JP2003203961A - Substrate processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the space around a substrate processing device required for maintenance therefor. <P>SOLUTION: The device comprises an airtight chamber 8 for housing a substrate, a maintenance door 29 that is provided on one side surface of the airtight chamber which is opened at maintenance, a substrate transfer opening 19 formed open in the maintenance door, and a gate valve 18 for opening/closing the substrate transfer opening. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for performing a required process for manufacturing a semiconductor device such as a CVD process, an etching process, and an impurity diffusion process on a substrate such as a silicon wafer. It is about. 2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 shows a conventional substrate processing apparatus, in particular, a closed-type substrate cassette (hereinafter referred to as a pod) having a load lock chamber which is an airtight chamber connected to a reaction furnace. 1 shows a batch type substrate processing apparatus. An outline of a substrate processing apparatus will be described. A cassette transfer section 2 is provided at a front portion of the housing 1, and the cassette transfer section 2 is in contact with the inside of the housing 1 via a loading / unloading shutter 3. The loading / unloading shutter 3
A pod opener 4 is provided so as to face the pod opener, and a cassette storage shelf 5 is provided above the pod opener 4.
A cassette loader 6 is provided between the pod opener 4, the cassette storage shelf 5, and the loading / unloading shutter 3, and transports the pod 12 in cooperation with traversing, ascending and descending, and advancing and retreating. The inside of the housing 1 is partitioned by a partition 10, and the pod opener 4 is provided adjacent to the partition 10 from the front side. On the rear side of the pod opener 4, there is provided a wafer transfer machine 7 for transferring one to a required number of substrates by cooperation of lifting, lowering, moving back and forth, and a load dock behind the wafer transfer machine 7. A chamber 8 is provided. On the front side of the partition 10, the substrate is handled in a state housed in the pod 12, and on the rear side of the partition 10, the substrate is handled in an exposed state. For this reason, a uniform flow of clean air or the like is formed so that the space on the rear side of the partition 10 has a higher degree of cleanliness than the space on the front side. The load dock chamber 8 is provided with a gate valve (not shown) for transferring a substrate, and a boat elevator for lifting and lowering the boat 13 for loading and unloading the boat 13 into and from a reaction furnace 11 described later. 9 is provided, and a reactor 11 is provided above the load dock chamber 8.
Reference numeral 1 has a quartz reaction tube (not shown) therein, which defines a reaction chamber. In addition, a processing gas,
A purge gas or the like can be supplied according to the processing step, and the reaction chamber can be evacuated. A predetermined number of substrates to be processed and processed substrates
For example, 25 sheets are stored in the pod 12 and are transferred to the cassette transfer unit 2 by an external transfer device (not shown). The cassette transfer section 2 includes a plurality of, for example, two pods 1.
The cassette loader 6 can transfer the pod 12 to the pod opener 4 or the cassette storage shelf 5 with the carry-in / out shutter 3 opened. The pod 12 is transported from the cassette storage shelf 5 to the pod opener 4, from the pod opener 4, and from the cassette storage shelf 5 to the cassette transfer section 2. The pod opener 4 opens the lid of the pod 12, opens the gate valve of the load dock chamber 8, and allows the wafer transfer machine 7 to transfer the unprocessed substrate from the pod 12 to the boat 13 in a lowered state. Put on, 1
A predetermined number of substrates are loaded into the boat 13 from one or more pods 12. A gate valve (not shown) of the load dock chamber 8 is closed, the boat 13 is loaded into the reaction furnace 11 by the boat elevator 9, the reaction chamber is sealed, and the inside of the reaction furnace 11 is closed. Then, the substrate is heated, a processing gas is introduced, and required processing is performed. After the processing, the boat 13 is lowered by the boat elevator 9 and the substrate is cooled to a predetermined temperature. Then, a gate valve (not shown) is opened, and the processed substrate is moved by the wafer transfer machine 7. The cassette is discharged to the pod 12 of the pod opener 4, and the pod 12 is further conveyed to the cassette transfer unit 2 by the cassette loader 6 and is discharged from the cassette transfer unit 2. In the above-described substrate processing apparatus, the cassette loader 6, the wafer transfer machine 7, the boat elevator 9
The movable part such as enters the inside of the housing 1 to perform the work of determining the position accuracy, the teaching work for setting the operating conditions, and the periodic maintenance work. For this reason, the substrate processing apparatus is configured to perform the above-described operations. First, referring to FIG. 3, the load dock chamber 8 of the conventional substrate processing apparatus will be described. The boat elevator 9 is provided inside the container body 15. In the figure, 16 is the boat 1
Reference numeral 17 denotes an arm which supports and moves up and down by the boat elevator 9. Reference numeral 17 denotes a furnace port flange provided at a lower end of the reaction furnace 11. A gate valve 18 is provided on a front side surface of the container body 15. The gate valve 18 slides in the horizontal direction (side) to open and close the opening 19, and the width of the opening 19 is sufficient for the wafer transfer machine 7 to transfer the substrate to the boat 13. And the height is such a height that the boat elevator 9 does not accompany the lifting and lowering operation of the boat 13 when the substrate is transferred to the boat 13,
That is, the height corresponds to the height of the substrate storage portion of the boat 13. A maintenance opening 21 is provided on the rear side surface of the container body 15, and the maintenance opening 2 is provided.
1 is hermetically closed by a maintenance opening / closing door 22 that is opened during maintenance. The size of the opening / closing door 22 is large enough for an operator to enter the load dock room 8 and perform maintenance on the boat elevator 9. Next, a maintenance operation for the cassette loader 6, the wafer transfer machine 7, and the boat elevator 9 will be described with reference to FIG. When performing maintenance work on the cassette loader 6, the maintenance work is performed from the front of the substrate processing apparatus, and the cassette transfer section 2 is moved to the front of the substrate processing apparatus.
The operation is performed with a work space secured in front of the cassette loader 6. When performing maintenance on the boat elevator 9, a door (not shown) on the rear surface of the housing 1 is opened, and the opening / closing door 22 is further opened to secure a work space for the boat elevator 9. When the maintenance is performed on the wafer transfer machine 7, since the partition 10 and the pod 12 are provided in front of the wafer transfer machine 7, the structure of the wafer transfer machine 7 can be reduced. Cannot be approached from the front. Further, the opening 19 of the load dock chamber 8 is not large enough to allow a worker to pass through, so that the
Cannot enter the load dock chamber 8 through the load dock chamber 8 and approach a space where the wafer transfer machine 7 can be operated. Therefore, at present, the housing 1
A side maintenance door 23 is provided on a side surface opposite to the wafer transfer machine 7, and during maintenance of the wafer transfer machine 7, the side maintenance door 23 is opened, and an operator stores the wafer transfer machine 7. I was in a space where I was working. As described above, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus, in order to perform maintenance work or the like, work is performed on the front, rear, and side surfaces of the substrate processing apparatus. Need space. In particular, when installing a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses, the maintenance space on the side is required, so that the substrate processing apparatuses cannot be installed continuously, and the footprint when installing the substrate processing apparatuses becomes large. There is a problem. Although it is conceivable to make the opening 19 large so that an operator can pass through the opening 19, since the gate valve 18 slides in the horizontal direction, the opening 19 and the gate valve 18 are large. Then, the sliding stroke of the gate valve 18 must be increased, and the width of the substrate processing apparatus increases.
Problems such as an increase in the size of the load dock chamber 8 occur, which also causes a problem that the footprint increases or the manufacturing cost of the substrate processing apparatus increases. In view of such circumstances, the present invention enables maintenance of a movable portion inside a substrate processing apparatus from behind without increasing the size of the substrate processing apparatus, and eliminates the need for a maintenance space on the side of the substrate processing apparatus. It is. According to the present invention, there is provided an airtight chamber for accommodating a substrate, a maintenance door provided on one side of the airtight chamber and opened during maintenance, and a substrate opened to the maintenance door. The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus provided with a transfer opening and a gate valve for opening and closing the substrate transfer opening. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, the same components as those shown in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 shows a plan section of the load dock chamber 8, and other parts are the same as those shown in FIG. A maintenance opening 21 is formed on the rear side of the container body 15 and a front opening 25 is formed on the front side of the container body 15. The maintenance opening 21 can be hermetically closed by a detachable opening / closing door 22. It is. A front plate 26 is hermetically fixed to the front side surface of the container body 15, and a front opening 27 for maintenance is formed in the front plate 26. The size of the front opening 27 for maintenance depends on the size of the work. Is large enough to pass through.
A maintenance door 29 is rotatably provided on the inner surface side of the front plate 26 via a hinge shaft 28, and the maintenance door 29 is air-tightly fixed to the inner surface side of the front plate 26. The central portion 31 of the maintenance door 29 is protruding, the central portion 31 is freely removably fitted into the front opening 27 for maintenance, and an opening 19 is opened in the central portion 31. Can be hermetically closed by a gate valve 18 provided on the outer surface side. The gate valve 18 is provided so as to be slidable in the horizontal direction with respect to the maintenance door 29, and is slid by an actuator such as an air cylinder (not shown) to open and close the opening 19. or,
When the gate valve 18 closes the opening 19, the gate valve 18 is pressed by the maintenance door 29 by the lock mechanism 32, so that airtightness is maintained. The lock mechanism 32 is configured such that a lock lever 33 rotatably provided is connected to a lock cylinder 34, and the lock cylinder 34 is extended, whereby the lock lever 33 causes the gate valve 18 to move the maintenance door 29. To generate a surface pressure necessary to maintain airtightness between the gate valve 18 and the maintenance door 29. The maintenance door 29 is fixed to the front plate 26 from the inside of the load dock chamber 8 by bolts (not shown), and an O-ring or the like is interposed between the maintenance door 29 and the front plate 26. It becomes airtight. Further, the maintenance door 29 is connected to the hinge shaft 28.
The maintenance door 29 can interfere with the arm 16 in a state where the arm 16 of the boat elevator 9 is lifted up integrally with the gate valve 18 on the indoor side of the load dock chamber 8 around the However, as shown in FIG.
Completely open. The operation at the time of work such as maintenance will be described below. When working on the cassette loader 6, the space in front of the cassette loader 6 is secured by moving the cassette transfer unit 2 from the front side of the housing 1, and the like. Perform the required work. Further, for the boat elevator 9,
Open the open / close door 22 and open the maintenance opening 21
Then, the user enters the load dock chamber 8 and performs necessary work. With respect to the wafer transfer machine 7, the opening / closing door 22 is opened, the maintenance opening 21 is opened, and the maintenance door 29 is further opened to the room side of the load dock chamber 8, and the maintenance front door is opened. The opening 27 is opened, and enters the space in the center of the housing 1 through the maintenance opening 21 and the maintenance front opening 27 to perform a required operation on the wafer transfer machine 7. . Thus, all necessary maintenance work and the like for the substrate processing apparatus can be performed from the front side and the rear side of the substrate processing apparatus. Therefore, there is no need to secure a working space beside the substrate processing apparatus, and when a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses are installed, they can be installed closely. Also, since there is no need to provide a maintenance door on the side of the substrate processing apparatus, the housing structure is simplified, and piping, wiring, etc., or other mechanisms are also provided on the surface where the maintenance door was provided. Is possible, and design constraints are reduced. Further, when the maintenance door 29 is opened,
Since it is performed using the space in the above-mentioned load dock room 8,
No extra space is required for opening the maintenance door 29. The processing of the substrate is the same as that described with reference to FIG. 2, and a description thereof will not be repeated. In the above embodiment, the maintenance door 29 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1 around the hinge shaft 28, but the opposite side of the maintenance door 29 facing the hinge shaft 28 is rotated. The maintenance door 29 may be freely supported and rotated clockwise, or the upper end of the maintenance door 29 may be rotatably supported upward, or the lower end may be rotatably supported and rotated downward. Is also good. As described above, in the present invention, the airtight chamber for accommodating the substrate, the first maintenance door provided on one side of the airtight chamber and opened at the time of maintenance, and the other door provided on the other side of the airtight chamber are provided. A second maintenance door that is opened during maintenance, a substrate transfer opening that is opened to the second maintenance door, and a gate valve that opens and closes the substrate transfer opening are provided. Thus, maintenance inside the substrate processing apparatus becomes possible. As described above, according to the present invention, an airtight chamber for accommodating a substrate, a maintenance door provided on one side of the airtight chamber and opened at the time of maintenance, The substrate transfer opening and the gate valve for opening and closing the substrate transfer opening are provided, so that one side of the airtight chamber provided with the substrate transfer opening can enter and exit, and the substrate processing apparatus can be opened and closed. The space required for maintenance is reduced, the footprint is reduced, and the cost for installing the substrate processing apparatus is reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a main part plan sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective perspective view schematically showing a substrate processing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a plan sectional view of a main part showing a conventional example. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example. [Description of Signs] 1 Housing 2 Cassette transfer section 3 Carry-in / out shutter 4 Pod opener 6 Cassette loader 7 Wafer transfer machine 8 Load dock room 9 Boat elevator 11 Reactor 12 Pod 18 Gate valve 22 Opening / closing door 28 Hinge shaft 29 Maintenance door

Continuation of front page    F term (reference) 5F004 AA16 BC01 BC05 BC06 BD03                       BD04                 5F031 CA02 FA01 FA09 FA12 GA02                       HA61 MA02 MA03 MA28 MA29                       MA30 NA09 PA06 PA07                 5F045 AA06 BB10 DP19 DQ05 EB08                       EB10 EN01 EN04

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. An airtight chamber for accommodating a substrate, a maintenance door provided on one side of the airtight chamber and opened at the time of maintenance, and an opening for substrate transfer opened to the maintenance door. And a gate valve for opening and closing the substrate transfer opening.