JP2000114224A - Substrate-cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a substrate-cleaning apparatus which reduces the possibility that a wafer is contaminated with dust particles generated from a drive part or the like or with contaminants stuck to a wafer carrier, by a method wherein while the wafer is being cleaned and treated in a treatment tank, the wafer carrier is cleaned and dried with a cleaning part which is installed in its conveyance passage. SOLUTION: Wafers are conveyed sequentially by a conveyance mechanisms 8 from a loader part 5, and they are immersed in treatment baths 7b to 7i. While their cleaning treatment is being executed, a wafer carrier 9 which is left in the loader part 5 is lifted up and is conveyed by a carrier conveyance mechanism 10. Halfway in its conveyance, the wafer carrier 9 is cleaned and dried by a cleaning part which is installed halfway of the conveyance mechanism 10. Then, in an unloader 6, the wafers whose cleaning treatment is finished are housed inside the cleaned and dried wafer carrier 9. Consequently, dust particles or contaminants will not adhere on it from the wafer carrier 9 to the wafers whose cleaning treatment is finished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a substrate cleaning apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
No. 53340, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-116736, etc., conventionally, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, as a cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer,
For example, an apparatus in which a plurality of processing tanks are arranged, and a semiconductor wafer or the like is sequentially immersed in these processing tanks for cleaning is widely used.

[0003] In general, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a semiconductor wafer is carried and carried in a substrate carrying jig called a wafer carrier or the like. This wafer carrier is made of resin or the like, and is configured to be able to accommodate about 25 semiconductor wafers. For this reason, in a conventional cleaning apparatus, there is a type in which a wafer carrier is immersed in a processing tank, or a type in which a semiconductor wafer is taken out from a wafer carrier and only the semiconductor wafer is immersed in the processing tank. Further, in the case of the cleaning apparatus in which only the semiconductor wafer is immersed in the processing tank, the cleaning apparatus is provided with a transport mechanism for transporting the empty wafer carrier, and the semiconductor wafer after the cleaning process is stored in the original wafer carrier. Some cleaning devices are configured as such.

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional cleaning apparatus, the semiconductor wafer having undergone the cleaning process is accommodated in the original wafer carrier. Therefore, when the wafer carrier is contaminated, the cleaning process is performed. There has been a problem that dust and contaminants adhering to the wafer carrier may adhere to the completed semiconductor wafer, and the semiconductor wafer may be contaminated. Another problem is that dust generated from a mechanical driving unit such as a wafer carrier transport mechanism that transports a wafer carrier may directly or indirectly adhere to the semiconductor wafer and contaminate the semiconductor wafer. there were. Further, there is a problem that the size of the apparatus is increased and the occupied area in the clean room tends to increase.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional situation, and dust generated from a driving unit of the apparatus and dust and contaminants adhering to a substrate transport jig such as a wafer carrier are removed. The possibility of adhering to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer and contaminating the substrate can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional case,
An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate cleaning apparatus capable of performing a good cleaning process and reducing an occupied area of the apparatus.

[0006]

That is, the invention of claim 1 provides an input buffer mechanism for carrying a transport carrier containing a plurality of unprocessed substrates into an apparatus, and an input buffer mechanism for transferring the unprocessed substrates to the plurality of unprocessed substrates. A plurality of processing tanks for performing predetermined substrate processing, a substrate supporting means for supporting each unprocessed substrate between the plurality of processing tanks, and each unprocessed substrate supported by the substrate supporting means, between the processing tanks. A transport mechanism for transporting, the loader unit for transferring the unprocessed substrate from the transported carrier into the substrate support unit, and each processed substrate after the substrate processing in the processing tank is completed, from the substrate support unit. An unloader section for transferring to an empty transport carrier, an output buffer mechanism for transporting the transport carrier containing the processed substrates out of the apparatus, and at least a transport in the apparatus. In a substrate processing apparatus including a carrier transporting unit that transports a carrier, and a carrier accommodating mechanism that waits for at least a transport carrier in the apparatus, the loader unit, the plurality of processing tanks, and An unloader section and the output buffer mechanism are arranged, and the carrier accommodating mechanism is constituted by a plurality of stages of carrier mounting sections respectively provided in the input buffer mechanism and the output buffer mechanism, and The means includes a carrier transport mechanism provided from the upper portion of the loader section to the upper portion of the unloader section through the upper portion of the transport mechanism, and transports a transport carrier from the loader section to the carrier transport mechanism. A first carrier lifter to
It is characterized by comprising a second carrier lifter that transports a transport carrier from the carrier transport mechanism to the unloader section.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input buffer mechanism for carrying a transport carrier accommodating a plurality of unprocessed substrates into the apparatus, and performing a predetermined substrate processing on the plurality of unprocessed substrates. A plurality of processing tanks, a substrate supporting means for supporting each unprocessed substrate between the plurality of processing tanks, and a transfer mechanism for transferring each unprocessed substrate supported by the substrate supporting means between the processing tanks, A loader section for transferring the unprocessed substrate from the loaded carrier for transfer to the substrate supporting means, and transferring each processed substrate after the substrate processing in the processing tank to the empty transport carrier from the substrate supporting means; An unloader section for transferring, an output buffer mechanism for unloading the transport carrier containing the processed substrates out of the apparatus, and transporting at least the transport carrier in the apparatus. And a carrier accommodating mechanism for holding at least a carrier for transport in the apparatus.In the substrate processing apparatus, the loader unit, the plurality of processing tanks, and the unloader unit are arranged in order from the input buffer mechanism. The output buffer mechanism is arranged, and the input buffer mechanism is provided with a carrier mounting portion for transferring a carrier for transport to and from the outside of the apparatus, and the carrier provided with a shelf-shaped mounting portion for a plurality of stages of carriers. A storage mechanism, and a carrier transport arm configured to transport the carrier between the carrier mounting unit and the carrier storage mechanism or the loader unit; and the output buffer mechanism is configured to transfer a carrier for transport to / from the outside of the apparatus. The carrier accommodating mechanism provided with a carrier mounting portion and a shelf-shaped mounting portion for a plurality of carriers. A carrier carrying arm configured to carry a carrier between the carrier mounting section and the carrier accommodating mechanism or the loader section, wherein the carrier carrying means passes through an upper part of the carrying mechanism from an upper part of the loader part, A carrier transport mechanism provided to reach an upper portion of an unloader section, a first carrier lifter that transports a transport carrier from the loader section to the carrier transport mechanism, and a carrier transport mechanism from the carrier transport mechanism to the unloader section. It is characterized by comprising a second carrier lifter for transporting a transport carrier.

[0008] The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the above-described substrate cleaning apparatus, the carrier transport mechanism is configured to transport the carrier in a transport path formed in a cylindrical shape.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the substrate cleaning apparatus of the third aspect, the inside of the cylindrical transport path is evacuated. In the substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention having the above-described configuration, a good cleaning process can be performed without increasing the installation area.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning apparatus 1 includes a cleaning apparatus main body 2 and an input buffer mechanism 3 and an output buffer mechanism 4 provided at both ends of the cleaning apparatus main body 2.

A loader section 5 and an unloader section 6 are provided at both ends of the cleaning apparatus main body 2, and a plurality of processing tanks 7 made of, for example, quartz are arranged in a line between them. ing. In this embodiment, the processing tank 7
Nine (7a to 7i) are provided in order from the loader unit 5 side, for example, a processing tank 7 for cleaning and drying a wafer chuck.
a, a treatment tank for chemical solution 7b, a treatment tank for washing 7c, a treatment tank for washing 7d, a treatment tank for chemical solution 7e, a treatment tank for washing 7f, a treatment tank for washing 7g, a treatment tank for washing and drying a wafer chuck 7h,
The wafer drying treatment tank 7i and the like are provided.

A transfer mechanism 8 for holding a plurality of, for example, 50 semiconductor wafers by a wafer chuck and transferring the semiconductor wafers vertically and horizontally is provided beside the processing tank 7. . In this embodiment, three transfer mechanisms 8 are provided, and by limiting the transfer range, care is taken to prevent the chemical in the chemical processing tank 7b from entering the chemical processing tank 7e, for example. ing.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the transport mechanism 8. The transport mechanism 8 is configured to be capable of holding a plurality of (50 in this embodiment) semiconductor wafers by a wafer chuck 50 made of a material such as quartz or PEEK. The wafer chuck 50 has a chuck base 52 configured to be movable in the X and Z directions as shown by arrows in FIG.
It is provided in. As shown in FIG. 3, the chuck base 52 is formed by meshing a pinion 501 provided on a drive shaft of an X-axis drive motor 500 with a rack 502 provided on the transport base 51. By X
Driven in the axial direction. Therefore, by connecting the rack 502 to a desired length, the rack 502 can be configured to be movable within a desired range.
The structure is compatible.

As shown in FIG. 2, the wafer chuck 50 is configured to be drivable in a Y direction with respect to a chuck base 52 as indicated by an arrow in the drawing. This is for correcting the delivery position of the semiconductor wafer in accordance with the position of the quartz wafer boat 700 provided in each processing tank 7 as shown in FIG. That is, it is difficult to accurately arrange all the wafer boats 700 in the processing tanks 7 in a straight line at the same distance with respect to the transfer base 51 of the transfer mechanism 8. Is corrected by driving the wafer chuck 50 in the Y direction. The drive amounts for such correction are obtained in advance for each processing tank 7 by initial adjustment, and these drive amounts are input to a memory of a drive control device (not shown). In order to more reliably perform such position correction, for example, a reflection mirror is provided on a wafer boat 700 provided in each processing tank 7, and a light emitting element and a light receiving element are provided on the wafer chuck 50 side. May be reflected by the reflecting mirror of the wafer boat 700 and incident on the light receiving element to check the position. The wafer boat 700 of each processing tank 7 is supported at both ends by a position adjusting mechanism 701 provided above the processing tank 7, and includes three height adjusting bolts 702 and a fixed position adjusting structure. The position and the like in each rotation direction can be finely adjusted by the bolt 703. Thus, the wafer boat 7
Since the position of 00 can be adjusted from the outside of the processing tank 7, the position can be easily adjusted, and there is no need to put a hand in the processing tank 7 for position adjustment.
Can be reduced in size.

As shown in FIG. 2, a Teflon sheet sealing belt 53, Z
A bellows seal 54 is provided on the drive shaft portion in the direction, and a bellows seal 55 is provided on the Y drive shaft portion of the chuck base 52. In addition, an exhaust mechanism (not shown) is connected to each part, so that dust generated in the mechanical drive unit is not leaked to the outside. As shown in FIG. 5, the Teflon sheet seal belt 53 provided on the X drive shaft portion surrounds the X axis drive motor 500 by rollers 510 provided around the X axis drive motor 500 of the transport base 51. The seal belt 53 does not move, and is configured to correspond to the movement of the transport base 51.

FIG. 6 shows a configuration of a driving portion of the wafer chuck 50. The wafer chuck 50 is provided with a Y-axis driving motor 56, and the Y-axis driving motor 5
The ball screw 57 is connected to the drive shaft 6. The ball screw 57 is connected to the chuck base 52
Side, is screwed into a ball nut 58 provided on the
By rotating the shaft drive motor 56, the wafer chuck 50 moves in the Y-axis direction together with the Y drive motor 56.

Further, the wafer chuck 50 is provided with an F-axis drive motor 59 for opening and closing the wafer chuck 50 for gripping and releasing operations of the semiconductor wafer. The F-axis drive motor 59 is configured to rotate the upper ends of the left and right wafer chucks 50 as shown by arrows in the figure by an eccentric cam (not shown) to open and close the lower ends of the wafer chucks 50. As shown in FIG. 7, a coil spring 60 for a safety mechanism is provided at an end of such an F-axis driving mechanism, and the coil spring 60 urges the wafer chuck 50 in the closing direction. It is configured. Thereby, for example, the wafer chuck 50
In the case where a power failure or the like occurs while the semiconductor wafer is being gripped and transported, the wafer chuck 50 can be prevented from opening and the semiconductor wafer can be prevented from dropping, and reliability can be improved.

FIG. 8 shows the opening and closing operation of the wafer chuck 50 having the above configuration. As shown in the figure,
In the wafer chuck 50 of the present embodiment, the two shafts on the upper end are rotated by the F-axis drive motor 59 shown in FIG. 6 to open and close the lower end, so that the side portions of the semiconductor wafer W are supported. The moving width B of the supporting portion 62 supporting the lower portion of the semiconductor wafer W is larger than the moving width A of the supporting portion 61. Thereby, for example, these wafer chucks 5
As compared with the case where the semiconductor wafer W is slid in the horizontal direction, the side space required for the gripping and releasing operation of the semiconductor wafer W can be narrowed, and the processing tank 7 for housing the semiconductor wafer W can be downsized. The installation area can be reduced by reducing the size of the entire apparatus, and the usage amount of chemicals and the like can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 1, a carrier for transferring an empty wafer carrier 9 from the upper portion of the loader portion 5 to the upper portion of the unloader portion 6 through the upper portion of each transfer mechanism 8. A transfer mechanism 10 is provided, and a loader unit 5 and an unloader unit 6 have a carrier lifter 1 for raising and lowering an empty wafer carrier 9.
1 (the unloader section 6 side is not shown).

As shown in FIG. 9, the carrier transport mechanism 10 is configured to execute transport within a transport path 100 formed in a cylindrical shape. A transport mechanism including a Teflon-coated wire 102, a cylindrical body 103 disposed around the periphery thereof for preventing dust from falling, and the like are provided. Note that an exhaust mechanism (not shown) is connected to the inside of the transport path 100 and the cylindrical body 103, and exhaust is performed from the inside so that dust is prevented from leaking to the outside.

A cleaning section 104 for cleaning the wafer carrier 9 is provided in the middle of the transfer path 100. The cleaning unit 104 includes a cleaning mechanism such as a pure water nozzle 105 and a drying gas (eg, nitrogen gas).
And a heating mechanism for drying, for example, an IR lamp 107, and a shutter 108 for preventing water droplets and the like from leaking to the outside. .

When the empty wafer carrier 9 is placed on the carrier table 109 and transported from the loader unit 5 to the unloader unit 6, first, pure water is applied to the wafer carrier 9 from the pure water nozzle 105 in a shower shape. After that, a gas for drying such as nitrogen gas or dry air is blown from the gas ejection nozzle 106, and then I 2
The wafer carrier 9 is dried by being heated by the R lamp 107.

The input buffer mechanism 3 and the output buffer mechanism 4 shown in FIG. 1 are buffer mechanisms for a pre-process and a post-process of the cleaning process.
As shown in FIG. 3, the input buffer mechanism 3 and the output buffer mechanism 4 each include a carrier transfer arm 12 for transferring a wafer carrier 9.
And a carrier accommodating mechanism 13 for temporarily accommodating the wafer carrier 9 and a carrier mounting portion 14 for transferring the wafer carrier 9 to / from the outside of the apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 11, the carrier accommodating mechanism 13 is provided with a plurality of (four in this embodiment) carrier mounting sections 200 in a shelf shape. In this configuration, two wafer carriers 9 can be placed on each of them. An opening 201 is formed in these carrier mounting sections 200,
The structure is such that the cleaning air easily flows from the upper part to the lower part.

Further, these carrier mounting sections 200
For example, it is supported by a drive device 202 having a built-in drive mechanism including a ball screw and a motor, and is configured to be vertically movable. The driving device 202 moves the carrier mounting portion 200 up and down at a relatively low speed, for example, at a speed of 5 mm / s to 70 mm / s. This is because, when the carrier mounting portion 200 is moved up and down at a too high speed, the airflow in the surroundings is disturbed, dust and the like rise, and the wafer carrier 9 is moved.
This is because there is a possibility that the dust and the like may adhere to the semiconductor wafer in the inside. The drive device 202 is surrounded by a cylindrical cover 203, which is configured to exhaust air from below the cover 203 and prevent dust from leaking from inside the cover 203 to the outside.

Further, the carrier mounting portion 200 and the driving device 202 are provided in a case 204 formed in a box shape.
A filter accommodating portion 205 accommodating a filter (for example, an ULPA filter) for removing dust and a drive motor (not shown) are provided in an upper portion of the case 204.
Is provided. On the other hand, an exhaust pipe 207 connected to an exhaust mechanism (not shown) is connected to a lower portion of the case 204. And fan 2
06, air is introduced from the outside and the filter housing 2
The filter 204 is configured so as to be cleaned by the filter inside, to flow from the upper part to the lower part of the case 204, and to be exhausted from the exhaust pipe 207, thereby forming a downflow of the purified air inside the case 204.

Further, the case 204 is provided with an opening 208 for loading and unloading the wafer carrier 9. The opening 208 is set at the same height as the carrier mounting portion 14, and when the wafer carrier 9 is transferred by the carrier transfer arm 12 between them,
It is configured such that the transfer can be performed with almost no vertical movement of the carrier transfer arm 12.

The carrier transfer arm 12 is configured so that two wafer carriers 9 can be simultaneously held by a holding portion 300 made of a material such as a resin such as PEEK or PVC provided at the tip. This grip 300
As shown by arrows in the figure, a gripper base 302 having three axes in the horizontal direction including rotation and one axis in the vertical direction is provided with respect to the base 301 installed on the floor. The wafer carrier 9 can be transported along.

Each drive shaft has a Teflon sheet seal belt 303 on the drive shaft with respect to the base 301 and a bellows seal 304 on the vertical drive shaft so as to isolate the mechanical drive. A bellows seal 305 is provided on the drive shaft of the unit base 302. In addition, an exhaust mechanism (not shown) is connected to each part, so that dust generated in the mechanical drive unit is not leaked to the outside.

Normally, the wafer carrier 9 is configured to be capable of accommodating 25 semiconductor wafers. However, in the cleaning apparatus of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, each transport mechanism 8 has 50 wafers at a time (for two wafer carriers). The semiconductor wafer is transported, and the cleaning process is performed as follows.

That is, when one or two wafer carriers 9 accommodating semiconductor wafers to be subjected to the cleaning process are mounted on the carrier mounting portion 14 of the input buffer mechanism 3,
In the input buffer mechanism 3, the semiconductor wafer in the wafer carrier 9 is loaded into the loader unit 5 when the cleaning processing is performed immediately.
The wafer carrier 9 is transported to 3.

At this time, the carrier accommodating mechanism 13
The carrier mounting section 200 on which the wafer carrier 9 is not mounted is previously positioned at the opening 208 having the same height as the carrier mounting section 14 and is on standby. 9 is transported horizontally, and the desired carrier placing portion 20 of the carrier accommodating mechanism 13 is moved.
0 can accommodate the wafer carrier 9. Further, as described above, the carrier mounting section 200 is moved up and down at a low speed. Therefore, for example, the carrier transfer arm 12
As compared with the case of moving up and down, since the surrounding airflow is not disturbed and the mechanical drive unit is not operated at a high place, the possibility that dust is scattered and attached to the semiconductor wafer is reduced. be able to.

Next, once the wafer carrier 9 is accommodated in the carrier accommodating mechanism 13, the carrier transport arm 1
2, the wafer carrier 9 is loaded from here into the loader unit 5
Transport to

Then, in the loader section 5, the positions of the semiconductor wafers in the wafer carrier 9 placed thereon are aligned such that the orientation flat of the semiconductor wafers is aligned with, for example, the lower side or the upper side. Is pushed up from below and delivered to the transport mechanism 8. At this time, the wafer chuck 50 of the transfer mechanism 8 is
Are previously washed and dried by the washing and drying treatment tank 7a.

Thereafter, these semiconductor wafers are sequentially transferred by the three transfer mechanisms 8, and are sequentially processed in the chemical processing tank 7.
b, rinsing in the rinsing treatment tank 7c, the rinsing treatment tank 7d, the chemical treatment tank 7e, the rinsing treatment tank 7f, the rinsing treatment tank 7g, and the wafer drying treatment tank 7i; The cleaning treatment is performed in the order of treatment-chemical treatment-water washing treatment-water washing treatment-drying treatment.

During this time, the wafer carrier 9 left in the loader section 5 is lifted by the carrier lifter 11 and transported by the carrier transport mechanism 10. Then, during the transfer, the wafer carrier 9 is cleaned and dried by the cleaning unit 104 provided in the transfer path 100 of the carrier transfer mechanism 10 as described above.

Then, in the unloader section 6, the semiconductor wafer that has been cleaned and dried and is subjected to the cleaning processing is accommodated in the wafer carrier 9. Therefore, dust and contaminants do not adhere from the wafer carrier 9 to the semiconductor wafer after the cleaning process.

Thereafter, in the output buffer mechanism 4, the wafer carrier 9 accommodating the semiconductor wafer having been subjected to the cleaning process is transported by the carrier transport arm 12 to the carrier mounting portion 14 or the carrier accommodating mechanism 13, and the subsequent post-processing is performed. Send to The output buffer mechanism 4
Also, since the configuration is the same as that of the input buffer mechanism 3 described above, the possibility that dust or the like adheres to the semiconductor wafer after cleaning is very low, and the semiconductor wafer can be sent to a subsequent process in a good state. .

As described above, in the cleaning apparatus of this embodiment,
Dust generated from the drive unit of the apparatus and the wafer carrier 9
Dust and contaminants adhered to the semiconductor wafer,
The possibility that the semiconductor wafer is contaminated can be greatly reduced as compared with the related art, and good cleaning processing can be performed.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, an example was described in which the transport mechanism 8 in which the movable portion of the Z-axis was covered with the bellows seal 54 was used. However, the transport mechanism shown in FIG. 800 can also be used. The transport mechanism 800 supports the chuck base 52 with two pipe-like members 801 having a double pipe structure in which, for example, the surface of an iron pipe is covered with a resin pipe.
The Z-axis drive mechanism housing portion 803 that accommodates the Z-axis drive mechanism 802 using a servomotor that moves up and down the pipe 2 is provided with a seal packing so as to make slight contact with the pipe-shaped members 801. 804 are provided. Even with such a transport mechanism 800, without using the bellows seal 54, dust generated from the Z-axis drive mechanism 802 or the like can be prevented from scattering to the outside and chemical liquid can be prevented from entering the Z-axis drive mechanism 802. Can be.

[0042]

As described above, according to the substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention, dust generated from the drive section of the apparatus, dust or contaminants adhering to a substrate transport jig such as a wafer carrier or the like. Is attached to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, and the possibility that the substrate is contaminated can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional case.
A good cleaning process can be performed, and the area occupied by the apparatus can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a transport mechanism of the cleaning device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a processing tank of the cleaning apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a main configuration of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining an opening and closing operation of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a carrier transport mechanism of the cleaning device of FIG. 1;

10 is a diagram showing a configuration of an input buffer mechanism and an output buffer mechanism of the cleaning device of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a carrier accommodating mechanism of the cleaning device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a transport mechanism according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cleaning apparatus 2 Cleaning apparatus main body 3 Input buffer mechanism 4 Output buffer mechanism 5 Loader part 6 Unloader part 7 Processing tank 8 Transport mechanism 9 Wafer carrier 10 Carrier transport mechanism 11 Carrier lifter 12 Carrier transport arm 13 Carrier accommodation mechanism 14 Carrier mounting Department

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H01L 21/68 H01L 21/68 A (72) Inventor Koki Kuroda 1375 41, Nishishinmachi, Tosu City, Saga Prefecture Tokyo Electronics (72) Inventor Eiichi Mukai 41, 1375 Nishishinmachi, Tosu City, Saga Prefecture Tokyo Electron Saga Corporation

Claims (4)

[Claims] An input buffer mechanism for carrying a transfer carrier containing a plurality of unprocessed substrates into the apparatus; a plurality of processing tanks for performing predetermined substrate processing on the plurality of unprocessed substrates; A substrate supporting means for supporting each of the unprocessed substrates among a plurality of processing tanks, a transport mechanism for transporting each of the unprocessed substrates supported by the substrate supporting means between the processing tanks, and loading the unprocessed substrates. A loader unit that transfers the processed substrates from the transport carrier to the substrate support unit; and an unloader unit that transfers each processed substrate that has been subjected to the substrate processing in the processing tank from the substrate support unit to an empty transport carrier. An output buffer mechanism for unloading the transport carrier containing each processed substrate out of the apparatus; and a carrier transport unit for transporting at least the transport carrier in the apparatus. A carrier accommodating mechanism for holding at least a carrier for transport in the apparatus, wherein the loader unit, the plurality of processing tanks, the unloader unit, and the output buffer mechanism are arranged in order from the input buffer mechanism. Wherein the carrier accommodating mechanism is composed of a plurality of stages of carrier mounting sections respectively provided in the input buffer mechanism and the output buffer mechanism, and the carrier transporting means is provided from above the loader section. A carrier transport mechanism provided so as to reach an upper portion of the unloader section through an upper portion of the transport mechanism; a first carrier lifter configured to transport a transport carrier from the loader section to the carrier transport mechanism; The carrier is transported from the carrier transport mechanism to the unloader section. Substrate cleaning apparatus characterized in that it is composed of two carrier lifter. 2. An input buffer mechanism for carrying a transport carrier containing a plurality of unprocessed substrates into the apparatus, a plurality of processing tanks for performing predetermined substrate processing on the plurality of unprocessed substrates, A substrate supporting means for supporting each of the unprocessed substrates among a plurality of processing tanks, a transport mechanism for transporting each of the unprocessed substrates supported by the substrate supporting means between the processing tanks, and loading the unprocessed substrates. A loader unit that transfers the processed substrates from the transport carrier to the substrate support unit; and an unloader unit that transfers each processed substrate that has been subjected to the substrate processing in the processing tank from the substrate support unit to an empty transport carrier. An output buffer mechanism for unloading the transport carrier containing each processed substrate out of the apparatus; and a carrier transport unit for transporting at least the transport carrier in the apparatus. A carrier accommodating mechanism for holding at least a carrier for transport in the apparatus, wherein the loader unit, the plurality of processing tanks, the unloader unit, and the output buffer mechanism are arranged in order from the input buffer mechanism. The input buffer mechanism, the carrier mounting portion for transferring the carrier for transport to and from the outside of the apparatus, the carrier accommodating mechanism provided with a shelf-shaped mounting portion of a plurality of stages of carriers, A carrier carrying arm configured to carry a carrier between the carrier placing section and the carrier accommodating mechanism or the loader section, wherein the output buffer mechanism includes a carrier placing section for transferring a carrier for transport with the outside of the apparatus. And a carrier accommodating mechanism provided with a shelf-like mounting portion for a plurality of carriers, and the carrier A carrier carrying arm for carrying a carrier between the mounting portion and the carrier accommodating mechanism or the loader portion, wherein the carrier carrying means passes from the upper portion of the loader portion to the upper portion of the carrying mechanism, and A carrier transport mechanism provided to reach an upper portion, a first carrier lifter that transports a transport carrier from the loader section to the carrier transport mechanism, and a transport carrier to the unloader section from the carrier transport mechanism. A substrate cleaning apparatus comprising a second carrier lifter for transporting. 3. The substrate cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carrier transport mechanism transports the carrier in a cylindrical transport path. 4. The substrate cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the inside of the cylindrical transport path is evacuated.