JP2011001995A - Gas box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas box for reducing a facility burden.SOLUTION: The gas box 30 includes: a box body 31 for accommodating at least one of a valve 24 and a mass-flow controller 23 provided on a gas feed pipe 22 for feeding gas to a treatment device, and a joint 26 for connecting the valve and/or the mass-flow controller to the gas feed pipe 22; a liquid feeding mechanism 36 which feeds liquid in the box body 31 to fill the liquid therein; and a pressurizing mechanism 38 for pressurizing the liquid L filled in the box body 31 at the pressure being equivalent to that in the gas feed pipe 22 or higher.

Description

  The present invention relates to a gas box used when supplying gas to a processing apparatus.

  In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a processing apparatus using a gas such as a film forming apparatus or an etching apparatus is used. In a processing apparatus using such a gas, a chamber for performing processing from a large number of gas supply sources. A plurality of gases are supplied to the pipe, but the piping is provided with valves for supplying and stopping the gas, mass flow controllers for controlling the flow rate, etc., and these valves, mass flow controllers, etc. have been integrated in the gas box. State.

  Since valves, mass flow controllers, etc. are connected by connecting parts such as joints, an air inlet is provided in the box body of the gas box so that gas does not leak to the outside from the connecting part, etc. And the technique which keeps the inside of a box main body into a negative pressure is known (for example, patent document 1).

  JP 2002-280317 A

  However, in the above technique, power such as a pump for exhausting the inside of the box body must be constantly operated, and harmful processing gas can be mixed in the exhaust gas when exhausting the inside of the box body. It is necessary to discharge to the atmosphere through the abatement device. For this reason, it becomes a great equipment burden.

  This invention is made | formed in view of this situation, Comprising: The gas box with few installation burdens is provided.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a box that houses at least one of a valve and a flow rate controller provided in a gas supply pipe that supplies gas to a processing apparatus, and a connection portion that connects them to the gas supply pipe. A main body, a liquid supply mechanism for supplying liquid into the box main body and filling the liquid therein, and the liquid filled in the box main body is equal to or higher than the pressure in the gas supply pipe And a pressurizing mechanism for pressurizing the gas box.

  According to the present invention, since the liquid is filled in the box body and the liquid is in a pressurized state, even if a gap or the like occurs in the connection portion, the liquid pressure acts, so that the liquid leaks from the connection portion. Is suppressed. Moreover, even if gas leaks from the connection portion, leakage of gas to the outside of the box body can be prevented due to the presence of the liquid. For this reason, it is not necessary to always operate the power of a pump or the like, or to provide a detoxifying device, so that it is possible to realize a gas box with less equipment burden.

It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the processing apparatus provided with the gas box which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the gas box which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a fragmentary sectional view showing other examples of a pressurization mechanism.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a processing apparatus provided with a gas box according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a gas box according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The processing apparatus 100 is for performing a predetermined process such as film formation on an object to be processed, and has a chamber 1 that accommodates an object to be processed, for example, a substrate S such as a semiconductor wafer. A mounting table 2 for horizontally supporting the substrate S is provided in the chamber 1 in a state of being supported by a cylindrical support member 3 erected at the center of the bottom of the chamber 1. For example, a heater (not shown) is embedded in the mounting table 2, and the substrate S on the mounting table 2 is heated by this heater. On the mounting table 2, a plurality of lifting pins (not shown) for supporting the substrate S and moving it up and down are provided so as to protrude and retract with respect to the surface of the mounting table 2.

  A shower head 10 is provided above the chamber 1 so as to face the mounting table 2. The shower head 10 has a space 11 inside, and a plurality of gases are introduced into the space 11 from the gas introduction unit 12 through the pipe 15 from the gas supply mechanism 20 provided outside the chamber 1. Gas is discharged from a number of discharge holes 13 formed in the bottom.

  An exhaust port 16 is provided at the bottom of the chamber 1, and an exhaust pipe 17 is connected to the exhaust port 16. Then, the inside of the chamber 1 is exhausted through an exhaust pipe 17 by an exhaust device (not shown) including a vacuum pump or the like. On the side wall of the chamber 1, a loading / unloading port 18 for loading / unloading the substrate S and a gate valve 19 for opening / closing the loading / unloading port 18 are provided.

  The gas supply mechanism 20 supplies a plurality of gases including a plurality of gases used for processing such as a processing gas, a carrier gas, and a dilution gas, and a plurality of gas supply sources 21 (only three) for supplying these gases respectively. A gas supply pipe 22 for supplying gas from these gas supply sources 21, a mass flow controller 23 as a flow rate controller provided in each of these gas supply pipes 22, a valve 24 provided before and after the mass flow controller 23, And a filter 25 provided immediately before the mass flow controller 23. The mass flow controller 23, the valve 24, and the filter 25 are connected to the gas supply pipe 22 by a joint 26 as a connecting portion (see FIG. 2). The valve 24 includes an actuator 24a that operates the valve body and a valve body operation unit 24b that opens and closes the valve body. The plurality of gas supply pipes 22 are provided so as to branch from the pipe 15, and the gas from the gas supply pipe 22 is introduced into the chamber 1 through the pipe 15 and the shower head 10.

  The mass flow controller 23, the valve 24, the filter 25, and the joint 26 that is a connection portion are integrated in the gas box 30.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the gas box 30 has a box body 31 that houses a mass flow controller 23, a valve 24, a filter 25, and a joint 26 that is a connection portion.

  A liquid introduction / discharge port 32 is provided at the bottom of the box body 31, and a liquid introduction / discharge pipe 33 is connected to the liquid introduction / discharge port 32. A liquid supply pipe 34 and a liquid discharge pipe 35 are connected to the liquid introduction / discharge pipe 33.

  A liquid supply mechanism 36 is connected to the liquid supply pipe 34, and a predetermined liquid is supplied from the liquid supply mechanism 36 into the box body 31 via the liquid supply pipe 34 and the liquid introduction / discharge pipe 33. As shown in FIG. 2, the box body 31 is filled with the liquid L. Although it does not specifically limit as a liquid, For example, the thing which does not have a bad influence on the mass flow controller 23, the valve | bulb 24, the filter 25, the coupling 26, etc., such as Galden and a silicone oil, can be used.

  A liquid discharge mechanism 37 is connected to the liquid discharge pipe 35, and the liquid discharge mechanism 37 discharges the liquid in the box body 31 through the liquid introduction / discharge pipe 33 and the liquid discharge pipe 35. The liquid can be discharged when the liquid is exchanged or when the maintenance of the box body 31 or the mass flow controller 23, the valve 24, the filter 25, the joint 26, etc. therein is performed.

  The liquid supply pipe 34 and the liquid discharge pipe 35 are provided with valves 34a and 35a, respectively, and the supply and discharge of the liquid are switched by operating these valves 34a and 35a.

  The gas box 30 also has a pressurizing mechanism 38 provided at the upper part of the gas box main body 31 for pressurizing the liquid filled in the box main body 31 to be equal to or higher than the pressure in the gas supply pipe 22. ing. The pressurizing mechanism 38 includes a cylindrical portion 39 that protrudes upward from the upper portion of the gas box main body 31, a pressing member 40 that is liquid-tight and vertically movable with respect to the inner wall of the cylindrical portion 39, A spring 41 is provided as a pressure application unit that applies pressure to the gas box main body 31 through the member 40.

  The gas box 30 further includes a pressure gauge 42 as a gas leakage detection mechanism, whereby the pressure of the liquid in the gas box body 31 filled with the liquid is measured, and the pressure change at that time is measured. The leakage of gas from the joint 26 of the gas supply pipe 22 is detected.

  The gas box main body can be separated into a lid-like upper member 31a and a lower member 31b, and the upper member 31a and the lower member 31b are screwed by a screw 44 via a seal member 43. It has become. Thereby, when performing maintenance of the box body 31 or the mass flow controller 23 therein, the valve 24, the filter 25, the joint 26, etc., the upper member 31a and the lower member 31b are separated so that maintenance can be performed easily. It has become. Further, a seal member 46 is provided between the gas supply pipe 22 and the gas box body 31 so that the liquid does not leak outside.

  In the processing apparatus 100 configured as described above, first, the gate valve 19 is opened, and the substrate S is loaded into the chamber 1 from the loading / unloading port 18 and placed on the mounting table 2. Next, the gate valve 19 is closed, and the chamber 1 is evacuated while heating the substrate S until a predetermined reduced pressure state is reached. In this state, a plurality of gases including the processing gas are supplied from the gas supply mechanism 20 into the chamber 1. Specifically, each gas from each gas supply source 21 is introduced into the shower head 10 via each gas supply pipe 22 and the pipe 15, and gas is discharged from the gas discharge holes 13 of the shower head 10.

  Thereby, a plurality of gases including a processing gas are supplied to the substrate S, and a predetermined process, for example, a film forming process is performed on the substrate S.

  In this case, the liquid L is filled in the box main body 31 of the gas box 30, and the liquid filled in the box main body 31 by the pressurizing mechanism 38 is equal to or higher than the pressure in the gas supply pipe 22. Therefore, even if a gap or the like is generated in the joint 26 that is a connection portion, leakage of the liquid from the joint 26 can be effectively suppressed by the pressure of the liquid. Even if the gas leaks from the joint 26, the liquid is present, so that the leaked gas stays in the liquid and in some cases dissolves, and the gas leaks to the outside of the box body 31 almost completely. Can be prevented. As described above, since the leakage of gas is prevented by the presence of the liquid in the box main body 31, it is not necessary to always operate the power of the pump or the like or to provide a detoxifying device. For this reason, a gas box with less equipment burden can be realized.

  Further, when gas leaks from the joint 26 which is a connecting portion, it is preferable to detect this for maintenance or the like, but since a pressure gauge 42 is provided as a gas leak detection mechanism, the gas is thereby detected. Can be detected. That is, when the gas leaks from the joint 26, the leaked gas stays in the liquid L, and the pressure of the liquid L rises. Therefore, the pressure leak is detected by the pressure gauge 42 detecting the pressure rise. The

  Furthermore, since the liquid is discharged from the box body 31 by the liquid discharge mechanism 37, it is possible to make the liquid non-existent during maintenance or the like. Further, the box body 31 can be separated into the upper member 31a and the lower member 31b, and when used, they are sealed in a liquid-tight state by the seal member 43 and screwed, and these can be separated at the time of maintenance. Extremely expensive.

  The present invention can be variously modified without being limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the film forming apparatus is illustrated as an example of the processing apparatus. However, any processing using gas can be applied to other processing apparatuses such as an etching apparatus. Moreover, although the case where the mass flow controller was used as a flow controller was shown, it is not restricted to this. As the gas box, a valve, a flow controller (mass flow controller), a filter, and an integrated (accommodated) connection portion thereof are used, but the filter does not necessarily need to be included. Either of these may be sufficient.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which a spring is used as the pressure applying unit of the pressurizing mechanism 38 has been shown. However, as shown in FIG. 3, the pressurizing mechanism 38 ′ using a cylinder 51 as the pressure applying unit is used. In addition, another pressure applying unit may be used.

  Furthermore, in the said embodiment, although the example which used the pressure gauge as a gas leak detection mechanism was shown, it does not restrict to this. For example, if the gas reacts with the liquid, the leakage of the gas can be detected by using an analyzer that performs component analysis of the liquid in the gas leakage portion.

Claims (5)

A box main body that accommodates at least one of a valve and a flow rate controller provided in a gas supply pipe for supplying gas to the processing apparatus, and a connecting portion for connecting them to the gas supply pipe;
A liquid supply mechanism for supplying a liquid into the box body and filling the liquid therein;
A gas box, comprising: a pressurizing mechanism that pressurizes a liquid filled in the box body to a pressure equal to or higher than a pressure in the gas supply pipe.   2. The gas box according to claim 1, further comprising a gas leakage detection mechanism that detects leakage of gas from the connection portion in the box body.   The gas box according to claim 2, wherein the gas leakage detection mechanism includes a pressure gauge that measures the pressure of the liquid filled in the box body.   The gas box according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pressurizing mechanism pressurizes the liquid filled in the box main body with a spring.   The gas box according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pressurizing mechanism pressurizes the liquid filled in the box body with a cylinder.

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