Patent Application
20110154929
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor process apparatus, and more particularly to a wafer transfer apparatus having a shielding mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
Because of the continuous high integration density of semiconductor devices of integrated circuits, manufacturing process accuracy becomes more and more important. Once minor errors occur during processes, the whole manufacturing process may fail. As a result, wafers are damaged and scraped, and costs thus increase.
For a general semiconductor process, a semiconductor equipment is composed of several neighboring process chambers. By a wafer transfer system, wafers are transferred among different process chambers. During the wafer transfer among the process chambers, a robot blade takes wafers from a cassette and transfers the wafers to the process chambers for processing. Then, the wafers are taken out from the process chambers and transferred to the process chamber for the next process step. After the process is complete, the wafers are transferred to the cassette to finish a series of process steps.
The motions of a robot blade are complicated which include rotating, extending, retracting and so on. Generally, the robot blade utilizes the combinations of transmission elements such as rod parts and bearings to implement the aforementioned motions. However, the frequency for using the robot blade to transfer wafers is high. Hence, the material of transmission elements easily ages, has been worn out and even deformed so that the particles of the transmission elements are generated and fall. During the process for transferring the wafer by the robot blade, the falling particles flowing along the flowing direction of the process gas leads to the streamline shape defects on the wafer or the surface scratch of the wafer or even the broken wafer circumstance. Besides, with the increasing of the time for performing the process on the process equipment, the aforementioned situations such as material aging and being worn out are getting serious. Therefore, when the process equipment operates for a period of time, it is necessary to shutdown the process equipment to repair aging or worn-out transmission elements. Thus, the time is wasted, the cost is increased, and the production yield is seriously affected.
The invention provides a wafer transfer apparatus having a shielding mechanism and capable of preventing from particle falling.
The invention provides a wafer transfer apparatus having a main body, a wafer carrier, a linkage and a shielding mechanism. The linkage is used to connect the wafer carrier to the main body. The linkage comprises a first connecting rod and a pair of second connecting rods. The wafer carrier is connected to a first side of the first connecting rod. A first terminal of each of the second connecting rods is pivotedly connected to two ends of the first connecting rod respectively. The shielding mechanism is assembled on the first connecting rod. The shielding mechanism includes a shielding part and two fixing parts. The shielding part is configured at the first side of the first connecting rod for at least shielding a pivot joint between the first connecting rod and each of the second connecting rods. The fixing parts are connected to both sides of the shielding part respectively, and respectively configured at a second side and a third side of the first connecting rod so as to fix the shielding part at the first side of the first connecting rod.
The invention further provides a shielding mechanism for a wafer transfer apparatus. The wafer transfer apparatus at least comprises a first connecting rod and a second connecting rod pivotedly connected to the first connecting rod. The first connecting rod is connected to a wafer carrier. A periphery surface of a pivot joint between the first connecting rod and the second connecting rod has a groove facing the wafer carrier. The shielding mechanism is assembled on the first connecting rod. The shielding mechanism includes a shielding part and at least a fixing part. The shielding part and the wafer carrier are configured at a same side of the first connecting rod for at least shielding the pivot joint between the first connecting rod and the second connecting rod. The fixing part is connected to the shielding part and configured on a rod body portion of the first connecting rod for fixing the shielding part.
In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the ends of the first connecting rod has a concave and the first terminal of the second connecting rod is configured in the concave. In the concave, there can be, for example, a groove at the periphery surface of the pivot joint between the first connecting rod and the second connecting rod and the groove faces the first side of the first connecting rod.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the wafer transfer apparatus further comprises a bearing configured on the pivot joint between the first connecting rod and the second connecting rod.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the linkage further comprises a pair of third connecting rods, and a third terminal of each of the third connecting rods is pivotedly connected to a second terminal of each of the corresponding second connecting rods, and a fourth terminal of each of the third connecting rods is connected to the main body.
In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the fixing parts further comprises at least an opening. The opening can be, for example, configured on the pivot joint between the first connecting rod and each of the second connecting rods. The opening can also be, for example, configured on the rod body portion of the first connecting rod.
In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the fixing parts further comprises at least a fixing hole for fixing the fixing parts on the first connecting rod.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the first connecting rod is closely in contact with the shielding mechanism.
In one embodiment of the invention, the shielding mechanism is formed as a whole.
In one embodiment of the invention, the material of the shielding mechanism includes stainless steel.
Accordingly, the wafer transfer apparatus of the present invention has a shielding mechanism for at least shielding the pivot joint between the first connecting rod and each of the second connecting rods. Even the particles generated due to the element aging and worn out happening on the wafer transfer apparatus, the shielding mechanism staying close to the periphery of the pivot joint between the first connecting rod and the second connecting rod can wrap the particles therein so as to effectively prevent from the falling particles on the wafers or in the process chambers. Hence, the present invention can decrease the defects such as wafer scratch caused by the particles, and can further prolong the cycle time for replacing the parts so that the down time is decreased and the throughput is increased. Thus, the cost of the preventive maintenance is decreased.
Moreover, the shielding mechanism of the present invention is designed according to the profile structure of the connecting rod so that the shielding mechanism can be closely enclosing the pivot joints between the connecting rods. Therefore, the design of the shielding mechanism can be adjusted according to the current structure of the wafer transfer apparatus so that the shielding mechanism can be applied in various semiconductor process equipments.
In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The following descriptions of embodiments refer to accompanying drawings so as to demonstrate the specific embodiments by which the present invention can be implemented. In the following embodiments, wordings used to indicate directions, such as “up,” “down,” “front,” “back,” “inside,” and “outside”, merely refer to directions in the accompanying drawings. Hence, people skilled in the art should be able to embody the present invention based on the wording used to indicate directions in the following descriptions, whereas the scope of the present invention is not limited thereby.
As shown in
In one embodiment, the linkage 106 can have a frog-leg type configuration. Specifically, the linkage 106 includes a first connecting rod 112, a pair of second connecting rods 114 and a pair of third connecting rods 116. The first connecting rod 112 can be, for example, configured over the main body 102 and separated from the main body 102. The wafer carrier 104 is connected to a first side of the first connecting rod 112. The combinations of the second connecting rods 114 and the third connecting rods 116 can be symmetrically connected to two ends 112a of the first connecting rod 112. The second connecting rods 114 and the third connecting rods 116 can be, for example, configured at another side of the first connecting rod 112 in opposition to the wafer carrier 104. That is, the second connecting rods 114 and the third connecting rods 116 are configured at a side of the first connecting rod 112 opposite to the first side of the first connecting rod 112.
Accordingly, one end 112a of the first connecting rod 112 is pivotedly connected to one terminal 114a of one of the second connecting rods 114, and the other terminal 114b of the second connecting rod 114 is pivotedly connected to one terminal 116a of the corresponding third connecting rod 116. Moreover, the other terminal of the third connecting rods 116 is connected to the motor (not shown) inside the main body 102 so that the motor can control the movement of the third connecting rods 116. More particularly, when the movements of the third connecting rods 116 are controlled by the main body 102, the second connecting rods 114 move with the movements of the third connecting rods 116 respectively. Consequently, the wafer carrier 104 is driven to extend or retract through the first connecting rod 112. Hence, the wafer 110 can be transfer to the process chambers on demands.
As shown in
Notably, people skilled in the art should be able to embody the present invention based on the following embodiments which are detailed by using the shielding mechanism 108 shown in
More clearly, as shown in
The fixing parts 108b are connected to the shielding part 108a, and the two fixing parts 108b are configured at a second side of the first connecting rod 112 and a third side of the first connecting rod 112 respectively. In other words, the two fixing parts 108b can be, for example, configured over and under the first connecting rod 112 so that the shielding part 108a connected between the two fixing parts 108b can be stably fixed at the side as same as where the wafer carrier 104 is located. Each of the fixing parts 108b further comprises at least one fixing hole 118a for fixing the fixing part 108b on the first connecting rod 112. In one embodiment, as shown in
In one embodiment, the fixing parts 108b further comprises at least an opening 120a and/or at least an opening 120b to decrease the whole weight of the shielding mechanism 108. The openings 120a can be, for example, configured over the pivot joints between the first connecting rod 112 and each of the second connecting rods 114 respectively. The openings 120b can be also configured over or under the rod body portion of the first connecting rod 112. In the aforementioned embodiment, each of the fixing parts 108b configured with two round shape openings 120a and five round shape openings 120b is used as an example for the explanation. However, the invention is not limited by the aforementioned opening arrangements. The number and the shapes of openings configured on the fixing parts 108b can be varied as long as the weight of the shielding mechanism is decreased without jeopardizing the functions of the shielding mechanism 108. Also, the number and the shapes of openings configured on the fixing parts 108b can be adjusted by people skilled in the art according to the practical requirements.
As shown in
When the shielding mechanism 108 is assembled on the first connecting rod 112, the shielding part 108a at least shields the pivot joints between the first connecting rod 112 and each of the second connecting rods 114. That is, the groove 406 at the periphery surface of each of the pivot joints between the first connecting rod and each of the second connecting rod is covered by the shielding part 108a. Therefore, when the bearing 404 at each of the pivot joints between the first connecting rod 112 and each of the second connecting rods 114 ages or is worn out to generate particles, the shielding mechanism 108 closely in contact with the pivot joints between the first connecting rod 112 and each of the second connecting rods 114 can enclose the particles therein even though the particles pass through the grooves 406 at the periphery surfaces of the pivot joints. Therefore, the wafer or the process chamber can be prevented from the falling particles and the wafer scratch problem due to the particles can be overcome. Moreover, since the use of the shielding mechanism 108 can decrease the amount of the particles due to the bearing aging, the cycle time for replacing the bearing 404 is prolonged. Thus, the down time is decreased and the throughput is increased. Further, the cost of the preventive maintenance is decreased.
Accordingly, the wafer transfer apparatus of the present invention has a shielding mechanism for at least shielding the pivot joints between the first connecting rod and each of the second connecting rods. Even though the bearing of each of the pivot joints between the first connecting rod and each of the second connecting rods ages or has been worn out to generate particles, the shielding mechanism can enclose the particles therein to effectively prevent the process chamber and the wafer from the falling particles. The wafer transfer apparatus of the present invention utilizes the shielding mechanism to decrease the defects such as wafer scratch caused by the particles, and to further prolong the cycle time for replacing the parts of the bearing so that the down time is decreased and the throughput is increased.
Moreover, the wafer transfer apparatus of the present invention utilizes the shielding mechanism, which is conformal to the profile design of the connecting rod, and the connecting rod is sheathed in the shielding mechanism so that the shielding mechanism is closely in contact with the pivot joint between the connecting rods. Hence, the shielding mechanism can be widely applied onto the wafer transfer apparatuses in different process equipments. Therefore, the shielding mechanism of the present invention having simple design can integrated with the current semiconductor process equipments, and the cost is greatly decreased.
Although the invention has been described with reference to the embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to one of the ordinary skills in the art that modifications to the described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention will be defined by the attached claims not by the above detailed description.
