JP2002368062A - Device for processing substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To move up and down a boat without using a screwed electric jack. SOLUTION: This device has a process tube 14 in which a processing chamber 14a for processing a wafer W supported with a boat 18, a seal cap 19 for supporting and carrying the boat 18 into the processing chamber 14a and sealing the processing chamber 14a, and a load lock chamber 4 in which a waiting chamber 3 is formed where the boat 18 waits. The seal cap 19 is connected to the chamber 4 by a bellows 21 for hermetically sealing the waiting chamber 3 and the other end of a wire 26 retained by the seal cap 19 is retained by a drum 25 rotated by a motor 24. A pressure difference between as pressure in the waiting chamber 3 evacuated to a vacuum and an atmospheric pressure in a hollow portion of the bellows 21 moves up and down the boat 18 and a moving speed is controlled by adjusting a speed of unreeling/reeling the wire 26. Moving up and down the boat by the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the bellows eliminates the use of screwed electric jack and thus reduces the whole length of a CVD device and its manufacturing cost.

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 a technique for elevating and lowering a boat supporting a plurality of substrates to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer on which a semiconductor integrated circuit including semiconductor elements is formed. (Hereinafter referred to as a wafer) by diffusing impurities or CVD of an insulating film or a metal film.
The present invention relates to an apparatus which is effective when used in a vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus for forming a film.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to prevent the formation of an unnecessary natural oxide film on a wafer surface in accordance with the high performance of a semiconductor device, a vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus having a load lock chamber (hereinafter referred to as a vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus).
It is called a load lock type CVD apparatus. ) Is used. In a conventional general load lock type CVD apparatus, a load lock chamber is installed below a process tube, and a load lock chamber is provided inside the load lock chamber (a standby chamber where a boat waits for loading into a processing chamber). A boat elevator that raises and lowers the boat is installed,
This boat elevator is constituted by a so-called screw type electric jack using a ball screw mechanism.

In recent years, a boat elevator constituted by a screw-type electric jack has been installed outside the load lock chamber in order to increase the vacuum inside the load lock chamber (standby room of the boat), prevent organic matter contamination and particles. A load lock type CVD apparatus has been proposed. JP-A-11-288994 and JP-A-6-151559 disclose examples of this type of conventional load lock type CVD apparatus. In the load lock type CVD apparatus disclosed in these documents, the boat installed in the internal chamber of the load lock chamber and the boat elevator installed outside the load lock chamber are connected to each other by applying a vacuum to the internal chamber of the load lock chamber. A bellows is provided between the load lock chamber and the boat elevator so as to expand and contract as the boat moves up and down and hermetically seals the internal chamber between the load lock chamber and the boat elevator.

[0004]

However, in a load-lock type CVD apparatus in which a boat elevator is disposed outside a load-lock chamber, the boat elevator is constituted by a screw-type electric jack. Is required below the load lock chamber, so that batch processing of many wafers at once increases the overall height of the load lock type CVD apparatus. As a result, the load lock type CVD apparatus may not be able to be stored in a normal clean room.

The screw type electric jack constituting the boat elevator uses a complicated and expensive ball screw mechanism, which not only increases the manufacturing cost of the load lock type CVD apparatus but also increases the load. Lock type C
The production period of the VD device is affected by the production period of the ball screw mechanism.

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of moving a boat up and down without using a screw-type electric jack.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a process tube having a processing chamber for processing a plurality of substrates in a state where the substrates are supported by a boat; A sealing cap that seals the processing chamber into and out of the processing chamber; and a chamber formed with a standby chamber in which the boat stands by for loading into the processing chamber. The chamber is connected with a bellows that hermetically seals the standby chamber, and the boat is raised and lowered by a pressure difference between the inside of the bellows and the standby chamber.

According to the above means, the boat can be raised and lowered by the pressure difference between the bellows and the standby chamber, so that the use of the screw type electric jack can be omitted,
The overall length and manufacturing cost of the substrate processing apparatus can be reduced.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the present embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is used for a process of diffusing impurities into a wafer or forming a CVD film such as an insulating film or a metal film in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. As a batch type vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a batch type CVD apparatus). In this batch type CVD apparatus 1, a FOUP (front open) is used as a carrier for transferring a wafer.
ing unified pod. Hereinafter, it is called a pod. ) Is used.

In the following description, front, rear, left and right are based on FIG. That is, the pod opener 41 side is the front side, the opposite side, that is, the load lock chamber 4 side is the rear side, the elevator 36 side of the wafer transfer device 30 is the right side, and the opposite side, that is, the clean air unit 37 side is the left side.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the batch type CVD apparatus 1 includes a casing 2 formed of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box using a steel or a steel plate. A load lock chamber 4 is provided at the rear end inside the housing 2 and has a standby chamber 3 for accommodating a boat and waiting for loading. The standby chamber 3 of the load lock chamber 4 is below atmospheric pressure. An airtight chamber that can withstand the pressure of On the front wall of the load lock chamber 4, a wafer loading / unloading port 5 opened and closed by a gate 6 is provided. On the rear wall of the load lock chamber 4, a maintenance inspection port 7 for opening and closing the boat into and out of the load lock chamber 4 for maintenance and the like is provided.
The maintenance inspection port 7 is closed by a gate 8. An exhaust pipe 9 is connected to the load lock chamber 4, and the inside of the standby chamber 3 is exhausted by the exhaust pipe 9 to increase or decrease the pressure.

A boat loading / unloading port 10 is provided on the ceiling wall of the load lock chamber 4, and the boat loading / unloading port 10 is opened and closed by a shutter 11. The bottom wall of the load lock chamber 4 has a large communication port 12 communicating with the atmosphere.
Is substantially overlapped with the center line of the boat entrance 10.

A heater unit 13 is vertically installed above the rear end of the housing 2, and a cylindrical process tube 14 having a closed upper end and an open lower end is formed concentrically inside the heater unit 13. Are located. The process tube 14 is supported on a ceiling wall of the load lock chamber 4 via a manifold 15. The manifold 15 is for introducing a source gas, a purge gas, and the like into a processing chamber 14 a formed inside the process tube 14. Is connected to an exhaust pipe 17 for exhausting the processing chamber 14a. The manifold 15 is disposed concentrically with the boat loading / unloading port 10 of the load lock chamber 4.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a boat 18 is accommodated in the waiting room 3 of the load lock chamber 4, and a plurality of boats 18 (for example, about 25 to about 100 boats) are provided. The fifty (fifty) wafers W are configured to be carried in and out of the processing chamber 14a of the process tube 14 as the seal cap 19 moves up and down in a state where the centers of the wafers W are aligned and horizontally supported. When the processing chamber 14a of the boat 18 is loaded, the seal cap 19 is
Is configured so as to seal the boat loading / unloading port 10 of the load lock chamber 4 which becomes the furnace port. Boat 18
During standby in the standby chamber 3, the seal cap 19 is horizontally and concentrically supported by the boat loading / unloading port 10 by the base 20 </ b> A protruding from the bottom surface of the standby chamber 3. The bellows 21 which will be described later, which is the bottom surface of the waiting room 3
Multiple guides 2 on the same radius located in the inner space of
Zeros are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction and project vertically. A plurality of guides 20 are so-called telescopes (far glasses)
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the seal cap 19 is horizontally supported in cooperation with the base 20A in a shortened state in which each step is pressed, as shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 5, the vertical movement of the seal cap 19 is guided during the expansion and contraction operation.

Inside the base 20A, a bellows 21 made of a metal such as stainless steel and formed into a bellows shape in a cylindrical shape is arranged concentrically so as to hermetically seal the communication port 12 of the load lock chamber 4. The lower opening edge of the bellows 21 is fixed to the opening edge of the communication port 12 on the bottom surface of the load lock chamber 4, and the upper edge of the bellows 21 is fixed to the lower surface of the seal cap 19. The inner diameter of the bellows 21 is set larger than the inner diameter of the communication port 12, and the bellows 21
The communication port 12 is hermetically sealed while allowing the seal cap 19 to move up and down by following up and down movements of the seal cap 19.

A gantry 22 is provided at a lower portion of the housing 2, and the gantry 22 supports the load lock chamber 4 from below while floating from the bottom surface of the housing 2. An installation base 23 is installed below the gantry 22, and a motor with a speed reducer (hereinafter, referred to as a motor) 24 is installed horizontally on the installation base 23, and the motor 24 takes up a wire 26. The feeding drum 25 is configured to rotate forward and backward. Wire 26 with one end locked to drum 25
Is turned at a right angle by an intermediate pulley 27 horizontally mounted on a mounting table 23, and the other end of the wire 26 is fixed to a central portion of the lower surface of the seal cap 19 by a locking member 28.
It is locked by. The guide 20, the bellows 21, the motor 24, the drum 25, the wire 26, and the like constitute a boat elevator 29 that raises and lowers the boat 18 without using a screw-type electric jack.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a wafer transfer device 30 for charging and discharging the wafer W with respect to the boat 18 is provided in a front area in the housing 2. The wafer transfer device 30 includes a rotary actuator 31, and the rotary actuator 31 is configured to rotate a first linear actuator 32 installed on an upper surface in a horizontal plane. A second linear actuator 33 is provided on an upper surface of the first linear actuator 32, and the first linear actuator 32 is configured to horizontally move the second linear actuator 33. A moving table 34 is provided on the upper surface of the second linear actuator 33,
The second linear actuator 33 is configured to move the movable table 34 horizontally. The moving table 34 has a wafer W
Tweezers 35 for supporting from below (five in this embodiment) are arranged at equal intervals and mounted horizontally. The wafer transfer device 30 is moved up and down by an elevator 36 constituted by a feed screw device or the like. On the opposite side of the elevator 36, a clean air unit 37 for supplying clean air to the inside of the housing 2
Is installed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a wafer loading / unloading port 40 for loading / unloading a wafer into / from the housing 2 is opened on the front wall of the housing 2. A pod opener 41 is provided at the carry-out port 40. The pod opener 41 is a mounting table 4 on which the pod P is mounted.
2 and a cap attaching / detaching mechanism 43 for attaching / detaching a cap of the pod P placed on the placing table 42.
The cap of the pod P mounted on the second 2 is attached and detached by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 43, so that the wafer entrance of the pod P is opened and closed. The pod P is supplied to and discharged from the mounting table 42 of the pod opener 41 by a not-shown in-process transfer device (RGV or the like).

Hereinafter, the operation of the batch type CVD apparatus according to the above configuration will be described.

In the state where a plurality of wafers W to be formed are stored in the pod P, the wafers W are transferred to the batch type CVD apparatus 1 for performing the film forming process by the in-process transfer device. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transported pod P is delivered from the in-process transport device and placed on the loading table 42 of the pod opener 41. Pod P
Is removed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 43, and the wafer inlet / outlet of the pod P is opened.

When the pod P is opened by the pod opener 41, five wafers W from the pod P are carried in and out of the housing 2 by the tweezers 35 of the wafer transfer device 30 installed in the housing 2. It is picked up through the outlet 40 and loaded into the housing 2 through the wafer loading / unloading port 40. When five wafers W are loaded into the housing 2 by the wafer transfer device 30, the wafer loading / unloading port 5 of the load lock chamber 4 is opened by the gate 6. The five wafers W held by the tweezers 35 of the wafer transfer device 30 are transferred to the boat 18 by the wafer transfer device 3.
0 is charged (charged) through the wafer loading / unloading port 5.

Thereafter, the boat 18 is moved from the pod P of the wafer W to the boat 18.
The loading operation by the wafer transfer device 30 is repeated. During this time, the high-temperature atmosphere in the processing chamber 14 a of the process tube 14 is prevented from flowing into the standby chamber 3 of the load lock chamber 4 by closing the boat loading / unloading port 10 with the shutter 11. For this reason, the wafer W during the loading operation and the loaded wafer W are not exposed to the high-temperature atmosphere, and the exposure of the wafer W to the high-temperature atmosphere can be prevented from causing adverse effects such as natural oxidation.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when a predetermined number of wafers W are loaded into the boat 18, the wafer loading / unloading port 5 is closed by the gate 6. Incidentally, the maintenance inspection port 7 is closed by a gate 8, and the boat loading / unloading port 10 is closed by a shutter 11. With the load locked state, the standby chamber 3 of the load lock chamber 4 is evacuated to a vacuum by the exhaust pipe 9 to remove oxygen and moisture. At this time, since the wire 26 and the seal cap 19 are mechanically locked by a lock device (not shown), the seal cap 19 does not rise even if the pressure in the standby chamber 3 is reduced.

When oxygen and moisture in the standby chamber 3 of the load lock chamber 4 are removed by vacuum evacuation, and a preset pressure value is detected by a pressure switch (not shown), the boat loading / unloading port 10 is opened. 11, the mechanical lock of the wire 26 and the seal cap 19 by the lock device is released, and the processing chamber 14 a of the process tube 14 is exhausted by the exhaust pipe 17.
Further, the drum 25 is rotated by the motor 24 in a direction in which the wire 26 is fed out.

The processing chamber 14a of the process tube 14
In addition, with the evacuation of the standby chamber 3 of the load lock chamber 4, the outer space of the hollow portion of the bellows 21 becomes lower than the inner space by at most the atmospheric pressure (1 kgf / cm ² ). The force F multiplied by the cross-sectional area of the hollow portion 21 acts vertically upward as shown in FIGS. Since the bellows 21 is extended upward by the pushing force F, the boat 18 is raised via the seal cap 19 and is loaded (loaded) into the processing chamber 14a of the process tube 14. At this time, the lifting speed of the seal cap 19, that is, the boat 18 is controlled by adjusting the feeding speed of the wire 26 holding the seal cap 19 by the rotation speed of the motor 24.

Here, since oxygen and moisture in the standby chamber 3 have been removed in advance by vacuum evacuation, it is ensured that oxygen and moisture enter the processing chamber 14a as the boat 18 is carried into the processing chamber 14a. Is prevented. In addition, the bellows 21 occupies the center of the load lock chamber 4 with the extension, but the bellows 21 isolates the standby chamber 3 from the atmospheric pressure space in the space inside the load lock chamber 4. Therefore, it is possible to prevent oxygen and moisture in the atmosphere existing in the inner space of the bellows 21 which is the outer space of the standby chamber 3 from entering the standby chamber 3.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, when the boat 18 reaches the upper limit, the upper surface of the seal cap 19 holding the boat 18 comes into contact with the ceiling surface of the waiting room 3, so that the boat 18 rises. Stops. At the same time, the periphery of the upper surface of the seal cap 19 closes the boat loading / unloading port 10 in a sealed state, so that the processing chamber 14a is airtightly closed. Even in this state, since a differential pressure corresponding to the atmospheric pressure is generated inside and outside the bellows 21, the bellows 2
1 maintains the extended state, and the boat 18
9, the state of being kept in the processing chamber 14a is maintained. When the limit switch or the like (not shown) detects that the seal cap 19 has reached the upper limit, the motor 24 stops rotating.

Thereafter, the processing chamber 1 of the process tube 14
4a is airtightly closed, exhausted by an exhaust pipe 17 so as to have a predetermined pressure, heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater unit 13, and supplied with a predetermined raw material gas by a gas introduction pipe 16 at a predetermined flow rate. Is done. Thereby, a desired film corresponding to the preset processing conditions is formed on the wafer W.

After a predetermined processing time has elapsed, the drum 25 is rotated by the motor 24 in a direction in which the wire 26 is wound up, so that the sealing cap is pressed against a pushing force F caused by a differential pressure between the inside and outside of the bellows 21. 19 is reduced. By lowering the seal cap 19 of the wire 26 to lower the boat 18,
The boat 18 holding the processed wafer W is placed in the processing chamber 14a.
Is carried out (unloaded) to the waiting room 3 from the outside. At this time, the lowering speed of the seal cap 19, that is, the boat 18 is controlled by adjusting the winding speed of the wire 26 holding the seal cap 19 by the rotation speed of the motor 24.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the boat 18 is carried out to the standby chamber 3 of the load lock chamber 4, and the seal cap 19 is moved to the base 20A and the guide 2.
0 is detected by a limit switch or the like (not shown), the motor 24
Is stopped. Subsequently, the boat loading / unloading port 10 is closed by the shutter 11, and the exhaust of the processing chamber 14a by the exhaust pipe 17 and the exhaust of the standby chamber 3 by the exhaust pipe 9 are stopped.

Next, the wafer loading / unloading port 5 of the load lock chamber 4 is opened by the gate 6 and the boat 18
Is processed (discharged) by the wafer transfer device 30. Subsequently, the wafer loading / unloading port 40 of the housing 2 and the mounting table 4 of the pod opener 41
2 is opened by the pod opener 41, and the processed wafer W discharged by the wafer transfer device 30 is placed on the mounting table 4.
The two empty pods P are stored through the wafer loading / unloading port 40.

When a predetermined number of processed wafers W have been stored, the pod P is transferred from the mounting table 42 of the pod opener 41 to the next processing step by the intra-step transfer device after the cap is mounted by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 43. Go being. The discharging operation and the storing operation in the pod P are repeated for all the processed wafers W in the boat 18.

Thereafter, the above-described operation is repeated, and for example, 25 to 150 wafers W are batch-processed by CVD.
Batch processing is performed by the apparatus 1.

According to the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

1) By using a structure in which the boat is raised and lowered by a differential pressure corresponding to the atmospheric pressure inside and outside the hollow portion of the bellows, the use of a boat elevator constituted by a screw-type electric jack can be omitted. Formula C
The total length and manufacturing cost of the VD device can be reduced.

2) By interposing a bellows for hermetically sealing the standby chamber between the standby chamber of the load lock chamber and the seal cap supporting the boat, a boat elevator not using a screw-type electric jack can be installed in the standby chamber. Since it can be installed outside, it is possible to prevent boats and wafers in the waiting room from being contaminated by particles and organic substances. In addition, by disposing a guide for guiding the bellows in the hollow portion of the bellows, it is possible to prevent particles generated by sliding of the guide from entering the standby chamber.

3) The one end of the wire is locked to the seal cap, and the other end of the wire is locked to the drum installed outside the bellows, thereby adjusting the feeding and winding speed of the wire of the drum. As a result, the speed at which the seal cap moves up and down can be controlled, so that the speed of loading and unloading the boat supported by the seal cap to and from the processing chamber can be controlled.

4) By evacuating the standby chamber to a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure and raising the boat, the atmosphere in the standby chamber can be evacuated in advance. Oxygen and moisture in the chamber can be prevented from entering the processing chamber (so-called getting caught).

FIGS. 6 to 9 show a CVD apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment is different from the above-described embodiment in that a boat elevator 29A not using a screw type electric jack is configured to be raised and lowered at a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure. That is, in the chamber 4A constituting the standby chamber 3 of the boat 18, the atmosphere is purged by the nitrogen gas G by the flow of the nitrogen gas G through the supply pipe 9A for supplying the nitrogen gas G and the exhaust pipe 9B. The inner chamber 23B is provided with a bellows 21 on the lower surface of this chamber (hereinafter, referred to as a purge chamber) 4A.
An elevator chamber 23A communicating with the hollow chamber through the communication port 12 is connected to the hollow chamber, and a positive pressure exceeding the atmospheric pressure is supplied to the elevator chamber 23A by supplying air or the like to the internal chamber 23B. Further, a supply / exhaust pipe 24A for discharging a positive pressure by discharging air or the like from the internal chamber (hereinafter, referred to as a positive pressure chamber) 23B is connected. The supply of air to the positive pressure chamber 23B is performed by a compressor or the like. Further, the motor 24 is installed outside the elevator chamber 23A.

Next, the batch type CVD according to the present embodiment
The operation of the apparatus will be described focusing on the operation of the purge chamber 4A and the boat elevator 29A.

While the loading operation of the wafer W from the pod P to the boat 18 by the wafer transfer device 30 is being performed, the shutter 11 closes the boat loading / unloading port 10 so that the processing chamber of the process tube 14 is closed. 14
The high-temperature atmosphere a is prevented from flowing into the standby chamber 3 of the purge chamber 4A. Therefore, the wafer W during the loading operation and the loaded wafer W are not exposed to the high-temperature atmosphere, and the exposure of the wafer W to the high-temperature atmosphere can be prevented from causing adverse effects such as natural oxidation.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when a predetermined number of wafers W are loaded into the boat 18, the wafer loading / unloading port 5 is closed by the gate 6. Incidentally, the maintenance inspection port 7 is closed by a gate 8, and the boat loading / unloading port 10 is closed by a shutter 11. In the load-locked state, the standby chamber 3 of the purge chamber 4A is supplied with the nitrogen gas G from the air supply pipe 9A and exhausted from the exhaust pipe 9B and flows therethrough, thereby replacing the atmosphere with the nitrogen gas G. And purged with a so-called nitrogen gas. That is, the standby chamber 3 of the purge chamber 4A is purged with nitrogen gas to remove oxygen and moisture.

When the standby chamber 3 of the purge chamber 4A is purged by the nitrogen gas, the boat loading / unloading port 10 is opened by the shutter 11, and the elevator chamber 23 is opened.
A positive pressure, that is, air is supplied to the positive pressure chamber 23B of A in the supply / exhaust pipe 24A.
And the drum 25
Is rotated by the motor 24 in the direction in which

Positive pressure chamber 23 of elevator chamber 23A
Since the positive pressure supplied to B is supplied to the inner space of the bellows 21 through the communication port 12, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the positive pressure of the inner space of the bellows 21 (exceeding the atmospheric pressure) (Pressure) and the pressure (about atmospheric pressure) of the purge atmosphere in the standby chamber 3, which is the outer space of the bellows 21, and the force F 'obtained by multiplying the cross-sectional area of the hollow portion of the bellows 21 acts vertically upward. For example, assuming that the positive pressure supplied to the inner space of the bellows 21 is 2 kgf / cm ^{2 and} the pressure of the purge atmosphere in the standby chamber 3 which is the outer space of the bellows 21 is 1 kgf / cm ² (atmospheric pressure) at that time. The differential pressure between the inner space and the outer space is 1k
gf / cm ² . Since the bellows 21 is extended upward by the pushing force F ′, the boat 18 is raised via the seal cap 19 and the process tube 14 is raised.
Is loaded into the processing chamber 14a. At this time, the wire 26 holding the seal cap 19 is
Is adjusted by the rotation speed of the motor 24, so that the seal cap 19, that is, the boat 18 is adjusted.
Is controlled.

Here, since the oxygen and moisture in the standby chamber 3 have been removed in advance by the nitrogen gas purge, the oxygen and moisture are removed by the loading of the boat 18 into the processing chamber 14a.
Intrusion into 4a is prevented. Further, the bellows 21 occupies the central space of the purge chamber 4A with the extension, but since the bellows 21 is in a state of isolating the standby chamber 3 inside the purge chamber 4A, the bellows 21 is outside the standby chamber 3. Oxygen and moisture in the atmosphere existing in the positive pressure space in the hollow portion of the bellows 21 as the space are prevented from entering the standby chamber 3.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, when the boat 18 reaches the upper limit, the upper surface of the seal cap 19 comes into contact with the ceiling surface of the waiting room 3, so that the boat 18 stops rising. At the same time, the periphery of the upper surface of the seal cap 19 closes the boat loading / unloading port 10 in a sealed state, so that the processing chamber 14a is airtightly closed. Also in this state, since a pressure difference exists between the inside and outside of the bellows 21, the bellows 21 is maintained in the extended state, and the boat 18 is maintained in the processing chamber 14a via the seal cap 19. become. When the limit switch or the like (not shown) detects that the seal cap 19 has reached the upper limit, the motor 24 stops rotating.

Thereafter, the processing chamber 1 of the process tube 14
4a is airtightly closed, exhausted by an exhaust pipe 17 so as to have a predetermined pressure, heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater unit 13, and supplied with a predetermined raw material gas by a gas introduction pipe 16 at a predetermined flow rate. Is done. Thereby, a desired film corresponding to the preset processing conditions is formed on the wafer W.

After a predetermined processing time has elapsed, the drum 25 is rotated by the motor 24 in the direction of winding the wire 26, so that the sealing is performed against the pushing force F 'caused by the differential pressure between the inside and outside of the bellows 21. The cap 19 is pulled down. Seal cap 19 of this wire 26
The bellows 21 is shortened by the pulling down, and the boat 18 holding the processed wafer W is
9, the processing chamber 1 of the process tube 14
It is carried out (unloaded) from 4a to the waiting room 3. At this time, the lowering speed of the seal cap 19, that is, the boat 18 is controlled by adjusting the winding speed of the wire 26 holding the seal cap 19 by the rotation speed of the motor 24. In addition, with the lowering of the seal cap 19, the inside of the bellows 21 and the positive pressure chamber 23B
The pressure inside the increases due to the compression of the internal air, but at a predetermined pressure, for example, 2 kgf / cm ^2.
To prevent the above, a relief valve is provided in the positive pressure chamber 23B, and the air is automatically released by the relief valve.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the boat 18 has been carried out to the standby chamber 3 of the purge chamber 4A and the seal cap 19 has been supported by the guide 20, a limit switch or the like is used. (Not shown), the wire winding operation of the motor 24 is stopped, and the exhaust of the supply / exhaust pipe 24A is stopped.
Subsequently, the boat loading / unloading port 10 is closed by the shutter 11.

Next, the wafer loading / unloading port 5 of the purge chamber 4A is opened by the gate 6, and the processed wafer W of the boat 18 in the standby chamber 3 is unloaded (discharged) by the wafer transfer device 30. Then, housing 2
The cap of the empty pod P mounted on the wafer loading / unloading port 40 and the mounting table 42 of the pod opener 41 is opened by the pod opener 41, and the processed wafer W discharged by the wafer transfer device 30 is mounted thereon. The wafer is stored in the empty pod P of the mounting table 42 through the wafer loading / unloading port 40.

According to the present embodiment, since the purge chamber does not need to be evacuated to the atmospheric pressure or lower, the structure of the chamber can be simpler than that of the load lock chamber.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, the guide for guiding the expansion and contraction of the bellows in the vertical direction is not limited to the telescope structure.
A guide structure or the like in which a guide post and a guide bush are fitted may be configured.

In the above embodiment, the case of a batch type CVD apparatus has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to an oxidation apparatus, a diffusion apparatus, and other substrate processing apparatuses in general.

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By raising and lowering the boat by the pressure difference between the bellows and the standby chamber, the use of the screw-type electric jack can be omitted, so that the overall length and the manufacturing cost of the substrate processing apparatus can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cut-away perspective view showing a batch type CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a rear sectional view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a partially cut-away side view showing the boat loading step.

FIG. 5 is a rear sectional view thereof.

FIG. 6 shows a batch type CVD according to another embodiment of the present invention.
It is a partially cut-away side view which shows an apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a rear sectional view thereof.

FIG. 8 is a partially cut-away side view showing the boat carrying-in step.

FIG. 9 is a rear sectional view thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

W: wafer (substrate), P: pod, 1: batch type CVD
Apparatus (substrate processing apparatus), 2 ... housing, 3 ... standby chamber, 4 ... load lock chamber (chamber), 5 ... wafer loading / unloading port, 6 ... gate, 7 ... maintenance inspection port, 8 ... gate, 9 ... exhaust Pipe, 10: boat loading / unloading port, 11: shutter, 12
... Communication port, 13 ... Heater unit, 14 ... Process tube, 14a ... Processing chamber, 15 ... Manifold, 16 ... Gas introduction pipe, 17 ... Exhaust pipe, 18 ... Boat, 19 ... Seal cap, 20 ... Guide, 20A ... Base , 21 ... Bellows, 22 ... Stand, 23 ... Installation stand, 24 ... Motor (motor with reduction gear), 25 ... Drum, 26 ... Wire, 27 ...
Intermediate pulley, 28 locking device, 29 boat elevator without screw type electric jack, 30 wafer transfer device, 31 rotary actuator, 32 first linear actuator, 33 second linear actuator,
34: moving table, 35: tweezer, 36: elevator, 3
7 Clean air unit 40 Wafer loading / unloading port
41: pod opener, 42: mounting table, 43: cap attaching / detaching mechanism, 4A: purge chamber (chamber), 23A
... Elevator chamber, 23B ... Positive pressure chamber (internal chamber)
24A: supply / exhaust pipe, G: nitrogen gas.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Koichi Noto 3-14-20 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Norio Akutsu 3-14-20 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo F K term in Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. (reference) 4K030 FA10 GA13 KA04 LA15 5F031 CA02 FA01 FA11 FA12 FA14 GA49 HA64 HA67 LA06 LA13 MA28 5F045 AA03 AB31 BB08 DP19 DQ05 EN05

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A process tube in which a processing chamber for processing a plurality of substrates in a state of being supported by a boat is formed, and the boat is supported from below and carried in and out of the processing chamber to seal the processing chamber. And a chamber in which a standby chamber in which the boat waits for loading into the processing chamber is formed, and the seal cap and the chamber are formed by bellows that hermetically seal the standby chamber. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein the boat is moved up and down by a pressure difference between the inside of the bellows and the standby chamber. 2. One end of a wire is locked to the seal cap, and the other end of the wire is locked by inserting the inside of the bellows into a drum installed below the bellows, 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a speed of lifting and lowering the boat is controlled by adjusting a speed of feeding and winding the wire by rotation of the drum. 3.