JP2000068244A - Cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a cleaning apparatus capable of miniaturizing an overall cleaning apparatus, and for simplifying the output of conditions for cleaning. SOLUTION: This cleaning apparatus 1 in this application is provided with a carrying robot 10, equipped with a first hand 14 and a second hand 15 for holding and moving an object to be cleaned at the central part. In this case, an object to be cleaned carrying device 20, hand cleaning device 30, object to be cleaned cleaning device 40, object to be cleaned cleaning and drying device 50, and object to be cleaned carrying device 60 are successively arranged around a robot 10 positioned at the center in the clockwise direction. Then, a wet semiconductor wafer is moved from the object to be cleaned carrying device 20 to the object to be cleaned cleaning device 40 and the object to be cleaned cleaning and the drying device 50 by the first hand 14, and a dry semiconductor wafer, which is cleaned and dried by the object to be cleaned cleaning and drying device 50, is moved to the object to be cleaned carrying device 60 by the second hand 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus, and more particularly, to a method for arranging a wet object to be cleaned such as a semiconductor wafer, which has been subjected to polishing, etching, etc., radially and optimally. The present invention relates to a cleaning device for carrying a cleaning object and a cleaning / drying device for cleaning and drying, and then carrying out the dry (dry) cleaning object.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a current cleaning apparatus generally used in a semiconductor device manufacturing process has high productivity and a cleaning method such as a chemical cleaning method, a brushing method, a jet flow method, or an ultrasonic vibration method. In order to pursue diversification, a plurality of, generally three or more process cleaning tanks are provided, and a semiconductor wafer is moved from a semiconductor wafer loading port to the semiconductor wafer storage port through the plurality of process cleaning tanks. (Usually 6 to 8 axes) are incorporated.

[0003]

For this reason, the entire cleaning apparatus is increased in size and a large installation floor area is required. Further, since a plurality of process cleaning tanks and a plurality of transport mechanisms are provided, the cleaning apparatus is required. Complicating the condition setting of the device. These problems have problems such as an increase in the product cost of the semiconductor device. Further, there is a problem that an evaluation test for each cleaning tank for pre-evaluating a chemical solution suitable for an object to be cleaned cannot be easily performed.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus that can reduce the size of the entire cleaning apparatus and simplify the conditions for cleaning.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a wet object to be cleaned is carried in, washed and dried with a chemical solution or the like, and the washed and dried dry material is dried. A cleaning robot for carrying out a clean object to be cleaned, a transfer robot including a first hand for holding a wet object to be cleaned and a second hand for holding a dry object to be cleaned;
It is arranged around this transfer robot,
A cleaning object loading / unloading device including a loading port capable of loading a wet cleaning object requiring cleaning, a loading port capable of unloading the cleaning object, and a mounting device capable of mounting the cleaning object; A hand cleaning device disposed on a side of the object carrying device for cleaning the hand; and a hand cleaning device disposed on a side different from the cleaning object carrying device side of the hand cleaning device to carry the object to be cleaned. An object-to-be-cleaned device for cleaning a wet object to be carried into the device, and disposed on a side different from the hand cleaning device side of the object-to-be-cleaned,
An object-to-be-cleaned / drying device for cleaning and drying a wet object-to-be-cleaned washed by the object-to-be-cleaned, and a side different from the object-to-be-cleaned cleaning device side of the object-to-be-cleaned / dried. A carry-in port for carrying a dry object to be dried, which is dried by the apparatus for washing and drying the object, a carry-out port for carrying out the object to be washed, and the object to be washed. The above object is achieved by a cleaning object carrying device having a mounting device capable of carrying out the cleaning.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the cleaning apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the cleaning object cleaning apparatus and the cleaning object cleaning and drying apparatus include a down-flow gas. The above-mentioned problem is solved by adopting a configuration in which the flow is performed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning apparatus of the first and second aspects, the first hand of the transfer robot is replaced with the second hand. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a structure is provided below the image display device so as to reduce the projection area.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the cleaning apparatus according to the first to third aspects of the present invention, wherein another port is provided on the carry-in side of the object-to-be-cleaned. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the process device is configured such that another process device different from the other process device can be connected to the carry-out port side of the object-to-be-cleaned unloading device.

Therefore, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, since the various devices can be arranged in a so-called cluster structure, the size can be reduced. In addition, the first object of the transfer robot transfers the wet object to be cleaned from the apparatus for loading the object to be cleaned to the apparatus for cleaning the object to be cleaned, and from the apparatus for cleaning the object to be cleaned to the apparatus for cleaning and drying the object to be cleaned. Preferably, the dry cleaning object can be transferred from the cleaning object cleaning and drying device to the cleaning object discharge device by the second hand of the transfer robot. Further, a wet object to be cleaned can be directly transferred from the apparatus for loading an object to be cleaned to the apparatus for cleaning an object to be cleaned or the apparatus for cleaning and drying an object to be cleaned by the first hand of the transfer robot. Furthermore,
It becomes easy to evaluate the chemical solution.

According to the embodiment of the present invention described in claim 2, by flowing a down-flow gas into the apparatus for cleaning an object to be cleaned and the apparatus for cleaning and drying an object to be cleaned and taking sufficient exhaust gas, The dirty chemical used for cleaning can be dropped downward, and the dirty chemical can be prevented from scattering and re-adhering to the object to be cleaned during cleaning.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the first hand for handling a wet object to be cleaned is provided below the second hand, the first hand is disposed below the second hand. Since the second hand does not become wet and has a structure in which the two hands are arranged so as to reduce the projected area, the entire cleaning device can be made more compact.

According to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention has a structure which can be further developed. Therefore, the cleaning apparatus can be provided in any manufacturing process requiring cleaning. Can be.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of a cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the following description, a semiconductor wafer that has been polished by a polishing apparatus as an object to be cleaned will be described as an example. FIG. 1 is a conceptual plan view showing a configuration of a cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional perspective view taken along line AA of the cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual plan view showing an extension device of the cleaning device shown in FIG.

In the drawings, reference numeral 1 indicates a cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The cleaning apparatus 1 includes a transfer robot 10 disposed at a central portion thereof for holding and transferring a semiconductor wafer as an object to be cleaned. In order, the cleaning object carrying device 20, the hand cleaning device 30, and the cleaning object cleaning device 4
0, a cleaning-substance cleaning / drying device 50, and a cleaning-substance carrying-out device 60 are arranged in a so-called cluster structure. These devices are housed in rectangular parallelepiped casings 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, respectively.
On the inner walls 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A facing each other, a first hand 14, a second hand 15 and a semiconductor wafer of the transfer robot 10 are placed at a height position beside the transfer robot 10 described later. Openings large enough to enter and exit are provided, and each opening is provided with gates 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, and 6B that move up and down. When each opening is opened, each gate 4B, 5B is lowered.

The transfer robot 10 includes a robot body 1
A first arm 12 having a base fixed in a horizontal state to a rotating shaft vertically protruding at the center of the upper surface of the first arm 1;
A second arm 13 whose base is rotatably supported in a horizontal state at a distal end of the second arm 13, and a first hand 14 which is vertically and rotatably supported by the distal end of the second arm 13 And also a first arm (not shown) and its first arm
A second arm (not shown) having a base rotatably supported in a horizontal state at a tip end of the first hand 14 and the first hand 14
And a second hand 15 rotatably supported at the tip of the second arm so as to be vertically and rotatable. The first hand 14 and the second hand 15 Simultaneously rotate, move up and down, and expand and contract independently of each other.
Both are arranged so as to have a reduced projection area.

The object-to-be-cleaned loading apparatus 20 has a loading port 21 for loading a wet semiconductor wafer requiring cleaning.
And a carry-out port 22 for carrying out the semiconductor wafer, and a placing device 23 for placing the semiconductor wafer. Although not shown, a rinsing nozzle that pours pure water so that the incoming wet semiconductor wafer does not dry, a semiconductor wafer guide section, and a sensor section are also provided.
The carry-out port 22 corresponds to the opening.

The hand cleaning device 30 is provided on a side of the cleaning object carrying-in device 20 and includes a rinse nozzle (not shown) for discharging pure water. While cleaning a wet semiconductor wafer with the cleaning / cleaning / drying apparatus 50, a first semiconductor wafer that enters the inside through the opening and holds and transfers the semiconductor wafer in the course of cleaning is provided.
The hand 14 is cleaned by discharging pure water from a rinse nozzle. Although not shown, a supply pipe for supplying pure water for cleaning is of course provided.

The cleaning object cleaning device 40 is a first tank for cleaning a chemical solution, and is disposed on a side of the hand cleaning device 30 different from the cleaning object loading device 20 side. It is for cleaning a wet semiconductor wafer carried into the apparatus 20, and includes a mounting device 41 for mounting the wet semiconductor wafer in a horizontal state, and a semiconductor wafer mounted on the mounting device 41 from above and below. The semiconductor device includes a roll brush 42 that is pinched and rotated, and a roller 43 that contacts the semiconductor wafer from the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer and rotates the semiconductor wafer in a plane. Although not shown, a supply pipe for supplying the cleaning chemical solution and the pure water for cleaning and a drain pipe for draining are also piped to the apparatus 40 for cleaning the object to be cleaned. In addition, there is provided the opening and a gate 4B for opening and closing the opening.

The object-to-be-cleaned / drying device 50 is a second tank for cleaning a chemical solution, and is disposed on a side of the device-to-be-cleaned 40 that is different from the side of the hand cleaning device 30. A spin table 52 for cleaning and drying the wet semiconductor wafer cleaned by the cleaning device 40, for mounting and holding the wet semiconductor wafer, and rotatingly driven by a motor 51 (FIG. 2); A spin cup 54 connected to the gate 5B by a gate link 53 and surrounding the upper part from the outer periphery of the spin table 52 and rising and falling according to opening and closing of the gate 5B;
And a brush (not shown) attached to a swing arm provided beside the box 2 and a brush (not shown) provided above the casing 5 to generate downflow air in the casing 5 and perform cleaning during cleaning. A blower 55 (FIG. 2) with a built-in filter for holding down the generated mist downward, a drainage pipe 56 (FIG. 2) for the cleaning chemical and cleaning pure water, and exhausting the downflow air generated by the blower 55 And a plurality of exhaust pipes 57 (FIG. 2). Although not shown, a supply pipe for supplying the cleaning chemical solution and the cleaning pure water is also provided in the cleaning / drying apparatus 50 for cleaning the object to be cleaned.

The object-to-be-cleaned carry-out device 60 is disposed on a side of the object-to-be-cleaned cleaning / drying device 50 which is different from the side of the object-to-be-cleaned cleaning device 40, and in the illustrated embodiment, the object-to-be-cleaned carried in / out is carried out. A loading port 61 disposed adjacent to the device 20 and capable of loading a dry semiconductor wafer dried by the cleaning / drying device 50 for cleaning an object;
It comprises a carry-out port 62 from which the dry semiconductor wafer can be carried out, and a placing device 63 capable of placing the dry semiconductor wafer. Although not shown, a semiconductor wafer guide unit and a sensor unit are also provided.

Next, the operation of the cleaning apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described. For example, a semiconductor wafer which is polished by a polishing apparatus and is in a wet state so that the attached slurry or the like is not dried is transferred from the entrance 21 of the apparatus 20 for carrying in the cleaning object to the placing apparatus 23,
The first hand 14 on the lower side of the transfer robot 10 is
2, holding the transferred wet semiconductor wafer, pulling it out of its carry-out port 22, and rotating clockwise;
Inner wall 4 of cleaning device 40 for cleaning object with gate 4B open
A is transferred from the opening of A to the mounting device 41 therein.
When the transfer of the wet semiconductor wafer is completed, the first
The hand 14 is retracted, the gate 4B is closed, the roll brush 42 is sandwiched from above and below, and the first stage cleaning is performed with the cleaning chemical and pure water while rotating with the plurality of rollers 43.

During this cleaning, although not shown, a downflow air is generated in the housing 4 from a blower disposed above the housing 4, and the mist generated during the cleaning is pressed down. The down-flow air from the blower is exhausted from a plurality of exhaust pipes (not shown), and the cleaning chemical solution and the cleaning pure water are drained from a drain pipe (not shown).

During the cleaning of the wet semiconductor wafer, the first hand 14 retracted from the gate 4B of the cleaning object cleaning device 40 rotates counterclockwise to
Enters the inside through the opening of the inner wall 3A, and cleans the contaminated first hand 14 with pure water while holding the wet semiconductor wafer.
4 returns to the original position of the transfer robot 10 from the opening of the inner wall 3A.

When the first stage cleaning of the wet semiconductor wafer is completed by the cleaning object cleaning apparatus 40, the gate 4B
Is opened, and the first hand 14 again operates the object-to-be-cleaned cleaning device 4.
The first hand 14 retracts from the gate 4B to the robot main body 11 side and holds the cleaned wet semiconductor wafer, and rotates clockwise to clean and dry the object to be cleaned 50. The gate 5B of the inner wall 5A goes down,
After entering the inside through the opened opening, it is transferred to the spin table 52. Spin cup 5 in conjunction with lowering of gate 5B
4 also moves down to a state where the transferred wet semiconductor wafer can be transferred to the spin table 52.

When the transfer of the wet semiconductor wafer is completed, the first hand 14 retreats, rotates counterclockwise in substantially the same operation as described above, and is cleaned in the hand cleaning device 30. Thereafter, after passing through the original position of the transfer robot 10, the next wet semiconductor wafer is taken to the object-to-be-cleaned loading device 20 in the same manner as described above, and is held there. After the transfer,
Return to the original position.

When the first hand 14 retreats from the object cleaning / drying apparatus 50, the gate 5B closes and the spin cup 54 rises to surround the wet semiconductor wafer.
The spin table 52 starts rotating, and the second-stage cleaning is started with the cleaning chemical and pure water while rotating the wet semiconductor wafer. During the cleaning, air of a downflow is generated from the blower 55 into the housing 5, and the mist generated during the cleaning is pressed down. Downflow air from the blower 55 is exhausted from a plurality of exhaust pipes 57. Then, the cleaning chemical solution and the cleaning pure water are drained from the drain pipe 56. When the cleaning is completed, the motor 51 starts rotating at a high speed, the spin table 52 is rotated at a high speed, and the wet semiconductor wafer is dried by the pure water after the cleaning.

When the wet semiconductor wafer is completely dried, the spin table 52 stops rotating, and the gate 5B and the spin cup 54 are lowered. Second of transfer robot 10
The hand 15 enters the cleaning / drying apparatus 50 for cleaning and holding the dried semiconductor wafer from the spin table 52, retreats, and rotates clockwise to open the inner wall 6A of the apparatus 60 for transporting the cleaning object. It is transferred from the entrance 61 of the opened opening to the mounting device 63 in the inside. During this time, the gate 5B rises and closes the opening. The dry semiconductor wafer transferred to the mounting device 63 is transported from the carry-out port 62 to the next process step.

When the transfer and transfer of the dry semiconductor wafer to the object to be cleaned carry-out device 60 are completed, the second hand 15 retreats and returns to the original position so that the next dry semiconductor wafer can be held. To wait.

By repeating the operation of each unit as described above, the cleaning apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention sequentially cleans the wet semiconductor wafers to be loaded into the apparatus 20 for carrying in an object to be cleaned, and cleans and dries. Semiconductor wafer can be sent to the next process.

By utilizing the features of the cluster structure of the cleaning apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
0, for example, an etching device is connected, and another process device 80 different from the other process device 70 is provided at the outlet 62 side of the device 60 for unloading the object to be cleaned.
For example, a film forming apparatus can be connected, and its loading port 2
A semiconductor wafer in a wet state, which has been etched to 1, is loaded, and a dry semiconductor wafer washed and dried from the carry-out port 62 side can be obtained.

As described above, the cleaning device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is a semiconductor wafer which is polished or etched by a polishing device, an etching device, or the like, and is in a wet state with a slurry or the like attached thereto. Although it can be used for cleaning such an object to be cleaned, it can also be used as an evaluation device for a chemical solution to be used. That is, the amount of the chemical solution used for cleaning and the amount of pure water used for the subsequent rinsing are not negligible as running costs for manufacturing the semiconductor device.
For this reason, there is a case where it is desired to test whether a certain chemical solution can be used to reduce the amount of the chemical solution that has been used for cleaning an object to be cleaned. In addition, the fact that the amount of use of the conventional chemical solution can be reduced leads to a reduction in the amount of pure water used thereafter.
In this way, the present cleaning apparatus having a cleaning tank called a roll brush and a spinner can be used as a chemical liquid evaluation machine, and is optimal.

When the cleaning apparatus is used as a chemical liquid evaluation device, the loading port 2 of the cleaning object loading apparatus 20 is used.
The worker transfers the wet object to be loaded into the device 1 to the mounting device 23 using tweezers, and the dry object transferred to the mounting device 63 of the cleaning object unloading device 60. The cleaning object may be taken out from the outlet 62 with vacuum tweezers. However, in a case where the apparatus is installed on a production line, an automatic transfer device is used, and the object to be cleaned 2
0, a wet object to be cleaned is automatically loaded into the loading port 21 under a certain program control, and another process apparatus 70 such as an etching apparatus as described above, for example, an etching apparatus is connected thereto. The cleaning target that has been washed and dried to be cleaned may be discharged from the discharge port 62 of the discharge device 60.

In the above description, a semiconductor wafer is taken as an object to be cleaned. However, the present invention is not limited to a semiconductor wafer, but is used for cleaning a substrate of a liquid crystal display element and a substrate of an information recording medium. Note that it can be widely used.

[0034]

As is clear from the above description, in the cleaning apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, one transfer device for the object to be cleaned is provided at the center, and a plurality of devices are provided around the device. Since it adopts a cluster structure in which loading, transferring, and unloading are performed between the cleaning devices of one unit, 1. 1. The entire device can be downsized. 2. It is possible to easily determine conditions such as a chemical solution for cleaning and its amount and a pure water amount for rinsing. Numerous excellent effects can be obtained, such as easy installation in process steps that require cleaning.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual plan view illustrating a configuration of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 1 taken along line AA.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual plan view showing an expansion device of the cleaning device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
... Housings, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A ... Inner walls, 2B,
3B, 4B, 5B, 6B gate, 10 transport robot, 11 robot body, 12 first arm, 13
Second arm, 14... First hand, 15... Second hand, 20... Object to be cleaned, 21... Carry-in port, 22... Carry-out port, 23. …
Cleaning object cleaning device, 41: mounting device, 42: roll brush, 43: roller, 50: cleaning object cleaning / drying device, 51
... Motor, 52 ... Spin table, 53 ... Gate link, 54 ... Spin cup, 55 ... Blower, 56 ... Drain pipe, 57 ... Exhaust pipe, 60 ... Unloading device for cleaning object, 61 ... Transport entrance, 62 ... Transport exit, 63 ... Placement device

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toru Takamiya 6-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony F-term (reference) 5F031 CC12 KK02 LL05

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning apparatus for carrying in a wet object to be cleaned, washing and drying with a chemical solution and the like, and carrying out the washed and dried object to be cleaned. A transfer robot having a first hand and a second hand for holding a dry object to be cleaned, and a wet object to be cleaned which is disposed around the transfer robot and which needs to be cleaned. A cleaning object carry-in device having a carry-in entrance capable of carrying in, a carry-out exit capable of carrying out the object to be cleaned, and a mounting device capable of mounting the object to be cleaned; and A hand cleaning device for cleaning the hand, a wet cleaning object that is disposed on a side different from the cleaning object carry-in device side of the hand cleaning device and is carried into the cleaning object carry-in device; Cleaning equipment for cleaning objects to be cleaned An object-to-be-cleaned / drying device disposed on a side different from the hand cleaning device side of the object-to-be-cleaned to clean and dry a wet object to be cleaned which has been washed by the object-to-be-cleaned. Loading, which is disposed on a side different from the cleaning object cleaning device side of the cleaning object cleaning and drying device and can carry in a dry cleaning object dried by the cleaning object cleaning and drying device. Washing and drying characterized by comprising a mouth, an outlet for unloading the object to be cleaned, and a device for unloading the object to be cleaned having a mounting device on which the object to be cleaned can be mounted. apparatus. 2. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a down-flow gas flows in the cleaning object cleaning apparatus and the cleaning object cleaning and drying apparatus. 3. The transfer robot according to claim 1, wherein the first hand of the transfer robot is disposed below the second hand so as to have a reduced projection area. Cleaning equipment. 4. Another process device on the carry-in side of the object-to-be-cleaned, and another process device different from the other process device on the carry-out side of the object-to-be-cleaned. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning device can be connected.