Drying system with integrated substrate alignment stage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11929264-B2
Application number	US-202217681670-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2022
Priority date	Mar 3, 2021
Publication date	Mar 12, 2024
Grant date	Mar 12, 2024

Abstract

A substrate cleaning and drying system includes a cleaning station, a drying station positioned adjacent the cleaning station, a cleaner robot to transfer a substrate from the cleaning station to the drying station, an aligner stage adjacent to the drying station, a robot arm rotatable between a substantially vertical first position for receiving the substrate from the drying station and a substantially horizontal second position for releasing the substrate onto the aligner stage, and a factory interface robot to transfer a substrate from the aligner stage into a factory interface module while in a horizontal orientation. The aligner stage includes a rotatable support to hold the substrate in a substantially horizontal orientation and to rotate the substrate to a desired orientation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate cleaning and drying system, comprising:
a cleaning station including a first support to hold a substrate in a substantially vertical orientation;
a drying station positioned adjacent the cleaning station, the drying station including a tank to contain a liquid, a second support to hold the substrate in a substantially vertical orientation in the liquid, and a dispenser to deliver drying fluid comprising a surfactant;
a cleaner robot having an arm configured to transfer the substrate from the cleaning station to the drying station;
an aligner stage arranged on a side of the drying station opposing the cleaning station, the aligner stage including a rotatable support to hold the substrate in a horizontal orientation and to rotate the substrate about an axis perpendicular to the substrate to a desired orientation;
a transfer robot having a robot arm arranged between the drying station and the aligner stage rotatable between a substantially vertical first position for receiving the substrate from above the drying station and a substantially horizontal second position above the aligner stage and for releasing the substrate onto the aligner stage, the robot arm having a first end to hold the substrate and a second end that is rotatable around a horizontal axis parallel to a face of the substrate and offset from the substrate such that the substrate swings face-first from a substantially vertical orientation over the drying station to a substantially horizontal orientation over the aligner stage;
a factory interface module to support a cassette; and
a factory interface robot to transfer the substrate from the aligner stage into the factory interface module while in a horizontal orientation.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the arm of the cleaner robot is configured to lower the substrate into the tank.

3. The system of claim 2 , comprising a first robot configured to raise the substrate out of the tank to a position for a hand-off to the robot arm.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the robot arm is configured to raise the substrate out of the tank to the first position.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the arm of the cleaner robot is configured to lower the substrate onto the second support.

6. The system of claim 1 , comprising a first robot configured to receive the substrate in a hand-off from the cleaner robot above the tank and lower the substrate into the tank.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first robot is configured to raise the substrate out of the tank to the first position.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first robot is configured to be reinserted into or lowered within the tank while the robot arm holds the substrate.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first robot is configured to lower the substrate onto the second support.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the aligner stage is configured to align a first substrate of multiple substrates simultaneously with the drying station drying a second substrate of the multiple substrates.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the robot arm includes fingers adjustable to grip edges of the substrate during rotation between the first position and the second position.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rotatable support comprises a pedestal rotatable about a vertical axis and coupleable to the face of the substrate on the aligner stage.

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Wong Justin Ho Kuen

Classifications

• H10P72/7602

  the wafers being placed on a robot blade or gripped by a gripper for conveyance · CPC title

• H10P72/0606

  Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection · CPC title

• H10P72/50

  for positioning, orientation or alignment · CPC title

• H10P72/0416 Primary

  with the semiconductor substrates being dipped in baths or vessels · CPC title

• H10P72/3308

  Vertical transfer of a single workpiece · CPC title