TWM677941U - Front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention provides a front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components, comprising: a shell having a front opening and a receiving cavity; a first support frame for carrying multiple ring components, which is symmetrically disposed within the receiving cavity on the side walls on both sides of the front opening; the inner surface of the first support frame radially protrudes inward to form multiple first support platforms, the multiple first support platforms being spaced apart along the height direction; wherein, the first support platform has a first step on its radially inner side, the first step being recessed downward from the upper surface of the first support platform and having a first horizontal platform step surface and a first side wall, the first horizontal platform step surface being used to carry the ring component, and the first side wall being adapted to the outer diameter surface of the ring component in the circumferential direction. This invention addresses the problem of component misalignment within the transport box.

Description

Front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components

This invention relates to the field of semiconductor device technology, and in particular to a front-opening transport box for carrying ring components.

Semiconductor etching and other process equipment contain a varying number of reaction chambers. The harsh processing environment within these chambers can damage the hardware continuously exposed to this environment. This damaged hardware needs to be replaced regularly and quickly to ensure the stability of the process and the wafer products.

For example, in the reaction chamber of an ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) etching equipment, there is a ring-shaped component (hereinafter referred to as a ring), such as an edge ring, which surrounds the base. Due to long-term impact from the plasma, this ring is damaged and needs to be replaced periodically. Replacing the ring requires opening the chamber, changing the environment inside the reaction chamber from vacuum to atmosphere. After manually replacing the ring, the reaction chamber must be evacuated back to vacuum, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Furthermore, the rapid damage rate and short maintenance cycle of the ring make the time and economic costs of opening the chamber for replacement too high. Therefore, conventional techniques use a front-opening transfer box to transport multiple rings into the reaction chamber to avoid frequent opening for replacement.

However, existing front-opening transfer boxes can only transfer wafers with a maximum diameter of 300mm, but cannot transfer rings with a diameter of 326mm. Furthermore, they lack ring alignment functionality, and the rings may be offset relative to the transfer box in all directions. This results in poor alignment between the rings and the base when they are subsequently transferred into the reaction chamber, thus reducing process quality.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a front-opening transfer box for carrying rings, which solves the problem of ring offset within the transfer box.

To achieve the above objectives, this invention utilizes the following technical solution: A front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components, comprising: a shell having a front opening and a receiving cavity; a first support frame for carrying multiple ring components, which is symmetrically disposed within the receiving cavity on the side walls on both sides of the front opening; the inner surface of the first support frame radially protrudes inward to form multiple first support platforms, the multiple first support platforms being spaced apart along the height direction; wherein, each first support platform has a first step on its radially inner side, the first step being recessed downward from the upper surface of the first support platform and having a first horizontal platform step surface and a first side wall, the first horizontal platform step surface being used to carry the ring component, and the first side wall being adapted to the outer diameter surface of the ring component in the circumferential direction.

Alternatively, the first sidewall extends in a circular arc shape in the circumferential direction, the diameter of the arc corresponding to the first sidewall is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the ring, and a first chamfer is provided between the first sidewall and the upper surface of the first support platform.

Optionally, each of the first support platforms on the first support frame is coaxially arranged.

Alternatively, the first water platform step surface extends in a circular arc shape in the circumferential direction, and its inner diameter is larger than the inner diameter of the ring.

Optionally, the first water platform step has a circumferential curvature ranging from 10° to 90°.

Optionally, the first support frame is further provided with a second support platform for supporting a disc component, the diameter of which is greater than the inner diameter of the ring component and less than the inner diameter of the first horizontal platform step surface; the disc component is coaxial with the first horizontal platform step surface when it is located on the second support platform.

Optionally, the second support platform has a second step in the radially inward direction. The second step is recessed downward from the upper surface of the second support platform and has a second horizontal platform step surface and a second side wall. The second horizontal platform step surface is used to support the disc component. The second side wall extends in an arc shape in the circumferential direction. The diameter of the arc corresponding to the second side wall is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the disc component. A second chamfer is provided between the second side wall and the upper surface of the second support platform.

Optionally, the first support frame includes a first zone and a second zone, the first zone being used to support unused rings and the second zone being used to support replaced rings.

Optionally, the front-opening conveyor box for carrying the rings further includes: a second support frame, which is located within the accommodating cavity and disposed on the rear side wall opposite the front opening, for cooperating with the first support frame to support the plurality of rings.

Alternatively, the shell may be a split structure.

Optionally, the first support frame is a rigid structural member.

Optionally, the first support frame is coated with a flexible, wear-resistant layer.

Alternatively, the front-opening conveyor box for carrying the ring further includes a connection portion provided on the top wall of the housing for connection with the transfer mechanism.

Optionally, the second support frame is coated with a flexible, wear-resistant layer.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following technical effects: The front-opening conveyor box provided by the present invention for carrying the ring component, wherein the first side wall of the first step of the first support platform can circumferentially limit the ring component, so that the ring component does not shift forward, backward, left, or right, and remains coaxial with the first side wall, thereby improving the alignment with the base inside the reaction chamber when the ring component is replaced, and thus improving the process quality.

The following section provides a more detailed explanation of the proposed solution, combining diagrams and specific implementation methods. The advantages and features of this invention will become clearer based on the following description. It should be noted that the diagrams are in a very simplified form and use non-precise proportions, intended only to facilitate and clearly illustrate the purpose of the implementation methods of this invention. Please refer to the diagrams to make the purpose, features, and advantages of this invention more apparent and understandable. It should be noted that the structures, proportions, sizes, etc., shown in the accompanying drawings are only for the purpose of assisting those skilled in the art in understanding and reading the content disclosed in this manual, and are not intended to limit the implementation of this work. Therefore, they have no substantive technical significance. Any modifications to the structure, changes in the proportions, or adjustments to the size, without affecting the effectiveness and purpose of this work, should still fall within the scope of the technical content disclosed in this work.

This embodiment provides a front-opening transfer box for carrying rings, the front-opening transfer box accommodating multiple rings and placed in the wafer loading port of the EFEM (Equipment Front End Module), the rings are transferred into the reaction chamber by a robotic arm, realizing ring replacement without opening the chamber.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the front-opening conveyor box includes: a shell 100 having a front opening 110 and a receiving cavity 120; a first support frame 200 for supporting multiple rings 10, which is symmetrically disposed within the receiving cavity 120 on the side walls on both sides of the front opening 110; the inner surface of the first support frame 200 radially protrudes inward to form multiple first support platforms 210, and the multiple first support platforms 210 are spaced apart along the height direction. Referring to Figures 3 and 4, the first support platform 210 has a first step 211 on its radially inner side. The first step 211 is recessed downward from the upper surface of the first support platform 210 and has a first horizontal platform step surface 212 and a first side wall 213. The first horizontal platform step surface 212 is used to support the ring 10, and the first side wall 213 is adapted to the outer diameter surface of the ring 10 in the circumferential direction.

Therefore, when the robotic arm places the ring 10 in the first step 211 of the first support platform 210, the first side wall 213 circumferentially limits the ring 10, making the ring 10 coaxial with the first side wall 213. This improves the alignment of the ring 10 with the base inside the reaction chamber when the ring 10 is replaced, thereby improving the process quality.

In this embodiment, the first sidewall 213 extends in a circular arc shape in the circumferential direction. The diameter of the arc corresponding to the first sidewall 213 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the ring 10 to ensure that the ring 10 can be smoothly placed and removed within the first step 211. A first chamfer 214 is provided between the first sidewall 213 and the upper surface of the first support platform 210. When the robot places the ring 10 onto the first step 211 of the first support platform 210, the ring 10 may have a forward/backward/left/right offset relative to the conveyor box. Under the action of gravity, the ring 10 will slide down the inclined surface of the first chamfer 214 into the first step 211, thereby automatically aligning the ring 10 with the first support platform 210. Optionally, the first chamfer 214 is 60° to balance friction and positioning accuracy.

In this embodiment, all the first support platforms 210 on the first support frame 200 are coaxially arranged. It is understood that when the front-opening transfer box is transported to the EFEM, the EFEM will perform a mapping operation, scanning the front-opening transfer box vertically to obtain the position information of the ring 10 carried inside the front-opening transfer box. By setting all the first support platforms 210 on the first support frame 200 coaxially, it is possible to avoid situations where the diameter of the ring is too large to be compensated for by the calibrator in the EFEM, thereby facilitating the normal operation of the EFEM's scanning function.

In this embodiment, the first platform step 212 extends in a circular arc shape in the circumferential direction, providing sufficient support area for the ring 10 and ensuring the stability of the ring 10. Optionally, the arc range of the first platform step 212 in the circumferential direction is 10° to 90°. The inner diameter of the first platform step 212 is larger than the inner diameter of the ring 10 to facilitate the placement and removal of the ring 10.

In this embodiment, the first support frame 200 includes a first zone a and a second zone b. A plurality of first support platforms 210 in the first zone a are used to support unused rings 10, and a plurality of first support platforms 210 in the second zone b are used to support replaced rings 10. As shown in Figure 2, the six first support platforms 210 located at the upper part of the first support frame 200 constitute the first zone a, and the six first support platforms 210 located at the lower part constitute the second zone b. In Figure 2, six rings 10 are placed in the first zone a, and no rings are placed in the second zone b. Therefore, the rings 10 before and after replacement are placed on the first support platforms 210 in different areas of the first support frame 200. Only one transfer box is needed to meet the requirements for picking up and placing the rings 10, and it is also convenient to distinguish between used and unused rings 10. In other embodiments, the odd-numbered first support platforms 210 from top to bottom in the first support frame 200 can be designated as the first area a, and the even-numbered first support platforms 210 can be designated as the second area b.

In this embodiment, the first support frame 200 is further provided with a second support platform 220 for supporting a disc component 20. The diameter of the disc component 20 is larger than the inner diameter of the ring component 10 and smaller than the inner diameter of the first horizontal platform step surface 212. When the disc component 20 is located on the second support platform 220, it is coaxial with the first horizontal platform step surface 212. The disc component 20 assists the robotic arm in picking up and placing the ring component 10 and in performing deviation detection on the ring component 10. Specifically, the robotic arm first removes the disc component 20 from the second support platform 220, then moves to the first support platform 210, using the disc component 20 to lift the ring component 10 and remove it. At this time, the disc component 20 and the ring component 10 are concentric. During the process of sending the ring component 10 to the reaction chamber, the AWC (Active Wafer) in the transfer module (TM) is activated. The centering sensor performs correction detection on the ring 10. Since the AWC sensor can only correct perfectly round parts, and the disc 20 fills the center gap of the ring 10 (the diameter of the disc 20 is smaller than the outer diameter of the ring 10 but larger than the inner diameter of the ring 10), the ring 10 can be corrected by the AWC sensor. As a result, the ring 10 has high positional accuracy and good alignment with the base when it is transmitted to the reaction chamber.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the second support platform 220 is located at the lowest position of the first support frame 200. In other embodiments, the second support platform 220 may also be located at the highest position of the first support frame 200, or between two adjacent first support platforms 210.

In this embodiment, similar to the first step 211 provided on the first support platform 210, the second support platform 220 has a second step in the radially inward direction. The second step is formed by a downward indentation from the upper surface of the second support platform 220 and has a second horizontal platform step surface and a second sidewall. The second horizontal platform step surface is used to support the disc component 20. The second sidewall extends in a circular arc shape in the circumferential direction, and the diameter of the arc corresponding to the second sidewall is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the disc component 20. A second chamfer is provided between the second sidewall and the upper surface of the second support platform 220. Similarly, the second chamfer is used to automatically align the disc component 20 with the second support platform 220.

The first support frame 200 is a rigid structural component, thus possessing sufficient mechanical strength to support multiple rings 10. Furthermore, to prevent the rings 10 from contacting and wearing out with the first support frame 200, a flexible wear-resistant layer is applied to the first support frame 200.

In this embodiment, the front-opening conveyor box further includes a second support frame 300, which is located within the receiving cavity 120 and disposed on the rear side wall opposite the front opening 110, for cooperating with the first support frame 200 to support the plurality of rings 10. The second support frame 300 can limit the rings 10 in a direction toward the rear side wall to further improve the stability of the rings 10. It is understood that the structure of the second support frame 300 is similar to that of the first support frame 200, and will not be described in detail here. In addition, the second support frame 300 is also coated with a flexible wear-resistant layer.

In this embodiment, the shell 100 has a split structure. For example, the shell 100 includes a left side wall, a right side wall, a rear side wall, a top wall, and a bottom wall. These walls are all plate-shaped and are detachably connected by screws to assemble the shell 100 as a whole. Compared to using a one-piece molding technology to obtain a one-piece shell (e.g., injection molding, which requires pre-molding of the one-piece shell, resulting in high mold costs), this embodiment does not require mold opening and only requires assembly with screws, making installation convenient. Therefore, the split shell of this embodiment has the advantage of low cost. Furthermore, each wall of the shell 100 can be made of transparent material to facilitate observation of the status of the ring 10 inside the conveyor box. The left and right side walls of the shell 100 are also provided with handles 130 to facilitate manual handling of the conveyor box.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the front-opening transfer box further includes a connecting portion 400 disposed on the top wall of the shell 100 for connection with a transfer mechanism. By providing the connecting portion 400, the transfer mechanism within the factory (such as an automated overhead crane system) can easily carry the front-opening transfer box to the EFEM. To meet the load requirements of the automated overhead crane system, lightweight designs can be implemented for the split shell 100, the first support frame 200, and the second support frame 300, including material selection and shape design, to reduce the overall weight of the transfer box.

It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variation thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising a..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

Although the content of this invention has been described in detail through the foregoing preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the above description should not be considered as a limitation of this invention. After reading the foregoing, various modifications and substitutions to this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of protection of this invention should be defined by the appended patent claims.

10: Ring component; 100: Shell; 110: Front opening; 120: Reception cavity; 130: Handle; 20: Disc component; 200: First support frame; 210: First support platform; 211: First step; 212: First level platform surface; 213: First side wall; 214: First chamfer; 220: Second support platform; 300: Second support frame; 400: Connecting part; a: First zone; b: Second zone

To more clearly illustrate the technical solution of this invention, the drawings used in the description will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are an embodiment of this invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained from these drawings without further effort: Figure 1 is a front view of a front-opening conveyor box for carrying a ring component provided in an embodiment of this invention; Figure 2 is an axonometric view of a front-opening conveyor box for carrying a ring component provided in an embodiment of this invention; Figure 3 is a structural diagram of the first support frame provided in an embodiment of this invention; Figure 4 is an enlarged view of point A in Figure 3.

10: Environmental components

100: Shell

120: Reception chamber

130: Handle

20: Disc-shaped piece

210: The First Supporting Platform

220: Second Supporting Platform

300: Second support frame

400: Connector

Claims (14)

A front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components, characterized in that it comprises: a shell having a front opening and a receiving cavity; a first support frame for carrying multiple ring components, which is symmetrically disposed on the side walls on both sides of the front opening within the receiving cavity; the inner surface of the first support frame radially protrudes inward to form multiple first support platforms, the multiple first support platforms being spaced apart along the height direction; wherein, the first support platform has a first step on its radially inner side, the first step being recessed downward from the upper surface of the first support platform and having a first horizontal platform step surface and a first side wall, the first horizontal platform step surface being used to carry the ring component, and the first side wall being adapted to the outer diameter surface of the ring component in the circumferential direction. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying a ring as described in claim 1, wherein the first sidewall extends in an arc shape in the circumferential direction, the diameter of the arc corresponding to the first sidewall is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the ring, and a first chamfer is provided between the first sidewall and the upper surface of the first support platform. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components as described in claim 1, wherein each of the first support platforms on the first support frame is coaxially arranged. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying a ring as described in claim 1, wherein the first horizontal platform extends in an arc shape in the circumferential direction and its inner diameter is larger than the inner diameter of the ring. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components as described in claim 4, wherein the first horizontal platform step has a circumferential curvature ranging from 10° to 90°. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying a ring component as described in claim 1, wherein the first support frame is further provided with a second support platform for supporting a disc component, the diameter of the disc component being larger than the inner diameter of the ring component and smaller than the inner diameter of the first horizontal platform step surface; the disc component is coaxial with the first horizontal platform step surface when it is located on the second support platform. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying a ring component as described in claim 6, wherein the second support platform has a second step in the radially inward direction, the second step being recessed downward from the upper surface of the second support platform and having a second horizontal platform step surface and a second side wall, the second horizontal platform step surface being used to support the disc component, the second side wall extending in a circular arc shape in the circumferential direction, the diameter of the arc corresponding to the second side wall being slightly larger than the outer diameter of the disc component, and a second chamfer being provided between the second side wall and the upper surface of the second support platform. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying rings as described in claim 1, wherein the first support frame includes a first section and a second section, the first section being used to carry unused rings and the second section being used to carry replaced rings. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components as described in claim 1 further includes: a second support frame, which is located within the receiving cavity and disposed on the rear side wall opposite the front opening, for cooperating with the first support frame to support the plurality of ring components. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components as described in claim 1, wherein the housing is a split structure. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components as described in claim 1, wherein the first support frame is a rigid structural component. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components as described in claim 1, wherein the first support frame is coated with a flexible wear-resistant layer. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components as described in claim 1 further includes: a connecting portion provided on the top wall of the housing for connecting to a transfer mechanism. The front-opening conveyor box for carrying ring components as described in claim 9, wherein the second support frame is coated with a flexible wear-resistant layer.