Semiconductor carrier and vacuum load chamber

Abstract

The utility model discloses a semiconductor carrier and a vacuum load chamber, the semiconductor carrier comprises a support assembly, the support assembly comprises a plurality of support members arranged at intervals along the circumferential direction of a wafer, each support member comprises a heat exchange plate and a bearing part, each heat exchange plate can be mounted in a cavity, and the bearing part is mounted in the cavity. Each bearing part is arranged on the surface of one side of the heat exchange plate in a protruding manner, the plurality of bearing parts are used for bearing the wafer, and the heat conduction capability of each bearing part is smaller than the heat conduction capability of each heat exchange plate. According to the semiconductor carrier, the problem that the fragmentation risk of the wafer is greatly improved due to the fact that the temperature change rates of different parts in the wafer are greatly different due to an existing semiconductor carrier can be solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application belongs to the field of semiconductor processing technology, and specifically relates to a semiconductor carrier and a vacuum load chamber. Background Art

[0002] The vacuum transfer system usually includes a front-end module, a vacuum load chamber, a vacuum transfer chamber, and a process chamber. The atmospheric manipulator in the front-end module is used to transfer the wafer from the atmospheric environment to the vacuum load chamber, and the vacuum load chamber can switch between the vacuum environment and the atmospheric environment.

[0003] Among them, if the process carried out in the process chamber involves high temperature requirements, the wafer needs to be cooled after it is transferred out of the process chamber. At present, the wafer in the vacuum load chamber is usually cooled by a coolant flowing from the bottom of the vacuum load chamber, so that the heat radiated by the wafer can be taken away by the coolant, and the cooling purpose of the wafer is achieved.

[0004] However, in current carriers, the support components used to support the wafers are all formed of metal materials, and the wafers are directly supported on the upper surface of the support components. Since metal materials have relatively good thermal conductivity, the cooling efficiency of the portion of the wafer that is directly in contact with the support components is much higher than the cooling efficiency of the portion of the wafer that is not in contact with the support components, which causes the temperature of the wafer to drop unevenly, which greatly increases the risk of wafer breakage. Utility Model Content

[0005] The purpose of the embodiments of the present application is to provide a semiconductor carrier and a vacuum load chamber to solve the problem that the current semiconductor carrier causes a large difference in the temperature change rate of different parts of the wafer, thereby greatly increasing the risk of wafer breakage.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses a semiconductor carrier, which includes a support assembly, wherein the support assembly includes a plurality of support members arranged at circumferential intervals along a wafer, each of the support members includes a heat exchange plate and a supporting portion, each of the heat exchange plates can be installed in a cavity, and each of the supporting portions is protruding from a side surface of the heat exchange plate, the plurality of supporting portions are used to support the wafer, and the thermal conductivity of each of the supporting portions is less than the thermal conductivity of each of the heat exchange plates.

[0007] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses a vacuum load chamber, which includes a cavity and the above-mentioned semiconductor carrier, wherein the semiconductor carrier is installed in the cavity.

[0008] An embodiment of the present application discloses a semiconductor carrier, whose supporting assembly includes a plurality of supporting members spaced apart in the circumferential direction of a wafer, and each supporting member includes a heat exchange plate and a supporting portion, each heat exchange plate can be installed in a cavity, and each supporting portion protrudes from a side surface of the heat exchange plate, thereby utilizing a plurality of supporting portions to support the wafer, thereby achieving the purpose of utilizing a semiconductor carrier to support the wafer. At the same time, the thermal conductivity of each supporting part is smaller than the thermal conductivity of each heat exchange plate. On this basis, since the wafer carried on the supporting part is not in direct contact with the heat exchange plate, the heat exchange efficiency between the wafer and each heat exchange plate is relatively low. Moreover, since the thermal conductivity of each supporting part is smaller than the thermal conductivity of each heat exchange plate, the heat exchange efficiency between the supporting part in direct contact with the wafer and the wafer is also relatively low. This makes the heat exchange efficiency of the part of the wafer directly in contact with the supporting part and the part of the wafer outside the supporting part and spaced from the heat exchange plate basically the same, thereby making the cooling uniformity of the entire wafer relatively good, thereby achieving the purpose of greatly reducing the probability of wafer breakage. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present application and constitute a part of the present application. The illustrative embodiments of the present application and their descriptions are used to explain the present application and do not constitute an improper limitation on the present application. In the drawings:

[0010] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of a semiconductor carrier disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

[0011] Figure 2 A cross-sectional schematic diagram of a semiconductor carrier disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

[0012] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the assembly between the semiconductor carrier and the wafer disclosed in the embodiment of the present application;

[0013] Figure 4 for Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure shown in another direction;

[0014] Figure 5 for Figure 4 A magnified view of the structure in the middle;

[0015] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of temperature change of a wafer supported on a semiconductor carrier disclosed in an embodiment of the present application.

[0016] Reference numerals:

[0017] 100-base,

[0018] 200-support assembly, 210-heat exchange plate, 210a-threaded hole, 210b-positioning hole, 211-heat exchange body, 212-buffering protrusion, 213-connecting part, 220-supporting part,

[0019] 300-wafer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0021] The terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described here, and the objects distinguished by "first", "second", etc. are generally of one type, and the number of objects is not limited. For example, the first object can be one or more. In addition, "and / or" in the specification and claims represents at least one of the connected objects, and the character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship.

[0022] like Figure 1-Figure 5 As shown, the embodiment of the present application discloses a semiconductor carrier, which includes a support assembly 200. The support assembly 200 can be supported in a cavity of a process chamber such as a vacuum load chamber. More specifically, the support assembly 200 can be supported on the cavity bottom of the vacuum load chamber. Optionally, the support assembly 200 can be directly connected to the cavity bottom, or, in other embodiments of the present application, the support assembly 200 can be provided with other devices such as a base 100, so that the base 100 is supported in the chamber, and the support assembly 200 is installed on the base 100. Of course, when the semiconductor carrier does not include the base 100, the cavity of the chamber can also be regarded as the base 100.

[0023] The base 100 can generally be a flat plate-shaped structural member to ensure that the semiconductor carrier has relatively good stability. In addition, the base 100 can generally be formed of a material with relatively high structural strength and thermal conductivity. In a specific embodiment of the present application, the base 100 can be formed of a metal material, and when the semiconductor carrier is used in a vacuum load chamber, the base 100 can be supported on the bottom of the vacuum load chamber. In addition, when the semiconductor carrier is used in a vacuum transmission system, a coolant can be set under the base 100, and the heat of the base 100 can be taken away by the coolant.

[0024] Alternatively, in another embodiment of the present application, the base 100 may also be a part of the vacuum load chamber. In detail, the vacuum load chamber includes a cavity bottom. In the embodiment of the present application, the base 100 may be the cavity body of the vacuum load chamber, or the base 100 may be a part of the cavity bottom of the vacuum load chamber. In this case, when the semiconductor carrier disclosed in the embodiment of the present application is applied to the vacuum load chamber, the base 100 and other parts in the vacuum load chamber may be formed first, and then the support assembly 200 may be supported on the base 100, and the two may be connected to each other, which may also ensure that the entire semiconductor carrier can form a relatively fixed relationship with the vacuum load chamber.

[0025] The support assembly 200 is a part of the semiconductor carrier that directly supports the wafer 300. In order to ensure that the wafer 300 can be normally placed and retrieved in the semiconductor carrier, Figure 1 As shown, in the semiconductor carrier disclosed in the embodiment of the present application, the support assembly 200 includes a plurality of support members, and the plurality of support members are arranged at intervals along the circumference of the wafer, wherein the circumference of the wafer is the circumference of the vacuum load chamber, or in other words, the circumference of the wafer is the direction of the support direction surrounding the support assembly 200.

[0026] In the case of adopting the above technical solution, the robot or other mechanism used to transfer the wafer 300 can extend from the gap between two adjacent support members to the bottom of the wafer supported on the support assembly, that is, above the base 100, and the wafer supported on the support assembly can be taken away by lifting the robot; accordingly, when it is necessary to place the wafer on the semiconductor carrier, the robot or other mechanism can also extend from the gap between two adjacent support members to between the support members, and the purpose of placing the wafer 300 can be achieved during the process of lowering the robot. Among them, the gap between two of the multiple support members included in the support assembly 200 is the film transfer port of the semiconductor carrier. Of course, when the number of support members included in the support assembly 200 exceeds two, the gap between any two support members can be the film transfer port, or the gap between two of the multiple support members with relatively large gaps can be the film transfer port, which is not limited in this article.

[0027] In detail, each support member may include a heat exchange plate 210 and a supporting portion 220. The heat exchange plate 210 is used to provide heat exchange to increase the cooling rate of the wafer 300, and the heat exchange plate 210 is also used to provide a bearing function for the wafer 300. Based on this, the heat exchange plate 210 can be formed of a material with relatively large structural strength and relatively strong thermal conductivity. More specifically, the heat exchange plate 210 can be formed of a metal material. More specifically, the base 100 and each heat exchange plate 210 can be formed of a metal material such as an aluminum alloy, and the heat exchange plate 210 can be a plate-like structure in a rectangular shape. The size and other parameters of the heat exchange plate 210 can be flexibly determined according to actual needs. In the case where the base 100 and each heat exchange plate 210 are formed of a metal material, it is also possible to prevent the residual byproducts on the wafer 300 from reacting with the base 100 and the heat exchange plate 210 as much as possible, thereby improving the cleanliness of the cavity.

[0028] Considering that the wafer 300 is usually a circular structure, on this basis, the heat exchange plate 210 can be an arc-shaped structure, and the size of the heat exchange plate 210 in the radial direction of the wafer 300 can be as large as possible without hindering the robot from taking and placing the wafer 300. This makes the facing area between the heat exchange plate 210 and the wafer 300 relatively larger when the wafer 300 is carried on the support assembly 200, so that the heat exchange efficiency of the wafer 300 is relatively higher. In a specific embodiment of the present application, the size of the heat exchange plate 210 in the radial direction of the wafer can be in a preset relationship with the diameter of the wafer. Specifically, in the diameter direction of the wafer, the size of any heat exchange plate 210 is less than one-third of the diameter of the wafer and greater than one-tenth of the diameter of the wafer.

[0029] A specific implementation is that the diameter of the wafer is 330 mm. In this case, the same support assembly may include two support members, and each of the two support members includes a heat exchange plate 210. The dimensions of the two heat exchange plates 210 in the diameter direction of the wafer may be 50 mm.

[0030] Each heat exchange plate 210 can be installed in the cavity of the vacuum load chamber. As mentioned above, the base 100 can be a part of the cavity of the vacuum load chamber. In this case, if the heat exchange plate 210 and the base 100 are both made of metal materials, each heat exchange plate 210 can be fixedly connected to the base 100 by welding or other methods, so that each heat exchange plate 210 can be installed in the cavity. Accordingly, each heat exchange plate 210 is spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction of the base 100. As mentioned above, the circumferential direction of the base 100 is the circumferential direction of the wafer 300 carried on the semiconductor carrier.

[0031] In order to minimize the heat exchange efficiency of the portion where the wafer 300 is in direct contact with the support assembly 200, as described above, each support assembly 200 includes a supporting portion 220, and each supporting portion 220 is protruding from a side surface of the heat exchange plate 210. Intuitively speaking, the supporting portion 220 is protruding from the top surface of the corresponding heat exchange plate 210, that is, on the surface facing the wafer to be supported. In the process of using the semiconductor carrier disclosed in the embodiment of the present application to carry the wafer 300, multiple supporting portions 220 can be used to support the wafer 300, so that a gap is formed between the wafer 300 and the heat exchange plate 210 with relatively good thermal conductivity, so that the heat exchange between the wafer 300 and the heat exchange plate 210 can only be carried out by thermal radiation, so that no matter whether the semiconductor carrier is in a vacuum environment or an atmospheric environment, the heat exchange efficiency between the wafer 300 and the heat exchange plate 210 can be greatly reduced.

[0032] At the same time, in the embodiment of the present application, the thermal conductivity of each supporting part 220 is less than the thermal conductivity of the heat exchange plate 210 and the base 100, that is, in the embodiment of the present application, by reducing the heat exchange capacity of the supporting part 220, the heat exchange efficiency between the supporting part 220 directly in contact with the wafer 300 and the wafer 300 is also relatively low. Specifically, the supporting part 220 can be formed of a material with a certain structural strength and relatively poor thermal conductivity. For example, the supporting part 220 can be formed of a material such as gypsum. In another embodiment of the present application, in order to improve the supporting effect of the supporting part 220 and to prevent the supporting part 220 from contaminating the wafer 300 as much as possible, the supporting part 220 can be formed of a material such as rubber. As described above, the wafer 300 is usually a circular structural member. For this reason, each supporting part 220 can also be an arc-shaped strip structure. In this case, the supporting part 220 can provide a better supporting effect for the wafer 300.

[0033] In another embodiment of the present application, the supporting portion 220 may also be a point-shaped or block-shaped structural member, in which case the contact area between the supporting portion 220 and the wafer 300 may be further reduced. Of course, when the supporting portion 220 adopts the above structure, the number of supporting portions 220 included in each support member is related to the total number of support members in the same support assembly, and it is necessary to ensure that the total number of supporting portions 220 included in the same support assembly is greater than or equal to three. At the same time, when the number of supporting portions 220 is equal to three, the positions of the three supporting portions 220 need to be designed to ensure that the wafer 300 can be stably supported on the three supporting portions 220.

[0034] The embodiment of the present application discloses a semiconductor carrier, whose support assembly 200 includes a plurality of support members spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the wafer, and each support member includes a heat exchange plate 210 and a supporting portion 220, each heat exchange plate 210 can be installed in a cavity, and each supporting portion 220 is protrudingly disposed on a side surface of the heat exchange plate 210, so that the wafer 300 is supported by the plurality of supporting portions 220, thereby achieving the purpose of supporting the wafer 300 by the semiconductor carrier. At the same time, the thermal conductivity of each supporting part 220 is smaller than the thermal conductivity of each heat exchange plate 210. On this basis, since the wafer 300 supported on the supporting part 220 is not in direct contact with the heat exchange plate 210, the heat exchange efficiency between the wafer 300 and each heat exchange plate 210 is relatively low. Moreover, since the thermal conductivity of each supporting part 220 is smaller than the thermal conductivity of each heat exchange plate 210, the heat exchange efficiency between the supporting part 220 in direct contact with the wafer 300 and the wafer 300 is also relatively low. This makes the heat exchange efficiency of the portion of the wafer 300 that is directly in contact with the supporting part 220 and the portion of the wafer 300 that is located outside the supporting part 220 and spaced from the heat exchange plate 210 basically the same, thereby making the cooling uniformity of the entire wafer relatively good, thereby achieving the purpose of greatly reducing the probability of wafer 300 being broken.

[0035] As described above, the support assembly 200 includes a plurality of support members. In a specific embodiment of the present application, the support assembly 200 can specifically include two support members, which can basically provide a relatively good supporting effect for the wafer 300 and can greatly reduce the processing difficulty of the entire semiconductor carrier. On this basis, the two support members can be arranged in a plane-symmetrical manner to improve the stability of the wafer 300 when it is carried on the two support members. Correspondingly, in the circumferential direction of the wafer, the gap between the two support members is the film transfer port. Of course, when the two support members are symmetrically arranged, the robot can pick up and deliver the film from any side of the opposite sides of the semiconductor carrier.

[0036] Based on the above embodiment, one of the two support members can include at least one supporting portion 220, and the other of the two support members can include at least two supporting portions 220, that is, the two support members include at least three supporting portions 220. This can provide the wafer 300 with a supporting effect that meets the requirements when the number of supporting portions 220 is relatively small.

[0037] Of course, in the case where the support member adopts the above technical solution, multiple supporting parts 220 are used to support the wafer 300. For this reason, it is necessary to make the triangle formed by the connection between the three supporting parts 220 not an obtuse triangle to ensure that the wafer 300 can be relatively reliably supported on the three supporting parts 220. More specifically, the triangle formed by the connection between the three supporting parts 220 can be an acute triangle, which can further improve the stability of the supporting effect provided by the three supporting parts 220 for the wafer 300. Furthermore, in the case where two supporting parts 220 include three supporting parts 220, the triangle formed by the three supporting parts 220 can be an equilateral triangle, so as to maximize the bearing effect of the wafer 300 when the number of supporting parts 220 is three. In this embodiment, the supporting part 220 is regarded as a particle, and the position of the particle can be specifically the center of mass or center of gravity of the supporting part 220.

[0038] In another embodiment of the present application, the two supporting members each include two supporting portions 220, so that the wafer 300 is carried together by four supporting portions 220, which makes the carrying effect of the wafer 300 relatively good, and also makes the sum of the contact areas between the wafer 300 and the supporting portions 220 relatively small. Furthermore, the two supporting portions 220 arranged on the same heat exchange plate 210 can be symmetrical to each other, and the two supporting members can be symmetrically arranged, so that the figure formed by the connecting lines between the four supporting portions 220 is a rectangle, and the center of the rectangle is located on the symmetry plane of the two supporting members, so that the carrying effect of the wafer 300 is further improved. It should be noted that the connecting lines between the supporting portions 220 mentioned in the above introduction of the positions between the supporting portions 220 are all described by treating the supporting portions 220 as a particle, and the aforementioned particle can specifically be one of the center, center of mass or center of gravity of each supporting portion 220.

[0039] More specifically, each supporting portion 220 may be a cubic structure. In another embodiment of the present application, each supporting portion 220 may be substantially a cylindrical structure, and the supporting portion 220 may be formed on the upper surface of the heat exchange plate 210 by injection molding or the like, and each supporting portion 220 may protrude from the upper surface of the corresponding heat exchange plate 210. Specifically, the protrusion size of each supporting portion 220 relative to the heat exchange plate 210 may be between 0.1 and 0.3 mm. In addition, the outer edge of the supporting portion 220 away from the top surface of the heat exchange plate 210 may be provided with a chamfer or the like, which, on the one hand, reduces the difficulty of taking and placing the wafer 300, and on the other hand, further reduces the total contact area between the wafer 300 and the supporting portion 220, thereby further improving the uniformity of the temperature drop of different parts on the wafer 300.

[0040] As described above, the robot can place the wafer 300 on the supporting portion 220 of the supporting assembly 200 , and the heat exchange plate 210 can be a plate-shaped structural member. More specifically, the surface of the heat exchange plate 210 facing the wafer can be a plane. On this basis, when the wafer 300 is placed on the supporting portion 220, since the facing area between the wafer 300 and the heat exchange plate 210 is relatively large, and compared to the diameter of the wafer 300, the distance between the top surface of the supporting portion 220 facing the wafer and the upper surface of the heat exchange plate 210 where the supporting portion 220 is located is much smaller, and thus, in the process of placing the wafer 300, an air cushion effect may be generated, so that the gas sandwiched between the wafer 300 and the heat exchange plate 210 produces an effect of supporting the wafer 300, thereby causing the wafer 300 to be unable to be stably supported on the supporting portion 220, and may cause the wafer 300 to radially slip relative to the base 100, which will cause the back of the wafer 300 to be at risk of being scratched.

[0041] In view of the above situation, in an embodiment of the present application, each heat exchange plate 210 can include a heat exchange body 211 and a plurality of buffer protrusions 212, and the plurality of buffer protrusions 212 are all arranged on a side surface of the heat exchange body 211 where the supporting portion 220 is located. The gap formed by the plurality of buffer protrusions 212 can be utilized to provide a flow path for the gas sandwiched between the wafer and the heat exchange body 211, thereby facilitating the discharge of the gas between the wafer and the heat exchange body 211 and preventing the wafer from radially sliding relative to the supporting assembly due to the supporting effect of the aforementioned gas.

[0042] In more detail, any two adjacent buffer protrusions 212 are spaced apart from each other, and the gap between any two adjacent buffer protrusions 212 extends to the outer edge of the heat exchange body 211. That is, multiple buffer protrusions 212 are used to form multiple gas channels on the surface of the heat exchange body 211 facing the wafer, so that when the wafer 300 is placed on the supporting portion 220, the gas sandwiched between the wafer 300 and the heat exchange body 211 can gradually flow from the gap between any two adjacent buffer protrusions 212 to the outside of the outer edge of the heat exchange body 211 as the wafer 300 continues to descend, thereby preventing the gas from supporting the wafer 300 and affecting the normal placement of the wafer 300. Similarly, during the process of removing the wafer 300, gas can also be gradually replenished from the outer edge of the heat exchange body 211 through the aforementioned gas gap to between the heat exchange body 211 and the wafer 300, thereby preventing the gas between the heat exchange plate 210 and the wafer 300 from adsorbing the wafer 300 and affecting the normal removal process of the wafer 300.

[0043] More specifically, the surface of the heat exchange body 211 of the heat exchange plate 210 facing the wafer can be covered with buffer protrusions 212, so that the number of gaps formed between the buffer protrusions 212 is relatively large, and the size of each gap can be reduced, further increasing the flow path of the gas. More specifically, each buffer protrusion 212 can be basically a relatively regular structure, for example, each buffer protrusion 212 can be a cubic structure, and by making a plurality of buffer protrusions 212 distributed in a determinant, the arrangement of the gaps formed between the buffer protrusions 212 is more uniform, and then when the wafer 300 is placed on the supporting part 220, the flow direction of the gas between the wafer 300 and the heat exchange body 211 of the heat exchange plate 210 is more regular, so as to further improve the transmission stability of the wafer 300 and prevent the wafer 300 from slipping relative to the support during the placement process.

[0044] As described above, the buffer protrusion 212 can be a cubic protrusion. More specifically, the length of each buffer protrusion 212 (i.e., the size of the buffer protrusion 212 in the circumferential direction of the wafer 300) can be 5 mm, and the thickness of each buffer protrusion 212 (i.e., the size of the buffer protrusion 212 in the thickness direction of the wafer 300) can be 1 mm. The interval between adjacent buffer protrusions 212 can be 3 mm, and the width of the buffer protrusion 212 (i.e., the size of the buffer protrusion 212 in the radial direction of the wafer 300) can be flexibly selected according to actual conditions such as the size of the heat exchange plate 210 in the corresponding direction and the number of rows of buffer protrusions 212 arranged in this direction, and is not limited here.

[0045] As described above, the heat exchange plate 210 can be installed in the cavity. When both are made of metal materials, the heat exchange plate 210 can be directly fixed to the bottom of the cavity by welding. In order to reduce the difficulty of connection between the two and improve the connection accuracy between the heat exchange plate 210 and the cavity, in another embodiment of the present application, the heat exchange plate 210 can be fixedly connected to the cavity in a detachable manner. More specifically, the heat exchange plate 210 can be detachably fixedly connected to the cavity by threaded connectors such as screws.

[0046] In addition, in order to ensure that the robot can normally complete the work of taking and placing the wafer 300 at the support assembly, during the process of laying out the heat exchange plate 210, it is necessary to ensure that a corresponding gap is formed between the portion of the heat exchange plate 210 that is opposite to the bottom of the cavity and the cavity, so as to ensure that the robot can extend to the bottom of the heat exchange plate 210 and move upward from the wafer transfer port between adjacent support members to complete the work of taking and placing the wafer 300.

[0047] To this end, in the embodiment of the present application, the heat exchange plate 210 may include a heat exchange body 211 and a connection part 213, wherein the heat exchange body 211 is a component of the heat exchange plate 210 that is mainly used for heat exchange with the wafer 300, and it may specifically be a plate-shaped structural member. The connection part 213 is a component of the heat exchange plate 210 that is used to form a connection relationship with the cavity, and in order to prevent the connection part 213 from hindering the movement of the manipulator as much as possible, in the embodiment of the present application, the connection part 213 may be fixedly connected to the outer edge of the heat exchange body 211, so that most of the area below the heat exchange body 211 is spaced apart from the cavity to serve as a moving space for the manipulator. Of course, in order to maximize the reliability of the fixed connection relationship between the heat exchange body 211 and the connection part 213, in the embodiment of the present application, the heat exchange body 211 and the connection part 213 may be formed in an integral molding manner.

[0048] At the same time, by making the connection part 213 protrude and be arranged on the side of the heat exchange body 211 away from the supporting part 220, the heat exchange body 211 can be spaced from the bottom of the cavity. Specifically, the size of the connection part 213 extending downward relative to the heat exchange body 211 can be determined according to the actual parameters such as the thickness of the wafer 300 and the structure and size of the manipulator, which is not limited in this article. Correspondingly, the connection part 213 and the base 100 can form a detachable fixed connection relationship through one or more screws and other connecting parts.

[0049] In another embodiment of the present application, in order to further reduce the difficulty of assembly between the heat exchange plate 210 and the cavity, the connection portion 213 may be provided with a threaded hole 210a and at least one positioning hole 210b. In this case, the number of threaded holes 210a may be only one, and then the positioning hole 210b and one threaded hole 210a may be used to form a specific relative position relationship between the heat exchange plate 210 and the cavity. Thereafter, the threaded connector is installed in the threaded hole 210a to complete the assembly work between the heat exchange plate 210 and the cavity.

[0050] That is, positioning pins and other positioning structural parts may be inserted into the positioning hole 210b, and the number of positioning holes 210b may be one or more, which is not limited in this article. The connecting portion 213 may form a fixed connection relationship with the base 100 through a threaded connector passing through the threaded hole 210a. More specifically, a positioning hole 210b may be provided on both opposite sides of the threaded hole 210a. In this case, the heat exchange plate 210 may be positioned together through the two positioning holes 210b, and then, the threaded connector may be installed in the threaded hole 210a to achieve the purpose of fixing the heat exchange plate 210 and the base 100. Afterwards, the positioning pin inserted into the positioning hole 210b may be removed to prevent the positioning pin from falling off in the chamber. Of course, corresponding hole structures need to be provided on the cavity corresponding to the threaded hole 210a and the positioning hole 210b to ensure that the threaded connector and the positioning pin can provide connection and positioning functions normally.

[0051] As described above, the wafer 300 can be moved by a device such as a robot and carried on the supporting portion 220 of the support assembly 200. Considering that the robot can extend from one side of the semiconductor carrier to the bottom or top of the support assembly 200 to achieve the purpose of taking and placing the wafer 300, based on this, in order to increase the number of wafers 300 that the semiconductor carrier can carry at a single time, thereby improving the processing efficiency of the wafer 300, in an embodiment of the present application, the number of support assemblies 200 can be multiple, and the multiple support assemblies 200 can be stacked to utilize the multiple support assemblies 200 to provide one-to-one support for the multiple wafers 300 respectively.

[0052] Among them, the stacking direction of the above-mentioned multiple support components 200 can specifically be the thickness direction of the wafer, or in other words, the aforementioned stacking direction is parallel to the support direction of the support component 200. More intuitively speaking, the direction in which the multiple support components 200 are stacked on each other can specifically be a vertical direction to ensure that any support component 200 can provide a more reliable support effect for the wafer.

[0053] Of course, when the above technical solution is adopted, in the stacking direction of multiple support assemblies 200, that is, in the vertical direction, it is necessary to ensure that there is a receiving gap between any two adjacent support assemblies 200, on the one hand, to ensure that the wafer 300 can be normally accommodated between two adjacent support assemblies 200 and carried on the support assembly 200 located below, and on the other hand, it can also ensure that the robot and other mechanisms can normally take and place the wafer 300 between two adjacent support assemblies 200. Among them, the receiving gap between two adjacent support assemblies 200 arranged in the supporting direction is related to the thickness of the wafer, and at least needs to be greater than the thickness of the wafer.

[0054] In a specific embodiment of the present application, more specifically, in the above-mentioned stacking direction, the accommodating gap can be made less than ten times the thickness of the wafer and greater than three times the thickness of the wafer. In this case, it can basically ensure that the difficulty of taking and placing the wafer is relatively small, and the compactness between the support components 200 can be improved as much as possible, so that the semiconductor carrier that can be used in the vacuum load chamber can be equipped with relatively more layers of support components 200.

[0055] In a specific implementation, the size of the vacuum load chamber in the stacking direction is 50 mm. In this case, the semiconductor carrier can include three layers of support components 200, wherein the spacing between the top support component 200 and the middle support component 200, and the spacing between the middle support component 200 and the bottom support component 200 can be 7 mm. Considering the size of the mechanism for taking and placing wafers such as a robot, in this embodiment, the spacing between the bottom support component 200 and the cavity is 14 mm. The aforementioned spacings specifically refer to the spacing between the heat exchange plates, or the spacing between the heat exchange plates and the cavity.

[0056] Of course, in the process of arranging multiple support assemblies 200, the orientations of the film transmission ports of each support assembly 200 can be made different. As described above, each support assembly 200 can include multiple support members spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the wafer, and the gap between any two adjacent support members in the same support assembly 200 can be used as a film transmission port. In the embodiment of the present application, the orientations of the film transmission ports of the multiple support assemblies distributed along the stacking direction (i.e., the vertical direction) of the support assembly 200 can be made different.

[0057] In another embodiment of the present application, Figure 1 As shown, the projections of the film transfer openings of the multiple support components 200 distributed along the stacking direction on the base 100 can be overlapped with each other, that is, the position and orientation of the film transfer opening of each support component 200 relative to the cavity are the same. On the one hand, this can reduce the difficulty of connecting each support component 200 with the cavity, and on the other hand, it can also reduce the difficulty of film transfer by the robot and improve the film transfer accuracy and reliability of the robot.

[0058] In the case of adopting the above technical solution, the number of support members included in each support assembly 200 is the same, and the arrangement position relative to the cavity is also the same, that is, the projections of the multiple support members in the plane perpendicular to the thickness direction of the wafer overlap with each other. Of course, in the case of multiple support assemblies 200, each support assembly 200 can be directly fixedly connected to the cavity, or, as Figure 2As shown, the one located at the bottom of the multiple support assemblies 200 can be directly connected to the cavity, and the other multiple support assemblies 200 can be sequentially connected to the support assemblies 200 located below it, thereby indirectly forming a fixed connection relationship with the cavity. More specifically, each support assembly 200 can be provided with the above-mentioned threaded hole 210a and positioning hole 210b, and the threaded holes 210a and positioning holes 210b of the multiple support members distributed along the thickness direction of the wafer can overlap with each other accordingly, so that the multiple support members can be installed on the cavity together by screws, which can further reduce the difficulty of connecting the multiple support assemblies 200 with the cavity, and can flexibly increase or decrease the number of layers of the support assemblies 200 set in the cavity according to actual needs.

[0059] As described above, the semiconductor carrier may include multiple layers of support components, and the multiple layers of support components are stacked along the thickness direction of the wafer. In this case, except for the topmost support component, for the other two layers of support components, in the process of taking and placing the wafer, it is necessary to make the robot or other mechanism extend from between two adjacent support members to the bottom of the heat exchange plate. Furthermore, in order to maximize the supporting effect of the heat exchange plate on the wafer and increase the facing area between the heat exchange plate and the wafer to improve the heat exchange efficiency of the wafer, in a specific embodiment of the present application, each heat exchange body 211 can include a main body and a protruding part, wherein the connecting part 213 is fixedly connected to the outer edge of the main body, and in the circumferential direction of the wafer, the opposite ends of the main body are fixedly connected with the protruding parts, and the projections of each protruding part in the plane perpendicular to the thickness direction of the wafer are all located outside the connecting part.

[0060] Regarding the above technical solution, in other words, for the same heat exchange plate, in the circumferential direction of the wafer, the angle spanned by the heat exchange body of the heat exchange plate can be made larger than the angle spanned by the connecting portion of the heat exchange plate, so that the angle and size between the connecting portions of two adjacent heat exchange bodies are relatively larger, and the facing area between the heat exchange body and the wafer can be increased at the same time, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the heat exchange efficiency of the wafer. At the same time, in the circumferential direction of the wafer, the connecting portion can be located in the middle of the heat exchange body to improve the assembly stability between the heat exchange body and the cavity. For example, Figure 1 As shown, taking the support assembly including two support members as an example, the angle spanned by the heat exchange body 211 of each of the two support members in the circumferential direction of the wafer can be about 120°. In this case, the angle spanned by the connection part 213 of each of the two support members in the axial direction of the wafer can be about 60°, so that the distance between the two connection parts is relatively large, which is convenient for the robot to move between the two connection parts to pick up and place the wafer.

[0061] Based on the semiconductor carrier disclosed in any of the above embodiments, the embodiment of the present application further discloses a vacuum load chamber, the vacuum load chamber includes a cavity and any of the above semiconductor carriers, the semiconductor carrier is installed in the cavity, specifically installed at the bottom of the cavity. Of course, the vacuum load chamber may also include other devices or mechanisms, for example, the vacuum load chamber may include a coolant for providing heat transfer, and is provided with a pipeline for accommodating or guiding the flow of the coolant, etc. Considering the simplicity of the text, this article will not introduce this in detail.

[0062] More specifically, the vacuum load chamber is a vacuum environment, and by placing a semiconductor carrier in the vacuum load chamber, the wafer carried by the semiconductor carrier can be cooled in the vacuum load chamber. As mentioned above, a material or device with heat absorption capacity such as a coolant can also be placed in the vacuum load chamber to improve the cooling efficiency of the wafer, wherein the temperature of the coolant can be specifically set to 20°C. In this case, the temperature of the wafer supported on the semiconductor carrier in the vacuum load chamber changes with time as shown in FIG. Figure 6 shown.

[0063] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "comprise", "include" or any other variant thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that the process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also includes other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprise one..." do not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element. In addition, it should be pointed out that the scope of the methods and devices in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, and may also include performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in reverse order according to the functions involved, for example, the described method may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted, or combined. In addition, the features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0064] The embodiments of the present application are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation methods. The above-mentioned specific implementation methods are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the guidance of the present application, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms without departing from the purpose of the present application and the scope of protection of the claims, all of which are within the protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A semiconductor carrier, characterized in that: It includes a support assembly, which includes a plurality of support members arranged at intervals along the circumference of the wafer, each of the support members includes a heat exchange plate and a supporting portion, each of the heat exchange plates can be installed in a cavity, and each of the supporting portions is protruding from a side surface of the heat exchange plate, the plurality of supporting portions are used to support the wafer, and the thermal conductivity of each of the supporting portions is less than the thermal conductivity of each of the heat exchange plates.

2. The semiconductor carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that The support assembly includes two support members, one support member includes at least one supporting portion, and the other support member includes at least two supporting portions, and the plurality of supporting portions are used to support wafers.

3. The semiconductor carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that Each of the heat exchange plates includes a heat exchange body and a plurality of buffer protrusions, and the plurality of buffer protrusions are arranged on a side surface of the heat exchange body where the supporting portion is located, any two adjacent buffer protrusions are spaced apart from each other, and the gap between any two adjacent buffer protrusions extends to the outer edge of the heat exchange body.

4. The semiconductor carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that The heat exchange plate includes a heat exchange body and a connecting portion, wherein the connecting portion is fixedly connected to the outer edge of the heat exchange body and protrudes on a side of the heat exchange body away from the supporting portion, and the connecting portion is used for being detachably fixedly connected to the cavity.

5. The semiconductor carrier according to claim 4, characterized in that The connecting portion is provided with a threaded hole and at least one positioning hole. The connecting portion can be fixedly connected to the cavity through a threaded connector passing through the threaded hole, and the positioning hole is used to penetrate a positioning pin.

6. The semiconductor carrier according to claim 4, characterized in that There are multiple support assemblies, and the multiple support assemblies are stacked. In the stacking direction of the support assemblies, an accommodating gap is provided between any two adjacent support assemblies.

7. The semiconductor carrier according to claim 6, characterized in that In the stacking direction, the accommodation gap is smaller than ten times the thickness of the wafer and larger than three times the thickness of the wafer.

8. The semiconductor carrier according to claim 4, characterized in that Each of the heat exchange bodies includes a main body portion and a protruding portion, the connecting portion is fixedly connected to the outer edge of the main body portion, and in the circumferential direction of the wafer, the opposite ends of the main body portion are fixedly connected to the protruding portions, and the projections of each of the protruding portions in a plane perpendicular to the thickness direction of the wafer are located outside the connecting portion.

9. The semiconductor carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the diameter direction of the wafer, the size of any one of the heat exchange plates is smaller than one third of the diameter of the wafer and larger than one tenth of the diameter of the wafer.

10. A vacuum load chamber, characterized in that: It comprises a cavity and the semiconductor carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the semiconductor carrier is installed in the cavity.

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