CN223052125U - Wafer positioning device and wafer detection equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor front-end detection, relates to a wafer placing table, and in particular relates to a wafer positioning device and wafer detection equipment. The driven plate is rotated relative to the fixed plate by providing external force to the driven plate, and the plurality of clamping pieces are driven to move in opposite directions by the rotation of the driven plate, so that the dimensional change of a positioning plane is realized, the transfer placement of a wafer to be detected on a machine table is realized, and the handover and the positioning of the wafer are realized. Compared with the clamping piece moving in the vertical direction in the prior art, the clamping piece of the embodiment simplifies structural design and processing difficulty in a linear motion mode, simplifies mechanism actions of handover and positioning, and improves accuracy and control accuracy of handover and positioning.

Description

Wafer positioning device and wafer detection equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor front-end detection, relates to a wafer placing table, and in particular relates to a wafer positioning device and wafer detection equipment.

Background

In the prior art of wafer inspection equipment, most of the time, when a wafer is handed over from a manipulator of an EFEM to a workpiece table of the inspection equipment, pin needles are used for handover, that is, a plurality of pins capable of moving in the vertical direction are arranged around the workpiece table, and when the pins are lifted, the wafer transmitted by the EFEM is received, and then the wafer is lowered and placed on the chuck. This approach can only be used for material transport, and the wafer position on the chuck is primarily dependent on the motion accuracy of the EFEM robot and the workpiece table, etc.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer positioning device and a wafer inspection apparatus, which can realize the handover and positioning of wafers.

The wafer positioning device comprises a fixed disc and a driven disc which are connected with each other and coaxially arranged, wherein the driven disc can rotate relative to the fixed disc through external force, at least two clamping pieces which are positioned on the same plane can move in opposite directions relative to the center of the fixed disc through the rotation of the driven disc to form a positioning plane with a variable area, and the opposite movements comprise mutual approaching movement and mutual separating movement.

In some specific implementations, a limiting channel is provided on the fixed disk, at least two clamping members are disposed in the limiting channel, and the clamping members synchronously move in the limiting channel relative to the fixed disk.

In some embodiments, at least two of the clamping members are connected to the driven plate by corresponding connectors.

In some implementations, the connector includes a connecting rod and a cam follower fixedly connected to the connecting rod, the cam follower being connected to the driven disk.

In some embodiments, the connecting rod has an L-shaped structure, a short end of the connecting rod is connected with the cam follower, and a long end of the connecting rod is connected with the clamping piece.

In some implementations, the cam follower is disposed in a radial slot formed in the driven disk, the radial slot extending in a direction toward a center of the driven disk.

In some embodiments, the elbow of the connecting rod is provided with a stub shaft connected to the fixed disk, and a bearing disposed between the stub shaft and the fixed disk.

In some specific implementations, a pre-tightening mechanism is arranged on the driven disc, connected with one side of the short end of the connecting rod, and used for providing a stretching force for the connecting rod so that the cam follower is fitted with the radial groove.

In some specific implementations, the pre-tightening mechanism includes a pre-tightening spring, one end of the pre-tightening spring is connected with the connecting rod, and the other end of the pre-tightening spring is fixedly connected with the fixed disc.

In some embodiments, the number of the clamping members is three, and the number of the limiting channels relative to the clamping members is three.

In some embodiments, the spacing channel is an arcuate structure.

In some embodiments, there is a planar rotational relationship between adjacent ones of the spacing channels, and the planar rotational relationship between the spacing channels is the same.

In some embodiments, the fixed disk and the driven disk are coaxially arranged, and the driven disk and the extension seat of the fixed disk are connected through a shaft sleeve or a bearing.

In some specific implementations, the power component includes any one of a screw rod stepping motor and a linear motor, and the power component outputs an acting force in a linear motion direction and drives the driven disc to rotate.

The second aspect provides wafer detection equipment, which comprises the wafer positioning device and a bearing device, wherein the rotating device comprises a bearing shaft and a bearing table arranged at the upper end of the bearing shaft, channels are formed in the driven disc and the fixed disc, the bearing shaft passes through the channels, and the bearing table is arranged above the fixed disc.

In some embodiments, the driven plate is rotated to drive the plurality of clamping members to move along the limiting channel, and the plurality of clamping members form a positioning plane with an area not larger than the size of the wafer.

In some implementations, the plurality of clamping members form a locating plane having an area equal to the wafer size.

In some specific implementations, the driven disc is driven to rotate by linear motion output by the screw rod stepping motor.

The embodiment of the invention has the following beneficial effects:

The embodiment of the invention provides a wafer positioning device and wafer detection equipment, which enable a driven disc to rotate relative to a fixed disc by providing external force for the driven disc, and drive a plurality of clamping pieces to move in opposite directions by the rotating motion of the driven disc, so that the dimensional change of a positioning plane is realized, the transfer placement of a wafer to be detected on a machine table is realized, and the handover and the positioning of the wafer are realized. Compared with the clamping piece moving in the vertical direction in the prior art, the clamping piece of the embodiment simplifies structural design and processing difficulty in a linear motion mode, simplifies mechanism actions of handover and positioning, and improves accuracy and control accuracy of handover and positioning.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, or in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the techniques of the disclosure.

The foregoing objects, features and advantages of the disclosure will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are needed in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described, and it is obvious that the drawings in the description below are some embodiments of the present invention, and other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wafer positioning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a structure of a fixed disk according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a connection structure of a power unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The icon is 100-wafer positioning device, 200-wafer detection equipment;

110-fixed disk, 120-driven disk, 130-clamping piece, 140-connecting piece, 150-power component, 160-channel, 210-bearing table and 220-bearing shaft;

The device comprises a 111-limiting channel, a 112-extending seat and a 113-shaft sleeve;

121-radial slots;

141-connecting rod, 142-cam follower, 143-stub shaft, 144-elbow, 145-pretension spring;

151-a screw rod stepping motor and 152-a sliding block.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the invention.

The wafer positioning device provided by the embodiment of the application is applied to a semiconductor front detection scene, and particularly, the detection scene of the wafer is carried out. In this scenario, the detection method is to scan the surface of the wafer along a specific path by using laser to obtain optical information of each position on the surface of the wafer, and determine whether the surface of the wafer has a defect based on the optical information. Wherein, when the laser scans, the wafer is in a rotary motion state.

For the above process, a wafer conveying unit and a wafer placing unit are required to be configured in an actual detection scene, the wafer conveying unit is used for conveying a wafer to be detected to the wafer placing unit, the wafer placing unit is a rotary table, and the detection of the surface of the wafer is realized by the rotary motion of the rotary table of the wafer placing unit and the laser scanning.

When the wafer carrying unit carries the wafer to the placing unit, a wafer receiving and positioning device needs to be configured, the wafer to be detected in the carrying unit is received and fixed above the rotating table, and the wafer is received again through the rotating table. The wafer positioning device provided by the embodiment is used for receiving and fixing the wafer to be detected and is matched with other mechanisms of the rotary table to realize the transfer of the wafer.

Here, the "wafer" in the present embodiment generally refers to a substrate formed of a semiconductor or a non-semiconductor material. Examples include, but are not limited to, monocrystalline silicon, gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, and indium phosphide. Such substrates may typically be found and/or processed in semiconductor manufacturing facilities. In some cases, the wafer may include only the substrate (i.e., bare die). Or the wafer may include one or more layers of different materials formed on the substrate. One or more layers formed on the wafer may be "patterned" or "unpatterned". For example, a wafer may include a plurality of dies having repeatable pattern features.

Referring to fig. 1 for the structure of the wafer positioning apparatus of the present embodiment, the wafer positioning apparatus 100 includes a fixed disc 110 and a driven disc 120, wherein the fixed disc is a non-movable mechanism, and the driven disc is a mechanism movable by an external force.

The driven disc moves in a rotating direction relative to the fixed disc. Specifically, the driven plate performs a rotational movement based on the axial center of the fixed plate. In this embodiment, the fixed disk and the driven disk are connected to each other and coaxially arranged.

It is noted that the fastening to the fastening disk is not shown in fig. 1, which is achieved by a connection to an external fastening means. Since the non-moving state of the fixed disc is not a main technical feature in the present embodiment, a detailed description is omitted in the present embodiment.

The clamping device also comprises at least two clamping pieces which are positioned on the same plane, the clamping pieces can move oppositely relative to the center of the fixed disc through the rotary motion of the driven disc, a plane is defined between the clamping pieces, and the plane is a positioning plane with variable area.

Specifically, the formed plane is used for placing the wafer to be detected, namely the wafer to be detected is placed on the top surfaces of the clamping pieces, and the wafer conveying unit conveys the wafer to be detected into the plane, so that the positioning and placement of the wafer transferring intermediate link are realized.

In this embodiment, the opposite movement of the clamping members includes a movement of approaching to each other and a movement of moving away from each other, which can be understood that at least two clamping members perform the same movement with respect to the fixed disk in the same movement time, and the movement path and movement state are the same, and the movement stroke, the initial position with respect to the fixed disk, and the final position with respect to the fixed disk are also the same.

The positioning plane always keeps the same central point position through the opposite movement of the clamping piece, and the corresponding change is generated on the area of the positioning plane only according to the relative position of the clamping piece.

The reason for the change of the area of the positioning plane is that the initial size is larger than the wafer when the wafer is transported and received, the size of the positioning plane is required to enable the wafer to be fixed when the wafer is positioned, and the size of the positioning area is required to be larger than the size of the wafer when the wafer is transported to the next link so that the wafer is separated from the plane.

Wherein, the size of the positioning plane for realizing the wafer fixation should be smaller than the wafer size, so that the wafer can be placed in contact with the clamping and leaning top surface.

Preferably, the dimensions for this positioning plane are the same as the dimensions of the wafer. The dimension can be changed and adjusted according to the wafer with different dimensions, for example, the dimension of the positioning plane corresponding to the eight-inch wafer is the same as that of the positioning plane corresponding to the twelve-inch wafer.

Wherein the dimensions of the locating plane include, but are not limited to, any of area, diameter.

Therefore, the embodiment realizes the change of the positioning plane when the wafer is required to be transported through the structure, and can stably realize the stable positioning of the wafer in the transportation process.

In another implementation manner of the present embodiment, in order to enable the wafer to be stably placed on the apparatus, the number of the clamping members is optimally set to three based on the principle of three-point rounding, that is, the number of the clamping members is set to three in the present embodiment. That is, a positioning plane having a circular shape is formed by three sandwiching pieces, the area of the positioning plane should not be larger than the area of the wafer when the wafer placement is achieved, and the diameter of the positioning plane should not be larger than the diameter of the wafer when the wafer placement is achieved.

The three clamping parts are driven by the rotation motion of the driven plate respectively, so that opposite movement is realized.

In order to realize the opposite movement of the three clamping pieces, and the states of the same movement path and the same movement state given in the movement process, the movement stroke, the initial position relative to the fixed disc and the final position relative to the fixed disc are also the same.

Referring to fig. 2, regarding the structure of the fixing disc and the limiting channel, the limiting channel is in an arc structure, and in order to ensure that the plurality of clamping members move in opposite directions, a specific positional relationship is provided between the plurality of limiting channels.

Specifically, a plane rotation relationship is provided between adjacent limiting channels, wherein the plane rotation relationship is that one of the adjacent limiting channels is opposite to one of the limiting channels, and the other limiting channel is obtained by rotating based on the plane of the fixed disc.

In this embodiment any angle between 270 deg. -300 deg. is included for this rotation angle, preferably 300 deg. is the rotation angle. The limiting channels after the plane rotation relation are in a layout form shown in fig. 2, the arc concave sides of the limiting channels face the same direction and are arranged facing the circumference of the fixed disc, and a circle formed between the circle centers of the limiting channels and the fixed disc are concentric circles.

In summary, for the wafer positioning device provided by the embodiment of the application, an external force is applied to the driven plate to enable the driven plate to rotate relative to the fixed plate, the clamping piece connected with the driven plate synchronously moves, and the movement of the clamping piece is enabled to move along the arc-shaped structure of the limiting channel by the rotation movement change of the driven plate through the limiting channel arranged on the fixed plate, so that the plurality of clamping pieces form relative movement, and the size of the positioning plane is changed.

When the driven disc rotates clockwise, the clamping piece moves towards the center of the fixed disc along the limiting channel, so that the area of the positioning size is reduced. When the driven disc rotates anticlockwise, the clamping piece moves along the limiting channel in a path away from the center of the fixed disc, so that the area of the positioning plane is enlarged.

Referring to fig. 1 again, the clamping member in the present embodiment is connected to the driven disc through the connecting member, that is, the driven disc drives the clamping member to move through the connecting member.

Referring to fig. 3, the connecting piece in the embodiment includes a connecting rod and a cam follower fixedly connected to one end of the connecting rod, wherein the cam follower is connected to a driven disc, and the other end of the connecting rod is connected to a clamping piece.

As can be seen from fig. 3, in the present exemplary embodiment, an L-shaped structure is used for the connecting rod, wherein the L-shaped structure is provided to change the displacement path of the clamping element, i.e., to change the displacement path of the driven disk, so that the displacement path of the driven disk is changed, and the clamping element is moved relative to the center of the fixed disk.

Wherein, the cam follower is arranged in a radial groove which is arranged on the driven disc in an open way, wherein the radial groove extends towards the center of the driven disc.

In order to make the state of the connecting rod in the moving process more stable and the movement of the clamping piece more conform to the track of the arc-shaped limiting channel, a short shaft connected with the fixed disc and a bearing arranged between the short shaft and the fixed disc are arranged on the elbow of the connecting rod in the embodiment. When the driven plate rotates relative to the fixed plate, the driven plate pushes the cam follower through the radial groove, so that the connecting rod drives the clamping piece to rotate around the bearing of the elbow of the clamping piece, and the clamping piece is close to or far away from the center of the fixed plate.

The duplicate accuracy of the mechanism is affected by the clearance between the radial slots of the driven disk and the cam follower.

In order to solve the problem, a pre-tightening mechanism is further arranged in the embodiment and connected with one side of the short end of the connecting rod, and is used for providing tension force for the connecting rod, so that the cam follower is attached to one side in the radial groove, and the precision influence caused by the gap is reduced.

In one possible embodiment, the pretensioning mechanism includes a pretensioning spring, one end of which is connected to the connecting rod and the other end of which is connected to the fixing plate. When the driven plate rotates relative to the fixed plate, the pre-tightening spring is stretched, and the spring force of the pre-tightening spring enables the radial groove of the driven plate to be always in contact with the pushing cam follower at one side only, so that the transmission gap is eliminated.

For the wafer positioning device, the clamping piece correspondingly moves when the driven disc moves through the connecting piece.

In this embodiment, with respect to the wafer positioning apparatus described above, the rotational movement of the driven plate is achieved based on an external force, wherein the external force may include various power components.

Referring again to fig. 1, for the power component in this embodiment, any one of a screw stepping motor and a linear motor is included. The screw rod stepping motor is preferably selected, outputs acting force in the linear motion direction, and drives the driven disc to rotate.

Referring to fig. 4, regarding the screw stepping motor, the screw stepping motor is mounted on a vertical plate fixed at a bottom plate. The nut of the screw rod stepping motor is arranged at one end of the sliding block and connected with one end of the connecting rod through a small bearing, and the other end of the connecting rod is connected with the driven disc through another small bearing.

In this way, as described above, the movement of the lead screw stepper motor is translated into rotational movement of the rotatable plate relative to the stationary plate.

Regarding the connection relation between the fixed disk and the driven disk, the fixed disk and the driven disk are coaxially arranged, and the extending seats of the driven disk and the fixed disk are connected through a shaft sleeve or a bearing. By means of the structure, the fixed disc can be fixed, and the driven disc can move relative to the fixed disc.

The embodiment of the application provides a wafer positioning device, which is characterized in that an external force is provided for a driven disc to enable the driven disc to rotate relative to a fixed disc, and a plurality of clamping pieces are driven to move in opposite directions through the rotating motion of the driven disc, so that the area change of a positioning plane is realized, the transfer placement of a wafer to be detected on a machine table is realized, and the handover and the positioning of the wafer are realized.

Compared with the clamping piece moving in the vertical direction in the prior art, the clamping piece of the embodiment simplifies structural design and processing difficulty in a linear motion mode, simplifies mechanism actions of handover and positioning, and improves accuracy and control accuracy of handover and positioning.

Referring to fig. 5, an embodiment of the present application further provides a wafer inspection apparatus 200, which includes the above-mentioned wafer positioning device, and further includes a carrier device, wherein the rotating device includes a carrier shaft 220 and a carrier table 210 disposed at an upper end of the carrier shaft.

With continued reference to fig. 1, in order to achieve the passage of the bearing shaft in the present embodiment, a channel 160 is formed in the driven plate and the fixed plate, the bearing shaft passes through the channel, and the bearing table is disposed above the fixed plate.

Finally, description is made on how the wafer inspection apparatus provided in this embodiment performs wafer handover and positioning.

For the plummer in the wafer check out test set descends along with the loading axle, presss from both sides and leans on the piece to the fixed disk center to move to receiving the material position in step.

The wafer is carried into the wafer detection equipment by an external EFEM manipulator fork, the manipulator descends to place the wafer on the top surfaces of the three clamping pieces, so that the wafer is placed, and the manipulator withdraws the EFEM.

The bearing table ascends along with the bearing shaft until the top surface of the bearing table contacts with the wafer to bear the wafer.

The bearing table adsorbs the wafer to the bearing table rises along with the bearing shaft until the wafer breaks away from three clamping pieces.

The clamping piece moves away from the center of the fixed disc synchronously until the placing space area is larger than the wafer to remove the clamping piece.

After the bearing table descends along with the bearing shaft to the position that the wafer is lower than the top surface of the clamping piece, the clamping piece moves towards the center until the side surface of the clamping piece contacts with the side surface of the wafer, so that the wafer positioning is completed, the clamping piece synchronously moves outwards and is not contacted with the edge of the wafer, the connection and positioning are realized, and the bearing table rotates to enter a detection program.

The carrying device in the wafer detection device in this embodiment is the final wafer placement position, and can realize vertical movement and rotational movement. The vertical movement of the bearing device is used for moving the wafer placed on the positioning device to the bearing table, and the rotary movement is the rotary movement of the wafer on the bearing table and is matched with the optical device to detect the wafer.

For the above process, how the carrier realizes the stability of the placement of the wafer, reference may be made to related technical means in the prior art, including but not limited to vacuum adsorption, etc., and detailed description is omitted in this embodiment.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the directions or positional relationships indicated by the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc. are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, are merely for convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

It should be noted that the above embodiments are merely for illustrating the technical solution of the present invention and not for limiting the same, and although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the technical solution described in the above embodiments may be modified or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced, and these modifications or substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solution deviate from the scope of the technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims (18)

1. A wafer positioning apparatus, comprising:

the fixed disc and the driven disc are connected with each other and coaxially arranged, and the driven disc can rotate relative to the fixed disc through external force;

The clamping pieces are positioned on the same plane, and at least two clamping pieces can move in opposite directions relative to the center of the fixed disc through the rotation movement of the driven disc to form a positioning plane with variable size, and the opposite movements comprise the mutual approaching movement and the mutual separating movement.

2. The wafer positioning device of claim 1, wherein a limiting channel is provided on the fixed platen, and at least two of the clamping members are disposed in the limiting channel and move synchronously with respect to the fixed platen in the limiting channel.

3. The wafer positioning device of claim 1, wherein at least two of the clamping members are coupled to the driven plate by corresponding coupling members.

4. The wafer positioning device of claim 3, wherein the connection member comprises a connection rod and a cam follower fixedly coupled to the connection rod, the cam follower coupled to the driven disk.

5. The wafer positioning device of claim 4, wherein the connecting rod has an L-shaped configuration with a short end connected to the cam follower and a long end connected to the clamping member.

6. The wafer positioning device of claim 5, wherein the cam follower is disposed in a radial slot formed in the driven plate, the radial slot extending in a direction toward a center of the driven plate.

7. The wafer positioning device of claim 5, wherein an elbow of the connecting rod is provided with a stub shaft connected to the fixed platen, and a bearing disposed between the stub shaft and the fixed platen.

8. The wafer positioning device according to claim 6, wherein a pretensioning mechanism is provided on the driven plate, and the pretensioning mechanism is connected to a short end side of the connecting rod, and is configured to apply a tensile force to the connecting rod to cause the cam follower to engage with the radial groove.

9. The wafer positioning device of claim 8, wherein the pretensioning mechanism includes a pretensioning spring having one end connected to the connecting rod and the other end fixedly connected to the fixed plate.

10. The wafer positioning device of claim 2, wherein the number of clamping members is three and the number of limiting channels relative to the clamping members is three.

11. The wafer positioning device of claim 10, wherein the limiting channel is an arcuate structure.

12. The wafer positioning device of claim 11, wherein adjacent ones of the restraint channels have a planar rotational relationship therebetween, and wherein the planar rotational relationship between the plurality of restraint channels is the same.

13. The wafer positioning device of claim 1, wherein the fixed disk is coaxially disposed with the driven disk, and the driven disk is connected to the extended seat of the fixed disk by a bushing or a bearing.

14. The wafer positioning device according to claim 1, wherein the power unit outputs a force in a linear motion direction and drives the driven plate to rotate, and the power unit includes any one of a screw stepping motor and a linear motor.

15. The wafer detection equipment is characterized by comprising the wafer positioning device according to any one of claims 1-14 and further comprising a bearing device, wherein the bearing device comprises a bearing shaft and a bearing table arranged at the upper end of the bearing shaft, channels are formed in a driven disc and a fixed disc, the bearing shaft passes through the channels, and the bearing table is arranged above the fixed disc.

16. The wafer inspection apparatus of claim 15 wherein the plurality of clamping members are moved along the limiting path by rotating the driven plate, the plurality of clamping members defining a locating plane having a dimension no greater than a dimension of the wafer.

17. The wafer inspection apparatus of claim 16 wherein the plurality of clamping members form a locating plane having a dimension equal to the dimension of the wafer.

18. The wafer inspection apparatus of claim 16 wherein the linear motion is output by a lead screw stepper motor to rotate the driven plate.