Wafer lifting device and etching equipment

Abstract

The embodiment of the utility model provides a wafer lifting device and etching equipment, and the wafer lifting device comprises a bearing part for bearing a wafer, the bearing part is provided with a bearing surface, and the bearing surface is provided with a through hole; the lifting assembly is used for bearing and lifting the wafer along the through hole, and the wafer is placed on the bearing part; the lifting assembly comprises an adsorption assembly which adsorbs the wafer when the wafer is lifted. By adopting the technical scheme, the stability in the wafer lifting process can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of semiconductor manufacturing technologies, and in particular, to a wafer lifting device and an etching apparatus. Background Art

[0002] When performing an etching process on a semiconductor, when the wafer is transferred into the process chamber, the wafer needs to be placed on the working platform for etching the wafer, and after the etching process, the wafer is removed.

[0003] During the process of placing the wafer on the working platform or removing the wafer from the working platform, due to the insufficient control ability of the cylinder and the stability of debugging, the instantaneous lifting speed is too fast, which easily causes the wafer to slide. In this context, how to provide a technical solution to improve the stability during the wafer lifting process has become a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently by those skilled in the art. Summary of the Utility Model

[0004] In view of this, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a wafer lifting device and an etching apparatus, which can improve the stability during the wafer lifting process.

[0005] First, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a wafer lifting device, including:

[0006] A carrying part for carrying the wafer, the carrying part has a carrying surface, and through holes are provided on the carrying surface;

[0007] A lifting assembly provided through the through holes and for receiving and lifting the wafer; the lifting assembly includes an adsorption assembly for adsorbing the wafer when lifting the wafer.

[0008] Optionally, the number of the through holes is multiple, and the multiple through holes are concentrically arranged along the circumferential direction of the carrying part;

[0009] The number of the lifting assemblies is multiple, and one lifting assembly is provided through a corresponding through hole.

[0010] Optionally, the lifting assembly further includes:

[0011] A lifting structure having a hollow structure;

[0012] A driver connected to the lifting structure for driving the lifting structure to lift;

[0013] Wherein, the adsorption assembly is communicated with the lifting structure to adsorb the gas inside the lifting structure.

[0014] Optionally, the lifting structure includes:

[0015] A fixing member connected to the driver;

[0016] A telescopic member connected to the fixing member and moving along the extending direction of the fixing member.

[0017] Optionally, the lifting assembly further includes:

[0018] A support plate respectively connected to the lifting structure and the driver;

[0019] The lifting structure is disposed on the support plate and is in communication with the support plate.

[0020] Optionally, the lifting structure includes a tubular structure made of ceramic material.

[0021] Optionally, the wafer lifting device further includes: a sealing member disposed on the lifting assembly and contacting the wafer during the lifting of the wafer.

[0022] Optionally, the sealing member includes an annular structure made of an elastic material.

[0023] Optionally, the wafer lifting device further includes:

[0024] A position sensor for detecting the relative position between the wafer and the lifting assembly;

[0025] A controller connected to the position sensor and outputting a corresponding control signal according to the relative position between the wafer and the lifting assembly detected by the position sensor.

[0026] Correspondingly, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an etching device, including:

[0027] The wafer lifting device according to any one of the foregoing embodiments;

[0028] A cavity for accommodating the wafer lifting device.

[0029] By using the wafer lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the bearing part has a bearing surface, and a through hole through which the lifting assembly can pass is provided on the bearing surface. Furthermore, the lifting assembly can be arranged through the through hole, and the lifting assembly can receive and lift the wafer to place the wafer on the bearing surface of the bearing part or remove the wafer from the bearing surface. At the same time, the lifting assembly of the embodiment of the present disclosure includes an adsorption assembly. Thus, during the lifting of the wafer, the adsorption assembly on the lifting assembly can adsorb the wafer to avoid relative movement between the wafer and the lifting assembly, thereby improving the stability during the lifting of the wafer. Description of the Drawings

[0030] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for describing the embodiments of the present disclosure or the prior art. Obviously, the following described drawings are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings.

[0031] Figure 1 FIG. shows a schematic structural diagram of a wafer lifting device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0032] Figure 2 FIG. shows a schematic structural diagram of a lifting assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed Embodiments

[0033] As described in the background art, during the process of placing a wafer on a working platform or removing a wafer from a working platform, due to the insufficient control ability of the cylinder and the stability of debugging, when controlling the movement of the wafer, the instantaneous lifting speed is too fast, which is likely to cause the wafer to slide.

[0034] After analyzing the reasons for the above phenomena, the inventor found that during the process of lifting and lowering the wafer, the friction between the wafer and the contact surface of the lifting assembly is small. When the instantaneous lifting speed of the lifting assembly is too fast or the instantaneous air flow on the surface of the working platform is too large, it will cause the wafer to slide, and then it is easy to cause the wafer to be damaged during the lifting process.

[0035] To solve the above technical problems, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a wafer lifting device. The bearing part has a bearing surface, and a through hole through which the lifting assembly can pass is provided on the bearing surface. Thus, the lifting assembly can be arranged through the through hole, and the lifting assembly can receive and lift the wafer to place the wafer on the bearing surface of the bearing part, or remove the wafer from the bearing surface. At the same time, the lifting assembly of the embodiment of the present disclosure includes an adsorption assembly. Therefore, during the process of lifting the wafer, the adsorption assembly on the lifting assembly can adsorb the wafer, avoiding relative movement between the wafer and the lifting assembly, and thus improving the stability during the wafer lifting process.

[0036] To enable those skilled in the art to have a clearer understanding of the technical conceptions, technical principles, advantages, etc. included in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, through specific embodiments, and in combination with specific application scenarios, etc.

[0037] Refer to Figure 1 As shown in the schematic structural diagram of a wafer lifting device in an embodiment of the present disclosure shown in Figure 1 As shown, the wafer lifting device 100 may include:

[0038] A carrying portion 110 for carrying the wafer 10A, wherein the carrying portion 110 has a carrying surface 111, and a through hole G is formed on the carrying surface 111;

[0039] A lifting component 120 is provided through the through hole G to receive and lift the wafer 10A; wherein the wafer 10A can be placed on the carrying surface 111 of the carrying part 110 by the lifting component 120, and the wafer 10A can also be removed from the carrying surface 111; the lifting component 120 includes an adsorption component (not shown) that adsorbs the wafer 10A when lifting the wafer 10A.

[0040] Specifically, the carrying surface 111 has a through hole G that passes through the carrying portion 110, and the lifting assembly 120 can be arranged through the through hole G, and the lifting assembly 120 performs lifting movement after receiving the wafer to place the wafer 10A on the carrying surface 111, or remove the wafer 10A from the carrying surface 111. Among them, the top surface of the lifting assembly 120 can receive the wafer.

[0041] For example, when the lifting assembly 120 moves in the direction indicated by arrow a, the lifting assembly 120 can drive the wafer 10A to move toward the side away from the carrying portion 110, so that the wafer 10A can be removed from the carrying surface 111; for another example, when the lifting assembly 120 moves in the direction indicated by arrow b, the lifting assembly 120 can drive the wafer 10A to move toward the carrying portion 110, so that the wafer 10A can be placed on the carrying surface 111. That is, by controlling the movement direction of the lifting assembly 120, the relative position relationship between the wafer 10A and the carrying surface 111 can be changed.

[0042] When the lifting component 120 drives the wafer 10A to move, the adsorption component arranged on the lifting component 120 can suck the air inside the lifting component 120, so that the lifting component 120 can adsorb the wafer 10A. Even when the instantaneous lifting speed is too fast or the instantaneous airflow on the surface of the working platform is too large, the wafer 10A will not produce relative movement with the lifting component 120, thereby improving the stability of the wafer 10A during the lifting and operation process.

[0043] What needs to be explained is, first, Figure 1 The shapes of the lifting assembly 120, the bearing portion 110 and the through hole G are only illustrative. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the lifting assembly 120, the bearing portion 110 and the through hole G are circular in shape. In other embodiments, the lifting assembly 120, the bearing portion 110 and the through hole G may also be square, diamond or other shapes. Second, Figure 1The sizes of the illustrated through holes G and the lifting assembly 120 are for illustrative purposes only. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the size of the through hole G is larger than that of the lifting assembly 120. In other embodiments, the size of the through hole G is the same as that of the lifting assembly 120. Third, the distribution positions of the through holes G on the bearing surface 111 are for illustrative purposes only and are used to indicate that the bearing surface 111 has holes for the lifting assembly 120 to pass through, and should not be construed as a limitation of the present disclosure. Fourth, Figure 1 Only a partial structure of the wafer lifting device 100 is illustrated.

[0044] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, to further improve the stability during the lifting of the wafer, continue to refer to Figure 1 , the number of the through holes G is multiple, and the multiple through holes G are concentrically arranged along the circumferential direction of the bearing portion 110.

[0045] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the number of the through holes G is multiple, the number of the lifting assemblies 120 is also multiple, and one lifting assembly 120 corresponds to one through hole G, that is, the number of the lifting assemblies 120 is the same as the number of the through holes G, and one lifting assembly 120 is arranged through the corresponding one through hole G.

[0046] By making the number of the through holes G and the lifting assemblies 120 multiple, during the process of lifting the wafer 10A, the lifting assemblies 120 and the wafer 10A can have multiple contact surfaces (the contact surface can be the top surface of the lifting assembly 120). Further, when some of the lifting assemblies 120 cannot work, the remaining lifting assemblies 120 can still normally support the wafer 10A to realize the normal lifting of the wafer 10A, thereby improving the fault tolerance and stability during the lifting of the wafer 10A.

[0047] And by making the wafer lifting device 100 and the wafer 10A have multiple contact surfaces, the lifting assemblies 120 can provide a more uniform adsorption force, improve the distribution of the adsorption force on the wafer 10A, and improve the stability during the lifting of the wafer 10A.

[0048] It should be noted that, first, Figure 1 The illustrated 3 through holes are for illustrative purposes only, and the number of the through holes can be set according to the size of the wafer 10A and actual requirements. For example, there are 2 or more than 3 through holes on the bearing surface 111. Second, the through holes G can be evenly arranged on the bearing surface 111 or randomly arranged on the bearing surface 111, and the present disclosure does not limit this. Third, Figure 1 The number of the illustrated through holes G is the same as that of the lifting assemblies 120. In some other embodiments, the number of the through holes G can be larger than the number of the lifting assemblies 120 to expand the number of the lifting assemblies 120 according to the size of the wafer 10A.

[0049] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the lifting assembly may further include a lifting structure having a hollow structure, and a driver connected to the lifting structure for driving the lifting structure to move up and down.

[0050] Specifically, the driver can provide a driving force for the lifting structure, and then the lifting structure can move back and forth along the normal direction of the bearing part, so that the wafer can be received and lifted through the through hole to change the relative position between the wafer and the bearing surface.

[0051] Moreover, the lifting structure is a hollow structure, which enables the adsorption assembly to communicate with the lifting structure. Then, during the process of the lifting structure driving the wafer to move, the adsorption assembly can adsorb the gas inside the lifting structure, making the air pressure inside the lifting structure less than the air pressure on the side of the wafer away from the lifting structure. Under the action of the pressure difference, the wafer can be closely attached to the lifting structure and is not likely to slip. And when the wafer is placed on the bearing surface, the lifting structure can still play a role in adsorbing the wafer.

[0052] As an optional example, the lifting structure can be a tubular structure made of ceramic material or quartz material; the adsorption assembly can be realized by a vacuum pump; the driver can be realized by a power device such as a cylinder or a motor.

[0053] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in order to improve the stability of the lifting structure during movement, the driver and the lifting structure can be connected through a transmission structure. Among them, the transmission mechanism can be a reduction gear assembly. Through the reduction gear assembly, the driving force transmitted to the displacement mechanism can be reduced and the movement speed of the displacement mechanism can be decreased, thereby improving the control accuracy. In some other embodiments of the present disclosure, the transmission mechanism can also be a sprocket.

[0054] It should be noted that "the adsorption assembly communicates with the lifting structure" in the embodiments of the present disclosure means that "the adsorption assembly can suck the air inside the lifting structure, and the air paths of the adsorption assembly and the lifting structure are connected". The embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit the actual connection relationship between the adsorption assembly and the lifting structure. For example, the adsorption assembly can be directly connected to the lifting structure in a through manner; for another example, the adsorption assembly and the lifting structure can be connected through other structures.

[0055] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in order to further improve the stability of the wafer during lifting, the lifting assembly may further include: a support plate respectively connected to the lifting structure and the driver, and the lifting structure is disposed on the support plate and communicates with the support plate.

[0056] Specifically, by disposing the lifting structure on the support plate, during the process of driving the support plate by the driver, the part where the lifting structure contacts the support plate can be prevented from shaking, and the lifting structure can operate stably, thereby improving the stability of the wafer during lifting.

[0057] And by connecting the lifting structure to the support plate, the gas in the lifting structure can be evacuated by sucking the gas in the support plate. In this case, the adsorption component can be connected to the support plate to indirectly communicate with the lifting structure, so that the lifting structure does not need to be modified, and the sealing performance of the lifting structure can be improved to further enhance the stability during the lifting of the wafer.

[0058] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, during the process of driving the wafer by the lifting component, the lifting component can move as a whole, thereby driving the wafer to move together. In this case, the lifting component can be an integrally formed structure.

[0059] Alternatively, during the process of driving the wafer by the lifting component, a part of the lifting component is relatively fixed, and a part drives the wafer to move together. In this case, the lifting component can include: a fixing member connected to the driver; a telescopic member connected to the fixing member and moving along the extending direction of the fixing member.

[0060] As an optional example, in combination with Figure 1 , referring to Figure 2 a schematic structural diagram of a lifting component shown in Figure 2 , as shown in

[0061] The working principle of the lifting component 120 is as follows:

[0062] The driver 121 can provide a driving force to drive the support plate 122 to move along the direction indicated by arrow a or b. Then, the lifting structure 123 located on the support plate 122 can place the wafer 10A on the bearing surface 111 or remove the wafer 10A from the bearing surface 111 through the through hole G.

[0063] During the movement of the support plate 122, the adsorption component 124 can suck the gas in the support plate 122. And since the gas paths of the support plate 122 and the lifting structure 123 are connected, the gas in the lifting structure 123 can also be sucked while sucking the gas in the support plate 122. Thus, a pressure difference is generated at the contact between the lifting structure 123 and the wafer 10A, and the lifting structure 123 can adsorb the wafer 10A, thereby avoiding relative movement between the wafer 10A and the lifting structure 123 and improving the stability during the lifting of the wafer 10A.

[0064] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, considering that there may be relative movement between the wafer and the lifting structure due to poor sealing performance, which may cause the position of the wafer to shift or scratches to appear on the back of the wafer, resulting in a decrease in the yield of the subsequent formed devices.

[0065] In some alternative examples, referring further to Figure 1 , the wafer lifting device may further include: a seal 130 (such as an annular seal) disposed on the lifting assembly 120 and in contact with the wafer 10A during the process of lifting the wafer 10A.

[0066] In this embodiment, the seal 130 can be sleeved on the outer wall of the lifting assembly 120, so that the sealing performance at the contact between the wafer 10A and the lifting assembly 120 can be improved, enabling the lifting assembly 120 to adsorb the wafer 10A.

[0067] As an alternative implementation, the seal 130 includes an annular structure made of an elastic material; wherein, the elastic material may include rubber.

[0068] By making the annular seal 130 made of rubber, the friction force between the annular seal 130 and the wafer 10A can be increased, further avoiding or reducing the occurrence of the wafer 10A slipping.

[0069] In an alternative embodiment, an annular seal 130 can be disposed on each lifting assembly 120, that is, one lifting assembly 120 corresponds to one annular seal 130.

[0070] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, when placing the wafer on the bearing part, considering that if the lifting assembly is damaged, or the lifting assembly cannot adsorb the wafer normally due to other reasons. In this case, in order to reduce or avoid the movement of the wafer, the wafer lifting device may further include a limiting member disposed on the bearing part to limit the movement of the wafer along the surface of the bearing part.

[0071] Specifically, when placing the wafer on the bearing part, the wafer can be limited within the area surrounded by the limiting member, thereby reducing or avoiding the probability of the wafer falling off the bearing part.

[0072] In some alternative examples, when setting the limiting member on the bearing part, the shape of the side of the limiting member in contact with the wafer is adapted to the shape of the wafer.

[0073] For example, the shape of the side of the limiting member in contact with the wafer can be arc-shaped, so that the limiting member can better fit the wafer and provide a more uniform contact pressure, reducing the problem of local pressure concentration.

[0074] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, to meet the diverse requirements for wafer sizes, the limiting members can move along the surface of the carrying portion, thereby changing the space formed between the limiting members to restrict wafers of different sizes from moving along the surface of the carrying portion.

[0075] As an alternative example, the number of limiting members can be multiple, and the multiple limiting members can be concentrically arranged along the circumference of the carrying portion.

[0076] That is, the limiting members can form a carrying space adapted to the size of the wafer on the surface of the carrying surface by moving the limiting members according to the size of the wafer to be lifted and lowered, without replacing the carrying portion, improving the flexibility and universality of the wafer lifting device and saving the design cost and manufacturing cost.

[0077] In addition, since the number of times of replacing the carrying portion is reduced, the use efficiency of the wafer lifting device is improved, and random errors caused by frequent replacement of the carrying portion can be avoided, facilitating faster wafer lifting operations and improving production efficiency.

[0078] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, when a wafer is transferred to the wafer lifting device by a transfer device (such as a robotic arm), to ensure that the wafer can be accurately carried by the lifting assembly, the wafer lifting device may further include: a position sensor for detecting the relative position between the wafer and the lifting assembly; and a controller connected to the position sensor, which outputs corresponding control signals according to the relative position between the wafer and the lifting assembly detected by the position sensor.

[0079] Specifically, during the process of transferring the wafer to the wafer lifting device by the robotic arm, the position detector can detect the relative position between the wafer and the lifting assembly in real time and send the information related to the detected relative position to the controller. Then, the controller can output corresponding control signals according to the detected relative position between the wafer and the lifting assembly.

[0080] For example, when the position detector detects that there is a wafer on the lifting assembly, the controller outputs a normal operation signal; if the position detector detects that there is no wafer on the lifting assembly, the controller outputs a signal for generating an alarm to indicate that when the relative position between the wafer and the carrying portion is that the wafer is directly above the carrying portion and their centers overlap or are close to overlapping, the controller can control the lifting assembly to place the wafer on the carrying portion.

[0081] It should be noted that the wafer lifting device may actually further include other components, such as a fixed bracket. For the convenience of describing the technical solutions of the present disclosure and highlighting the innovative parts of the present disclosure, in the present disclosure, the components that can be realized by the prior art in the wafer lifting device are omitted.

[0082] It can be understood that the above examples are only for illustrative purposes. In actual applications, those skilled in the art can adaptively select and / or modify the wafer lifting device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure according to actual needs and application scenarios. For example, changing the number of some components in the wafer lifting device; or equivalently replacing some components in the wafer lifting device, etc. Based on this, more implementation schemes of the wafer lifting device can be derived, and the embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit these extended schemes.

[0083] The inventors further found that during the etching process of the wafer, when the wafer is transferred into the process chamber, if the cylinder control ability and debugging stability in the etching equipment are insufficient or there is no electrostatic chuck (ESC), the wafer is prone to slipping during the wafer lifting process, and there may even be problems of wafer fragmentation. Based on this, the present disclosure also provides an etching equipment corresponding to the wafer lifting device described in any of the above embodiments, which will be introduced below.

[0084] It should be noted that the content of the etching equipment described below can be correspondingly referred to the content of the wafer lifting device described above.

[0085] In a specific implementation, the etching equipment provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may include:

[0086] The wafer lifting device described in any of the foregoing embodiments, which is used to carry the wafer;

[0087] A cavity for accommodating the wafer lifting device.

[0088] Among them, the specific contents such as the structure, connection relationship, function, and working principle of the wafer lifting device can refer to the descriptions and drawings of the relevant parts above, and will not be repeated here.

[0089] By using the etching equipment with a wafer lifting device in the embodiments of the present disclosure, during the process of lifting the wafer, the adsorption component on the lifting component can adsorb the wafer, avoiding relative movement between the wafer and the lifting component, and thus improving the stability during the wafer lifting process.

[0090] Although the embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed as above, the utility model is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present utility model. Therefore, the protection scope of the present utility model should be subject to the scope defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A wafer lifting device, characterized in that, Comprising: A carrying part for carrying a wafer, the carrying part having a carrying surface with through holes formed thereon; A lifting assembly disposed through the through holes and configured to receive and lift the wafer; The lifting assembly includes an adsorption assembly for adsorbing the wafer when lifting the wafer.

2. The wafer lifting device according to claim 1, wherein The number of the through holes is plural, and the plural through holes are concentrically arranged along the circumferential direction of the carrying part; The number of the lifting assemblies is plural, and one lifting assembly is disposed through a corresponding one of the through holes.

3. The wafer lifting device according to claim 1, wherein The lifting assembly further includes: A lifting structure having a hollow structure; A driver connected to the lifting structure and configured to drive the lifting structure to move up and down; Wherein, the adsorption assembly is in communication with the lifting structure to adsorb the gas inside the lifting structure.

4. The wafer lifting device according to claim 3, characterized in that, The lifting structure includes: A fixing member connected to the driver; A telescopic member connected to the fixing member and configured to move along the extending direction of the fixing member.

5. The wafer lifting device according to claim 3, wherein, The lifting assembly further includes: A support plate respectively connected to the lifting structure and the driver; The lifting structure is disposed on the support plate and is in communication with the support plate.

6. The wafer lifting device according to claim 3, wherein The lifting structure includes a tubular structure made of ceramic material.

7. The wafer lifting device according to claim 1, wherein Further comprising: A seal disposed on the lifting assembly and configured to contact the wafer during the process of lifting the wafer.

8. The wafer lifting device according to claim 7, wherein, The seal includes an annular structure made of an elastic material.

9. The wafer lifting device according to claim 1, wherein Further comprising: A position sensor configured to detect the relative position between the wafer and the lifting assembly; A controller connected to the position sensor and configured to output a corresponding control signal according to the relative position between the wafer and the lifting assembly detected by the position sensor.

10. An etching device, characterized in that, Comprising: The wafer lifting device according to any one of claims 1 to 9; A cavity for accommodating the wafer lifting device.

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