JP2001217295A - Semiconductor manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To offer a semiconductor device of a low cost by reducing the time to transport wafers. SOLUTION: A wafer transporting system is arranged between a load port 31 for supporting a cassette 30 and a wafer processing chamber in this semiconductor manufacturing device wherein a robot 10a used for a wafer transporting system, a transporting tool which can support one wafer, a transporting tool 11 which can support a plurality of wafers, an ATC rack 70, and a buffer cassette 40 for storing a plurality of wafers in the cassette 30 are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a wafer transfer system is arranged between a load boat holding a cassette and a wafer processing chamber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, the robot 4 is located between the load port 2 holding the cassette 1 and the wafer processing chamber 3.
a and 4b, and the robots 4a and 4b
A transfer tool 5 for transferring wafers in a single-wafer system is fixed, and the robot 4a can be moved linearly by a traveling shaft 6. Hereinafter, a procedure of transferring the wafer by the robot 4a will be described with reference to FIG. When the manufacturing apparatus is started, the robot 4a takes out an unprocessed wafer (not shown) from the cassette 1 and sends it to the robot 4b via the buffer space 7. Thereafter, the wafer is moved from the load lock chamber 8a to the wafer processing chamber 3
Sent to The robot 4a takes out the processed wafer from the load lock chamber 8b and returns it to the cassette 1. Then, the operation of taking out the unprocessed wafer from the cassette 1 is repeated.

[0003]

As described above, as described above,
The robot between the load port and the wafer processing chamber transports wafers one by one by a method called a single wafer type. But,
As the diameter of wafers increases, the size of semiconductor manufacturing equipment also increases, and accordingly, the distance for transferring wafers also increases. However, if the time required for the transfer is longer than the time required for the wafer processing, the throughput is reduced. Therefore, the shorter the time required for the transfer is, the better.
However, in the related art, it is necessary for the robot 4a to collect the processed wafer while taking out the unprocessed wafer, and the reduction of the transfer time is limited by the operation performance of the robot 4a. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, in order to reduce the time for transferring a wafer, a single robot 4c is added in the apparatus, and a semiconductor having a robot 4c dedicated to transferring an unprocessed wafer and a robot 4a dedicated to transferring a processed wafer Manufacturing equipment is being considered. However, the cost increases because the number of robots increases, and there is a problem that control becomes difficult because two robots exist on the same traveling axis and their movements may interfere with each other. The present invention
An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which reduces the time required for carrying a wafer and which does not require much cost.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is used for a wafer transfer system in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a wafer transfer system is disposed between a load port holding a cassette and a wafer processing chamber. Robot, transfer tool capable of holding one wafer, transfer tool capable of holding multiple wafers, ATC rack for storing them, and buffer for storing multiple wafers in cassette A cassette, wherein the robot has a guide, and stoppers are arranged on both sides of the compression coil spring.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, 10a and 10b are robots, 20 is a traveling axis, 30 is a cassette, 40 is a buffer cassette, 50a and 50b
Is a load lock chamber, 60 is a wafer processing chamber,
70 is an ATC rack. The procedure for transferring the wafer by the robot 10a will be described with reference to FIG. The cassette 30 in which an unprocessed wafer is held is placed on the upper surface of the load port 31. The robot 10 a takes out a plurality of unprocessed wafers from the cassette 30 at the same time by a multi-stage transfer tool and sends the unprocessed wafers to the buffer cassette 40. The robot 10b transports unprocessed wafers one by one from the buffer cassette 40 to the load lock chamber 50a using a one-stage transport tool. Robot 10a
While the wafer is being processed in the wafer processing chamber 60,
The one-stage transfer tool and the multi-stage transfer tool stored in the ATC rack 70 are automatically exchanged. Then, the processed wafer is taken out from the load lock chamber 50b and returned to the cassette 30. The robot 10 a reciprocates between the load lock chamber 50 b and the cassette 30 until there are no more wafers in the buffer cassette 40. Only when the wafers in the buffer cassette 40 run out, the transfer tool is changed from a single-stage transfer tool to a multi-stage transfer tool, and the unprocessed wafers are transferred to the cassette 3.
What is necessary is just to carry from 0 to the buffer cassette 40. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a mechanism for exchanging a transfer tool. On the robot side, a guide 13 is attached to the center of the tip of the arm 12 of the transfer robot. On the transfer tool side, a pair of transfer tool stoppers 15 arranged on both sides of the compression coil spring 14 are connected to the transfer tool stopper cover 16.
To cover the transfer tool 11 from above. Therefore, the opening and closing movement of the transfer tool stopper 15 is enabled by the expansion and contraction of the compression coil spring 14. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a procedure for exchanging the transfer tool. First, a procedure for attaching the transfer tool 11 to the robot arm 12 will be described. In FIG. 1, an air cylinder 71 is disposed near the ATC rack 70. The transfer tool stopper 15 is sandwiched by the tip of the air cylinder 71 from above, and the transfer tool stopper 15 is opened and closed by opening and closing the tip of the air cylinder 71. Can be done. With the transfer tool stopper 15 closed by the air cylinder 71, the robot arm 12 is operated, and the transfer tool stopper 15 is passed until it is fitted into the notch of the guide 13, and the tip of the air cylinder 71 is opened. When opening 15, the transfer tool 11 and the guide 13 are connected. As with the mounting procedure, the robot arm 12 is operated while the transfer tool stopper 15 is closed at the tip of the air cylinder 71, and the notch of the guide 13 may be removed from the transfer tool stopper 15. In order to fix the transfer tool 11 to the guide 13, it is conceivable to form a taper on the contact surface between the transfer tool stopper 15 and the guide 13.

[0006]

According to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the reciprocating operation between the cassette and the buffer cassette can be reduced as compared with the prior art by arranging a robot capable of transporting a plurality of wafers. In addition, the time required for transportation can be substantially reduced, and the number of robots can be reduced, so that there is an effect that no cost is required.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for transferring a wafer by a robot 10a in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a mechanism for exchanging a transfer tool in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a procedure for exchanging a transfer tool in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

6 is a flowchart showing a procedure for transferring a wafer by a robot 4a in the conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a buffer cassette 7 and a robot 4c are added to a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10a, 10b Robot 11 Transfer Tool 12 Robot Arm 13 Guide 14 Compression Coil Spring 15 Transfer Tool Stopper 16 Transfer Tool Stopper Cover 20 Travel Axis 30 Cassette 31 Load Port 40 Buffer Cassette 50a, 50b Load Lock Room 60 Wafer Processing Room 70 ATC Rack 71 Air cylinder

Claims (2)

[Claims] In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a wafer transfer system is disposed between a load port holding a cassette and a wafer processing chamber, a robot used for the wafer transfer system and a transfer tool capable of holding one wafer And a transfer tool capable of holding a plurality of wafers, an ATC rack for storing them, and a buffer cassette for storing a plurality of wafers in a cassette. 2. The robot according to claim 1, further comprising a mechanism having a guide on the robot, arranging stoppers on both sides of a compression coil spring, and fixing the stopper to the transfer tool by a cover. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the above.