CN120816419A

CN120816419A - Wafer transfer device and CMP system having the same

Info

Publication number: CN120816419A
Application number: CN202510900113.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王剑; 李俊卿; 李长坤
Original assignee: Huahaiqingke Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huahaiqingke Co Ltd
Priority date: 2024-07-05
Filing date: 2025-07-01
Publication date: 2025-10-21
Also published as: CN120715804A; CN120985526A; CN120715797A

Abstract

The invention discloses a wafer transmission device and a CMP system with the same, and relates to the technical field of wafer manufacturing. The wafer transmission device comprises a track, a sliding block and a wafer clamping mechanism, wherein the track is arranged in the CMP system along the transverse direction and the vertical direction of the CMP system and moves along the track, the sliding block is provided with the wafer clamping mechanism to clamp a wafer to be transmitted, the track at least comprises a horizontal section and a vertical section which are connected into a whole, and the wafer clamping mechanism moves between the horizontal section and the vertical section by means of the sliding block to realize the overturning of the wafer.

Description

Wafer transmission device and CMP system with same

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to a wafer transmission device and a CMP system with the same.

Background

The integrated circuit industry is the core of the information technology industry and plays a key role in the process of converting and upgrading the boosting manufacturing industry into digital and intelligent conversion. The chip is a carrier of an integrated circuit, and the chip manufacturing involves the process flows of integrated circuit design, wafer manufacturing, wafer processing, electrical measurement, dicing packaging, testing, and the like. Among them, chemical mechanical polishing belongs to one of five main core processes in the wafer manufacturing process.

Chemical mechanical polishing (ChemicalMechanicalPolishing, CMP) is an ultra-precise surface finishing technique for global planarization. The chemical mechanical polishing generally attracts a wafer to the bottom surface of a carrier head, the surface of the wafer with a deposition layer is abutted against the upper surface of a polishing pad, the carrier head rotates in the same direction with the polishing pad under the actuation of a driving component and gives a downward load to the wafer, and polishing liquid is supplied to the upper surface of the polishing pad and distributed between the wafer and the polishing pad, so that the wafer completes the chemical mechanical polishing of the wafer under the combined action of chemistry and machinery.

Chemical mechanical polishing equipment typically includes a polishing unit and a cleaning unit. The existing chemical mechanical polishing equipment has large occupied area, influences the placement quantity of CMP equipment in a Fab factory, has more temporary storage stations for wafers, increases the turnover times of the wafers, risks cross contamination, adopts standard manipulators for a transmission system in the CMP equipment, has more standard manipulators, complicates wafer circumference and increases the overall cost of equipment, and cannot simultaneously consider single-disc, double-disc and three-disc polishing processes and has competitive advantages in equipment production capacity (WPH).

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, embodiments of the present application provide a wafer transfer device and a CMP system having the same, so as to at least partially solve the above-mentioned problems.

According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present application, there is provided a wafer transfer apparatus for wafer transfer in a CMP system, comprising:

a rail disposed transversely and vertically to the CMP system and positioned within the CMP system;

the slide block is arranged on the track and moves along the track, and a wafer clamping mechanism is arranged on the slide block to clamp a wafer to be transmitted;

The track at least comprises a horizontal section and a vertical section which are connected into a whole, and the wafer clamping mechanism moves between the horizontal section and the vertical section by means of the sliding block so as to realize overturning of the wafer.

In some embodiments, the track further comprises a transition section disposed between a horizontal section disposed along a length of the CMP system and a vertical section disposed along a height of the CMP system, the wafer clamping mechanism moving between the horizontal section and the vertical section such that a wafer held thereby is flipped 90 degrees.

In some embodiments, the track comprises a pair of parallel horizontal segments and a pair of parallel vertical segments connected in a ring configuration by the transition segments, and the wafer held by the wafer holding mechanism is flipped 180 ° when the wafer is moved between the opposing horizontal or vertical segments.

In some embodiments, the slider is disposed above or beside a track along which it moves by electromagnetic drive.

In some embodiments, one vertical section of the track is disposed proximate to a head unit of the CMP system, and a head robot of the head unit picks and places wafers from a horizontal section of the track.

In some embodiments, the number of sliders is a plurality, which are spaced apart along the length of the track.

In some embodiments, the slide reciprocates along the track to transport a wafer held on the wafer clamping mechanism.

In some embodiments, the wafer clamping mechanism includes a pair of clamping arms spaced apart along the length of the track, at least one clamping arm being movable along the length of the track to clamp or release a wafer.

In some embodiments, the track is a U-shaped structure comprising two horizontal sections and a vertical section disposed between the horizontal sections, the track opening toward a head unit of the CMP system, the lower horizontal section being immediately adjacent to the head unit.

According to a second aspect of embodiments of the present application, there is provided a CMP system comprising a head unit, a polishing unit, a cleaning unit, and the wafer transfer apparatus described above, the wafer transfer apparatus being disposed across the polishing unit and the cleaning unit to transfer a wafer therebetween.

In some embodiments, the polishing unit and the cleaning unit are vertically stacked, with the polishing unit being located below the cleaning unit.

In some embodiments, the horizontal section of track extends to at least one cleaning module of the cleaning unit.

In some embodiments, the cleaning unit includes a plurality of cleaning modules and a drying module, with an epicyclic robot configured between the modules to transfer wafers between the modules.

In some embodiments, the transfer robot is capable of gripping a wafer from a wafer gripping mechanism on a track and transporting the wafer to a cleaning module or a drying module of a cleaning unit.

In some embodiments, the cleaning module and the drying module of the cleaning unit are disposed along a periphery of the top of the CMP system, the drying module being disposed adjacent to the head unit.

In some embodiments, the polishing unit comprises a plurality of polishing modules arranged horizontally along the length of the CMP system.

In some embodiments, the polishing module includes a polishing platen, a polishing assembly, and a loading assembly disposed laterally of the polishing platen, the polishing assembly disposed above the polishing platen and the loading assembly to transfer wafers between the loading assembly and the polishing platen.

In some embodiments, the wafer transfer device is disposed adjacent to the loading assembly, and a loading plate of the loading assembly is movable in a vertical direction to hold wafers on the wafer clamping mechanism.

In some embodiments, the CMP system comprises two parallel sub-CMP systems comprising a pre-unit, a polishing unit, a cleaning unit, and a wafer transfer device, wherein the two sub-CMP systems share one pre-unit.

In some embodiments, the polishing unit, the cleaning unit, and the wafer transfer device of the sub-CMP system are symmetrically disposed along a horizontal centerline of the CMP system.

The beneficial effects of the invention include:

a. The wafer transmission device is provided with the track, the track is arranged along the transverse direction and the vertical direction of the CMP system, and the wafer clamping mechanism on the track can realize the turnover of the wafer in the moving process, so that the CMP system does not need to be provided with a mechanism specially realizing the turnover of the wafer, the structure is effectively simplified, the times of wafer handover are reduced, and the cross contamination defect caused by the wafer transmission is further controlled;

the polishing unit and the cleaning unit of the CMP system adopt a vertical stacking mode, compared with the traditional CMP system, the polishing unit and the cleaning unit are abandoned to be horizontally arranged, the occupied area of the polishing unit and the cleaning unit is reduced, the volume of the CMP system is reduced, and the flexibility of equipment arrangement of a Fab factory is enhanced;

c. The transmission of the wafers between the adjacent polishing modules is realized through the wafer transmission device, so that the configuration quantity of the mechanical arms can be saved, and the cost of the CMP system can be controlled;

d. The drying module of the cleaning unit is arranged close to the front unit so as to shorten the transmission path of the wafer and reduce the cross contamination of the wafer, so that the dried wafer can be quickly transferred into the wafer loading box of the front unit;

e. the loading tray of the loading assembly can move along the vertical direction so as to support the wafer on the wafer clamping mechanism from bottom to top, so that the loading assembly and the bearing head can interact;

f. The polishing unit is provided with two or more polishing modules which are arranged at intervals along the length direction of the CMP system so as to adapt to single-disc technology, double-disc technology and multi-disc polishing technology;

the CMP system comprises two sub-CMP systems which are arranged in parallel and independently run so as to improve the fault tolerance of the operation of the CMP system;

h. The cleaning module and the drying module of the cleaning unit are arranged along the periphery of the top of the CMP system so as to enlarge the installation and maintenance operation space of the cleaning module and the drying module and improve the convenience of operation;

i. In the CMP system, the conventional buffer station is not required to be configured, the wafer can be buffered on the wafer clamping mechanism, the structure is effectively simplified, the secondary pollution of the wafer at the buffer station is controlled, and the quality of wafer polishing is guaranteed.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are required in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the embodiments of the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings for a person having ordinary skill in the art.

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

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 1 at A;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a wafer transfer apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a CMP system provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a polishing module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a wafer transfer path according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a wafer clamping mechanism interacting with a load assembly and a carrier head according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a CMP system provided in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

In order to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following description will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which are derived by a person skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present application, shall fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be understood that although the terms "first," "second," "third," etc. may be used herein to describe various information, these information should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more, unless explicitly defined otherwise. Chemical mechanical polishing (ChemicalMechanicalPolishing, CMP) is also called Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP), and a Wafer is also called a Substrate (Substrate), and its meaning and actual function are equivalent.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a wafer transfer apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the wafer transfer apparatus 1 is used for wafer transfer in a CMP system, and includes:

Rails 10 disposed in and located in the CMP system in a lateral direction and a vertical direction of the CMP system, where the lateral direction is a longitudinal direction of the CMP system and the vertical direction is a height direction of the CMP system;

and a slider 20 disposed on the rail 10 and moving along the rail 10, wherein a wafer clamping mechanism 30 is disposed on the slider 20 to clamp a wafer W to be transferred.

The track 10 includes a horizontal section 11 and a vertical section 12, which are integrally connected, and the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves between the horizontal section 11 and the vertical section 12 by means of a slider 20 to realize the overturning of the wafer.

In the present invention, the track 10 includes at least one horizontal segment 11 and a vertical segment 12, which are integrally formed, and the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves along the track 10 by means of the slider 20 to realize the overturning action of the wafer. Namely, the overturning action of the wafer is realized in the wafer transmission process.

The application of the wafer transmission device 1 provided by the invention ensures that a CMP system does not need to be specially provided with a mechanism for realizing wafer overturning, effectively simplifies the structure, is beneficial to reducing the times of wafer handover, and further controls the cross contamination defect caused by wafer transmission.

Further, the track 10 further comprises a transition section 13 arranged between the horizontal section 11 and the vertical section 12, wherein the horizontal section 11 is arranged along the length direction of the CMP system, the vertical section 12 is arranged along the height direction of the CMP system, and the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves between the horizontal section 11 and the vertical section 12 so that the wafer clamped by the wafer clamping mechanism is turned by 90 degrees.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the track 10 comprises a pair of horizontal sections 11 parallel to each other and a pair of vertical sections 12 parallel to each other, which are connected in a ring-shaped configuration by four transition sections 13. The wafer held by the wafer holding mechanism 30 is flipped 180 ° past the two transition sections 13 as the wafer moves between the opposing horizontal sections 11 or vertical sections 12. I.e. the wafer is turned 180 ° after it has been moved from one horizontal section 11, one transition section 13 via one vertical section 12 and one transition section 13 to the other horizontal section 11.

Further, the slider 20 is disposed at a side of the rail 10, as shown in fig. 1, and moves along the rail 10 by electromagnetic driving. The wafer clamping mechanism 30 is connected to the slide block 20 and is arranged on one side of the track 10 in a biased manner, so that components such as a mechanical arm and a loading assembly can interact with the wafer clamping mechanism 30 directly, turnover of wafers is reduced, pollution of particles in the transmission process is inhibited, and the transmission efficiency of the wafers is guaranteed.

It will be appreciated that the slider 20 is also disposed above the track 10 to shorten the dimension of the wafer conveying device 1 in the thickness direction, so as to be suitable for the condition that the placement space is relatively narrow.

Because the application place of the wafer conveying device 1 is the semiconductor manufacturing field, the requirement on the cleanliness is high, and in order to ensure the cleanliness of the application space, special treatment needs to be performed on the materials and the processing technology of the track 10 and the slide block 20 so as to avoid dust and other particles generated in the wafer conveying process. It should be noted that other driving methods may be used for the slider 20, so that the slider 20 moves smoothly on the track 10.

In the present invention, the number of sliders 20 is plural, and the sliders are spaced apart along the length direction of the rail 10 to prevent wafers on adjacent wafer clamping mechanisms 30 from interfering with each other and from being broken. The slide 20 reciprocates along the track 10 to transfer a wafer held on the wafer holding mechanism 30. It will be appreciated that in some embodiments, the number of slides 20 may be one or two, which move along the track 10 to transport wafers through the wafer clamping mechanism 30.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of fig. 1 at a, showing the composition and connection of the wafer clamping mechanism 30. The wafer clamping mechanism 30 includes a pair of clamping arms 301, the clamping arms 301 being capable of being spaced apart along the length of the track 10, wherein at least one clamping arm 301 is capable of moving along the length of the track 10 to clamp or release a wafer. The clamping arm 301 may be configured with a cylinder, a linear motor, an electric cylinder, or the like, to effect movement of the clamping arm 301.

It should be noted that, the inner side of the clamping arm 301 is configured with an abutment claw, the abutment surface of the abutment claw adopts an arc structure that is opened toward the inner side, and the size of the arc structure is matched with the wafer, so as to ensure that the clamping arm 301 can reliably clamp the wafer.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a wafer transfer apparatus 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which the track 10 has a U-shaped structure, i.e. the track 10 has a track structure with a single-ended opening.

Specifically, the track 10 includes a pair of horizontal segments 11 and a vertical segment 12, wherein the horizontal segment 11 includes a first horizontal segment 111 and a second horizontal segment 112, the vertical segment 12 is disposed between the first horizontal segment 111 and the second horizontal segment 112, and the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves sequentially through the first horizontal segment 111, the vertical segment 12 and the second horizontal segment 112, and the wafer W clamped by the wafer clamping mechanism is turned 180 °. The second horizontal segment 112 is disposed above the first horizontal segment 111, the slide block 20 drives the wafer clamping mechanism 30 to move in the horizontal direction, and the vertical length of the vertical segment 12 is the vertical height of the wafer transmission.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a CMP system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the CMP system 100 includes a pre-unit 2, a polishing unit 3, a cleaning unit 4, and a wafer transfer apparatus 1. In this embodiment, the CMP system 100 is configured with the wafer transfer apparatus 1 shown in fig. 1, which is disposed across the polishing unit 3 and the cleaning unit 4. One vertical section 12 of the track 10 is adjacent to the front unit 2 of the CMP system and is vertically disposed, so that the front manipulator of the front unit 2 can directly pick and place wafers from the horizontal section 11 of the track 10, thereby shortening the transmission path and improving the wafer transfer efficiency.

It should be noted that the front end unit 2 is an equipment front end module (Equipment Front End Module, EFEM) which is a core component of a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and is mainly used for automatic wafer transfer and clean environment control between equipment and a wafer loading box (such as a FOUP/FOSB). The interior of the equipment front end module is typically configured with a front end robot to be responsible for transferring wafers between the wafer cassette and the equipment.

Further, the polishing unit 3 and the cleaning unit 4 are vertically stacked, and as shown in fig. 4, the polishing unit 3 is located below the cleaning unit 4. Compared with the traditional CMP system, the polishing unit 3 and the cleaning unit 4 are arranged horizontally, the occupied area of the polishing unit 3 and the cleaning unit 4 is reduced, the volume of the CMP system is reduced, and the equipment arrangement flexibility of a Fab factory is enhanced.

In the present invention, the polishing unit 3 includes a plurality of polishing modules 31 horizontally arranged along the length direction of the CMP system 100. In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the polishing unit 3 is provided with two polishing modules 31 arranged at intervals in the lateral direction of the CMP system 100, and the polishing unit 3 is capable of performing polishing in a single-disk process as well as in a double-disk process. It will be appreciated that three, four, etc. polishing units 3 may be provided to meet the requirements of various polishing processes and to improve the applicability of the CMP system.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of a polishing module 31 according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the polishing module 31 includes a polishing disk 311, a polishing component 312, and a loading component 313, the loading component 313 is disposed at a side of the polishing disk 311, and the polishing component 312 is disposed above the polishing disk 311 and the loading component 313 to transfer wafers between the loading component 313 and the polishing disk 311.

The polishing assembly 312 is configured with a carrier head 3122 (CARRIER HEAD) that can press a loaded wafer against a polishing pad above the polishing platen 311, the carrier head 3122 slides laterally (sweep) to achieve chemical mechanical polishing, and the loading assembly 313 is a load cup that is disposed adjacent to the wafer transport apparatus 1 and that can interact with the carrier head 3122 and the wafer clamping mechanism 30.

The polishing assembly 312 includes a support frame 3121 and a carrier head 3122 suspended below the support frame 3121, the number of carrier heads 3122 being two. The support frame 3121 rotates to drive the wafer loaded by the carrier head 3122 between the loading and unloading assembly 313 and the polishing platen 311. That is, during the polishing process of the polishing pad with the carrier head 3122 above the polishing platen 311, another carrier head 3122 may interact with the loading and unloading assembly 313 to pre-load the wafer to be polished, thereby reducing the waiting time and improving the working efficiency.

It will be appreciated that a carrier head 3122 may be disposed below the support frame 3121, such as for longer single wafer polishing, which may not require a high wafer loading efficiency, and may result in a negligible waiting time for the carrier head 3122 to load wafers. I.e., the support frame 3121 is capable of swinging about a fixed point to move the carrier head 3122 between the polishing pad 311 and the loading assembly 313.

It should be noted that, the polishing module 31 in the present invention may also adopt a diving platform structure, that is, the carrier head 3122 is disposed on a sliding rail on the equipment rack, and the carrier head 3122 moves along the sliding rail to realize the horizontal movement of the polishing process.

The load plate 3131 of the load assembly 313 in fig. 5 is capable of moving in a vertical direction to hold wafers on the wafer clamping mechanism 30 from bottom to top. The load plate 3131 is configured with a stop post that abuts the edge of the wafer to define the placement location of the wafer.

The loading assembly 313 may be configured with a linear module such as a cylinder, an electric cylinder, or a linear motor to effect vertical movement of the loading plate 3131. It should be noted that, on the outer peripheral side of the loading tray 3131, a loading cleaning mechanism (not shown) is also required to be disposed, which is capable of spraying a liquid such as deionized water toward the wafer to achieve cleaning and moisture retention of the wafer. The load purge mechanism may be a stand alone mechanism that cannot interfere in position with the vertically moving load plate 3131.

As a variation of this embodiment, the loading assembly 313 may be disposed above the wafer holding mechanism 30 when the loading assembly 313 interacts with the wafer holding mechanism 30, but this requires a degree of freedom in rotation for the loading plate 3131. The loading plate 3131 shown in fig. 5 is flipped 180 ° to grasp the wafer on the wafer holding mechanism 30 from top to bottom, then the loading plate 3131 is flipped, and then the carrier head 3122 interacts.

In the present invention, the cleaning unit 4 includes a plurality of cleaning modules 41 and a drying module 42, and an turnover robot 5 is disposed between the respective modules to transfer wafers between the respective modules. The transfer robot 5 is capable of gripping a wafer from the wafer gripping mechanism 30 on the track 10 and transferring the wafer to the cleaning module 41 or the drying module 42 of the cleaning unit 4.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the cleaning unit 4 comprises two cleaning modules 41 and one drying module 42, the number of the transfer robots 5 being three, which are arranged on both sides of the cleaning modules 41 to be responsible for transporting wafers between the respective functional modules.

Further, the drying module 42 is disposed close to the Front unit 2 to shorten the transfer path of the wafer and reduce the cross contamination of the wafer, so that the dried wafer can be quickly transferred to a wafer cassette of the Front unit 2, wherein the wafer cassette is also called Front-Opening Unified Pod (FOUP).

The wafer transfer process in the CMP system 100 is described in conjunction with the CMP system 100 shown in fig. 4, and the wafer transfer path is shown in fig. 6 using dashed lines with arrows.

First, one of the wafer clamping mechanisms 30 is moved to an initial position. By the initial position is meant a position where the rail 10 is located at the upper horizontal section 11 and is close to the front unit 2, the clamping arms 301 are far away from each other, so that the wafer clamping mechanism 30 is in an open state;

Then, the front manipulator of the front unit 2 clamps the wafer from the wafer loading box to transfer the wafer to the initial position, the clamping arm 301 is closed, and the wafer clamping mechanism 30 is in a closed state to load the wafer, wherein the front surface of the wafer faces upwards at this time, and the front surface of the wafer refers to the surface with the device layer;

next, the wafer holding mechanism 30 loaded with the wafer is moved along the vertical section 12 to the horizontal section 11 located below with the front surface of the wafer facing downward, and the wafer holding mechanism 30 loaded with the wafer is moved to the alternate position to stop, as shown in fig. 7 (a). By interactive position, it is meant the position of the loading assembly 313 of the polishing module 31 such that the loading assembly 313 interacts with the carrier head 3122;

Before the wafer clamping mechanism 30 moves to the loading assembly 313, the loading plate 3131 moves downward such that the loading plate 3131 is positioned below the movement track of the wafer clamping mechanism 30 to prevent the wafer clamping mechanism 30 from interfering with the loading plate 3131;

Then, the loading tray 3131 of the loading assembly 313 moves upward, and the loading tray 3131 holds the wafer held by the wafer holding mechanism 30 from below as shown in fig. 7 (b), and the holding arms 301 of the wafer holding mechanism 30 are away from each other as shown in fig. 7 (c) to place the wafer on the loading tray 3131, thereby realizing the interaction between the wafer holding mechanism 30 and the loading tray 3131;

Then, the loading tray 3131 holding the wafer is moved downward again, as shown in fig. 7 (d), so that the wafer clamping mechanism 30 vertically crosses the loading tray 3131, so that the wafer clamping mechanism 30 having unloaded the wafer continues to move forward along the rail 10. Fig. 7 (e) shows a state in which the wafer clamping mechanism 30 for unloading the wafer is moved forward along the rail 10;

Then, the loading disk 3131 supporting the wafer is moved upwards to facilitate the interaction of the loading head 3122, specifically, the elastic membrane of the loading head 3122 attracts the wafer on the loading disk 3131 so as to move the wafer to be polished above the polishing disk 311 through the swing of the supporting frame 3121, thereby performing chemical mechanical polishing on the wafer.

Then, the polished wafer moves to the horizontal section 11 above the displacement along the horizontal section 11 below the displacement through the vertical section 12, and in the process, the wafer turns 180 degrees, namely the wafer changes from the front face to the front face upwards;

Then, the turnover manipulator 5 clamps the wafer from the wafer clamping mechanism 30 and transmits the wafer to the cleaning module 41 in the cleaning unit 4 so as to perform rolling brush cleaning, two-fluid cleaning and other treatments on the wafer, thereby removing the residual pollutants on the surface of the wafer;

the wafer after cleaning is transmitted to a drying module 42 by a turnover manipulator 5 so as to strip the water film on the surface of the wafer and obtain the wafer with the dried surface;

Finally, the front end robot in the front end unit 2 grasps the wafer directly from the drying module 42 to place the wafer in the wafer cassette.

Note that, a door (not shown) is disposed on a side of the drying module 42 near the front unit 2, so as to facilitate gripping by the front robot.

As can be seen from the schematic diagram of the wafer transfer path provided in fig. 6, the wafer transfer between the adjacent polishing modules 31 is realized by the wafer transfer apparatus 1, so that the number of the robots can be saved, and the cost of the CMP system can be controlled.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a CMP system 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the CMP system 100 includes two sub-CMP systems, namely a first sub-CMP system 100A and a second sub-CMP system 100B, which are arranged in parallel and independently operated to enhance the fault tolerance of the operation of the CMP system 100. I.e., one of the sub-CMP systems fails and the other sub-CMP system can operate normally.

Wherein the sub-CMP system comprises a pre-unit 2, a polishing unit 3, a cleaning unit 4 and a wafer transfer device 1, wherein the two sub-CMP systems share one pre-unit 2. The cleaning unit 4 is vertically stacked above the polishing unit 3 to reduce the floor area.

The polishing units 3, the cleaning units 4, and the wafer transfer device 1 of the first and second sub-CMP systems 100A and 100B are symmetrically disposed along the horizontal center line L of the CMP system 100, as shown in fig. 8.

In this embodiment, the wafer transfer apparatus 1 adopts the solution shown in fig. 3, where the opening of the track 10 is towards the front unit 2 of the CMP system 100, and the lower horizontal segment 11 is adjacent to the front unit 2, so that the front robot of the front unit 2 places the wafer on the wafer clamping mechanism 30 of the horizontal segment 11.

Further, the horizontal section 11 of the track 10 extends to at least one cleaning module 41 of the cleaning unit 4, so that the transfer robot 5 transfers wafers of the wafer clamping mechanism 30 into the cleaning module 41. I.e. the horizontal section 11 of the rail 10 above extends into the washing unit 4.

As a variation of the present embodiment, the track 10 of the wafer conveying device 1 may also extend to the drying module 42 of the cleaning unit 4, so that the turnover manipulator 5 disposed between the cleaning modules 41 may directly convey the wafer between the wafer clamping mechanism 30 of the track 10 and the cleaning modules 41, and after the cleaning is completed, the turnover manipulator 5 conveys the cleaned wafer into the drying module 42 for wafer drying and stripping the water film on the wafer surface.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the cleaning module 41 and the drying module 42 of the cleaning unit 4 are disposed along the periphery of the top of the CMP system 100, so as to enlarge the installation and maintenance space of the cleaning module 41 and the drying module 42 and improve the convenience of operation.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements and method steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, or as a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

The above embodiments are only for illustrating the embodiments of the present application, but not for limiting the embodiments of the present application, and various changes and modifications may be made by one skilled in the relevant art without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present application, so that all equivalent technical solutions also fall within the scope of the embodiments of the present application, and the scope of the embodiments of the present application should be defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A wafer transfer apparatus for transferring wafers in a CMP system, comprising:

2. The wafer transfer apparatus of claim 1, wherein the track further comprises a transition section disposed between a horizontal section disposed along a length of the CMP system and a vertical section disposed along a height of the CMP system, the wafer clamping mechanism moving between the horizontal section and the vertical section such that a wafer clamped by the wafer clamping mechanism is flipped 90 °.

3. The wafer transfer apparatus of claim 2 wherein the track comprises a pair of parallel horizontal segments and a pair of parallel vertical segments connected in a ring configuration by the transition segments, the wafer held by the wafer holding mechanism being flipped 180 ° as the wafer moves between the opposing horizontal or vertical segments.

4. The wafer transport apparatus of claim 1, wherein the slider is disposed above or beside a track along which it moves by electromagnetic drive.

5. The wafer transfer apparatus of claim 3, wherein a vertical section of the track is disposed proximate a head unit of the CMP system, the head robot of the head unit picking and placing wafers from a horizontal section of the track.

6. The wafer transport apparatus of claim 1, wherein the number of sliders is a plurality, spaced apart along the length of the track.

7. The wafer transport apparatus of claim 6, wherein the slide reciprocates along the track to transport a wafer held on the wafer clamping mechanism.

8. The wafer transport apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wafer clamping mechanism comprises a pair of clamping arms spaced apart along the length of the track, at least one clamping arm being movable along the length of the track to clamp or release a wafer.

9. The wafer transfer device of claim 2, wherein the track has a U-shaped configuration including two horizontal sections and a vertical section disposed between the horizontal sections, the track opening toward a head unit of the CMP system, the lower horizontal section being immediately adjacent to the head unit.

10. A CMP system comprising a pre-unit, a polishing unit, a cleaning unit, and the wafer transfer apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 9 disposed across the polishing unit and the cleaning unit to transfer a wafer therebetween.

11. The CMP system according to claim 10, wherein the polishing unit and the cleaning unit are vertically stacked, the polishing unit being located below the cleaning unit.

12. The CMP system of claim 10 wherein the horizontal section of track extends to at least one cleaning module of the cleaning unit.

13. The CMP system of claim 12 wherein the cleaning unit includes a plurality of cleaning modules and a drying module, each module having an epicyclic robot disposed therebetween for transporting wafers between each module.

14. The CMP system of claim 13 wherein the transfer robot is capable of gripping a wafer from a wafer gripping mechanism on a track and transporting the wafer to a cleaning module or a drying module of a cleaning unit.

15. The CMP system of claim 13 wherein the cleaning module and the drying module of the cleaning unit are disposed along a periphery of the top of the CMP system, the drying module being disposed adjacent the head unit.

16. The CMP system of claim 10 wherein the polishing unit comprises a plurality of polishing modules that are horizontally aligned along the length of the CMP system.

17. The CMP system of claim 16 wherein the polishing module comprises a polishing platen, a polishing assembly, and a loading assembly disposed laterally of the polishing platen, the polishing assembly disposed above the polishing platen and the loading assembly to transfer wafers between the loading assembly and the polishing platen.

18. The CMP system of claim 17 wherein the wafer transport device is positioned adjacent the loading assembly, the loading plate of the loading assembly being movable in a vertical direction to hold a wafer on the wafer clamping mechanism.

19. The CMP system of claim 16 wherein the CMP system comprises two parallel sub-CMP systems comprising a pre-unit, a polishing unit, a cleaning unit, and a wafer transfer device, wherein the two sub-CMP systems share one pre-unit.

20. The CMP system of claim 19 wherein the polishing unit, cleaning unit, and wafer transfer device of the sub-CMP system are symmetrically disposed along a horizontal centerline of the CMP system.