CN220543862U - Loading chamber and semiconductor processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model provides a loading chamber and semiconductor process equipment, comprising: the device comprises a cavity, a base and a turnover mechanism, wherein the base is arranged in the cavity and used for bearing a storage box; the turnover mechanism comprises a first clamping arm, a second clamping arm, a horizontal driving mechanism and a rotary driving mechanism; the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm are opposite along the first horizontal direction and are arranged at intervals; the horizontal driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to be close to each other along the first horizontal direction so as to clamp the storage box or to be far away from each other so as to release the storage box. The rotary driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to rotate around a rotation axis when the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm clamp the wafer box and the base have a preset distance, and the rotation axis is parallel to the first horizontal direction so as to drive the wafer box and the wafer inside to turn. The loading chamber drives the wafer storage box to turn over through the turning mechanism, so that all wafers in the wafer storage box can be turned over in one turning action, and the turning efficiency is high.

Description

Loading chamber and semiconductor processing equipment

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a loading chamber and semiconductor process equipment.

Background

In semiconductor manufacturing processes, both the front and back sides of a wafer (wafer) often require processing to form a film. Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a semiconductor processing apparatus provided as an example of the related art. As shown in fig. 1, the semiconductor processing apparatus includes a Load Port 400a (Load Port), an EFEM module (front end of semiconductor device module), a Load chamber (LoadLock), a transfer chamber, and a process chamber, the EFEM module is provided with a flipping machine 130a (flip) and a calibration module 500a (Aligner), an atmospheric robot 600A (ATR) removes a wafer 300, the front of which has been processed, from the Load Port 400a to the calibration module 500a for calibration, the calibrated wafer is placed on the flipping machine 130a, the flipped wafer 300 is flipped to the back side up by the flipping machine 130a, the flipped wafer 300 is moved to the calibration module 500a for calibration, and then transferred back to the Load Port 400a, after all wafers are flipped, the flipped wafer 300 is moved into the Load chamber, and a vacuum robot (VTR) in the transfer chamber moves the wafer in the Load chamber to the back side of the process chamber for processing. However, in this manner, the flipping machine can only flip one wafer at a time, and the flipping efficiency is low.

Disclosure of Invention

The utility model aims to at least solve one of the technical problems in the prior art and provides a loading chamber and semiconductor process equipment.

To achieve the object of the utility model, there is provided a loading chamber comprising: the cavity, the base and the turnover mechanism,

the base is arranged in the cavity and provided with a bearing surface for bearing the storage box;

the turnover mechanism comprises a first clamping arm, a second clamping arm, a horizontal driving mechanism and a rotary driving mechanism; the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm are opposite along the first horizontal direction and are arranged at intervals; the horizontal driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to mutually approach along the first horizontal direction so as to clamp two side walls of the storage box or mutually separate along the first horizontal direction so as to release the storage box;

the rotary driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to rotate around the rotating shaft when the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm clamp the wafer box and the bearing surface have a preset distance in the vertical direction, so that the wafer box is driven to turn over, and one surface, back to the base, of the wafer in the wafer box is turned over to face the base, and the rotating shaft is parallel to the first horizontal direction.

The loading chamber as described above, wherein the flipping mechanism further comprises a first connecting arm and a second connecting arm, the first clamping arm is in transmission connection with the horizontal driving mechanism through a first connecting arm, and can rotate around a rotation axis relative to the first connecting arm; the second clamping arm is in transmission connection with the horizontal driving mechanism through a second connecting arm, and the second clamping arm can rotate around a rotation axis relative to the second connecting arm.

A loading chamber as described above, wherein the horizontal drive mechanism comprises: the driving part is in transmission connection with the first driving motor, and the first driving motor is used for driving the driving part to rotate; the first driven piece and the second driven piece are in transmission fit with the driving piece and move along the first horizontal direction, and the moving directions of the first driven piece and the second driven piece are opposite; and the first driven piece is fixedly connected with the first connecting arm, and the second driven piece is fixedly connected with the second connecting arm.

The loading chamber comprises a loading chamber body, wherein the loading chamber body further comprises a lifting mechanism, and the lifting mechanism can drive any one of the storage box and the base to move relative to the other one in the vertical direction, so that the relative position relationship between the storage box and the bearing surface is switched between a first state and a second state; in a first state, the storage box is in contact with the bearing surface; in the second state, the storage box is located above the bearing surface and is spaced from the bearing surface in the vertical direction.

The loading chamber as described above, wherein the turnover mechanism further comprises a detection device for detecting whether the relative positional relationship between the storage box and the carrying surface is switched from the second state to the first state; when the detecting device detects that the relative position relationship between the storage box and the bearing surface is switched from the second state to the first state, the horizontal driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to be mutually far away from each other along the first horizontal direction so as to release the storage box.

The loading chamber as described above, wherein the turnover mechanism further comprises a lifting arm, and the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm are connected with the lifting arm and can move along a first horizontal direction relative to the lifting arm;

the detection device comprises: a column, an induction device, and a sliding portion;

the column body is arranged on the cavity, a slide way extending along the vertical direction is formed in the column body in a hollow mode, and a through hole is formed in the bottom wall of the column body;

the induction device is positioned in the slideway and is arranged on the top wall of the column body;

the sliding part comprises a sliding block, a fixing part and an abutting part, the sliding block is arranged in the slideway in a sliding way, and the orthographic projection of the sliding block along the vertical direction is larger than the opening area of the through hole; the top end of the fixed part is fixedly connected with the sliding block, and the bottom end of the fixed part extends out of the slideway from the through hole and is fixedly connected with the lifting arm; the abutting piece is positioned in the slideway and between the sliding block and the top wall of the cylinder;

When the relative position relation between the storage box and the bearing surface is switched from the second state to the first state, the sliding part can be lifted from the first position to the second position; when the sliding part is positioned at the first position, the sliding block is propped against the bottom wall of the cylinder, and the top end of the propping piece is separated from the sensing device in the vertical direction; when the sliding part is positioned at the second position, the top end of the abutting part abuts against the sensing device, so that the sensing signal monitored by the sensing device changes.

The loading chamber as described above, wherein the abutment is a spring; and/or the sensing device is a pressure detector.

The loading chamber is characterized in that the lifting mechanism comprises a second driving motor, the second driving motor is in transmission connection with the column body, and the second driving motor is used for driving the column body to lift relative to the chamber body in the vertical direction.

The loading chamber is characterized in that the lifting mechanism comprises a lifting shaft and a third driving motor positioned outside the chamber, the top end of the lifting shaft is fixedly connected with the base, the bottom end of the lifting shaft penetrates through an opening formed in the bottom wall of the chamber, extends out of the chamber and is in transmission connection with the third driving motor, and the third driving motor is used for driving the lifting shaft to lift along the vertical direction.

The loading chamber as described above, wherein the loading chamber further comprises a fourth drive motor located outside the chamber, the fourth drive motor for driving the lifting shaft to rotate about the vertical axis.

The loading chamber as described above, wherein a first pressure sensor is provided on a side of the first clamping arm facing the second clamping arm, and a second pressure sensor is provided on a side of the second clamping arm facing the first clamping arm; the horizontal driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to mutually approach along the first horizontal direction, and when the pressure values detected by the first pressure sensor and the second pressure sensor reach preset values, the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm are determined to clamp the storage box.

The loading chamber comprises a first clamping arm, a second clamping arm and a loading chamber body, wherein the first clamping arm faces to the second clamping arm, and the second clamping arm faces to the first clamping arm; the preset value is set to be larger than or equal to the clamping force corresponding to the maximum static friction force of the storage box, and the clamping force is the ratio of the gravity of the storage box to the friction coefficient of the anti-slip layer.

As another technical solution, the present utility model also provides a semiconductor process apparatus, including: a transfer chamber and any of the loading chambers of the present utility model described above; a wafer transfer port is provided between the transfer chamber and the loading chamber for transferring wafers in the cassette.

The utility model has the following beneficial effects:

according to the loading chamber and the semiconductor process equipment, the turnover mechanism is arranged, the horizontal driving mechanism can be used for driving the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to be close to each other so as to clamp the wafer box, and then the rotary driving mechanism can be used for driving the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to rotate when the wafer box is spaced from the bearing surface of the base by a preset distance so as to drive the clamped wafer box to vertically turn over integrally, so that all wafers accommodated in the wafer box are turned over. Therefore, compared with the prior art that the turnover machine can only turn one wafer at a time, the loading chamber in the embodiment can enable all wafers in the wafer storage box to finish turnover in one turnover action through the turnover mechanism, and the turnover efficiency is high.

Moreover, through increasing tilting mechanism on loading the cavity, so, firstly need not to set up the tilting machine platform additionally, be favorable to saving the expense of purchasing the tilting machine platform, reduce cost, secondly load the cavity and just can realize the wafer upset, be favorable to simplifying the conveying flow of wafer in the semiconductor preparation process.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a semiconductor processing apparatus provided as an example of the related art;

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an IGBT;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a semiconductor processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a cassette in a semiconductor processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the cassette of FIG. 4 mated with a stored wafer;

FIG. 6 is a schematic top view of the cassette of FIG. 4 mated with a stored wafer;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a loading chamber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a transmission mechanism in a loading chamber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the transmission mechanism is engaged with a first connecting arm and a second connecting arm;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a process of driving a cassette to turn over by a first clamping arm and a second clamping arm in a loading chamber according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Reference numerals illustrate:

100-loading chamber;

110-a cavity; 111-a second sidewall;

120-base;

130-a turnover mechanism; 131-a first clamping arm; 1311—a first pressure sensor; 132-a second clamping arm; 1321-a second pressure sensor; 133-a first connecting arm; 134-a second connecting arm; 135-horizontal drive mechanism; 1351-gears; 1352-rack; 136-a controller; 137-lifting arms; 138-detecting means; 1381-a pressure detector; 1382-column; 1383-a slider;

1384-a securing portion; 1385-springs; 139-a second drive motor;

140-a third drive motor; 141-a lifting shaft;

150-fourth driving motor;

200-a storage box; 210-a sheet storage tank; 220-a tablet taking port; 230-opening;

300-wafer;

400-process chamber;

500-a transfer chamber; 510, a slice transferring port; 520-transmission means.

Detailed Description

In order to better understand the technical solutions of the present utility model, the following describes the loading chamber and the semiconductor processing equipment provided by the present utility model in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In semiconductor processing, wafers are transferred from an atmospheric environment to a process chamber in a stepwise manner for processing. As shown in fig. 2, IGBT 300a (Insulataed Gate Bipolar Transistor, insulated gate bipolar transistor) is composed of a MOS field effect and a bipolar transistor, and the front surface of IGBT 300a needs to be formed with emitter 310a (emitter) and the back surface needs to be formed with collector 320a (collector). The preparation process flow of the IGBT 300a is approximately: sequentially cleaning, oxidizing, photoetching (Litho), etching (tech), photoresist removing and depositing the front surface of the wafer to form a passivation layer and an emitter 310a; the wafer is then flipped and the back side of the wafer is deposited to form collector 320a and annealed.

It will be appreciated that, taking the IGBT 300a as an example, the wafer transfer process in the preparation process may generally refer to fig. 1, where the atmospheric robot 600A (ATR) takes out the wafer 300 with the front side processed from the loading port 400a, places the wafer 300 after correction on the flipping machine 130a for flipping, places the wafer 300 after flipping on the flipping machine 500a for flipping again, and then places the wafer after correction on the calibrating machine 500a by the atmospheric robot 600a, and then returns the wafer after correction to the loading port 400a by the atmospheric robot 600a, after each wafer in the loading port 400a is flipped piece by piece, all the wafers are carried to the loading chamber (Loadlock), and the vacuum robot (VTR) in the transfer chamber moves the wafer in the loading chamber to the process chamber for processing the back side of the wafer.

The turnover machine 130a includes a driving motor 131a, a rotating shaft 132a, and a fork 133a, where the fork 133a is used to carry the wafer 300, the fork 133a is in transmission connection with the driving motor 131a through the rotating shaft 132a, and the driving motor 131a drives the rotating shaft 132a to rotate, so as to drive the fork 133a to rotate, so that the wafer 300 is turned over.

The following problems are inevitable when the wafer is turned by using the turning machine: firstly, the turnover machine can only turn one wafer at a time, and the turnover efficiency is low; and secondly, the turnover machine is required to be additionally used for turnover, and the turnover machine is high in price, so that the cost of the semiconductor process equipment is high.

In order to solve the above problems, embodiments of the present application provide a semiconductor process apparatus. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a semiconductor process apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 3, the semiconductor processing apparatus includes a loading chamber (LoadLock) 100 in which a wafer cassette 200 may be placed, and a transfer chamber (TM) 500 in which wafers 300 are stored in the wafer cassette 200, and at least 1 process chamber (PM) 400 is provided around the optional transfer chamber (TM) 500. A transfer port 510 is provided between the transfer chamber 500 and the loading chamber 100, and a transfer device 520 is provided in the transfer chamber 500, wherein the transfer device 520 is used for transferring the wafer 300 in the wafer cassette 200, so that the wafer 300 is switched between the loading chamber 100 and any one of the process chambers 400.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a wafer cassette 200 in a semiconductor processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, fig. 5 is a front view schematically illustrating the wafer cassette 200 shown in fig. 4 mated with a stored wafer 300, and fig. 6 is a top view schematically illustrating the wafer cassette 200 shown in fig. 4 mated with the stored wafer 300. As shown in fig. 4 to 6, the wafer cassette 200 has a plurality of wafer storage slots 210 spaced apart in a vertical direction, the wafer storage slots 210 being used for horizontally placing wafers 300. The wafer 300 has front and back sides disposed opposite each other, either of which faces upward when the wafer 300 is placed in the wafer pocket 210. Wherein, the wafer cassette 200 is provided with a wafer taking port 220, and the wafer taking port 220 is configured to allow the wafer 300 to pass through.

In some embodiments, with continued reference to fig. 6, wafer cassette 200 may also have an opening 230 formed therein, opening 230 being opposite access opening 220, and opening 230 having a diameter smaller than the diameter of wafer 300, wafer 300 being unable to pass through opening 230.

In some embodiments, the semiconductor processing apparatus further includes a scanning module (mapping) for scanning the wafer 300 in the wafer cassette 200 to scan whether the wafer 300 is placed in each wafer slot 210 in the wafer cassette 200 and whether there is a placement abnormality in the scanned wafer 300.

Fig. 7 is a schematic view of a loading chamber according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 3 and 7 together, the embodiment of the present application further provides a loading chamber 100, which includes a chamber body 110 and a base 120. The cavity 110 has oppositely disposed first and second sidewalls 111 adjacent the transfer chamber 500 with a transfer port 510 disposed between the first sidewall and the transfer chamber 500, and the cavity 110 has oppositely disposed top and bottom walls along a vertical direction (shown as Z-Z in fig. 7).

Base 120 is disposed within cavity 110, and base 120 has a bearing surface for bearing cassette 200. When cassette 200 is placed in cavity 110, the two sidewalls adjacent to access port 220 of cassette 200 are opposite in a first horizontal direction (shown as Y-Y in fig. 7); in a second horizontal direction (shown as X-X in fig. 3), the film take out port 220 is opposite the film transfer port 510, and the opening 230 is opposite the second sidewall 111. Wherein, the first horizontal direction (Y-Y) and the second horizontal direction (X-X) are parallel to the horizontal plane and are perpendicular to each other.

In this way, the transfer device 520 in the transfer chamber 500 can extend into the chamber 110 from the transfer port 510, move the wafer 300 out of the wafer storage slot 210 from the wafer taking port 220, and then move into the transfer chamber 500 from the transfer port 510, so as to transfer the wafer 300 to any process chamber 400 for processing. Alternatively, the transfer device 520 can remove the processed wafer 300 from the process chamber 400 and return it to the pod 210 via the transfer port 510 and the pick port 220 in sequence.

With continued reference to fig. 7, the loading chamber 100 further includes a turnover mechanism 130, where the turnover mechanism 130 is configured to drive the wafer cassette 200 to complete a turnover operation in the chamber 110, so that the wafer 300 in the wafer cassette 200 is turned over, so as to facilitate a subsequent processing of an unprocessed surface of the turned wafer 300.

To achieve inversion of the cassette 200, the specific structure of the inversion mechanism 130 may be designed to include a first clamp arm 131, a second clamp arm 132, a horizontal driving mechanism, and a rotational driving mechanism.

The first and second clamp arms 131 and 132 are opposite and spaced apart in a first horizontal direction (shown as Y-Y in fig. 7). The horizontal driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to reciprocate along the first horizontal direction, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 are close to each other to clamp both side walls of the storage box 200 or far away from each other to release the storage box 200.

The rotation driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to rotate around a rotation axis, and the rotation axis is parallel to the first horizontal direction (i.e. Y-Y).

Wafer 300, with its front side up, is stored in cassette 200 set on the load-bearing surface of base 120. An exemplary process for loading chamber 100 in this embodiment is as follows:

the horizontal driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to mutually approach along the first horizontal direction until the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 clamp the two side walls of the storage box 200;

when the distance between the bottom surface of the wafer cassette 200 and the carrying surface in the vertical direction becomes the preset distance, the rotary driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to rotate 180 ° around the rotation axis along the preset direction, so as to drive the clamped wafer cassette 200 to vertically overturn, so that the front surface of the wafer 300 stored in the wafer cassette 200 is overturned towards the base 120, the wafer 300 is overturned from the front surface upwards to the back surface upwards, and correspondingly, the wafer cassette 200 is overturned from the top surface upwards to the bottom surface upwards.

The preset distance should be designed reasonably according to the requirements and the actual working conditions, so that the storage box 200 which is spaced from the bearing surface by the preset distance can not collide with the base 120 in the overturning process. Thus, after the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 clamp the wafer cassette 200, the wafer cassette 200 is separated from the base 120, and then a flipping action is performed, so as to prevent the wafer 300 from being damaged due to collision between the wafer cassette 200 and the base 120.

The predetermined direction should be designed to ensure that the internally stored wafer 300 does not fall out of the cassette 200 from the cassette access port 220 during the overturning process of the cassette 200. Specifically, when the rotation driving mechanism drives the wafer cassette 200 to turn over, and the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 rotate 90 ° along the preset direction, the wafer taking port 220 of the wafer cassette 200 turns from facing the wafer transferring port 510 to facing the top wall of the cavity 110, and the opening 230 turns from facing the second side wall 111 to facing the bottom wall of the cavity 110; then, the rotation driving mechanism drives the tablet box 200 to rotate by 90 ° along the preset direction, the tablet taking opening 220 of the tablet box 200 is turned from the top wall facing the cavity 110 to the second side wall 111, and the opening 230 is turned from the bottom wall facing the cavity 110 to the tablet transferring opening 510. Therefore, in the process of turning the cassette 200 along the predetermined direction in this embodiment, the wafer taking opening 220 keeps facing upward, so as to prevent the wafer 300 from falling from the wafer taking opening 220.

Moreover, it should be noted that, when the rotation driving mechanism drives the cassette 200 to rotate 90 ° by the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132, the opening 230 is turned from being directed toward the second side wall 111 to being directed toward the bottom wall of the cavity 110, and the wafer 300 is turned from the horizontal state to the vertical state at this time, and the wafer 300 cannot fall out from the opening 230 due to the fact that the diameter of the opening 230 is smaller than the diameter of the wafer 300, because the wafer 300 cannot pass through the opening 230. Meanwhile, all the wafers 300 in the wafer cassette 200 can be automatically aligned under the action of gravity, so that the wafers 300 are prevented from being damaged and particles are prevented from being generated due to collision between the transfer device 520 and the wafers 300 which are not placed in order when the wafers 300 are taken and placed in the subsequent transfer process, and the loading chamber 100 is prevented from being polluted.

It is noted that, as shown in fig. 5, in order to enable the wafer 300 to smoothly move into and out of the wafer cassette 210, the height h of the wafer cassette 210 in the vertical direction (i.e., Z-Z) is greater than the thickness t of the wafer 300. For example, in some embodiments, the height h of the wafer slot 210 is 4mm and the thickness t of the wafer 300 is 725 μm. Thus, when wafer 300 is flipped over using loading chamber 100 of the present embodiment, wafer cassette 200 is flipped vertically and wafer 300 is converted from back-side contact pod 210 to front-side contact pod 210 or from front-side contact pod 210 to back-side contact pod 210. Thus, although the wafer 300 in the wafer storage slot 210 moves relative to the wafer cassette 200, the wafer 300 will not shake substantially during the overturning process because the height h of the wafer storage slot 210 is slightly larger than the thickness t of the wafer 300, so as to reduce the possibility of damage caused by collision between the wafer 300 and the wafer cassette 200 at the surface where the process is completed.

It should be further noted that the wafer 300 includes a device region and a peripheral region surrounding the device region, a portion of the peripheral region of the wafer 300 overlaps the edge of the wafer storage slot 210, and a dimension of the peripheral region along the radial direction of the wafer 300 is greater than a dimension w along the radial direction of the wafer 300 of a portion of the peripheral region overlapping the wafer storage slot 210. For example, the peripheral area has a dimension along the radial direction of the wafer 300 of 5mm, and the portion of the peripheral area overlapping the wafer storage groove 210 has a dimension along the radial direction of the wafer 300 of w of 3mm. In this way, in the process of turning the wafer cassette 200 by the turning mechanism 130, even if the wafer 300 slightly shakes in the wafer storage slot 210, a certain distance exists between the device area and the edge of the wafer storage slot 210, which is beneficial to avoiding damage caused by touching the device area of the wafer 300 after the process treatment and the wafer storage slot 210.

Furthermore, taking the wafer 300 with the front side completed and the wafer 300 turned upside down to process the back side, it is understood that the passivation layer and Photoresist (PR) are usually deposited and formed in the final process of the front side of the wafer 300, so that the passivation layer and photoresist can protect the front side from being damaged due to the wafer 300 shaking in the wafer storage tank 210 during the turning process.

From the foregoing, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that when wafer 300 is stored in cassette 200 with its back side up and the back side processed, flipping mechanism 130 is used to flip the operation of cassette 200, and will not be described in detail herein.

According to the loading chamber 100 provided in this embodiment, by providing the turning mechanism 130, the turning mechanism 130 can drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to approach each other by using the horizontal driving mechanism to clamp the wafer cassette 200, and then can drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to rotate by using the rotation driving mechanism when the wafer cassette 200 is spaced from the carrying surface by a preset distance, so as to drive the clamped wafer cassette 200 to vertically turn over as a whole, so that all the wafers 300 accommodated in the wafer cassette 200 are turned over. Therefore, compared with the case that the turning machine can only turn one wafer 300 at a time in the related art, the loading chamber 100 in this embodiment can complete the turning of all the wafers 300 in the wafer cassette 200 in one turning action by the turning mechanism 130, so that the turning efficiency is high.

Moreover, by adding the turning mechanism 130 to the loading chamber 100, the turning mechanism is not required to be additionally provided, so that the cost for purchasing the turning mechanism is saved, the cost is reduced, and the loading chamber 100 can turn the wafer 300, thereby facilitating the simplification of the transfer process of the wafer 300 in the semiconductor manufacturing process.

In some embodiments, the flipping mechanism 130 further comprises a first connecting arm 133 and a second connecting arm 134, the first clamping arm 131 being in driving connection with the horizontal driving mechanism via the first connecting arm 133, and the second clamping arm 132 being in driving connection with the horizontal driving mechanism via the second connecting arm 134.

The first clamp arm 131 is rotatable about the rotation axis relative to the first link arm 133, and the second clamp arm 132 is rotatable about the rotation axis relative to the second link arm 134.

In this embodiment, the horizontal driving mechanism can drive the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to reciprocally translate along the first horizontal direction, and the moving directions of the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 are opposite, so as to achieve that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 can approach each other or separate from each other. Meanwhile, the rotation driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm 131 to rotate relative to the first connecting arm 133 and the second clamping arm 132 to rotate relative to the second connecting arm 134, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 can rotate. In this way, it is ensured that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 can perform both translational and rotational movements.

It will be appreciated that in some embodiments, as shown in fig. 7, the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 may have an "|" shape, and the first connecting arm 133 and the first clamping arm 131, and the second connecting arm 134 and the second clamping arm 132 may be connected to form an "L" shape. Alternatively, in an alternative embodiment, the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 may also have a "Γ" shape.

The rotation driving mechanism may specifically include two motors respectively disposed on the first connection arm 133 and the second connection arm 134 to respectively drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to rotate.

It will be appreciated that the horizontal drive mechanism includes, but is not limited to, the following possible implementations.

In one possible approach, the first and second connecting arms 133, 134 may be driven by two independent power sources, respectively. For example, the horizontal driving mechanism includes two electric pushers provided on the top wall of the cavity 110, the two electric pushers being connected with the first and second connection arms 133 and 134, respectively, to transmit linear power to the first and second connection arms 133 and 134, respectively. In this embodiment, the two electric pushing rods should act synchronously, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 can simultaneously abut against the side wall of the tablet box 200 to clamp the tablet box 200.

In another possible manner, the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 may be controlled in linkage by the same power source. Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a horizontal driving mechanism in the loading chamber 100, which is matched with the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 according to the embodiment of the present application. For example, referring to fig. 8, the horizontal driving mechanism 135 includes a first driving motor, a driving member, a first driven member, and a second driven member, where the driving member is in transmission connection with the first driving motor, and the first driving motor is used for driving the driving member to rotate; the first driven piece and the second driven piece are in transmission fit with the driving piece and move along the first horizontal direction, and the moving directions of the first driven piece and the second driven piece are opposite. The first follower is fixedly connected to the first connecting arm 133, and the second follower is fixedly connected to the second connecting arm 134.

In this embodiment, the transmission mechanism formed by the driving member, the first driven member and the second driven member converts the rotation power of the first driving motor into linear power and transmits the linear power to the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134, so as to drive the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to reciprocate in the first horizontal direction, and the movement directions of the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 are opposite.

Compared with the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 which are driven by two independent power sources respectively, in the embodiment, only one power source is needed to drive the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to move at the same time, which is beneficial to saving cost, and the two power sources are not needed to be controlled respectively, so that the control process is simple.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 8, the driving member may be a gear 1351, and the first driven member and the second driven member are each a rack 1352 engaged with the gear 1351, where the rack 1352 extends along a first horizontal direction. Thus, when the first driving motor drives the gear 1351 to rotate clockwise, the first follower moves forward in the first horizontal direction, and the second follower moves backward in the first horizontal direction, the first link arm 133 and the second link arm 134 approach each other. In contrast, when the first driving motor drives the gear 1351 to rotate counterclockwise, the first connection arm 133 and the second connection arm 134 are away from each other.

As an alternative embodiment, the driving member may be, for example, a screw, where the screw extends along a first horizontal direction, a first thread is formed on an outer surface of one end of the screw, a second thread is formed on an outer surface of the other end of the screw, the directions of rotation of the first thread and the second thread are opposite, the first driven member is a screw nut sleeved at one end of the screw and matched with the first thread, and the second driven member is a screw nut sleeved at the other end of the screw and matched with the second thread. Thus, when the first driving motor drives the screw rod to rotate, the moving directions of the two screw rod nuts are opposite.

Loading chamber 100 as disclosed herein may further include a lifting mechanism capable of moving either of cassette 200 and base 120 in a vertical direction relative to the other such that the relative positional relationship of cassette 200 and the load-bearing surface is switched between a first state and a second state. In the first state, the cassette 200 is positioned on the base 120, and the cassette 200 is in contact with the bearing surface. In the second state, the cassette 200 is located above the bearing surface and is spaced vertically from the bearing surface.

In this way, after first clamping arm 131 and second clamping arm 132 clamp wafer cassette 200, wafer cassette 200 and/or base 120 are driven to move in the vertical direction by the lifting mechanism, so that wafer cassette 200 is far away from the bearing surface, and when wafer cassette 200 is spaced from the bearing surface by a preset distance, the rotation driving mechanism drives first clamping arm 131 and second clamping arm 132 to rotate in the preset direction.

In order to accurately control the movement process of first clamping arm 131 and second clamping arm 132, flipping mechanism 130 may further include a detecting device 138, where detecting device 138 is configured to detect whether the relative positional relationship between cassette 200 and the carrying surface is switched from the second state to the first state. That is, detection device 138 is used to detect whether or not cassette 200 is replaced on base 120.

When detecting device 138 detects that the relative positional relationship between cassette 200 and the carrying surface is switched from the second state to the first state, horizontal driving mechanism 135 drives first clamping arm 131 and second clamping arm 132 to move away from each other in the first horizontal direction to release cassette 200.

As such, according to the control process of loading chamber 100 of this embodiment, it is advantageous to ensure that flipped cartridge 200 is replaced onto base 120 from above base 120 to release cartridge 200.

It should be appreciated that ways to achieve detection of whether the relative positional relationship of the cassette 200 to the bearing surface is switched from the second state to the first state include, but are not limited to, the following possibilities:

for example, in one possible implementation, the detecting device may be a pressure sensor disposed on the base 120, where the pressure sensor is configured to detect the pressure applied to the base 120. In the first state, the cassette 200 is located on the carrying surface of the base 120, and the pressure value detected by the pressure sensor is the sum of the weight of the cassette 200 and the total weight of the wafers 300 contained in the cassette 200. In the second state, the cassette 200 is spaced apart from the base 120 in the vertical direction, and the pressure value detected by the pressure sensor is 0. In this embodiment, when the pressure value detected by the pressure sensor changes from 0 to the sum of the weight of the cassette 200 and the total weight of the wafers 300 contained in the cassette 200, the relative positional relationship between the cassette 200 and the carrying surface is detected to change from the second state to the first state, indicating that the cassette 200 is placed back on the base 120.

For example, in another possible implementation, the detection device may be a camera that captures images of the base 120 in a vertical direction. In the first state, the cassette 200 is in contact with the carrying surface of the base 120, and the image captured by the camera includes the cassette 200. In the second state, the cassette 200 is spaced apart from the base 120 in the vertical direction, and the image photographed by the camera does not include the cassette 200. In this embodiment, it is detected whether the image captured by the analysis camera includes the cassette 200 or not by recognizing the relative positional relationship between the cassette 200 and the carrying surface from the second state to the first state.

For example, in yet another possible implementation, as shown in fig. 7, the detection device 138 may include a post 1382, an inductive device, and a slider.

The column 1382 is mounted on the cavity 110, a slide extending along a vertical direction is hollow inside the column 1382, and a through hole is formed in a bottom wall of the column 1382.

Wherein, sensing device sets up in the slide, and sensing device installs at the top of cylinder 1382, and sensing device is used for the control sensing signal.

The sliding portion includes a sliding block 1383, a fixing portion 1384 and an abutting piece, the sliding block 1383 is slidably disposed in the slideway, and orthographic projection of the sliding block 1383 along the vertical direction is larger than an open area of the through hole. That is, the slider 1383 cannot pass through the through hole so as to prevent the slider 1383 from being separated from the slideway through the through hole. The top end of the fixing portion 1384 is fixedly connected with the slider 1383, and the bottom end of the fixing portion extends out of the slide way from the through hole and is fixedly connected with the lifting arm 137 of the turnover mechanism 130. The abutment is located within the slideway and between the slider 1383 and the top wall of the column 1382.

The lifting arm 137 of the tilting mechanism 130 is connected to the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132, and the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 are movable in the first horizontal direction with respect to the lifting arm 137.

In this embodiment, when the relative positional relationship between the cassette 200 and the carrying surface is the second state, the carrying surface of the cassette 200 and the base 120 is separated in the vertical direction, and at this time, the sliding portion is located at the first position. In the first position, the slider 1383 abuts against the bottom wall of the column 1382, and the top end of the abutment is spaced from the sensing device in the vertical direction, and the abutment is not in abutment. The weight of the cassette 200 clamped to the first clamp arm 131 and the second clamp arm 132 is supported by the lifting arm 137, the fixing portion 1384, and the slider 1383.

When the relative position relationship between the cassette 200 and the carrying surface is switched from the second state to the first state, the cassette 200 is replaced on the base 120, the base 120 bears the gravity of the cassette 200, and according to the newton's third law, the cassette 200 is subjected to a vertically upward reaction force exerted by the base 120, and the magnitude of the reaction force is equal to the gravity of the cassette 200. In this way, the tilting mechanism 130 receives a vertically upward reaction force, and the first clamping arm 131, the second clamping arm 132, and the lifting arm 137 receive a vertically upward reaction force to push the sliding portion to move upward along the slideway, and the sliding portion is lifted from the first position to the second position.

In the second position, the top end of the abutting piece abuts against the sensing device, and the sensing device is triggered to enable the sensing signal monitored by the sensing device to change.

In embodiments where the detection device is a pressure sensor, the detection device is prone to false positives when cassette 200 is first placed on base 120. In this embodiment, when the storage box 200 is placed on the base 120 for the first time, the storage box 200 is not clamped yet, so that the lifting arm 137 and the sliding portion cannot move upwards, and further the sensing device cannot be triggered, and as can be seen, the detection device 138 in this embodiment detects by using the combination of the mechanical structure and the sensing device, and erroneous judgment is not easy to occur.

For example, the sensing device may be a pressure detector 1381, when the sliding portion is lifted from the first position to the second position, the abutment member abuts against the pressure detector 1381, and when the pressure value detected by the pressure detector 1381 is changed from 0 to a value greater than 0, it may be indicated that the cassette 200 is put back onto the base 120.

Alternatively, the sensing device may also be, for example, a micro switch. Taking the micro switch as a normally open switch as an example, when the sliding part rises from the first position to the second position, the abutting piece abuts against the micro switch to trigger the micro switch to be closed, and the micro switch is switched from a low level signal to a high level signal, so that the storage box 200 can be indicated to be put back on the base 120.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 7, the abutment may be a spring 1385. The bottom end of the spring 1385 may be fixedly connected to the top end of the slider 1383, or the bottom end of the spring 1385 may be in contact with only the top end of the slider 1383. In other embodiments, the abutment member may be a rod-shaped structure or a block-shaped structure, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In contrast, in embodiments in which the abutment is a spring 1385, the spring 1385 is in the original state when the slide is in the first position; during the sliding portion is lifted from the first position to the second position, the spring 1385 is gradually compressed from the original state; when the sliding portion reaches the second position, the spring 1385 is in a compressed state. In this embodiment, after the sliding portion reaches the second position, the detecting device 138 detects that the relative position between the cassette 200 and the carrying surface is switched from the second state to the first state, and the horizontal driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to move away from each other to release the cassette 200, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 are no longer subjected to the reaction force exerted by the base 120. At this time, in addition to the self gravity of the sliding portion and the gravity of the first clamping arm 131, the second clamping arm 132 and the lifting arm 137, the elastic force generated by the restoring deformation of the spring 1385 also acts on the sliding portion, so that the sliding portion can quickly return to the first position from the second position.

As disclosed above, the lifting arm 137 is connected to the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132, and specifically, as shown in fig. 7, the first clamping arm 131 is connected to the lifting arm 137 through the first connecting arm 133, the second clamping arm 132 is connected to the lifting arm 137 through the second connecting arm 134, and the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 are movable in the first horizontal direction with respect to the lifting arm 137. In this way, the lifting arm 137 not only provides stable installation for the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134, but also ensures that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 can reciprocate in the first horizontal direction by designing the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to be slidably connected to the lifting arm 137.

The lifting arm 137 may have a plate-like structure or a box-like structure, and the present embodiment is not particularly limited. Illustratively, the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 are slidably connected to the lifting arm 137 in the following manner: the lifting arm 137 may be provided with a first chute and a second chute, the extending directions of the first chute and the second chute are parallel to the first horizontal direction, one end of the first connecting arm 133 may be provided with a first sliding member, the first sliding member is slidably disposed in the first chute, one end of the second connecting arm 134 may be provided with a second sliding member, and the second sliding member is slidably disposed in the second chute.

The lift mechanism as disclosed herein is capable of moving either of the cassette 200 and the base 120 in a vertical direction relative to the other, there are a number of possible implementations of the lift mechanism. The elevating mechanism will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In a first example, a lift mechanism can be used to drive cassette 200 in a vertical direction relative to base 120. In other words, the elevating mechanism drives the deck 200 to elevate.

With continued reference to fig. 7, in addition to the embodiment in which the detection device 138 includes a column 1382, the column 1382 is further configured to be vertically lifted with respect to the cavity 110, and the lifting mechanism may include a second driving motor 139, where the second driving motor 139 is in driving connection with the column 1382, and the second driving motor 139 is configured to drive the column 1382 to lift. The second driving motor 139 is not limited to a linear motor, and may be used to provide rotational power, where the lifting mechanism further includes a transmission device, and the transmission device can convert the rotational power of the second driving motor 139 into linear power and transmit the linear power to the column 1382. In particular, the transmission may be a rack and pinion mechanism or a lead screw nut mechanism.

Thus, when the cartridge 200 is clamped between the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132, the column 1382 is driven to lift by the second driving motor 139, and the lifting arm 137 is lifted accordingly, so as to drive the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to lift accordingly, so that the cartridge 200 clamped between the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 can be moved up to a predetermined distance from the base 120 to perform a tilting action, or the cartridge 200 can be lowered to be replaced on the base 120. In this embodiment, the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 can simultaneously implement reciprocating translational, lifting and rotational actions.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a process of turning over the cassette 200 by the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 in the loading chamber 100 according to the embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 9, an exemplary operation of the loading chamber 100 according to the present embodiment is as follows:

the second driving motor 139 drives the column 1382 to drive the lifting arm 137 to descend, and the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 descend accordingly to drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to descend from the initial positions (as shown in fig. 9 a) to the set positions (as shown in fig. 9 b); when the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 are positioned at the set positions, the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm are respectively opposite to two side walls of the storage box 200 positioned on the base 120;

the first driving motor operates to drive the driving member to rotate, and drive the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to approach each other, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 approach each other, until the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 clamp the cassette 200 located on the base 120 (as shown in fig. 9 c);

the second driving motor 139 drives the column 1382 to drive the lifting arm 137 to lift, and the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 lift accordingly, so as to drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to lift from the set positions (as shown in fig. 9 b) to the preset positions (as shown in fig. 9 d), and accordingly, the relative positional relationship between the storage box 200 and the carrying surface is switched from the first state to the second state, and the bottom surface of the storage box 200 is spaced from the base 120 by a preset distance H in the vertical direction;

The rotation driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to rotate 180 degrees along a preset direction, the wafer cassette 200 is vertically turned over (as shown in fig. 9 e), and the wafer 300 is vertically turned over accordingly;

as shown in fig. 9f, the second driving motor 139 drives the column 1382 to drive the lifting arm 137 to descend, and the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 are driven to descend accordingly, so as to drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to descend from the preset position to the set position, and accordingly, the relative positional relationship between the storage box 200 and the carrying surface is switched from the second state to the first state, the storage box 200 returns to the base 120 and the top surface of the storage box 200 contacts the carrying surface;

detecting device 138 detects that the relative position between the storage box 200 and the bearing surface is switched from the second state to the first state, as shown in fig. 9g, the first driving motor operates to drive the driving member to rotate, and drives the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to move away from each other, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 move away from each other, until the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 release the storage box 200;

as shown in fig. 9h, the second driving motor 139 drives the column 1382 to drive the lifting arm 137 to lift, and the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 lift accordingly, so as to drive the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to lift from the set positions to the initial positions.

When the control process shown in fig. 9 is performed to control the movement of the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132, the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 are first lowered from the initial positions to the set positions to clamp the cassette 200, and returned to the initial positions after the inversion is completed. Wherein, the distance between the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 and the base 120 at the initial position is greater than the distance between the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 and the base 120 at the set position and the distance between the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm 132 and the base 120 at the preset position. In this way, after the turnover mechanism 130 turns over the cassette 200, the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 are lifted to the initial positions, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 are far away from the base 120 and the cassette 200, so as to provide sufficient operation space for the scanning module (mapping) during the subsequent process.

Of course, in other embodiments of the present application, the initial position and the set position may be the same position. As such, the exemplary control process of the loading chamber 100 according to the present embodiment may omit a process of controlling the switching of the first and second clamp arms 131 and 132 between the initial position and the set position, i.e., the switching of the flipping structure from the state shown in fig. 9a to the state shown in fig. 9b and from the state shown in fig. 9g to the state shown in fig. 9h, so that the control process may be advantageously simplified.

In embodiments in which the lift mechanism includes a lift shaft 141 and a second drive motor 139, the loading chamber 100 as disclosed herein may further include a controller 136, the controller 136 being coupled to the second drive motor 139 to control the operating state of the second drive motor 139.

With continued reference to fig. 7, the loading chamber 100 as disclosed herein may further include a lifting shaft 141, a through hole may be provided on a bottom wall of the cavity 110, a top end of the lifting shaft 141 is fixedly connected with the base 120, a bottom end of the lifting shaft 141 passes through the through hole, and a bottom end of the lifting shaft 141 extends out of the cavity 110.

In a second example, on the basis of the embodiment in which the loading chamber 100 further includes the elevation shaft 141, the elevation mechanism may include the elevation shaft 141 and a third driving motor 140 located outside the chamber 110, the third driving motor 140 being drivingly connected with the elevation shaft 141, the third driving motor 140 being for driving the elevation shaft 141 to elevate in a vertical direction.

Wafer cassette 200, which is set on the carrying surface of base 120, stores wafers 300 with the front side up, wafers 300, an exemplary operation of loading chamber 100 according to this embodiment is:

the first driving motor operates to drive the driving member to rotate, and drive the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to approach each other, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 approach each other until the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 clamp the cassette 200 located on the base 120;

The third driving motor 140 operates to drive the lifting shaft 141 to descend and drive the base 120 to descend until the bearing surface and the bottom surface of the storage box 200 are spaced apart from each other by a preset distance in the vertical direction;

the rotary driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 to rotate 180 degrees along a preset direction, the storage box 200 is vertically turned over, the storage box 200 is turned over from the top surface to the bottom surface to the top, and the wafer 300 is vertically turned over and is turned over from the front surface to the back surface to the top;

third driving motor 140 operates to drive lifting shaft 141 to lift, and drive base 120 to lift until the bearing surface contacts the top surface of cassette 200;

the detecting device 138 detects that the relative position relationship between the storage box 200 and the bearing surface is switched from the second state to the first state, and the first driving motor operates to drive the driving member to rotate, so as to drive the first connecting arm 133 and the second connecting arm 134 to be away from each other, so that the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 are away from each other, until the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 release the storage box 200.

In the third example, the first example and the second example may be combined, that is, the lifting mechanism may drive the cassette 200 to lift relative to the base 120, and may drive the base 120 to lift relative to the cassette 200. In this embodiment, when loading chamber 100 is in operation, cassette 200 and base 120 can be moved in opposite directions in the vertical direction, so that cassette 200 can be quickly raised to a predetermined distance from the load surface.

On the basis of the embodiment in which the loading chamber 100 further includes the elevation shaft 141, the loading chamber 100 may further include a fourth driving motor 150 located outside the cavity 110, the fourth driving motor 150 being for driving the elevation shaft 141 to rotate about the vertical axis. Thus, after the wafer cassette 200 is vertically turned over, the fourth driving motor 150 rotates 180 ° around the vertical axis by the lifting shaft 141, so that the wafer taking opening 220 of the wafer cassette 200 can be turned from being opposite to the second side wall 111 to being opposite to the wafer transferring opening 510, so that the wafer 300 can be taken and placed by the conveying device 520 through the wafer transferring opening 510.

In order to ensure that the wafer cassette 200 is turned over on the basis of being clamped by the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132, so as to prevent the wafer cassette 200 from falling off without being clamped during the turning process, in this embodiment, a face of the first clamping arm 131 facing the second clamping arm 132 may be provided with a first pressure sensor 1311, and a face of the second clamping arm 132 facing the first clamping arm 131 may be provided with a second pressure sensor 1321. When the pressure values detected by first pressure sensor 1311 and second pressure sensor 1321 reach a preset value, it is determined that first clamp arm 131 and second clamp arm 132 clamp cassette 200. It should be noted that, by designing first pressure sensor 1311 and second pressure sensor 1321, the clamping force between first clamping arm 131 and second clamping arm 132 and cassette 200 can also be detected to control the clamping force to cassette 200 so as not to deform cassette 200 due to excessive clamping force.

It can be appreciated that according to the sliding friction formula: f=μn, the maximum static friction force f that needs to be overcome to prevent the cassette 200 clamped between the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 from falling is the total weight G of the cassette 200 and the accommodated wafer 300, μ is the friction coefficient between the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 and the cassette 200, and therefore, in order to prevent the cassette 200 from falling, the clamping force applied to the cassette 200 should satisfy n=g/μ. Based on this, the preset value should be designed to be N or more to ensure that the cassette 200 does not fall when the pressure values detected by the first pressure sensor 1311 and the second pressure sensor 1321 reach the preset value.

As a further alternative embodiment, the preset value may be greater than N. For example, the preset value is 1.5×n, such that an increase in the preset value is advantageous for further ensuring that cartridge 200 is clamped when the pressure values detected by first pressure sensor 1311 and second pressure sensor 1321 reach the preset values.

In some embodiments, an anti-slip layer may be disposed on a surface of the first clamping arm 131 facing the second clamping arm 132, so as to increase friction between the first clamping arm 131 and the cassette 200, and perform an anti-slip function, so as to further ensure that the cassette 200 can be clamped by the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132. Similarly, the side of the second clamping arm 132 facing the first clamping arm 131 may be provided with an anti-slip layer.

The anti-slip layer may be made of rubber material or plastic material, for example. Taking the anti-slip layer as a rubber layer made of rubber material as an example, a rubber paint spraying process may be specifically adopted to spray and form a rubber layer on the surfaces of the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 contacting the storage box 200.

In the technical solution that the surface of the first clamping arm 131 and the second clamping arm 132 contacting the wafer cassette 200 is provided with an anti-slip layer, and the friction coefficient μ of the anti-slip layer is 4, the total weight G of the wafer cassette 200 and the wafer 300 is set to be 24N, and n=g/μ=6n, and then the preset value should be greater than or equal to 6N. For example, the preset value may be 9N.

It is to be understood that the above embodiments are merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the present utility model, but not in limitation thereof. Various modifications and improvements may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and substance of the utility model, and are also considered to be within the scope of the utility model.

Claims (13)

1. A loading chamber, comprising:

a cavity;

the base is arranged in the cavity and provided with a bearing surface for bearing the storage box;

The turnover mechanism comprises a first clamping arm, a second clamping arm, a horizontal driving mechanism and a rotary driving mechanism; the first clamping arms and the second clamping arms are opposite to each other along the first horizontal direction and are arranged at intervals; the horizontal driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to mutually approach along the first horizontal direction so as to clamp two side walls of the storage box or mutually separate along the first horizontal direction so as to release the storage box;

the rotary driving mechanism can drive the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to rotate around a rotation axis when the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm clamp the wafer box and the bearing surface are at a preset distance in the vertical direction, so that the wafer box is driven to turn over, and one surface of the wafer in the wafer box, which is opposite to the base, is turned over to face the base, wherein the rotation axis is parallel to the first horizontal direction.

2. The loading chamber of claim 1, wherein the tipping mechanism further comprises a first connecting arm and a second connecting arm, the first clamping arm is drivingly connected to the horizontal drive mechanism by the first connecting arm, and the first clamping arm is rotatable about the rotational axis relative to the first connecting arm;

The second clamping arm is in transmission connection with the horizontal driving mechanism through the second connecting arm, and the second clamping arm can rotate around the rotating axis relative to the second connecting arm.

3. The loading chamber of claim 2, wherein the horizontal drive mechanism comprises:

a first driving motor;

the driving piece is in transmission connection with the first driving motor, and the first driving motor is used for driving the driving piece to rotate; and

the first driven piece and the second driven piece are in transmission fit with the driving piece and move along the first horizontal direction, and the moving directions of the first driven piece and the second driven piece are opposite; and the first driven piece is fixedly connected with the first connecting arm, and the second driven piece is fixedly connected with the second connecting arm.

4. The loading chamber of claim 1, further comprising a lifting mechanism capable of moving either one of the cassette and the base in a vertical direction relative to the other such that a relative positional relationship of the cassette and the bearing surface is switched between a first state and a second state;

in the first state, the storage box is in contact with the bearing surface;

In the second state, the storage box is located above the bearing surface and is spaced from the bearing surface in the vertical direction.

5. The loading chamber of claim 4, wherein the flipping mechanism further comprises a detection device for detecting whether the relative positional relationship of the cassette and the bearing surface is switched from the second state to the first state;

when the detection device detects that the relative position relation between the storage box and the bearing surface is switched from the second state to the first state, the horizontal driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to be far away from each other along the first horizontal direction so as to release the storage box.

6. The loading chamber of claim 5, wherein the turnover mechanism further comprises a lift arm, the first and second clamp arms each being connected to the lift arm and movable relative to the lift arm in the first horizontal direction;

the detection device includes:

the cylinder is arranged on the cavity, a slideway extending along the vertical direction is formed in the cylinder in a hollow mode, and a through hole is formed in the bottom wall of the cylinder;

The induction device is positioned in the slideway and is arranged on the top wall of the column body; and

the sliding part comprises a sliding block, a fixing part and an abutting part, wherein the sliding block is arranged in the slideway in a sliding way, and the orthographic projection of the sliding block along the vertical direction is larger than the open area of the through hole; the top end of the fixed part is fixedly connected with the sliding block, and the bottom end of the fixed part extends out of the slideway from the through hole and is fixedly connected with the lifting arm; the abutting piece is positioned in the slideway and between the sliding block and the top wall of the cylinder;

when the relative position relation between the storage box and the bearing surface is switched from the second state to the first state, the sliding part can be lifted from the first position to the second position; when the sliding part is positioned at the first position, the sliding block is propped against the bottom wall of the cylinder, and the top end of the propping piece is separated from the induction device in the vertical direction; when the sliding part is positioned at the second position, the top end of the abutting piece abuts against the sensing device, so that the sensing signal monitored by the sensing device changes.

7. The loading chamber of claim 6, wherein the abutment is a spring; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

The sensing device is a pressure detector.

8. The loading chamber of claim 6, wherein the lifting mechanism comprises a second drive motor in driving connection with the column, the second drive motor for driving the column to lift in a vertical direction relative to the cavity.

9. The loading chamber of claim 4, wherein the lifting mechanism comprises a lifting shaft and a third driving motor positioned outside the cavity, the top end of the lifting shaft is fixedly connected with the base, the bottom end of the lifting shaft passes through an opening arranged on the bottom wall of the cavity, extends out of the cavity and is in transmission connection with the third driving motor, and the third driving motor is used for driving the lifting shaft to lift in the vertical direction.

10. The loading chamber of claim 9, further comprising a fourth drive motor located outside the chamber for driving the lift shaft to rotate about a vertical axis.

11. The loading chamber of any one of claims 1-10, wherein a side of the first clamping arm facing the second clamping arm is provided with a first pressure sensor and a side of the second clamping arm facing the first clamping arm is provided with a second pressure sensor;

The horizontal driving mechanism drives the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm to be close to each other along the first horizontal direction, and when the pressure values detected by the first pressure sensor and the second pressure sensor reach preset values, the first clamping arm and the second clamping arm are determined to clamp the storage box.

12. The loading chamber of claim 11, wherein the side of the first clamping arm facing the second clamping arm and the side of the second clamping arm facing the first clamping arm are each provided with an anti-slip layer;

the preset value is set to be larger than or equal to the clamping force corresponding to the maximum static friction force of the storage box, and the clamping force is the ratio of the gravity of the storage box to the friction coefficient of the anti-slip layer.

13. A semiconductor processing apparatus, comprising: a transfer chamber and a loading chamber as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12;

and a wafer transfer port is arranged between the transmission chamber and the loading chamber and used for transmitting wafers in the wafer storage box.