JP2001127135A - Vacuum treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sufficiently increase the treatment speed of a vacuum treatment apparatus so that replacement of treated substrates and untreated substrates does not become a rate-determining stage in the whole work. SOLUTION: There are provide a plurality of vacuum treatment chambers 2A, 2B,..., 2G positioned in the outer periphery of a vacuum conveyer chamber 3, a load-lock chamber 1 which is positioned in the outer periphery of the vacuum conveyer chamber 3 and has a vacuum-side opening 1a and atmosphere-side opening 1b and a substrate supply device 40 which conveys untreated substrates into the load-lock chamber 1 and conveys treated substrates out of the load-lock chamber 1. The substrate supply device 40 is provided with at least three supply valve bodies 41 which have a holding mechanism 42 for holding a substrate and can air-tightly close the atmosphere-side opening 1b, and a supply valve body drive device 43 for successively moving at least three supply valve bodies among a position P1 opposed to the atmosphere-side opening 1b, position P2 at which a treated substrate is removed and position P3 at which untreated substrate is received.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus having a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for performing a vacuum process such as a film forming process on a substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In various processes such as a semiconductor manufacturing process, a liquid crystal display panel manufacturing process, and an optical disc manufacturing process, a vacuum processing apparatus is used to perform a surface treatment of a substrate such as a silicon wafer. This vacuum processing apparatus performs a process such as sputtering, etching, baking, or ashing on a substrate disposed in a vacuum space to form a thin film on the surface of the substrate or to form a thin film on the surface of the substrate. This is an apparatus for performing fine processing.

[0003] As a vacuum processing apparatus, there has been proposed a vacuum processing apparatus having a plurality of processing chambers in a vacuum chamber and sequentially transferring the substrates to the plurality of processing chambers to perform surface treatment of the substrates.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a conventional vacuum processing apparatus having a plurality of processing chambers. Inside a housing 10 having a substantially octagonal planar shape, a vacuum transfer chamber 3 capable of evacuating the inside is provided. Is formed. On one side of the vacuum transfer chamber 3, a load lock chamber 1 for loading or unloading a substrate into or from the vacuum transfer chamber 3 is arranged and formed. On the remaining seven sides, seven vacuum processing chambers 2A and 2B are provided. ... 2G are formed at equal angular intervals. And, these vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2A
B. Inside the 2G, a vacuum process such as sputtering, etching, baking, or ashing is performed on the substrate.

On the side of the vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2B... 2G facing the vacuum transfer chamber 3, there are formed openings 2a of the same shape and the same size for inserting and removing substrates. On the side of the load lock chamber 1 facing the vacuum transfer chamber 3, a vacuum side opening 1a having the same shape and the same size as the opening 2a is formed. Each vacuum processing chamber 2 is connected to a turbo-molecular pump (not shown) so that the inside can be evacuated, and processing devices 14A, 14B... 14G for performing a predetermined vacuum processing are installed.

At the bottom of the vacuum transfer chamber 3, an annular rotary table 15 is rotatably arranged.
A gear 18 is formed on the outer periphery of the gear. This large gear 1
A driving small gear 19 meshes with 8.

On the upper surface of the rotary table 15, eight valve opening / closing mechanisms 25 are provided along the circumferential direction of the rotary table 15, and these valve opening / closing mechanisms 25 are provided in the load lock chamber 1 and the seven vacuum chambers. It is arranged so as to correspond to the processing chambers 2A, 2B... 2G. Each valve opening / closing mechanism 25 includes:
A processing valve body 26 capable of closing the respective openings 1a, 2a of the load lock chamber 1 and the vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2B... 2G is provided.

Each of the processing valve bodies 26 is provided with an opening 1a, 2a of the load lock chamber 1 and the vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2B.
a when the load lock chamber 1 and the vacuum processing chamber 2 are closed.
A, 2B... 2G have an inner surface 26a facing the inside thereof. Four disk holders 28, which are holding mechanisms for holding the substrate, are provided on the inner surface 26a in a rotatable (rotable) manner.

On the atmosphere side of the load lock chamber 1, a substrate supply device 29 for carrying a substrate into the load lock chamber 1 is provided. The substrate supply device 29 includes a pair of supply valve bodies 30. And each supply valve body 30 has
It has four disk holders 31 for holding four substrates at the same time. Further, the supply valve body 30 is located at a position P1 facing the atmosphere side opening 1b of the load lock chamber 1.
When it is at 0, the air-side opening 1b can be closed or opened in an airtight manner by moving forward and backward with respect to the air-side opening 1b.

A pair of supply valve bodies 30 is provided between a position P10 facing the atmosphere side opening 1b of the load lock chamber 1 and a position P11 for exchanging a processed substrate with an unprocessed substrate. Are rotated to move the unprocessed substrates into the load lock chamber 1 as a set of four substrates and unload the processed substrates.

[0011]

In the above-described conventional vacuum processing apparatus, when the processed substrate held in the supply valve body 30 is removed and replaced with an unprocessed substrate, the processing is performed. The supply valve body 30 from which the used substrate has been removed is set to the position P11 as it is, and an unprocessed substrate is continuously attached to the supply valve body 30.

That is, in the conventional vacuum processing apparatus, the same supply valve body 3 is set by setting the position where the processed substrate is taken out and the position where the unprocessed substrate is attached to the same position P11.
0 was replaced.

Therefore, the work of removing the processed substrate and the work of attaching the unprocessed substrate cannot be performed simultaneously. For this reason, when trying to increase the processing speed (tact) by the vacuum processing apparatus, the time required for the substrate replacement work becomes a rate-limiting factor in the entire work.
The processing speed could not be increased sufficiently.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the work of exchanging a processed substrate and an unprocessed substrate is not a rate-determining step in the whole work. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum processing apparatus capable of sufficiently increasing the processing speed of the vacuum processing.

[0015]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a vacuum transfer chamber capable of evacuating the inside, and a vacuum transfer chamber disposed on an outer periphery of the vacuum transfer chamber and facing the vacuum transfer chamber. A load lock chamber having a vacuum side opening and an atmosphere side opening at a position facing the vacuum side opening,
A plurality of vacuum processing chambers disposed on the outer periphery of the vacuum transfer chamber and having respective openings on the side facing the vacuum transfer chamber, a rotary table disposed inside the vacuum transfer chamber, and attached to the rotary table. A plurality of processing valve bodies capable of closing the vacuum-side opening and each of the openings; a plurality of holding mechanisms provided on the processing valve bodies for holding a substrate; and a plurality of the processing valve bodies. A plurality of valve opening / closing mechanisms for switching between the closed state and the open state of the vacuum side opening and each opening by each of the processing valve bodies by driving the processing valve bodies, and loading the unprocessed substrate into the load lock chamber. A substrate supply device for carrying out the processed substrate from the load lock chamber together with the substrate supply device, the substrate supply device having a holding mechanism for holding the substrate, and hermetically closing the atmosphere-side opening. At least three possible supply valve bodies, and a position facing the atmosphere side opening, a position for removing the processed substrate, and attaching the unprocessed substrate to the at least three supply valve bodies. And a supply valve body driving device for sequentially moving between the positions.

Preferably, the supply valve body driving device simultaneously rotates and drives the at least three supply valve bodies, and the at least three supply valve bodies include the supply valve body. They are arranged at equal angular intervals along the same circumference around the rotation axis of the rotational drive by the body drive device.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a vacuum processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In addition,
The same components as those of the conventional vacuum processing apparatus shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, like the conventional vacuum processing apparatus shown in FIG. An evacuable vacuum transfer chamber 3 is formed. On one side of the vacuum transfer chamber 3, a load lock chamber 1 for loading or unloading a substrate into or from the vacuum transfer chamber 3 is arranged and formed. On the remaining seven sides, seven vacuum processing chambers 2A,
2B are formed at equal angular intervals. Then, inside these vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2B... 2G, sputtering, etching, baking,
Alternatively, vacuum processing such as ashing is performed.

On the side of the vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2B,... 2G facing the vacuum transfer chamber 3, there are formed openings 2a of the same shape and the same size for loading and unloading substrates. On the side of the load lock chamber 1 facing the vacuum transfer chamber 3, a vacuum side opening 1a having the same shape and the same size as the opening 2a is formed. Each vacuum processing chamber 2 is connected to a turbo-molecular pump (not shown) so that the inside can be evacuated, and processing devices 14A, 14B... 14G for performing a predetermined vacuum processing are installed.

An annular rotary table 15 is rotatably arranged at the bottom of the vacuum transfer chamber 3.
A gear 18 is formed on the outer periphery of the gear. This large gear 1
A driving small gear 19 meshes with 8.

Eight valve opening / closing mechanisms 25 are arranged on the upper surface of the rotary table 15 along the circumferential direction of the rotary table 15. These valve opening / closing mechanisms 25 are connected to the load lock chamber 1 and the seven vacuum It is arranged so as to correspond to the processing chambers 2A, 2B... 2G. Each valve opening / closing mechanism 25 includes:
A processing valve body 26 capable of closing the respective openings 1a, 2a of the load lock chamber 1 and the vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2B... 2G is provided.

Each processing valve body 26 has an opening 1a, 2B of the load lock chamber 1 and the vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2B.
a when the load lock chamber 1 and the vacuum processing chamber 2 are closed.
A, 2B... 2G have an inner surface 26a facing the inside thereof. Four disk holders 28, which are holding mechanisms for holding the substrate, are provided on the inner surface 26a in a rotatable (rotable) manner.

In the vacuum processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, a substrate supply device 40 for loading or unloading a substrate into or from the load lock chamber 1 is provided on the atmosphere side of the load lock chamber 1. This substrate supply device 40 has three supply valve bodies 41, and each supply valve body 41
Has four disk holders (holding mechanisms) 42 for holding four substrates at the same time. Further, when the supply valve body 41 is at a position P1 facing the atmosphere side opening 1b of the load lock chamber 1, the supply valve body 41 moves forward and backward with respect to the atmosphere side opening 1b, thereby sealing the atmosphere side opening 1b. Can be closed or opened.

The substrate supply device 40 further moves the three supply valve bodies 41 to a position P facing the atmosphere side opening 1b.
1. A supply valve driving device 43 for sequentially moving between a position P2 for removing a processed substrate and a position P3 for attaching an unprocessed substrate is provided.

Further, the three supply valve bodies 41 are equiangularly spaced along the same circumference around the rotation axis O of rotation by the supply valve body driving device 43, that is, 120.
It is arranged at intervals of degrees.

Next, the operation of the vacuum processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. First, a set of four substrates is loaded into the load lock chamber 1 by the supply valve body 41 that hermetically closes the air opening 1b of the load lock chamber 1,
After the inside of the load lock chamber 1 is evacuated, each substrate is transferred to each disk holder 28 of the processing valve body 26 that closes the vacuum side opening 1a of the load lock chamber 1.

Next, the processing valve body 26 is driven by the valve opening / closing mechanism 25 in the opening direction. When all the processing valve bodies 26 are opened, the drive small gear 19 is driven to rotate the rotary table 15 by a predetermined amount, and the processing valve bodies 26 holding the four substrates are moved to, for example, the position of the vacuum processing chamber 2A. Transfer.

Next, all the processing valve bodies 26 are driven in the closing direction by the valve opening / closing mechanism 25, and the openings 1a,
2a is closed by the processing valve body 26. When all the processing valve bodies 26 are closed, the processing devices 14A, 1
4B... 14G are operated to perform predetermined processing on the substrate.

When the predetermined processing is completed, the processing valve 2
6, the rotary table 15 is rotated, the substrate is transferred to the next vacuum processing chamber 2B, and a predetermined process is performed in the same procedure as described above.
Predetermined processing is sequentially performed in C, 2D... 2G.

It is not always necessary to transport the substrate sequentially from the vacuum processing chambers 2A to 2G for processing.
It is not always necessary to perform the processing in all of the plurality of vacuum processing chambers 2A, 2B... 2G. In short, it is only necessary to select a processing sequence that can execute a desired process and execute the predetermined process.

As described above, the plurality of vacuum processing chambers 2A,
The transfer of the substrate between 2B... 2G can be performed by rotating the rotary table 15 with the substrate held by the processing valve body 26, so that the vacuum processing chamber 2A,
2B... It is not necessary to perform the substrate transfer operation in 2G or in the vacuum transfer chamber 3. Therefore, the failure in transferring the substrate is eliminated, and the time required for transferring the substrate is greatly reduced.

After a series of vacuum processes are performed on the substrate by the above procedure, the turntable 15 is driven to move the processing valve body 26 holding the processed substrate to the load lock chamber 1.
Move to before. Next, all the processing valve bodies 26 are driven in the closing direction by the valve opening / closing mechanism 25. When the processed substrate is loaded into the load lock chamber 1, the processed substrate is received from the processing valve body 26 by the supply valve body 41 that hermetically closes the air opening 1 b of the load lock chamber 1.

Next, the load lock chamber 1 is vented to release the vacuum, and the supply valve body 41 having received the processed substrate is retracted from the atmosphere side opening 1b. 43, three supply valve bodies 4
1 are simultaneously rotated 120 degrees. Then, P1, P2,
Each supply valve body 41 at each position of P3 is P2,
It moves to the position of P3 and P1, respectively.

Next, the supply valve body 4 at the position P2
1. Remove the processed substrate from 1. Then, in parallel with the substrate removal operation at the position P2, an unprocessed substrate is attached to the supply valve body 41 at the position P3.
In this manner, the substrate removal operation and the substrate installation operation are performed simultaneously at different positions P2 and P3.

As described above, according to the vacuum processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the three supply valve bodies 41 are moved by the supply valve body driving device 43 to the processing position P1 facing the atmosphere side opening 1b at the processing position P1. Position P to remove the already used board
2 and the unprocessed substrate can be sequentially moved between the positions P3 where the unprocessed substrates are to be mounted.
It can be performed simultaneously at P3.

As a result, the time required for the substrate exchange operation is greatly reduced, and the substrate exchange operation does not become a rate-determining step in the entire operation. This makes it possible to sufficiently increase the processing speed of the vacuum processing apparatus. It becomes possible.

[0037]

As described above, according to the vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention, at least three supply valve bodies are moved by the supply valve body driving device to the position facing the atmosphere side opening, and Since the substrate can be sequentially moved between the position where the substrate is removed and the position where the unprocessed substrate is mounted, the work of removing the processed substrate and the work of mounting the unprocessed substrate can be performed simultaneously at different positions. it can.

Therefore, the time required for the substrate exchange operation is greatly reduced, and the substrate exchange operation does not become a rate-determining step in the entire operation, whereby the processing speed of the vacuum processing apparatus can be sufficiently increased. It becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a vacuum processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional vacuum processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Load lock chamber 1a Vacuum side opening of load lock chamber 1b Atmospheric side opening of load lock chamber 2A, 2B ... 2G Vacuum processing chamber 2a Opening of vacuum processing chamber 3 Vacuum transfer chamber 15 Rotary table 26 Processing valve body 25 Valve opening / closing mechanism 28, 42 Disk holder (holding mechanism) 40 Substrate supply device 41 Supply valve body 43 Supply valve body drive device P1 Position facing air side opening 1b P2 Position to remove processed substrate P3 Unprocessed Board mounting position

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H01L 21/3065 H01L 21/205 5F103 // H01L 21/205 21/302 BF term (Reference) 4K029 JA01 KA01 KA09 4K057 DA20 DM36 5F004 BC06 BD01 BD02 BD05 BD07 CA05 5F031 GA47 MA04 MA07 MA13 MA28 MA29 MA32 NA05 NA09 5F045 BB10 DP13 DQ17 EB08 EN05 5F103 BB36 BB38 RR02

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum transfer chamber capable of evacuating the inside, a vacuum-side opening disposed on the outer periphery of the vacuum transfer chamber and facing the vacuum transfer chamber, and a position opposed to the vacuum-side opening. A load lock chamber having an opening on the atmosphere side, a plurality of vacuum processing chambers arranged on the outer periphery of the vacuum transfer chamber, each having an opening on a side facing the vacuum transfer chamber, and an inside of the vacuum transfer chamber. A plurality of processing valve bodies attached to the rotation table and capable of closing the vacuum-side opening and each of the openings; provided on each of the processing valve bodies to hold a substrate. Each holding mechanism,
A plurality of valve opening / closing mechanisms for moving the plurality of processing valve bodies forward and backward to switch between the closed state and the open state of the vacuum side opening and the respective opening parts by the respective processing valve bodies; A substrate supply device for carrying in the substrate for processing and carrying out the processed substrate from the load lock chamber, wherein the substrate supply device has a holding mechanism for holding the substrate, and has a holding mechanism for holding the substrate. At least three supply valve bodies capable of closing the opening in an airtight manner, and the at least three supply valve bodies are located at a position facing the atmosphere side opening, a position where the processed substrate is removed, and A supply valve body driving device for sequentially moving the substrate between the positions at which the substrate is mounted in the processing. 2. The supply valve body driving device for simultaneously rotating and driving the at least three supply valve bodies, wherein the at least three supply valve bodies are the supply valve body drive devices. 2. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum processing apparatuses are arranged at equal angular intervals along the same circumference centered on the rotation axis of the rotation drive.