A wafer cleaning device

Abstract

This utility model discloses a wafer cleaning device, relating to the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology. The wafer cleaning device includes: a rotating assembly disposed in a housing for horizontally clamping and driving the wafer to rotate; a post-processing assembly disposed above the rotating assembly for spraying fluid toward the wafer to clean it; the rotating assembly includes a turntable on which a first clamping assembly and a second clamping assembly are disposed, the two alternately clamping or releasing the wafer, such that when one set of clamping assemblies clamps the wafer, the wafer clamping area corresponding to the other set of clamping assemblies is exposed for cleaning; the clamping assembly includes: a swing disk concentrically disposed above the turntable; a driving member disposed below the swing disk to drive the swing disk to rotate in a non-contact manner; and multiple jaws disposed along the circumference of the turntable and located outside the swing disk; the rotating swing disk drives a guide to move outwards to push the jaw holder to rotate, thereby changing the position of the jaws.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology, and in particular to a wafer cleaning apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] The integrated circuit industry is the core of the information technology industry, playing a crucial role in promoting the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. Chips are the carriers of integrated circuits, and chip manufacturing involves processes such as integrated circuit design, wafer manufacturing, wafer processing, electrical performance testing, dicing, packaging, and testing.

[0003] In the wafer manufacturing process, multiple processes such as thin film deposition, etching, and polishing are required. During these processes, the wafer surface comes into contact with a large number of particulate contaminants, metal ions, and organic residues. In order to maintain the cleanliness of the wafer surface and eliminate particulate matter left on the wafer surface during the process, the wafer must be cleaned after each process.

[0004] In existing wafer cleaning equipment, both wafer cleaning and wafer drying require a clamping mechanism to reliably hold and rotate the wafer at high speed. Currently, the mainstream clamping mechanism usually includes a turntable with multiple jaws arranged circumferentially. These jaws can swing around a fixed point to open or close, thereby releasing or clamping the wafer edge.

[0005] However, this clamping mechanism has at least the following problems:

[0006] (1) Because the chuck needs to continuously hold the wafer during the cleaning process, the edge area of ​​the wafer covered by it forms a continuous "cleaning dead zone", and the cleaning fluid cannot effectively impact and rinse this area. This not only leads to the residue of contaminants in this area, but may also spread contaminants to other cleaned areas of the wafer during high-speed rotation, which seriously restricts the improvement of the overall cleaning cleanliness;

[0007] (2) Some clamping mechanisms use magnetic force to drive the opening and closing of the chucks. However, magnets exposed to the working environment for a long time will experience magnetic attenuation, resulting in unstable driving force. Insufficient magnetic force may cause clamping failure, resulting in wafer slippage or die flying; excessive magnetic force may cause the chucks to engage too tightly with the wafer, increasing the risk of edge wear, and may introduce additional vibration due to unbalanced magnetic force, affecting the stability of high-speed rotation;

[0008] (3) In addition, the strong magnetic field generated by the driving magnet will cause electromagnetic interference to nearby precision components in the equipment, such as pneumatic solenoid valves and position sensors, leading to malfunctions or performance degradation, which reduces the reliability and stability of the wafer cleaning device. Utility Model Content

[0009] In view of this, embodiments of this application provide a wafer cleaning apparatus to at least partially solve the above-mentioned problems.

[0010] According to a first aspect of the embodiments of this application, a wafer cleaning apparatus is provided, comprising:

[0011] A rotating assembly, housed within the housing, is used to horizontally clamp and drive the wafer to rotate;

[0012] A post-processing unit, positioned above the rotating assembly, cleans the wafer by spraying fluid toward it.

[0013] The rotating assembly includes a turntable on which a first clamping assembly and a second clamping assembly are disposed, which alternately clamp or release the wafer, such that when one set of clamping assemblies clamps the wafer, the wafer clamping area corresponding to the other set of clamping assemblies is exposed for cleaning.

[0014] The clamping assembly includes:

[0015] The oscillating disc is concentrically positioned above the turntable;

[0016] The driving component is located below the oscillating disk and drives the oscillating disk to rotate in a non-contact air-bearing manner;

[0017] Multiple chucks are arranged along the circumference of the turntable and located on the outside of the swing disk;

[0018] The rotating oscillating disk drives the guide to move outward, thereby pushing the chuck seat to rotate and changing the position of the chuck to open or close the clamping assembly.

[0019] In some embodiments, the oscillating disk includes a plurality of ear plates, and the guide is disposed below the ear plates.

[0020] In some embodiments, the guide is slidably connected to a guide rail on a turntable and is provided with a first abutment and a second abutment; the first abutment is engaged in a groove in the ear plate, and the second abutment is used to push the claw seat to rotate around its axis.

[0021] In some embodiments, the second abutment is located between the outer edge of the ear plate and the claw seat, and the rotating oscillating disk drives the guide to move horizontally, so that the second abutment pushes or releases the claw seat.

[0022] In some embodiments, there are multiple chuck seats, which are rotatably connected above the turntable; a spring is disposed between the chuck seat and the turntable to restore the position of the chuck seat.

[0023] In some embodiments, the clamping assembly includes a first clamping assembly and a second clamping assembly, with their ear plates spaced apart from each other.

[0024] In some embodiments, the swing disks of the first clamping assembly and the second clamping assembly are stacked vertically, and the driving member drives the swing disks of both to rotate relative to the center of the turntable.

[0025] In some embodiments, the driving member is offset below the oscillating disk, and a force-bearing block is provided below the oscillating disk, which matches the position of the driving member, so that the driving member pushes the force-bearing block by air buoyancy to drive the oscillating disk to rotate around its center.

[0026] In some embodiments, the drive element includes an air flotation block disposed at the moving end of the cylinder; the top of the air flotation block is provided with an air outlet, which can spray gas toward the force-bearing block to drive the swing disk to rotate.

[0027] In some embodiments, the air flotation block has a hollow cavity inside, and its top surface is a spirally rising air flotation surface that gradually rises around the rotation direction of the swing disk.

[0028] In some embodiments, the bottom of the force-bearing block is provided with a force-bearing curved surface, which is matched with the air-bearing curved surface so that the gap between the two is the same.

[0029] In some embodiments, the gap between the air-bearing curved surface and the stress-bearing curved surface is 1-2 mm to form an air diaphragm between them to prevent them from contacting each other.

[0030] In some embodiments, the force-bearing block is fixed to the lower surface of the oscillating disk, and is an arc-shaped block that extends along the circumferential portion of the oscillating disk.

[0031] In some embodiments, the turntable is provided with a through fan-shaped hole, and the force-bearing block is provided through the fan-shaped hole; the central angle corresponding to the force-bearing block is smaller than the central angle corresponding to the fan-shaped hole.

[0032] The beneficial effects of this utility model include:

[0033] a. It achieves thorough cleaning of the wafer surface without any blind spots, significantly improving the cleanliness of the cleaning process. Through the alternating clamping and releasing of the first and second clamping components, a portion of the wafer edge area that was originally clamped is exposed at any time during the cleaning process. This allows the fluid sprayed by the post-processing components to directly rinse this area, eliminating blind spots and avoiding contaminant residue and secondary pollution.

[0034] b. The problems of magnetic attenuation and magnetic interference are eliminated, significantly improving the long-term reliability and stability of the wafer cleaning equipment. The use of an air-floating non-contact drive method replaces the traditional magnetic drive, eliminating the magnetic attenuation problem caused by long-term use of magnets and ensuring long-term stability of the clamping force. At the same time, this solution completely avoids strong magnetic field environments, eliminating electromagnetic interference to surrounding precision electronic components such as solenoid valves and sensors, and improving the accuracy and reliability of the wafer cleaning equipment control.

[0035] c. It provides a stable and flexible non-contact driving force, ensuring clamping accuracy and stability under high-speed rotation. Power transmission is achieved through a uniform air diaphragm formed between the air float and the force-bearing block, realizing a drive with no mechanical wear and low vibration. This flexible force transmission method reduces the impact on the chuck and wafer edges, effectively reducing the risk of wafer edge wear, and ensuring the clamping stability and dynamic balance of the wafer under high-speed rotation.

[0036] d. The transmission structure and spatial layout have been optimized, making the wafer cleaning device more compact and its action response more precise. Through the ingenious linkage design of the swing disk, ear plate, guide components, and chuck base, the rotational motion is precisely converted into the radial opening and closing motion of the chuck. In particular, the stacked arrangement of the two swing disks and the design of the fan-shaped hole through which the force block passes through the turntable enable the independent and collaborative operation of the two sets of clamping components within a limited space, resulting in a compact structure, non-interference in movement, and rapid response. Attached Figure Description

[0037] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in the embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings.

[0038] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a wafer cleaning device provided in one embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a rotating component provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a clamping assembly provided in an embodiment of this utility model;

[0041] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the guide member and the claw seat in a contacting state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the second clamping assembly provided in one embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 6 yes Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the rotating component in the embodiment from another perspective;

[0044] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of a driving component provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 8 yes Figure 7 A sectional view of the drive component;

[0046] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of a force-bearing block provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0047] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of a force-bearing block installed below a swing disk according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0048] Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of a turntable provided in one embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0049] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art should fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0050] The terminology used in this application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. The singular forms “a,” “the,” and “the” used in this application and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used herein refers to and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0051] It should be understood that although the terms "first," "second," "third," etc., may be used in this application to describe various information, this information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from one another. For example, without departing from the scope of this application, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this application, "multiple" means two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0052] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of a wafer cleaning apparatus 100 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The wafer cleaning apparatus 100 includes:

[0053] A rotating assembly 10 is disposed in the housing 20 and is used to horizontally clamp the wafer W to be cleaned. A drive motor 12 is disposed at the lower part of the rotating assembly 10, which drives the wafer clamped by the rotating assembly 10 to rotate.

[0054] The post-processing component 40 is positioned above the rotating component 10 to clean the wafer surface by spraying fluid toward the wafer W.

[0055] The rotating assembly 10 includes a turntable 11 ( Figure 2 (As shown), it is horizontally positioned inside the housing 20. A clamping assembly 30 is disposed above the turntable 11 to horizontally clamp the wafer to be cleaned.

[0056] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a rotating component 10 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the rotating component 10 is equipped with two sets of clamping components 30, namely a first clamping component 31 and a second clamping component 32. Since the two sets of clamping components 30 have basically the same structure, the first clamping component 31 will be used as an example to describe in detail the structure and connection relationship of the clamping component 30.

[0057] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a clamping assembly 30 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The clamping assembly 30 includes:

[0058] The swing disk 33 is concentrically positioned above the turntable 11;

[0059] The driving component 34 is located below the swing disk 33 to drive the swing disk 33 to rotate around its axis;

[0060] Multiple claws 35 are arranged along the circumference of the turntable 11 and located outside the swing disk 33.

[0061] Figure 3 In the embodiment shown, the clamping component 30 is the first clamping component 31, which includes three jaws 35. The jaws 35 are evenly spaced along the circumference to ensure that the clamping force on the wafer is relatively uniform, thereby ensuring the stability of wafer clamping.

[0062] The controller of the wafer cleaning device triggers the drive unit 34 to drive the oscillating disk 33 to rotate around its axis. The rotating oscillating disk 33 can drive the guide member 36 to move outward, thereby pushing the jaw seat 37 to rotate. The rotating jaw seat 37 can change the position of the jaw 35, thereby realizing the opening or closing of the clamping assembly 30. In this utility model, the oscillating disk 33, the guide member 36, and the jaw seat 37 form a linkage mechanism. This linkage mechanism precisely controls the opening and closing of the jaw 35 through the rotation of the oscillating disk 33, realizing rapid switching of the clamping state. Moreover, the mechanical structure is simple and reliable, reducing the failure rate.

[0063] It should be noted that there are multiple chuck holders 37, which are rotatably connected above the turntable 11. The horizontally moving guide 36 can drive the chuck holders 37 to rotate around their axis, thereby causing the chuck holders 37 to rotate. The chucks 35 are biasedly disposed on the top surface of the chuck holders 37. The rotating chuck holders 37 can drive the chucks 35 away from or towards the edge of the wafer, thereby realizing the release or clamping of the wafer.

[0064] Furthermore, the oscillating disk 33 has a disk-shaped structure, and its outer periphery is provided with multiple ear plates 331, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the guide member 36 is disposed below the ear plate 331. The ear plate 331 is provided with a groove 332, which is an elongated hole arranged along the rotation direction of the swing disk 33, in order to define the first abutment member 361 mentioned below.

[0065] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the guide member 36 and the claw seat 37 in a contact state according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the guide member 36 includes a guide rail 38, which is disposed above the turntable 11, and the guide member 36 is slidably connected to the upper part of the guide rail 38.

[0066] Furthermore, the guide member 36 is provided with a first abutment member 361 and a second abutment member 362, which are spaced apart along the length direction of the guide member 36, such as... Figure 4 As shown, the first abutment 361 is engaged in the groove 332 of the ear plate 331, and the second abutment 362 is used to push the jaw seat 37 to rotate around its axis. The guide 36 converts the rotational motion of the swing disk 33 into the precise rotation of the jaw seat 37, realizing the adjustment of the position of the jaw 35, avoiding the complexity and wear problems of traditional linkage mechanisms, and improving the clamping accuracy and life of the jaw 35.

[0067] Furthermore, the second abutment 362 is located between the outer edge of the ear plate 331 and the claw seat 37, such as Figure 3 As shown, the rotating oscillating disk 33 drives the guide 36 to move horizontally, causing the second abutment 362 to push or release the chuck seat 37 to rotate, thereby changing the position and orientation of the chuck 35 to control the opening and closing of the clamping assembly 30.

[0068] In this invention, a spring 39 is disposed between the chuck seat 37 and the turntable 11. One end of the spring 39 is connected to the side of the chuck seat 37, and the other end is connected to the turntable 11. Figure 2 The spring 39 is provided for resetting the chuck seat 37.

[0069] Specifically, after the second abutment 362 of the guide 36 pushes the jaw seat 37 to rotate a certain angle, the spring 39 is stretched due to the rotation of the jaw seat 37, at which point the jaw 35 is in the open state. Next, the controller shuts off the drive 34, causing the swing disk 33 to lose its driving force. The stretched spring 39 returns to its natural state and shortens, thereby pulling the jaw seat 37 to rotate in the opposite direction back to its initial position. At this point, the jaw 35 is in the clamping state. The reset function of the spring 39 ensures the reliability and consistency of the jaw 35's opening and closing action, which is the basis for achieving precise alternating clamping. The spring reset mechanism not only simplifies the drive control logic but also ensures that the jaw 35 can automatically reset and clamp the wafer in the event of a power outage or malfunction, preventing the wafer from flying out at high speed and breaking, thereby improving the safety of the wafer cleaning device 100.

[0070] Figure 4 In the embodiment shown, the second abutting member 362 abuts against one side of the claw seat 37, while the spring 39 is connected to the other side of the claw seat 37 to reduce the mutual interference between the guide member 36 on the guide rail 38 and the spring 39, so that the claw seat 37 can rotate and reset stably.

[0071] Figure 1 In the illustrated embodiment, the rotating assembly 10 further includes a cover plate 14 disposed on the upper part of the rotating assembly 10 to cover the clamping assembly 30, preventing contaminants generated during wafer cleaning from contacting the various moving parts of the clamping assembly 30 and affecting its stable operation. Specifically, the cover plate 14 is a circular cover plate that covers the turntable 11. The top surface of the cover plate 14 is provided with a through hole so that the chuck holder 37 can pass through the through hole, allowing the chuck 35 to release or clamp the wafer.

[0072] Furthermore, the wafer cleaning apparatus 100 also includes a protective plate 60 located on the outer periphery of the rotating assembly 10, which is used to block the cleaning waste liquid on the high-speed rotating wafer surface and prevent it from falling toward the side wall of the housing 20; at the same time, the protective plate 60 guides the cleaning waste liquid downward to the waste liquid tank 70 at the bottom of the housing 20, so as to discharge the cleaning waste liquid to the outside of the wafer cleaning apparatus 100.

[0073] During wafer cleaning, the jaws 35 of the clamping assembly 30 horizontally clamp the wafer to drive it to rotate horizontally around its axis. Since the jaws 35 always clamp the edge of the wafer, the clamping area of ​​the jaws 35 is a contaminant-rich area. Furthermore, the cleaning fluid or cleaning brush cannot reach the area covered by the jaws 35, making this area a cleaning blind spot and affecting the wafer cleaning effect.

[0074] To solve the aforementioned technical problems, in this utility model, two sets of clamping components 30 are configured above the turntable 11, such as... Figure 2 As shown, the first clamping component 31 and the second clamping component 32 alternately clamp and release the wafer to expose the cleaning blind area on the wafer surface and achieve cleaning of the wafer surface.

[0075] Specifically, during the wafer cleaning process, the first clamping component 31 and the second clamping component 32 alternately clamp or release the wafer. This ensures that when one set of clamping components 30 clamps the wafer, the wafer clamping area corresponding to the other set of clamping components 30 is exposed for cleaning. This "wafer clamping area" is directly and thoroughly rinsed by the fluid sprayed by the post-processing component 40, fundamentally eliminating the "cleaning dead zone" problem caused by continuous clamping in traditional devices. This prevents cleaning blind spots from appearing at the wafer edges and improves the cleanliness of the wafer surface. The alternating clamping mechanism of the clamping components 30 achieves full-coverage cleaning of the wafer edges by dynamically switching clamping points, making it particularly suitable for high-end processes with extremely high cleanliness requirements, effectively improving the yield rate of wafer manufacturing.

[0076] In this invention, the ear plates 331 of the first clamping assembly 31 and the second clamping assembly 32 are spaced apart from each other, and the ear plates 331 are correspondingly provided with claw seats 37, that is, the claws 35 on the first clamping assembly 31 and the second clamping assembly 32 are spaced apart from each other. This spaced layout ensures that the two sets of components do not interfere with each other when they are in operation, and allows the clamping points at the edge of the wafer to be rotated, creating conditions for thorough cleaning.

[0077] Figure 2 In the embodiment shown, both the first clamping assembly 31 and the second clamping assembly 32 are equipped with three ear plates 331. Correspondingly, the turntable 11 is equipped with the same number of jaw seats 37 and jaws 35. The jaws 35 of the clamping assembly 30 are distributed to clamp the edge of the wafer to ensure the reliability of wafer clamping.

[0078] Furthermore, the swing disks 33 of the first clamping assembly 31 and the second clamping assembly 32 are vertically stacked, and the driving member 34 drives the swing disks 33 of both to rotate relative to the center of the turntable 11. The vertical stacking of the swing disks 33 of the first clamping assembly 31 and the second clamping assembly 32 can effectively avoid mutual interference between the rotations of the corresponding swing disks 33, thereby ensuring that the guide member 36 can smoothly push the jaw seat 37 to rotate around its axis. This compact stacked structure design integrates two independently driven clamping assemblies 30 within a limited axial space, optimizing the spatial layout of the wafer cleaning apparatus 100. In addition, the stacked design not only reduces the radial dimension of the device, but also lowers the center of gravity of the rotating assembly 10, enhancing stability during high-speed rotation, and is suitable for compact wafer cleaning apparatus 100.

[0079] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the second clamping component 32 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the center of the swing disk 33 is provided with a recess 333. Figure 3 The swing disk 33 of the first clamping assembly 31 shown is concentrically placed in the recess 333 so that the two can rotate about their central axis. A fan-shaped notch 334 is also provided on the outer periphery of the recess 333, which, together with... Figure 10 Regarding the fixing of the force-bearing block 13 mentioned above, the force-bearing block 13 of the swing disk 33 of the first clamping assembly 31 is set in the fan-shaped notch 334 of the second clamping assembly 32 so that the force-bearing block 13 of the first clamping assembly 31 is positioned relative to the corresponding driving member 34.

[0080] In this invention, the driving component 34 is offset below the swing disk 33, such as... Figure 3 and Figure 5 As shown, so as to facilitate setting at the center position of the rotating component 10. Figure 1 The back spray assembly 50 shown is used for cleaning the back side of the wafer. It mainly sprays liquid and / or gas toward the back side of the wafer to remove contaminants from the back side of the wafer. Since the back spray assembly 50 is not the focus of this utility model, it will not be described in detail here. Figure 1 In the embodiment shown, the driving components 34 of the two sets of clamping components 30 are arranged opposite each other with the turntable 11 as the center. The line connecting the two driving components 34 passes through the center of the turntable 11, so that the components of the wafer cleaning device 100 are relatively evenly distributed. This is beneficial to control the airflow distribution in the housing 20 and avoid the accumulation of airflow containing contaminants in a certain place.

[0081] Furthermore, a force-receiving block 13 is provided below the swing disk 33, such as... Figure 6As shown, the force-receiving block 13 and the driving component 34 are positioned to match each other, allowing the driving component 34 to push the force-receiving block 13 via air buoyancy, thereby causing the oscillating disk 33 to rotate around its center. This invention employs an air-buoyancy non-contact driving method, completely eliminating the magnetic attenuation and electromagnetic interference problems caused by traditional magnetic drives, ensuring long-term stability of the driving force, and improving the operational reliability of the precision electronic components in the wafer cleaning device 100. Simultaneously, air-buoyancy drive avoids wear and particulate contamination caused by mechanical contact, making it particularly suitable for semiconductor manufacturing environments with extremely high cleanliness requirements, which helps extend the service life of the wafer cleaning device 100.

[0082] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of a driving component 34 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The driving component 34 includes a cylinder 341, and an air float 342 is disposed at the moving end of the cylinder 341. Figure 8 This is a cross-sectional view of the drive unit 34. The top of the air float 342 is equipped with multiple miniature air outlets, which can spray gas toward the force-bearing block 13 to drive the swing disk 33 to rotate.

[0083] Furthermore, the air flotation block 342 has a hollow cavity 343 inside, and its top surface is a spirally rising air flotation surface 344, such as... Figure 7 As shown, the air-bearing surface 344 gradually rises around the rotation direction of the swing disk 33. The spiral air-bearing surface 344 makes the gas flow more uniform and stable, forming a continuous air film support, thereby reducing the impact of airflow fluctuations on the rotation of the swing disk 33 and improving drive smoothness and control accuracy.

[0084] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of a force-bearing block 13 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The bottom of the force-bearing block 13 is provided with a force-bearing curved surface 131, which is matched with the air-bearing curved surface 344 so that the gap between the two is the same.

[0085] Preferably, the gap between the air-bearing curved surface 344 and the force-bearing curved surface 131 is 1-2 mm to form an air diaphragm between them, preventing the air-bearing block 342 from contacting the force-bearing block 13. This uniform air diaphragm not only achieves contactless power transmission, avoiding mechanical wear, but also provides excellent damping and vibration reduction, ensuring the stability of wafer clamping under high-speed rotation and effectively reducing the risk of wafer edge wear. The precisely controlled air gap size optimizes the air film stiffness, resulting in faster drive response, while reducing gas consumption and lowering the operating cost of the wafer cleaning device 100.

[0086] Furthermore, the force-bearing block 13 is fixed to the lower surface of the swing disk 33, such as... Figure 10 As shown, the force-bearing block 13 is a circular arc block that extends along the circumferential portion of the swing disk 33.

[0087] In some embodiments, the central angle defined by the force block 13 is 30-80°, and it is disposed opposite to the air buoy 342 of the drive member 34 to drive the swing disk 33 to rotate around the axis in a non-contact air buoy manner.

[0088] In this utility model, the turntable 11 is provided with a through fan-shaped hole 111, such as Figure 11 As shown, the force-bearing block 13 is provided through the fan-shaped hole 111 of the turntable 11; wherein, the central angle corresponding to the force-bearing block 13 is smaller than the central angle corresponding to the fan-shaped hole 111, so that the force-bearing block 13 is driven by the driving member 34, and the swing disk 33 rotates within the range defined by the fan-shaped hole 111, thereby driving the chuck seat 37 to rotate, so as to open or close the clamping assembly 30.

[0089] Furthermore, the difference between the central angle corresponding to the sector-shaped hole 111 and the central angle corresponding to the force-bearing block 13 is 10-20°. This mechanical limitation prevents the chuck holder 37 from rotating beyond its limit, thus preventing the rotating wafer from becoming loose and ensuring the reliable operation of the wafer cleaning device 100. In this invention, this mechanical limitation design serves as a double insurance for both hardware and software control, preventing over-rotation or jamming due to drive failure, and improving the system's safety and fault tolerance.

[0090] Figure 11 In the embodiment shown, the surface of the turntable 11 is provided with two fan-shaped holes 111, the positions of which correspond to the positions of the force-bearing block 13 below the swing disk 33.

[0091] Furthermore, the surface of the turntable 11 is also provided with placement holes 112 for mounting. Figure 3 and Figure 4 The guide rail 38 mentioned above is installed in the placement hole 112 to further reduce the vertical height of the clamping assembly 30 and control the space occupied by the rotating assembly 10.

[0092] The following is combined Figure 1 The wafer cleaning apparatus 100 shown is briefly described, outlining the general steps involved in cleaning wafers:

[0093] Step 1: Use the rotating component 10 to horizontally clamp and drive the wafer to rotate;

[0094] Specifically, the wafer is placed on the clamping assembly 30, and the jaws 35 thereon clamp the wafer horizontally;

[0095] Step 2: Control the first clamping component 31 and the second clamping component 31 to alternately clamp and release the wafer;

[0096] The controller of the wafer cleaning device 100 controls the start and stop of the drive unit 34 corresponding to the clamping assembly 31, so that the first clamping assembly 31 and the second clamping assembly 31 alternately clamp and release the wafer;

[0097] Step 3: When one of the clamping components 30 releases the wafer, the post-processing component 40 cleans the exposed wafer clamping area.

[0098] The drive unit 34 drives the swing disk 33 of the clamping assembly 30 to rotate, so that the second abutment 362 of the guide 36 drives the chuck seat 37 to rotate, so that the chuck 35 moves away from the edge of the wafer; the cleaning fluid sprayed by the post-processing assembly 40 removes the contaminants in the clamping area of ​​the chuck 35 under the action of centrifugal force, thereby cleaning the wafer surface.

[0099] The wafer cleaning steps described above systematically achieve thorough, high-cleanliness cleaning of the wafer surface, including all clamping areas, leaving no blind spots. This comprehensively improves the cleaning effect on the wafer surface, which is beneficial for increasing the yield rate of wafer manufacturing. The wafer cleaning steps optimize the cleaning process by controlling the alternating clamping and releasing actions in a timing sequence. This ensures cleaning effectiveness while increasing production cycle time, making it suitable for large-scale wafer manufacturing production lines.

[0100] The wafer cleaning device provided by this utility model was used to verify its cleaning effect as follows: a wafer cleaning device equipped with a traditional magnetic drive clamping assembly was used as a control group to compare the effects of the two devices on wafer surface cleanliness and device operational reliability. The effect comparison is shown in Tables 1 and 2.

[0101] The test object of this comparative experiment was a 300mm silicon wafer after chemical mechanical polishing; the cleaning process was: the same SC-1 standard cleaning solution (ammonia-hydrogen peroxide mixture), the same spray flow rate, temperature and rotation speed were used; the test instrument was a laser surface particle counter to measure the number of particles ≥0.1μm on the wafer surface.

[0102] Table 1. Surface cleanliness comparison (particle residue)

[0103]

[0104]

[0105] As can be seen, by alternating clamping to expose the cleaning blind area, this utility model reduces the number of residual particles on the wafer surface by an average of 13.6%. This result represents a significant improvement over traditional methods in controlling the number of residual particles on the wafer surface, proving the effectiveness of cleaning without blind spots.

[0106] Table 2 Comparison of Long-Term Equipment Reliability (Failure Rate)

[0107]

[0108] It is evident that the air-float non-contact drive of this invention fundamentally eliminates the problems of magnetic attenuation and electromagnetic interference, thus removing the main factors causing failure. During the entire testing period (6 months, simulating 10,000 wafer cleaning cycles), only two instances of wafer edge collisions occurred due to initial debugging of the chucks during the wafer cleaning delivery period. Apart from these, no other failures occurred due to the clamping drive system, resulting in an overall failure rate reduction of 66.6%, significantly improving the operational stability of the wafer cleaning device.

[0109] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and method steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0110] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the embodiments of this application, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of this application. Therefore, all equivalent technical solutions also fall within the scope of the embodiments of this application, and the patent protection scope of the embodiments of this application should be defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A wafer cleaning apparatus, characterized in that, include: A rotating assembly, housed within the housing, is used to horizontally clamp and drive the wafer to rotate; A post-processing unit, positioned above the rotating assembly, cleans the wafer by spraying fluid toward it. The rotating assembly includes a turntable on which a first clamping assembly and a second clamping assembly are disposed, which alternately clamp or release the wafer, such that when one set of clamping assemblies clamps the wafer, the wafer clamping area corresponding to the other set of clamping assemblies is exposed for cleaning. The clamping assembly includes: The oscillating disc is concentrically positioned above the turntable; The driving component is located below the oscillating disk and drives the oscillating disk to rotate in a non-contact air-bearing manner; Multiple chucks are arranged along the circumference of the turntable and located on the outside of the swing disk; The rotating oscillating disk drives the guide to move outward, thereby pushing the chuck seat to rotate and changing the position of the chuck to open or close the clamping assembly.

2. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The swing disk includes multiple ear plates, and the guide is disposed below the ear plates.

3. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, The guide is slidably connected to the guide rail on the turntable and is equipped with a first abutment and a second abutment; the first abutment is engaged in the groove of the ear plate, and the second abutment is used to push the claw seat to rotate around its axis.

4. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that, The second abutment is located between the outer edge of the ear plate and the claw seat. The rotating swing disk drives the guide to move horizontally, so that the second abutment pushes or releases the claw seat.

5. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, There are multiple chuck seats, which are rotatably connected above the turntable; a spring is provided between the chuck seat and the turntable to restore the position of the chuck seat.

6. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, The clamping assembly includes a first clamping assembly and a second clamping assembly, with their ear plates spaced apart from each other.

7. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The swing disks of the first clamping assembly and the second clamping assembly are stacked vertically, and the driving member drives the swing disks of both to rotate relative to the center of the turntable.

8. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The driving component is offset below the swing disk, and a force-bearing block is provided below the swing disk. The force-bearing block is matched with the position of the driving component, so that the driving component pushes the force-bearing block by air buoyancy, thereby causing the swing disk to rotate around its center.

9. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that, The driving component includes a cylinder and an air float, with the air float disposed at the moving end of the cylinder; the top of the air float is provided with an air outlet, which can spray gas toward the force-bearing block to drive the swing disk to rotate.

10. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that, The air flotation block has a hollow cavity inside, and its top surface is a spirally rising air flotation surface that gradually rises around the rotation direction of the swing disk.

11. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that, The bottom of the force-bearing block is provided with a force-bearing curved surface, which is matched with the air-bearing curved surface so that the gap between the two is the same.

12. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that, The gap between the air-bearing curved surface and the stress-bearing curved surface is 1-2mm, so as to form an air membrane between the two to prevent them from touching each other.

13. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that, The force-bearing block is fixed to the lower surface of the swing disk. It is an arc block that extends along the circumferential portion of the swing disk.

14. The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that, The turntable is provided with a through fan-shaped hole, and the force-bearing block is provided through the fan-shaped hole; the central angle corresponding to the force-bearing block is smaller than the central angle corresponding to the fan-shaped hole.

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