Liquid supply system and semiconductor wet process equipment

Abstract

The utility model provides a liquid supply system which is used for supplying treatment liquid to semiconductor wet process equipment and comprises a storage tank body, a plurality of liquid feeding liquid level sensors are arranged in the storage tank body and are arranged at intervals in the length direction of the inner wall of the storage tank body, and the liquid feeding liquid level sensors are arranged in the storage tank body. One liquid feeding liquid level sensor corresponds to one preset liquid level height; the liquid inlet pipeline is connected with the storage tank body, and the liquid inlet pipeline is used for conveying the treatment liquid in the raw material tank into the storage tank body; the liquid feeding pipeline is connected with the storage tank body, and the liquid feeding pipeline is used for extracting the treatment liquid with the preset volume from the storage tank body and conveying the treatment liquid into the treatment unit; the control module is used for controlling the liquid inlet pipeline and the liquid feeding pipeline to act, and the volume of the treatment liquid between the horizontal planes where every two adjacent liquid feeding liquid level sensors are located is equal to the preset volume. According to the liquid supply system, the volume of the treating fluid conveyed by the liquid conveying pipeline is detected through the liquid level sensor, so that accurate conveying of the treating fluid is achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of semiconductor process equipment technology, and in particular to a liquid supply system and semiconductor wet process equipment. Background Technology

[0002] Semiconductor wet etching equipment, belonging to the wet etching process, mainly uses etching tanks, spray-type pre-rinsing tanks, and stepped high and low rinsing water tanks in combination to form a set of equipment (systems) for wet etching, resist removal, and cleaning in the semiconductor wafer production process. The liquid supply system of semiconductor equipment is a key component in the semiconductor manufacturing process, and its main function is to provide precise, stable, and pure liquid chemicals for semiconductor production.

[0003] For processing solutions that can be directly supplied to the processing unit without the need for proportioning, metering pumps are generally used to draw the processing solution directly from the raw material tank in order to simplify the equipment structure. However, when the liquid level of the processing solution in the raw material tank is too low, the measurement accuracy of the metering pump will be greatly reduced, thereby affecting the accuracy of the volume of processing solution delivered in the processing unit, and ultimately affecting the quality of the semiconductor. Utility Model Content

[0004] In view of the above, this application provides a solution to at least one problem existing in the background art: 1. A liquid supply system for supplying processing liquid to semiconductor wet process equipment, characterized in that it comprises:

[0005] The storage tank is equipped with a plurality of liquid delivery level sensors. The plurality of liquid delivery level sensors are arranged at intervals along the length of the inner wall of the storage tank, and each liquid delivery level sensor corresponds to a preset liquid level height.

[0006] The liquid inlet pipeline is connected to the storage tank and is used to transport the processing liquid in the raw material tank into the storage tank.

[0007] A liquid delivery pipeline is connected to the storage tank and is used to extract a preset volume of treatment liquid from the storage tank and deliver it into the treatment unit.

[0008] The control module is used to control the operation of the liquid inlet pipeline and the liquid delivery pipeline;

[0009] The volume of the liquid being processed between two adjacent liquid level sensors is equal to the preset volume.

[0010] Optionally, the liquid inlet pipeline is provided with several branches, and each branch is provided with a first flow meter and a control valve at its end.

[0011] Optionally, a low liquid level sensor and a high liquid level sensor are installed inside the storage tank.

[0012] Optionally, the liquid supply system further includes an alarm unit, which issues an alarm when the liquid level detected by the low liquid level sensor is lower than a preset minimum liquid level value and / or the liquid level detected by the high liquid level sensor is higher than a preset maximum liquid level value.

[0013] Optionally, the storage tank is equipped with a height adjustment mechanism to adjust the height of the liquid delivery level sensor, thereby changing the volume of the processed liquid between the horizontal planes of two adjacent liquid delivery level sensors.

[0014] Optionally, the height adjustment mechanism is a linear module.

[0015] Optionally, the storage tank is equipped with a heating module for maintaining the temperature of the processing liquid.

[0016] Optionally, the storage tank is provided with a drain port at the bottom, which is connected to a drain pipe. The drain pipe is equipped with a drain valve for draining the remaining treatment liquid in the tank or for draining during cleaning.

[0017] Optionally, a second flow meter is installed in the liquid delivery pipeline.

[0018] This application also provides a semiconductor wet process apparatus, including a processing unit for depositing a metal layer on a wafer surface, and a liquid supply system for delivering a processing liquid to the processing unit.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, this application has the following beneficial effects:

[0020] This application achieves precise control of the extracted liquid flow rate by installing multiple liquid level sensors inside the storage tank, using these sensors instead of flow meters to control the volume of the extracted liquid. Furthermore, by controlling the distance between two adjacent liquid level sensors, the volume of the extracted liquid between them is changed, and this portion of the liquid is extracted by a pressure pump.

[0021] Additional aspects and advantages of this application will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of this application. Attached Figure Description

[0022] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of this application and form part of this application, illustrate exemplary embodiments and are used to explain this application, but do not constitute an undue limitation of this application. In the drawings:

[0023] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of a liquid supply system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0024] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the storage tank according to an embodiment of this application;

[0025] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a semiconductor wet process equipment provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0026] Figure label:

[0027] 1. Storage tank; 101. Liquid level sensor; 102. Low level sensor; 103. High level sensor; 104. Height adjustment mechanism; 105. Heating module; 106. Drain port; 107. Drain valve; 2. Inlet pipeline; 201. Branch line; 202. First flow meter; 203. Control valve; 3. Liquid delivery pipeline; 301. Second flow meter; 4. Processing unit; 5. Raw material tank. Detailed Implementation

[0028] Exemplary embodiments of the present application will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. While exemplary embodiments of the present application are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present application may be implemented in various forms and should not be limited to the specific embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided to enable a more thorough understanding of the present application and to fully convey the scope of the disclosure of the present application to those skilled in the art.

[0029] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of this application. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this application can be practiced without one or more of these details. In other instances, to avoid confusion with this application, some technical features well-known in the art have not been described; that is, not all features of actual embodiments are described herein, nor are well-known functions and structures described in detail.

[0030] In the accompanying drawings, for clarity, the dimensions of layers, areas, and elements, as well as their relative dimensions, may be exaggerated. The same reference numerals denote the same elements throughout.

[0031] It should be understood that when an element or layer is referred to as "on," "adjacent to," "connected to," or "coupled to" other elements or layers, it may be directly on, adjacent to, connected to, or coupled to other elements or layers, or there may be intervening elements or layers. Conversely, when an element is referred to as "directly on," "directly adjacent to," "directly connected to," or "directly coupled to" other elements or layers, there are no intervening elements or layers. It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used to describe various elements, components, areas, layers, and / or portions, these elements, components, areas, layers, and / or portions should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, area, layer, or portion from another element, component, area, layer, or portion. Therefore, without departing from the teachings of this application, the first element, component, area, layer, or portion discussed below may be referred to as a second element, component, area, layer, or portion. And the discussion of a second element, component, area, layer, or portion does not imply that the first element, component, area, layer, or portion necessarily exists in this application.

[0032] Spatial relation terms such as “below,” “under,” “below,” “below,” “above,” “above,” etc., are used herein for convenience of description to describe the relationship between one element or feature shown in the figure and other elements or features. It should be understood that, in addition to the orientation shown in the figure, spatial relation terms are intended to also include different orientations of the device in use and operation. For example, if the device in the figure is flipped, then the element or feature described as “below” or “below” other elements or features will be oriented “above” other elements or features. Therefore, the exemplary terms “below” and “under” can include both upper and lower orientations. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or otherwise) and the spatial descriptive terms used herein will be interpreted accordingly.

[0033] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of this application. When used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms “comprising” and / or “including,” when used in this specification, identify the presence of the stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups. When used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of the associated listed items.

[0034] To fully understand this application, detailed steps and structures will be presented in the following description to illustrate the technical solution of this application. Preferred embodiments of this application are described in detail below; however, in addition to these detailed descriptions, this application may have other implementation methods.

[0035] like Figure 1 As shown, this application embodiment provides a liquid supply system for supplying processing liquid to semiconductor wet process equipment, comprising:

[0036] Storage tank 1, the storage tank is provided with a plurality of liquid delivery level sensors 101, the plurality of liquid delivery level sensors are arranged at intervals along the length of the inner wall of the storage tank, and one liquid delivery level sensor corresponds to a preset liquid level height;

[0037] Liquid inlet pipe 2, which is connected to the storage tank, is used to transport the processing liquid in the raw material tank 5 into the storage tank;

[0038] Liquid delivery pipeline 3 is connected to the storage tank and is used to extract a preset volume of treatment liquid from the storage tank and deliver it into the treatment unit.

[0039] The control module is used to control the operation of the liquid inlet pipeline and the liquid delivery pipeline;

[0040] The volume of the liquid being processed between two adjacent liquid level sensors is equal to the preset volume.

[0041] Understandably, due to the characteristics of the raw material tank, a liquid level sensor cannot be installed inside the tank. Therefore, when the liquid level in the raw material tank drops to a certain height, air will be mixed into the processing liquid drawn from the inlet pipe, thus affecting the accuracy of the flow meter.

[0042] In this embodiment, the storage tank is used for temporary storage of the processing liquid. The processing liquid in the raw material tank is transferred to the storage tank through the inlet pipeline. The processing liquid in the storage tank is then drawn from the storage tank through the delivery pipeline and transported to the processing unit. By installing a delivery level sensor, the storage tank is controlled to draw a fixed amount of processing liquid from the processing unit, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the volume of processing liquid delivered to the processing unit. Furthermore, when the processing liquid in the processing unit is depleted and needs to be replenished from the storage tank, multiple delivery level sensors are installed, and the distance between the sensors is adjusted according to the replenishment needs of the processing unit to control the replenishment flow rate.

[0043] like Figure 2As shown, in an optional embodiment, the liquid inlet pipeline is provided with a plurality of branches 201, and each branch is provided with a first flow meter 202 and a control valve 203 at its end.

[0044] In this embodiment, the flow rate change of the branch is monitored by a first flow meter, thereby identifying and detecting whether the processing liquid in the raw material tank has been used up. The control valve is used to control the on / off state of the branch.

[0045] In an optional embodiment, a low liquid level sensor 102 and a high liquid level sensor 103 are provided inside the storage tank.

[0046] By installing low-level and high-level sensors at the lowest and highest safe liquid levels that the storage tank can hold, respectively, the liquid level in the storage tank can be monitored to prevent the liquid level from being too high or too low.

[0047] In the above embodiments, the liquid supply system further includes an alarm unit, which issues an alarm when the liquid level detected by the low liquid level sensor is lower than a preset minimum liquid level value and / or the liquid level detected by the high liquid level sensor is higher than a preset maximum liquid level value.

[0048] By designing an alarm unit, an alarm will be triggered when the liquid level in the storage tank is too high or too low, thereby preventing situations where the liquid level in the storage tank is too high or too low.

[0049] In an optional embodiment, the storage tank is provided with a height adjustment mechanism 104, which adjusts the height of the liquid delivery level sensor to change the volume of the processed liquid between the horizontal planes of two adjacent liquid delivery level sensors.

[0050] In this embodiment, the volume of liquid drawn by the liquid delivery pipeline is the volume of liquid between two adjacent liquid delivery level sensors. That is, when liquid is drawn, the upper surface of the liquid level is at the upper liquid delivery level sensor. When the liquid level reaches the lower liquid delivery level sensor, the drawing stops. Therefore, changing the distance between two adjacent liquid delivery level sensors can change the volume of liquid between the liquid delivery level sensors, thereby changing the amount of liquid drawn by the liquid delivery pipeline.

[0051] In this embodiment, the height adjustment mechanism is a cylinder, which drives the liquid level sensor to move up and down.

[0052] In another alternative embodiment, the height adjustment mechanism is a linear module. The linear module drives the liquid level sensor to move up and down.

[0053] In an optional embodiment, the storage tank is provided with a heating module 105 for maintaining the temperature of the processing liquid.

[0054] The temperature of the processing liquid inside the storage tank is controlled by a heating module, thereby ensuring that the temperature of the processing liquid inside the storage tank is within a suitable temperature range.

[0055] In an optional embodiment, the bottom of the storage tank is provided with a drain port 106, which is connected to a drain pipe. A drain valve 107 is provided on the drain pipe for draining the remaining processing liquid in the tank or for draining during cleaning.

[0056] In an optional embodiment, a second flow meter 301 is provided in the liquid delivery pipeline.

[0057] The second flow meter is used to measure the liquid in the delivery pipeline. The second flow meter can perform secondary measurement of the liquid in the delivery pipeline, thereby improving the reliability of the measurement.

[0058] like Figure 3 As shown in the embodiments of this application, a semiconductor wet process apparatus is also provided, including a processing unit 4 for depositing a metal layer on the surface of a wafer, and a liquid supply system for delivering a processing liquid to the processing unit.

[0059] In this embodiment, the liquid supply system is used to deliver a processing liquid to the processing unit, and the processing liquid is an electroplating solution.

[0060] It should be understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and are not intended to encompass all possible implementations included in the claims. Various modifications and changes can be made to the above embodiments without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Similarly, the various technical features of the above embodiments can be arbitrarily combined to form other embodiments of this application that may not be explicitly described. Therefore, the above embodiments only illustrate several implementations of this application and do not limit the scope of protection of this patent application.

Claims

1. A liquid supply system for supplying processing liquid to semiconductor wet process equipment, characterized in that, include: The storage tank is equipped with a plurality of liquid delivery level sensors. The plurality of liquid delivery level sensors are arranged at intervals along the length of the inner wall of the storage tank, and each liquid delivery level sensor corresponds to a preset liquid level height. The liquid inlet pipeline is connected to the storage tank and is used to transport the processing liquid in the raw material tank into the storage tank. A liquid delivery pipeline is connected to the storage tank and is used to extract a preset volume of treatment liquid from the storage tank and deliver it into the treatment unit. The control module is used to control the operation of the liquid inlet pipeline and the liquid delivery pipeline; Wherein, the volume of the liquid being processed between two adjacent liquid level sensors is equal to the preset volume; The inlet pipeline is provided with several branches, and each branch is provided with a first flow meter and a control valve at its end; The storage tank is equipped with a low liquid level sensor and a high liquid level sensor. The liquid supply system also includes an alarm unit, which issues an alarm when the liquid level detected by the low liquid level sensor is lower than the preset minimum liquid level value and / or the liquid level detected by the high liquid level sensor is higher than the preset maximum liquid level value. The storage tank is equipped with a height adjustment mechanism, which adjusts the height of the liquid level sensor to change the volume of the processed liquid between the horizontal planes of two adjacent liquid level sensors.

2. The liquid supply system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The height adjustment mechanism is a linear module.

3. The liquid supply system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The storage tank is equipped with a heating module for maintaining the temperature of the processing liquid.

4. The liquid supply system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The storage tank is equipped with a drain port at the bottom, which is connected to a drain pipe. The drain pipe is equipped with a drain valve for draining the remaining treatment liquid in the tank or for draining during cleaning.

5. The liquid supply system according to claim 1, characterized in that, A second flow meter is installed in the liquid delivery pipeline.

6. A semiconductor wet process equipment, characterized in that, The invention includes a processing unit for depositing a metal layer on a wafer surface, and a liquid supply system according to any one of claims 1 to 5 for supplying processing liquid to the processing unit.

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