阅读说明：本技术 一种晶圆夹持装置 (Wafer clamping device ) 是由 张迎信 王双成 高延飞 潘小龙 魏浩军 于 2020-06-03 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请提供一种晶圆夹持装置,所述晶圆夹持装置包括：底座；至少一个垫块,设置于所述底座的工作面；至少两个晶圆限位结构,设置于所述底座的工作面,所述晶圆限位结构包括第一工作面和凹槽,所述第一工作面延伸至所述凹槽。本申请所述的晶圆夹持装置,在进行晶圆翻转时,晶圆可以在重力作用下沿所述第一工作面滑入所述沟槽,并被所述沟槽固定,不会损伤晶圆,并且晶圆不容易倾倒,可以大幅提高晶圆加工良率和效率。(The application provides a wafer clamping device, wafer clamping device includes: a base; the cushion block is arranged on the working surface of the base; at least two wafer limit structures, set up in the working face of base, wafer limit structure includes first working face and recess, first working face extends to the recess. The application wafer clamping device when carrying out the wafer upset, the wafer can follow under the action of gravity first working face slips into the slot, and by the slot is fixed, can not harm the wafer to the wafer is difficult to empty, can improve wafer processing yield and efficiency by a wide margin.)

1. A wafer clamping device, comprising:

a base;

the cushion block is arranged on the working surface of the base;

at least two wafer limit structures, set up in the working face of base, wafer limit structure includes first working face and the recess that can the centre gripping wafer, first working face extends to the recess.

2. The wafer clamping apparatus of claim 1 wherein said spacer includes a second working surface, said second working surface being curved.

3. The wafer holding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first working surface is curved.

4. The wafer holding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the width of the groove matches the thickness of the wafer.

5. The wafer holding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the depth of the groove is 3 mm to 5 mm.

6. The wafer clamping apparatus of claim 1 wherein the material of the pad and the wafer restraint structure comprises polytetrafluoroethylene.

7. The wafer clamping device of claim 1 wherein the spacers and the wafer restraint structures are evenly distributed across the working surface of the base.

8. The wafer clamping device of claim 1 wherein the number of the spacers is two or more and the number of the wafer restraint structures is three or more.

9. The wafer clamping device of claim 1 wherein the number of the spacers is two, the number of the wafer restraint structures is two, the spacers are located on one side of the working surface of the base, and the wafer restraint structures are located on the other side of the working surface of the base.

10. The wafer clamping apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: the power structure and the connecting structure are arranged on the side wall of the base, and the power structure is connected with the connecting structure.

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a wafer clamping device.

Background

In the manufacturing process of large scale integrated circuit, a plurality of processes and procedures are required to be carried out on the wafer, and finally, qualified products can be manufactured. In these processes and procedures, it is often necessary to move or even flip the wafer. The wafer clamping device can play a role in clamping, fixing, conveying and the like in the process, so that the wafer is kept or moves in a certain mode.

At present, a wafer clamping device mainly adopts an air cylinder, a spring, a motor and the like to drive and clamp a wafer, but has some problems and disadvantages. The air cylinder, the spring and the motor are driven to have a complex structure in the clamping process, and the clamping force is not easy to control accurately, so that on one hand, the wafer can be scratched by friction of the clamping device and the surface smoothness of the wafer is affected, and on the other hand, the problems that the wafer is cracked and damaged due to overlarge clamping force, the wafer falls off due to undersize clamping force and the like can be caused.

Therefore, there is a need to provide a more efficient and reliable wafer clamping device, which improves the quality and efficiency of wafer processing.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a wafer clamping device, which can improve the wafer processing yield and efficiency.

One aspect of the present application provides a wafer clamping device, comprising: a base; the cushion block is arranged on the working surface of the base; at least two wafer limit structures, set up in the working face of base, wafer limit structure includes first working face and the recess that can the centre gripping wafer, first working face extends to the recess.

In some embodiments of the present application, the spacer includes a second working surface, the second working surface being curved.

In some embodiments of the present application, the first working surface is curved.

In some embodiments of the present application, the width of the groove matches the thickness of the wafer.

In some embodiments of the present application, the depth of the groove is 3 mm to 5 mm.

In some embodiments of the present application, the material of the pad and the wafer restraint structure comprises polytetrafluoroethylene.

In some embodiments of the present application, the pads and the wafer-restraining structures are uniformly distributed on the working surface of the base.

In some embodiments of the present application, the number of the spacers is two or more, and the number of the wafer position limiting structures is three or more.

In some embodiments of the present application, the number of the cushion blocks is two, the number of the wafer limiting structures is two, the cushion blocks are located on one side of the working surface of the base, and the wafer limiting structures are located on the other side of the working surface of the base.

In some embodiments of the present application, the wafer holding apparatus further comprises: the power structure and the connecting structure are arranged on the side wall of the base, and the power structure is connected with the connecting structure.

The application wafer clamping device when carrying out the wafer upset, the wafer can follow under the action of gravity first working face slips into the slot, and by the slot is fixed, can not harm the wafer to the wafer is difficult to empty, can improve wafer processing yield and efficiency by a wide margin.

Drawings

The following drawings describe in detail exemplary embodiments disclosed in the present application. Wherein like reference numerals represent similar structures throughout the several views of the drawings. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the present embodiments are non-limiting, exemplary embodiments and that the accompanying drawings are for illustrative and descriptive purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application, as other embodiments may equally fulfill the inventive intent of the present application. It should be understood that the drawings are not to scale. Wherein:

fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer clamping device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer positioning structure of a wafer clamping device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a pad of the wafer clamping device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural view illustrating the wafer clamping device according to the embodiment of the present application when the wafer clamping device is turned over;

fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a wafer clamping device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure when the wafer clamping device is turned over.

Detailed Description

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present disclosure, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, the present application is not limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the claims.

The technical solution of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

During the manufacturing process of the wafer, it is often necessary to move the wafer. For example, in some cases, it is even necessary to flip the wafer from the horizontal state to the vertical state. However, some current wafer clamping devices mainly use air cylinders, springs, motors, etc. to drive and clamp the wafer. However, the structure of the cylinder, the spring and the motor is complex in the clamping process, so that the clamping force is not easy to control accurately. If the clamping force is too large, the wafer may be scratched by the clamping device, the surface smoothness of the wafer may be affected, and even the wafer may be damaged by cracks and stress; if the clamping force is too low, the wafer is prone to fall off, for example, during flipping.

In view of the above problems, the present application provides a wafer clamping device, which does not need to use external force to drive to clamp a wafer, but uses the gravity of the wafer itself to combine with a specially designed working surface to fix the wafer, so that there are no problems of too large or too small clamping force, and the like, and there are no problems of wafer damage or falling off of the wafer, and the wafer processing yield and efficiency can be greatly improved.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer clamping device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

An embodiment of the present application provides a wafer clamping device, referring to fig. 1, the wafer clamping device includes: a base 1; the cushion block 2 is arranged on the working surface of the base 1; at least two wafer limit structure 3, set up in the working face of base 1, wafer limit structure 3 includes first working face 31 and the recess 32 that can the centre gripping wafer, first working face 31 extends to recess 32.

In some embodiments of the present application, the pads 2 and the wafer spacing structures 3 are uniformly distributed on the working surface of the base 1. In order to better fix the wafer 5, the cushion blocks 2 and the wafer limiting structures 3 are uniformly distributed.

In some embodiments of the present application, the number of the spacers 2 is one, and the number of the wafer spacing structures 3 is two. Three points can fix a plane, so the sum of the number of the cushion blocks 2 and the wafer limiting structures 3 can be at least three. Referring to fig. 1, when the wafer 5 is turned to the vertical state, at least two wafer stoppers 3 are required to hold the wafer 5, so that the minimum number of the wafer stoppers 3 is two and the minimum number of the spacers 2 is one.

In other embodiments of the present application, referring to fig. 1, the number of the cushion blocks 2 is two, the number of the wafer limiting structures 3 is two, the cushion blocks 2 are located on one side of the working surface of the base 1, and the wafer limiting structures 3 are located on the other side of the working surface of the base 1. The wafer limiting structures 3 need to support the wafer 5 when the wafer 5 is turned to be vertical, and therefore the two wafer limiting structures 3 need to be located on the same side of the working surface of the base 1. The two cushion blocks 2 are positioned on the other side of the working surface of the base 1.

In still other embodiments of the present application, the number of the spacers 2 may be two or more, and the number of the wafer limiting structures 3 may be three or more, as long as the spacers 2 and the wafer limiting structures 3 can fix the wafer 5.

In some embodiments of the present application, the wafer holding apparatus further comprises: a power structure (not shown in the figure) and a connecting structure 4, wherein the connecting structure 4 is arranged on the side wall of the base 1, and the power structure is connected with the connecting structure 4. The power structure can provide power for the connecting structure 4 to move the base 1 connected with the connecting structure 4 and the wafer 5 on the base 1. For example, the motive structure may provide a flipping force to flip the base 1 and thus the wafer 5.

In some embodiments of the present application, the power of the power structure may be a cylinder, a spring, a motor, or the like.

In some embodiments of the present application, the material of the pad 2 and the wafer restraint structure 3 comprises polytetrafluoroethylene. The polytetrafluoroethylene is a material with a low friction coefficient, and can reduce the friction force between the cushion block 2 and the wafer limiting structure 3 and the wafer 5, so that the wafer 5 can move on the wafer limiting structure 3 and the cushion block 2 more smoothly, and the wafer 5 cannot be damaged.

As shown in fig. 1, when the wafer 5 is turned to the vertical state, the wafer 5 can slide into the groove 32 along the first working surface 31 under the action of its own weight and is fixed by the groove 32, the wafer 5 is not damaged, and the wafer 5 is not easy to fall.

The wafer clamping device will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer position-limiting structure of the wafer clamping device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 2(a) is a front view, fig. 2(b) is a plan view, and fig. 2(c) is a left side view.

Referring to fig. 2(c), in some embodiments of the present application, the first working surface 31 is a curved surface. The curved surface can fix the wafer 5 by combining the gravity of the wafer 5 when the wafer 5 is horizontal, so that the wafer 5 cannot move horizontally. Moreover, when the wafer 5 is turned from horizontal to vertical, the curved surface may make the wafer 5 slide into the groove 32 more smoothly. In an actual structure, the radian of the curved surface can be specifically designed according to the size, the weight and the like of the wafer.

In some embodiments of the present application, the width of the groove 32 matches the thickness of the wafer 5. If the width of the groove 32 is small, the wafer 5 is difficult to smoothly slide into the groove 32; if the width of the groove 32 is too large, the wafer 5 is also easy to shake and cannot be fixed after the wafer 5 slides into the groove 32.

In some embodiments of the present application, the depth of the groove 32 is 3 mm to 5 mm. If the depth of the groove 32 is too shallow, the wafer 5 still easily falls down after sliding into the groove 32; if the depth of the groove 32 is too deep, the groove 32 covers more of the surface of the wafer 5, which affects subsequent processes of the wafer 5, such as cleaning.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a pad of the wafer clamping device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 3(a) is a front view, fig. 3(b) is a plan view, and fig. 3(c) is a left side view.

Referring to fig. 3(c), the spacer 2 includes a second working surface 21, and the second working surface 21 is a curved surface. The curved surface can fix the wafer 5 by combining the gravity of the wafer 5 when the wafer 5 is horizontal, so that the wafer 5 cannot move horizontally. In an actual structure, the radian of the curved surface can be specifically designed according to the size, the weight and the like of the wafer. In some embodiments of the present application, the curvature of the second working surface 21 may be the same as the curvature of the first working surface 31.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of the wafer clamping device according to the embodiment of the present application when the wafer clamping device is turned over. Fig. 4(a) shows the wafer holding apparatus in a horizontal state, fig. 4(b) shows the wafer holding apparatus in a tilted state, and fig. 4(c) shows the wafer holding apparatus in a vertical state. Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating an inverted wafer clamping device according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein fig. 5(a) is a view illustrating the wafer clamping device being in a horizontal state, fig. 5(b) is a view illustrating the wafer clamping device being in an inclined state, and fig. 5(c) is a view illustrating the wafer clamping device being in a vertical state.

Next, with reference to fig. 4 and 5, how the wafer moves when the wafer holding apparatus is turned over will be described.

Referring to fig. 4(a) and 5(a), when the wafer holding apparatus is located horizontally, the wafer 5 is disposed on the first working surface 31 and the second working surface 21, and since the first working surface 31 and the second working surface 21 are curved, the wafer 5 is subjected to a downward force by its own weight and does not move in the horizontal direction.

Referring to fig. 4(b) and 5(b), when the wafer holding apparatus is tilted upside down, the wafer 5 moves along the first working surface 31 and the second working surface 21 by its own gravity, and the wafer 5 can move more gently because the first working surface 31 and the second working surface 21 are curved surfaces.

Referring to fig. 4(c) and 5(c), when the wafer holding apparatus continues to be turned to the vertical direction, the wafer 5 moves along the first working surface 31 under the action of its own gravity and finally slides into the groove 32, and the groove 32 can hold the wafer 5 because the size of the groove 32 matches with that of the wafer 5.

Because the wafer 5 moves along the smooth curved surface under the action of self gravity, the wafer 5 is not damaged by clamping force, and the yield of the wafer can be greatly improved; in addition, the groove 32 is used for fixing the wafer 5, so that the wafer 5 is not easy to topple over, and the wafer processing efficiency can be greatly improved.

In some embodiments, when a wafer is turned over by using a conventional wafer clamping device, since the wafer is easy to topple over and be damaged, failures occur 8 to 12 times per month, each time causing damage to 4 to 6 wafers; in some embodiments, when the wafer clamping device is used for overturning the wafer, the wafer is not easy to topple over and cannot be damaged, so that the fault is only generated about 0 to 1 time per month, and the wafer cannot be damaged.

The application wafer clamping device when carrying out the wafer upset, the wafer can follow under the action of gravity first working face slips into the slot, and by the slot is fixed, can not harm the wafer to the wafer is difficult to empty, can improve wafer processing yield and efficiency by a wide margin.

In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the present application that the foregoing application content may be presented by way of example only, and may not be limiting. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present application is intended to cover various reasonable variations, adaptations, and modifications of the embodiments described herein, although not explicitly described herein. Such alterations, modifications, and variations are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this application.

It is to be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein in this embodiment includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may also be present.

It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes" or "including," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

It will be further understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. Thus, a first element in some embodiments may be termed a second element in other embodiments without departing from the teachings of the present application. The same reference numerals or the same reference characters denote the same elements throughout the specification.

Further, the present specification describes example embodiments with reference to idealized example cross-sectional and/or plan and/or perspective views. Accordingly, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, example embodiments should not be construed as limited to the shapes of regions illustrated herein but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing. For example, an etched region shown as a rectangle will typically have rounded or curved features. Thus, the regions illustrated in the figures are schematic in nature and their shapes are not intended to illustrate the actual shape of a region of a device and are not intended to limit the scope of exemplary embodiments.