Wafer Carrying Fork With Integrated Gas Purging And Suction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The semiconductor industry faces challenges in reducing residue and residue vapor during manufacturing, which can damage electronic components and affect yield, as feature sizes shrink, making existing systems and methods inadequate for ensuring cleanliness.
Innovation Solution
A semiconductor device manufacturing system with a wafer carrying fork equipped with wafer suction holes, gas purging elements, and gas suction elements is used to transport wafers, employing inert gases to purge and suction outgassing gases, thereby maintaining a clean environment and preventing contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional wafer transportation methods are used, then device complexity is reduced, but contamination control deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions (transportation, purging, and suction) into a single integrated wafer carrying fork structure. The fork body incorporates both gas purging elements and gas suction pipes, allowing simultaneous execution of contamination removal and wafer transport operations, thereby improving contamination control without proportionally increasing system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The wafer carrying fork is designed as a multi-functional tool that can perform wafer transportation, gas purging, and outgassing suction within a single device. This universal approach allows one component to address multiple contamination sources and transport requirements, improving overall system effectiveness while limiting the need for additional separate systems
2Object-affected harmful factors
If gas purging and suction systems are added, then contamination control improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gas purging elements and gas suction pipes are integrated into the same fork body structure, allowing both functions to be executed simultaneously during wafer transport. This merging approach improves residue vapor control while avoiding the need for separate purging and suction devices that would increase complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The fork body acts as an intermediary structure that coordinates between the gas supply system (for purging) and the vacuum system (for suction). By incorporating both purging and suction interfaces directly into the fork, it mediates the interaction between these systems in a unified manner, improving contamination control while managing system integration complexity
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple gas systems are implemented, then manufacturing precision improves, but use of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains continuous gas purging and suction operations during the entire wafer transport process. By keeping the gas flow and vacuum suction active continuously rather than intermittently, the system ensures consistent contamination control, improving manufacturing precision while optimizing energy utilization through uninterrupted operation
Solution Approach 2:
Gas purging is performed before wafer transport to pre-clean the environment, and suction continues during transport to remove outgassing. This preliminary and continuous action ensures contamination is addressed proactively, improving cleanliness while managing gas consumption through targeted timing of purging and suction operations
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system effectively reduces contamination and improves yield by ensuring a clean environment during wafer transportation and storage, enhancing the reliability of semiconductor components.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of wafer suction holes located on the top surface of the fork body
Implementation Method 2
employing inert gases to purge and suction outgassing gases
Implementation Method 3
a plurality of gas suction elements located on the bottom surface of the fork body... A first gas suction process is performed to draw an outgassing gas emitted from a surface of the first wafer
Data Source
AI summary
A wafer carrying fork includes a fork body, a plurality of wafer suction holes, a plurality of gas purging elements, a plurality of gas purging pipes, a plurality of gas suction elements, and a plurality of gas suction pipes. The fork body has a top surface, a bottom surface opposite to the top surface, and a plurality of lateral surfaces connecting the top surface and the bottom surface. The wafer suction holes are located on the top surface of the fork body. The gas purging elements are located on the lateral surfaces of the fork body. The gas purging pipes are connected to the gas purging elements. The gas suction elements are located on the bottom surface of the fork body. The gas suction pipes are connected to the gas suction elements.