Chuck for square substrate

Abstract

The present application provides a chuck for a square substrate, comprising a chuck body and two sets of clamping assemblies evenly distributed on the chuck body, wherein the two sets of clamping assemblies are each used for clamping two opposite corners of the substrate; each set of clamping assembly comprises two clamping devices, which are each used for clamping two adjacent edges of the substrate, and the two adjacent edges form a corner; and each clamping device comprises a base, a support platform, a guide column and a clamping member. The chuck has a simple structure, and can stably secure the square substrate by clamping the corners of the square substrate, thereby preventing the substrate from undergoing loosening and being scratched by friction with the clamping devices during high-speed rotation, improving the product quality.

Description

Chuck for square substrates Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and in particular to a chuck for square substrates. Background Technology

[0002] In single-wafer wet processing, the substrate is fixed to the chuck by a clamping device and rotates with the chuck. A chemical solution is sprayed onto the substrate surface for processing. During the process, it is crucial to ensure the substrate remains stably fixed to the chuck; otherwise, it may loosen during high-speed rotation, causing friction between the substrate and the clamping device, resulting in scratches on the substrate. Therefore, the clamping device is a very important component of the chuck. Different clamping methods are typically used to fix the substrate depending on its structure. Currently, traditional wafer clamping methods utilize centrifugal force to hold the wafer. For example, the wafer clamping device proposed in patent CN105529295A clamps the wafer using centrifugal force when the wafer chuck rotates at high speed, and resets itself using gravity when the chuck stops at a low speed. Generally, the larger the wafer size, the more clamping devices are installed on the chuck.

[0003] With the increasing popularity of advanced fan-out packaging technology and changes in substrate materials, the application of square substrates is growing. However, the shape and structure of square substrates differ significantly from traditional wafers, and their larger size makes it impossible to clamp them simply by increasing the number of clamping devices due to the centrifugal force. Therefore, it is necessary to design a clamping device suitable for square substrates. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this application is to provide a chuck for square substrates to solve the problem of difficulty in clamping square substrates in the prior art.

[0005] To achieve the above and other related objectives, this application provides a chuck for a square substrate, comprising a chuck body and two sets of clamping assemblies evenly distributed on the chuck body. The two sets of clamping assemblies are respectively used to clamp two opposite vertices of the substrate. Each set of clamping assemblies includes two clamping devices for clamping two adjacent sides of the substrate, which together form a vertices. Each clamping device includes a base, a support platform, a guide post, and a clamping member. The base is fixed to the chuck body, the support platform is disposed on the base for supporting the substrate, the guide post is disposed on the base for guiding the substrate, and the clamping member is movably connected to the base for clamping or releasing the substrate.

[0006] Furthermore, the guide post includes an inclined surface at the top and a vertical surface extending downward from the bottom of the inclined surface. The inclined surface faces the interior of the chuck body and is used to guide the substrate. The vertical surface is used to limit the substrate. The extended surfaces of the vertical surfaces of the guide posts of the multiple clamping devices together form a square first limiting ring. The size of the first limiting ring is greater than or equal to the size of the substrate.

[0007] Furthermore, in the clamping state, the clamping members of multiple clamping devices and the extended surfaces of the contact surfaces with the substrate together form a square second limiting ring, the size of which is equal to the size of the substrate.

[0008] Furthermore, each clamping device includes two guide posts, which are respectively disposed on both sides of the clamping member.

[0009] Furthermore, the clamping member includes a jaw and an actuator. The jaw is movably connected to guide posts on both sides via a pin. The bottom end of the jaw is connected to the actuator, which is used to drive the jaw to rotate around the pin.

[0010] Furthermore, the actuator is a single-acting cylinder.

[0011] Furthermore, the chuck body is provided with multiple air passages. One end of each air passage is connected to a gas supply source through an air hole in the center of the chuck body, and the other end is connected to the actuator of each clamping device.

[0012] Furthermore, the lengths of the multiple airways are consistent.

[0013] Furthermore, the chuck also includes two sets of clamping components, and four sets of clamping components are disposed on the chuck body, respectively used to clamp the four apex positions of the substrate.

[0014] As described above, this application provides a chuck for square substrates, which has the following advantages: The chuck includes two sets of clamping components and a chuck body. The two sets of clamping components are evenly distributed on the chuck body and are used to clamp two opposite apex corners of the square substrate. Each set of clamping components includes two clamping devices, which are used to clamp the two sides forming the apex corners of the substrate. This chuck has a simple structure, and by clamping the apex corners of the square substrate, it can stably fix the square substrate on the chuck, avoiding loosening of the substrate during high-speed rotation and friction with the clamping devices, thus preventing scratches and improving product quality.

[0015] Overview of the attached figures

[0016] The features and performance of this application are further described by the following embodiments and accompanying drawings.

[0017] Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the chuck in an embodiment of this application;

[0018] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the clamping device in an embodiment of this application;

[0019] Figure 3 shows another schematic diagram of the clamping device in an embodiment of this application;

[0020] Figure 4 shows a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the clamping device in an embodiment of this application;

[0021] Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of the clamping member clamping the substrate in an embodiment of this application;

[0022] Figure 6 shows a top view of the chuck in an embodiment of this application;

[0023] Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of the substrate being held on the chuck in an embodiment of this application.

[0024] Preferred embodiments of this application

[0025] The following specific examples illustrate the implementation of this application. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of this application from the content disclosed in this specification. This application can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and various details in this specification can also be modified or changed based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of this application.

[0026] It should be noted that the illustrations provided in this embodiment are only schematic representations of the basic concept of this application. Although the illustrations only show components relevant to this application and are not drawn according to the actual number, shape, and size of components in implementation, the shape, quantity, and proportion of each component in actual implementation can be arbitrarily changed, and the layout of the components may also be more complex. In addition, the same reference numerals in multiple figures represent the same or equivalent parts or components.

[0027] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, this application proposes a chuck for a square substrate, which includes two sets of clamping components and a chuck body 2. The two sets of clamping components are evenly distributed on the chuck body 2 and are used to clamp two opposite apex corners of the substrate w. Each set of clamping components includes two clamping devices 1, respectively used to clamp the two sides forming the apex corners of the substrate w. Each clamping device 1 includes: a base 11, fixed to the chuck body 2; a support platform 12, disposed on the base 11, used to support the substrate w; a guide post 13, disposed on the base 11, used to guide and limit the apex corner positions of the substrate w; and a clamping member 14, movably connected to the base 11, used to clamp and fix the apex corner positions of the substrate w after the substrate w has been guided and limited. In some embodiments, the shape of the chuck body 2 is the circumcircle of the square substrate, and the clamping devices 1 are all disposed on the edge of the chuck body 2.

[0028] Referring to Figure 3, the guide post 13 includes an inclined surface at the top and a vertical surface extending downward from the bottom of the inclined surface. The inclined surface faces the interior of the chuck body 2 and is used to guide the substrate w; the vertical surface is used to limit the substrate w. When placing the substrate w, if there is a positioning deviation of the robot arm, the substrate w is first guided to fall by the inclined surface of the guide post 13, and then the substrate w is positioned by the vertical surface. The guide post 13 and the substrate w adopt a linear contact method, which can ensure the positional accuracy of the substrate w during picking and placing. In some embodiments, there are two guide posts 13, which are respectively arranged on both sides of the clamping member 14, and the support platform 12 extends to the bottom ends of the two guide posts 13. The vertical surfaces of the two guide posts 13 are in the same plane. The extended surfaces of the vertical surfaces of multiple guide posts 13 together form a square first limiting ring, the size of which is equal to or slightly larger than the size of the square substrate w; in the clamping state, the extended surfaces of the contact surfaces of multiple clamping members 14 and the substrate w together form a square second limiting ring, the size of which is equal to the size of the square substrate w, so that the clamping members 14 can clamp and fix the substrate w more stably.

[0029] As shown in Figure 4, the clamping member 14 includes a gripper 141 and an actuator 142. The gripper 141 is movably connected to the guide posts 13 on both sides via a pin. The bottom end of the gripper 141 is connected to the actuator 142. The actuator 142 drives the gripper 141 to rotate around the pin to clamp and release the top corner position of the substrate w. Specifically, the actuator 142 is a cylinder.

[0030] In this embodiment, a single-acting cylinder is used. As shown in Figure 5, when the cylinder is ventilated, the bottom end of the gripper 141 moves inward, and correspondingly, the top end of the gripper 141 moves outward around the pin axis, thereby opening the gripper 141 to pick up and place the substrate w. After picking up and placing the substrate w, the air supply is cut off, and the cylinder resets under the action of the spring, driving the bottom end of the gripper 141 to move outward, and correspondingly, the top end of the gripper 141 moves inward around the pin axis, thereby closing the gripper 141 to hold and fix the substrate w. By controlling the air supply and de-ventilation of the cylinder to release and hold the substrate w, when the air supply is cut off, the gripper 141 is in a closed state, which ensures that the clamping device can still effectively hold and fix the substrate w even when the cylinder leaks air.

[0031] As shown in Figure 2, the chuck body 2 has an opening 21 on its edge for mounting and accommodating a cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to the side wall of the opening 21 in the chuck body 2. An adjusting plate 22 can also be installed between the cylinder and the chuck body 2 to adjust the position of the cylinder.

[0032] As shown in Figure 5, the chuck body 2 has an air passage 24 extending from the center to the edge, which supplies gas to the cylinders of the clamping devices 1. One end of the air passage 24 is connected to an air hole 25 at the center of the chuck body 2, and is connected to a gas supply source through the air hole 25; the other end of the air passage 24 is connected to the cylinders of each clamping device 1. The lengths of the multiple air passages 24 are consistent to ensure the consistency of cylinder operation. To reduce the weight of the chuck body 2, the portion between two adjacent air passages 24 on the chuck body 2 can be designed as a hollow structure, as shown in Figure 6, where a support rib 23 is formed at the air passage 24. In this embodiment, four support ribs 23 are evenly distributed on the chuck body 2, and each support rib 23 has an air passage 24. The end of the air passage 24 away from the center of the chuck is connected to two cylinders, and gas is supplied to the two clamping devices 1 on both sides of a apex position of the base plate w through one air passage 24.

[0033] In some embodiments, the chuck further includes two sets of clamping components, for a total of four sets of clamping components distributed along the edge of the chuck body 2, respectively used to clamp the four apex positions of the substrate w. As shown in Figures 6 and 7, when the substrate w is square, each set of clamping components is equally spaced along the edge of the chuck body 2, respectively used to clamp the four apex positions of the square substrate w, which can both clamp and fix the substrate w without affecting the robot's entry, exit, and loading / unloading of the substrate w. Since the apex positions of the square substrate w are easily damaged, preferably, the distance between the two clamping devices 1 can be increased to create a certain distance between the clamping device 1 and the apex corner of the substrate w, thereby reducing the risk of substrate w breakage.

[0034] The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and effects of this application and are not intended to limit this application. Any person skilled in the art can modify or alter the above embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of this application. Therefore, all equivalent modifications or alterations made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical concept disclosed in this application should still be covered by the claims of this application.

Claims

1. A chuck for a square substrate, characterized in that, The device includes a chuck body and two sets of clamping assemblies evenly distributed on the chuck body. The two sets of clamping assemblies are used to clamp two opposite apex positions of a substrate. Each set of clamping assemblies includes two clamping devices for clamping two adjacent sides of the substrate, which form an apex. Each clamping device includes a base, a support platform, a guide post, and a clamping member. The base is fixed to the chuck body, the support platform is disposed on the base for supporting the substrate, the guide post is disposed on the base for guiding the substrate, and the clamping member is movably connected to the base for clamping or releasing the substrate.

2. The chuck according to claim 1, characterized in that, The guide post includes an inclined surface at the top and a vertical surface extending downward from the bottom of the inclined surface. The inclined surface faces the interior of the chuck body and is used to guide the substrate. The vertical surface is used to limit the substrate. The extended surfaces of the vertical surfaces of the guide posts of multiple clamping devices together form a square first limiting ring. The size of the first limiting ring is greater than or equal to the size of the substrate.

3. The chuck according to claim 2, characterized in that, In the clamping state, the clamping members of multiple clamping devices and the extended surfaces of the contact surfaces with the substrate together form a square second limiting ring, the size of which is equal to the size of the substrate.

4. The chuck according to claim 2, characterized in that, Each clamping device includes two guide posts, which are respectively disposed on both sides of the clamping member.

5. The chuck according to claim 4, characterized in that, The clamping component includes a jaw and an actuator. The jaw is movably connected to guide posts on both sides via a pin. The bottom end of the jaw is connected to the actuator, which drives the jaw to rotate around the pin.

6. The chuck according to claim 5, characterized in that, The actuator is a single-acting cylinder.

7. The chuck according to claim 6, characterized in that, The chuck body is provided with multiple air passages. One end of each air passage is connected to a gas supply source through an air hole in the center of the chuck body, and the other end is connected to the actuator of each clamping device.

8. The chuck according to claim 7, characterized in that, The multiple airways are of the same length.

9. The chuck according to claim 1, characterized in that, The chuck also includes two sets of clamping components. The four sets of clamping components are disposed on the chuck body and are used to clamp the four corner positions of the substrate.

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