JPS6292337A - Holder for wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To hold a semiconductor wafer placed onto a wafer chuck, etc. from the upper side without damaging an element by bringing only a non-chip region in the semiconductor-side surface of the wafer into contact and holding the non-chip region. CONSTITUTION:Support pins 4 for a holder proper 2 are positioned at the positions of imperfect chip sections (a), (b), (c), (d) in a semiconductor wafer by a lever 12. The whole wafer holder is moved down-ward, and the pins 4 are pushed against the wafer 1 until stoppers 5 for the pins 4 collide with the main body 2. When said operation is completed and air is fed sufficiently from an air injection port 15, air flows in the direction of the arrow, and the force of the wafer 1 works in the direction that the pins 4 are pushed by the Bernoulli's principle, thus sucking the wafer 1 to the device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to wafer holding in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus such as a semiconductor device exposure device.

[Prior art]

Wafer transportation in conventional semiconductor device manufacturing equipment has been carried out using hands or the like that hold the wafer from the surface in order to protect the devices. However, since the device that holds the wafer during the operation of the manufacturing device also has a backside suction system, for example, a chuck for fixing the wafer, in order to transfer the wafer from this device to the wafer transfer device, the chuck is provided with a cutout for the hand escape part. Or, a structure was adopted in which a vertical mechanism was installed in the center of the chuck to raise and lower the wafer.

Therefore, the chuck structure becomes complicated, which causes problems in the manufacture of the chuck. In addition, due to the demand for finer printed patterns as semiconductor devices become more highly integrated, projection optical systems of exposure apparatuses are moving toward higher resolution and lower depth of focus. Due to the complicated structure of the chuck described above, there is a high possibility that flatness defects will occur on the wafer, and there is also the problem that it cannot be used as a chuck for these exposure apparatuses.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and to provide a protective surface-holding type wafer holding device which can be transferred from the chuck to the wafer holding device by an in-cylinder operation even if the chuck has a simple structure. 43 (is.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a wafer shot layout, FIG. 2 is a top view of the wafer holding device of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A-A of the same. 1 is a wafer, 2 is a main body of the apparatus, 3 is a rubber member that comes into contact with the wafer, 4 is a bottle that supports the sucked wafer in the opposite direction to the suction direction, and 5 is a bottle 4-1 attached to the bottle 4. A stopper 6 is used to position the wafer supported by the bin 4, and 6 is a wafer bin 4 that supports the bin 4 and has an r+r ability of 1 to move due to fluctuations in air flow rate, etc.
Attach leaf springs 7 and 6 to always support them and move the bottle! Rotating plate for llr, 8 is rotating &
7, 7, 9 is a buffer plate that prevents it from hitting the wafer, 11 is a shaft for rotating the rotating plate 7.7, and the wafer holding device main body 2 and the rotating plate 7. γ
12 is a lever that moves a link mechanism composed of a rotating plate 7.7 and a link 8, 13 is a lever that prevents air leakage, a, b, c, and d are non-chips of wafer l'; It is an area.

As shown in FIG. 1, when substantially square chips are formed on a substantially circular recoil wafer, incomplete chip portions such as a, b, c, and d are usually produced. This part is not related to chip fabrication and does not require any particular protection. In order to bring the rubber member 3 at the tip of the bottle 4 into contact with this incomplete chip portion, the wafer holding device of this embodiment has a structure as shown in FIG. 2. Rotating plates 7 and 7 can rotate around the same rotation axis 11, and link 8
connected via. Further, the link 8 is connected to the lever 12 in the form shown in the figure. Therefore, if the lever 12 is moved slowly in the 1-down direction in the drawing, the four leaf springs 6 will
The four pins 4 connected to the leaf spring 6 are always connected to the rotation axis 1.
It moves slowly so as to move along the groove 14 on a constant circumference axially symmetrically with respect to 1 and downwardly and laterally symmetrically toward the drawing plane. Generally, the incomplete chip parts a, b, c, and d are symmetrical about the central axis of the wafer 1.1- and located at the four corners of a rectangle, so
Incomplete chip portions a and b occur in every wafer when the main body 2 of the apparatus is rotated in accordance with the wafer l.

Bring bottle 4 onto c and d! I can do 11.

The holding principle of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

Position the bottle 4 at the incomplete chip portions a, b, c, and d using 8-12. Next, move the wafer chuck (not shown) on which the wafer l is placed upward, or move the entire wafer holding device downward, and move the stopper 5 of the bin 4.
Push the bottle 4 against the wafer l until it hits the main body 2 of the apparatus. At this time, the contact portion of the rubber member 3 at the tip of the pin 4 is sufficiently smaller than the non-chip areas a, b, c, and d, and has sufficient elasticity so as not to damage the wafer l, and has a sufficient friction coefficient. This is to prevent lateral displacement of the wafer l. After the operation is completed, when sufficient air is supplied from the air inlet 15, the air flows in the direction of the arrow in the figure, that is, approximately in the radial direction of the circular device body 2, and the space between the device body 2 and the wafer 1 is at a negative pressure from atmospheric pressure. According to the so-called Bernoulli principle, a force acts on the wafer l in the direction of pressing the bottle 4, and the wafer l is attracted to this apparatus. The suction part of the apparatus body 2 is shaped conically as shown in the figure, and a buffer plate 10 is provided in the empty space, so that the repulsive force generated when the ejected air directly hits the wafer can be minimized. After this, the device body 2
The wafer l can be transported by moving the wafer l to the required location. Wafer chuck -1- holds wafer l only on the - side, so no special structure is required on the chuck side, and wafer 1 has incomplete chip parts a * b * C+ dL or contact parts, so it is held on the - side. It will not damage the semiconductor element even if it is held in place. Adsorption and retention based on Bernoulli's principle provides stable retention ability.

In this embodiment, the bin 4 has a movable structure, but since the chip position is roughly known from the reticle attached to the semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the bin 4 is placed in the equipment main body 2 at a position where it will definitely come into contact with the incomplete chip part. 1i1 to fix and improve suction power
14 may be omitted. Alternatively, after lifting the wafer 1 from the chuck, a hand may be inserted into the wafer 1 and the wafer 1 may be transported by hand. Also, instead of taking the form of Bernoulli suction, a suction cup or the like smaller than the incomplete tip part is attached to the tip of the bottle 4 or the contact part of the rubber member 3.
You can add steps. The contact area of wafer 1- is a non-chip area other than the incomplete chip parts a, b, c, and d, and the height of the transfer point is assumed to vary somewhat depending on the state of the 1-movement control. The stopper 5 may be omitted in consideration of the fact that the relative position of the chuck becomes a little higher. Any other improvements within the scope of the invention are oral functions.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Thus, l' = 4 of the semiconductor wafer 4G, which holds only the non-chip area on the body side surface, makes it possible to hold the wafer placed on a wafer chuck from above without damaging the elements. This eliminates the need for a complicated chuck structure for transport.

Furthermore, by combining a support member with a contact portion that is sufficiently smaller than the non-chip area and Bernoulli suction means as in the device of the embodiment, it became possible to hold the wafer by contacting only the non-chip area. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a shot layout, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the wafer holding device of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2. In the figure: l: Wafer 2: Wafer holding device main body 3: Rubber member 4: Bottle 5: Stopper 6: Leaf spring 7: Rotating plate 8: Link 9: Axis lO: Buffer plate ll: Rotating shaft 12 Nilever 13: Cover 14 = Circumferential groove 15: Air injection "1".

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Formed from a force applying means that applies force to the semiconductor wafer in the direction of the surface where chips are formed, and a support means capable of supporting multiple points in the non-chip area of the wafer applied by the force applying means. A wafer holding device characterized by: (2) The wafer holding device according to claim 1, wherein the applying means is a suction means for suctioning the wafer. (3) The wafer holding device according to claim 1, wherein the support means is movable parallel to the surface of the wafer.