JP2003151925A - Apparatus for wafer-edge polishing processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the occupied area of an apparatus. SOLUTION: This apparatus for wafer-edge polishing processing is constituted such that in the first-floor section 1 of a two-story construction 3, a wafer-edge polisher 10 and a dryer 30 are installed in parallel, and in the second-floor section 2, first and second cleaning apparatuses 20A, 20B are installed in parallel. In the front part of the two-story construction 3, first and second transfer machines 50A, 50B are installed, and a third transfer machine 60 is installed between the first and second cleaning apparatuses 20A, 20B, while in the front side of the first and second transfer machines 50A, 50B, a loader 40A for placing cassettes 41, 42 in which wafers 5 have been loaded, and an unloader 40B for placing cassettes 41, 42 to which the wafers 5 are to be loaded, are provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer edge polishing processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A wafer is chamfered at the edge with a diamond grindstone in order to prevent chipping of the edge and crown at the time of epitaxial growth. Then, the work strain layer remaining after the chamfering process is removed by etching. The surface subjected to the etching treatment becomes wavy or scale-like unevenness, and stains are likely to remain. Therefore,
Edge polishing is performed to smooth the chamfered edge portion of the wafer. Since the polishing slurry adheres to the edge-polished wafer, it is removed by cleaning and then dried. That is, the edge polishing step,
A washing process and a drying process are performed. In the cleaning step,
There are an oxidizing solution cleaning step and an alkaline solution cleaning step. In addition,
As a device related to this type of wafer edge polishing apparatus, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-309666 can be cited.

[0003]

Conventionally, in each of the above-mentioned processes, each device of each process is arranged in a plane, and a conveying device is arranged between each device. Therefore, there is a problem that the area occupied by the device is increased and the entire device is enlarged.

An object of the present invention is to provide a wafer edge polishing processing apparatus capable of reducing the area occupied by the apparatus.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A first means of the present invention for solving the above problems has a two-story section, and a first processing unit is provided on the first floor of the two-story section. A fourth processing device is installed side by side, a second processing device and a third processing device are installed side by side on the second floor, and first and second processing devices are installed in front of the second floor building. Corresponding to the first transfer device and the second transfer device corresponding to the third and fourth processing devices, and one of the first and second transfer devices is used for wafer edge polishing. An apparatus, and a third transfer device is provided between the second processing device and the fourth processing device on the second floor to take out the wafer from the second processing device and supply the wafer to the third processing device. In front of the first and second transfer devices, there are a loader section for arranging a cassette accommodating wafers and a cassette for accommodating wafers. An unloader unit to be installed, the first transfer device takes out a wafer from the cassette of the loader unit, supplies the wafer to the first processing device, and takes out a wafer processed by the first processing device to remove the wafer. The second transfer device takes out the wafer processed by the third processing device and supplies it to the fourth processing device, and takes out the wafer processed by the fourth processing device. And is stored in the cassette of the unloader section.

A second means of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is the first means according to the first means, wherein the first transfer device takes out a wafer from a cassette of the loader section. And a second band for taking out the wafer from the first processing apparatus and supplying it to the second processing apparatus, wherein the second processing apparatus includes the third band. A first band for taking out the wafer from the processing apparatus and supplying it to the fourth processing apparatus; and a second band for taking out the wafer from the fourth processing apparatus and storing it in the cassette of the unloader unit. Characterize.

A third means of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is the above-mentioned first means, wherein the first processing device is a wafer edge polishing device and the second processing device is a first cleaning device. In the apparatus, the third processing device is a second cleaning device and the fourth processing device is a drying device.

A fourth means of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is the above-mentioned first means, wherein the first processing apparatus is an apparatus for forming a hydrophilic oxide film on a wafer surface, Is a wafer edge polishing apparatus, the third processing apparatus is a cleaning apparatus, and the fourth processing apparatus is a drying apparatus.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, showing a first floor 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1, showing a second floor 2, and FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 1, showing a two-story portion 3 including a first floor portion 1 and a second floor portion 2. That is, the back side is the two-story part 3. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line D-D of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, on the first floor 1, a wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 as a first processing apparatus and a drying apparatus 30 as a fourth processing apparatus are arranged in parallel. As shown in FIG. 3, the second floor 2 includes a first processing device, which is a first processing device.
The cleaning device 20A and the second cleaning device 20B, which is the third processing device, are arranged in parallel. In this embodiment, the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10, the first and second cleaning apparatuses 20 are used.
The arrangement of A, 20B and the drying device 30 is characteristic, and the structure itself of each device 10, 20A, 20B, 30 is not characteristic. That is, since each of the devices 10, 20A, 20B, 30 may be a known device, it will be briefly described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, three wafer edge polishing apparatuses 10 are installed around the wafer 5 chucked by a spindle (not shown). As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, compressible and flexible polishing pads 12A, 12B, 12C are attached to the outer periphery of each polishing drum 11A, 11B, 11C of each wafer edge polishing apparatus 10, Polishing pads 12A, 1 on the edge of the wafer 5
2B and 12C are pressed and polished. Polishing drum 1
1A contacts the wafer 5 at an angle θ1 (45 °) to polish the upper edge 5a, and the polishing drum 11B contacts the wafer 5 at an angle θ2 (90 °) to polish the side edge 5b. 11C is at an angle θ3 (1
The lower surface edge 5c is polished by making contact at 35 °. During this edge polishing, a polishing slurry is supplied from a nozzle (not shown).

The first cleaning device 20A and the second cleaning device 2
0B has exactly the same structure. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the wafer 5 has a driving member 2 that also serves as four supporting members.
It is supported by 1 and is rotationally driven. Brushes 22 and 23 made of sponge which are vertically movable and rotatably driven are arranged on the front surface side and the back surface side of the wafer 5, respectively. Further, nozzles 24 and 25 for spraying a cleaning liquid are provided on the front surface and the back surface of the wafer 5. Here, the acidic cleaning liquid is supplied to the nozzles 24 and 25 of the first cleaning device 20A, and the alkaline cleaning liquid is supplied to the nozzles 24 and 25 of the second cleaning device 20B. Therefore, the wafer 5 is rotated while being driven by the nozzle 2
A cleaning liquid is supplied from Nos. 4 and 25, and impurities such as polishing slurry attached to the wafer 5 are cleaned by the brushes 22 and 23.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drying device 30 is provided with nozzle arms 31 and 32 for spraying pure water onto the front surface and the back surface of the wafer 5 which is rotationally driven.
Therefore, while the wafer 5 is being rotated, pure water is sprayed on the front surface and the back surface of the wafer 5 for a certain period of time, and then spraying of pure water is stopped, and the wafer 5 is rotated at a high speed. Thereby, the first cleaning device 20 attached to the wafer 5
The cleaning liquid of A and the second cleaning device 20B and the pure water are scattered by the centrifugal force and become a dry state.

Below the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 and the drying apparatus 30, there are a loader section 40A and an unloader section as shown in FIG. It is 40B. Two cassettes 41 and 42 are arranged in the loader unit 40A and the unloader unit 40B, respectively. Cassette 4
1 and 42 are adapted to store the wafers 5 vertically at a constant pitch, and the cassettes 41 and 42 of the loader section 40A
Stores the wafer 5 to be processed, and the cassettes 41 and 42 of the unloader unit 40B store the processed wafer 5. Here, the two cassettes 41 and 42 are provided in the loader unit 40A and the unloader unit 40B, respectively, because one of the loader units 40A, for example, when the cassette 41 becomes empty, the wafer Of the unloader section 40B,
For example, when the cassette 41 is full, the wafer 5 is stored in the other cassette 42 so as to eliminate the loss time when the cassette is replaced.

The first and second transfer devices 50A and 50B have exactly the same structure. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the first transfer device 50A includes the wafer edge polishing device 10 and the first transfer device 50A. It is arranged corresponding to the cleaning device 20A, and the second
The transport device 50B of the cleaning device includes a drying device 30 and a second cleaning device 2
It is arranged corresponding to 0B. Each of the first and second transfer devices 50A and 50B has two first and second bands 51 and 52 for holding the wafer 5, and the first and second bands 51 and 52 are respectively provided. It has a robot main body 53 that is driven in the XY axis directions on the plane and in the Z axis direction in the vertical direction. The robot body 53 includes a vertical slide mechanism 5
4, the first and second bands 51, 52 are on the first floor 1
And is vertically driven to correspond to the second floor 2.

The first band 51 of the first transfer device 50A
Is to take out the wafer 5 from the cassettes 41 and 42 of the loader section 40A and supply it to the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10. The second band 52 of the first transport device 50A
Removes the wafer 5 whose edge has been polished from the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 and uses the vertical slide mechanism 54 to move the first
The wafer 5 is supplied to the first cleaning device 20A after being raised so as to correspond to the cleaning device 20A. The first band 51 of the second transport device 50B is
The cleaned wafer 5 is taken out from the cleaning device 20B of
The wafer 5 is supplied to the drying device 30 after being lowered by the vertical slide mechanism 54 so as to correspond to the drying device 30. The second band 52 of the second transfer device 50B takes out the dried wafer 5 from the drying device 30 and stores it in the cassettes 41 and 42 of the unloader section 40B.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, a third transfer device 60 is disposed between the first cleaning device 20A and the second cleaning device 20B on the second floor 2. Third transport device 6
Reference numeral 0 has a pair of arms 61 and 62 that hold the outer periphery of the wafer 5 and can be opened and closed. The arms 61 and 62 are rotated and driven in the vertical Z-axis direction. That is, with the arms 61 and 62 opened, the arm 5 swivels above the first cleaning device 20A and then descends and closes to hold the first cleaned wafer 5. Then, the second cleaning device 2
After swinging above 0B, it descends and arms 61 and 62 open to supply the wafer 5 to the second cleaning device 20B.

Next, the operation will be described. The wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 performs edge polishing of the wafer 5, the first cleaning apparatus 20A performs first cleaning of the edge-polished wafer 5, and the second cleaning apparatus 20B performs second cleaning of the first cleaned wafer 5. In the cleaning / drying device 30, the second cleaned wafer 5 is dried, respectively.

First, the operation of the first transfer device 50A will be described. Wafer edge polishing machine 10
While the edge polishing of the first transfer device 5 is being performed,
The first band 51 of 0A takes out the wafer 5 from the cassette 41 of the loader section 40A and stands by. When the edge polishing of the wafer 5 is completed by the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10, the second band 52 of the first transfer device 50A takes out the wafer 5 whose edge has been polished, and then the wafer 5 held by the first band 51 is removed. It is supplied to the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10. After that, the robot main body 53 is lifted by the vertical slide mechanism 54 from the front of the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 on the first floor 1 to the front of the first cleaning apparatus 20A on the second floor 2. Then, the first cleaning device 20A
When there is no wafer 5 in the wafer, the wafer 5 held by the second band 52 is supplied to the first cleaning device 20A. Then, the robot main body 53 descends from the front of the first cleaning device 20A on the second floor 2 to the front of the wafer edge polishing device 10 on the first floor 1. After that, the above operation is repeated.

Next, the operation of the third transfer device 60 will be described. When the first cleaning of the wafer 5 of the first cleaning device 20A is completed, the third transfer device 60 takes out the wafer 5 of the first cleaning device 20A. Then, when the wafer 5 is not present in the second cleaning device 20B, the first cleaned wafer 5 is supplied to the second cleaning device 20B.

Finally, the operation of the second transfer device 50B will be described. The second transfer device 50B is the second cleaning device 2
It is in the position corresponding to 0B. When the second cleaning device 20B completes the second cleaning of the wafer 5, the first band 51 takes out the wafer 5 from the second cleaning device 20B. After that, the robot main body 53 is lowered by the vertical slide mechanism 54 from the front of the second cleaning device 20B on the second floor 2 to the front of the drying device 30 on the first floor 1. Then, when the drying of the wafer 5 of the drying device 30 is completed, the second band 52 takes out the wafer 5 of the drying device 30, and the second cleaning wafer 5 held by the first band 51 is dried by the drying device. Supply to 30. After that, the dried wafers 5 held on the second band 52 are stored in the cassettes 41 and 42 of the unloader section 40B.

Thus, the two-story building 3 is formed,
A wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 which is a first processing apparatus and a drying apparatus 30 which is a fourth processing apparatus are arranged on the first floor section 1, and second and third processing apparatuses are provided on the second floor section 2. Since the first and second cleaning devices 20A and 20B are arranged, the area occupied by the devices can be reduced.

Incidentally, the first and second transfer devices 50A, 5
0B indicates two first and second bands 51 and 5, respectively.
Although two are provided, only one first band 51 may be provided for each. However, with this configuration, the first band 51
Takes out the wafer 5 whose edge has been polished by the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 and then moves up to move to the first cleaning apparatus 20A.
Then, the wafer 5 whose edge has been polished is supplied, and then the wafer 5 is lowered to take out the wafer 5 from the cassettes 41 and 42 of the loader section 40A and supply it to the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10. That is, during the operation of the first band 51, the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 is in a stopped state, and the loss time is large. Further, since the removal of the wafer 5 of the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 and the removal of the wafer 5 from the cassettes 41 and 42 are performed in the same first band 51, the contamination of the first band 51 caused by holding the polished wafer 5 is eliminated. This stain adheres to the wafer 51 and contaminates the wafer 5 taken out from the cassettes 41 and 42.

In this respect, in the present embodiment, the first transfer device 50A is provided with the cassettes 41, 4 of the loader section 40A.
2 has a first band 51 that takes out the wafer 5 from the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 and supplies it to the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10, and a second band 52 that takes out the wafer 5 from the wafer edge polishing apparatus 10 and supplies it to the first cleaning apparatus 20A. The second transfer device 50B receives the wafer 5 from the second cleaning device 20B.
First band 51 for taking out and supplying it to the drying device 30
And the second band 52 for taking out the wafer 5 from the drying device 30 and storing it in the cassettes 41, 42 of the unloader section 40B, there is no loss time and less contamination.

In the present embodiment, the steps of edge polishing in the first step, first cleaning in the second step, second cleaning in the third step, and drying in the fourth step are sequentially performed. Although the case has been described, the present embodiment is not limited to this step. For example, JP-A-10-30966
As in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6, in the first step, an oxide film is formed on the surface of the wafer and then washed with pure water shower, in the second step edge polishing, in the third step pure water shower, and fourth It can also be applied when drying in the process. In this case, the second oxide film forming unit / cleaning device of the first step and the drying device of the fourth step are installed in parallel on the first floor 1 and the wafer edge polishing of the second step is performed on the second floor 2. The device and the cleaning device of the third step may be installed in parallel.

[0026]

The present invention has a two-story section, the first processing unit and the fourth processing unit are installed side by side on the first floor of the two-story section, and the second floor section is provided. The second processing device and the third processing device are arranged side by side, and in front of the two-story unit, the first transfer device is provided corresponding to the first and second processing devices, and the third and fourth processing devices are provided. A second transfer device corresponding to the first processing device, and one of the first and second transfer devices is a wafer edge polishing device. A third transfer device for taking out the wafer from the second process device and supplying it to the third process device is arranged between the four process devices, and in front of the first and second transfer devices, Each of the components has a loader section for arranging a cassette accommodating wafers and an unloader section for arranging a cassette accommodating wafers. Attained is reduction of the area occupied.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a wafer edge polishing processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating polishing of a wafer edge portion.

7A is a sectional view taken along line EE of FIG. 6, and FIG. 7B is FIG.
6 is a sectional view taken along line FF of FIG. 6, and FIG. 7C is a sectional view taken along line GG of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 1st floor 2 2nd floor 3 2 floors 5 wafers 10 Wafer edge polishing machine 20A First cleaning device 20B Second cleaning device 30 dryer 40A loader section 40B unloader section 41, 42 cassettes 50A first transfer device 50B Second transfer device 51 First Band 52 Second Band 53 Robot body 54 Vertical slide mechanism 60 Third Transport Device

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Nei Muto             3-10-6 Musashino, Akishima-shi, Tokyo Wai             Within ASH Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Fumiyuki Kanai             5-20-1 Kamimizuhonmachi, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo Stock             Ceremony Company Hitachi Semiconductor Division (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Arai             5-20-1 Kamimizuhonmachi, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo Stock             Ceremony Company Hitachi Semiconductor Division F term (reference) 3C049 AA03 AA18 AC01 CA01 CB03

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A two-story unit having a first processing unit and a fourth processing unit arranged side by side on the first floor of the two-story unit,
A second processing device and a third processing device are installed side by side on the floor,
In the front of the two-story section, a first transfer device is provided corresponding to the first and second processing devices, and a second transfer device is provided corresponding to the third and fourth processing devices. One of the first and second transfer devices is a wafer edge polishing device,
Between the second processing device and the fourth processing device on the second floor,
A third transfer device for taking out the wafer from the second process device and supplying it to the third process device is arranged, and a cassette containing the wafers is arranged in front of the first and second transfer devices, respectively. A loader unit to be installed and an unloader unit to dispose a cassette to store the wafers; and the first transfer device takes out the wafers from the cassette of the loader unit and supplies the wafers to the first processing device. Wafers processed by the above processing device are taken out and supplied to the second processing device,
The second transfer device takes out the wafer processed by the third processing device and supplies it to the fourth processing device, and takes out the wafer processed by the fourth processing device and stores it in the cassette of the unloader unit. A wafer edge polishing processing apparatus characterized by being. 2. The first transfer device takes out a wafer from a cassette of the loader unit and supplies it to the first processing device, and a wafer from the first processing device to take out the wafer. Second supply to second processing device
The second processing apparatus removes the wafer from the third processing apparatus and supplies it to the fourth processing apparatus, and the second processing apparatus loads the wafer from the fourth processing apparatus. 2. A second band which is taken out and stored in the cassette of the unloader section.
The wafer edge polishing processing apparatus described. 3. The first processing apparatus is a wafer edge polishing apparatus, the second processing apparatus is a first cleaning apparatus, the third processing apparatus is a second cleaning apparatus, and the fourth processing apparatus is a fourth cleaning apparatus. The wafer edge polishing processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing apparatus is a drying apparatus. 4. The first processing apparatus is an apparatus for forming a hydrophilic oxide film on a wafer surface, the second processing apparatus is a wafer edge polishing apparatus, and the third processing apparatus is a cleaning apparatus. The wafer edge polishing processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fourth processing apparatus is a drying apparatus.