Photomask cleaning jig

Abstract

The utility model relates to a photomask cleaning jig which is characterized by comprising a base, a placement table arranged on the base, a dust removal assembly, a suction assembly and a dust display assembly, wherein the placing table is positioned at one end of the base, the top of the placing table is provided with a placing space, and a plate box containing the photomask is horizontally placed in the placing space; the suction assembly comprises a moving guide rail extending from the other end of the base in the length direction of the base and a plate taking arm arranged on the moving guide rail and extending towards the containing table. The dust removal assembly is located in the middle of the base in the length direction of the base. And the plate taking arm can move along the moving guide rail from the other end of the base to extend into the placing space, suck the photolithography plate in the plate box and drive the photolithography plate to pass through the dust removal assembly in a reciprocating manner.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of semiconductor lithography, and particularly to a lithography plate cleaning jig. BACKGROUND

[0002] The lithography plate is an important component in the exposure process. During the use of the lithography plate, small particles may fall on the lithography plate, resulting in abnormal exposure patterns. Therefore, it is usually necessary to regularly clean the lithography plate by nitrogen blowing. However, the current lithography plate is taken and placed by clamping, which causes the following problems: causing scratches on the edge of the lithography plate; accidentally touching the surface of the lithography plate and causing particles to fall; and needing to operate with both hands when high-pressure nitrogen blowing is performed, which has a certain risk of collision and is time-consuming and inconvenient for personnel to operate. CONTENT OF THE UTILITY MODEL

[0003] Therefore, the present application proposes a novel lithography plate cleaning jig to take and place the lithography plate by lifting the lithography plate, and only one hand of an operator is needed to operate.

[0004] The cleaning jig comprises a base, a placing table arranged on the base, a dust removal assembly, and a suction assembly. The placing table is located at one end of the base and has a placing space at the top. A plate box containing the lithography plate is placed in the placing space in a horizontal posture. The suction assembly comprises a moving guide rail extending along the length direction of the base from the other end of the base, and a plate taking arm arranged on the moving guide rail and extending towards the placing table. The dust removal assembly is located in the middle of the base in the length direction of the base. The plate taking arm can move into the placing space from the other end of the base along the moving guide rail, suck the lithography plate in the plate box, and drive the lithography plate to reciprocate through the dust removal assembly.

[0005] Optionally, the placing table comprises a placing rack fixed to the upper surface of one end of the base. The top end of the placing rack defines the placing space.

[0006] One side of the placing rack is further provided with a push rod and a fixed latch. The push rod extends along the length direction of the base. When the plate box is placed in the placing space, the tail end of the push rod can move along the length direction of the base and push the plate box door of the plate box open towards the suction assembly. The fixed latch is arranged on one side of the placing rack along the width direction of the base.

[0007] The middle part of the push rod has a groove matched with the end part of the fixed latch.

[0008] Optionally, the suction assembly further comprises a moving table arranged on the moving guide rail and movable along the moving guide rail, one end of the plate taking arm is arranged on the side of the moving table facing the placing table, and the other end of the plate taking arm extends towards the placing table; and

[0009] The other end of the plate taking arm has two support arms arranged at intervals in the width direction of the base, and the two support arms are respectively matched with the lower surface edge portions of the photolithography plate.

[0010] Optionally, the upper surfaces of the two support arms are respectively provided with vacuum suction holes, and each vacuum suction hole is in communication with an external air pump.

[0011] Optionally, the moving table is further provided with a lifting mechanism, one end of the plate taking arm extends into the moving table and is connected with the output end of the lifting mechanism; and

[0012] The moving table is further provided with a lifting handle in transmission connection with the lifting mechanism to control the action of the lifting mechanism.

[0013] Optionally, in the length direction of the base, one end of the moving guide rail is flush with the other end of the base, and the other end of the moving guide rail extends to the position of the dust removal assembly, and the two end portions of the moving guide rail are both provided with limiting baffle plates.

[0014] Optionally, the dust removal assembly comprises an upper air knife and a lower air knife arranged at intervals in the height direction, a dust removal channel is defined between the upper air knife and the lower air knife, and the plate taking arm can drive the photolithography plate to reciprocate through the dust removal channel.

[0015] Optionally, the upper air knife and the lower air knife can adjust the included angle with the vertical direction and the air volume.

[0016] Optionally, the upper air knife and the lower air knife are both nitrogen air knives.

[0017] Optionally, further comprising a dust exposure assembly, the dust exposure assembly is arranged on the side of the dust removal assembly farther away from the placing table in the length direction of the base.

[0018] Optionally, the dust exposure assembly comprises a dust exposure lamp arranged at the side edge of the base and extending in the length direction of the base.

[0019] Optionally, the dust exposure lamp is a green light dust exposure lamp.

[0020] By using the jig, more efficient and convenient photoetching plate surface cleaning can be achieved, secondary contamination and damage during photoetching plate cleaning can be avoided, photoetching plate cleaning frequency can be reduced, and the service life of the photoetching plate can be prolonged. At the same time, single-handed operation is supported, the risk of photoetching plate falling caused by personnel errors is reduced, and it is safer and more convenient. In addition, the dust removal assembly can remove static electricity of the photoetching plate to reduce the situation of particle adsorption, and the upper surface or the lower surface of the photoetching plate can be selectively cleaned, and the surface particles of the photoetching plate can be more obviously observed through the dust removal assembly. In addition, the angle and air volume of the air knife can be adjusted, and the photoetching plate can be swept at any position and with any air volume.

[0021] The photoetching plate is lifted from the lower edge area of the photoetching plate by the plate taking arm, and is vacuumed, so that edge damage caused by clamping of the photoetching plate is reduced, and the risk of particles falling on the surface of the photoetching plate caused by passing from above the photoetching plate is reduced. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a photoetching plate cleaning jig according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0023] Figure 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a photoetching plate cleaning jig provided with a plate box according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0024] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a placing rack provided with a push rod and a fixing bolt according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0025] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a lifting mechanism and a lifting handle according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Next, the structure of the photoetching plate cleaning jig proposed in the present application will be described in detail in combination with Figures 1-3

[0027] Figure 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a photoetching plate cleaning jig, which mainly includes a base 1, a placing table 2 provided on the base, a suction assembly 3, and a dust removal assembly 4. In Figure 1 the structure shown in the figure, each component is arranged along the length direction of the cleaning jig.

[0028] Next, each component of the cleaning jig will be described in detail.

[0029] The base 1 carries each component for cleaning the photoetching plate.

[0030] The placing table 2 is located at one end of the base, for example Figure 1 ​The end L of the base 1 shown in the middle. The placement table 2 is composed of two placement racks 21a, 21b, which define a placement space on the top of the placement table 2, and are each provided with a plate box clamping groove 22 to horizontally place a plate box containing a photolithography plate in the placement space.

[0031] Figure 2 A schematic view of the cleaning jig provided with the plate box 5, which is stably placed in the placement space through the plate box clamping groove 22. In this example, the plate box 5 can include a plurality of plate box supports 51 for supporting the photolithography plate, a top cover (not shown), a plate box opening 52 facing the suction assembly, and a plate box door (not shown) provided on the plate box opening 52. Among them, the plate box supports 51 are used to suspend the photolithography plate in the plate box, leaving a space at the lower part for the suction assembly 3 to extend into. Preferably, the top cover is transparent and detachably mounted on the upper part of the plate box to facilitate the protection, observation and taking and placing of the photolithography plate in the plate box. The plate box opening 52 faces the suction assembly 3 to facilitate the taking and placing of the photolithography plate, and the airtightness of the plate box is ensured by providing the plate box door.

[0032] After placing the plate box containing the photolithography plate in the placement space, the photolithography plate can be cleaned and other operations. In addition, a push rod and a fixed pin can be provided on one or more of the placement racks 21a, 21b. Figure 3 A schematic view of the placement rack 300 provided with the push rod 301 and the fixed pin 302. The push rod 301 extends along the length direction of the base, and its head end 301a protrudes from the placement rack 300 to facilitate the operator to push and press, and its tail end 301b is provided with an upward protrusion 303. When the plate box 5 is placed in the placement space, by pressing the head end 301a of the push rod 301, the tail end 301b of the push rod 301 can be moved along the length direction of the base, so that the upward protrusion 303 of the tail end 301b pushes open the plate box door. It can be understood that in order to enable the upward protrusion 303 to contact and push the plate box door, the width of the plate box door needs to be designed to be greater than the width of the plate box opening 52, so that the upward protrusion 303 can contact the part of the plate box door outside the plate box opening 52. In addition, in order to facilitate the pushing open, the plate box door is usually provided with a shaft fixed to the upper side or the lower side of the plate box opening, so that the upward protrusion 303 can push the plate box door to rotate along the connecting shaft to open and close.

[0033] In order to fix the push rod in a certain position to fix the opening and closing state of the plate box door, a fixed bolt 302 is further arranged. The fixed bolt 302 is arranged in the placement rack 300 along the width direction of the base, that is, the extension direction of the fixed bolt 302 is perpendicular to the extension direction of the push rod 301. One end of the fixed bolt 302 extends to the outside of the placement rack 300 to form a button 304, and the other end extends to the inside of the placement rack and is provided with a through hole 305 for the push rod 301 to insert. A groove 306 is arranged at the middle position of the push rod 301, which is matched with the end of the fixed bolt 302 extending to the inside of the placement rack 300. When the head end 301a of the push rod 301 is pressed to push the push rod 301 inward, the push rod 301 slides in the through hole 305 of the fixed bolt 302 until the fixed bolt 302 pops out to the outside and is embedded and fixed in the groove 306 to lock the position of the push rod 301, that is, to keep the plate box door in the open state. When it is needed to close the plate box door, the button 304 of the fixed bolt 302 is pressed to pop the fixed bolt 302 out of the groove 306, and the push rod 301 pops out to the outside under the action of the built-in spring to close the plate box door.

[0034] With reference to the foregoing Figure 1 and Figure 2 , the suction assembly 3 comprises a moving guide rail 31 and a plate taking arm 32. The moving guide rail 31 extends along the length direction of the base from the other end R of the base 1 opposite to the end L where the placement table 2 is located. The plate taking arm 32 can displace along the moving guide rail 31 to extend into the plate box to take and place the photolithography plate, and can drive the photolithography plate to reciprocate through the dust removal assembly 4 to remove dust on the upper surface and / or the lower surface of the photolithography plate.

[0035] In order to facilitate one-handed operation of the plate taking arm 32, the suction assembly 3 further comprises a moving table 33 arranged on the moving guide rail and displaceable along the moving guide rail. One end of the moving guide rail 31 is flush with the other end R of the base, and the other end extends to the position where the dust removal assembly 4 is located. In order to limit the displacement of the moving table 33 and the plate taking arm 32, prevent them from disengaging from the moving guide rail 31, and accurately position the plate taking arm 32 in the plate box 5, limit stop plates can be further arranged at the two end portions of the moving guide rail 31, including a front limit stop plate 34 and a rear limit stop plate 35.

[0036] One end of the plate taking arm 32 is connected to the side of the moving table facing the placement table 2, and the other end extends toward the placement table 2 and forms two support arms 32a, 32b which can be matched with the edge portion of the lower surface of the photolithography plate to contact the edge of the photolithography plate and then lift the photolithography plate for displacement. In order to enhance the stability when lifting the photolithography plate, a plurality of vacuum suction holes 36 are further arranged on the upper surfaces of the two support arms, and each vacuum suction hole 36 is connected to an external air pump to control the opening and closing of the vacuum suction function of the vacuum suction hole 36.

[0037] Figure 4 Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the lifting mechanism 37 and the lifting handle 38, wherein Figure 4 Fig. 3(a) is a side view of the lifting mechanism 37 and the lifting handle 38, Figure 4 Fig. 3(b) is a perspective view of the lifting mechanism 37 and the lifting handle 38. In order to avoid abrasion when the plate taking arm 32 extends into the plate box to take the photolithography plate, the lifting mechanism 37 is arranged in the moving table to adjust the height of the plate taking arm, and the lifting handle 38 connected with the lifting mechanism is arranged to control the action of the lifting mechanism 37. The lifting handle 38 includes an upper lifting handle 38a connected with the lifting mechanism 37 and a lower lifting handle 38b fixed for holding. As shown in Fig. 3(a), the end of the plate taking arm 32 connected with the placing table extends into the placing table and is connected with the force output end of the lifting mechanism 37. When the plate taking arm 32 is needed to take out the photolithography plate, only one hand is needed to hold the lifting handle 38 and press the upper lifting handle 38a, so as to drive the lifting mechanism 37 to displace upward, and then drive the plate taking arm 32 to be lifted. When the photolithography plate is needed to be put into the plate box, the upper lifting handle 38a is released, so that the height of the plate taking arm 32 is lowered. Figure 4

[0038] The dust removing assembly 4 is located in the middle of the base 1 in the length direction of the base, and includes an upper air knife 401 and a lower air knife 402 arranged at intervals in the height direction. When the plate taking arm drives the photolithography plate to reciprocate through the dust removing channel between the upper air knife and the lower air knife, the upper surface and / or the lower surface of the photolithography plate are blown and cleaned by ion wind to remove static electricity. In addition, the included angle of the upper air knife and the lower air knife relative to the vertical direction can be adjusted, so that the angle of the wind blowing to the surface of the photolithography plate can be adjusted according to the cleaning requirement. In addition, the size of the air output of the upper air knife and the lower air knife can be adaptively adjusted according to the dirt condition of the surface of the photolithography plate, such as the type of dirt particles, the degree of dirt, etc. The upper air knife and the lower air knife are preferably nitrogen air knives.

[0039] In addition, the cleaning jig can also include a dust showing assembly 6 to facilitate the observation of the dirt condition of the surface of the photolithography plate. The dust showing assembly 6 is arranged on the side of the base 1 farther away from the placing table 2 than the dust removing assembly 4. The dust showing assembly 6 can be a dust showing lamp, such as a green light dust showing lamp, extending along the length direction of the base 1 and arranged at the side edge of the base, or any device that can be used to observe the dirt condition of the surface of the photolithography plate.

[0040] Next, the operation of each component of the cleaning jig is described in the whole.

[0041] ​Firstly, the plate box 5 of the photoetching plate is inserted into the plate box slot 23 in parallel, and the push rod 301 is pushed inward until the fixed latch 302 is popped into the groove 306, and the plate box cover door is opened.

[0042] Then, the lifting handle 38 is pushed along the moving guide rail 31 to the front limiting baffle 34, the plate taking arm 32 is pushed into the plate box 5, the vacuum switch of the plate taking arm 32 is opened, the vacuum suction hole 36 is in a vacuum suction state, the upper lifting handle 38a is pressed to lift the plate taking arm 32 to hold and suck the photoetching plate, the upper lifting handle 38a is kept pressed and the lifting handle 38 is pulled to make the photoetching plate pass through the dust removal assembly 4 composed of the nitrogen air knife at a constant speed to perform nitrogen blowing and dust removal and ion wind static electricity removal.

[0043] Next, the lifting handle 38 is pulled to place the photoetching plate in the dust showing assembly composed of the green light dust showing lamp, and the particle and dirt on the surface of the photoetching plate are observed under the green light; if there are still particles on the surface of the photoetching plate, the process of passing through the dust removal assembly 4 at a constant speed is repeated, and the blowing angle and the air volume of the upper air knife 401 and the lower air knife 402 are adjusted to remove the surface particles.

[0044] Finally, when the blowing and cleaning are completed, the vacuum switch of the plate taking arm 32 is closed, the photoetching plate is not sucked by the vacuum, the upper lifting handle 38a is pressed to lift the plate taking arm 32, the lifting handle 38 is slowly pushed forward along the moving guide rail 31 to the front limiting baffle 34, the upper lifting handle 38a is released to make the photoetching plate fall into the plate box 5, the lifting handle 38 is pulled horizontally to the rear limiting baffle 35, the fixed latch 302 is pressed, and the push rod 301 will automatically rebound under the action of the spring to close the plate box door of the plate box 5, the plate box 5 is horizontally moved out, and the cleaning is completed.

[0045] The above describes the embodiments of the present application by specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present application from the content disclosed in the present application. Although the description of the present application is introduced in combination with the preferred embodiments, this does not mean that the features of the present application are limited to the embodiments. In addition, in order to avoid confusion or obscure the key points of the present application, some specific details will be omitted in the description. It should be noted that the embodiments in the present application and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

[0046] In addition, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations; however, the order of description is not to be construed as implying that these operations are necessarily dependent on the order. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order presented.

[0047] Unless otherwise defined, the terms "comprising", "having", and "including" are synonymous. The phrase "A / B" means "A or B". The phrase "A and / or B" means "(A and B) or (A or B)".

[0048] In the drawings, some structural or methodological features are shown in particular arrangements and / or orders. However, it should be understood that such particular arrangements and / or orders can not be required. In some embodiments, these features can be arranged in a different manner and / or order than shown in the illustrative drawings. Additionally, inclusion of a structural or methodological feature in a particular figure is not meant to imply that such feature is required in all embodiments, and in some embodiments, these features can not be included or can be combined with other features.

[0049] It should be understood that although the terms "first," "second," and the like can be used herein to describe various elements or data, these elements or data should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element or data from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element without departing from the scope of the example embodiments.

[0050] It should be noted that in this specification, similar reference numbers and letters in the drawings represent similar items, and thus, once an item is defined in one drawing, it need not be further defined and explained in subsequent drawings.

[0051] While the application has been illustrated and described in connection with certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the application.

Claims

1. A lithographic reticle cleaning tool, characterized by, It includes a base, a placement platform disposed on the base, a dust removal component, and a suction component; in The placement platform is located at one end of the base, and has a placement space at the top. The plate box containing the photomask is placed horizontally in the placement space. The suction assembly includes a movable guide rail extending from the other end of the base along the length of the base, and a plate-grabbing arm disposed on the movable guide rail and extending toward the placement table. The dust removal component is located at the middle of the base along its length; and The plate-retrieving arm can move along the moving guide rail from the other end of the base, extend into the placement space, pick up the photomask from the plate box, and drive the photomask to reciprocate through the dust removal component.

2. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 1 wherein, The placement platform includes a placement frame fixed to the upper surface of one end of the base, the top of the placement frame defining the placement space; and A push rod and a fixing pin are also provided on one side of the placement rack. The push rod extends along the length of the base, and when the plate box is placed in the placement space, the tail end of the push rod can move along the length of the base and push to open the plate box door. The fixing pin extends along the width of the base and is provided on one side of the placement rack. The push rod has a groove in the middle that matches the end of the fixing pin.

3. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 1 wherein, The suction assembly also includes a movable platform disposed on the movable guide rail and movable along the movable guide rail, with one end of the plate-picking arm disposed on the side of the movable platform facing the placement platform and the other end extending towards the placement platform; and The other end of the plate-retrieving arm has two support arms spaced apart from each other across the width of the base, and the two support arms are respectively adapted to the lower surface edge portion of the photomask.

4. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 3 wherein, The upper surfaces of the two support arms are respectively provided with vacuum adsorption holes, and each vacuum adsorption hole is connected to an external air pump.

5. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 4 wherein, The mobile platform is also equipped with a lifting mechanism, and one end of the plate-picking arm extends into the mobile platform and connects to the output end of the lifting mechanism; and The mobile platform is also equipped with a lifting handle that is connected to the lifting mechanism in a transmission manner to control the movement of the lifting mechanism.

6. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 5 wherein, Along the length of the base, one end of the movable guide rail is flush with the other end of the base, and the other end extends to the location of the dust removal component. Limiting baffles are provided at both ends of the movable guide rail.

7. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 1 wherein, The dust removal assembly includes an upper air knife and a lower air knife spaced apart in the height direction, and a dust removal channel is defined between the upper air knife and the lower air knife. The plate-removing arm can drive the photomask to reciprocate through the dust removal channel.

8. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 7 wherein, The upper and lower air blades can be adjusted to change their angle with the vertical direction and their airflow.

9. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 8 wherein, Both the upper and lower air knives are nitrogen deionized air knives.

10. The photolithography reticle cleaning tool of claim 1, wherein, It also includes a dust detection component, which is disposed on the side of the base further away from the placement platform than the dust removal component in the longitudinal direction of the base.

11. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 10 wherein, The dust detection assembly includes a dust detection lamp that extends along the length of the base and is disposed on one side edge of the base.

12. The lithographic plate cleaning tool of claim 11 wherein, The dust-detecting lamp is a green dust-detecting lamp.

Images