JP2002299408A - Substrate processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processor which transfers substrates between transporting mechanisms without intermediate of a substrate support step, thereby suppressing the contamination of the substrates and reducing the substrate transport tact time. SOLUTION: The processor is composed of a substrate process unit 1 and an indexer unit 2 coupled therewith. The indexer unit 2 comprises a cassette station 21 and an indexer robot 22 for transporting a wafer W into/out of a cassette C located in the station 21. The process unit 1 comprises processing tanks 11, 12 and a center robot 13 for transporting the wafer W between the robot 22 and the tanks 11, 12. The center robot 13 has arms 31A, 31B formed in a shape enabling the direct transfer of the wafer W between indexer arms 25A, 25B, without interfering with them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer,
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for performing processing on substrates such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, a glass substrate for a plasma display panel, a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for an optical disk, a substrate for a magnetic disk, and a substrate for a magneto-optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Surface treatment of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, simply referred to as "wafer") is indispensable in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device. A substrate processing apparatus used for processing a surface of a wafer is configured by, for example, combining an indexer unit and a processing unit. The indexer unit includes a cassette mounting portion on which a cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of wafers is mounted, and an indexer robot for moving wafers in and out of the cassette mounting portion. The processing unit includes a processing tank for performing processing using a processing liquid (chemical solution or pure water) or the like, and a main transfer robot for transferring a wafer between the processing tank and the indexer robot.

[0003] The cassette mounting portion is configured so that a plurality of cassettes can be mounted in a state of being aligned in a predetermined direction. The indexer robot is configured to be able to travel in the cassette alignment direction in the cassette mounting portion, stops in front of the target cassette, moves the transport arm toward and away from the cassette, and moves up and down a little. Let it.
Thereby, it is possible to scoop the wafer from the cassette or to store the wafer in the cassette.

The indexer robot has three wafer support pins for receiving and supporting a wafer from a transfer arm. The three wafer support pins extend vertically upward and in parallel, and their tips make point contact with the back surface of the wafer to hold the wafer horizontally. The wafer held horizontally is skimmed by the main transfer robot. When transferring the wafer from the main transfer robot to the indexer robot, the main transfer robot places the wafer on the wafer support pins. Thereafter, the wafer is transferred from the wafer support pins to the transfer arm of the indexer robot.

[0005]

As described above, the transfer of the wafer between the indexer unit and the processing unit involves a wafer supporting step using wafer supporting pins. Therefore, particle contamination of the wafer due to the contact of the wafer support pins becomes a problem. In addition, there is a problem that the transfer tact becomes longer due to the wafer supporting step by the wafer supporting pins.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned technical problems and to enable the transfer of a substrate between transfer mechanisms without intervening a substrate support step, thereby suppressing contamination of the substrate and transferring the substrate. An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of reducing tact time.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cassette station (21) in which a cassette (C) for accommodating a substrate (W) is placed. A first transfer mechanism (22) having a first transfer arm (25A, 25B) for moving in and out of a cassette placed in the cassette station and for loading or unloading a substrate from or into the cassette;
A substrate holding mechanism for holding the substrate; a substrate processing mechanism for processing the substrate held by the substrate holding means; and a cassette holding the first transport mechanism therebetween. It is located at a position facing the station,
The first position in the attitude directed to the cassette station;
A second transfer arm (31A, 31B) having a shape capable of directly transferring the substrate between the first transfer arm and the first transfer arm without interfering with the first transfer arm; A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a second transport mechanism (13) for transporting a substrate between an arm and a substrate holding unit of the substrate processing mechanism. It should be noted that the alphanumeric characters in parentheses represent corresponding components in the embodiments described later. Hereinafter, the same applies in this section.

According to the above arrangement, the second transfer arm is
The substrate can be directly transferred to and from the first transfer arm without interfering with the first transfer arm. Therefore, there is no need to temporarily support the substrate with the substrate support pins or the like. Therefore, particle contamination of the substrate can be prevented, and the substrate transfer tact can be reduced. Also, the first
The substrate can be directly transferred between the first and second transfer arms with the transfer arm facing the cassette station, so that there is no need to provide a rotation mechanism for rotating the first transfer arm. Therefore, the configuration of the first transport mechanism does not become complicated.

For example, if one of the first transfer arm and the second transfer arm has a beam (beam) shape and the other has a comb shape (fork shape) that meshes with the first and second transfer arms, the first and second transfer arms have the same shape. The transfer arms can directly transfer the substrate without interfering with each other. It is preferable that the second transfer arm has a shape capable of directly transferring the substrate to the substrate holding unit without interfering with the substrate holding unit of the substrate processing mechanism.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the first transfer mechanism contacts the end surface of the substrate held by the first transfer arm to position the substrate with respect to the first transfer arm. A positioning member (50A, 50B) is provided, and the positioning member is formed with a notch (71, 72) into which the second transfer arm of the second transfer mechanism can be inserted. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: According to this configuration, the first transfer mechanism is provided with the positioning member for positioning the substrate with respect to the first transfer arm. This makes it possible to reliably transfer the substrate between the first and second transfer arms.
Further, it is possible to reliably carry in / out the substrate to / from the cassette placed in the cassette station.

The positioning member is formed with a notch for allowing insertion of the second transfer arm, so that the second transfer arm is positioned when the substrate is directly transferred between the first and second transfer arms. There is no risk of interference with the members. The positioning member may be arranged on a base end side of the first transfer arm (opposite to the cassette station). In this case, the second transfer arm can approach the first transfer arm from the base end side of the first transfer arm without interfering with the positioning member, and can directly transfer the substrate.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the second transfer arm directly transfers the substrate to and from the first transfer arm, the second transfer arm is substantially parallel to the direction in which the first transfer arm advances and retreats with respect to the cassette. 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate processing apparatus moves in a direction. According to this configuration, the second transfer arm approaches the first transfer arm from behind (the side opposite to the cassette station) the so-called first transfer arm, and transfers the substrate directly to and from the first transfer arm. It can be carried out. Therefore, the first
There is no need to provide a rotation mechanism or the like for directing the transfer arm backward (in the direction opposite to the cassette station).

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the first transfer arm includes two arms (25A, 25B) each capable of holding a substrate. A substrate processing apparatus according to any one of the above. According to this configuration, since the first transfer arm has two arms, for example, the substrate before processing and the substrate after processing can be held by different arms. Thus, particles that have adhered to the substrate before processing do not transfer to another substrate that has been processed, so that contamination of the substrate can be prevented.

When the two arms are arranged one above the other, it is preferable that the arm holding the substrate before processing is arranged below the arm holding the substrate after processing. This can prevent particles from falling from the substrate before processing to the substrate after processing.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an illustrative plan view showing a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this substrate processing apparatus, a substrate for cleaning the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as “wafer”) W, which is an example of a substrate, using a processing liquid (including a chemical solution such as an etching solution and pure water). It is a cleaning device. The substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate processing unit 1 for performing a substrate cleaning process, and an indexer unit 2 coupled to the substrate processing unit 1. The indexer unit 2 includes a cassette station 21 capable of arranging a plurality of cassettes C capable of holding a plurality of wafers W stacked in multiple stages and holding them in a predetermined cassette alignment direction, Indexer robot 22 that carries out unprocessed wafers W and carries in processed wafers W with respect to cassette C placed in station 21.
And On the other hand, the substrate processing unit 1 includes a pair of processing tanks 11 and 12 and a center robot 13 for loading and unloading the wafer W into and from the processing tanks 11 and 12.

The processing tanks 11 and 12 contain, for example, a wafer W
Chuck that can hold and rotate the wafer horizontally, a processing liquid nozzle that supplies a processing liquid to the front and / or back surface of the wafer W held by the spin chuck, and a nitrogen gas supply to the surface of the wafer W A gas nozzle. With this configuration, the surface of wafer W and / or
Alternatively, foreign substances (particles) on the front surface can be removed by supplying an etching solution to the back surface, and thereafter, the etching solution on the front surface and the back surface of the wafer W can be washed away with pure water. After that, while supplying the nitrogen gas to the surface of the wafer W, the wafer W is rotated at a high speed by the spin chuck, thereby performing the draining and drying process.

The center robot 13 has a pair of arms 31A and 31B for holding one wafer W, respectively.
Advancing / retracting drive mechanisms 32A, 32B for independently moving the arms 31A, 31B forward and backward, and a rotary drive mechanism for rotating a base 33 holding the forward / backward drive mechanisms 32A, 32B around a vertical axis ( (Not shown), and an elevation drive mechanism (not shown) for elevating the base 33. The arm 31A is disposed above the arm 31B. The center robot 13 includes the processing tank 1
The wafer W that has been processed by the
A, and the unprocessed wafer W is controlled to be held by the arm 31B.

With this configuration, the center robot 13
Receives one unprocessed wafer W from the indexer robot 22 with the arm 31B. Then, the center robot 13 unloads the processed wafer W from one of the processing tanks 11 and 12 by the arm 31A, and
, An unprocessed wafer W is loaded by the arm 31B. The processed wafer W taken out by the arm 31A is transferred to the indexer robot 22. Around the time of delivery of the processed wafer W, the arm 31
B receives an unprocessed wafer W from the indexer robot 22.

As described above, since the unprocessed wafer W and the processed wafer W are held by the different arms 31A and 31B, particles adhering to the unprocessed wafer W are transferred to the arm 31B. However, the particles do not transfer to the wafer W after the cleaning process. Moreover, an arm 31A for holding the processed wafer W
Are positioned above the arm 31B that holds the unprocessed wafer W, so that particles do not fall from the unprocessed wafer W to the processed wafer W.

The indexer robot 22 includes a carriage that travels along a rail 23 arranged along the cassette alignment direction, and a base 24 that moves up and down on the carriage. FIG. 2 is a side view of the configuration near the base 24 viewed from an arrow R1 (see FIG. 1) along the cassette alignment direction, and FIG. It is the rear view seen from the side. A pair of indexer arms 25A and 25B are arranged on the base 24 so as to be vertically overlapped. As in the case of the center robot 13, the indexer arm 25A disposed above
Is used for holding the processed wafer W in the processing tanks 11 and 12, and is disposed below the indexer arm 25.
B is used to carry out an unprocessed wafer W from the cassette C.

The indexer arms 25A and 25B are connected to the reciprocating drive mechanism 2 via connecting arms 26A and 26B, respectively.
7A and 27B. Connecting arm 2 for connecting upper indexer arm 25A to advance / retreat driving mechanism 27A
6A is a moving direction X of the indexer arms 25A and 25B.
And is bent so as to protrude outward along a horizontal direction perpendicular to the horizontal axis to avoid interference with the wafer W held by the lower indexer arm 25B.

The forward / backward drive mechanisms 27A, 27B are provided with rails 28, 28 laid along the forward / backward direction X, carriages 29, 29 sliding on the rails 28, and motors 30, 30 as drive sources. A transmission mechanism 3 for transmitting the rotational force of the motors 30, 30 to the carriages 29, 29
5, 35. The transmission mechanism 35 is wound around a pair of pulleys 36 and 37, so that a timing belt 38 stretched in the advance / retreat direction X and a timing belt 40 stretched between the pulley 37 and the motor pulley 39 are provided. It has.

When electric power is supplied to the motor 30 to rotate the motor pulley 39, this rotational force
The rotation of the pulley 37 causes the timing belt 38 to be displaced in the reciprocating direction X. A carriage 29 is fixed at an intermediate portion of the timing belt 38. Accordingly, the carriage 29 advances and retreats along the rail 28 with the displacement of the timing belt 38. The motor 30 can rotate forward and backward. By controlling the rotation direction, the indexer arms 25A and 25B can be advanced toward the cassette C or retracted from the cassette C.

The indexer robot 22 is not provided with a rotary drive for rotating the indexer arms 25A, 25B around a vertical axis. Therefore, the indexer arms 25A and 25B maintain the posture in which the front ends thereof are directed to the cassette station 21 throughout. FIG. 4 is a simplified plan view of the indexer robot 22. The indexer arms 25A and 25B are formed in a beam shape along the advance / retreat direction X, and have, at their distal end and proximal end, wafer support portions 41, which support the peripheral edge of the back surface of the wafer W.
42 are provided. The wafer supporting portion 41 provided on the distal end side has a regulating surface that contacts the peripheral end surface of the wafer W and regulates the displacement of the wafer W. Reference numeral 45 denotes an elevating mechanism for elevating the base unit 24.

As shown in FIG. 5, positioning members 50A and 50B are arranged on the base end sides of the indexer arms 25A and 25B, respectively. These positioning members 50A, 50B are connected to the indexer arms 25A, 2A.
5B is brought into contact with the peripheral end surface of the wafer W held by the
Is pressed toward the distal ends of the indexer arms 25A and 25B. Thus, the peripheral edge of the wafer W is positioned by the wafer support portion 41 on the front end side, and the wafer W is positioned at a predetermined position.

The positioning members 50A, 50B are
1 and a plurality of (four in this embodiment) contact members 61, 6 screwed on the holding plate 51 at intervals.
2, 63, 64. Further, a positioning drive mechanism 52 is provided to drive the holding plate 51 in the forward / backward direction X. The positioning drive mechanism 52 includes a bracket 53 for integrally holding the holding plates 51, 51 of the positioning members 50A, 50B, and slides on a rail 54 fixed to the bracket 53 and arranged along the advance / retreat direction X. A carriage 55 and a cylinder 56 for driving the carriage 55 in the reciprocating direction X (see FIG. 6)
And The cylinder 56 causes the rod 56a to advance by the supply of compressed air, thereby
5 is a single-acting air cylinder that drives the actuator 5 backward (toward the substrate processing unit 1). When the supply of the compressed air to the cylinder 56 is stopped, the rod 56a is retracted by the action of a spring built in the cylinder 56, and the contact members 61 to 64 contact the rear peripheral edge of the wafer W.
Therefore, the positioning state of the wafer W can be released by the supply of the compressed air to the cylinder 56, and by stopping the supply of the compressed air, the wafer W is pressed against the regulating surface 41a of the wafer support portion 41, and Positioning can be performed.

FIG. 7 is a plan view for explaining the transfer of the wafer W between the indexer robot 22 and the center robot 13. The transfer of the wafer W between the indexer robot 22 and the center robot 13 is performed by the indexer arms 25A and 25B in the cassette station 2.
This is performed in a state where the home position is retracted from 1 (see FIG. 2). FIG. 7 shows that the processed wafer W is transferred by the arm 31A of the center robot 13 to the indexer arm 25A.
At the time of delivery.

At the tips of the arms 31A and 31B, there are provided hand portions 34A and 34B formed in a comb shape (fork shape) capable of avoiding interference with the indexer arms 25A and 25B formed in a rim shape. . The comb-shaped hands 34A, 34B are provided with positioning members 50A, 50B.
Of the indexer arms 25A, 2 through notches 71, 72 (notches opened upward) formed by the gaps between the contact members 61, 62 and between the contact members 63, 64.
It can enter below the wafer W held by 5B. With the hand parts 34A and 34B entered,
Indexer arm 25A, 25B or arm 31A,
31B, the indexer arm 2 is moved up and down.
The wafer W can be directly transferred between the arms 5A and 25B and the arms 31A and 31B.

For example, when transferring the processed wafer W from the arm 31A to the indexer arm 25A, the hand unit 34A operates the indexer arm 25A and the connecting arm 2A.
The wafer W is guided above the indexer arm 25A at a height determined so as not to interfere with the indexer arm 6A, and then descends to deliver the wafer W to the indexer arm 25A. Then, while holding the height below the wafer W held by the indexer arm 25A, the hand unit 34A
Retreats toward the substrate processing unit 1 through the notches 71 and 72.

When the unprocessed wafer W is transferred from the indexer arm 25B to the arm 31B, the hand unit 34B moves through the notches 71 and 72 below the indexer arm 25B holding the unprocessed wafer W. To enter. Thereafter, the hand portion 34B rises and scoops the wafer W from the indexer arm 25B. Thereafter, the substrate W is held at a height such that the held wafer W does not interfere with the indexer arm 25B and the connecting arm 26B. Exit to the processing unit 1.

In this manner, the direct transfer of the wafer W between the indexer robot 22 and the center robot 13 can be realized without the intervention of the wafer W support pins as in the related art. FIG. 8 is a plan view for explaining the transfer of the wafer W between the center robot 13 and the processing tanks 11 and 12. A spin chuck 8 for holding the wafer W horizontally and rotating it around a vertical axis in the processing tanks 11 and 12.
0 is provided. The spin chuck 80 supports a plurality of (three in this embodiment) support pins 81, 82, and 83 that support the back surface of the peripheral portion of the wafer W, and rotates around the support pins 81, 82, and 83, respectively. A plurality of (three in this embodiment) chuck pins 84, 85, 86 for gripping the peripheral edge of the wafer W;
Link mechanisms 87, 88, 89 for gripping / releasing the wafer W by the 4, 85, 86.

Wafer W between center robot 13
During the transfer, the spin chuck 80 is stopped at a predetermined rotation position. The hand parts 34A, 34B at the tips of the arms 31A, 31B of the center robot 13 are
The shape is selected so as not to interfere with the support pins 81, 82, 83 of the spin chuck 80 stopped at the predetermined rotation position. As described above, according to this embodiment, the center robot 13 does not interfere with the indexer arms 25A and 25B or the positioning members 50A and 50B from behind the indexer robot 22.
The wafer W can be directly transferred to and from the indexer robot 22. As a result, the particle contamination of the wafer W can be reduced and the substrate transfer tact can be reduced as compared with the related art in which the wafer W is transferred using the wafer W support pins. Notch portions 71 that allow insertion of the comb-shaped hand portions 34A and 34B are provided in the positioning members 50A and 50B.
72, the indexer arms 25A,
25B and arms 31A and 31B of the center robot 13
Without hindering the direct transfer of wafer W between
The wafer W can be positioned on the indexer arms 25A and 25B. Therefore, since the wafer W can be accurately positioned before the transfer, the transfer of the wafer W between the indexer robot 22 and the center robot 13 and the transfer of the wafer W from the indexer robot 22 to the cassette C can be reliably performed. .

Since the indexer robot 22 and the center robot 13 are provided with dedicated arms for the unprocessed wafer W and the processed wafer W, respectively, the particles adhering to the unprocessed wafer W are processed. Is not transferred to the wafer W. Thus, the processed wafer W can be kept in a clean state. As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described, but the present invention can be embodied in other forms. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the center robot 13 and the indexer robot 22 are both double-arm robots having two arms. However, either one or both of them have only one arm. May be a single arm type robot having

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been given in which the arms 31A and 31B of the center robot approach the indexer arms 25A and 25B along the advance / retreat direction X from behind the indexer arms 25A and 25B. From diagonally behind the indexer arms 25A and 25B,
That is, a configuration may be adopted in which the arm of the center robot approaches from a direction intersecting with the retreating direction X. Further, in the above embodiment, the substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning the wafer is taken as an example. Alternatively, another type of substrate processing such as a resist coating processing may be performed.

In addition, various design changes can be made within the scope of the matters described in the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an illustrative plan view showing a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the configuration of the indexer robot viewed in a cassette alignment direction.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the configuration of the indexer robot viewed from the center robot side.

FIG. 4 is a simplified plan view of the indexer robot.

FIG. 5 is a rear view for explaining a configuration of a positioning member provided in the indexer robot.

FIG. 6 is a side view for explaining a configuration of a driving mechanism for a positioning member.

FIG. 7 is a plan view for explaining transfer of a wafer between an indexer robot and a center robot.

FIG. 8 is a plan view for explaining transfer of a wafer between a center robot and a processing tank.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing unit 11 Processing tank 12 Processing tank 13 Center robot 31A, 31B Arm 32A, 32B Advance / retreat drive mechanism 33 Base 2 Indexer unit 21 Cassette station 22 Indexer robot 23 Rail 24 Base 25A, 25B Indexer arms 27A, 27B Driving mechanisms 41, 42 Wafer supporting portion 41a Restricting surface 50A, 50B Positioning member 52 Positioning driving mechanism 61, 62, 63, 64 Contact member 71, 72 Notch 80 Spin chuck 81, 82, 83 Support pin 84, 85, 86 chuck pin X forward / backward direction C cassette W wafer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G11B 7/26 G11B 7/26 H01L 21/02 H01L 21/02 Z // H01L 21/304 648 21/304 648A F-term (Reference) 5D121 AA02 JJ02 JJ03 5F031 CA01 CA02 CA05 FA01 FA07 FA11 FA14 GA03 GA05 GA10 GA14 GA15 GA38 GA43 GA47 GA48 GA49 GA50 HA24 HA27 HA29 HA59 LA13 LA15 MA23 PA25

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cassette station in which a cassette for accommodating substrates is placed, and a first transfer arm for moving forward and backward with respect to the cassette placed in the cassette station, and loading or unloading substrates from or into this cassette. And a substrate processing mechanism for processing the substrate held by the substrate holding means; and a cassette having the first transport mechanism interposed therebetween. A second transfer arm that is arranged at a position facing the first transfer arm and that can directly transfer substrates to and from the first transfer arm without interfering with the first transfer arm in a posture facing the cassette station. A second transfer device having two transfer arms for transferring a substrate between the first transfer arm of the first transfer mechanism and the substrate holding means of the substrate processing mechanism A substrate processing apparatus which comprises and. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first transfer mechanism includes a positioning member for contacting an end surface of the substrate held by the first transfer arm and positioning the substrate with respect to the first transfer arm. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the positioning member has a cutout portion into which the second transfer arm of the second transfer mechanism can be inserted. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second transfer arm moves back and forth in a direction substantially parallel to a direction in which the first transfer arm moves back and forth with respect to the cassette when the substrate is directly transferred to and from the first transfer arm. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein
The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first transfer arm includes two arms each capable of holding a substrate.