Substrate bearing device and substrate processing apparatus

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor apparatuses. Disclosed are a substrate bearing device and a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate bearing device comprises: a connecting member comprising a connecting main body extending in the vertical direction; and a bearing member connected to the connecting member, extending in the horizontal direction, and bearing a plurality of substrates in such a manner that the plurality of substrates are parallel to the vertical direction, wherein the plurality of substrates comprise a first substrate adjacent to the main surface of the connecting member, the connecting member further comprises a rectifying part, the main surface of the rectifying part is flush with the main surface of the connecting main body, and the rectifying part is configured such that when the bearing member bears the substrates, the orthographic projection of the first substrate on the rectifying part is located in the rectifying part. According to the present invention, the flow field of the surface of the first substrate close to the rectifying part is greatly improved, thereby improving the cleaning effect of the first substrate, the rectifying part is flush with the main surface of the connecting member, so that during cleaning, the flow field is more stable.

Description

Substrate carrying device and substrate processing equipment Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of semiconductor equipment, and in particular to a substrate carrying device and substrate processing equipment. Background Art

[0002] Semiconductor cleaning is a crucial step throughout the entire wafer manufacturing process, and a quality cleaning process is crucial for improving yield. Tank-type cleaning equipment is used for batch wafer wet cleaning, offering high production efficiency. During the cleaning process, the fluid distribution within the process tank significantly impacts the cleaning effect, and this distribution is closely related to the tank structure.

[0003] In a tank cleaning process, a wafer stack is placed in a processing tank using a parallel, equidistant array of slots on a substrate carrier. The wafers are then cleaned using a process solution. In practice, it is often found that the first wafer, positioned closer to the vertical side of the substrate carrier, does not perform as well as the rest of the wafer stack.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to overcome the problem of poor cleaning effect of the first wafer close to the vertical surface side in the substrate supporting device in the prior art, and to provide a substrate supporting device and a substrate processing equipment.

[0006] The present invention solves the above technical problems through the following technical solutions.

[0007] A substrate supporting device, comprising:

[0008] The connecting member includes a connecting body extending in a vertical direction;

[0009] a carrier connected to the connecting member, the carrier extending in a horizontal direction and carrying the plurality of substrates in a manner that the plurality of substrates are parallel to the vertical direction, wherein the plurality of substrates include a first substrate adjacent to a main surface of the connecting member;

[0010] The connecting member further includes a rectifying portion, a main surface of which is flush with a main surface of the connecting body, and the rectifying portion is configured such that when a substrate is carried on the supporting member, the orthographic projection of the first substrate on the rectifying portion is located within the rectifying portion.

[0011] A substrate processing device, comprising:

[0012] a treatment tank, the treatment tank being used to contain a treatment liquid;

[0013] The substrate carrying device as described above, wherein the substrate carrying device is arranged in the processing tank;

[0014] A bubbler is disposed in the treatment tank and located below the carrier, and is used to provide bubbles into the treatment liquid.

[0015] The positive progress effect of the present invention is:

[0016] 1. In the present invention, a rectifier portion corresponding to the first substrate is added to the connector, and the orthographic projection of the first substrate on the rectifier portion is located within the rectifier portion. This greatly improves the flow field on the side of the first substrate close to the rectifier portion, making it similar to the flow field between the remaining substrates, thereby improving the cleaning effect of the first substrate. The rectifier portion is flush with the main surface of the connecting body. On the one hand, the rectifier portion does not occupy additional space in the horizontal direction; on the other hand, the main surface of the connector has no protrusions or depressions. During the cleaning process, the flow field is more stable, which is conducive to further improving the cleaning effect. In addition, the addition of the rectifier portion also helps to improve the strength of the connector, making the connector less prone to deformation.

[0017] 2. A bubbler is placed in the treatment tank, below the support, to introduce bubbles into the treatment liquid. The bubbler rapidly flows the treatment liquid in the treatment tank. With the aforementioned substrate support device, the flow field at the first substrate is substantially consistent with the flow field between adjacent substrates, improving the cleaning effect of the first substrate.

[0018] Summary of the Figures

[0019] The features and performance of the present application are further described by the following examples and drawings.

[0020] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the axial structure of a substrate supporting device according to Example 1 of the present invention;

[0021] FIG2 is a schematic structural diagram of a substrate carrying device in a state of carrying a substrate according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0022] FIG3 is a front structural schematic diagram of a substrate supporting device according to Example 1 of the present invention;

[0023] FIG4 is a front structural schematic diagram of a connecting piece according to Example 1 of the present invention;

[0024] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a substrate processing device according to Example 2 of the present invention;

[0025] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of the axial structure of a substrate processing device according to Example 2 of the present invention;

[0026] 7 is a schematic top view of the structure of a substrate processing device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0027] FIG8 is a schematic structural diagram of a bubbler according to Example 2 of the present invention;

[0028] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a bubbler and a substrate according to Example 2 of the present invention;

[0029] FIG10 is a schematic structural diagram of a bubbler according to Example 3 of the present invention.

[0030] Preferred embodiment of this application

[0031] The present invention is further described below by way of examples, but the present invention is not limited to the scope of the examples.

[0032] Example 1

[0033] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, in embodiment 1 of the present invention, a substrate carrying device is provided, comprising: a connecting member 100 and a carrying member 200. The connecting member 100 includes a connecting body 120 extending along the vertical direction Z. The carrying member 200 is connected to the lower part of the connecting member 100, and carries a plurality of substrates 300 in a manner that the plurality of substrates 300 are parallel to the vertical direction Z. Among them, the plurality of substrates 300 include a first substrate 310 adjacent to the main surface of the connecting member 100. Among them, the connecting member 100 also includes a rectifying portion 110, the main surface of the rectifying portion 110 is flush with the main surface of the connecting body 120. The rectifying portion 110 is configured such that when a substrate is carried on the carrying member 200, the orthographic projection of the first substrate 310 on the rectifying portion 110 is located within the rectifying portion 110.

[0034] Because the existing connector does not have a rectifier, the flow field distribution of the first substrate is relatively uneven relative to the flow field distribution of the other substrates, resulting in poor cleaning effect on the first substrate. In the present invention, by adding a rectifier 110 corresponding to the first substrate 310 to the connector 100, and the orthographic projection of the first substrate 310 on the rectifier 110 is located within the rectifier 110, the flow field of the side of the first substrate 310 close to the rectifier 110 is greatly improved, and can be similar to the flow field between the other substrates 300, thereby improving the cleaning effect of the first substrate 310. The main surface of the rectifier 110 is flush with the main surface of the connecting body 120. On the one hand, the rectifier 110 does not occupy additional space in the horizontal direction Y; on the other hand, the main surface of the connector 100 has no protrusions or depressions, which makes the flow field more stable during the cleaning process, which is conducive to further improving the cleaning effect. In addition, the addition of the rectifier 110 also helps to improve the strength of the connector 100, making the connector 100 less prone to deformation.

[0035] Here, the main surface of the rectifying portion, the main surface of the connecting member, and the main surface of the connecting body refer to surfaces facing the first substrate.

[0036] In an embodiment of the present invention, in order to ensure that the flow field between the first substrate 310 and the connector 100 is as similar as possible to the flow field between adjacent substrates 300, the spacing distance between the rectifying portion 110 and the first substrate 310 is set to 1 times the spacing distance between adjacent substrates 300, and the shape of the rectifying portion 110 is the same as the shape of the first substrate 310. The plurality of substrates 300 includes a second substrate adjacent to the first substrate 310. The rectifying portion 110 and the second substrate can be symmetrical about the first substrate 310, thereby ensuring that the flow field in which the first substrate 310 is located is as similar as possible to the flow field in which the remaining substrates 300 are located, thereby improving the cleaning effect of the first substrate 310. It should be noted that the symmetry here means that the distance between the rectifying portion 110 and the first substrate 310 is equal to the distance between the second substrate and the first substrate 310, and the shape and size of the rectifying portion 110 and the second substrate are equal.

[0037] Specifically, in this embodiment, the shape of the first substrate is circular, and the shape of the rectifying portion corresponds thereto and is also circular. In other embodiments, the shape of the first substrate can also be flexibly set as needed, and the shape of the rectifying portion can correspond thereto.

[0038] In other embodiments, to facilitate removal of the substrate 300 from the substrate supporting device, the spacing between the rectifying portion 110 and the first substrate 310 may be appropriately increased. Setting the spacing to [1, 2) times the spacing between adjacent substrates 300 can also improve the flow field.

[0039] In other embodiments, in order to adapt to a wafer removal device that requires a larger space, the spacing distance between the rectifying portion 110 and the first substrate 310 can be further increased, and the spacing distance can be set to [2, 3] times the spacing distance between adjacent substrates 300.

[0040] In an embodiment of the present invention, the structure of the carrier 200 is shown in FIG1 . The carrier 200 includes two first slots 210 located on the outside and a second slot 220 located in the middle. Both the first slots 210 and the second slots 220 are provided with equally spaced supporting grooves. Through the first slots 210 and the second slots 220, multiple substrates 300 can be evenly spaced and arranged on the carrier 200. A hollow design is provided between the first slots 210 and the second slots 220 to facilitate the flow of the processing liquid.

[0041] 3 and 4 , the connector 100 further includes a reinforcement portion 130, which is located below the rectifying portion 110. The carrier 200 is connected to the reinforcement portion 130. The reinforcement portion 130 enhances the reliability of the connection between the connector 100 and the carrier 200, making the substrate carrier device more stable overall.

[0042] In other embodiments, to further improve the consistency of the flow field between the first substrate 310 and the connector 100 and the flow field between adjacent substrates 300, the reinforcing portion 130 can be removed and the supporting member 200 can be directly connected to the lower end of the rectifying portion 110. The supporting member 200 and the rectifying portion 110 can be connected by welding. In addition, the supporting member 200 can also be connected to both the rectifying portion 110 and the reinforcing portion 130.

[0043] Since both the carrier 200 and the rectifier portion 110 will inevitably produce processing errors, in order to prevent the orthographic projection of the first substrate 310 on the rectifier portion 110 from deviating from the rectifier portion 110, the area of ​​the main surface of the rectifier portion 110 can be appropriately increased, and the area of ​​the main surface of the rectifier portion 110 can be controlled between 1-1.01 times the area of ​​the main surface of the first substrate 310, and the rectifier portion 110 and the orthographic projection of the first substrate 310 on the rectifier portion 110 are concentric.

[0044] Example 2

[0045] In the present embodiment, a substrate processing equipment is provided, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, which includes a processing tank 600, a bubbler 420 and the substrate carrying device in Example 1. The processing tank 600 is used to accommodate the treatment liquid that a plurality of substrates 300 are treated. The substrate carrying device can be lifted and lowered in the processing tank 600, and the substrate carrying device can be connected with the lifting mechanism by the adapter 140, so as to realize the lifting function. The bubbler 420 is configured in the processing tank 600 and is located below the carrier 200 for providing bubbles in the treatment liquid. Under the action of the bubbler 420, the treatment liquid in the processing tank 600 can flow rapidly, and the substrate carrying device in Example 1 is adopted. The flow field at the first substrate 310 is substantially consistent with the flow field between the adjacent substrates 300, and the cleaning effect of the first substrate 310 is improved.

[0046] In an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figure 5 , the rectifying portion 110 is formed on the connecting body 120 of the connector 100 through additive manufacturing. Specifically, the rectifying portion 110 is formed by welding a corresponding plate-like structure to the edge of the connecting body 120. This method can be used to upgrade existing substrate carriers, thereby reducing manufacturing costs.

[0047] In other embodiments, the rectifying portion 110 and the connecting body 120 of the connecting member 100 may also be manufactured using an integral molding process, which has higher processing precision.

[0048] 5 and 7 , the treatment liquid in the treatment tank 600 is supplied via a liquid inlet line 510 and a treatment liquid outlet 520. The liquid inlet line 510 is used to supply the treatment liquid to the treatment liquid outlet 520. The liquid inlet line 510 has a branch line (not shown) connected to the outer tank body 610 to circulate the treatment liquid between the inner tank body 620 and the outer tank body 610. The treatment liquid outlet 520 is located between the bubbler 420 and the plurality of substrates 300. The treatment liquid outlet 520 extends along the Y direction and has a plurality of treatment liquid outlet holes to improve the fluidity of the treatment liquid in the treatment tank 600.

[0049] As shown in Figures 6 and 7, the processing tank 600 includes an inner tank body 620 and an outer tank body 610. The inner tank body 620 is used to accommodate a substrate carrying device and store processing liquid for immersing multiple substrates 300. The arrangement direction of the substrates 300 is defined as the Y direction, and the horizontal direction parallel to the main surface of the substrate 300 is defined as the X direction. The X direction and the Y direction are perpendicular to each other. The inner tank body 620 includes two first side walls 623 arranged opposite to each other along the X direction, and two second side walls 622 arranged opposite to each other along the Y direction. A plurality of overflow ports 621 are spaced apart on the two first side walls 623. The lowest point of the overflow port 621 is the overflow position. The overflow positions of the two first side walls 623 are lower than the top surfaces of the two second side walls 622. The overflow position is used to allow the processing liquid to overflow from the overflow positions of the two first side walls 623 into the outer tank body 610.

[0050] Since the overflow position of the two first side walls 623 is lower than the top surface of the two second side walls 622, the processing liquid in the inner tank body 620 can only overflow into the outer tank body 610 through the two first side walls 623. The overflow direction of the processing liquid is parallel to the direction of the substrate 300, which has a certain flushing effect on the substrate 300, which is beneficial to improving the cleaning effect of the substrate 300.

[0051] With reference to FIG5 and FIG8 for the specific structure of the bubbler 420, the bubbler 420 includes: a bubble plate 422 and a bubble chamber 421, the bubble plate 422 faces the carrier 200, and the bubble plate 422 has a plurality of openings 423, the bubble chamber 421 is flat and is used to provide gas to the plurality of openings 423, and the interior of the bubble chamber 421 includes four independent gas channels, and the gas supply flow rates of the four gas channels are independently controlled. The bubble chamber 421 can be supplied with gas through the air inlet line 410. In other embodiments, the internal division of the bubble chamber 421 is not limited thereto, and at least two independent gas channels can be provided as needed, and each gas channel can control the gas supply flow rate independently of each other.

[0052] The independent control of the gas supply flow rate for each gas channel will be described with the division method of the bubbling chamber 421 shown in FIG. 9. The bubbling chamber 421 is divided into gas channels L1 to L4 along the X direction. Similarly, the substrate 300 is divided into processing regions M1 to M4 corresponding to the gas channels L1 to L4 along the X direction. In this embodiment, the bubbling behavior of the corresponding processing region, such as the number of bubbles, is controlled by adjusting the gas supply flow rate of the gas channel, so that the processing rates in each processing region on the substrate 300 are the same, thereby improving the in-plane uniformity of the substrate 300 processing. For example, when the substrate 300 is processed under the condition that the gas supply amounts of the gas channels L1 to L4 are the same, the average processing rates V1 to V4 of the processing regions M1 to M4 of the substrate 300 are obtained. When the experimental results show that: V1 = V4 < V2 = V3, the gas supply flow rates of the gas channels L1 and L4 can be increased, the number of bubbles in the processing regions M1 and M4 can be increased, the agitation effect and mass transfer efficiency of the processing regions M1 and M4 can be improved, thereby increasing the processing rates of the processing regions M1 and M4, making V1 = V2 = V3 = V4, and further achieving the purpose of improving the in-plane uniformity of the substrate 300 processing. In addition, in cooperation with the substrate carrying device in Embodiment 1, the processing uniformity between different substrates 300 can also be improved.

[0053] Embodiment 3

[0054] This embodiment is basically the same as the substrate processing equipment in Embodiment 2. The difference is that, as shown in FIG. 10, in this embodiment, the bubbler 720 includes: four independently arranged bubbling units 7201, each bubbling unit 7201 is connected with an air inlet pipeline 710 and can supply gas independently. The top surface of each bubbling unit 7201 includes a plurality of openings, and a bubbling chamber is formed inside each bubbling unit 7201 for supplying gas to the plurality of openings. Among them, the bubbling chamber includes a gas channel.

[0055] The bubbler 420 in Embodiment 2 is processed integrally, while the bubbler 720 in this embodiment is divided into multiple independent bubbling units 7201, and the processing difficulty of a single bubbling unit 7201 is low. When processing the bubbler 720, each bubbling unit 7201 can be processed separately. When in use, the multiple bubbling units 7201 are combined together, which is beneficial to reducing the processing difficulty of the bubbler 720 and improving the yield of the bubbler 720. Moreover, each bubbling unit 7201 is independent of each other. When damaged, the bubbling unit 7201 can be replaced separately without replacing the entire bubbler 720, which is beneficial to reducing the replacement cost.

[0056] In other embodiments, the number of bubbling units 7201 is not limited thereto, and at least two bubbling units 7201 may be provided as needed. Furthermore, the bubbling cavity formed inside each bubbling unit 7201 may also be provided with two or more gas channels, and the gas supply of each gas channel may be independently controlled.

[0057] Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above, those skilled in the art will appreciate that these are merely illustrative and that the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims. Those skilled in the art may make various changes or modifications to these embodiments without departing from the principles and essence of the present invention, and such changes and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A substrate carrying device, characterized in that: include: A connecting member, comprising a connecting body extending in a vertical direction; A carrier connected to the connecting member, the carrier extending in a horizontal direction and carrying the plurality of substrates in a manner that the plurality of substrates are parallel to the vertical direction, wherein the plurality of substrates include a first substrate adjacent to a main surface of the connecting member; Wherein, the connecting member further comprises a rectifying portion, a main surface of the rectifying portion is flush with a main surface of the connecting body, and the rectifying portion is configured such that when a substrate is carried on the supporting member, an orthographic projection of the first substrate on the rectifying portion is located within the rectifying portion.

2. The substrate carrying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The spacing distance between the rectifying portion and the first substrate is [1, 3] times the spacing distance between adjacent substrates.

3. The substrate carrying device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The spacing distance between the rectifying portion and the first substrate is [1, 2) times the spacing distance between adjacent substrates.

4. The substrate carrying device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The plurality of substrates include a second substrate adjacent to the first substrate, and the rectifying portion and the second substrate are symmetrical with respect to the first substrate.

5. The substrate carrying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The rectifying portion has the same shape as that of the first substrate.

6. The substrate carrying device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The rectifying portion is concentric with an orthographic projection of the first substrate on the rectifying portion, and an area of ​​a main surface of the rectifying portion is 1-1.01 times an area of ​​the first substrate.

7. The substrate carrying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The connecting member further includes a reinforcing portion, the reinforcing portion is located below the rectifying portion, and the bearing member is connected to the rectifying portion and / or the reinforcing portion.

8. The substrate carrying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The rectifying portion is integrally formed with the connecting body, or the rectifying portion is configured to be formed on the connecting body by additive processing.

9. A substrate processing device, characterized in that: include: a treatment tank for containing a treatment liquid; The substrate carrying device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, arranged in the processing tank; The bubbler is arranged in the processing tank and located below the supporting member, and is used for providing bubbles into the processing liquid.

10. The substrate processing device according to claim 9, characterized in that: The processing tank includes an inner tank body and an outer tank body, the inner tank body is used to accommodate the substrate carrying device and store the processing liquid for immersing the multiple substrates, the inner tank body includes two oppositely arranged first side walls and two oppositely arranged second side walls, the second side walls are parallel to the substrates, the overflow position of the first side wall is lower than the top surface of the second side wall, and the overflow position is used to make the processing liquid overflow from the overflow positions of the two first side walls to the outer tank body.

11. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein: The bubbler comprises: A bubbling plate, the bubbling plate faces the supporting member and has a plurality of openings; a bubbling chamber for providing gas to the plurality of openings; The interior of the bubbling chamber includes at least two gas channels which are independent of each other, and the gas supply flow rates of the at least two gas channels are independently controlled.

12. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein: The bubbler comprises: at least two bubbling units, the top surface of each bubbling unit comprises a plurality of openings, a bubbling cavity is formed inside each bubbling unit for providing gas to the plurality of openings, and the bubbling cavity comprises at least one independently controllable gas channel.

Images