Wafer ejector pin height adjusting mechanism and wafer bearing equipment

Abstract

The utility model belongs to the technical field of seed crystal technology, and discloses a wafer ejector pin height adjusting mechanism and wafer bearing equipment, which are characterized by comprising an ejector pin base; the ejector pins are in threaded connection with the ejector pin base so as to adjust the height of the ejector pins, and springs are arranged between the ejector pins and the ejector pin base so as to keep the ejector pins at the set height. According to the utility model, the ejector pin is vertically arranged on the ejector pin base, the ejector pin is connected with the ejector pin base through threads so as to adjust the height, the spring is additionally arranged at the joint, the ejector pin is fixed at the fixed height by using the elastic force generated by the deformation of the spring, the wafer levelness is adjusted, and the wafer levelness adjusting device has the characteristics of simple structure, flexible and convenient adjusting mode and high efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of wafer processing technology, in particular to a novel wafer ejector pin height adjusting mechanism and a wafer carrying device. Background Art

[0002] During the wafer processing, the wafer needs to be carried on a carrier such as a chuck or a hot plate for processing. The picking and placing of the wafer on the carrier and the transfer between different carriers usually need to be coordinated with an ejector pin mechanism and a lifting mechanism (hereinafter referred to as "lifting device").

[0003] Since the wafer needs to be in a horizontal position during transportation and processing to avoid slipping, the lifting device must have a wafer level adjusting mechanism. To roughly adjust the levelness, the wafer level adjusting mechanism of the lifting device generally uses an ejector pin with a processed cylinder structure. The ejector pin structure adopts a three-point layout structure, and the height of the three-point ejector pin bearing surfaces is ensured to be approximately the same through three-point leveling.

[0004] To further precisely adjust the levelness of the wafer, currently, the lifting device generally adopts the following structure:

[0005] (1) Adopt a bottom locking screw. After the locking screw is loosened, the height of the ejector pin is adjusted. The adjustment process of loosening and tightening through the lock nut and then adjusting the height of the ejector pin is relatively cumbersome. For example, Chinese Patent Application CN116153848A discloses such a solution.

[0006] (2) Add precision shims with different thicknesses between the ejector pin and the ejector pin mounting seat to ensure the consistency of the height of the ejector pin bearing surface. Since this method is relatively troublesome in installation and adjustment, the ejector pin must be disassembled and assembled during the leveling process, and then precision shims are padded to achieve leveling.

[0007] It can be seen from the above that the wafer level adjusting mechanism of the prior art has problems such as complex structure, relatively troublesome installation and adjustment, and relatively high manufacturing cost of parts. Summary of the Utility Model

[0008] The task of the utility model is to provide an ejector pin height adjusting mechanism and a wafer carrying device to solve the problems of the wafer level adjusting mechanism of the prior art, such as complex structure, relatively troublesome installation and adjustment, and relatively high manufacturing cost of parts. Among them, by precisely adjusting the height of the ejector pin, the levelness of the wafer can be precisely adjusted.

[0009] In the first aspect of the utility model, this task is solved by a wafer ejector pin height adjusting mechanism, which includes:

[0010] An ejector pin base; and

[0011] Multiple thimbles, which are threadedly connected to the thimble base to adjust the height of the thimble, and a spring is arranged between the thimble and the thimble base to hold the thimble at the set height.

[0012] Optionally, the multiple thimbles include more than three thimbles.

[0013] Optionally, the height adjustment mechanism further includes a ball cap, and the thimble has a counterbore at the top, and the ball cap has a boss that can be connected to the counterbore.

[0014] Optionally, the ball cap is a semi-circular silicone head made of anti-static silicone, and a special silicone glue is used to bond the ball cap and the thimble at the contact surface between the ball cap and the thimble.

[0015] Optionally, the spring is a wave spring or a disc spring. When adjusting the relative height of the thimble by thread, the elasticity of the spring is utilized to prevent the thimble from falling off.

[0016] Optionally, the height adjustment mechanism further includes a T-shaped adjustment tool, which is configured to screw the thimble to adjust the height of the thimble.

[0017] Optionally, the thimble base is made of fine-threaded screw.

[0018] Optionally, there is also a bolt for threaded connection at the bottom of the thimble.

[0019] Optionally, the thimble is vertically arranged on the thimble base.

[0020] In the second aspect of the present invention, the foregoing task is solved by a wafer carrying device, which includes:

[0021] The height adjustment mechanism according to the present invention; and

[0022] A lifting base, which is configured to support a wafer chuck, and an installation through hole is provided on the lifting base, so that the thimble can pass through the installation through hole.

[0023] The present invention has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0024] The present invention adopts a spring arranged at the connection between the thimble and the thimble base, and uses a threaded connection between the thimble and the thimble base, so that the thimble can adjust the height through the threaded connection, and the elastic force of the spring deformation is used as a support after adjusting the height to prevent the thimble from falling off, thereby realizing the adjustment of any height.

[0025] Moreover, the two sides at the top of the thimble are milled flat. Through a dedicated T-shaped adjustment tool, the inner sleeve of which is processed with concave and milled flat on both sides, it is convenient to realize the up and down movement of the thread by screwing left and right, and complete more convenient height adjustment. Compared with the prior art of adding precision gaskets and adjusting the tightening screws, it achieves more convenient operation. Compared with the thimble with vacuum adsorption function, it undoubtedly significantly optimizes the complexity of the mechanism and the manufacturing cost.

[0026] The wafer carrying device provided by the present utility model can improve the convenience and efficiency of wafer level adjustment during the use of semiconductor equipment by adopting the above height adjustment mechanism, ensure the levelness of the wafer, reduce the probability of the wafer falling during the wafer processing or transmission process, improve the efficiency of wafer processing, and reduce the wafer processing cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] Figure 1 Shows a schematic structural diagram of the height adjustment structure according to an embodiment of the present utility model;

[0028] Figure 2 Shows a schematic diagram of the lifting base bearing according to an embodiment of the present utility model;

[0029] Figure 3 Shows a schematic structural diagram of the thimble according to an embodiment of the present utility model;

[0030] Figure 4 Shows a schematic structural diagram of the lifting base according to an embodiment of the present utility model; and

[0031] Figure 5 Shows a schematic structural diagram of the adjustment tool according to an embodiment of the present utility model. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0032] The present utility model will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and embodiments. It can be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present utility model, rather than limiting the present utility model. In addition, it should be noted that for the sake of convenience of description, only parts related to the present utility model are shown in the drawings, not all structures.

[0033] In the description of the present utility model, unless otherwise clearly defined and limited, the terms "connected", "connected", and "fixed" shall be understood in a broad sense. For example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or integrated; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be directly connected, or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and it can be the internal communication of two components or the interaction relationship between two components. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present utility model can be understood according to specific situations.

[0034] In the present utility model, unless otherwise clearly defined and limited, the first feature being "above" or "below" the second feature may include the direct contact between the first and second features, or may include the situation where the first and second features are not in direct contact but in contact through other features therebetween. Moreover, the first feature being "above", "over" and "on top of" the second feature includes that the first feature is directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or merely indicates that the horizontal height of the first feature is higher than that of the second feature. The first feature being "below", "beneath" and "underneath" the second feature includes that the first feature is directly below and obliquely below the second feature, or merely indicates that the horizontal height of the first feature is lower than that of the second feature.

[0035] In the description of this embodiment, the orientation or positional relationships such as "above", "below", "right", etc. are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of description and simplifying the operation, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as a limitation to the present utility model. In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are only used for distinction in description and have no special meaning.

[0036] Figure 1 The structural schematic diagram of the height adjustment structure according to an embodiment of the present utility model is shown.

[0037] As Figure 1 shown, the present utility model provides a height adjustment mechanism to lift and support the wafer 60, so as to realize the picking and placing of the wafer 60 on different lifting bases 50 and the mutual transfer between different lifting bases 50. The type of the lifting base 50 and the specific type of the semiconductor device are not limited in this embodiment. This structure is convenient to install in the order from top to bottom, thus realizing convenient operations of maintenance, disassembly and replacement, and greatly reducing the maintenance cost; the installation order from top to bottom is the ball cap 40, the ejector pin 30, the spring 20, the ejector pin base 10, and finally the foot height of the T-shaped adjustment tool 70 is adjusted to be flush, and the wafer 60 is lifted on the lifting base 50.

[0038] The height adjustment mechanism provided in this embodiment includes an ejector pin base 10 and a plurality of ejector pins 30. The ejector pins 30 are vertically arranged and the lower ends thereof are connected to the ejector pin base 10; at least three ejector pins 30 are arranged at intervals. In this embodiment, three ejector pins 30 are arranged, the tops of the ejector pins 30 are located on the same plane and form a triangular shape on the plane. In other embodiments, more ejector pins 30 can also be arranged, such as 4, 5 or 6.

[0039] Figure 2 The schematic diagram of the lifting base bearing according to an embodiment of the present utility model is shown.

[0040] As Figure 2As shown, in this embodiment, the height adjustment mechanism further has a lifting base 50 for lifting the wafer. In this embodiment, it is configured to support the wafer chuck. An installation through-hole 51 is provided on the lifting base 50, so that the ejector pin 30 can pass through the installation through-hole 51.

[0041] In this embodiment, the spring 30 is a wave spring or a disc spring. The function of the wave spring / disc spring is that when adjusting the height of the ejector pin 30, the distance between the ejector pin 30 and the ejector pin base 10 changes, causing the spring 20 to deform, thereby generating an elastic force. The elasticity of the spring 20 is used to make the ejector pin 30, after being adjusted to any height position by screw connection, be affected by the elastic force, so as to prevent it from falling off. Obviously, the spring 30 is not limited to the wave spring or the disc spring, and it does not limit the spring 20. Other replaceable springs are also included.

[0042] Figure 3 The schematic structural diagram of the ejector pin according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0043] As Figure 3 shown, in this embodiment, a threaded structure 31 is provided at the bottom of the ejector pin 30, and a corresponding threaded hole 11 is provided on the ejector pin base 10. The two are connected by screw threads, and the relative height of the ejector pin 30 can be adjusted by the screw threads; the spring 20 is arranged at the connection between the ejector pin base 10 and the ejector pin 30, and provides an elastic force as a support for the ejector pin 30 through its own deformation, effectively preventing the ejector pin from falling off. The threaded structure 31 is made of a standard fine-pitch thread. Its advantage is that the fine-pitch thread has a certain self-locking property, so that a better height subdivision adjustment effect can be achieved during the height adjustment process of the ejector pin, realizing a more minute adjustment. In the present invention, the fine-pitch thread refers to a thread with a pitch of 0.35 mm to 0.75 mm. It should be noted that although the fine-pitch thread is preferred, other threads are also conceivable under the teaching of the present invention. The following shows a thread comparison table applicable to the present invention, where the coarse pitch refers to the conventional thread pitch, and the fine pitch is smaller than the conventional thread pitch. Here, the fine-pitch thread can be M3, M4, M5, M6, etc., and its pitch is as shown in the table.

[0044] Thread <![CDATA[Coarse thread / mm > <![CDATA[Fine thread / mm > M3 0.5 0.35 M4 0.7 0.5 M5 0.8 0.5 M6 1 0.75(0.5)

[0045] As Figure 3 shown in this embodiment, the height adjustment mechanism further has a ball cap 40. A counterbore 32 is provided at the top of the ejector pin 30. The ball cap 40 has a boss 41. The two are connected by an interference fit relationship. Glue is used to bond the ball cap 40 and the ejector pin 30 at the contact surface between the ball cap 40 and the ejector pin 30, reducing the possibility of accidental detachment.

[0046] In this embodiment, the ball cap 40 is a semi-circular silicone head made of anti-static silicone material. Therefore, a special silicone glue is used to bond the contact surface to fix the ball cap 40. The three semi-circular silicone heads in contact with the wafer have a semi-circular physical shape and adopt three-point contact to ensure a planar support. The advantage of the semi-circular head is that it uses spherical and planar contact, and good support can be achieved when contacting any position of the wafer. This can offset the problem of unreliable contact caused by the height difference between the thimbles. In contrast, in the prior art, the thimbles are usually cylindrical planar contacts, and the contact between planes will cause the problem of unreliable contact. The ball cap 40 uses a semi-circular spherical surface to contact the wafer 60. The hardness of the silicone is usually Shore hardness 50 / 60 / 70. The contact between the silicone and the wafer 60 can effectively prevent the wafer 60 from slipping during the lifting process, with a certain anti-slip effect. Compared with using metal or other polymer materials to contact the wafer, it will reduce unnecessary damage and will not produce a slipping phenomenon. According to the characteristics of the use requirements, a silicone material with a lower hardness value can be selected to ensure no slipping, and at the same time, silicone materials with different hardnesses can be selected according to the use requirements.

[0047] Figure 4 The structural schematic diagram of the lifting base according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0048] Combined Figure 4 , the lifting base 50 is provided with mounting through holes 51 corresponding to the number of thimbles 30. Through the mounting through holes 51, the thimbles 30 can support the wafer 60 on the lifting base 50, and the up and down protruding movement of the thimbles 30 can be realized through the mounting through holes 51.

[0049] Figure 5 The structural schematic diagram of the adjusting tool according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0050] As Figure 5 shown, in this embodiment, there is also a special height adjusting tool, a T-shaped adjusting tool 70. The height of the thimble 30 can be adjusted by rotating the thimble thread 32 in the forward and reverse directions through the T-shaped adjusting tool 70. The two sides of the head of the thimble 30 are milled flat 33. Similarly, the T-shaped adjusting tool 70 uses the inner concave of the sleeve with both sides milled flat 71 to cooperate with each other, so as to more conveniently adjust the thread connection and achieve the effect of height adjustment.

[0051] In another embodiment of this solution, there are multiple possibilities for the selection of the ejector pin 10. The difference from this embodiment is that, different from the combined use of a solid ejector pin and a silicone head in this embodiment, in some required scenarios, the solid ejector pin can be replaced with a hollow design with an adsorption air passage. Compared with this embodiment, at this time, the inherent elastic force of the wave spring / disc spring can also be used to ensure the stable and reliable non-loosening of the adjusting top at any height, which also has a significant improvement effect on the fixation of the ejector pin.

[0052] The advantage of using silicone is that the friction generated when the silicone contacts the wafer 60 can be utilized, so that the slippage of the wafer during lifting can be effectively prevented, and it has a certain anti-slip effect, which is the physical property of the silicone itself. The advantage of using the vacuum adsorption design is that, compared with friction, better adsorption effect can be achieved by using vacuum adsorption, further reducing the possibility of the wafer 60 falling off and slipping. Moreover, compared with the silicone head that directly contacts the surface of the wafer 60, vacuum adsorption reduces the direct contact with the wafer surface, thus reducing the possibility of accidental damage to the wafer surface.

[0053] In this embodiment, the invention point of using the inherent elastic force of the wave spring / disc spring to ensure the stable and reliable non-loosening of the adjusting ejector pin at any height is also applied.

[0054] As Figure 1 shown, this embodiment also provides a semiconductor device, including a height adjustment mechanism and a horizontally arranged lifting base 50. An installation through hole 51 is opened on the lifting base 50. The ejector pin base 10 is located below the carrier 50. The ejector pin 20 passes through the installation hole 51. The height adjustment mechanism can adjust the height of the ejector pin 30 so that the ball cap 40 can selectively sink into the installation hole 51 or protrude upward from the lifting base 50. When the height decreases, the ejector pin 30 and the ball cap 40 are received in the lifting base 50. An installation through hole 51 is provided on the lifting base 50 to accommodate the ejector pin 30 and the ball cap 40, avoiding accidental contact with the height adjustment mechanism and the wafer 60 during other operations of the device.

[0055] The wafer carrier device provided by the present utility model can improve the convenience and efficiency of wafer 60 level adjustment during the use of the wafer carrier device by adopting a height adjustment mechanism to adjust the threaded connection between the ejector pin and the ejector pin base, and then using the elastic force generated by the elastic deformation of the spring to support the ejector pin, thereby ensuring the levelness of the wafer 60, reducing the probability of the wafer 40 falling during processing or transmission, improving the processing efficiency of the wafer 60, and reducing the processing cost of the wafer 60.

[0056] Obviously, the above embodiments are merely examples for clear illustration and not limitations on the implementation manners. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other different forms of changes or modifications can be made based on the above description. It is not necessary and impossible to enumerate all implementation manners here. And the obvious changes or modifications derived therefrom still fall within the protection scope of the creation of the present utility model.

Claims

1. A wafer ejector pin height adjustment mechanism, characterized in that: include: Ejector base; as well as A plurality of ejectors are connected to an ejector base through threads to adjust the height of the ejectors, wherein a spring is arranged between the ejectors and the ejector base to keep the ejectors at a set height.

2. The height adjustment mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The plurality of ejector pins includes more than three ejector pins.

3. The height adjustment mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The height adjustment mechanism further comprises a ball cap, and the ejector pin has a countersunk hole at the top, and the ball cap has a boss which can be connected with the countersunk hole.

4. The height adjustment mechanism according to claim 3, characterized in that: The ball cap is a semicircular silicone head made of antistatic silicone, wherein silicone-specific glue is used at the contact surface between the ball cap and the ejector pin to bond the ball cap and the ejector pin.

5. The height adjustment mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The spring is a wave spring or a butterfly spring. When the relative height of the ejector pin is adjusted through the thread, the elasticity of the spring is utilized to prevent the ejector pin from falling off.

6. The height adjustment mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that: Also included is a T-shaped adjustment tool configured to screw the ejector pin to adjust the height of the ejector pin.

7. The height adjustment mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ejector pin base has a threaded structure.

8. The height adjustment mechanism according to claim 7, characterized in that: The bottom of the ejector pin is also provided with a bolt for connecting with the threaded structure.

9. The height adjustment mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ejector pin is vertically arranged on the ejector pin base.

10. A wafer carrying device, comprising: A height adjustment mechanism as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7; as well as The lifting base is configured to support a wafer suction cup, wherein a mounting through hole is opened on the lifting base so that the ejector pin can pass through the mounting through hole.

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