阅读说明：本技术 喷嘴吹扫装置及晶圆承载装置 (Nozzle purging device and wafer bearing device ) 是由 曾俊华 许维政 于 2019-11-18 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种喷嘴吹扫装置及晶圆承载装置,其包括：容纳槽,用于放置显影喷嘴装置；吹扫装置,包括气源、至少一出气口及连接所述气源与所述出气口的输气管路,所述出气口设置在所述容纳槽中,吹扫气体自所述气源沿所述输气管路传输,并自所述出气口吹出,所述吹扫气体能够作用于所述显影喷嘴装置的外表面,以将所述显影喷嘴装置外表面或喷嘴处的液滴去除。本发明的优点在于,喷嘴清扫装置能够去除显影喷嘴装置外表面及喷嘴尖端的残留液滴,避免该液滴显影喷嘴装置移动过程中滴落而影响晶圆的性能。(The invention provides a nozzle purging device and a wafer bearing device, comprising: a housing tank for housing the developing nozzle device; the blowing device comprises an air source, at least one air outlet and a gas pipeline connected with the air source and the air outlet, wherein the air outlet is arranged in the accommodating groove, blowing gas is arranged in the accommodating groove, the air source is arranged along the gas pipeline for transmission, and the air outlet blows out, and the blowing gas can act on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device to remove liquid drops on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device or at the position of the nozzle. The invention has the advantages that the nozzle cleaning device can remove residual liquid drops on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device and the tip of the nozzle, and the phenomenon that the liquid drop developing nozzle device drops in the moving process to influence the performance of a wafer is avoided.)

1. A nozzle purging device, comprising:

a housing tank for housing the developing nozzle device;

the blowing device comprises an air source, at least one air outlet and a gas pipeline connected with the air source and the air outlet, wherein the air outlet is arranged in the accommodating groove, blowing gas is arranged in the accommodating groove, the air source is arranged along the gas pipeline for transmission, and the air outlet blows out, and the blowing gas can act on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device to remove liquid drops on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device or at the position of the nozzle.

2. The nozzle purge apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gas outlet is provided at a side of the housing groove, and the purge gas is blown out in a horizontal direction or in a direction at an acute angle to the horizontal direction.

3. The nozzle purging device as claimed in claim 2, wherein a portion of the gas transmission pipeline is disposed in a side wall of the accommodating groove.

4. The nozzle purging device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the purging device comprises a plurality of gas outlets arranged in at least one row in a direction from the bottom to the top of the holding tank, each row comprising at least one gas outlet.

5. The nozzle purging device according to claim 4, wherein when the air outlets are arranged in a plurality of rows, at least one row of the air outlets is arranged corresponding to a corner of the developing nozzle device, and at least one row of the air outlets is arranged corresponding to a nozzle tip of the developing nozzle device.

6. The nozzle purge apparatus of claim 4, wherein the receiving chamber has a centerline, and wherein the outlet port is located at a decreasing distance from the centerline of the receiving chamber in a direction from the bottom to the top of the receiving chamber when the outlet port is located in a plurality of rows.

7. A nozzle purge apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the distribution of the gas outlets is arranged to: the purge gas coverage area blown out from one of the gas outlets corresponds to one or more nozzle areas of the developing nozzle device.

8. The nozzle purging device according to claim 7, wherein the nozzle region comprises a nozzle tip and a corner of the development nozzle device.

9. The nozzle purge apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a drain tube in communication with the holding tank.

10. A wafer carrier device, comprising:

the carrying platform is used for carrying a wafer;

the outer-layer shell is provided with an accommodating cavity, the accommodating cavity is provided with an opening, the carrier is arranged in the accommodating cavity, and the outer-layer shell can lift relative to the carrier;

the nozzle purging device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the receiving groove of the nozzle purging device is disposed on an outer top surface or an outer side surface of the outer shell, and the outer shell can be lifted to drive the receiving groove to lift.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to a nozzle purging device and a wafer bearing device.

Background

In a semiconductor manufacturing process, for a developing technology in a photolithography process, it is necessary to spray a developing solution to a photoresist surface on a wafer surface by using a developing nozzle device, and form a three-dimensional pattern on the photoresist on the wafer surface by the sprayed developing solution. When the developing nozzle device stops discharging liquid, it will move to other wafers to operate on other wafers.

The inventor found that during the liquid discharging process of the developing nozzle device, the developing liquid may be splashed on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device, the liquid drops may be accumulated at the corners of the outer surface of the developing nozzle device to form accumulated liquid drops, and after the liquid discharging of the developing nozzle device is stopped, the residual liquid drops are easy to exist at the tip of the developing liquid nozzle. As shown in fig. 1, the accumulated droplets 11 are present at the corners of the outer surface of the developing nozzle device 10, and the remaining droplets 12 are present at the tip of the developing nozzle device 10. During the process of moving the developer nozzle device 10 to another wafer, the droplets 11 and 12 may drop on the wafer or another wafer, which may affect the formation of the wafer surface pattern and result in yield loss.

Therefore, how to prevent the accumulated or residual droplets on the developing nozzle device from dropping on the wafer is a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a nozzle purging device and a wafer bearing device, which can prevent residual liquid drops on a developing nozzle device from influencing the performance of a wafer.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a nozzle purge device, including: a housing tank for housing the developing nozzle device; the blowing device comprises an air source, at least one air outlet and a gas pipeline connected with the air source and the air outlet, wherein the air outlet is arranged in the accommodating groove, blowing gas is arranged in the accommodating groove, the air source is arranged along the gas pipeline for transmission, and the air outlet blows out, and the blowing gas can act on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device to remove liquid drops on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device or at the position of the nozzle.

Further, the gas outlet sets up the side of holding tank, purge gas blows off along the horizontal direction or along the direction that forms an acute angle with the horizontal direction.

Furthermore, part of the gas transmission pipeline is arranged in the side wall of the accommodating groove.

Further, the device that sweeps includes a plurality of gas outlets in the direction of holding tank bottom to top, the gas outlet is one row of setting at least, and each row includes an gas outlet at least.

Further, when the gas outlet is the multirow setting, at least one row the gas outlet corresponds the corner setting of development nozzle device, at least one row the gas outlet corresponds the nozzle point setting of development nozzle device.

Further, the holding tank has a central line, works as when the gas outlet is the multirow setting, follows hold tank bottom to top in the direction, the gas outlet with the distance of holding tank central line reduces gradually.

Further, the distribution of the air outlets is set as follows: the purge gas coverage area blown out from one of the gas outlets corresponds to one or more nozzle areas of the developing nozzle device.

Further, the nozzle area includes a nozzle tip and a corner of the developing nozzle device.

Further, the nozzle purging device further comprises a liquid discharge pipe, and the liquid discharge pipe is communicated with the containing groove.

The invention also provides a wafer bearing device, which comprises: the carrying platform is used for carrying a wafer; the outer-layer shell is provided with an accommodating cavity, the accommodating cavity is provided with an opening, the carrier is arranged in the accommodating cavity, and the outer-layer shell can lift relative to the carrier; according to the nozzle purging device, the containing groove of the nozzle purging device is formed in the outer top surface or the outer side surface of the outer shell, and the outer shell can be lifted and lowered to drive the containing groove to lift and lower.

The invention has the advantages that the nozzle cleaning device can remove residual liquid drops on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device and the tip of the nozzle, and the phenomenon that the liquid drop developing nozzle device drops in the moving process to influence the performance of a wafer is avoided.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a prior art developer nozzle assembly with droplets on the outer surface and nozzle tip;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of a nozzle purging device according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of a nozzle purging device according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of a nozzle purging device according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a wafer carrier apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6A to 6E are schematic views illustrating the operation of the wafer carrier with the nozzle purging device.

Detailed Description

The following describes in detail embodiments of a nozzle purging device and a wafer carrying device according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of a nozzle purging device according to the present invention, and fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of the nozzle purging device according to the present invention, and referring to fig. 2 and 3, the nozzle purging device 2 includes a receiving tank 20 and a purging device 30.

The housing groove 20 is used for housing the developing nozzle device 10. The developing nozzle device 10 is schematically illustrated in fig. 3. It is understood that the nozzle purge device 2 of the present invention is used to purge the residual droplets on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device 10 or at the nozzle tip, so that the developing nozzle device 10 places at least the region having the residual droplets in the housing groove 20.

The purging device 30 includes a gas source 31, at least one gas outlet 32 and a gas pipeline 33. The gas source 31 is used to provide a purge gas, such as nitrogen, under pressure. The pressure of the purge gas can be selected according to the actual use environment, for example, the pressure of the purge gas is 30-100 kpa. The gas outlet 32 is provided in the housing tank 20, and the gas outlet 32 allows purge gas to be blown out. The gas transmission pipeline 33 is connected with the gas source 31 and the gas outlet 32, and the blowing gas in the gas source 31 is transmitted to the gas outlet 32 through the gas transmission pipeline 33 and is blown out from the gas outlet 32. The purge gas is blown into the housing tank 20 and acts on the outer surface or the nozzle tip of the developing nozzle 10 device placed in the housing tank 20.

The purge gas blown out from the gas outlet 32 by the nozzle purge device 2 of the present invention has a certain pressure, and is capable of purging droplets remaining on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device 10 or at the nozzle tip, and the droplets are dropped into the accommodating groove 20 under the action of the purge gas, so as to remove the droplets on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device 10 or at the nozzle tip. Because the residual liquid drops on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device 10 or at the nozzle tip are removed, the situation that the residual liquid drops fall on the wafer cannot occur in the moving process after the developing nozzle device 10 sprays the developing solution, the formation of the surface pattern of the wafer is further avoided, and the yield of the wafer patterning is improved.

Further, the gas source 31 is disposed outside the housing tank 20. The gas transmission pipeline 33 is partially located in the inner wall of the accommodating groove 20, in this embodiment, the gas transmission pipeline 33 is partially located in the side wall of the accommodating groove 20, and partially located outside the accommodating groove 20. Wherein, the part inside the inner wall of the accommodating groove 20 is communicated with the air outlet 32, and the part outside the accommodating groove 20 is communicated with the air source 31.

In general, the residual liquid droplets are collected at the side surface of the outer surface of the developing nozzle device and the nozzle tip, and therefore, it is preferable in the present invention that the gas outlet 32 is provided at the side surface of the housing groove 20, and the purge gas is blown out in the horizontal direction or in a direction at an acute angle to the horizontal direction to purge the developing nozzle device from the side surface. In the present embodiment, the purge gas is blown out in a horizontal direction, the flow direction of the purge gas is shown by an arrow in fig. 3, and the purge gas acts on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device, i.e., the nozzle tip, to remove the liquid droplets on the outer surface of the developing nozzle device and the nozzle tip.

In general, the developing nozzle device 10 has a strip-shaped configuration, and a plurality of nozzles are arranged along the length of the developing nozzle device, in order to enable the purge gas to sufficiently act on the developing nozzle device 10, in the present invention, the purge device includes a plurality of gas outlets 32, and the gas outlets 32 are arranged in at least one row in a direction from the bottom to the top of the housing tank 20, and each row includes at least one gas outlet 32. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the air outlets 32 are arranged in a row, and the air outlets 30 are arranged along the length direction of the nozzle purging device 2.

Preferably, in order to save gas resources while the purge gas can sufficiently act on the developing nozzle device 10, the gas outlet 32 may be configured as follows: the purge gas coverage area blown out from one of the gas outlets 32 may correspond to one or more nozzle areas of the developing nozzle device, if the pressure of the purge gas blown out from the gas outlets 32 is too small, the purge gas coverage area blown out from one of the gas outlets 32 may correspond to one nozzle area, and if the pressure of the purge gas blown out from the gas outlets 32 is relatively large, the purge gas coverage area blown out from one of the gas outlets 32 may correspond to a plurality of nozzle areas, so that the developing nozzle device 10 is fully purged while saving the purge gas. Wherein the nozzle area may comprise a nozzle tip, a corner area of an outer surface of the developing nozzle device. In the present embodiment, one gas outlet 32 corresponds to a plurality of nozzle regions, so that the pressure of the purge gas can be properly increased to fully act on the developing nozzle device, thereby completely removing the residual droplets from the developing nozzle device and preventing the droplets from dropping and affecting the performance of the wafer.

Further, the nozzle purging device 2 further includes a liquid discharge pipe 40, and the liquid discharge pipe 40 is communicated with the holding tank 20. The drain pipe 40 is used for discharging residual liquid accumulated in the holding tank 20. In the present embodiment, the drain pipe 40 is provided at the bottom end of the side wall of the housing tank 20 to enable the residual liquid accumulated in the housing tank 20 to be discharged to the maximum.

The nozzle purging device 2 can remove residual liquid drops such as developing solution and the like on the developing nozzle device, so that the liquid drops are prevented from influencing the process in the subsequent process.

As described above, there may be residual droplets at the corners and the nozzle tips of the developing nozzle device, and in order to further remove the corners and the nozzle tips of the developing nozzle device, the present invention also provides a second embodiment of the nozzle purging device. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the air outlets 32 are arranged in a plurality of rows in a direction from the bottom to the top of the accommodating groove 20, and each row includes at least one air outlet 32.

Specifically, fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional structure view of a second embodiment of the nozzle purging device of the present invention, please refer to fig. 4, wherein the gas outlets 32 are arranged in two rows in a direction from the bottom to the top of the accommodating tank 20, and each row includes a plurality of gas outlets 32. As shown in fig. 4, the developing nozzle device has two corners, namely an upper corner 101 and a lower corner 102, wherein the lower corner 102 is adjacent to the nozzle tip 103, in this embodiment, the purge gas coverage area blown by one row of the gas outlets 32 corresponds to the upper corner 101 area, the purge gas coverage area blown by the other row of the gas outlets 32 corresponds to the lower corner 102 area and the nozzle tip 103 area, and the purge gas coverage areas blown by the two rows of the gas outlets 32 can cover the whole area of the developing nozzle device with the residual liquid droplets, so that the residual liquid droplets of the developing nozzle device can be completely removed. In other embodiments of the present invention, the gas outlets 32 may be arranged in three rows, four rows, or the like, depending on the area covered with the purge gas blown out from the gas outlets 32 and the actual configuration of the conventional nozzle device.

Further, in the second embodiment, the housing tank 20 has a center line O, and when the gas outlets 32 are arranged in a plurality of rows, the distance between the gas outlets 32 and the housing tank center line O is gradually decreased along the direction from the bottom to the top of the housing tank, so as to decrease the distance between the purge gas blown out from the gas outlets 32 and the action position thereof, thereby enabling the purge gas to exert the best effect. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the upper corner 101 of the developing nozzle device is closer to the side surface of the housing tank 20 than the lower corner 102, and the gas outlets provided at the side of the housing tank 20 are arranged such that the gas outlets 32 corresponding to the upper corner 101 are arranged at a small distance from the housing tank center line O and the gas outlets 32 corresponding to the lower corner 102 are arranged at a large distance from the housing tank center line O, thereby allowing the purge gas to exert the best effect.

The nozzle purging device can be suitable for scenes needing purging the developing nozzle device. The invention provides a wafer bearing device adopting the nozzle purging device.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer carrier device according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to fig. 5, the wafer carrier apparatus includes a stage 50, an outer shell 51 and a nozzle purging device 20.

The carrier 50 is used for carrying a wafer 80 (see fig. 6A). The carrier 50 can rotate to rotate the wafer 80.

The outer shell 51 has a receiving cavity 510. The receiving chamber 510 has an opening 511, and specifically, the top of the receiving chamber 510 has the opening 511.

The stage 50 is disposed in the accommodating chamber 510, and the outer shell 51 can be lifted relative to the stage 50 so that the wafer can be placed on the stage 50 or removed from the stage 50. In the present embodiment, the stage 50 is fixed, and the outer case 51 is raised or lowered with respect to the stage 50. In another embodiment of the present invention, the outer case 51 is fixed, and the stage 50 is raised or lowered with respect to the outer case 51.

The holding tank 20 of the nozzle purging device 2 is disposed on the outer top surface or the outer side surface of the outer shell 51, and other structures of the nozzle purging device 2 may be disposed on the outer side surface of the outer shell 51 or may be separately disposed. In this embodiment, the receiving groove 20 of the nozzle purge device 2 is disposed on the outer top surface of the outer casing 51. The outer shell 51 can drive the accommodating groove 20 to ascend and descend.

The operation of the wafer carrier with the nozzle purging device in which two wafer carriers share one developing nozzle device will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Specifically, fig. 6A to 6E are schematic diagrams illustrating the operation process of the wafer carrier with the nozzle purging device, the first wafer carrier 6 and the second wafer carrier 7 are disposed in parallel, and the first wafer carrier 6 and the second wafer carrier 7 both carry the wafer 80. The first wafer bearing device 6 and the second wafer bearing device 7 share the same developing nozzle device 10.

Referring to fig. 6A, the developing nozzle device 10 is driven by the robot arm to leave the developing nozzle storage device 90, move to above the wafer 80 carried by the first wafer carrying device 6, and spray the developing solution.

Referring to fig. 6B, the developing nozzle device 10 finishes the operation and moves to the upper side of the nozzle cleaning device 2 of the first wafer carrier 6 under the driving of the robot. In the process of moving the developing nozzle device 10 or after the movement is completed, the outer casing 61 is lifted, and the nozzle cleaning device 2 is driven to be lifted. When the nozzle cleaning device 2 is raised to a predetermined position, the developing nozzle device 10 is inserted into the housing groove 20, and the purge gas purges the droplets remaining in the developing nozzle device 10.

Referring to fig. 6C, after the residual liquid drops on the developing nozzle device 10 are removed, the developing nozzle device 10 moves to above the second wafer carrier 7, and sprays the developing solution, and the outer shell 61 is reset. Since the residual droplets on the developing nozzle device 10 are removed, no residual droplets of the developing solution will drop onto the wafers 80 carried by the first wafer carrier 6 and the second wafer carrier 7 during the movement of the developing nozzle device 10.

Referring to fig. 6D, the developing nozzle device 10 finishes the operation and moves to the upper side of the nozzle cleaning device 2 of the second wafer carrying device 7 under the driving of the robot arm. During or after the movement of the developing nozzle device 10, the outer casing 71 is lifted, and the nozzle cleaning device 2 is lifted. When the nozzle cleaning device 2 is raised to a predetermined position, the developing nozzle device 10 is inserted into the housing groove 20, and the purge gas purges the droplets remaining in the developing nozzle device 10.

Referring to fig. 6E, after the residual droplets on the developing nozzle device 10 are removed, the developing nozzle device 10 moves to an initial position (for example, inside the developing nozzle storage device 90) or moves to another station for subsequent work, and the outer shell 71 is reset. Since the residual droplets on the developing nozzle device 10 are removed, no residual droplets of the developing solution will drop on the wafers 80 carried by the first wafer carrier 6 and the second wafer carrier 7 during the movement of the developing nozzle device 10.

The foregoing is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, various modifications and decorations can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention, and these modifications and decorations should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.