Full-automatic groove type cleaning machine
By designing a fully automatic tank cleaning machine, the cleaning vehicle is transferred in sequence in multiple cleaning tanks by using the vehicle transfer mechanism, the problem of low wafer cleaning efficiency in the prior art is solved, and an efficient and automated cleaning process is achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202422092638.4
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-08-28
- Publication Date
- 2025-04-22
- Estimated Expiration
- 2034-08-28
AI Technical Summary
The existing tank cleaning machines have low operating efficiency during wafer cleaning, resulting in low cleaning efficiency.
A fully automatic tank cleaning machine is designed, including a rack, guide rail, vehicle transfer mechanism, feeding mechanism, cleaning tank and cutting mechanism. Through the vehicle transfer mechanism, the cleaning vehicle is transferred in sequence in the pickling tank, neutralization tank and quick-draining tank to realize an automated and continuous cleaning process. The water injection and drainage time of the quick drain flush tank are set to ≤10s and ≤5s respectively. A bubble structure is set at the bottom, an overflow structure is set along the upper edge of the tank body, and a spray pipe is set on both sides of the top.
It improves the cleaning efficiency of wafers, reduces space, and facilitates control and management, achieving the compactness and practicality of the functional structure.
Smart Images
Figure CN222785267U_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of semiconductor processing, and more specifically to a full-automatic tank cleaning machine. Background Art
[0002] Cleaning is an important process throughout the semiconductor industry chain, used to remove impurities that may exist in each step of semiconductor silicon wafer manufacturing, wafer manufacturing and packaging testing to prevent impurities from affecting chip yield and chip product performance. The number of cleaning steps accounts for more than 30% of all chip manufacturing process steps, making it the largest process in all chip manufacturing process steps.
[0003] The conventional cleaning method is to use a tank cleaning machine with a wet cleaning process. The existing tank cleaning machine has problems such as a non-compact structure, an imperfect anti-corrosion design, and an imperfect monitoring performance. In addition, during the cleaning process of the wafer, there is a defect of low operating efficiency, thereby reducing the wafer cleaning efficiency.
[0004] In view of this, it is necessary to improve the tank cleaning machine in the prior art to solve the above problems. Utility Model Content
[0005] The utility model aims to disclose a fully automatic tank cleaning machine to solve the problems of low wafer cleaning efficiency in the tank cleaning machines in the prior art.
[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the utility model provides a fully automatic tank cleaning machine, comprising a frame, a guide rail arranged in the frame and a carrier transfer mechanism moving along the guide rail, a loading mechanism, a plurality of cleaning tanks and a unloading mechanism deployed on the same side of the guide rail and arranged horizontally, the cleaning tanks comprising a pickling tank, a neutralization tank and a quick-drain rinse tank, through the carrier transfer mechanism, the cleaning carrier loaded by the loading mechanism is transferred in turn in the pickling tank, the neutralization tank and the quick-drain rinse tank and performs the corresponding cleaning process, and the cleaned cleaning carrier is transferred to the unloading mechanism for unloading.
[0007] As a further improvement of the utility model, the water filling time of the quick-drain flushing tank is set to ≤10s, and the water discharge time is set to ≤5s.
[0008] As a further improvement of the utility model, a bubbling structure is provided at the bottom of the pickling tank and the quick-drain rinsing tank, and an overflow structure is also provided at the upper edge of the tank body of the quick-drain rinsing tank.
[0009] As a further improvement of the utility model, spray pipes are arranged on both sides of the top of the quick-drain flushing tank to form cross-spraying.
[0010] As a further improvement of the utility model, a hoisting structure is arranged on the cleaning carrier, and the carrier transfer mechanism includes a driving mechanism, a lifting mechanism and a hooking component arranged on the lifting mechanism, and the hooking component is adapted to the hoisting structure.
[0011] As a further improvement of the present invention, the carrier transfer mechanism is also equipped with a reducer and a brake structure.
[0012] As a further improvement of the utility model, the loading mechanism, the cleaning tank and the unloading mechanism are arranged in the process area, the guide rail and the carrier transfer mechanism are arranged in the equipment area, the process area and the equipment area are both arranged in the frame, and the process area and the equipment area are separated into dry and wet areas.
[0013] As a further improvement of the present invention, a transparent window is arranged on the front side of the frame, and a control button corresponding to each cleaning tank is arranged above or below the window; a control panel for monitoring and setting parameters is arranged on the side of the frame.
[0014] As a further improvement of the present invention, the fully automatic tank cleaning machine is also equipped with a ventilation system, and the ventilation system is arranged on the top of the frame.
[0015] As a further improvement of the utility model, a pulley and a support foot with a height adjustment function are arranged at the bottom of the frame.
[0016] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the utility model are:
[0017] The fully automatic tank cleaning machine provided by the utility model integrates the guide rails, carrier transfer mechanism, loading mechanism, cleaning tank, and unloading mechanism into the frame, which reduces the occupied space and is convenient for control and management; the cleaning carrier is transferred in sequence among the horizontally arranged loading mechanism, pickling tank, neutralization tank, quick-drain rinsing tank and unloading mechanism through the carrier transfer mechanism, and the functional structure is compactly and practically arranged, so that the wafer has a higher cleaning efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] Figure 1 A three-dimensional diagram of a fully automatic tank cleaning machine provided by the utility model;
[0019] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A partial structural diagram of a tank cleaning machine is provided;
[0020] Figure 3 for Figure 1 Structural configuration diagram of the tank cleaning machine provided. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] The present invention is described in detail below in conjunction with the various embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, but it should be noted that these embodiments are not limitations of the present invention, and any equivalent transformations or substitutions in functions, methods, or structures made by ordinary technicians in the field based on these embodiments are all within the scope of protection of the present invention.
[0022] It should be understood that, in the present application, the terms "longitudinal", "lateral", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", etc., indicating the orientation or position relationship are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present technical solution and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present technical solution.
[0023] Please refer to Figures 1 to 3 As shown, a fully automatic tank cleaning machine 100 includes a frame 10, a guide rail 20 arranged in the frame 10, a loading mechanism 31, a plurality of cleaning tanks 40 and a unloading mechanism 32 arranged horizontally on the same side of the guide rail 20, and a carrier transfer mechanism 21 moving along the guide rail 20, the cleaning carrier 50 loaded by the loading mechanism 31 is sequentially transferred between the plurality of cleaning tanks 40 and the corresponding cleaning process is performed, and the cleaning carrier 50 after cleaning is transferred to the unloading mechanism 32 for unloading, forming an automatic and continuous full set of cleaning processes. In this embodiment, the cleaning carrier 50 refers to a cleaning carrier carrying a wafer, for example, a cleaning basket.
[0024] In this embodiment, the guide rail 20 and the plurality of cleaning tanks 40 are disposed inside the rack 10, so that the cleaning process is completed inside the rack 10, and the contaminated gas generated in the cleaning process is minimized from spreading to the outside of the rack 10. The front side of the rack 10 is set as a process area, the rear side of the rack 10 is set as an equipment area, the loading mechanism 31, the cleaning tank 40 and the unloading mechanism 32 are set in the process area, and the guide rail 20 is set along the lateral extension of the rack 10 at the rear side of the loading mechanism 31, the plurality of cleaning tanks 40 and the unloading mechanism 32.
[0025] To facilitate loading and unloading, a feed track 310 is provided on the left front side of the process area (i.e., the left front side of the frame 10) along the longitudinal direction of the frame 10, and the cleaning carrier 50 to be cleaned is transferred from the loading station 311 provided outside the frame 10 to the inside of the frame 10 along the longitudinal direction of the feed track 310; and a discharge track 320 parallel to the feed track 310 is provided on the right front side of the process area (i.e., the right front side of the frame 10), and the cleaned cleaning carrier 50 is transferred from the inside of the frame 10 along the discharge track 320 to the unloading station 321 outside the frame 10. In other replaceable embodiments, the loading mechanism 31 and the unloading mechanism 32 can also adopt other conveying methods for loading and unloading.
[0026] Combination Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, in this embodiment, four cleaning tanks 40 are arranged sequentially from left to right, namely, a first pickling tank 41, a second pickling tank 42, a neutralization tank 43 and a quick-drainage rinsing tank 44. In other alternative embodiments, the functional configuration and arrangement number of the cleaning tanks 40 can be adjusted according to actual needs, for example, a drying area can be added.
[0027] The liquids in the first pickling tank 41 and the second pickling tank 42 are both acidic liquids, and bubbling structures are provided at the bottom of the first pickling tank 41 and the second pickling tank 42 to improve the cleaning efficiency, for example, a PFA tube is used for bubbling.
[0028] The liquid in the neutralization tank 43 is an alkaline liquid, which neutralizes the acidic liquid remaining on the cleaning carrier 50 and the wafers carried therein after the cleaning process in the first acid cleaning tank 41 and the second acid cleaning tank 42, so as to prevent the acidic liquid remaining on the cleaning carrier 50 and the wafers carried therein from contaminating the subsequent cleaning tanks.
[0029] The liquid in the quick-drain rinsing tank 44 (also called the QDR tank) is deionized water, which is sprayed from the top of the tank body and injected from the bottom of the tank body. After a certain amount of deionized water is filled, the deionized water is quickly emptied, and the impurity ions are quickly drained by the deionized water, further improving the cleanliness of the wafer surface. The quick-drain rinsing tank 44 is equipped with a spraying structure, an overflow structure, a bubbling structure, and a quick-drain structure.
[0030] Because the wafer surface is directly sprayed under the action of water erosion, particulate sludge is easily generated and contaminates the wafer surface. Therefore, in this embodiment, spray pipes are set on both sides of the top of the quick-drain rinse tank 44 to form cross-spraying, and the rinse water pressure, water volume, direction and angle are adjusted and tested to achieve the best effect of less particulate pollution.
[0031] The quick-drain rinse tank 44 is quickly filled with water from both sides of the bottom, and an overflow structure is provided at the upper edge of the tank body, so that the deionized water in each wafer seam and corner can be continuously renewed. At the same time, a bubbling structure is provided at the bottom of the tank body to bubble nitrogen into the tank body. Nitrogen bubbling has the following functions: (1) It increases the flushing force of deionized water and has a good self-cleaning effect on the tank body itself; (2) The wafer vibrates in the water flow, and bubbles cannot adhere to it, thereby improving the rinsing effect; (3) It reduces the oxygen content in the deionized water to avoid the formation of oxides on the wafer surface.
[0032] The time for filling water and draining water of the quick-drain rinsing tank 44 has a great influence on the quality of wafer cleaning. Because the surface of the wafer is exposed to the air and will come into contact with oxygen molecules or water vapor in the air, a very thin oxide layer (about 0.5-1 nm) will grow at room temperature. The thickness of this natural oxide layer is related to the length of time it is exposed to the air. Therefore, the longer the time of filling water, the longer the wafer will be exposed to the air, and the thicker the oxide layer will be formed, which is very unfavorable for wafer cleaning. The shorter the drainage time, the greater the drainage flow rate, which is conducive to the deionized water taking away the impurity ions on the surface of the wafer. Therefore, in the design of the quick-drain rinsing tank 44, the time of filling water and the time of draining water should be shortened as much as possible to achieve fast flushing and fast draining, and the overall efficiency will also be improved. In this embodiment, the water filling time of the quick-drain rinsing tank 44 is set to ≤10s, and the drainage time is set to ≤5s.
[0033] In this embodiment, the guide rail 20 is arranged on the top of the rear side (i.e., the equipment area) of the frame 10, and the carrier transfer mechanism 21 includes a driving mechanism 211, a lifting mechanism 212, and a hooking component 213 arranged on the lifting mechanism 212. The driving mechanism 211 controls the lateral movement of the carrier transfer mechanism 21 on the guide rail 21, the lifting and lowering of the hooking component 213 on the lifting mechanism 212, and the execution of the hooking action. The top of the cleaning carrier 50 is configured with a hoisting structure 51, and the hooking component 213 is adapted to the hoisting structure 51, so that the hooking component 213 of the carrier transfer mechanism 21 can transfer the cleaning carrier 50 between each cleaning tank 40, and the loading mechanism 31 and the unloading mechanism 32 by hooking.
[0034] In one embodiment, the guide rail 20 adopts a linear bearing guide rail, the driving mechanism 211 adopts a servo motor, and the lifting mechanism 212 adopts a ball screw, so as to achieve stable translation of the carrier transfer mechanism 21 in the lateral and vertical directions.
[0035] In this embodiment, the carrier transfer mechanism 21 is set to automatically return to the origin within a fixed time to eliminate mechanical and electrical errors. The carrier transfer mechanism 21 is also equipped with a reducer and a brake structure, so that it has a high speed during translation and can smoothly slow down and stop.
[0036] The rack 10 is provided with a relatively closed structural frame, and an exhaust system is provided above the loading mechanism 31, the plurality of cleaning tanks 40 and the unloading mechanism 32 to ensure the cleanliness and humidity of the air inside the rack 10. A transparent window 12 is provided above the front side of the rack 10 to facilitate the staff to observe the cleaning process.
[0037] Corresponding to each cleaning tank 40, corresponding control buttons (not shown) are arranged above or below the viewing window 12 of the frame 10, including separate control buttons for temperature, liquid level, status, etc. The quick-drain rinsing tank 44 is also provided with separate start / stop buttons, separate spray, water inlet, bubbling, drainage, etc. control buttons. A control panel 11 is also arranged on the side of the frame 10, through which the full-automatic tank cleaning machine 100 can be monitored in real time according to the setting screen of the pipeline diagram, including monitoring of various functions of each cleaning tank 40, including temperature, liquid level, tank cover status, loading status of the feeding mechanism 31, unloading status of the unloading mechanism 32, in-place status of the carrier transfer mechanism 21, start and stop of the pump and valve, alarm display, alarm record, etc., and various parameters can also be set and modified.
[0038] A pulley 13 and a support leg 14 are provided at the bottom of the frame 10 , wherein the support leg 14 has a function of adjusting the height, so that the frame 10 can be moved through the pulley 13 , and the frame 10 can be stably supported by the support leg 14 .
[0039] The rack 10, the cleaning tank 40, the liquid and gas pipelines, the exhaust channel and all the structural frames in the rack 10 are made of non-metallic anti-corrosion materials. For example, the main body of the rack 10 is made of PP sheet material, the cleaning tank 40 is made of NPP material, and the liquid medicine pipeline and the pure water pipeline are made of PFA pipes, etc., to avoid corrosion of the rack 10 and its internal components. The waste liquid discharged from each cleaning tank 40 is discharged through a dedicated pipeline to avoid contamination of the waste liquid.
[0040] Since the equipment area inevitably involves the use of metal materials, in order to minimize the corrosion of metal materials, the equipment area and the process area are preferably set up in a dry-wet separation manner. For example, a partition plate is set between the process area and the equipment area for appropriate isolation.
[0041] The series of detailed descriptions listed above are only specific descriptions of feasible implementation methods of the utility model. They are not intended to limit the protection scope of the utility model. Any equivalent implementation methods or changes that do not deviate from the technical spirit of the utility model should be included in the protection scope of the utility model.
[0042] In addition, it should be understood that although the present specification is described according to implementation modes, not every implementation mode contains only one independent technical solution. This description of the specification is only for the sake of clarity. Those skilled in the art should regard the specification as a whole. The technical solutions in each embodiment may also be appropriately combined to form other implementation modes that can be understood by those skilled in the art.
Claims
1. A fully automatic tank cleaning machine, characterized in that: The machine comprises a frame, a guide rail arranged in the frame and a carrier transfer mechanism moving along the guide rail, a loading mechanism, a plurality of cleaning tanks and a unloading mechanism which are arranged on the same side of the guide rail and are horizontally arranged, wherein the cleaning tanks comprise a pickling tank, a neutralization tank and a quick-drain rinsing tank; through the carrier transfer mechanism, the cleaning carrier loaded by the loading mechanism is sequentially transferred in the pickling tank, the neutralization tank and the quick-drain rinsing tank and performs corresponding cleaning processes, and the cleaned cleaning carrier is transferred to the unloading mechanism for unloading.
2. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The water filling time of the quick-drain flushing tank is set to ≤10s, and the water discharge time is set to ≤5s.
3. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bottoms of the pickling tank and the quick-drain rinsing tank are both provided with bubbling structures, and the upper edge of the tank body of the quick-drain rinsing tank is also provided with an overflow structure.
4. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: Spray pipes are arranged on both sides of the top of the quick-drain flushing tank to form cross-spraying.
5. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: A hoisting structure is arranged on the cleaning carrier, and the carrier transfer mechanism comprises a driving mechanism, a lifting mechanism and a hooking component arranged on the lifting mechanism, and the hooking component is adapted to the hoisting structure.
6. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 5, characterized in that: The carrier transfer mechanism is also equipped with a reducer and a brake structure.
7. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The loading mechanism, the cleaning tank and the unloading mechanism are arranged in the process area, the guide rail and the carrier transfer mechanism are arranged in the equipment area, the process area and the equipment area are both arranged in the frame, and the process area and the equipment area are separated into dry and wet areas.
8. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: A transparent window is arranged on the front side of the frame, and a control button corresponding to each cleaning tank is arranged above or below the window; a control panel for monitoring and setting parameters is arranged on the side of the frame.
9. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fully automatic tank cleaning machine is also equipped with a ventilation system, which is arranged on the top of the frame.
10. The fully automatic tank cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bottom of the frame is provided with a pulley and a support leg with a height adjustment function.