Dryer tool and operation method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025067509-A1
Application number	US-202318479106-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 1, 2023
Priority date	Aug 24, 2023
Publication date	Feb 27, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method includes placing a ring-shaped bearing on a cylindrically-shaped sidewall in a chamber, the ring-shaped bearing comprising an inner race, an outer race, balls between the inner race and the outer race, and a grease among the balls; rotating the outer race of the ring-shaped bearing while the inner race of the ring-shaped bearing remains stationary relative to the cylindrically-shaped sidewall; heating the ring-shaped bearing; pumping the grease out of the chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
placing a ring-shaped bearing on a cylindrically-shaped sidewall in a chamber, the ring-shaped bearing comprising an inner race, an outer race, balls between the inner race and the outer race, and a grease among the balls; rotating the outer race of the ring-shaped bearing while the inner race of the ring-shaped bearing remains stationary relative to the cylindrically-shaped sidewall; heating the ring-shaped bearing; and pumping the grease out of the chamber.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein rotating the outer race of the ring-shaped bearing is performed by a contact-free manner.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein rotating the outer race of the ring-shaped bearing is performed by a motor located outside of the chamber, wherein the motor comprises a first set of magnets on the chamber, and the outer race of the ring-shaped bearing comprises a second set of the magnets thereon, the second set of the magnets and the first set of the magnets are interact magnetically to allow rotation of the outer race when the motor is activated.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the ring-shaped bearing is performed by a heater installed on an inner surface of the cylindrically-shaped sidewall.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the ring-shaped bearing is performed at a temperature in a range from about 50 degrees Celsius to about 90 degrees Celsius.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
halting heating the ring-shaped bearing when the ring-shaped bearing has a temperature higher than about 90 degrees Celsius.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the grease is vaporized by the step of rotating the outer race, the step of heating the ring-shaped bearing, or a combination thereof.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating a pressure drop rate within the chamber; determining whether the pressure drop rate within the chamber reaches a predetermined threshold; and in response to the determination determines that the pressure drop rate within the chamber reaches the predetermined threshold, halting the step of the rotating the outer race of the ring-shaped bearing, the step of heating the ring-shaped bearing, and the step of pumping the grease.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined threshold is in a range from about 2 to about 20 mTorr per 10 minutes.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein rotating the outer race of the ring-shaped bearing and heating the ring-shaped bearing are performed simultaneously.

11 . A method, comprising:
sleeving a first bearing to a cylinder in a chamber; after sleeving the first bearing to the cylinder, increasing a temperature of the first bearing; exhausting the chamber; detecting a pressure in the chamber during exhausting the chamber; calculating a pressure drop rate in the chamber based on the detected pressure; and halting exhausting the chamber when the calculated pressure drop rate in the chamber exceeds a pressure drop threshold.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein exhausting the chamber is performed in successive first, second, and third time intervals, the second time interval has a greater pressure drop rate than the first and third time intervals, and calculating the pressure drop rate in the chamber is performed in the third time interval.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the pressure drop threshold is lower than about 20 mTorr per 10 minutes.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
after sleeving the first bearing to the cylinder, sleeving a ring-shaped liner to the cylinder; and after sleeving the ring-shaped liner to the cylinder, sleeving a second bearing to the cylinder.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
removing the first bearing from the chamber; and after removing the first bearing, placing the first bearing between a magnet ring and a cylindrically-shaped sidewall of a wafer handler in a buffer chamber of a cluster tool.

16 . A dryer tool, comprising:
a vacuum chamber; a cylindrically-shaped sidewall in the vacuum chamber; a motor located below the vacuum chamber; a plurality of magnets mounted on the motor, wherein from a top view, the magnets are around the cylindrically-shaped sidewall; and a pump in gas communication with the vacuum chamber.

17 . The dryer tool of claim 16 , further comprising:
a heater on an inner surface of the cylindrically-shaped sidewall.

18 . The dryer tool of claim 16 , further comprising:
a thermocouple on the cylindrically-shaped sidewall.

19 . The dryer tool of claim 16 , further comprising:
a pressure gauge in gas communication with the vacuum chamber.

20 . The dryer tool of claim 16 , further comprising:
a controller electrically connected to the pump and the motor and configured to activate the pump and activate the motor after activating the pump.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd
• Tsmc China Company Ltd

Inventors

• Cao Hui
• Zhang Jiyong
• Zhu Tao

Classifications

• F26B21/35

  Temperature; Pressure · CPC title

• H10P72/0434 Primary

  mainly by convection · CPC title

• F26B2210/00

  Drying processes and machines for solid objects characterised by the specific requirements of the drying goods · CPC title

• F26B11/00 Primary

  Machines or apparatus for drying solid materials or objects with movement which is non-progressive · CPC title

• F26B21/10

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic