JP2002164400A - Substrate-processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate-processing apparatus which enables read/write various pieces of information of a substrate within a substrate storage container, immediately prior to substrate processing. SOLUTION: This substrate-processing device is provided with a reactive oven 1, a boat 4 for supporting the substrate within reaction oven 1, an opening/ closing means 7 for opening/closing the lid of a substrate container 12 that contains the substrate, a substrate transfer means 9 for taking the substrate out of substrate container 12, which is opened by opening/closing means 7, and transferring into boat 4. In this device, a read and write means 15 for reading/writing the information of the substrate within substrate container 12 is mounted on a mount base 18 of substrate container 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus such as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional substrate processing apparatus such as a vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus is provided with a heating means, and a reaction chamber for processing a substrate, a substrate support (boat) for supporting the substrate in the reaction chamber, and Opening / closing means for opening and closing the lid of the substrate storage container for taking the substrate in and out of the substrate storage container, and a substrate transfer machine for taking out the substrate from the substrate storage container with the lid opened by the opening / closing means and transferring the substrate to a boat. Have been.

[0003] Such an apparatus is disclosed, for example, in JP-A-8-27.
9546 and JP-A-9-306975.

In the former device, the substrate storage container is fixed to the opening / closing means of the lid by frictional engagement via the lid, and the closable substrate loading opening and the substrate storage container are simultaneously opened.
This is performed by lowering the lid and the opening / closing means together into the semiconductor processing apparatus.

In the latter device, the atmosphere between the lid of the substrate storage container and the means for opening the lid is sealed from the other atmosphere, and the substrate is prevented from being contaminated by supplying N ₂ gas while evacuating. Things.

[0006]

However, in a conventional substrate processing apparatus such as the above two apparatuses, when the substrate storage container is placed on the mounting portion of the opening / closing means for opening and closing the lid of the substrate storage container, the substrate is not placed. What is provided with a read / write means for reading and writing information on a substrate in a storage container, for example, a history of past processes of the substrate, a type of a process to be processed from now on, and a processed / unprocessed information of a certain process. In addition, the work of obtaining information on the substrate was troublesome and required extra time, which was inconvenient.

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of reading and writing various types of information on a substrate in a substrate storage container immediately before processing a substrate.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a reaction chamber for processing a substrate, a substrate support for supporting the substrate in the reaction chamber, and a substrate storage for storing the substrate. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: an opening / closing unit that opens and closes a lid of a container; and a substrate transfer unit that takes out the substrate from the substrate storage container with the lid opened by the opening / closing unit and transfers the substrate to the substrate support. There is provided a substrate processing apparatus provided with a reading / writing means for reading and writing information of the substrate in the substrate storage container on a mounting portion of the substrate storage container of the opening / closing means.

With such a configuration, it is possible to read and write various types of information on the substrate in the substrate storage container immediately before processing the substrate, and it is easy to obtain the information on the substrate, thereby shortening the operation time. it can.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings described below, those having the same functions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the repeated description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the overall configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The substrate processing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a reaction furnace (reaction chamber) 1 provided with a substrate (wafer) heating means, a reaction gas introduction means 2 for introducing a reaction gas into the reaction furnace 1, a reaction furnace Reaction gas exhaust means 3 for exhausting the reaction gas in 1;
It is a means for supporting a substrate, and a reaction furnace 1 for processing the substrate.
The substrate support (boat) 4 to be stored in the container, the substrate storage container buffer storage means 5 for storing the substrate storage container storing the unprocessed substrates, and the boat 4 are inserted into the reactor 1,
Alternatively, the boat elevating means 6 for pulling out, the substrate storage container 12 for storing the substrate, and the substrate are transferred to the boat 4,
Alternatively, in order to transfer the processed substrate from the boat 4,
A substrate storage container opening / closing means 7 for opening and closing the lid of the substrate storage container 12, a substrate alignment means 8 for aligning the substrates, and a substrate transfer for transferring substrates between the boat 4 and the opening / closing means 7 or the substrate alignment means 8. Loading means 9 and substrate storage container load port 10
A substrate storage container transporting means 11 for transporting the substrate storage container 12 between the load port 10 and the opening / closing means 7 or the buffer storage means 5; a substrate information carrier 43 provided in the substrate storage container 12; And a board information read / write unit 15 for reading / writing information on the carrier 43.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the substrate storage container opening / closing means 7, FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the substrate storage container opening / closing means 7, and FIG. 5A is an external perspective view of the substrate storage container opening / closing means 7 and the substrate storage container 12, and FIG. 5B is an arrow g of FIG.
It is the side view seen from the direction.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 16 denotes an opening / closing base of the substrate storage container opening / closing means 7, reference numeral 18 denotes a substrate storage container mounting base on which the substrate storage container 12 (FIG. 1) is mounted, and reference numeral 17 denotes a substrate storage container. The mounting alignment member 19 has an arrow a
Substrate storage container linear guide to slide in the direction,
Reference numeral 20 denotes a linear guide base member.

As shown in FIG. 2, the substrate storage container opening / closing means 7 includes two or more (here, two) substrate load ports 13 and two or more substrate load ports 13 and closing means 14 for each load port 13. Substrate storage container 12 in port 13
A substrate mapping sensor 42 (FIG. 3) for detecting the presence / absence of a substrate in each stage in FIG. 1 and substrate information reading and writing for reading and writing information of the substrate stored in the substrate storage container 12 (FIG. 1). Means 15 are provided.

When the substrate storage container 12 is mounted on the mounting base 18 and the mounting alignment member 17 of FIG. 2 by the substrate storage container transporting means 11 of FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. The read / write unit 15 turns the rotary actuator 21 as a drive source and the arm 22 to a retreat position (indicated by a dashed line) by a predetermined angle θ in one direction of the arrow f in order to prevent the arm of the transport unit 11 from entering. I do. Then, after the substrate storage container 12 is placed on the alignment member 17, when the arm of the transfer means 11 returns to the original state, the information read / write means 15 is returned by the angle θ in the other direction of the arrow f, and returns to the original position. Then, reading and writing of information on the substrate stored in the substrate storage container 12 are performed. The information on the substrate is, for example, the history of the past process of the substrate, the type of the process to be processed from now on, and the information such as processed / unprocessed of a certain process. Thus, while being accessible from the substrate storage container transporter 11 in the substrate storage container opening / closing means 7,
A read / write operation of information on a substrate stored in the substrate storage container 12 is enabled.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2, the substrate container 12 is opened and closed by an air cylinder 23.
(Movement A). The closing means 14 of the substrate load port 13 includes the substrate storage container 12
There are two keys 24 for locking and unlocking the key (FIG. 1) and rotate in the direction of arrow b. Reference numeral 25 denotes a lid alignment member with the lid of the substrate storage container 12, and reference numeral 26 denotes lid suction means.

After the completion of the movement A, the lid of the substrate storage container 12 is sucked by the lid suction means 26, the key of the substrate storage container 12 is released by the rotation of the key 24, and the lid of the substrate storage container 12 can be opened. Then, the substrate is taken in and out.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 27 denotes a pulley fixed to the key 24 (FIG. 2). 2 or more keys 2
4 are connected by a timing belt 28, and the reciprocating operation of the air cylinder 29 is the rotation operation b of the key 24. 30
Is a clamp member of the timing belt 28, and the clamp member 30 is fixed to the timing belt 28.
31 is an overdrive means for overdrive of the linear operation of the air cylinder 29. These 27, 2
The members 8, 29, 30, and 31 are attached to the back surface of the sealing means 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, the closing means 14 comprises a rotary actuator 37 and a closing means linear guide 38.
This enables the operation in the direction of arrow c. The closing means 14 includes an air cylinder 39 and a closing means linear guide 4.
0 enables the sliding operation in the direction of arrow d. The mapping sensor 42 is capable of turning in the direction of arrow e into the substrate storage container 12 by the rotary actuator 41 (FIG. 2).

As shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), the substrate container 12 is provided with a rectangular or rod-shaped substrate information carrier 43 for recording substrate information. Although not shown, the substrate information carrier 43 is detachable from the substrate storage container 12. When the substrate storage container 12 is placed on the substrate storage container mounting base 18 of the substrate storage container opening / closing means 7, the substrate storage container 12 is placed under the substrate information carrier 43 (the substrate storage container opening / closing means 7).
A substrate information reading / writing means 15 for reading / writing information from / to the substrate information carrier 43 by using electromagnetic waves such as light or magnetism is disposed on the lower side of the substrate storage container 12 when viewed from the front. As described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, when placing the substrate storage container 12 on the substrate storage container mounting base 18, in order not to prevent the arm of the transfer unit 11 from entering,
The board information reading / writing means 15 is provided with the arm 22 together with the arrow f
Turn in one direction and evacuate.

As described above, in the present invention, the reactor 1 for processing the substrate, the boat 4 for supporting the substrate in the reactor 1,
It has opening / closing means 7 for opening and closing a lid of a substrate storage container 12 for storing substrates, and substrate transfer means 9 for taking out a substrate from the substrate storage container 12 with the lid opened by the opening / closing means 7 and transferring the substrate to the boat 4. In the substrate processing apparatus, a reading / writing means 15 for reading and writing information of a substrate in the substrate storage container 12 is provided on a mounting portion (base member 20) of the substrate storage container 12 of the opening / closing means 7. With such a configuration, it is possible to read and write various kinds of information of the substrate in the substrate storage container 12 immediately before the substrate processing, and it is easy to obtain the information of the substrate, and the operation time can be reduced.

An arm 22 is provided rotatably on the base member 20 (mounting portion) in FIG. 2, a rotary actuator 21 (swing means) for turning the arm 22 is provided, and the read / write means 15 is provided on the arm 22. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operation of the transfer unit 11 of the substrate storage container 12 from being hindered.

Although the present invention has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to read and write various types of information on the substrate in the substrate storage container, and it is easy to obtain information on the substrate, and the operation time can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration perspective view of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which is a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front external perspective view of a substrate storage container opening / closing means of the substrate processing apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the rear appearance of the substrate storage container opening / closing means of FIG. 2;

4 is a main part top view of the substrate storage container opening / closing means of FIG. 2;

5A is an external perspective view of the substrate storage container opening / closing means and the substrate storage container of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5B is a side view of the substrate storage container viewed from the direction of arrow g in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Reaction furnace (reaction chamber), 2 ... Reaction gas introduction means, 3 ... Reaction gas exhaust means, 4 ... Boat (substrate support), 5 ... Substrate storage buffer storage means, 6 ... Boat elevating means, 7 ...
Substrate storage container opening / closing means, 8: substrate alignment means, 9: substrate transfer means, 10: substrate storage container load port, 11: substrate storage container transport means, 12: substrate storage container, 14: closing means, 15: substrate information Reading / writing means, 16: opening / closing means base, 17: substrate storage container mounting alignment member, 18: substrate storage container mounting base, 19 ...
0: linear guide base member, 21: rotary actuator, 22: arm, 23: air cylinder, 24: key, 25: lid alignment member, 26: lid suction means, 27: pulley, 28: timing belt, 29 ... Air cylinder, 3
0: Clamping member, 31: Overdrive means, 37
... Rotary actuator, 38 ... Seal guide linear guide, 39 ... Air cylinder, 40 ... Seal guide linear guide,
41: rotary actuator, 42: substrate mapping sensor, 43: substrate information carrier.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reaction chamber for processing a substrate, a substrate support for supporting the substrate in the reaction chamber, opening and closing means for opening and closing a lid of a substrate storage container for storing the substrate, and the lid by the opening and closing means. And a substrate transfer means for taking out the substrate from the substrate storage container having the opened substrate, and transferring the substrate to the substrate support. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a read / write unit that reads and writes information on the substrate in a storage container.