JP2000061833A - Polishing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To securely delivery wafers between a polishing part and an index table by positioning a load buffer or an unloader buffer of an index table device under a pressure plate of a turning and oscillating arm during the turning. SOLUTION: When a turning and oscillating arm part 9 is started, two pressure plates provided in the arm part 9 are turned in the horizontal direction around the center shaft to positions over an index table device 3. At this stage, load buffers 53, 53 loaded with wafers coincide with positions on turning locus of the pressure plates. The pressure plates absorbing the wafer before polishing are moved to a top surface of a surface plate 30, and the arm part 9 is horizontally moved while pushing the wafers so as to evenly perform the polishing. The wafer is moved to a surface plate 31, and similarly and finely polished. The wafer polished by using two surface plates 30, 31 is placed on unload buffers 54, 54 of the index table device 3 by the pressure plates.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a polishing apparatus for performing mechanochemical polishing (chemical mechanical polishing) of a silicon wafer or the like, and more particularly to a load buffer for mounting a wafer before polishing and a wafer for polishing. The present invention relates to a polishing apparatus that ensures delivery and reception of a wafer from an index table apparatus including an unload buffer for the polishing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, formation of an integrated circuit on a silicon wafer is typically performed by depositing a conductive layer, a semiconductor layer and an insulating layer continuously on the wafer, particularly on the silicon wafer. It is done by doing. After each layer is deposited, the layer is etched to form the features of the circuit.
With successive deposition and etching of a series of layers, the outer or top surface of the wafer, ie the exposed surface of the wafer, becomes progressively more uneven. This occurs because the distance between the outer surface and the underlying wafer is the largest in the region where etching is least likely to occur and the smallest in the region where etching is most likely to occur.

For an underlayer with a single pattern, this non-planar surface has a series of peaks and troughs with a height difference between the highest and lowest troughs of 7,
It is about 000 to 10,000 angstroms. In lower layers with multiple patterning, the height differences between peaks and valleys are even more pronounced and can reach up to several microns.

This non-planar outer surface represents a problem in integrated circuit manufacturing. If the outer surface is not flat, the patterning of the photoresist by the photolithography technique will not be possible for the photolithography apparatus to focus accurately on the uneven surface.
It may not be suitable. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly planarize the surface of this wafer to planarize the surface. The planarization polishes the non-planar outer surface to remove any of the conductive layers, semi-conductive layers or insulating layers to form a relatively flat and smooth surface.

Chemical mechanical polishing (CM
P) is one of the accepted methods for planarization. This planarization method typically requires placing the silicon wafer on a pressure plate such that the surface to be polished is exposed. The wafer supported by this pressure plate is placed against a rotating polishing pad. The pressure plate that holds the wafer may also be rotated to provide additional motion between the wafer and the polishing pad surface.

Further, a polishing slurry containing a polishing agent and at least one chemical reaction agent is supplied to the polishing pad, and a polishing chemical solution is supplied to the interface between the polishing pad and the wafer. For polishing the oxide layer, the slurry consists of a silica grid with a diameter of about 50 nm. After this grid is formed by fuming, it is placed in a base solution having a pH of about 10.5. Then, this solution is blended so as to maintain the colloidal suspension (colloidal suspension) for a long period of time, and a strong share is applied. For metal polishing, the grid is made of either silica or alumina.

An important factor in the chemical mechanical polishing process is the finish (roughness) of the substrate surface,
The flatness of the wafer surface and the polishing rate. Inappropriate flatness and roughness cause wafer defects. The polishing rate determines the time required to polish one layer. Therefore, the polishing time required to achieve the required finish and flatness determines the maximum throughput of the polishing equipment.

Since the finishing and flatness of the polished surface are required under the processing conditions of the subsequent manufacturing process, the portion relating to the polishing rate of the throughput is often sacrificed by the above tradeoff. Nevertheless, the cost of polishing equipment is reimbursed by the number of wafers processed, so increasing throughput is essential in the commercial market. Of course, high throughput must be balanced against cost and machine complexity used.

Further, in the conventional polishing apparatus, the throughput is limited by carrying the wafer in and out of the polishing surface. One of the prior art attempts to increase throughput is to use multiple polishing surfaces for polishing the wafer and optimize the polishing rate and finish by combining two different polishing pads and slurries. There is something that makes it possible. Such a polishing apparatus has a main polishing surface and a fine polishing surface. One polishing pad is controlled by one positioning device, and one wafer is moved between different polishing stations of the device for polishing.

An object of the present invention is to provide an index table device having a load buffer for mounting a wafer before polishing and an unload buffer for mounting a wafer after polishing on an upper surface, and a main polishing surface and a fine polishing surface. It is an object of the present invention to provide a polishing apparatus capable of reliably receiving and delivering a wafer to and from a polishing section of the polishing apparatus. Another object of the present invention is to provide a single index table device having a load buffer on which an unpolished wafer is placed and an unload buffer on which an unpolished wafer is placed. Provided is a polishing apparatus capable of delivering and receiving a wafer from an index table device to both polishing sections even when at least two pairs of polishing sections each having a polishing surface are provided to increase throughput. is there. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a polishing apparatus capable of further increasing the throughput because, in addition to the above, two wafers are transferred and received at the same time. Still another object of the present invention is, in addition to the above, in a single polishing apparatus having a main polishing surface and a fine polishing surface, using one dresser mechanism movable between the both surfaces to dress both sides. It is an object of the present invention to provide a polishing apparatus capable of reducing the manufacturing cost of the apparatus as a whole by sharing it with each other and increasing the throughput by dressing the unused surface.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a polishing apparatus for polishing a wafer to a predetermined flatness, the polishing apparatus being rotatable in a horizontal direction. An index table device having a load buffer or an unload buffer provided at a predetermined position on the upper surface, and two table plates, both table plates and the index table device, which are arranged adjacent to the index table device. A polishing device having a swinging swinging arm portion having a pressure plate on the lower surface thereof, and the swinging swinging arm portion is rotated when the polishing device is actuated. The load buffer or unload buffer of the index table device is located below the pressure plate of the swing arm. Are those that you have configured so that. Further, the present invention is a polishing apparatus for polishing a wafer to a predetermined flatness, wherein the polishing apparatus is rotatable in the horizontal direction, and the load buffer and the unload buffer provided on the upper surface are set at predetermined positions. And two sets of index table devices adjacent to the index table device are provided, and each set can swing between two surface plates, both surface plates and the index table device, And a polishing device having a swinging and swinging arm portion having a pressure plate on a lower surface thereof, and only one set or both sets of polishing devices are operated to swing the swinging and swinging arm part to move the index table device. When positioned above, the load of the index table device is placed below the pressure plate provided on the swing and swing arm. Ffa or unloading buffer is one that is configured to be positioned. Further, according to the present invention, in both of the above inventions, the index table device is provided with two load buffers and an unload buffer, and on the other hand, two pressure plates provided in the swinging and swinging arm portion are also provided, Both of the pressure plates are located on the upper surfaces of the two load buffers or the unload buffers when the revolving and swinging arm part revolves. Further, the polishing apparatus has a configuration in which a dresser mechanism capable of turning on the upper surfaces of both surface plates is provided, and the dresser mechanism has a brush portion, and the brush portion is provided on the upper surface of the surface plate. A configuration for contacting and dressing, a jet stream can be jetted, a configuration for dressing the upper surface of the surface plate in a non-contact manner with this jet stream, or a sprinkler for jetting water,
This sprinkler can be used to contactlessly dress the upper surface of the surface plate.

[0012]

By adopting the above means, the present invention provides
In the index plate of the index table device, the load buffer and the unload buffer provided on the upper surface of the index plate device can be set at arbitrary turning positions, and can be positioned on the turning locus of the turning and swinging arm of the polishing apparatus. Therefore, the wafer can be received by the pressure plate provided on the swinging / oscillating arm by locating the wafer on the rotation trajectory of the swinging / oscillating arm from the position where the wafer before polishing is received, while the wafer after polishing is not removed. The load buffer can be received by the unload buffer by locating the load buffer on the rotation locus of the swing rocking arm. Further, even when two sets of polishing devices are provided, the index plate of the index table device can rotate the load buffer and the unload buffer provided on the upper surface thereof at arbitrary turning positions, so that the turning table is operated. Wafers can be delivered and received by being positioned on the rotation locus of the swing arm portion.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view with a part of the polishing apparatus according to the present invention removed, FIG. 2 is a schematic right side view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of FIG. .

The polishing apparatus 1 according to the present invention has a supply unit 2 having two load cassettes having a plurality of storage units, two load buffers and two unload buffers for mounting wafers, respectively, and An index table device 3 that rotates horizontally for positioning at a predetermined angle, and the index table device 3 are sandwiched between the index table device 3 and the supply unit 2. There is 2
And a discharge section 4 having two unload cassettes.

A manipulator 5 is arranged adjacent to the supply unit 2 to sequentially take out wafers from the load cassette of the supply unit 2. On the other hand, as will be described in detail later, a rail part extending from the supply part 2 to the discharge part 4 on the upper part of the index table device 3 and a shuttle which can be moved along the rail in a state of being suspended on the rail part. A handling mechanism 6 including a unit and a reversing hand unit is provided.

Further, the index table device 3
And a pair of polishing devices 7, 7 are provided adjacent to each other, and each of the pair of polishing devices 7, 7 has a dresser mechanism 8
The rotary swing arm portion 9 and the surface plate portion 10 having the main polishing surface and the fine polishing surface by the polishing pad are provided.

The enlarged state of the swinging and swinging arm portion 9 is shown in FIGS. 4 to 7, FIG. 4 is a schematic view seen from the top, and FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a state in which the upper portion is removed. 6 is an enlarged schematic view from the Z direction in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is an enlarged schematic view from the X direction in FIG.

That is, the swinging and swinging arm portion 9 has an isosceles triangular shape, and a hole 12 penetrating in the vertical direction is provided at the apex angle portion, and holes 11 are also provided at the other two corner portions. , 11 is provided with a base 14. A central shaft 15 extending vertically through the machine base 13a of the polishing device 1 penetrates through the hole 12 at the top, and the central shaft 15 is hollow. And the lower end is located inside the hole 12.

The other two corner holes 11 and 11 are also provided.
When the pressure plates 16 and 16 for attracting a wafer are pressed to the lower end and the pressure plates 16 and 16 are pressed to the upper end, the pressure plates 16 and 16 extend vertically and are movable in the vertical direction. There are provided pressure shafts 18, 18 to which load sensors 17, 17 for detecting the pressure are attached. Both load sensors 17, 17 connect an operating portion 19a of a cylinder 19 provided on the base 14 and a connecting portion 20. They are integrally attached to each other.

Further, a cylindrical member 23 extending in the vertical direction is provided in a portion of the lower surface of the base 14 surrounding the hole 12.
The lower end of the tubular member 23 is fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the hollow motor 22 provided on the machine base 13b (see FIG. 2). Therefore, the hollow motor 22 allows the base 14 to swing and rotate. The drive shaft 21 may be provided without using the hollow motor 22 so that the drive shaft 21 can be swung and swung, and the drive shaft 21 can be swung.
The hollow motor 22 may be used for turning. Further, the central shaft 15 extending in the vertical direction of the machine bases 13a and 13b
It is also possible to fit the tubular member 23 on the and fix the lower end of the tubular member 23 to the inner peripheral portion of the hollow motor 22.

The surface plate portion 10 constituting the main polishing surface and the fine polishing surface has two surface plates 30 and 31 respectively serving as the main polishing surface and the fine polishing surface, and each surface plate 30 and 31 is swiveled. The two pressure plates 16, 16 are in contact with the upper surface when the base 14 of the swing arm portion 9 is rotated, and are of a size such that they can swing within a predetermined range. Both surface plates 30 and 31 are drive sources 32 located on the lower surface of the machine base 13b.
Each of them is rotatable in a predetermined direction.
Further, an annular gutter 33 is provided on the lower surface of the outer peripheral edge of both surface plates 30 and 31, and a part of the gutter 33 is connected to a conducting portion (not shown) extending to the outside of the polishing apparatus 1. is doing.

Further, a dresser mechanism 8 as shown in FIG. 8 is provided on the base, and the dresser mechanism 8 is rotatable through the machine base 13b of the polishing apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. A drive source 43 provided with a drive shaft 40 and a gear 42 that meshes with a gear 41 provided on the drive shaft 40 is attached to the lower side of the machine base 13b. Further, a cylinder 44 provided below the machine base 13b to move the drive shaft 40 up and down, and the machine base 1
3b, the swing arm 4 attached to the drive shaft 40 in a state of being located above the surface plates 30 and 31.
5, and further has a brush portion 46 attached downward to the tip of the swing arm 45 and a drive source 47 for rotating the brush portion 46. Note that FIG. 9 shows the surface plates 30 and 31 and the gutter 33 located below the outer peripheral edge side of the surface plates 30 and 31.

The center of the upper surface of both surface plates 30, 31 is located on the center locus of the brush portion 46 provided at the tip of the swing arm 45 by pivoting about the drive shaft 40, so that the cylinder 44 is located. The swinging arm 45 is lowered by the above to bring the brush portion 46 into contact with the two surface plates 3 depending on the turning state.
It is possible to wash 0, 31. After the cleaning, the cylinder 44 lifts the swing arm 45, and
If it is retracted by the drive source 43, the swing and swing arm portion 9
Will not get in the way.

FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 show enlarged views of the index table device 3, in which the index plate 50 is rotatable about a shaft 51,
The DD motor 52, which is a drive source, is configured to include the shaft 51, and is thereby configured to be rotatable in a horizontal direction at a predetermined angle. Further, two load buffers 53, 53 and two unload buffers 54, 54 are arranged adjacent to each other on the upper surface of the index plate 50, and their centers are equidistant from the center of the shaft 51. . The DD motor 52, which is the drive source, is controlled by a servo mechanism.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 55 denotes a brush shaft which can be brought into contact with the side surfaces of the pressure plates 16 and 16.

FIG. 12 shows the handling mechanism 6 provided above the index table device 3 from the wafer supply section 2 to the wafer discharge section 4. The handling mechanism 6 has, above the index table device 3, a rail section 60 extending from the wafer supply section 2 to the wafer discharge section 4, and a shuttle section 61 movable along the rail section 60. A reversing hand portion 63 is vertically provided on the portion 61 so as to be raised and lowered by a drive source 62 provided therein.

The reversing hand portion 63 attached to the shuttle portion 61 is located below the substrate 64 and is the driving source 6
5 has a reversing hand 66 which is projected and retracted in the horizontal direction and whose tips can be brought into contact with and separated from each other and which is also rotatable. That is, the drive source 65 provided on the hanging plate 67 and the shaft portion 68 extending horizontally through the hanging plate 67 are connected by the connecting rod 69, and the tip end of the shaft portion 68 is connected to the shaft 68. A protruding piece 70 is attached.

A drive source 71 is provided on the upper surface of the substrate 64.
A drive shaft 72 that can be rotated by is arranged in a state of being oriented in the horizontal direction, and pulleys 73, 7 provided on the drive shaft 72 are provided.
3 and the pulleys 75 and 7 provided on hollow shafts 74 and 74 that are concentrically attached to the outside of the shaft portion 68 via a clutch or the like.
Belts 76 and 76 are connected to the belt 5. Further, the reversing hand portion 63 and the shuttle portion 61 are connected via a connecting plate 77 provided on the substrate 64.

In FIGS. 13 and 14, the wafer discharge section 4 is shown.
And a storage portion 8 for storing a polished wafer.
Two unload cassettes 81 in which 0s are provided in a plurality of stages are provided, and shooters 82 and 82 are provided at the entrance sides of both unload cassettes 81 and 81, respectively.

The unload cassette 81 can be moved up and down by a drive source 83, and
The tip side of the wafer insertion direction, that is, the back side is vertically moved in a state of being inclined downward, and the shooter 82 is also parallel to the unload cassette 81, that is,
The unload cassette 81 is provided so as to be inclined with its side facing downward.

On the other hand, the polished wafer does not drop directly onto the shooter 82, but first drops onto the water stored up to the top of the shooter 82, and then slides the shooter 82 into the unload cassette 81. The unload cassette 81 stores the polished wafers and then moves upward or downward by the drive source 83 so as to store the next wafer in the other storage unit 80. It has become.

Next, the operation of the above will be described. First, the load cassettes 90, 90 in which wafers before polishing are stored in a plurality of storage units are located in the supply unit 2, while
The empty unload cassettes 81, 81 are located in the discharge section 4. Then, when the work is started, a so-called tilt mechanism is provided in the load cassette 90 in which the wafer is stored, and the tilt mechanism causes the load cassette 9 to be loaded.
The wafers 0 and 90 are slanted to the inner side to slide the respective wafers in the storage portion, and the respective wafers are positioned inside the load cassettes 90 and 90. After starting this tilt mechanism, the manipulator 5
Is activated and the wafer stored in the load cassette 90 is taken out. At the time of taking out the wafer, the wafer is taken out while being surely placed at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the manipulator 5.

A state in which a wafer is placed on the manipulator 5 is shown in FIGS. 15 (a) and 15 (b). The manipulator 5 has a bifurcated tip 101 and a root 10.
2 are provided with protrusions 103, respectively.
3 is configured so that the entire lower surface of the wafer does not come into contact with the manipulator 5, that is, the lower surface of the wafer does not come into contact with other members as much as possible.

The wafer placed on the manipulator 5 and taken out is gripped between the projecting pieces 70, 70 of the reversing hand 66 of the handling mechanism 6 shown in FIG. Thus, the projecting piece 70 is projected and retracted in the horizontal direction, and this projecting and retracting is in the direction indicated by X in FIG. Therefore, the projecting piece 70 that is in the retracted state by the drive source 65 projects in the horizontal direction. The positions where the pair of projecting pieces 70 project so that they can be reliably gripped are narrow portions on both sides of the tip of the manipulator 5. Moreover, the wafer gripping position is not a position facing each other across the center but a position shifted from the center by δ. This is caused by the positional relationship with other members, and may be at positions facing each other with the center in between.

After gripping the wafer between the projecting pieces 70 of the reversing hand 66 of the handling mechanism 6, the reversing hand unit 63 is raised by the driving source 62 and the driving source 7
1 rotates in the Y direction, and the shuttle 61 moves the rail 60 in the horizontal direction to transfer the wafer to the upper part of the index table device 3.

Then, after being positioned above the load buffer 53 of the index table device 3 and descending, the protruding piece 70 moves 1 position in the Z direction from the position where the protruding piece 70 holds the wafer.
Rotate 80 °. That is, after holding the wafer in the state of I in FIG. 12 and rotating it by 180 ° to the state of II in FIG. 12, both the protruding pieces 70, 70 are moved after the reversing hand portion 63 is lowered by the drive source 62. The wafer is placed on the upper surface of the load buffer 53 while being separated.

When the wafer is rotated from the I state to the II state, the upper and lower surfaces of the wafer are inverted, that is, the lower surface of the wafer when stored in the load cassette 90 becomes the upper surface and becomes the load buffer 53. Will be placed in. When the index table device 3 is mounted on the load buffer 53 as described above, the index plate 50 is preliminarily rotated by the driving source 52, and the reversing hand portion 63 of the handling mechanism 6 is located at a position where the wafer is released.

That is, the index plate 50 is previously driven by the DD motor 52 so that the load buffers 53, 53 on the upper surface thereof are rotated to the wafer dropping position by the reversing hand portion 63 of the handling mechanism 6.

Therefore, the wafer in the load cassette 90 is taken out by the manipulator 5 and then transferred to the reversing hand portion 63 of the handling mechanism 6 in the air. Therefore, the manipulator 5 is thus halfway.
From the above, the manipulator 5 does not get wet even if water is attached to the reversing hand part 63 of the handling mechanism 6 by passing it from the reversing hand part 63 to the handling mechanism 6. In addition, load buffer 5
3 is a dry type, and the unload buffer 54 is a wet type.

Since the index plate 50 is provided with the two load buffers 53, 53, the manipulator 5 and the handling mechanism 6 are used to load the two unpolished wafers in the load cassette 90 into the two load buffers 53. , 53, respectively.
Since the wafer dropping position of the reversing hand portion 63 of the handling mechanism 6 is predetermined, the DD motor 52 is activated each time the wafer is received to rotate the load buffer 53 to the wafer receiving position.

Next, the movements of the index table device 3, the surface plate portion 10, the turning and swinging arm portion 9, and the dresser mechanism 8 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when the one (A-side) turning / oscillating arm section 9 is activated, the two pressure plates 16, 16 provided on the A-side turning / oscillating arm section 9 center around the hollow central shaft 15. Then, it is rotated in the horizontal direction to be above the index plate 50 of the index table device 3. At this time, the index plate 50 is previously rotated by the DD motor 52 and the load buffers 53, 53 on which the wafers are placed are in the positions shown by the solid lines, and the rotation loci of both the pressure plates 16, 16 on the A side. Becomes a. Moreover, the angle θ1 from the center axis 15 to the centers of the pressure plates 16 and 16 is
Angle θ from 5 to the center of both load buffers 53, 53
Since it is the same as that of 1, the swinging and swinging arm portion 9 swivels and both pressure plates 16 and 16 descend, so that both pressure plates 16 and 16 are loaded into both load buffers 53 and 5.
Since it coincides with 3, it is possible to simultaneously receive the unpolished wafers placed on both load buffers 53, 53.

The pressure plates 16 and 16 on the lower surface of which the wafers before being polished are respectively attracted are first swung by the swiveling and swinging arm portion 9, so that the upper and lower surfaces of one of the surface plates 30 on the A side are both wafers. Will be pressed. The pressing force of both wafers at this time is
The load sensors 17 and 17 provided at the upper ends of the sensors 6 and 16 are constantly detected, and when they are different, the cylinders 19 and 19 are operated to maintain a constant pressing force. Moreover, the swinging and swinging arm portion 9 swings about the central axis 15 within the range of the upper surface of the surface plate 30, so that the upper surface of the surface plate 30 is uniformly used and polishing is performed uniformly. ing. Note that the pressing force is adjusted by the load sensors 17, 17
And a cylinder 1 by a controller (not shown) that processes the signals detected by the load sensors 17, 17.
It is adapted to be adjusted by driving 9 and 19.

Further, the wafer which has been polished by the one surface plate 30 is then moved to the other surface plate 31 and finely polished while being swung as in the previous case.

While polishing is being performed on one side (A) as described above, the next two unpolished wafers are moved to the DD motor 5 by the manipulator 5 and the handling mechanism 6.
It is mounted on the load buffers 53, 53 which are rotated to a predetermined position in advance by the activation of 2 and are on standby.

Next, the other (B) side swing / oscillation arm portion 9 is activated to receive the wafer by the pressure plates 16 and 16, that is, the other (B) side swing / oscillation arm portion 9. Both pressure plates provided 1
The turning trajectories of 6 and 16 are as shown in b. This is because the centers of the one (A) side and the other (B) side are deviated by δ1, and the turning loci a and b are equidistant from the central axis 15 which is the turning center. The angle θ1 from the central axis 15 to the axial centers of the pressure plates 16 and 16 is
It is the same as the angle θ1 from the central axis 15 to the centers of both load buffers 53, 53, and this angle is the same as the one (A) side. Then, the revolving swing arm portion 9 revolves to move the pressure plates 16 on both sides as shown by the trajectory b.
16 rotates to both load buffers 53, 53 side, and the index table device 3 is activated to rotate the index plate 50. This rotation is performed by the DD motor 5
The driving of the DD motor 52 is controlled so that the load buffers 53, 53 are located in the state of the broken line below the pressure plates 16, 16.

Therefore, the wafers attracted to the pressure plates 16 and 16 on the other (B) side as well as the one (A) side are polished by using both surface plates 30 and 31. Then, after the polishing on one surface plate 30 is completed, the polishing is performed on the other surface plate 31. However, the polishing causes the upper surfaces of the surface plates 30 and 31 to be rough, and the surface plate is used for polishing the next wafer as it is. Sometimes you can't. For this reason, the dresser mechanism 8 operates to dress the upper surfaces of the surface plates 30 and 31 that are not used.

That is, one (A) side and the other (B) side
A dresser mechanism 8 is provided on each side, and the dresser mechanism 8 includes the swing arm 4 as shown in FIG.
The brush portion 46 provided at the tip of 5 can move up and down, and can also rotate in the horizontal direction. Therefore, after reaching the upper side of the unused surface plates 30 and 31 by rotating in the horizontal direction. The brush part 46 is brought into contact with the upper surfaces of the surface plates 30, 31 while descending, and in this state, the swing arm 45 is moved within the range of the upper surfaces of the surface plates 30, 31 while rotating the brush portion 46 by the drive source 47. By turning, dressing can be reliably performed.

On the one (A) side and the other (B) side,
Two dressers 30, 3 with one dresser mechanism 8 each
Since it is commonly used for No. 1, the manufacturing cost can be reduced. In this embodiment, the dresser mechanism 8 is provided with the brush portion 46. However, even if a jet flow is used or a water flow is jetted like a sprinkler, the dressing of the upper surfaces of the surface plates 30 and 31 is performed. Is what you can do.

The two wafers, which have been polished by using the two surface plates 30 and 31, are transferred to the unload buffers 54 and 54 of the index table device 3 by the pressure plates 16 and 16 of the swinging and swinging arm 9. Transported and placed. At the time of carrying and placing, the index table device 3 starts the DD motor 52 to rotate the index plate 50, and the upper surfaces of the unload buffers 54 and 54 are fixed to the pressure plates 16 and 1 respectively.
The position below 6 is set.

Next, both unload buffers 54, 54
The polished wafer placed on the upper surface of the wafer is transported by the activation of the handling mechanism 6. That is, first, the DD motor 52 of the index table device 3 is activated to rotate the index plate 50 so that the upper surfaces of the unload buffers 54, 54 are located at the position where the reversing hand portion 63 of the handling mechanism 6 is lowered. Then, the reversing hand portion 63 is lowered, and the projecting pieces 70, 70 project to hold the polished wafer between the projecting pieces 70, 70. At this time, the polishing surface is the lower surface. The upper and lower ends of the outer peripheral surface of the wafer are chamfered, and only the chamfered portion is unloaded in the unload buffer 5.
Since it is designed to be placed in contact with 4, 54,
The polished polishing surface does not come into contact with any of the unload buffers 54, 54.

Next, the reversing hand unit 6 is driven by the driving source 62.
3, the drive source 71 is activated to rotate both projecting pieces 70, 70 in the vertical direction so that the lower surface of the wafer is turned upside down. Moreover, the wafer is held in a state of being inclined at an angle θ with respect to the horizontal. Therefore, the reversing hand unit 63 reverses the wafer, and the shuttle unit 6
The wafer polished by the transfer of the wafer by 1 is positioned above the shooter 82 of the ejection unit 4 at an angle θ with respect to the horizontal.

Then, when both projecting pieces 70, 70 of the reversing hand portion 63 of the handling mechanism 6 are retracted and the gripping of the wafer is released, the shooter 82 is tilted to the unload cassette 81 side in advance at an angle θ with respect to the horizontal. In addition, since the unload cassette 81 is also inclined at an angle of θ with respect to the horizontal, after sliding the shooter 82, a plurality of storage sections 80 are provided.
It is stored in the unload cassette 81 having The unload cassette 81 moves up or down for each wafer that slides on the shooter 82, and the wafers are stored without making contact with each other. In this storage state, the polished surface of the wafer is the top surface. On the other hand, when the shooter 82 slides, water is stored on the upper surface of the shooter 82, so that the water acts as a brake against the sliding of the wafer.

That is, when water is not stored on the upper surface of the shooter 82, only the frictional force between the surface of the wafer and the upper surface of the shooter 82 acts as a brake for sliding the wafer. However, with such a configuration, the water acts as a brake and performs a so-called damper action. In addition, since the water is also stored in the storage portion 80 of the unload cassette, there is no possibility of damaging the wafer by a large impact force due to the damper action with the deep surface of the unload cassette 81.

In this way, the polished wafer is transferred from the unload buffer 54 of the index plate 50 to the shooter 82 by the handling mechanism 6, and the shooter 82 slides to be stored in the unload cassette 81.

Therefore, one index table device 3 is commonly used for two sets of surface plate parts, one (A) side surface plate part 10 and the other (B) side surface plate part 10. Therefore, either one of the surface plate parts 1 depending on production etc.
It is possible to perform polishing with only 0. Then, even when only one of the surface plate parts 10 is operated, or both of the surface plate parts 10 are operated, only the load cassette 90 containing the wafers before polishing is supplied to the supply part 2, and the discharge part 4 is unloaded. Polished wafers are stored in the load cassette 81.

The pressure plate 16 shown in the above-mentioned embodiment can adopt various forms, one example of which is shown in FIG. In the pressure plate 16 shown in FIG. 17, an elastic member 121 such as an annular rubber is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the lower surface of the disk-shaped portion of the base 120, and the circular member is formed below the elastic member 121. A plate-shaped PVC sheet 122 is provided. Also, this PV
A template 124 is provided on the lower surface of the C sheet 122 and is in contact with the wafer via an adhesive layer 123. The template 124 is a disk-shaped PET film 125.
And the backing pad 126 and the backing pad 1
An annular EG collar 127 located on the outer peripheral side of the lower surface of 26.
It is formed from and. Then, the template 12
4, the PET film 125 is adhered to the PVC sheet 122 via the adhesive layer 123, while the back surface of the backing pad 126 has a wafer (shown by a one-dot chain line) whose peripheral end surface is the EG color. It is designed to come into contact with 127.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the polishing apparatus for polishing a wafer to a predetermined flatness, the load buffer or the unload buffer provided on the upper surface can be rotated in the horizontal direction and can be moved to a predetermined position. And an index table device which is disposed adjacent to the index table device, is swingable between two surface plates, both surface plates and the index table device, and has a pressure plate on the lower surface. A polishing apparatus having a swing arm section, and when the polishing apparatus operates to rotate the swing swing arm section, a load buffer of the index table device is provided below a pressure plate of the swing swing arm section. Alternatively, since the unload buffer is configured to be positioned, the pressure of the swing and swing arm part is It can be mounted reliably and receive the wafer on the load buffer at a rate, or a wafer on the unloading buffer. Moreover, by disposing two sets of polishing devices similar to those described above, the load buffer and the unload buffer can be respectively positioned with respect to the pressure plates of both polishing devices, and the throughput can be increased. Furthermore, if the load buffer and the unload buffer are arranged in the index table device two by two, and if the two pressure plates are arranged below the swinging and swinging arm part, the throughput is doubled. Throughput can be significantly increased. Further, by disposing a dresser mechanism in the polishing apparatus, it is possible to perform dressing on the other surface plate that is not used when one surface plate is used, and further increase the throughput.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a polishing apparatus according to the present invention with a part thereof removed.

FIG. 2 is a schematic right side view of what is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of what is shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view of a swing / oscillation arm portion.

5 is an enlarged schematic view showing a state where the upper portion of the one shown in FIG. 4 is removed.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic right side view of what is shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged schematic front view of what is shown in FIG.

FIG. 8A is a schematic plan view showing a dresser mechanism. (B) is a schematic front view showing a dresser mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view showing a dresser mechanism attached to a base of the polishing apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view showing an index plate of the index table device.

FIG. 11 is a schematic front view of the index table device.

FIG. 12 is a schematic front view showing a handling mechanism.

FIG. 13 is a schematic plan view showing a shooter and an unload cassette of the discharging section.

FIG. 14 is a schematic side view of what is shown in FIG.

FIG. 15A is a schematic plan view showing a manipulator. (B) is a schematic front view showing a manipulator.

FIG. 16 is a schematic explanatory view showing movements of an index table device, a surface plate portion, a swing / oscillation arm portion, and a dresser mechanism.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view showing an example of a pressure plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Polishing device 2 ... Supply part 3 ... Index table device 4 ... Ejection part 5 ... Manipulator 6 ... Handling mechanism 7 ... Polishing device 8 ... Dresser mechanism 9 ... Revolving swing arm part 10 ... … Surface plate 11 …… Corner hole 12 …… Top hole 13a, 13b …… Machine stand 14 …… Base 15 …… Center shaft 16 …… Pressure plate 17 …… Load sensor 18 …… Pressure shaft 19 , 44 ...... Cylinder 19a ...... Operating part 20 ...... Coupling part 21, 40, 72 ...... Drive shaft 22 ...... Hollow motor 23 ...... Cylindrical member 30, 31 ...... Surface plate 32, 43, 47, 52, 62, 65, 71, 83 ...
Drive source 33 …… Gutter 41, 42 …… Gear 45 …… Swing arm 46 …… Brush part 50 …… Index plate 51 …… Shaft 53 …… Load buffer 54 …… Unload buffer 55 …… Brush shaft 60 ... … Rail part 61 …… Shuttle part 63 …… Reversing hand part 64 …… Substrate 66 …… Reversing hand 67 …… Hanging plate 68 …… Shaft part 69 …… Connecting rod 70 …… Projecting pieces 73, 75 …… Pulley 74 ...... Hollow shaft 76 ...... Belt 77 ...... Connection plate 80 ...... Storage section 81 ...... Unload cassette 82 ...... Shooter 90 ...... Load cassette 101 ...... Tip section 102 ...... Root section 103 ...... Projection section 120 ...... ... Base 121 ... Elastic member 122 ... PVC sheet 123 ... Adhesive layer 124 ... Template 125 ... PET film 126 ... Backing pad 127 ... EG color

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kazutomo Hatano             2647 Hayakawa, Ayase, Kanagawa Prefecture Speed Fam             Within the corporation (72) Inventor Moto Nezu             2647 Hayakawa, Ayase, Kanagawa Prefecture Speed Fam             Within the corporation (72) Inventor Yasushi Sekoguchi             2647 Hayakawa, Ayase, Kanagawa Prefecture Speed Fam             Within the corporation (72) Inventor Takahiro Ueda             2647 Hayakawa, Ayase, Kanagawa Prefecture Speed Fam             Within the corporation (72) Inventor Masatomo Suzuki             2647 Hayakawa, Ayase, Kanagawa Prefecture Speed Fam             Within the corporation F term (reference) 3C058 AA06 AA07 AA11 AA16 AA18                       AA19 AB03 AC04 CB02 CB03                       DA17

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A polishing apparatus for polishing a wafer to a predetermined flatness, wherein the polishing apparatus is rotatable in a horizontal direction, and a load buffer or an unload buffer provided on an upper surface is set at a predetermined position. An index table device and a swing table having a pressure plate on the lower surface, which is arranged adjacent to the index table device, is swingable between the two surface plates, both surface plates and the index table device. A polishing apparatus having a moving arm section, and when the polishing apparatus is operated to rotate the swing rocking arm section, the load buffer of the index table device is provided below the pressure plate of the swing rocking arm section. A polishing device having an unload buffer located therein. 2. A polishing apparatus for polishing a wafer to a predetermined flatness, wherein the polishing apparatus is rotatable in a horizontal direction, and a load buffer and an unload buffer provided on an upper surface are set at predetermined positions. An index table device and two sets adjacent to the index table device are provided, and each set has two surface plates, both surface plates and the index table device being swingable, and a bottom surface. And a polishing device having a swinging and swinging arm part having a pressure plate, and only one or both sets of polishing devices are actuated so that the swinging and swinging arm part swings to move above the index table device. , The load buffer of the index table device is located below the pressure plate provided on the swing and swing arm. The polishing device is characterized in that the ar or unload buffer is located. 3. The index table device is provided with two load buffers and an unload buffer,
On the other hand, two pressure plates provided on the swing rocking arm portion are also provided, and both pressure plates are located on the upper surfaces of the two load buffers or unload buffers when the swing rocking arm portion swings. The polishing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the polishing apparatus is a polishing apparatus. 4. A dresser mechanism capable of turning on the upper surfaces of both surface plates is provided in the polishing apparatus.
The polishing apparatus according to any one of 3 above. 5. The polishing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the dresser mechanism has a brush portion, and the dressing is performed by bringing the brush portion into contact with the upper surface of the surface plate. 6. The polishing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the dresser mechanism is capable of jetting a jet flow, and the jet flow dresses the upper surface of the surface plate in a non-contact manner. 7. The polishing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the dresser mechanism has a sprinkler for ejecting water, and the upper surface of the surface plate is dressed by the sprinkler in a non-contact manner.