Wafer-transferring pod capable of monitoring processing environment

Abstract

A wafer-transferring pod capable of monitoring process environment comprises a body and a sampling mechanism positioned on a top surface, a back surface or one of two side surfaces of the body for adsorbing contamination. The sampling mechanism comprises an inner chamber filled with adsorbent such as glass wool and a plurality of openings positioned on sidewalls of the inner chamber. In addition, the sampling mechanism may comprise a movable door and an opening for a user to absorb the air from the body without opening a front cover of the wafer-transferring pod. Further, the sampling mechanism may comprise an inner member positioned on the body and an outer member buckled into the inner member, wherein the inner member and the outer member have an opening through which the user can absorb the air in the body without opening the front cover of the wafer-transferring pod.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] (A) Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a wafer-transferring pod capable of monitoring the processing environment, and more particularly, to a wafer-transferring pod capable of monitoring the processing environment as a wafer is experiencing the processing.

[0003] (B) Description of the Related Art

[0004] The fabrication of an integrated circuit device on a wafer needs a plurality of processing apparatuses having a reaction chamber, and the wafer is transferred between these processing apparatuses by a wafer-transferring system. Presently, integrated circuit manufacturing companies locate the wafer in a wafer-transferring pod, and use a robot to move the wafer from the pod to the reaction chamber where the reaction process actually occurs. Consequently, it only needs to control the grade of clarity in a smaller internal space of the pod, rather than a larger space of the entire clean room, which can dramatically lower the cost on controlling the grade of clarity. The internal space of the pod possesses a higher grade of clarity; however, opening or closing the pod on transferring the wafer between the pod and the processing apparatus is likely to introduce some contaminations from the clean room having a lower grade of clarity into the pod having a higher grade of clarity and the reaction chamber of the processing apparatus, which is one of the pollution sources of the reaction chamber and the wafer in the pod.

[0005] To analyze the pollution source, the prior art uses a sampling accessory capable of sucking air from some dubious areas such as the reaction chamber of the processing apparatus, the internal space of the pod or a transferring interface between the processing apparatus and the pod. An adsorbent in the sampling accessory is then used in some chemical analysis procedures to characterize the composition of the sampled air so as to infer the pollution source based on the outcome of the chemical analysis. Particularly, the prior art needs to open a front cover of the pod before using the sampling accessory to suck air from the internal space of the pod, but opening the front cover of the pod itself generates some contaminations. In addition, using the sampling accessory to suck air in the open pod also pollutes the internal space of the pod. Consequently, there are several pollution sources, and it is quite difficult to discover the actual one.

[0006] Further, what the prior art does is a post-sampling, i.e., the prior art performs the sampling from the processing environment after the pollution occurs, and then infers reversely the generation mechanism of the pollution based on the result of the chemical analysis. Since the environment in which post-sampling is performed may be different from that in which the pollution actually occurs, the prior art analysis technique itself possesses a certain inaccuracy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a wafer-transferring pod, which is capable of monitoring the process environment as a wafer is experiencing the fabrication process and preventing the wafer from being polluted by inserting a sampling accessory into the wafer-transferring pod or by opening the wafer-transferring pod.

[0008] In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective and avoid the problems of the prior art, one embodiment of the present invention discloses a wafer-transferring pod that comprises a body capable of receiving a plurality of wafers and a sampling mechanism positioned on the body. The sampling mechanism can be positioned on a top surface, a back surface or one of two side surfaces of the body for adsorbing contaminations. One embodiment of the sampling mechanism comprises an inner chamber filled with adsorbent such as glass wool and a plurality of openings positioned on the sidewalls of the inner chamber. In another embodiment, the sampling mechanism may comprise a movable door and an opening positioned on the body for a user to absorb air from the body via the opening without opening a front cover of the wafer-transferring pod. In a further embodiment, the sampling mechanism may comprise an inner member positioned on the body and a outer member buckled into the inner member, wherein the inner member and the outer member have an opening through which the user can absorb the air from the body without opening the front cover of the wafer-transferring pod.

[0009] To do sampling, the prior art needs to perform actions such as opening the front cover of the wafer-transferring pod or inserting the sampling accessory into the wafer-transferring pod; however, these actions generate contaminations to cause pollution. On the contrary, the present invention disposes a sampling mechanism on the wafer-transferring pod, and the sampling of air in the wafer-transferring pod is performed via the sampling mechanism without inserting a sampling accessory into the wafer-transferring pod or opening the front cover of the wafer-transferring pod. Consequently, the present invention can prevent the wafer in the wafer-transferring pod from being polluted by inserting a sampling accessory into the wafer-transferring pod or opening the front cover of the wafer-transferring pod. In addition, the present invention allows the performing of the sampling during the fabrication process, i.e., achieves an on-line sampling instead of the post-sampling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description and upon reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates a wafer-transferring pod according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0012] FIG. 2 illustrates a wafer-transferring pod according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

[0013] FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 illustrate a wafer-transferring pod according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates a wafer-transferring pod 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The wafer-transferring pod 10 comprises a body 20 capable of receiving a plurality of wafers 12 and a sampling mechanism 30 positioned on the body 20. The sampling mechanism 30 can be positioned on a back surface 24, a bottom surface 26, a top surface 28 or one of two side surfaces 32A, 32B of the body 20 for adsorbing contaminations, and the wafer 12 is transferred into and out of the wafer-transferring pod 10 through an opening sealed up by a front cover 22. The sampling mechanism 30 comprises an inner chamber 42 positioned below the top surface 28, an adsorbent 44 such as glass wool in the inner chamber 42 and a top cover 48. There are several openings 46 positioned on the sidewalls of the inner chamber 42, and pollutions in air can be adsorbed by the adsorbent 44 in the inner chamber 42 as air flows though the sampling mechanism 30 via these opening 46.

[0015] When the wafer 12 in the wafer-transferring pod 10 is transferred into a reaction chamber to experience a semiconductor fabrication process such as the deposition process, the etching process or the lithographic process, the adsorbent 44 can adsorb contaminations from air in the interior of the wafer-transferring pod 10 as the wafer 12 is transferred from the reaction chamber back to the wafer-transferring pod 10, i.e., sampling in an on-line manner. Particularly, the contaminations in the wafer-transferring pod 10 are discharged from the wafer 12 into air in the interior of the wafer-transferring pod 10 as the wafer 12 is transferred back to the wafer-transferring pod 10 after the fabrication process is completed in the reaction chamber. Subsequently, one can open the top cover 48 of the sampling mechanism 40 and take out the adsorbent 44 from the inner chamber 42 to identify the contamination by a certain chemical analysis technique.

[0016] FIG. 2 illustrates a wafer-transferring pod 60 having a sampling mechanism 30' according to another embodiment of the present invention. The sampling mechanism 30' of the wafer-transferring pod 60 comprises a guiding frame 62 positioned on the back surface 24, a movable door 64 and an opening 66. Preferably, the guiding frame 62 and the movable door 64 are made of polyetherimide to avoid the generation of the contamination on opening or closing the movable door 64. Pulling up the movable door 64 exposes the opening 66 on the back surface 24, and the size of the opening 66 is substantially the same as that of a sampling head 56 of a sampling accessory 54. During the fabrication process, the movable door 64 is pulled down to shadow the opening 66 so as to prevent communication of air between the exterior and the interior of the wafer-transferring pod 10 via the opening 66. To do sampling, the movable door 64 is pulled up and the sampling head 56 engages with the opening 66 to suck air from the interior of the wafer-transferring pod 10.

[0017] FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 illustrate a wafer-transferring pod 80 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The wafer-transferring pod 80 comprises a sampling mechanism 70 including an inner member 72 positioned on the top surface 28 of the body 20 and an outer member 74 buckled into the inner member 72, wherein the inner member 72 have an opening 73 and the outer member 74 have an opening 75 communicating the interior of the wafer-transferring pod 10 with the external environment. During the fabrication process, a plug 78 is used to seal up the opening 75. To do sampling, the plug 78 is removed and the sampling head 56 engages with the opening 75 to suck air from the interior of the wafer-transferring pod 10 without opening the front cover 22 of the wafer-transferring pod 10. Preferably, the sample mechanism 70 may further comprise an adsorbent sheet 76 made of glass wool positioned between the inner member 72 and the outer member 74 to adsorb contaminations from the interior of the wafer-transferring pod 10.

[0018] To do sampling, the prior art needs to perform actions such as opening the front cover of the wafer-transferring pod or inserting the sampling accessory into the wafer-transferring pod; however, these actions generate contaminations to cause pollution. On the contrary, the present invention disposes a sampling mechanism on the wafer-transferring pod, and the sampling of air in the wafer-transferring pod is performed via the sampling mechanism without inserting a sampling accessory into the wafer-transferring pod or opening the front cover of the wafer-transferring pod. Consequently, the present invention can prevent the wafer in the wafer-transferring pod from being polluted by inserting a sampling accessory into the wafer-transferring pod or opening the front cover of the wafer-transferring pod. In addition, the present invention allows the performing of the sampling during the fabrication process, i.e., achieves an on-line sampling instead of the post-sampling.

[0019] The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended to be illustrative only. Numerous alternative embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A wafer-transferring pod, comprising: a body configured to receive a plurality of wafers; and a sampling mechanism positioned on the body for adsorbing contaminations from an interior of the body.

2. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 1, wherein the body has a back surface, and the sampling mechanism is positioned on the back surface.

3. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 1, wherein the body has two side surfaces, and the sampling mechanism is positioned on one of the two side surfaces.

4. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 1, wherein the body has a top surface, and the sampling mechanism is positioned on the top surface.

5. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 1, wherein the sampling mechanism includes a chamber having adsorbents therein.

6. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 5, wherein the adsorbents include glass wool.

7. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 5, wherein the chamber includes a plurality of openings, and the interior of the body communicates with that of the chamber via the openings.

8. A wafer-transferring pod, comprising: a body configured to receive a plurality of wafers; and a sampling mechanism positioned on the body for a user to adsorb air from an interior of the body.

9. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 8, wherein the body has a back surface, and the sampling mechanism is positioned on the back surface.

10. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 8, wherein the body has two side surfaces, and the sampling mechanism is positioned on one of the two side surfaces.

11. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 8, wherein the body has a top surface, and the sampling mechanism is positioned on the top surface.

12. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 8, wherein the sampling mechanism includes a movable door.

13. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 12, wherein the movable door is made of polyetherimide.

14. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 8, wherein the sampling mechanism is an opening.

15. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 8, wherein the sampling mechanism includes: an inner member positioned on the body; and an outer member configured to engage with the inner member; wherein the inner member and the outer member have an opening through which the user can absorb the air from the body.

16. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 15, wherein the sampling mechanism further includes adsorbent sheet positioned between the inner member and the outer member.

17. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 16, wherein the adsorbent sheet is made of glass wool.

18. The wafer-transferring pod of claim 15, wherein the sampling mechanism further includes a plug for sealing up the opening.