MOON, Yeong Yeop (4 Dong-Yang APT, Sang-DongWonmi-G, Bucheon-si Gyeonggi-do 420-030, 04-2312, KR)
Claims
[1] A semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus having a plurality of cleaning chambers, comprising: the plurality of cleaning chambers arranged in parallel vertically; an unloading unit movable in up/down direction according to a cleaning progress situation for transferring magazines having cleaning objects loaded thereon to front of each of the cleaning chambers in succession; a plurality of first pushers mounted to the unloading unit for pushing and discharging the cleaning object loaded in the magazine being transferred by the unloading unit toward the cleaning chamber one by one; a rotatable transfer unit for receiving an empty magazine having all the cleaning objects discharged therefrom from the unloading unit, rotating the empty magazine by 180° horizontally, and transferring the empty magazine to rear of the plasma cleaning chamber; a loading unit for receiving the empty magazines from the rotatable transfer unit, and transferring the empty magazines to rear of each of the plasma cleaning chambers in succession while moving from an lower side to an upper side according to the cleaning progress situation; and a second pusher for pushing and loading the cleaning objects having cleaning thereof finished into the empty magazine at the loading unit.
[2] The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a first seating unit in front of each of the plasma cleaning chambers, the first seating unit having a plurality of guiders in a lateral direction for seating the cleaning objects discharged from the magazines by the first pusher in succession; a second seating unit in rear of each of the plasma cleaning chambers, the second seating unit having a plurality of guiders in a lateral direction for seating cleaned cleaning objects discharged from the plasma cleaning chamber; a feeder mounted to each of the first, and second seating units for moving the cleaning object to a seating position backward; and cleaning object transfer means provided to the first seating unit for transferring the cleaning object seated on the first seating unit to a relevant plasma cleaning chamber, or the cleaned cleaning object to the second seating unit.
[3] The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the feeder includes; a rotation shaft passed through all of the guiders, a driving motor for providing rotation force to the rotation shaft, a feeding belt mounted to each of the guiders so that the cleaning object moving to each of the guiders is placed thereon for receiving the rotation force from the rotation shaft to feed an incoming cleaning object to rear of the guider, and a feeding roller for pressing down a top of the cleaning object on the feeding belt. [4] The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the cleaning object transfer means includes; an LM guide for moving back and forth between the first seating unit and the plasma cleaning chamber, a finger arm reciprocating along with the LM guide, and fingers rotatably mounted to the finger arm in an up/down direction selectively for pushing the cleaning object on the first seating unit to a relevant plasma cleaning chamber in a state the finger is rotated down, or pushing the cleaning object having cleaning thereof finished to the second seating unit. [5] The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the unloading unit includes; a conveyor for receiving magazines each having the cleaning objects loaded thereon at regular intervals from an outside of the unloading unit and conveying to a pick-up position, a clamp for picking up the magazine conveyed to the pick-up position by the conveyor, an elevator having the clamp mounted thereto for vertical movement of a picked- up magazine toward a first pusher, and a horizontal transfer robot for moving the elevator step by step so that the clamp is positioned in front of every guiders of the first seating unit in succession. [6] The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the conveyor includes; a conveyor body, an up-loader in rear of the conveyor body for seating the magazine transferred by the conveyor body thereon and moving up the seated magazine to a pick-up position, and a first magazine sensor for sensing seating of the magazine at the up-loader and forwarding a pick-up signal to the clamp. [7] The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the loading unit includes; a clamp for picking up the empty magazine from the rotatable transfer unit, an elevator having the clamp mounted thereto for moving the empty magazine picked-up thus to the second pusher vertically, a horizontal transfer robot for transferring the elevator step by step such that the clamp is positioned in front of every guiders of the second seating unit in succession, and a conveyor for receiving the empty magazine from the elevator and discharging the empty magazine to an outside of the plasma cleaning apparatus in a case entire cleaned cleaning objects are loaded in the empty magazine by the second pusher.
[8] The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein conveyor includes; a conveyor body, a down loader in rear of the conveyor body for seating the magazine from the elevator thereon and moving down the magazine seated thus to the conveyor body, and a second magazine sensor for sensing the seating of the magazine on the down loader and forwarding a moving down signal to the down loader.
[9] The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 or 7, wherein the clamp includes; a clamp block secured to the elevator, a clamping cylinder under the clamp block, one pair of clampers connected to opposite sides of the clamping cylinder for varying a distance therebetween according to an action of the clamping cylinder, an elastic pressing plate mounted between the clampers through the clamping cylinder horizontally for pressing down a top of the magazine between the clampers elastically, and a third magazine sensor at one side of the clampers for detecting the magazine reaching to a proper clamping position by sensing a position of the elastic pressing plate forwarding a clamping signal to the clamping cylinder.
[10] The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein rotatable transfer unit includes; a transfer conveyor having a conveying section from the unloading unit to the loading unit in rear of the plasma cleaning chamber, a conveyor for seating empty magazines having entire cleaning objects discharged therefrom thereon, and a turn-table connected to an underside of the conveyor for turning the conveyor at 180°, horizontally.
[11] The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second pusher includes; a guide rail parallel to the second seating unit, a push bar movable back and forth for a fixed section along the guide rail, a push cylinder for making the push bar to move back and forth, and a plurality of fingers mounted to the push bar rotatable up/down selectively for pushing and loading the cleaning objects seated on the second seating unit to the empty magazine at the loading unit in a rotated down state in succession.
[12] The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a fourth magazine sensor mounted to an end of each of the guiders of the second seating unit on a side of the loading unit for sensing the empty magazine and forwarding an empty magazine signal sensed thus for the finger to perform a cleaning object loading action.
[13] The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cleaning chamber includes; a bottom plate for seating cleaning objects from the loading unit thereon, a top plate 1 right over the bottom plate mounted movable in up/down directions for selective joining with the bottom plate to have a space for generating plasma in a state the top plate is joined with the bottom plate, and one pair of seating members fixed over the bottom plate for supporting opposite sides of the cleaning object introduced to the cleaning chamber by the unloading unit to seat the cleaning object spaced from the bottom plate, wherein the bottom plate has a heating unit mounted thereto for heating the cleaning object to an appropriate temperature by heating with heating air circulating therein, and cooling with cooling air circulating therein.
[14] The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the heating unit includes; a stack of a top ceramic plate having a seating member secured to a surface thereof, a cover plate, a heating plate, and a bottom ceramic plate, wherein the heating plate has an air route formed uniformly over entire surface thereof, for circulation of the heating air or the cooling air supplied from an outside. |
Description
PLASMA CLEANING APPARATUS FOR A SEMICONDUCTOR PANEL WITH CLEANING CHAMBERS
Technical Field
[1] The present invention relates to plasma cleaning apparatuses for cleaning semiconductor components (a cleaning object or a PCB board) with plasma discharge in a semiconductor fabrication process. More specifically, the present invention relates to a semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus with cleaning chambers for improving working efficiency by making continuous plasma cleaning of semiconductor components placed in magazines.
[2]
Background Art
[3] In general, the plasma cleaning apparatus used in a semiconductor fabrication process, an apparatus for cleaning semiconductor components, such as cleaning object and PCB with plasma discharge, is provided to every semiconductor process for cleaning surfaces of the semiconductor components (hereafter called as a cleaning object.)
[4] That is, the cleaning object passes through steps of stripping-die bonding-wire bonding-package molding-marking and so on depending on kinds of the cleaning object. Because a surface of the cleaning object is contaminated due to physical and chemical treatment made in each of the steps, an additional step for cleaning a contaminated surface is required in every step.
[5] Particularly, since the cleaning with the plasma is made not only for cleaning of the cleaning object, but also for cleaning a surface of the cleaning object of copper in die bonding and wire bonding, permitting to dispense with silver or gold plating of the surface of the cleaning object, the plasma cleaning is used widely with regard to an advantage that a semiconductor production cost can be reduced and the semiconductor fabrication process can be simplified, recently.
[6] Referring to FIG. 1, a related art plasma cleaning apparatus 1 is provided with closable chamber 10, a cassette 20 for loading magazines 60 each having a plurality of cleaning objects L loaded thereon into the chamber 10, an air suction unit 30 for drawing air from the chamber 10 closed in a state the cassette 20 having the magazine 60 loaded thereon to make the chamber into a vacuum state, a gas supply unit 40 for introducing gas, such as argon, xenon, helium, and neon, into the vacuum chamber 10, and a current generating unit 50 for applying a current of the gas in the chamber 10 for generating plasma.
[7] Referring to FIG. 2, the cassette 20 is provided with a top frame 21 which forms a top side of the cassette 20, a bottom frame 22 under the top frame 21 for placing a plurality of the magazines 60 thereon, and a plurality of side electrode plates 23 between the top frame 21 and the bottom frame 22 arranged on opposite sides of the magazine 60 seated on the bottom frame 22 for inducing plasma discharge.
[8] In this instance, a plurality of the cleaning objects L are loaded in the magazine 60 in a height direction at a predetermined distance, and there are guide steps 61 arranged on opposite sides of the magazine 60 in a height direction thereof for placing the cleaning object L, drawably. The guide steps 61 are fixed at regular distances spaced from each other, for smooth introduction of the plasma between gaps of the guide steps 61 to clean the cleaning object L, effectively.
[9] The related art semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus 1 evacuates an inside of the cleaning apparatus with the air suction unit 30, introduces gas with the gas supply unit 40, applies a current to the electrode plates at the cassette 20 to ionize or activates the gas in the cleaning apparatus, to separate the activated gas into electrons and cations for cleaning the cleaning objects L in the magazine by activity of the plasma.
[10]
Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem
[11] However, the related art plasma cleaning apparatus 1 has a problem in that a cleaning efficiency and productivity of the cleaning of the cleaning object is very poor because the related art plasma cleaning apparatus 1 requires a worker to load the magazines 60 having the cleaning objects L loaded therein in the cassette 20 and in turn to load the cassette 20 into the chamber 10, and after the cleaning is finished, to take out the cassette 20 from the chamber 10 again, and place a new cassette 20 therein, failing to make a continuous cleaning process. Technical Solution
[12] To solve the problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus having a plurality of cleaning chambers, in which automatic cleaning of the cleaning objects can be made continuously from introduction to taking out of magazines for improving cleaning efficiency and productivity of the cleaning objects.
[13] To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus having a plurality of cleaning chambers, includes the plurality of cleaning chambers arranged in parallel vertically, an unloading unit movable in up/ down direction according to a cleaning progress situation for transferring magazines
having cleaning objects loaded thereon to front of each of the cleaning chambers in succession, a plurality of first pushers mounted to the unloading unit for pushing and discharging the cleaning object loaded in the magazine being transferred by the unloading unit toward the cleaning chamber one by one, a rotatable transfer unit for receiving an empty magazine having all the cleaning objects discharged therefrom from the unloading unit, rotating the empty magazine by 180° horizontally, and transferring the empty magazine to rear of the plasma cleaning chamber, a loading unit for receiving the empty magazines from the rotatable transfer unit, and transferring the empty magazines to rear of each of the plasma cleaning chambers in succession while moving from an lower side to an upper side according to the cleaning progress situation, and a second pusher for pushing and loading the cleaning objects having cleaning thereof finished into the empty magazine at the loading unit.
Advantageous Effects
[14] The present invention has following advantageous effects.
[15] The semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus having a plurality of cleaning chambers can improve productivity significantly because a plurality of cleaning chambers are arranged in up/down direction at a center for making plasma cleaning, an unloading unit is arranged on a front side for supplying cleaning objects from magazines to the cleaning chambers, a loading unit is arranged on a rear side for loading cleaned cleaning objects from the cleaning chambers to empty magazines received from the unloading unit in succession, enabling alternative and continuous cleaning object cleaning at the upper cleaning chamber and the lower cleaning chamber.
[16] Moreover, the semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus having a plurality of cleaning chambers can minimize a space the apparatus occupies and can improve workability significantly because what is required for the worker is introduction of the empty magazine to the unloading unit and receiving the magazine from the loading unit.
[17]
Brief Description of the Drawings
[18] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the disclosure.
[19] In the drawings :
[20] FIG. 1 illustrates a section of a related art plasma cleaning apparatus in operation;
[21] FIG. 2 illustrates an assembled perspective view a cassette and magazines in the
cassette of the related art plasma cleaning apparatus; [22] FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of a plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[23] FIG. 4 illustrates a front view of the a plasma cleaning apparatus in FIG. 3;
[24] FIG. 5 illustrates a section of a bottom plate of a cleaning chamber in the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [25] FIG. 6 illustrates a bottom perspective view of a cleaning chamber in the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [26] FIG. 7 illustrates a plan view of a heating plate of a cleaning chamber in the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [27] FIG. 8 illustrates a perspective view of a feeder in a first seating unit of the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [28] FIG. 9 illustrates a perspective view of a first pusher in the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [29] FIG. 10 illustrates a perspective view of a load unit in the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [30] FIG. 11 illustrates a side view of a clamp of a load unit in the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [31] FIGS. 12 to 14 illustrate perspective views of rotatable transfer units in the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, for showing an operation state in a sequence; and, [32] FIG. 15 illustrates a perspective view of a second pusher in the plasma cleaning apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. [33]
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention [34] Reference will now be made in detail to the specific embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Terms and words in the specification and the claims of the present invention are required to be interpreted in meaning and concept meeting the technical concept of the present invention in light of a principle that the inventor can define terms and concepts appropriately for describing the invention in the best way. [35] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus having a plurality of cleaning chambers of the present invention includes a plurality of vertical
cleaning chambers 100, an unloading unit 200 for transferring magazines having cleaning objects loaded thereon in succession, a first pusher 250 mounted to the unloading unit 200 for discharging the cleaning object loaded in the magazine toward the cleaning chamber 100, a rotatable transfer unit 300 for receiving an empty magazine having all the cleaning objects discharged therefrom from the unloading unit 200, rotating the empty magazine by 180° horizontally, and transferring the empty magazine to rear of the plasma cleaning chamber 100, a loading unit 400 for transferring the empty magazines from the rotatable transfer unit 300 to rear of a plasma cleaning chamber 100 side in succession, and a second pusher 500 for pushing and loading the cleaning objects having cleaning thereof finished into the empty magazine at the loading unit 400.
[36] <PLASMA CLEANING CHAMBER>
[37] The embodiment shows one pair of vertical cleaning chambers 100 spaced from each other as an example.
[38] Each of the cleaning chambers 100 includes a bottom plate 110 for seating cleaning objects from the loading unit 400 thereon, and a top plate 120 right over the bottom plate 110 mounted movable in up/down directions for selective joining with the bottom plate 110 to have a space for generating plasma in a state the top plate 120 is joined with the bottom plate 110.
[39] Fixedly secured over the bottom plate 110, there are one pair of seating members 111 fixed over the bottom plate for supporting opposite sides of the cleaning object introduced to the cleaning chamber 100 by the unloading unit 200 to seat the cleaning object spaced from the bottom plate 110. The cleaning object is seated spaced from the bottom plate 110 for preventing the cleaning object from being in close contact with the bottom plate 110 restricting the cleaning object to be brought into contact with the plasma, resulting in failure in smooth cleaning of the cleaning object.
[40] In the meantime, though not shown, the top plate 120 has a gas supply pipe connected thereto for supplying plasma gas, such as argon, xenon, helium, and neon, to the cleaning chamber 100, and the bottom plate has an air evacuation hole connected to the air suction unit for evacuating the chamber. Mounted in the cleaning chamber 100, there is a current generating unit for applying a current to the gas supplied to the chamber through the gas supply pipe 114 for generating plasma.
[41] Referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, on the bottom plate 110 of each of the cleaning chambers
100, there is a heating unit 115 for heating the cleaning object to an appropriate temperature by heating with heating air circulating therein, and cooling with cooling air circulating therein.
[42] On an underside of the bottom plate 110, there is an air circulating pipe 112 connected thereto for circulating either the heating air or the cooling air toward the
heating unit 115. The air circulating pipe 112 has an inlet pipe 112a and an outlet pipe 112b.
[43] The heating unit 115 includes a stack of a top ceramic plate 115a having a seating member 111 secured to a surface thereof, a cover plate 115b, a heating plate 115c, and a bottom ceramic plate 115d.
[44] The heating plate 115c has an air route formed uniformly over entire surface thereof, with both ends in communication with the air circulating pipe 112. For this, the bottom ceramic plate 115d has communication holes (not shown) for making the both ends 116a, and 116b of the air route and the air circulation pipe 112 in communication.
[45] Upon supply of high temperature air through the inlet pipe 112a before starting the cleaning, the heating air passes through the communication hole in the bottom ceramic plate 115d, introduced to the heating plate 115c, and circulated through the heating plate 115c, to heat the heating plate 115c before being discharged to an outside through the outlet pipe 112b.
[46] Once the heating plate 115c is heated thus, the cleaning objects on the top ceramic plate 115a are heated to a proper temperature as the top ceramic plate 115a is heated, thereby maximizing a plasma cleaning effect.
[47] In the meantime, in a case a temperature of the cleaning chamber 100 rises to a temperature higher than required, the cooling air is introduced to the inlet pipe 112a of the air circulating pipe 112, so that the cooling air cools down the heating plate 115c as the cooling air circulates the heating plate 115c through the air route 116.
[48] The cleaning chamber 100 shows no deformation despite of frequent thermal variation because the top ceramic plate 115a and the bottom ceramic plate 115d are formed of ceramic material, and can minimize heat dissipation to surrounding units of the cleaning chamber 100 because only the bottom plate 110 of the cleaning chamber 100, starting from the heating plate 115c, experiences the temperature rise.
[49] In front of each of the plasma cleaning chambers 100, there is a first seating unit 130 having a plurality of guiders 132 in a lateral direction for seating the cleaning objects discharged from the magazines by the pusher 250, and in rear of each of the plasma cleaning chambers 100, there is a second seating unit 140 having a plurality of guiders 142 in a lateral direction for seating the cleaning objects having cleaning thereof finished discharged from the plasma cleaning chamber 100.
[50] Each of the first, and second guiders 130 and 140 has a feeder 131 and 141 mounted thereto for moving the cleaning object to a seating site.
[51] Referring to FIG. 8, the feeder 131 of the first seating unit 130 includes a rotation shaft 131a passed through all of the guiders 132, a driving motor 131b for providing rotation force to the rotation shaft 131a, a feeding belt 131c mounted to each of the guiders 132 for receiving the rotation force from the rotation shaft 131a to feed an
incoming cleaning object to rear of the guider 132, and a feeding roller 13 Id for pressing down the cleaning object on the feeding belt 131c.
[52] In front of the feeder 131, there is a sensor 13 Ie attached thereto for sensing approach of the cleaning object. If the sensor 13 Ie senses the approach of the cleaning object, the driving motor 131a starts operation.
[53] The feeders 141 of the second seating units 140 are identical to the feeders 131 of the first seating units 130.
[54] Referring to FIG. 9, the first seating unit 130 includes cleaning object transfer means
150 for transferring the cleaning object on the first seating unit 130 to the plasma cleaning chamber 100, or the cleaning object having cleaning thereof finished to the second seating unit 140.
[55] The cleaning object transfer means 150 includes an LM guide 151 for moving back and forth between the first seating unit 130 and the plasma cleaning chamber 100, a finger arm 152 reciprocating along with the LM guide 151, and fingers 153 rotatably mounted to the finger arm 152 in an up/down direction selectively for pushing the cleaning object on the first seating unit 130 to a relevant plasma cleaning chamber 100 in a state the finger 153 is rotated down, or pushing the cleaning object having cleaning thereof finished to the second seating unit 140.
[56] Unexplained reference symbol M denotes a magazine.
[57] <UNLOADING UNIT>
[58] The unloading unit 200 is mounted in front of the cleaning chamber 100.
[59] Referring to FIG. 10, the unloading unit 200 includes a conveyor 210 for receiving magazines each having the cleaning object loaded thereon at regular intervals from an outside of the unloading unit 200 and conveying to a pick-up position, a clamp 220 for picking up the magazine conveyed to the pick-up position by the conveyor 210, an elevator 230 having the clamp 220 mounted thereto for vertical movement of a picked- up magazine toward a first pusher 250, and a horizontal transfer robot 240 for moving the elevator 230 step by step so that the clamp 220 is positioned in front of every guiders 132 of the first seating unit 130 in succession.
[60] The unloading unit 200 moves from a lower side to an upper side depending on a cleaning progress situation for moving the magazines each having the cleaning object loaded thereon at regular intervals to front of each of the plasma cleaning chamber 100 by means of the horizontal transfer robot 240.
[61] The conveyor 210 includes a conveyor body 211 arranged to transfer the magazine from a left side to a right side of the drawing, an up-loader 212 in rear of the conveyor body 211 for seating the magazine transferred by the conveyor body 211 thereon and moving up the seated magazine to a pick-up position, and a first magazine sensor 213 for sensing seating of the magazine at the up-loader 212 and forwarding a pick-up
signal to the clamp 220.
[62] Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, the clamp 220 includes a clamp block 221 secured to the elevator 230, a clamping cylinder 222 under the clamp block 221, one pair of clampers 223 and 224 connected to opposite sides of the clamping cylinder for varying a distance therebetween according to an action of the clamping cylinder 222, an elastic pressing plate 224 mounted between the clampers 223 and 223 through the clamping cylinder 222 horizontally for pressing down a top of the magazine between the clampers 223 and 223 elastically, and a third magazine sensor 225 at one side of the clampers 223 and 223 for detecting the magazine reaching to a proper clamping position by sensing a position of the elastic pressing plate 224 and forwarding a clamping signal to the clamping cylinder 222.
[63] The elevator 230, an LM guide movable vertically toward the first pusher 250, may include a vertical guide 231, a vertical screw bar 232 having opposite ends coupled to the vertical guide 231, and a servo motor 233 for rotating the vertical screw bar 232 in a regular/reverse direction. The vertical screw bar 232 has a clamp block 221 thread coupled thereto. Therefore, once the servo motor 223 is put into operation, the vertical screw bar 232 rotates in one direction to move up or down the clamp block 221 along the vertical screw block 232.
[64] The horizontal robot 240, an LM guide mounted in rear of the elevator 230, includes a horizontal guide 241 fixed to rear of the elevator 230 for guiding horizontal left/right direction movement of the elevator 230, a horizontal screw bar 242 having opposite ends coupled to the horizontal guide 241, and a servo motor 243 for rotating the horizontal screw bar 242 in a regular/reverse direction.
[65] For making stable horizontal movement of the elevator 230, the horizontal transfer robot 240 is mounted to the middle of the elevator 230, and only the horizontal guide 241 is mounted to a lower side of the elevator 230.
[66] <ROTATABLE TRANSFER UNIT>
[67] The rotatable transfer unit 300 includes a transfer conveyor 310 having a conveying section from the unloading unit 200 to the loading unit 400 in rear of the plasma cleaning chamber 100, a conveyor 320 for seating empty magazines having entire cleaning objects discharged therefrom thereon, and a turn-table 330 connected to an underside of the conveyor 320 for turning the conveyor at 180°, horizontally.
[68] The rotatable transfer unit 300 receives the empty magazines having entire cleaning object discharged therefrom from the unloading unit 200, rotates the empty magazines having entire cleaning object discharged therefrom at 180° horizontally by means of the turn-table 330, and transfer to rear of the plasma cleaning chamber 100 by means of the transfer conveyor 310.
[69] The empty magazine is rotated at 180° horizontally due to cleaning object falling off
preventive devices A at front and rear ends of the magazine. The falling off preventive device A includes a rotatable member Al at a top of the magazine and a blocking bar A2 coupled to the rotatable member Al, wherein the block bar A2 crosses the magazine from the top to a bottom thereof, so that if the user rotates the rotatable member Al, the blocking bar A2 blocks or opens an end of the magazine depending on a rotation direction of the rotatable member Al.
[70] Therefore, referring to FIG. 12, since the magazine has a front side blocked with the cleaning object falling off preventive device and a rear side opened for making stable unloading of the cleaning object in an unloading state, it is required that the empty magazine is rotated at 180° horizontally as shown in FIG. 14 for making smooth loading of a cleaned cleaning object into the empty magazine in a subsequent loading.
[71] FIGS. 12 to 14 illustrate steps of 180° rotation of a turn-table 330 from an initial state in succession.
[72] <FIRST PUSHER>
[73] A plurality of the first pushers 250 are mounted to the unloading unit 200 in a number corresponding to a number of the plasma cleaning chamber 100.
[74] Referring to FIG. 10, the first pusher 250 includes a push block 251 fixed to the elevator 230, and a push cylinder 252 fixed to the push block 251, and a pusher tip 253 at a rod end of the push cylinder 252, for pushing and discharging the cleaning object from the magazine being moved by the unloading unit 200 to the plasma cleaning chamber 100 one by one.
[75] <L0ADING UNIT>
[76] The loading unit 400 includes a clamp 410 for picking up the empty magazine from the rotatable transfer unit 300, an elevator 420 having the clamp 410 mounted thereto for moving the empty magazine picked-up thus to the second pusher 500 vertically, a horizontal transfer robot 430 for transferring the elevator 420 step by step such that the clamp 410 is positioned in front of every guiders 142 of the second seating unit 140 in succession, and a conveyor 440 for receiving the empty magazine from the elevator and discharging the empty magazine to an outside of the plasma cleaning apparatus in a case entire cleaned cleaning objects are loaded in the empty magazine by the second pusher 500.
[77] The loading unit 400 receives the empty magazine from the rotatable transfer unit
300 through the clamp 410, and transfers the empty magazine to rear of each of the plasma cleaning chamber 100 through the horizontal transfer robot 430 in succession according to a cleaning situation while the unloading unit 400 moves up/down by means of the elevator 420.
[78] The conveyor 440 includes a conveyor body 441, a down loader in rear of the conveyor body 441 for seating the magazine from the elevator 420 thereon and moving
down the magazine seated thus to the conveyor body 441, and a second magazine sensor 443 for sensing the seating of the magazine on the down loader 442 and forwarding a moving down signal to the down loader 442.
[79] In the meantime, since the clamp 410 is identical to the clamp 220 of the unloading unit 200, detailed description of the clamp 410 will be omitted.
[80] <SECOND PUSHER>
[81] The second pusher 500 at the second seating unit 140 pushes and loads the cleaned cleaning objects into the empty magazine at the loading unit 400.
[82] Referring to FIG. 15, the second pusher 500 includes a guide rail 510 parallel to the second seating unit 140, a push bar 520 movable back and forth for a fixed section along the guide rail 510, a push cylinder 530 for making the push bar to move back and forth, and a plurality of fingers 540 mounted to the push bar 520 movable up/down selectively for pushing and loading the cleaning objects seated on the second seating unit 140 to the empty magazine at the loading unit 400 in a moved down state in succession.
[83] In this case, it is preferable that a fourth magazine sensor 145 is mounted to an end of each of the guiders 142 of the second seating unit 140 on a side of the loading unit 400. The fourth magazine sensor 145 forwards a sensed empty magazine signal to the second pusher 500, for the finger 153 to perform a cleaning object loading action. For this, each of the fingers 153 at the second pusher 500 has a sensor 550 for sensing the empty magazine signal from the fourth magazine sensor 145 to move down only a relevant finger 153 so that the cleaning object loading operation is performed individually for the fingers 153.
[84] The apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor with plasma having a plurality of cleaning chamber of the present invention continuously performs an unloading operation for feeding the cleaning object to the plurality of cleaning chambers 100 arranged in an up/down direction in succession, a plasma cleaning operation made in each cleaning unit having the cleaning object received therein, and a loading operation for loading cleaned cleaning objects on the empty magazine from the cleaning chambers 100 through the loading unit 400 in succession for each cleaning chamber 100, alternately.
[85] <UNLOADING OPERATION>
[86] When the worker puts magazines having the cleaning objects loaded thereon on the conveyor body 211 of the unloading unit 200, the magazines are transferred up to the up-loader 212 carried on the conveyor body 211. The magazines transferred up to the up-loader 212 thus are seated on the up-loader 212, when the first magazine sensor 213 at the up-loader 212 senses whether the magazines are seated well or not, to forward a pick-up signal to the clamp 220 only when the magazines are seated well.
[87] If the clamp 220 receives the pick-up signal from the first magazine sensor 213, the elevator 230 moves down the clamp 220 for picking up the magazines seated on the up-loader 212. In this instance, the elastic pressing plate 224 at the clamp 220 absorbs an impact caused by hitting of the clamp block 221 at the magazine to protect the magazine in a case the clamp 220 moves down excessively.
[88] If the clamp 220 moves down, the third magazine sensor 225 at one side of the clamper 223 and 223 detects whether the magazine is at a proper clamping position or not by means of a position of the elastic pressing plate 224, and, if determined that the magazine is at a proper clamping position, forwards a clamping signal to the clamping cylinder 222. If the clamping cylinder 222 is activated in response to the signal, the distance between the clamps 223 and 223 becomes smaller to clamp the magazine.
[89] When clamping of the magazine is finished, the elevator 230 moves up, to transfer the magazine picked up thus to the first pusher 250 at a lower side of the elevator 230. When the magazine is transferred to the first pusher 250, the push cylinder 252 of the first pusher 250 is activated to push the cleaning object at the pusher tip 253 from the magazine to the plasma cleaning chamber 100 below the first pusher 250. This action of the first pusher 250 is made every time the horizontal transfer robot 240 of the unloading unit 200 transfers the elevator 230 step by step to each of the guiders 132 at the first seating unit 130 in succession. The cleaning object is transferred to the first seating unit 130 of the cleaning chamber 100 by the first pusher 250.
[90] Upon finishing the cleaning object unloading operation, the elevator 230 moves up to transfer the magazine to the cleaning chamber 100 on an upper side. Then, the foregoing cleaning object unloading operation is repeated at the cleaning chamber 100 on the upper side.
[91] Referring to FIG. 3, while the cleaning object unloading operation is made at the cleaning chamber 100 on the upper side, the under side cleaning chamber 100 is opened, the feeder 131 of the first seating unit 130 is operated such that the cleaning object seated on the guider 132 moves into the opened cleaning chamber 100. In this instance, the feeding roller 13 Id of the feeder 131 rotates down by the sensor 13 Ie in front of the feeder 131 until the feeding roller 13 Id is brought into close contact with a top side of the cleaning object seated on the guider 132. According to this, the cleaning object is transferred to the cleaning chamber 100 positively in a state the cleaning object is transferred to backward following the feeding belt 131c.
[92] In the meantime, the cleaning object transfer means 150 is activated at the same time with the transfer of the cleaning object to the cleaning chamber 100 by the feeder 131.
[93] The LM guide 151 at the cleaning object transfer means 150 transfers the finger arm
152 such that the fingers 153 are positioned in front of the cleaning object, and transfers the finger arm 152 backward so that the fingers 153 push a front of the
cleaning object to load the cleaning object at an exact position in the cleaning chamber 100. The fingers 153 rotate down such that the fingers 153 can push the front of the cleaning object when the finger arm 152 moves forward in a state the fingers 153 rotate up.
[94] <CLEANING OPERATION>
[95] Once the cleaning object is loaded on the underside cleaning chamber 100 by means of the cleaning object transfer means 150, the opened cleaning chamber 100 is closed to start the plasma cleaning.
[96] In the meantime, while the plasma cleaning is made at the underside cleaning chamber 100, the feeder 131 and the cleaning object transfer means 150 of the upper side cleaning chamber 100 are operated, to load the cleaning object into the upper side cleaning chamber 100.
[97] Upon finishing the cleaning operation at the underside cleaning chamber 100, the cleaning chamber 100 is opened again, and the cleaning object transfer means 150 is operated to push and discharge the cleaned cleaning object from the cleaning chamber 100 to an outside of the cleaning chamber 100. The cleaned cleaning object discharged to the outside of the cleaning chamber 100 thus is seated on the guider 142 of the second seating unit 140. At the same time with the seating of the cleaning object on the guider 142, the feeder 141 is operated to transfer the cleaned cleaning object to a rear end of the guider 142.
[98] In the meantime, while the cleaning object is discharged from the underside cleaning chamber 100 and seated on the second seating unit 140, the upper side cleaning chamber 100 performs the plasma cleaning. At the same time with this, the empty magazine having all the cleaning object discharged therefrom is transferred to the conveyor 210 of the rotatable transfer unit 300 by the unloading unit 200. As shown in FIG. 12, once the empty magazine is placed on the conveyor 320, the turn-table 330 rotates at 180° as shown in FIG. 14, and, then, the conveyor is operated. According to this, the empty magazine is transferred from the conveyor 320 to the transfer conveyor 310, and therefrom to the loading unit 400 following the transfer conveyor 310 in one lot.
[99] Once the empty magazine is transferred to the loading unit 400, the clamp 410 of the loading unit 400 picks up the empty magazine, and the elevator 420 and the horizontal transfer robot 430 are operated to transfer the magazine to rear of each of the guiders 142 of the second seating unit 140 of the underside cleaning chamber 100 in succession.
[100] <LOADING OPERATION>
[101] Once the empty magazine is transferred to the rear of each of the guiders 142 of the second seating unit 140, the fourth magazine sensor 145 at an end of the guider 142 on
a side of the loading unit 400 senses the empty magazine and forwards an empty magazine signal to the second pusher 500. The empty magazine signal is transmitted to a sensor 550 connected to the fingers 153 of the second pusher 500. If the sensor 550 forwards a cleaning object loading operation starting signal to a relevant finger 540, the finger 153 moves down at the same time of moving of the second pusher 500 to the loading unit 400, to push the cleaning object one by one to load the cleaning object on the empty magazine. Then, the second pusher 500 and the finger 540 move to original positions, and stand by for the next operation.
[102] The loading operation of the loading unit 400 is repeated for the cleaning objects seated on the second seating unit 140, and, if the loading operation of the underside cleaning chamber 100 is finished, the loading unit 400 moves up the magazine for loading operation of the upper side cleaning chamber 100, and places the magazine to rear of the guider 142 of the second seating unit 140 of the upper side cleaning chamber 100.
[103] In the meantime, while the loading operation of the underside cleaning chamber 100 is made thus, the cleaning operation of the upper side cleaning chamber 100 is finished, and the cleaned cleaning objects are discharged to an outside of the cleaning chamber 100 by the cleaning object transfer means 150. The cleaned cleaning objects discharged to the outside of the cleaning chamber 100 thus are seated on the guider 142 of the second seating unit 140. At the same time with the seating of the cleaning object at the guider 142, the feeder 141 is operated, to transfer the cleaned cleaning objects to a rear end of the guider 142 in a lot.
[104] The cleaned cleaning objects transferred to the rear end of the guider 142 thus are loaded into the magazine moved up for loading on the upper side cleaning chamber 100 in succession. The loading operation is repeated for each of the cleaning objects identical to the loading operation made at the underside cleaning chamber 100.
[105] The cleaning objects cleaned at the upper side cleaning chamber 100 are loaded on the magazine entirely, the elevator 420 of the loading unit 400 seats the magazine on the down loader 442, and if the second magazine sensor 443 senses the seating of the magazine, the second magazine sensor 443 forwards a move down signal to the down loader 442. The down loader 442 received the move down signal from the second magazine sensor 443 thus moves down, and the magazine moves down together with the down loader 442 is discharged to an outside of the cleaning apparatus following the conveyor 441.
[106] The semiconductor plasma cleaning apparatus with cleaning chambers of the present invention is continuously operable taking above steps as one cycle repeatedly.
[107] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the
invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.