JP-7857429-B2 - Wafer handling hand, wafer exchange equipment, charged particle beam apparatus, and vacuum apparatus

Inventors

• 高橋 宗大
• 水落 真樹
• 菅野 誠一郎
• 宮 豪
• 山家 佑太
• 長山 巧
• 上柿 雅裕

Assignees

• 株式会社日立ハイテク

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20221208

Claims (12)

1. The hand unit and Electrostatic chuck and, Includes easily deformable members, The electrostatic chuck and the easily deformable member are arranged adjacent to one of the planes of the hand body. The easily deformable member has a height greater than the electrostatic chuck. It further includes a protrusion formed of a difficult-to-deform member, The easily deformable member is a wafer handling hand having a height greater than the protrusion.
2. The wafer transport hand according to claim 1, wherein the electrostatic chuck and the easily deformable member are arranged such that one of them surrounds the other.
3. The wafer transport hand according to claim 1, wherein there are three sets of adjacent electrostatic chucks and easily deformable members.
4. The wafer transport hand according to claim 1, wherein the hand body is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic.
5. The wafer handling hand according to claim 1, wherein the electrostatic chuck has a configuration in which its surface is covered with a film.
6. The wafer transport hand according to claim 1, wherein the easily deformable member has a surface structure that utilizes interatomic forces.
7. (delete)
8. A wafer exchange apparatus having a wafer transport hand as described in claim 1.
9. A charged particle beam apparatus having the wafer exchange apparatus described in claim 8.
10. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a displacement sensor for measuring changes in the height of a wafer placed on the wafer transport hand.
11. A vacuum apparatus having the wafer exchange apparatus described in claim 8.
12. The vacuum apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a displacement sensor for measuring changes in the height of a wafer placed on the wafer transport hand.

Description

This disclosure relates to a wafer handling hand, a wafer exchange device, a charged particle beam device, and a vacuum device. Conventionally, in the field of semiconductor equipment, technologies related to wafer exchange equipment, such as wafer exchange robots, have been known. In particular, in wafer exchange equipment operating in a vacuum, it is necessary to operate the robot hand (hereinafter simply referred to as "hand") at high speed to shorten wafer exchange time. Furthermore, with the diversification of devices, it has become necessary to handle wafers that are prone to warping. Patent Document 1 discloses an end effector for a substrate transport device, which includes a support member for supporting a semiconductor wafer, an electrostatic chuck provided on the support member, and a retaining pin formed as a holding part protruding from the support surface. The retaining pin is provided so as to be movable along the mounting hole in the direction in which it protrudes from the support surface. As a result, even if the semiconductor wafer warps, the central part of the semiconductor wafer, which is less deformed due to warping, is held by the electrostatic chuck, and the area surrounding the central part is held by the retaining pin, so the semiconductor wafer can be sufficiently held in accordance with the deformation due to warping. International Publication No. 2012/014442 This is a side view showing the wafer handling hand of Example 1.This is a side view showing a warped wafer placed on the wafer handling hand shown in Figure 1.This is a perspective view showing the wafer handling hand of Example 1.This is a side view showing a wafer handling hand in a modified example (1).This is a side view showing an example of a preferred arrangement of an electrostatic chuck and a viscoelastic body.This is a side view showing the wafer handling hand of Example 2.This is a side view showing a wafer handling hand in a modified example (2).Figure 7 is a side view showing a warped wafer placed on the wafer handling hand.This is a side view showing a wafer handling hand in modified example 3.This is a side view showing a wafer handling hand in modified example 4.Figure 10A is a side view showing the state when the electrostatic chuck of the wafer transport hand is turned ON.This is a side view showing the wafer handling hand of Example 1.This is a side view showing the state in which an adhesive force is generated on the electrostatic chuck in Figure 11A.This is a perspective view showing an example of the arrangement of laser displacement sensors.This flowchart illustrates an example of how a wafer exchange device operates when the electrostatic chuck is disconnected.This is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a semiconductor measuring device with a wafer handling handle. First, the configuration and principle of supporting a wafer with the wafer handling hand relating to this disclosure will be described. The wafer handling hand includes a hand body, an electrostatic chuck, and a deformable member. The deformable member includes a viscoelastic material. Generally, viscoelastic materials are components composed of substances that possess both elastic and viscous mechanical properties, and are typically made of polymer materials such as rubber. Here, we consider the conditions under which frictional force acts between the wafer and the viscoelastic material, preventing the wafer from slipping. When a wafer accelerates and moves horizontally, an inertial force FI acts on the wafer. If this inertial force FI is less than the frictional force FF , the wafer will not slip. In other words, the relationship shown in equation (1) below holds true. F I <F F … (1) The inertial force FI acting on the wafer is expressed by the following equation (2), where M is the mass of the wafer and A is the maximum acceleration of the hand of the wafer exchange robot (wafer exchange device). F I =M×A…(2) On the other hand, the frictional force F generated on the back (bottom) surface of the wafer can be expressed by the following equation (3), where G is the acceleration due to gravity and μ is the coefficient of friction. F F =μ×M×G…(3) Substituting equations (2) and (3) into equation (1) above, we obtain equation (4) below. M × A < μ × M × G ... (4) Eliminating M from both sides yields equation (5) below. A < μ × G … (5) In other words, since the acceleration due to gravity (G) is constant, the maximum acceleration A uniquely depends on the coefficient of friction μ, which limits the speed of wafer exchange robots. Furthermore, if resist or foreign matter adheres to the back surface of the wafer, there is a concern that the wafer may slip due to a decrease in the coefficient of friction, requiring a large safety factor for acceleration. Therefore, increasing the speed of wafer exchange robots becomes difficult. The wafer handling hand described herein solves the above-mentioned problems. Hereinafter, embodiments of the waf