JP2002280317A - Substrate-processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To assure operativity at an operation part of a substrate-processing apparatus, while maintainability is not impaired. SOLUTION: A vertical diffusion CVD device is a utility-incorporated into a single device, in which a device body 10 is integrated with a utility 20, provided with a case 11 in which a device for a process required for a substrate is housed. The utility 20 protrudes behind the case 11, and the rear surface of the case has humps. A main operation part 31 to operate the device is provided on the front surface of the case 11. A sub-operation part 32 is provided on the upper rear surface of the utility 20, protruding from the rear surface of the case 11. The sub-operation part 32 is attached vertically and slidably to the upper rear surface.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly to an operation unit for operating the apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, as shown in FIG. 4, a substrate processing apparatus, for example, a vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus, has a main body 50 for processing a wafer and a utility (water / water) required for the processing. And a utility 51 for controlling gas and power supply. Such a device in which the device main body and the utility are configured separately is referred to as a separate vertical diffusion / CVD device.

In this apparatus, various processes are performed by an operator when the operator operates the apparatus. Mainly, when processing wafers, the main operation section 52 installed on the apparatus main body 50 side is used. When the maintenance inside the reaction chamber is performed by using the sub-operation unit 53 set on the utility 51 side.

[0004] The advantage of the separate type device is that maintenance and operability are good because the device main body and the utility are installed separately. However, on the other hand, there is a disadvantage that the occupied area is increased and the clean room of the client is pressed.

In order to solve the problem of the occupied area, which is a disadvantage, a utility-integrated vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus in which an apparatus body and a utility are integrated has been proposed. According to this, the occupied area is reduced,
There is no pressure on the client's clean room. However, the integrated device has the following problems as compared with the conventional separate device.

In the separate device, as described above, the utility is provided as a separate device, and the sub-operation unit can be provided directly on the outer surface of the separate device capable of ensuring a sufficient mounting area. Was. On the other hand, in an integrated device, a sub-operation unit is provided on the back surface of the device main body. This is because in both separate and integrated devices,
In order to reduce the area occupied by the devices, a so-called multiple connection in which the side surfaces of the adjacent devices are arranged without a gap. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, in the integrated device in which the apparatus main body 1 and the utility 2 are integrated, the mounting position of the sub-operation unit cannot be considered except for the rear side of the main body. On the rear side of the main body of the apparatus, there are provided a maintenance door 3 for performing maintenance inside the main body, and irregularities such as a utility 2.

Since the sub-operation unit is mainly used for maintenance, if the sub-operation unit is provided on the maintenance door 3, it is inconvenient to operate the sub-operation unit while performing maintenance with the door opened. There is also an idea to provide a sub-operation unit on the inner surface of the door, but although it is mainly used for maintenance,
Since it may be used when checking the operation status, it is not convenient for the inner surface of the door. In addition, an area for direct installation cannot be ensured even if a sub-operation unit is provided on an uneven object such as a utility. Under these circumstances, it has been difficult to directly provide the main body on the outer surface of the main body at a height that is easy for the operator to operate.

[0008]

Therefore, it is conceivable to attach a mounting plate to an uneven object and provide a sub-operation unit on the mounting plate. Normally, in the case of both an integrated device and a separate device, the main / sub operation unit is directly fixed directly to the outer surface of the housing. For this reason, when the sub-operation unit is fixed on the mounting plate, there are disadvantages such as protrusion of the mounting plate, the mounting portion hindering operations such as maintenance, and collision with the mounting plate to cause injury.

If the operating section is provided at a high position to avoid this difficulty, a person with a certain height can operate without any difficulty, but a person with a short height has the operating section at a high position. Such as having to prepare a springboard,
There was also a problem that it was difficult to use depending on the height.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to provide a substrate processing apparatus having an operation section which does not hinder maintenance and does not impair operability.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a housing housing a mechanism for performing a required process on a substrate;
An operation unit provided on an outer surface of the housing to operate the mechanism for performing the necessary processing, wherein the operation unit is provided so as to be movable with respect to the outer surface of the housing.

The movable mechanism of the operation unit may be either automatic or manual. According to the present invention, since the operation unit is provided so as to be movable with respect to the outer surface of the housing, the operation unit can be moved as necessary. Therefore, maintenance is not hindered and operability is not impaired.

In the above invention, in the case where the operation section is comprised of a main operation section for main processing and a sub-operation section for maintenance of the necessary processing, the main operation section is provided in the housing It is preferable that the sub-operation unit is provided on the projection on the upper part of the back surface so as to be slidable up and down.

When the sub-operation unit is mounted on the upper part of the rear surface, the sub-operation unit is not obstructed by the obstacle. In addition, even if the sub-operation unit is mounted on the upper back, if it is slid up and down, it can be lowered when used for maintenance and raised when not in use, improving operability I do. In particular, if the sub-operation unit is slidably provided on the upper convex part on the back side, it can be slid vertically from the convex part at a position where it can be easily reached. The performance is improved.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus according to an embodiment as viewed from the back, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a movable mechanism of a sub-operation unit of the apparatus.

The vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus is a utility integrated type apparatus in which the apparatus main body 10 and the utility 20 are integrated. The apparatus main body 10 includes a housing 11 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The housing 11 stores a mechanism for performing necessary processing on the substrate carried into the housing 11. A utility 2 for controlling utilities (water, gas, power supply) and the like necessary for the processing is provided on a part of the rear surface 7
0 is protrudingly provided. Therefore, the rear surface 7 of the housing 11 has an uneven shape. An operation unit 30 for operating a mechanism for performing necessary processing is provided on an outer surface of the housing 11. The operation unit 30 includes a main operation unit 31 for substrate processing and a sub operation unit 32 for maintenance. The contents of these operations are to display operation information of the apparatus or device relating to the processing on the panel or to input an operation instruction of the apparatus from the panel.

The housing 11 of the apparatus main body 10 is provided with the following mechanism. A cassette stage for loading and unloading cassettes is provided on the front surface 12 of the housing 11. The cassette stage is opened and closed by a front shutter (see FIG. 4). A main operation unit 31 for operating a mechanism for performing necessary processing is fixedly provided on the front surface of the housing 11. The inside of the housing 11 is mainly a transfer chamber 13, a cassette shelf for loading a cassette, a cassette loader for transporting the cassette, a wafer transfer machine for transferring wafers from the cassette to the boat and from the boat to the cassette. Is provided. Further, there are provided a load lock chamber in which the boat can be taken in and out while maintaining the vacuum, a boat elevator for inserting and removing the boat in a vertical furnace, a vertical furnace having a reaction chamber for processing wafers, and the like.

The upper portion of the housing 11 partitioned by the upper side of the housing 11 is divided into a front room 14 and a rear room 15. The front room 14 constitutes a cassette shelf room in which the upper shelf of the cassette shelves described above is provided. The rear chamber 15 constitutes a heater chamber provided with the above-described vertical furnace. The rear chamber 15 has an upper and lower two-stage configuration to facilitate maintenance.
On both sides of the upper chamber 15a, a heater heat exhaust duct 16 and a scavenger exhaust duct 17 are provided, respectively. Heater terminal confirmation maintenance doors 18 and 19 are provided on the back of the rear chamber 15 in both the upper chamber 15a and the lower chamber 15b. The maintenance door 9 is provided on the rear surface of the transfer chamber 13 located below the heater chamber 15. The maintenance door 9 is provided with a window 8 for monitoring. The rear surfaces of the heater chamber 15 and the transfer chamber 13 constitute the rear surface 7 of the housing 11. In addition, a gas supply / discharge system, a gate valve, and the like are provided.

The above-described cassette stage, cassette loader, transfer machine, load lock chamber, gas supply / discharge system, gate valve, and the like constitute a mechanism for performing necessary processing on the substrate.

The utility 20 is located on the back 7 of the housing 11.
Is provided in a vertically convex shape with a bias toward one side. In order from top to bottom, a gas supply unit 23 having a gas BOX exhaust duct 21 and a maintenance door 22, an external combustion unit 24 for burning a gas to supply a reaction gas, and a power supply BOX
25 and a power receiving unit 26 are provided. On the back of the gas supply unit 23 located above these utilities 20,
The sub operation unit 32 is provided so as to be able to slide up and down.
The upper mounting position of the utility 20 provided with the sub-operation unit 32 is preferably a place exceeding the height of the worker so as not to hinder the worker.

In the vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus as described above, a cassette is carried into a cassette stage, and a wafer is carried into a vertical furnace for heat treatment. During operation of the apparatus, it is operated by a main operation unit 31 provided on the front surface 12 of the housing 11. At the time of maintenance, the maintenance doors 18, 19, 22, 9 and the like attached to the rear surface 7 of the housing are opened to perform maintenance of the internal device, and the operation of the device is confirmed by the operation from the sub operation unit 32. Is done.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sub-operation section 32 is provided so as to be vertically slidable by a movable mechanism 40 with respect to the back surface 23a of the gas supply unit 23 which is the upper portion of the back surface of the housing 11. Back surface 23a of gas supply unit 23
In addition, two guide rails 27, 27 are provided in parallel with each other in the vertical direction. The sub-operation unit 32 is slidably mounted on the guide rails 27 and 27 and can be moved up and down by expansion and contraction of the air cylinder 28. The sub operation unit 32 includes a slider 33 serving as a mounting plate that slides by engaging with the guide rails 27, 27, and a main / sub operation panel unit 34 and a sub sub operation panel unit 35 mounted on the slider surface. . Secondary operation panel unit 35
Is designed to display a gas pattern or the like with an LED. In addition, the gas box exhaust duct 2
1, an air pipe 29 for supplying and discharging air to and from the air cylinder 28 is disposed diagonally below. Movable mechanism 40
Is operated by an operation panel up / down switch 41 provided at an accessible height on the back surface 7 of the housing 11 as shown in FIG.

As described above, the sub-operation section 32 of the vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus according to the present embodiment can be slid up and down on the side of the gas control box (gas box) 23 located at the upper portion on the back side of the apparatus. It is installed in. Therefore, it is normally installed above so as not to affect the operator on the rear side of the apparatus, and can be moved downward when using the sub-operation unit 32 such as maintenance of the reaction chamber.
As a result, even if the worker is short, even if the sub-operation unit 32 is at a high position, the sub-operation unit 32 can be easily operated by lowering the sub-operation unit 32 without preparing a stepping board or the like. it can. When not in use, the sub-operation unit 3
By raising 2, the sub-operation unit 32 is not hindered by hitting the sub-operation unit 32 and not injured. In addition, since the sub-operation unit 32 is normally raised, a space located below the sub-operation unit mounting projection can be effectively used as a work area. Further, the vertical operation of the sub-operation unit 32 can be easily performed by switching the switch 41, so that the handling is good. The vertical sliding of the sub-operation unit is not automatic, but may be performed manually by providing a handle or the like in the sub-operation unit.

Although the embodiment has been described with reference to the case where only the sub-operation unit is slidable, the main operation unit may be movable with respect to the front surface of the housing as required. Further, instead of sliding up and down, it may be in an oblique direction, or may be rotated on a vertical plane, and may be moved to the operator's hand or separated from the operator's hand according to the rotation angle.

[0025]

According to the present invention, since the operating section is provided so as to be movable with respect to the outer surface of the housing, the operating section which is easy to operate regardless of the worker's height without impairing the maintainability of the operator. Can be installed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus according to an embodiment to which a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied, viewed from the back.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a movable mechanism of a sub operation unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram in which multiple integrated substrate processing apparatuses in which the apparatus main body and the utility are integrated are arranged in a cascade.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conventional utility type substrate processing apparatus in which an apparatus main body and a utility are separated from each other as viewed from the front.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 7 back of housing 10 main body of device 11 housing 12 front of housing 20 utility 30 operation unit 31 main operation unit 32 sub operation unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Akinari Hayashi 3-14-20 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Satoshi Taniyama 3-14-20 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tohru Kagaya 3-14-20 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) 4K030 KA04 KA49 5F045 DP19 EB02 GB15

Claims (1)

[Claims] A housing for storing a mechanism for performing necessary processing on a substrate; and an operation unit provided on an outer surface of the housing and operating the mechanism for performing the required processing. A substrate processing apparatus provided so as to be movable with respect to an outer surface of the housing.