Wafer type sensor, wafer alignment method using the same, and calibration device for calibrating wafer type sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12394654-B2
Application number	US-202218081102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2022
Priority date	Jul 21, 2022
Publication date	Aug 19, 2025
Grant date	Aug 19, 2025

Abstract

A wafer-type sensor for wafer alignment includes a dummy wafer; a sensor module disposed in the dummy wafer, and a processor configured to control the sensor module to measure a distance between a side surface of the dummy wafer and a ring formed around a periphery of an electrostatic chuck based on the dummy wafer being mounted on the electrostatic chuck by a transfer robot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wafer-type sensor comprising:
a dummy wafer;
a plurality of sensor modules disposed in the dummy wafer; and
a processor configured to control each of the plurality of sensor modules to measure a distance between a side surface of the dummy wafer and a ring formed around a periphery of an electrostatic chuck while the dummy wafer is mounted on the electrostatic chuck by a transfer robot,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
control each of the plurality of sensor modules to measure a first distance between the side surface of the dummy wafer and the ring, and
control each of the plurality of sensor modules to measure a second distance between the side surface of the dummy wafer and the ring after the first distance is measured and the dummy wafer mounted on the electrostatic chuck is rotated by a predetermined degree by the transfer robot.

2. The wafer-type sensor of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of sensor modules comprises:
a light source configured to emit light to the ring; and
a light receiver configured to detect light reflected from the ring.

3. The wafer-type sensor of claim 2 , wherein a distance between the light source and the light receiver of each of the plurality of sensor modules is 500 μm to 1500 μm.

4. The wafer-type sensor of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensor modules are disposed in the dummy wafer so that distances between the respective sensor modules and the ring are equal while the dummy wafer is aligned.

5. The wafer-type sensor of claim 1 , wherein the dummy wafer is placed on the electrostatic chuck, and each of the plurality of sensor modules is disposed so that a distance between each of the plurality of sensor modules and the ring is in a predetermined range.

6. The wafer-type sensor of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensor modules are arranged at equal distances along a circumference of the dummy wafer.

7. The wafer-type sensor of claim 1 , wherein the processor calculates a transfer control value for the transfer robot based on the measured distance.

8. The wafer-type sensor of claim 7 , further comprising a communication interface configured to transmit the calculated transfer control value to a robot control device for controlling the transfer robot.

9. The wafer-type sensor of claim 1 , wherein the wafer-type sensor is held in a calibration device, and the processor calibrates the plurality of sensor modules by using a plurality of reflectors provided in the calibration device.

10. The wafer-type sensor of claim 9 , wherein the processor operates a light source of each of the plurality of sensor modules to emit light to a corresponding reflector of the plurality of reflectors, and calibrates the plurality of sensor modules so that light intensities detected by light receivers of the plurality of sensor modules are equal to each other.

11. The wafer-type sensor of claim 10 , wherein the processor adjusts at least one of a current intensity or a duration of the light source so that the light intensities detected by the light receivers of the plurality of sensor modules have one of an average value, a maximum value, and a minimum value of the detected light intensities, or a predefined reference value.

12. The wafer-type sensor of claim 1 , further comprising a storage configured to store at least one of a processing result of the processor and an operating condition of each of the plurality of sensor modules.

13. The wafer-type sensor of claim 1 , further comprising a battery configured to supply power to each of the plurality of sensor modules.

14. A wafer alignment method using a wafer-type sensor including a dummy wafer, the method comprising:
measuring, by each of a plurality of sensor modules disposed in the dummy wafer, a distance between a side surface of the dummy wafer and a ring formed around a periphery of an electrostatic chuck while the dummy wafer is mounted on the electrostatic chuck by a transfer robot; and
controlling the transfer robot based on the measured distance to align a wafer to be subsequently transferred,
wherein the measuring of the distance comprises:
measuring, by each of the plurality of sensor modules, a first distance between the side surface of the dummy wafer and the ring, and
measuring, by each of the plurality of sensor modules, a second distance between the side surface of the dummy wafer and the ring after the first distance is measured and the dummy wafer mounted on the electrostatic chuck is rotated by a predetermined degree by the transfer robot.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the controlling of the transfer robot comprises:
calculating a transfer control value for the transfer robot based on the measured distance; and
transmitting the calculated transfer control value to a robot control device for controlling the transfer robot.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising calibrating the plurality of sensor modules by using a plurality of reflectors provided in a calibration device while the wafer-type sensor is held in the calibration device.

17. The method of claim 16 ,
wherein the calibrating of the plurality of sensor modules comprises:
operating a light source of each of the plurality of sensor modules to emit light to a corresponding reflector of the plurality of reflectors;
detecting light by a light receiver of each of the plurality of sensor modules; and
calibrating the plurality of sensor modules so that light intensities detected by light receivers of the plurality of sensor modules are equal to each other.

18. A wafer alignment device comprising a wafer-type sensor and a robot control device,
wherein the wafer-type sensor comprises a dummy wafer, a plurality of sensor modules disposed in the dummy wafer, each of the plurality of sensor modules being configured to measure a distance between a side surface of the dummy wafer and a ring formed around a periphery of an electrostatic chuck while the dummy wafer is mounted on the electrostatic chuck by a transfer robot, and a communication interface configured to transmit data of the measured distance to the robot control device, and
wherein the robot control device comprises a communication interface configured to receive the data of the measured distance from the wafer-type sensor, and a processor configured to control the transfer robot based on the data of the measured distance data to align a wafer to be subsequently transferred,
wherein the wafer-type sensor is further configured to:
control each of the plurality of sensor modules to measure a first distance between the side surface of the dummy wafer and the ring, and
control each of the plurality of sensor modules to measure a second distance between the side surface of the dummy wafer and the ring after the first distance is measured and the dummy wafer mounted on the electrostatic chuck is rotated by a predetermined degree by the transfer robot.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ko Byung Hoon
• Noh Seung Woo
• Park Sang Yun
• Choi Jin Woo
• Kim Youn Ho

Classifications

• H10P72/7602

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

• H10P72/0606 Primary

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

• H10P72/50 Primary

  for positioning, orientation or alignment · CPC title

• H10P72/53 Primary

  using optical controlling means · CPC title

• G01B7/14

  for measuring distance or clearance between spaced objects or spaced apertures (G01B7/30 takes precedence) · CPC title