JP2000068349A - Manufacture of semiconductors - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a method of manufacturing semiconductors, in which a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus operates its boat efficiently by allowing the boat to handle two types of testing wafers at the same time and independently. SOLUTION: A wafer transfer unit transfers first and second test wafers TW1 and TW2 in wafer cassettes 11 and 12 to the specified slots in a boat 30 unloaded from a reaction furnace of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, respectively, as instructed by a controller. Or conversely, the unit returns the wafers TW1 and TW2 from the specified slots in the boat 30 unloaded from the reaction furnace to specified slots in the cassettes 11 and 12, respectively. In this case, the test wafers TW1 and TW2 each are handled independently of the other testing wafers and wafers other than testing wafers. Hence, the wafers TW1 and TW2 are subjected to treatments which are optimized for their testing purposes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing method, and more particularly to a semiconductor manufacturing method in which a wafer transfer machine transfers various kinds of wafers between a boat and a cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 11 is a view showing a conventional example of a semiconductor manufacturing method. The cassette stocker 70 stores a wafer cassette 71 storing test wafers TW in slots and wafer cassettes 72 to 74 storing other wafers in slots. The wafer transfer device 80
The wafers in the wafer cassettes 71 to 74 are transferred to the slots of the boat 90 unloaded from the reactor of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, or the wafers placed in the slots of the boat 90 are transferred to the slots of the wafer cassettes 71 to 74. Transfer. The types of wafers transferred to the boat include, for example, product wafers, dummy wafers, product refill dummy wafers, and test wafers. FIG. 12 shows an example in which the wafer transfer machine 80 transfers these various wafers to the boat and transfers the test wafers from the test wafer cassette 71 to slots at appropriate positions of the boat determined by the control program. It is shown. That is, one type of test wafer is arranged between the dummy wafer and the product wafer, between the product wafers, and the like.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional semiconductor manufacturing method, only one type of test wafer is transferred to the boat, but it is necessary to operate two types of test wafers simultaneously. May be. For example,
The first test wafer is collected in the original cassette for each lot for film formation evaluation, and is replaced with a new cassette for operation. The second test wafer is used for other purposes, for example, several lots for particle measurement. This is a case in which the cassette is collected after operation and replaced with a new cassette. In this case, in the conventional semiconductor manufacturing method, the request cannot be realized because only one type of test wafer is transferred to the boat.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has been made to improve the operation accuracy of test wafers so that two types of test wafers can be transferred to a boat of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and two types of test wafers can be simultaneously operated independently. It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor manufacturing method capable of achieving high efficiency.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor manufacturing method in which a wafer transfer machine transfers various kinds of wafers between a boat and a cassette. A control unit that causes the wafer transfer machine to independently execute the transfer of the wafer and the second test wafer to the other test wafer and the other wafers;

[0006] In an embodiment of the present invention,
The wafer transfer machine 20 includes the boat 30 and the cassettes 11, 1
In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 for transferring various wafers between the wafers 2, 13, and 14, a first test wafer TW1 stored in a wafer cassette 11 and a second test wafer TW2 stored in a wafer cassette 12. And a control unit 40 for causing the wafer transfer machine 20 to execute the transfer with the test wafer and the other wafers independently of each other. For example, first and second test wafers T
The slot number of the boat to which W1 and TW2 are to be transferred,
Further, the cassettes to be transferred from the boat to the wafer cassette after they are used in the reaction furnace and the slot numbers of the cassettes are predetermined in the control program of the control unit 40, and the first test wafer TW1 Is replaced with a new first test wafer TW1 every time the boat 30 is processed in the reaction furnace of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, while the second test wafer TW2 is replaced every several processings. As described above, based on the instruction of the control unit 40, the wafer transfer machine performs the first and second test wafers TW1, TW2
Are treated independently.

According to such a configuration, in the semiconductor manufacturing method in which the wafer transfer machine transfers various wafers between the boat and the cassette, the wafer transfer machine performs the first operation based on an instruction from the control unit. The test wafer and the second test wafer can be handled by completely different best handling methods according to the respective transfer purposes without being restricted by the handling of the other test wafer.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view for explaining an operation in which a wafer transfer machine transfers two types of test wafers in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1;
3 to 10 are diagrams for explaining the transfer operation other than the transfer operation of FIG. In FIG. 1, only components for explaining the present invention are shown, and other devices such as a reactor are not shown for clarity in the drawing.

In the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of first test wafers TW
1 is a wafer cassette 11 stored in each slot;
A wafer cassette 12 in which a plurality of second test wafers TW2 are stored in respective slots is stored. The cassette stocker 10 has a wafer cassette 1 containing wafers other than the first and second test wafers.
3 and 14 and other cassettes (not shown) are stored.

[0010] The wafer transfer device 20 is instructed by the boat 30 that has carried out the first and second test wafers TW1 and TW2 of the wafer cassettes 11 and 12 from the reaction furnace of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in accordance with the instruction of the control unit 40. Transferred to each slot. Alternatively, conversely, the first and second test wafers TW1 and TW2 are designated from the designated slots of the boat 30 carried out of the reaction furnace of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus by the designated wafer cassette (not necessarily the original wafer cassette). Return to slot. The slot numbers of the boats to which the first and second test wafers TW1 and TW2 are to be transferred, the cassettes to be transferred from the boat to the wafer cassette after they are used in the reactor, and the slot numbers of the cassettes. Is predetermined in the control program of the control unit 40.

According to the transfer shown in FIG. 2, the first test wafer TW1 from the wafer cassette 11 and the second test wafer TW2 from the wafer cassette 12 are placed on the plurality of dummy wafers at the bottom of the boat. , And a plurality of product replenishment dummy wafers are placed thereon. On the dummy wafer for product replenishment,
Test wafer TW2, a plurality of product wafers, a second test wafer TW2, a first test wafer TW1,
A plurality of product wafers, a second test wafer TW2, a plurality of product wafers, a second test wafer TW2, a first
The test wafer TW1 and the dummy wafer are placed in this order.

First and second test wafers TW1, TW
When the loading of various wafers on the boat 30 including the wafer 2 is completed as shown in FIG. 2, the boat 30 is placed in a reactor (not shown) of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus to perform predetermined processing. After the processing, the boat 30 is carried out of the reaction furnace, and the wafer transfer machine 20 transfers various wafers. In this case, the first test wafer TW1
For the purpose of film formation evaluation, for example, the first test wafer TW1 is exchanged by collecting the wafer cassette 11 in each lot and replacing the wafer cassette 11 with a new wafer cassette.

However, the second test wafer TW2 is
After the operation of several lots, it is replaced for particle measurement. As described above, the wafer transfer machine 20 includes the control unit 4
0, the test wafer TW1 of the wafer cassette 11 and the test wafer TW of the wafer cassette 12
And 2 are treated independently of each other. Note that, in this example, in the mapping regarding the transfer positions of the first and second test wafers TW1 and TW2 to the boat 30, when a situation in which both test wafers are to be transferred to the same slot occurs. Is the first test wafer TW1
Will be transferred with priority.

As described above, the second wafer is transferred to or recovered from the boat 30 by various methods independently of the handling of the first test wafer TW1. Such an example will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 10 (in this case, a method of handling the first test wafer TW1 is omitted for clarity of the drawings). In FIG. 3, the number of the second test wafers TW2 transferred to the boat 30 is five, and the total number of the product wafers is equally divided into four, and the product wafer divided between the upper and lower dummy wafers is The second test wafer TW2 is transferred one by one between the dummy wafer and the product wafer and between the product wafers. In FIG. 4, the second test wafer TW2 is placed in the designated slot (the 45th slot, the 6th slot) of the boat 30.
(0 slot, 90th slot).

In FIG. 5, product wafers PW1 and PW1 transferred from separate wafer cassettes are shown.
2, PW3 and PW4 are transferred to the boat 30. Among the product wafers PW1, PW2, PW3, and PW4, second test wafers TW2 are transferred one by one above and below a product wafer PW2 from a specific wafer cassette. In FIG. 6, the product wafers PW1, PW2, P
Second test wafers TW2 are transferred one by one above and below W3 and PW4. FIG. 7 shows that the second test wafer TW2 transferred to the boat 30 in FIG. 6 is returned to the original slot of the original wafer cassette. In FIG. 8, the second test wafer TW2 from the boat 30 is collected not in the original wafer cassette but in the collection cassette 50.

In FIG. 9, product wafers from four wafer cassettes 51, 52, 53,
0, between the dummy wafers arranged at the upper and lower ends of the wafer cassettes 51, 52, 5
One second test wafer TW2 is arranged below each of the product wafers corresponding to the product wafers 3 and 54. After the processing in the boat 30 is completed, each product wafer is placed in the original wafer cassette 51, 52, 53. , 54, the second test wafers TW2 arranged corresponding to them are placed in the respective wafer cassettes 5 one by one.
1, 52, 53 and 54 are shown.

In FIG. 10, the wafer cassette 12
2 shows a case where the second test wafer TW2 from FIG. In the first processing, four groups of product wafers are arranged between the dummy wafers in which the product wafers are arranged at the upper and lower ends of the boat 30, and one second test wafer TW2 is provided above and below each product wafer. The second test wafer TW <b> 2 is returned to the wafer cassette 12 after the arrangement and the processing in the boat 30 are performed. In the next process, a product refill dummy wafer is placed from the product refill dummy wafer cassette 60 at the same position where the second test wafer TW2 was placed in the first process, and the process in the boat 30 is performed. After the processing is completed, the product refill dummy wafer is returned to the original product refill dummy wafer cassette 60. Next, as in the first case, the second test wafer TW2 in the wafer cassette 12 is used, and the above-described processing is repeated.

[0018]

As described in detail above, the semiconductor manufacturing method according to the present invention is based on the instruction of the control unit when the wafer transfer machine transfers various wafers between the boat and the cassette. By independently performing the transfer of the first test wafer and the second test wafer to the other test wafer and other wafers,
The first test wafer and the second test wafer can be handled by completely different best handling methods for each transfer purpose without being restricted by the handling of the other. There is an effect that it can be executed with high efficiency and high accuracy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation of transferring two types of test wafers by a wafer transfer machine in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an operation of transferring a second test wafer by a wafer transfer machine in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining another example of the operation in which the wafer transfer machine transfers the second test wafer.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating another example of the operation of the wafer transfer device transferring the second test wafer.

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining another example of the operation in which the wafer transfer machine transfers the second test wafer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of the operation of the wafer transfer machine transferring the second test wafer.

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining another example of the operation in which the wafer transfer machine transfers the second test wafer.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining another example of the operation in which the wafer transfer machine transfers the second test wafer.

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining another example of the operation in which the wafer transfer machine transfers the second test wafer.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional example of a semiconductor manufacturing method.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an operation of transferring a test wafer by a wafer transfer machine in FIG. 11;

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Cassette stocker 11, 12, 13, 14, 51, 52, 53, 54
Wafer cassette 20 Wafer transfer machine 30 Boat 40 Control unit 50 Collection cassette 60 Product refill dummy wafer cassette TW1 First test wafer TW2 Second test wafer

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a semiconductor manufacturing method in which a wafer transfer machine transfers various wafers between a boat and a cassette, the transfer of a first test wafer and a second test wafer is performed by each of the other test wafers. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the wafer transfer device is independently executed for a test wafer and other wafers.