallel cooling at four stations, adapts to the synchronous production cycle of multiple process chambers, and solves the problems of process mutual constraints and limited overall machine capacity caused by the traditional multi-chamber shared backfilling pipeline.

[0038] In practical applications, the upper backfill unit 25 may specifically include an independent air inlet valve, a pressure stabilizing pipeline, and a dedicated ventilation interface for the upper chamber. Each upper chamber is equipped with a complete backfill branch, which can be independently controlled to allow the introduction of clean and dry air. The lower backfill unit 26 may specifically be equipped with an independent pressure regulating valve, a diversion pipeline, and a sealed ventilation connector for the lower chamber. Each branch is independently connected to the corresponding lower chamber, and the upper and lower backfill pipelines are separated from each other, with no shared or intersecting pipelines. Each backfill unit is equipped with a pressure detection element to monitor the air pressure inside the chamber in real time. When the chamber air pressure returns to normal, the air inlet valve is automatically closed to prevent excessive air intake from damaging the sealing structure of the chamber 21.

[0039] In one embodiment, the water-cooling assembly includes an upper water-cooling plate 27 and a lower water-cooling plate 28. The upper water-cooling plate 27 is installed in the upper chamber via a first pressure block 291, and the lower water-cooling plate 28 is installed in the lower chamber via a second pressure block 292.

[0040] Specifically, the upper water-cooling plate 27 is a side-outlet water-cooling plate, and the lower water-cooling plate 28 is a bottom-outlet water-cooling plate, which is installed on the cover plate of the lower chamber.

[0041] In addition, such as Figure 6 As shown, the side-outlet water cooling plate includes a water-cooling connector 271, which extends from the side wall opening of the upper chamber.

[0042] In this embodiment, the water-cooling assembly includes an upper water-cooling plate 27 and a lower water-cooling plate 28. The two adopt differentiated water outlet structures to adapt to the installation space of different layers of the stacked cavity 21: the lower water-cooling plate in the lower cavity is locked and fixed to the lower cover plate 219 by the matching second pressure block 292. The installation structure is stable and reliable. Cooling water enters and flows from the bottom of the water-cooling plate without occupying the side space of the cavity 21. When assembling the side water-cooling plate in the upper cavity, it is first placed into the cavity 21. The water-cooling connector 271 is horizontally inserted outward from the opening on the side wall of the cavity 21. This opening is on a different side from the side transfer port 215 used for chip entry and exit in each cavity. The main body of the water-cooling plate is then positioned by screws through the light hole 217 on the side wall of the cavity 21. A rubber ring 216 is set between the water-cooling connector 271 and the side wall to isolate the vacuum space inside the cavity 21 from the external environment and prevent air leakage from damaging the vacuum degree of the cavity. After the water cooling plate is positioned, the first pressure block 291 is placed on top of the upper water cooling plate 27 and the pressure block is locked with screws. The upper water cooling plate 27 is pressed by the edge of the pressure block to prevent the water cooling plate from shifting or shaking during the wafer lifting and the gas extraction and degassing of the cavity 21.

[0043] In practical applications, the upper and lower water-cooling trays can be uniformly connected to the plant's 18°C ​​constant-temperature cooling water for continuous circulation and heat exchange. After the wafers fall onto the trays, they can be uniformly cooled in a low-oxygen vacuum environment, stabilizing the oxygen content in the chamber during the cooling stage and preventing the degradation of thin film resistivity. The layered differentiated water-cooling layout, combined with the stacked structure of the chamber 21, allows for the simultaneous installation of four independent water-cooling stations without the need to laterally widen the size of the chamber 21. This avoids exceeding the wafer-picking stroke of the vacuum robot and does not encroach on the overall process chamber layout space. It can carry 4 to 5 wafers in turn to complete vacuum cooling, matching at least four process chambers operating simultaneously. This solves the technical defects of traditional flat-type load-locking chambers, which can only accommodate 2 to 3 cooling stations and cause capacity loss in multi-process chamber configurations, significantly improving the overall throughput efficiency of short-cycle thin film processes such as TiN.

[0044] In one embodiment, a sealing unit 218 is provided between the upper chamber and the lower chamber for isolating the upper chamber and the lower chamber independently.

[0045] This embodiment achieves complete physical isolation between the upper and lower chambers by adding a sealing unit 218 between the upper and lower chambers. The sealing unit 218 can be an elastic sealing ring. After the chamber 21 is assembled, the sealing ring is pressed tightly against the chamber by assembly pressure, forming a reliable seal. Alternatively, the sealing unit 218 can be a gasket or an integrated welded sealing structure. The appropriate type can be flexibly selected based on actual processing precision and maintenance requirements. It is sufficient to ensure the airtightness of each independent chamber to prevent air leakage between the upper and lower chambers, prevent outside air from entering the vacuum working chamber, maintain a stable low-oxygen vacuum environment in each chamber, prevent oxidation of the wafer thin film during cooling, and ensure stable and qualified key parameters such as film resistivity. Simultaneously, the independent sealing isolation allows each chamber to perform vacuuming and backfilling processes independently, preventing leakage in a single chamber from affecting the normal operation of other chambers. Equipment maintenance is also more convenient, allowing for individual inspection and repair of faulty chambers without interrupting normal production at other stations, further improving equipment operational stability.

[0046] Thanks to the isolation provided by the sealing unit 218, the vacuum environments of the two independent chambers in the upper layer and the two independent chambers in the lower layer are not interconnected. When the upper chamber performs vacuuming and cooling processes, it will not interfere with the gas pressure and oxygen content environment of the lower chamber. Similarly, when the lower chamber performs atmospheric backfilling, it will not disrupt the low-vacuum cooling conditions of the upper chamber. Therefore, all four chambers can independently perform the entire process of vacuuming, wafer cooling, and atmospheric backfilling. The upper and lower chambers can operate synchronously or asynchronously in parallel, avoiding the problem of excessive oxygen content caused by gas exchange between the upper and lower chambers. This ensures a stable process environment during the wafer cooling stage and prevents the degradation of key performance indicators such as thin film resistivity. Meanwhile, the sealing unit 218 is only set at the boundary between the layers of cavity 21. The structure is simple and compact, and it will not increase the lateral dimension of cavity 21. It is perfectly adapted to the stacked four-cavity layout. There is no need to increase the lateral length of the whole machine. It avoids the defects of insufficient robot arm stroke and encroachment on the process cavity layout space caused by laying out multiple cavities. It fully releases the production capacity advantage of parallel cooling of four water-cooled stations and adapts to the needs of simultaneous production of multiple process cavities in short-cycle thin film processes such as TiN.

[0047] like Figure 7 As shown, this embodiment of the invention also provides a semiconductor device, including a device front-end module 10, a transmission module 30, a process module 40, and a load locking chamber 20 as described above.

[0048] The semiconductor equipment described in this embodiment uses a load-locking chamber 20 with stacked multi-cooling stations as a transfer hub between the atmospheric and vacuum zones. The load-locking chamber 20 is assembled between the front-end module 10 and the transmission module 30, forming a complete wafer transfer link. The front-end module 10 is equipped with an atmospheric manipulator, which is responsible for feeding the wafer to be processed into the load-locking chamber 20 and taking out the finished wafer after cooling in an atmospheric environment. The transmission module 30 is equipped with a vacuum manipulator, which connects the load-locking chamber 20 and the process module 40 in a vacuum environment to complete the bidirectional transfer of wafers. The process module 40 integrates at least four process chambers, which can simultaneously carry out thin film deposition processes such as TiN.

[0049] The complete workflow of the machine is divided into the wafer loading process and the wafer unloading and cooling process: Wafer loading process: The atmospheric robot arm of the front-end module 10 delivers the wafer into any upper or lower independent chamber of the load locking chamber 20. The upper lifting support assembly 22 or the lower lifting pillar assembly 23 of the corresponding chamber lifts and supports the wafer, and the atmospheric robot arm withdraws from the chamber. The vacuum suction assembly is activated to evacuate the chamber separately. After the process vacuum level is reached in the chamber, the vacuum robot arm of the transfer module 30 extends into the chamber, and the lifting mechanism descends to place the wafer on the vacuum robot arm, which then transfers it to the process module 40 for thin film processing.

[0050] Wafer cooling process: After the wafer completes the thin film deposition process, the vacuum robot carries the wafer back to the target chamber of the load locking chamber 20. The lifting bracket / support assembly lifts and receives the wafer, and the vacuum robot exits the chamber. The lifting mechanism returns to the lowest position, and the wafer is placed stably on the surface of the side-outlet or bottom-outlet water-cooled tray. Vacuum constant temperature cooling is completed by the plant cooling water at a constant temperature of 18°C. The cooling time is controlled by the equipment program. The closed low-oxygen environment throughout the process can avoid the degradation of thin film resistivity. After the cooling time is completed, the backfill unit of the corresponding chamber is independently vented to the atmosphere to restore normal pressure. The lifting mechanism lifts the wafer to the wafer picking height, and the atmospheric robot reaches into the chamber to pick up the wafer and send it back to the front-end module 10 of the equipment. The entire wafer transfer process is completed.

[0051] This equipment utilizes a stacked four-chamber layout of load-locking chambers 20 to set up four independent water-cooling stations. There is no need to extend the dimensions of the chambers 21 laterally, which will not exceed the wafer picking stroke limit of the vacuum robot, nor will it encroach on the layout space of the internal process chambers of the whole machine. The four chambers can be vacuumed and backfilled with atmosphere independently, and the operation between the stations does not interfere with each other. It can take turns to carry 4 to 5 wafers for simultaneous cooling, perfectly matching the needs of at least four process chambers for parallel production. This solves the industry pain point that traditional flat load-locking chambers can only be configured with 2 to 3 cooling stations, and process chamber standby and capacity loss are easy to occur when multiple process chambers are produced simultaneously. It significantly improves the overall production throughput efficiency and equipment utilization rate of short-cycle vacuum cooling thin film processes.

[0052] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner, with each embodiment focusing on its differences from other embodiments. Similar or identical parts between embodiments can be referred to interchangeably. For the systems disclosed in the embodiments, since they correspond to the methods disclosed in the embodiments, the descriptions are relatively simple; relevant parts can be referred to in the method section. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various improvements and modifications to this application without departing from the principles of this application, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the protection scope of the claims of this application.

[0053] It should also be noted that, in this specification, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

Claims

1. A load-locking chamber, applied to semiconductor equipment, characterized in that, The load locking chamber includes: The cavity is provided with multiple chambers stacked together, and each chamber can hold a wafer. A lifting assembly for placing the wafer in or removing it from each of the chambers; A vacuum assembly is connected to each of the chambers and is used to perform vacuuming on each of the chambers. The backfill assembly is connected to each of the chambers and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling treatment on each of the chambers; A water-cooling assembly is disposed in each of the chambers and is used to cool the wafers in each of the chambers.

2. The load locking chamber according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cavity includes an upper chamber and a lower chamber arranged in a stacked configuration. The upper chamber is divided into an upper left chamber and an upper right chamber, and the lower chamber is divided into a lower left chamber and a lower right chamber.

3. The load locking chamber according to claim 2, characterized in that, The lifting assembly includes an upper lifting support assembly and a lower lifting support assembly. The upper lifting support assembly is used to place the wafer in the upper chamber or remove it from the upper chamber, and the lower lifting support assembly is used to place the wafer in the lower chamber or remove it from the lower chamber.

4. The load locking chamber according to claim 2, characterized in that, The vacuum assembly includes an upper left suction pipe angle valve, an upper right suction pipe angle valve, a lower left suction pipe angle valve, and a lower right suction pipe angle valve, which are respectively connected to the upper left chamber, the upper right chamber, the lower left chamber, and the lower right chamber. The upper left suction pipe angle valve and the lower left suction pipe angle valve converge to form the first suction pipe, and the upper right suction pipe angle valve and the lower right suction pipe angle valve converge to form the second suction pipe. The first suction pipe and the second suction pipe are controlled independently.

5. The load locking chamber according to claim 2, characterized in that, The backfill assembly includes an upper backfill unit and a lower backfill unit. The upper backfill unit is connected to the upper chamber and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling on the upper chamber. The lower backfill unit is connected to the lower chamber and is used to perform atmospheric backfilling on the lower chamber.

6. The load locking chamber according to claim 2, characterized in that, The water-cooling assembly includes an upper water-cooling plate and a lower water-cooling plate. The upper water-cooling plate is installed in the upper chamber by a first pressure block, and the lower water-cooling plate is installed in the lower chamber by a second pressure block.

7. The load locking chamber according to claim 6, characterized in that, The upper water-cooling plate is a side-outlet water-cooling plate, and the lower water-cooling plate is a bottom-outlet water-cooling plate, which is installed on the cover plate of the lower chamber.

8. The load locking chamber according to claim 7, characterized in that, The side-outlet water cooling plate includes a water-cooling connector that extends from the side wall opening of the upper chamber.

9. The load locking chamber according to claim 2, characterized in that, A sealing unit is provided between the upper chamber and the lower chamber to isolate the upper chamber and the lower chamber independently.

10. A semiconductor device, characterized in that, It includes a front-end module, a transmission module, a process module, and a load locking chamber as described in any one of claims 1-9.

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