JPS60239392A - Vapor growth device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit attaching and detaching of a semiconductor substrate without damaging the substrate by forming guiding grooves to the inside and outside of a recessed part for contg. the semiconductor substrate of a supporting body introducing or taking out a chuck of an automatic transmporting mechanism into or out of the guiding groove, and taking out the semiconductor substrate by holding the external periphery of the semiconductor substrate. CONSTITUTION:A recessed part 8 for contg. a semiconductor substrate 9 is formed in a supporting body 1, and guiding grooves 20 are formed over the whole part of the inside and outside of the recess 8 for contg. the substrate. Further, an automatic transporting mechanism provided with a chuck capable of executing lifting and swirling freely is installed separately. When a semiconductor substrate 9 contained in the recesssed part 8 is taken out, the chuck of the automatic transporting mechanism and the semiconductor substrate 9 are positioned, and each part 22 of the chuck is introduced into the guiding groove 20 of the recessed part 8, respectively by dropping each chuck. Each chuck part 22 is moved, then, toward inside to hold the external periphery of the semiconductor substate 9, then, the semiconductor substrate 9 is taken out by lifting the chuck.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a vapor phase growth apparatus for epitaxially growing a semiconductor wafer, and particularly to means for attaching and detaching a wafer to and from a susceptor.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Conventionally, semiconductor wafers have usually been attached and detached from susceptors manually.

In this case, tweezers or a Penfolder-type quartz vacuum chuck are used.

However, when tweezers are used, the front and back surfaces of the wafer are sandwiched, resulting in damage such as scratches on the surface).

After epitaxial growth, the susceptor cannot be easily removed from the top of the susceptor, and the tweezers come into contact with the susceptor, leaving metals on the hard film of the susceptor's SIC coating, damaging the susceptor and shortening the life of the susceptor. There were drawbacks.

In addition, when using a quartz vacuum chuck, the part that comes into contact with the wafer is quartz, and when the wafer is loaded into the wafer/storage seat of the susceptor, the backside of the wafer is vacuum chucked, causing damage to the wafer. is not a problem, but the workability is poor. Furthermore, when taking out the wafer, the back surface of the wafer cannot be attracted, and the front surface is attracted, which damages the wafer.

Furthermore, the biggest problem when humans attach and detach wafers is the generation of dust and poor work efficiency due to human movement.

Therefore, an automatic dispenser device was used to hold the outer periphery of the wafer so as not to damage the surface.11.□ゎ□5.
In this case, there is no problem when storing, but there is a drawback that the susceptor comes into contact with the susceptor when taken out, causing damage.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to allow a semiconductor substrate to be attached to and removed from a support using an automatic loading/unloading mechanism without twisting or damaging the support and the semiconductor substrate. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a vapor phase growth apparatus that enables this.

[Summary of the invention]

Unexploded 8A line In order to achieve the above purpose, a guide groove is formed in the support body extending inside and outside of the storage recess for the semiconductor substrate, and a chuck of an automatic loading/unloading mechanism is introduced into this guide groove to remove the surface of the semiconductor substrate. It holds the part and removes it.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG. 1 shows the relative relationship between a susceptor 1 as a support and an automatic loading/unloading mechanism 2. As shown in FIG. The susceptor 1 is supported by a rotating shaft 3, which is connected to an output shaft 7 of a motor 6 via a gear 4 and a gear 5. Further, on the upper surface of the susceptor 1, a plurality of circular counters 8 are formed as storage recesses, and these counters 8 are provided with semiconductors by the automatic loading/unloading mechanism 2. A wafer 9 serving as a substrate is stored or taken out.

Further, the automatic unloading machine 2 includes a transport unit 10, and a chuck 12 is provided on the transport unit 10 via an arm 1.

This transport unit 10 has a lifting and turning function.

The chuck 12 of this automatic loading/unloading mechanism 2 and the susceptor 1
The positional relationship between the arm 11 and the counter seat 8 can be accurately determined by the control of the motor 6 and the origin detection mechanism 13, the rotation angle of the arm 11, and the amount of advance and retreat.

Further, 14 is a take-out cassette for the wafer 9, and 15 is a table for loading the wafer taken out from the take-out cassette 14, and may also orient the wafer 9 and position the flat part 9a if necessary. . Also, 16
is a storage table for storing wafers 9 taken out from the center 1 into a cassette 2.

Further, the chuck 12 of the automatic loading/unloading mechanism 2 is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, 22... are a plurality of chuck pieces corresponding to the number of guide grooves 2o of the susceptor 1, which will be described later, and these chuck pieces 22... are rotatably supported by pins 23 at their midpoints, and their lower parts are rotatably supported by pins 23. The sides are biased inwardly by springs 24. Also,
The upper ends of the chuck pieces 22 are connected to a drive unit (not shown) K via a par 25.

When the pars 25 are moved in the direction of the arrow, the chuck pieces 22 resist the biasing force of the spring 24.
... is opened outward, and the wafer 9 is held in the chuck piece 22...
・I'm starting to move away from it.

Also, the par 25... is moved in the direction of the arrow 1+
4-ρ11+l+11+JALfu-419-bb wire, -
- The strips 22... are moved inward to hold the wafer 9.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the susceptor 1 has a plurality (six) of guide grooves 20 formed inside and outside the dust bins 8, and these guide grooves 20... As shown in FIG. 4, the dust groove 8 is formed deeper. Chuck piece 2 of the handle 12 of the automatic drawer mechanism 2
2... are adapted to be introduced into the guide grooves 20....

Therefore, in the above-described configuration, the seat 9 of the susceptor 1
When taking out the wafer 9 stored in the wafer 8, first position the chuck 12 and the susceptor 1 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6), and then As shown, the chuck 12 is lowered and the chuck pieces 22 are introduced into the guide grooves 20 of the seat pieces 8, respectively. After introducing it in this way, the 6th
As shown in the figure (,), the chuck pieces 22... are each moved inward to hold the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 9. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6(d), the chuck 12 is raised to finish taking out the wafer 9.

As described above, according to this embodiment, even when the automatic dispenser mechanism 2 is used to attach and detach the wafer 9 to and from the counterbore 8, the chuck 12 does not come into contact with the susceptor 1, and the wafer 9 There is no need to chuck the surface of the wafer 9, and no damage is caused to the wafer 9.

Furthermore, since a plurality of guide grooves 20 are provided, even if the diameter of the wafer 9 is large, the wafer 9 can be held stably. You can also easily bring out the center.

In addition, to store the wafer 9 in the counterbore 8, it is sufficient to perform the operation opposite to the above-mentioned removal, and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

In addition, in the unit for taking out the way 9 from the cassette 14, if the table J5 on which the sea urchin I9 is placed is provided with a guide groove similar to that of the susceptor 1, or if the outer diameter of the table 15 is made smaller than the outside diameter of the way 9. By Way 9
It is possible to hold this without touching the surface of the

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned example,
Only two guide grooves 31 and 31 are formed in the susceptor 1 shown in FIG. 7, and these guide grooves 31 and 31 are
It is also possible to introduce old vine pieces (only - pieces are shown) 32 formed into an L-shape like a claw in the figure.

In this embodiment, when taking out the wafer 9 stored in the storage bin 8 of the susceptor J, first, as shown in FIG.
As shown in a), the chuck 33 and the susceptor 1 are positioned, and then, as shown in FIG.
...to be introduced within.

After this, as shown in FIG. 9(C), the chuck pieces 32... are each moved inward, and the
After holding the outer periphery of the wavy 9, the bent portion 32a of the chuck piece 32...
Hold the back side of the Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9(d), the chuck pieces 32 are raised to complete the ejection of the wafer 9.

In this embodiment, the orientation flat portion 9a of the wafer 9 is taken out from a wafer storage cassette (not shown) and transferred to the automatic dispenser mechanism 2 to be placed on the paper dispenser 1.
When stored in the upper storage bin 8, and the susceptor 1
When taken out from above, it is desirable to always position it at a position that does not overlap with the guide grooves 32 and 32. This embodiment also provides the same effects as the above embodiment.

It goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways within the scope of its gist.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, a guide groove is formed both inside and outside of a recess for storing a semiconductor substrate provided in a support body, and a chuck of an automatic dispenser mechanism is introduced into this guide groove to remove the surface of the semiconductor substrate. Since the part to be removed is held and taken out, there is no damage to the surface of the support and semiconductor substrate as in the conventional method, and the effect is that it is possible to increase the product yield (product yield) and extend the life of the support. play.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 6 show one embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a schematic configuration diagram showing the vapor phase growth apparatus, Fig. 2 is a front view showing the chuck of the automatic dispenser mechanism, Fig. 3 is a front view showing the state in which the wafer is stored in the counter seat of the susceptor, and Fig. 4 The figure is a side sectional view, FIGS. 5 and 6 (a) to (d) are explanatory diagrams showing the wafer unloading state, FIG. 7 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 and Figures 9(a)-(e)
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the wafer is taken out. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Susceptor (support body), 9... Way (semiconductor substrate), 8... Counterbore (storage recess), 12... Chuck, 2... Automatic drawer mechanism. Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 2 25 20 20 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A support body, a storage recess formed in this support body for storing a semiconductor substrate, a guide groove formed across the inside and outside of this storage recess, and a guide groove into which a charger is guided in and out. A vapor phase growth apparatus comprising: an automatic loading/unloading mechanism for holding and taking out a portion of the semiconductor substrate other than the surface portion thereof. (2) The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of guide grooves are formed. (3) The vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the guide groove is formed deeper than the storage recess. (4) Claim 1, characterized in that the chuck of the automatic loading/unloading mechanism holds the outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate;
Gas phase (5) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the chuck of the automatic loading/unloading mechanism holds the outer peripheral part and the back side of the semiconductor substrate. The vapor phase growth apparatus according to item 3.