JP2002025918A - Semiconductor manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve safety of operation in maintenance operation, etc., by enabling the filling state of gas in a gas piping to be displayed in a semiconductor manufacturing device. SOLUTION: The device is provided with gas state detection means 15, 30, 31, which detect the state of gas in a piping based on the opening and closing state of an opening/closing valve provided to a gas piping and the state of gas in a gas piping detected in the previous detection; and a display means 12 for displaying the state of gas in a gas piping in a display means.

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, and more particularly to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a function of displaying a gas state in a gas pipe.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is provided with an airtight process chamber. Various gases are supplied to the process chamber to form a thin film on a wafer, or an etching gas is supplied to etch the thin film to form a pattern. A semiconductor device is manufactured by performing generation or the like.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of gas supply lines 2... 2n and an exhaust system 3 are connected to a process chamber 1 in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. The gas supply pipe 10 is provided with a pressure gauge 4, a gas supply solenoid valve 5, a flow controller 6, and an interlock solenoid valve 7 from the upstream side, and the exhaust system 3 has a vacuum pump. 8 are provided.

The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a control device 1 for controlling the gas supply / discharge operation of the gas supply line 2 and the exhaust system 3.
1. A display device 12 is provided for indicating a wafer processing state in the process chamber 1 or a gas supply / discharge state of the gas supply line 2 and the exhaust system 3.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control system.
Digital devices such as the gas supply electromagnetic valve 5, the interlocking electromagnetic valve 7, the vacuum pump 8, and the pressure switch 9 are connected to the control device 11 via a digital input / output port 13. Analog devices such as a flow controller 6 are connected via an analog input / output port 14. The control device 11 controls the gas supply electromagnetic valve 5, the interlock electromagnetic valve 7, the vacuum pump 8, and the pressure switch 9 based on signals from the pressure gauge 4 and the flow controller 6. Program 16, CP
U15 is provided.

Further, the control device 11 sends the display device 1
2, information on the wafer processing state, the detection state of the pressure gauge 4 and the flow controller 6, and the operation states of the gas supply electromagnetic valve 5, the interlock electromagnetic valve 7, the vacuum pump 8 and the pressure switch 9. Is sent.

The display device 12 includes a data transmission / reception program 17, a display program 18, and a CPU 19. The CPU 19 controls transmission and reception of signals between the display device 12 and the control device 11 according to the data transmission / reception program 17. The information sent from the device 11 is displayed on the display 20 via the display program 18.

When processing a wafer, the process chamber 1 is evacuated by the exhaust system 3 and a reaction gas adapted to the processing of the wafer is supplied through one of the gas supply lines 2. Evacuation is performed by the exhaust system 3 so that the process chamber 1 is maintained at a predetermined pressure.

In order to discharge the wafer after the wafer processing is completed, the process chamber 1 is evacuated by the exhaust system 3 and a purge gas is supplied through one of the gas supply lines 2. The inside is gas purged.

A plurality of gas supply lines 2... 2 n are connected to the process chamber 1, and the opening and closing of the gas supply electromagnetic valve 5 and the interlock electromagnetic valve 7 are controlled by the control device 11 according to the processing contents. The supply and discharge of gas are performed.

The display device 12 has a gas monitor display section for indicating the gas supply / discharge state, and indicates the open / closed state of the valves of the gas supply lines 2... 2n. You can see if it is done.

[0012]

As described above, in the conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the open / closed state of the electromagnetic valves of each of the gas supply lines 2... 2n is displayed on the gas monitor display section. The supply state of the gas in the supply lines 2... 2n is known.

However, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, an on-off valve, for example, an electromagnetic valve 24, 25, 2 is connected to the gas pipe 23.
If the upstream electromagnetic valve 24 is closed and then the downstream electromagnetic valve 26 is closed as shown in FIG. Although no gas accumulation occurs in the gas pipe 23, the electromagnetic valve 26 on the downstream side is closed as shown in FIG.
Next, when the electromagnetic valve 24 on the upstream side is closed, gas accumulation occurs between the electromagnetic valve 24 and the electromagnetic valve 26.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, gas accumulation may or may not occur depending on the opening and closing sequence of the electromagnetic valve. Therefore, it was not possible to know the gas filled state of the gas supply pipe 10 of the gas supply line 2 in the non-supplied state only by displaying the open / closed state of the electromagnetic valve shown in FIG.

In many cases, harmful gases and flammable gases are used as gases used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, and gas pipes need to be maintained periodically or every predetermined operating time. It is dangerous to easily remove the gas pipe, and it is necessary for the operator to know whether the gas pipe is full of gas during maintenance.

In view of such circumstances, the present invention makes it possible to display the state of gas in a pipe such as the state of gas filling and the state of a gas reservoir in a gas pipe, thereby improving the safety of work in maintenance work and the like. Things.

[0017]

According to the present invention, there is provided a gas condition for detecting a gas condition of a gas pipe based on an open / close state of an open / close valve provided in the gas pipe and a gas state in the gas pipe detected last time. The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a detection means and a display means, wherein a state of gas in a gas pipe detected by the gas state detection means is displayed on the display means.

[0018]

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

In the present invention, a state in which gas is filled in a gas pipe is detected, and a detection result is shown on a display device. A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram showing a main part of the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, the same components as those shown in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. .

The control program 16 includes a judgment program 30
The storage unit 31 is provided in the CPU 15.

The determination program 30 checks the open / closed state of the electromagnetic valves provided in each gas supply line 2 from the gas supply source and checks from the process chamber 1 side, and stores the result in the storage unit 31. A series of check procedures to be performed are programmed and the storage unit 3
The result of the previous check of the electromagnetic valve opening / closing state stored in 1 and the state of gas in the pipe such as the state of gas filling and the state of a gas reservoir determined based on the result of the check;
It has a judgment program that compares the current check result with the current check result to judge the current state of gas in the piping. The storage unit 31 stores the judgment result of the state of gas in the pipe and the opening / closing data of the gas supply electromagnetic valve 5 and the interlock electromagnetic valve 7 input from the digital input / output port 13 for each line. , Stored in chronological order.

Thus, the judgment program 30, the storage section 31, and the CPU 15 constitute a gas state detecting means.

The operation will be described with reference to FIG.

When the process of wafer processing is completed, or when the solenoid valve of any line is opened and closed, and the state of the solenoid valve changes, the judgment program 30 is started, and the gas monitor display section is displayed. A gas monitor display section display process for displaying the open / close state of the electromagnetic valve and the state of gas filling in the gas pipe is started.

STEP 1: Based on the opening / closing data of all the electromagnetic valves stored in the storage section 31, the opening / closing state of all the electromagnetic valves for each gas pipe is checked in order from the gas supply source.

STEP 2: Similarly, the open / closed state of all the electromagnetic valves is sequentially checked from the process chamber 1 side for each gas pipe based on the open / close data of all the electromagnetic valves stored in the storage unit 31.

STEP3: STEP1 and STEP2 above
Based on the result of the check in step (1), the communication state between the division, the gas supply source, and the process chamber 1 is checked for each gas pipe and all divisions partitioned by the electromagnetic valve of the gas pipe.

First, by checking the electromagnetic valve in STEP 1, it is determined whether or not each section communicates with the gas supply source in order from the upstream section. That is, it is determined whether or not gas is supplied for the section to be determined. There are various ways to determine this,
For example, the following is performed.

The communication state of the determination target section is determined based on two pieces of information, that is, the open / close state of the upstream electromagnetic valve belonging to the determination target section and the communication state of the upstream section adjacent to the determination target section.

Referring to FIG. 3, the judgment on the section b is made based on the state of the section a and the open / closed state of the electromagnetic valve 24. Since the section a is always in communication with the gas supply source, the communication state of the section b is determined by the opening and closing of the electromagnetic valve 24. After the determination of the communication state of the section b is determined, the determination of the section c is performed.

The section c is determined by the communication state of the section b and the open / close state of the electromagnetic valve 25. That is, if it is determined that the communication state of the section b is in communication with the gas supply source, the electromagnetic valve 25 is in the open state, and the section c is in communication with the gas supply source and the electromagnetic valve 25 is in the closed state. , The section c is determined to be non-communication, and if the determination of the communication state of the section b is determined to be non-communication with the gas supply source, the section c will be in either the open state or the closed state of the electromagnetic valve 25. Is also determined to be non-communication.

Thus, by sequentially performing determinations from the upstream side to the downstream side, all communication states up to the section e are determined.

As described above, in the method of determining the communication state, only two pieces of information need be determined, and it is not necessary to check the open / closed state of a remote valve. In addition, the arrangement of upstream and downstream valves is not affected by the judgment, and corresponds to the case where there is a structural change such as addition or deletion of a valve or a change in the layout of a gas line. Becomes easier.

Next, by checking the electromagnetic valve in STEP 2, it is determined whether or not each section is in communication with the process chamber 1 in order from the downstream section.

The determination as to whether or not the determination target section is in communication with the process chamber 1 is performed in the same manner as in the determination as to whether the determination target section is in communication with the above-described supply source in STEP1. That is, the determination is made based on two pieces of information: the open / closed state of the downstream electromagnetic valve belonging to the determination target section and the communication state of the downstream section adjacent to the determination target section with the process chamber 1.

For example, if the electromagnetic valve 27 is open and the communication state of the section d is determined to be in communication with the process chamber 1, the determination of the section c is made when the electromagnetic valve 26 is open and the section d
, The section c is determined to be in communication with the process chamber 1, and the electromagnetic valve 26 is determined to be closed and not in communication. Thus, the upstream section is also determined based on the determined determination of the downstream section, and it is determined whether or not the sections d to a are sequentially communicated with the process chamber 1.

STEP 4: Next, the judgment of the gas full state is made for all the sections.

The gas supply sources of the target categories determined by checking the electromagnetic valves in STEP1, STEP2, and STEP3,
Based on the state of communication with the process chamber 1 and the state of the solenoid valve stored in the storage unit 31 before the open / close state of the electromagnetic valve changes, the gas filling state and the gas pool state of the determination target section are determined.

That is, it is determined whether or not gas is supplied to the determination target section based on the communication determination with respect to the gas supply source for the determination target section, and if the communication is performed, the gas is supplied. If gas is being supplied, it is determined that the gas is full.

If gas is not supplied to the judgment target section, that is, if it is determined that the judgment target section is not in communication with the gas supply source, the judgment is made to compare with the previous state stored in the storage unit 31 and If the previous state of the section is empty, the determination target section is determined to be empty.

If no gas is supplied to the judgment target section,
If it is determined in the previous state check that the state is full, it is further determined whether or not the determination target section communicates with the process chamber 1 based on the determination of the communication state in STEP 3 described above. When there is no gas, the determination target section is in a closed state in which the gas is filled, and it is determined that the gas pool is present.

If the gas is not supplied to the gas pipe, it is determined that the gas is full in the previous state check, and if the determination target is connected to the process chamber 1 in the communication determination, the determination target is determined to be empty. You.

For all pipes, the state of the gas in all sections is determined.

STEP 5: The result of the gas filling judgment for each judgment target section of each line is sent to the display device 12 via the control program 16 and is sent to the display 20 according to the data transmission / reception program 17 and the display program 18. Is displayed.

In the above-described embodiment, the opening / closing data of the electromagnetic valves, including the current data, are all stored in the storage unit 31, but the current data is stored in each of the electromagnetic valves via the digital input / output port 13. It may be collected directly from.

The presence / absence of gas in each of the judgment target categories is determined as empty if there is a gas supply (if it is in communication with a gas supply source), and filled if there is no gas supply. It is displayed in three letters.

A display example of the display 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 (A), 3 (B) and 3 (C).

FIG. 3 shows that the electromagnetic valves 24 and 2 are connected to the gas pipe 23.
5, 26, 27 are provided, and the gas pipe 23 is divided into sections a, b, c, d, and e by these electromagnetic valves, and the electromagnetic valves 24, 25, and 2 are shown.
6 and 27, the open state is displayed in green and the closed state is displayed in white and the like, and each of the sections a, b, c, d, and
As for e, the empty state is displayed in white, the filled state is displayed in orange, and the state of the gas reservoir is displayed in red.

FIG. 3A shows a state where the electromagnetic valve 26 is closed and the remaining electromagnetic valves 24, 25 and 27 are open.
In this state, the sections a, b, and c are gas-filled, and the sections d and e are empty. FIG. 3B shows a case where the state of the electromagnetic valve 24 is changed from the state of FIG. 3A to the closed state, and gas is sealed in the sections b and c between the electromagnetic valve 24 and the electromagnetic valve 26. You. In this state, the sections b and c are displayed as gas pools. FIG. 3C shows a case where the electromagnetic valve 25 is closed and the electromagnetic valve 26 is opened from the state shown in FIG. 3B, and the state between the electromagnetic valve 24 and the electromagnetic valve 25 is changed. b is a gas reservoir, category c
Is changed to an empty state.

It should be noted that the determination of the state of communication with the gas supply source and the process chamber is only an example for the above-described determination target categories, and various determination methods are conceivable. Perform as follows.

In order to determine the communication state with the gas supply source of the determination target section, the open / close state of the electromagnetic valve is checked in order from the upstream side, and when the closed electromagnetic valve is detected, it is determined that there is no communication. It is determined that the communication is established when all of them are in the open state. or,
Regarding the determination of the communication state with the process chamber, the open / close state of the electromagnetic valve is checked sequentially from the downstream side,
When a closed electromagnetic valve is detected, it is determined that communication is not established, and when all electromagnetic valves are open, communication is determined.

As yet another example, since the open / close states of all the electromagnetic valves are stored in the storage section 31, the communication state with the gas supply source and the process chamber of the predetermined judgment target section is stored. It is also possible to make an immediate judgment from the existing data. That is, all the electromagnetic valves located on the upstream side of the determination target section are opened, and the communication state with the gas supply source is determined by determining whether or not it is not. The state of communication with the process chamber is determined by determining whether it is open or not. In this case, the order of the electromagnetic valves to be checked and the order of the sections to be determined do not matter, and it is possible to immediately determine the communication or non-communication at an arbitrary position.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the current judgment is made by three judgment factors of the communication state of the judgment target section with the gas supply source, the communication state with the process chamber, and the gas state of the previous judgment target section. Although the state of the gas in the target section has been determined, it is of course possible to determine the state of the gas in the target section based on the change over time of the opening and closing of the electromagnetic valve.

There is also a method of judging the state of gas in the judgment target section based on the change over time of the opening and closing of the electromagnetic valve. The cause of the gas accumulation is caused by the opening and closing sequence of the electromagnetic valve. Therefore, gas pool generation data indicating in what order the solenoid valve is opened and closed to generate gas pools is created as a judgment material in advance, and the opening and closing data of the electromagnetic valve is recorded over time, and the gas pool generation data and the electromagnetic By comparing the time-lapse data of valve opening and closing, it is also possible to judge the current gas state of piping

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment. In the first embodiment, the open / close state of the valve is monitored,
Although the gas filling state of each section of the gas pipe is detected from the data of the open / close state of the valve and the previous state accompanying the open / close, in the second embodiment, the gas sensor 33, which directly detects the presence or absence of gas for each section, 34 and 35 are provided.

Based on the signals from the gas sensors 33, 34 and 35, the display of the gas filling state shown in FIG. 3 is performed.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, the current gas-filled state of the gas pipe is displayed, so that the gas pipe can be maintained, or a gas causing a dangerous chemical reaction due to mixing can be supplied. Information can be provided to workers, and safety is improved. In addition, since an empty gas pipe and a gas pipe having a gas reservoir can be clearly determined, it is not necessary to exhaust the gas reservoir to all the gas pipes. improves. Furthermore, if the gas state detecting means of the gas pipe monitors the open / closed state of the open / close valve provided in the gas pipe and detects the gas pool based on the open / closed state, no gas sensor is required for the detection, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. It has excellent effects such as being able to be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram illustrating a main part of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are explanatory diagrams showing display examples according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view showing a configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram of a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram in a case where gas accumulation does not occur in a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a case where gas accumulation occurs in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 process chamber 2 gas supply line 3 exhaust system 4 pressure gauge 5 gas supply electromagnetic valve 6 flow controller 7 interlock electromagnetic valve 11 control device 12 display device 15 CPU 16 control program 17 data transmission / reception program 20 display 30 judgment program 31 Memory

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 4K029 BD01 DA04 EA00 4K030 EA01 KA39 LA15 5F004 AA16 BC03 BC08 5F045 BB20 EE01 GB06 GB07

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A gas state detecting means for detecting a state of a gas in a pipe based on an open / close state of an on-off valve provided in the gas pipe and a state of a gas in the gas pipe detected last time;
And a display means for displaying the state of the gas in the gas pipe detected by the gas state detection means on the display means.