JP2003124127A - Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and its exhaust pipeline and maintenance method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which the adhesion and deposition of reaction products on the internal surface of an exhaust pipeline can be suppressed and the maintenance work of the pipeline can be performed easily and efficiently, and to provide the exhaust pipeline and maintenance method of the device. SOLUTION: The semiconductor manufacturing device body 100 contains a manufacturing chamber 11 to which various kinds of gases are supplied. An exhaust gas generated in the chamber 11 after a reaction is made to flow through a gas exhaust pipeline 12 and finally introduced to an exhaust gas processing mechanism 13, such as a scrubber, pretreatment device, etc. At a prescribed distance of the pipeline 12, an external pipe 14 which evacuates the outer periphery of the pipeline 12 is provided. In addition, at a prescribed part of the external pipe 14, a vacuum port 141 is provided and connected to a vacuum pump. The vacuum pump can use an evacuating system installed to a semiconductor manufacturing line in a shared state. Consequently, the internal gas exhaust pipeline 12 is always kept warm.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, an exhaust pipe, and a maintenance method for the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which are accompanied by a process of removing exhaust gas generated when manufacturing a semiconductor device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method is used to form a film in a semiconductor element manufacturing process.
There are devices that handle various gases such as al Vapor Deposition) devices and reactive ion etching devices.

The exhaust gas generated from the manufacturing chamber of the main body of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus through the chemical vapor phase reaction contains harmful ones. Therefore, the exhaust gas passes through an exhaust gas treatment mechanism such as a scrubber and an abatement device in order to remove a harmful state.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a main part of a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. For example, C into which various gases GAS are input
The processing chamber 41 of the VD device is shown. Gas exhaust pipe 4
2 flows the exhaust gas after the reaction in the chamber. The illustrated gas exhaust pipe 42 is a part, and the exhaust gas is finally guided to the above-described exhaust gas treatment mechanism, so-called abatement device 43.

For example, in order to exhaust the exhaust gas from the processing chamber 41 into the gas exhaust pipe 42 between each dry pump DP and the abatement device 43, N ₂ gas for dilution is introduced by each dry pump (DP). is doing. This is because the unreacted gas is contained in the exhaust gas flowing through the gas exhaust pipe 42. Due to this unreacted gas, a reaction product (SiO ₂ -based substance) is generated and may be attached to and deposited on the inner wall of the gas exhaust pipe 42 to block the pipe. The N ₂ gas serves to dilute the exhaust gas in the gas exhaust pipe 42 and prevent the deposition of this reaction product.

In addition, it is desirable that the temperature of the exhaust gas flowing in the gas exhaust pipe 42 is kept as close to the temperature immediately after being discharged from the chamber 41 as possible and is not lowered as much as possible. The suitable temperature is 80 to 120 ° C. By making it difficult to cool the exhaust gas, it is possible to further suppress the adhesion of reaction products to the inner wall of the gas exhaust pipe 42.

Therefore, the gas exhaust pipe 42 is always kept warm or heated for a predetermined distance, for example, a distance to reach the abatement device. That is, the adhesion of the reaction product is prevented as much as possible by taking measures such as winding a heat insulating material around a predetermined distance of the gas exhaust pipe 42 and winding a heating wire (heater).

[0008]

Even if measures such as the installation of the heat insulating material and the installation of the pipe heater are taken as described above, it is not possible to completely prevent the reaction products from adhering and accumulating in the gas exhaust pipe. Therefore, periodically remove a part of the pipe,
Maintenance is required to remove the reaction products attached to the inner wall.

During the above maintenance, the heat insulating material and the heating wire (heater) wound around the pipe must be removed. Reusing old insulation and heating wires (heaters) requires considerable care to remove them, and replacement is often unavoidable. In any case, there is a problem that a series of maintenance work until restoration of the once removed pipe takes time and man-hours.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and realizes easy and efficient maintenance work of the exhaust pipe while suppressing the adhesion and deposition of reaction products on the inner wall of the exhaust pipe. It is intended to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, an exhaust pipe for the same, and a maintenance method.

[0011]

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing, and relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a gas exhaust pipe for guiding exhaust gas discharged along with a chemical vapor phase reaction in a manufacturing chamber, and at least the gas exhaust pipe. And an outer peripheral pipe which is provided at a predetermined distance of the pipe and whose outer periphery is evacuated.

According to the above-described semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the outer peripheral tube whose outer periphery is evacuated prevents the gas exhaust piping from radiating heat and prevents the temperature of exhaust from lowering. The outer peripheral tube is characterized by being evacuated by sharing a vacuuming system provided in a semiconductor manufacturing system. Alternatively, the outer peripheral tube is characterized in that it is evacuated by using a vacuum pump provided exclusively. The one that is easy to implement may be selected in consideration of the capability and cost.

The exhaust pipe of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is a gas exhaust pipe associated with semiconductor manufacturing, and is provided between the relay connecting portions at both ends and between the relay connecting portions. And a double pipe section surrounded by a region.

According to the exhaust pipe of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention described above, the double pipe portion surrounding the outer periphery of the pipe in the vacuum region prevents heat dissipation from the gas exhaust pipe and prevents the temperature of exhaust gas from decreasing. In addition, in order to maintain a constant vacuum region, the double pipe section is characterized by being provided with an intake section for vacuuming the periphery of the pipe.

A method of maintaining a gas exhaust pipe in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention relates to a gas exhaust pipe for guiding an exhaust gas discharged along with a chemical vapor phase reaction in a semiconductor manufacturing manufacturing chamber. Is equipped with a relay connection part at each of both ends and a double pipe part provided between the relay connection parts and surrounding the outside of the pipe with a vacuum region. The gas exhaust pipe is provided with two or more, and the relay connection part is removed. It is characterized in that the entire gas exhaust pipe with a double pipe section and a predetermined distance is replaced.

According to the above-described gas exhaust pipe maintenance method in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the gas exhaust pipe with a predetermined distance including the double pipe portion can be replaced by simply removing the relay connection portion. Since replacement is easy, it does not require man-hours and it is unlikely to affect the operation. By having the double pipe portion that keeps the temperature in the vacuum region, a heat-insulating material or a member such as a heater wound around the pipe and easily consumed is not provided. The replaced gas exhaust pipe is characterized by being cleaned and reused.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the configuration of a main part of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus main body 100 by burning and removing the processing gas is C
Including the processing chamber 11 of the VD device, various gases (GAS) are introduced.

The gas exhaust pipe 12 allows the exhaust gas after the reaction in the chamber 11 to flow. That is, it is a pipe that guides the exhaust gas discharged along with the chemical vapor reaction. The illustrated gas exhaust pipe 12 is a part, and the exhaust gas is finally guided to an exhaust gas treatment mechanism 13 such as a scrubber or an abatement device.

In the present invention, a predetermined distance of the gas exhaust pipe 12,
For example, in the pipe from the dry pump DP to the exhaust gas treatment mechanism 13, an outer peripheral pipe 14 is provided, which is vacuumized around the outside of the pipe. The gas exhaust pipe 12 and the outer peripheral pipe 14 have a double pipe structure made of, for example, stainless steel.

A vacuum port 1 is provided at a predetermined portion of the outer peripheral tube 14.
41 is provided and is connected to a vacuum pump. The vacuum pump may share an evacuation system provided in a semiconductor manufacturing line. Thereby, the gas exhaust pipe 12 of the inner pipe is always kept warm.

The temperature of the exhaust gas flowing through the gas exhaust pipe 12 is maintained close to the temperature immediately after being discharged from the chamber 11 and kept as low as possible. The temperature of the exhaust gas flowing through the gas exhaust pipe 12 depends on the type of gas used, but may be maintained at about 50 to 60 ° C. As a result, adhesion and deposition of reaction products in the gas exhaust pipe 12 are suppressed.

According to the above-described embodiment, the outer peripheral pipe 14 whose outer periphery is evacuated prevents the gas exhaust pipe 12 from radiating heat and prevents the temperature of exhaust gas from decreasing. Therefore, the gas exhaust pipe 1
2. The effect of preventing reaction products from adhering to and depositing on the inner wall can be expected considerably. Therefore, it is not necessary to flow a large amount of diluent gas such as N ₂ into the gas exhaust pipe 12. As a result of reducing the dilution gas, there is an advantage that the load of the final exhaust gas treatment mechanism can be reduced.

The outer peripheral tube 14 may be evacuated by sharing the evacuation system provided in the semiconductor manufacturing system, or may be evacuated by using a vacuum pump provided exclusively. Good. The one that is easy to implement may be selected in consideration of the capability and cost.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of the main part of the exhaust pipe of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. The gas exhaust pipe 21 is provided with a relay connection portion 22 having flanges provided with grooves for attaching O-rings at both ends. A double pipe portion 23 is formed between the relay connection portions 22 so that the outer periphery of the pipe is surrounded by a vacuum region.

The exhaust pipe 21 is made of stainless steel, for example. That is, the inner pipe 231 of the double pipe portion 23 has a material and a thickness that can withstand the corrosiveness of the exhaust gas, and the outer pipe 232.
It is necessary to withstand the vacuum because it creates a vacuum region between and. The outer tube 232 has, of course, a material and a thickness that can withstand a vacuum.

On the outer surface of the double pipe section 23 in the exhaust pipe 21, a vacuum port 24 for forming a vacuum region between the inner pipe 231 and the outer pipe 232 is provided. Vacuum mouth 2
4 is a flexible hose 2 including, for example, a stainless material
5 can be attached.

The gas exhaust pipe 21 is connected to the other gas exhaust pipes 21a and 21b to be connected with the relay connection portions 22a and 22b having flanges and the clamp ring 2 respectively.
Connected with tightening 6.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a method of maintaining the gas exhaust pipe in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus with reference to FIG. Actually, prepare a spare of the same gas exhaust pipe for at least replacement, and when the predetermined replacement time comes, remove it at the relay connection part and replace it with the gas exhaust pipe of the predetermined distance with the double pipe part. (S1 and S2). The removed pipe is stored after undergoing a cleaning process to remove areas such as deposits on the gas exhaust pipe (S3 to S4), and is prepared for reuse at the time of replacement.

According to the maintenance method of the gas exhaust pipe in the above-mentioned embodiment, the gas exhaust pipe having a predetermined distance including the double pipe portion can be replaced by only removing the relay connection portion. That is, unlike the conventional case, a heat insulating material or a heater is wound around the gas exhaust pipe, and a member that easily wears out and troublesome work are not provided, and the replacement is easy. For this reason, man-hours are not required, and the operation is unlikely to be affected. Further, the replaced gas exhaust pipe is cleaned and reused, so that there is no waste.

According to each of the above-described embodiments and methods, the outside of the pipe is evacuated to prevent heat dissipation from the gas exhaust pipe and prevent the temperature of exhaust gas from decreasing. Thereby, the effect of preventing the reaction products from adhering to and depositing on the inner wall of the gas exhaust pipe can be expected considerably. As a result, it is possible to greatly reduce the dilution gas that flows together with the exhaust gas from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. This means that the efficiency of removing exhaust gas is improved, and it contributes to the equipment of a highly reliable semiconductor manufacturing system in consideration of the energy environment.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the outer peripheral surface of the gas exhaust pipe is evacuated, so that the outer peripheral surface of the gas exhaust pipe is kept warm and the exhaust gas is brought to a temperature immediately after being discharged from the manufacturing chamber. You will pass in a close condition.
Even if a large amount of diluent gas does not flow, the reaction products can be prevented from adhering to the inner wall of the exhaust pipe, the load on the final exhaust gas treatment mechanism can be reduced, and the removal efficiency can be improved. Also, prepare a spare gas exhaust pipe to evacuate the outside and replace it regularly. The removed pipe should be washed and reused. As a result,
It is possible to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, an exhaust pipe, and a maintenance method for the same, which can prevent the reaction product from adhering to and deposit on the inner wall of the exhaust pipe and realize an easy and efficient maintenance work of the exhaust pipe.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a main configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a main configuration of an exhaust pipe of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method of maintaining a gas exhaust pipe in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a main part of a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Semiconductor manufacturing equipment main body 11, 41 ... Processing room 12, 21, 21a, 21b, 42 ... Gas exhaust pipe 13 ... Exhaust gas treatment mechanism 14 ... Peripheral tube 141, 24 ... Vacuum mouth 22, 22a, 22b ... Relay connection section 23 ... Double piping section 231 ... Inner tube 232 ... Outer tube 25 ... Flexible hose 26 ... Clamp ring 43 ... Harmful device S1 to S4 ... Processing steps DP ... Dry pump

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Regarding semiconductor manufacturing, a gas exhaust pipe for guiding exhaust gas discharged along with a chemical vapor phase reaction in a manufacturing chamber, and a vacuum provided at least at a predetermined distance of the gas exhaust pipe, around the outside of the pipe. Outer peripheral tube, and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. 2. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the outer peripheral tube is evacuated by sharing a vacuuming system provided in a semiconductor manufacturing line. 3. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the outer peripheral tube is evacuated by using a vacuum pump provided exclusively for the outer peripheral tube. 4. A gas exhaust pipe for use in semiconductor manufacturing, comprising: a relay connecting portion at each of both ends, and a double pipe portion provided between the relay connecting portions and surrounding the outside of the pipe with a vacuum region. An exhaust pipe for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which is characterized by being provided. 5. The double pipe section is provided with an intake section for evacuating the periphery of the pipe.
Exhaust pipe of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus described. 6. A gas exhaust pipe for guiding an exhaust gas discharged in association with a chemical vapor phase reaction in a semiconductor manufacturing chamber, wherein the gas exhaust pipe is provided with relay connecting portions at both ends thereof.
A double pipe part provided between the relay connection parts and surrounding the outside of the pipe with a vacuum region is prepared, and a spare of the gas exhaust pipe is prepared and detached at the relay connection part, and a predetermined distance with the double pipe part is provided. And a gas exhaust pipe maintenance method for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, wherein the gas exhaust pipe is replaced together. 7. The maintenance method of a gas exhaust pipe in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the replaced gas exhaust pipe is washed and reused.