JP2011108923A - Vacuum processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum processing apparatus having a simple structure which positions a wafer on a transfer stage in a short period of time and improves a throughput. <P>SOLUTION: The vacuum processing apparatus has: a conveyance chamber; a plurality of processing chambers; and a load lock chamber, and further has: a transfer stage 2 parallely prepared in a transfer chamber; and a conveyance robot which holds a substrate W. The transfer stage 2 has: a bellows 21; a substrate holding device 22; an X-Y stage 23 which move the substrate holding device 22 while deforming the bellows 21; and a detecting device 24 which detects the position of the substrate W to shorten a time for positioning. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus including a transfer chamber, and a plurality of processing chambers and a load lock chamber provided on a wall surface of the transfer chamber.

  In the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, various processes such as a degassing process, a film forming process, and an etching process are continuously performed in a vacuum on a silicon wafer (hereinafter referred to as “wafer”) that is a substrate to be processed. For this purpose, a vacuum processing apparatus (so-called cluster tool) having a plurality of processing chambers around a central transfer chamber is used.

  In this type of vacuum processing apparatus, two load lock chambers are arranged in parallel in the transfer chamber, the load lock chamber side is the front side, and the transfer chamber extending in the front-rear direction is separated by the transfer chamber in the front-rear direction. The three transfer stages are arranged next to each other in the transfer chamber, adjacent to each other, and through the three transfer stages, the first transfer robot disposed in the front transfer chamber and the first transfer robot disposed in the rear transfer chamber. Patent Document 1 discloses that a wafer is transferred between front and rear transfer chambers by two transfer robots.

  As the first and second transfer robots used in such a vacuum processing apparatus, a so-called frog Grec type robot provided with a robot arm having a robot hand at the tip for supporting a wafer and a driving means for driving the robot arm is used. A thing or a multi-joint type is used. In any of the transfer robots, the robot hand itself reciprocates along the same line when delivering a wafer to each processing chamber, load lock chamber, and transfer stage.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, the transfer stage is a bellows, a lifter (substrate support means) that can be moved up and down that protrudes into the transfer chamber through the bellows, and a rotation means that rotationally drives a drive shaft (lift pin) of the lifter. In addition, it is known to include a moving device for horizontally moving the drive shaft itself by deforming the bellows in a lateral direction perpendicular to the lifter lifting direction, and a detecting means for detecting the position of the wafer.

  In the device described in Patent Document 2, for example, when the wafer is transferred from the front processing chamber to the transfer stage by the first transfer robot, the substrate on the robot hand is temporarily placed on the temporary placement portion provided around the lifter. Then, the lift pins are raised to support the substrate with the lifter. In this state, the position of the wafer (V notch or orientation flat when the wafer is formed with a V notch or orientation flat) is detected by the detecting means while rotating the lifting pins, and the V notch is in the same direction. The phase of the rotation direction of the wafer is adjusted so as to be positioned (matching the direction of the substrate), and the shift amount of the lifter from the rotation center of the lift pin is detected. Then, the lifter is moved while the bellows is deformed in the lateral direction by the moving device in accordance with the amount of deviation, and the substrate is positioned (aligned).

  Accordingly, the position of the substrate (V notch or orientation flat) can be changed depending on which transfer stage is passed when transferring to both the front and rear transfer chambers. In addition, the substrates can be reliably transferred to the processing chambers provided in both the front and rear transfer chambers in a state in which the substrates are aligned and positioned. As a result, even in the case of a wafer having a V-notch or the like, various processes can be reliably performed in each processing chamber on the effective region (generally, a portion inside 3 mm from the outer periphery of a 300 mm wafer).

  However, in Patent Document 2, since positioning is performed by rotating the lifter while deforming the bellows after phase alignment of the wafer, it takes time for the positioning operation and the throughput cannot be improved. . In addition, it is necessary to assemble parts such as a magnetic fluid for rotating the lifter to the vacuum processing apparatus, which complicates the apparatus configuration.

JP 2003-60005 A JP 2008-78325 A

  In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum processing apparatus having a simple configuration capable of positioning a wafer on a transfer stage in a short time and improving throughput.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a vacuum processing apparatus including a transfer chamber that is long in one direction, and a plurality of processing chambers and a load lock chamber provided on a wall surface of the transfer chamber. A transfer stage that is arranged in parallel in a transfer chamber that separates the transfer chamber into a plurality in the longitudinal direction, and a transfer robot that is provided for each transfer chamber and configured to reciprocate on the same line to hold a substrate. The transfer stage includes a bellows, a substrate support means that passes through the bellows and protrudes into the transfer chamber, and at least one of the longitudinal direction and the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction while deforming the bellows. An XY stage movable to the substrate, and a detecting means for detecting the position of the substrate supported by the substrate supporting means, and from one transfer chamber out of the transfer chambers via a transfer stage. Control means for controlling both the transfer robots in one transfer chamber and the other transfer chamber so as to pass through the same transfer stage selected from the transfer stages arranged in parallel when transferring the substrate to another transfer chamber. It is further provided with the feature.

  According to the present invention, when a substrate is transferred between one transfer chamber and another transfer chamber, the substrate is routed through the same transfer stage. When the substrates are transferred from one transfer chamber to the transfer stage, the directions of the respective substrates are always matched (for example, in the case of a wafer having a V notch, the V notches are positioned in the same direction). For this reason, even in a processing chamber in which it is important to perform processing in accordance with the orientation of the V notch, if the processing chamber is designed according to the position of the V notch of the wafer to be transferred, the substrate is driven to rotate. There is no need to adjust the phase. And after detecting the deviation | shift amount of a substrate position by a detection means, according to this deviation | shift amount, a board | substrate support means may be horizontally moved, deform | transforming a bellows with an XY stage, and the substrate may be positioned. Thereby, the time required for the substrate positioning operation can be shortened as compared with the conventional example, and the throughput can be improved. In addition, since a part or the like for rotating the substrate support means is not necessary, the apparatus configuration can be simplified.

  In the present invention, the control means may be configured such that the control means transfers one transfer chamber from another transfer chamber to another transfer chamber via a transfer stage and one transfer chamber from another transfer chamber via a transfer stage. If it is configured to control both transfer robots in one transfer chamber and the other transfer chamber so that they pass through different transfer stages depending on the transfer to the chamber, a waiting time occurs in the transfer stage, resulting in a longer throughput. It may be possible to prevent becoming.

  Further, the present invention further includes an atmospheric transfer robot for transferring the substrate to the load lock chamber, and the control means is configured to control the atmospheric transfer robot so that the orientation of the substrate in the load lock chamber is aligned. That's fine. According to this, even when a plurality of load lock chambers are arranged in parallel in the transfer chamber, for example, the substrate is aligned in each load lock chamber (for example, in the case of a wafer having a V notch, the V notch The substrate is aligned when performing processing in each processing chamber provided in the transfer chamber from the load lock chamber through one transfer chamber, so that the substrates are positioned in the same direction. Can do.

  In this case, a phase alignment stage that matches the orientation of the substrate may be provided prior to the substrate transfer to the load lock chamber by the atmospheric transfer robot.

The figure which illustrates typically the structure of the vacuum processing apparatus of this invention. (A) And (b) is a figure which illustrates the structure of a transfer stage typically. The figure explaining a mode that the direction of a board | substrate changes in a transfer stage. The figure explaining positioning of the board | substrate in a transfer stage. The elements on larger scale which demonstrate typically the structure of the vacuum processing apparatus which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, referring to the drawings, as a substrate to be processed, a wafer W in which a V notch W1 indicating an orientation is formed at the peripheral portion is used, and vacuum processing according to an embodiment of the present invention for performing various processes on the surface of the wafer W The apparatus M will be described.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the vacuum processing apparatus M includes a central transfer chamber 1. On one side surface (lower side surface in FIG. 1) to which a vacuum pump (not shown) is connected, two load lock chambers are provided for transferring the wafer W in the atmospheric state into the transfer chamber 1 in a vacuum atmosphere. LL and LR are provided side by side and via a gate valve V1. With the load lock chambers LL and LR as the front side, the transfer chamber 1 extending in the front-rear direction (vertical direction in FIG. 1) in one direction is composed of a front transfer chamber 11 as one transfer chamber and a rear transfer as another transfer chamber. It is separated from the chamber 12 via the transfer chamber 13. In this case, the transfer chamber 13 is partitioned by a partition wall 13a having an opening that allows the first and second transfer robots described later to advance and retreat.

  Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, two load lock chambers LL and LR are provided on the front side wall of the longitudinal transfer chamber 1 in one direction, and the transfer chamber 1 is divided into two as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The transfer chamber 1 may be separated into three or more by a plurality of transfer chambers. In other words, the present invention includes a configuration in which, for example, a plurality of transfer chambers having the same or different shapes are connected in a single direction with a transfer chamber interposed therebetween. Further, the number and arrangement positions of the load lock chambers LL and LR are not limited to the above. For example, the wafer W is loaded into the transfer chamber from one side in the longitudinal direction of the transfer chamber and the processed wafer is processed from the other side. The load lock chamber can also be provided on the ceiling of the chamber constituting the transfer chamber.

  In the transfer chamber 13, three transfer stages 2 are arranged at predetermined intervals in the left-right direction (X direction) orthogonal to the front-rear direction (Y direction). 2 (a) and 2 (b), the transfer stage 2 has the same configuration, and a vacuum seal is formed below the bottom surface of the transfer chamber 13 so as to surround an opening 12a formed at a predetermined position on the bottom surface of the transfer chamber 13. A bellows 21 attached through a not shown (not shown), a lifter (substrate support means) 22 that supports the wafer W, and a lower end of the bellows 21 are connected to the lower end of the bellows 21, and the lifter 22 is moved back and forth while deforming. And an XY stage 23 that can move in at least one of the horizontal direction and the horizontal direction, and a detection unit 24 that detects the position of the wafer W supported by the lifter 22.

  The lifter 22 includes a linear motion motor 22a provided on the XY stage 23, a drive shaft 22b connected to the linear motion motor 22a, passing through the bellows 21 and protruding to the rear transfer chamber 12, and a drive shaft. A support plate 22c having a circular shape in plan view connected to the tip of 22b, and a support pin 22d erected at a predetermined interval on the outer edge of the upper surface of the support plate 22c. The XY stage 23 is configured by providing an orthogonal biaxial robot (not shown) on the lower surface of a flat stage main body 23a, for example, and the stage main body 23a provided with the linear motor 22a is moved in the X direction and / or Alternatively, it can move in the Y direction with a predetermined stroke.

  As the detection means 24, a known device such as an optical laser sensor or a CCD camera can be used. In the present embodiment, a reflective laser sensor having a laser unit 24a disposed on the bottom surface of the transfer chamber 13 and a reflector 24b provided on the ceiling of the transfer chamber 13 is used. It is provided so as to be positioned at 90 ° intervals on the outer periphery of the wafer W supported by the support pins 22d along the moving direction of the Y stage 23 (see FIG. 2A). In this case, the laser unit 24a is operated in a state where the wafer W is supported by the lifter 22 so that the center of the wafer W coincides with the extended line of the drive shaft 22b, and the amount of reflected light at that time passes through the laser unit 24a. Each is measured and stored as a reference value in the control means C described later. When creating the reference value, for example, measurement is performed at a position where the V notch W1 is not formed.

  Here, in the present embodiment, the outer peripheral edge (edge) of the wafer W is detected by the four detection means 24 at two points in the X direction and Y direction of the wafer orthogonal to each other. Can also be detected. For this reason, a crack of the wafer W, thermal contraction of the wafer, or thermal expansion may be detected from a change in the diameter of the wafer W. Further, the number of detection means 24 is not limited to the above, and it is sufficient that at least two deviations can be detected as long as the deviation of the wafer in the X direction and Y direction can be detected. Furthermore, if the orientation of the V notch W1 is unknown and the orientation of the unknown V notch W1 coincides with the light projection position of the laser unit 24a, an alignment error may occur. However, at least one laser unit positioned in either the X direction or the Y direction (X direction) while moving the lifter 22 in either the X direction or the Y direction (for example, the Y direction) with the maximum stroke. When the change in the amount of reflected light is measured by 24a, if there is a V notch W1 in the alignment range, a sudden change in the amount of reflected light occurs, so it can be determined whether or not there is a V notch W1 in the alignment region. If it is determined that there is no V notch W1 in the alignment range, the wafer W can be aligned by the transfer stages 2a, 2b, and 2c from the change in the amount of reflected light. On the other hand, even when it is determined that the V notch W1 is present in the alignment range, the portion where the V notch W1 is formed may be aligned by, for example, complementing the reflected light amount of the portion around the V notch W1 where there is no V notch. It becomes possible.

  The front and rear transfer chambers 11 and 12 are provided with first and second transfer robots 3a and 3b, respectively. Both transfer robots 3a and 3b have the same structure, two robot arms 32 having a robot hand 31 supporting the wafer W at the tip, and two concentric drive shafts that rotationally drive each robot arm 32. It is a so-called Frogrek type equipped with driving means having 33a and 33b. Then, by appropriately controlling the rotation direction and rotation angle of the rotary shafts 33a and 33b, the robot arm 32 turns or expands and contracts within the same plane (see FIG. 2). At this time, when the telescopic operation is performed, the robot hand 31 itself reciprocates along the same line. The drive shafts 33a and 33b may be provided with drive means (not shown) such as an air cylinder so that the robot hand 31 and the robot arm 32 can move up and down in addition to turning or extending. In this case, it is not necessary to move the lifter 22 as the substrate supporting means up and down, and only the robot hand 31 and the robot arm 32 may be moved up and down to receive and transfer the wafer W. Thus, if the structure which does not move the lifter 22 up and down is employ | adopted, the lifetime of the bellows 21 can be extended. In addition, since the operation time of the lifter 22 is usually longer than the operation time of the transfer robots 3a and 3b, the operation time for transferring the wafer W can be shortened.

  Front side processing chambers 4a and 4b and rear side processing chambers 5a to 5d capable of performing various kinds of processing are provided on the outer walls of both the front and rear transfer chambers 11 and 12 so as to surround them. It is provided via a valve V2. Each processing chamber is provided with an apparatus appropriately selected according to the processing to be performed on the wafer W in the manufacturing process of the semiconductor device, and various types of film processing such as degassing processing, sputtering, and CVD, and etching processing, etc. It is comprised so that a process can be implemented.

  A table TA is provided in front of the load lock chambers LL and LR, and an articulated atmospheric transfer robot 6 having a known structure is disposed on the table TA. The atmospheric transfer robot 6 is installed on a moving stage 61 provided on the table TA so as to be movable in the X direction (left and right in FIG. 1), and operates the atmospheric transfer robot 6 while appropriately moving the stage 61. The wafers W stored in the cassette 7 can be taken out and transferred to the load lock chambers LL and LR, and the wafers W subjected to various processes can be returned from the load lock chambers LL and LR to the cassette 7. Yes. Then, the lifter 22 of the transfer stage 2, the XY stage 23, the detection means 24, the operation of the first and second transfer robots 3 a and 3 b, the atmospheric transfer robot 6, the front processing chamber 4 and the rear processing chamber 5 Each operating component such as a provided device is controlled in a centralized manner by a control means C having a computer, a sequencer, a driver and the like.

  Hereinafter, the wafer W process in the vacuum processing apparatus M will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a V notch W1 indicating the orientation is formed on the wafer W.

  First, a cassette 7 storing a plurality of wafers W is set at a predetermined position on the front side of the atmospheric transfer robot 6. One wafer W is taken out from the cassette 7 by the atmospheric transfer robot 6 and transferred to the load lock chamber LL on the left side in FIG. On the other hand, another wafer W taken out from the cassette 7 is also transferred to the right load lock chamber LR. When the wafer W is loaded into the load lock chambers LL and LR, the inside thereof is evacuated by a vacuum pump (not shown). When the load lock chambers LL and LR reach a predetermined degree of vacuum, the gate valve V1 is opened and the wafer W is taken out by the first transfer robot 3a. Then, the wafer W taken out from the left load lock chamber LL is transferred to the front processing chamber 4a provided on the left side of the transfer chamber 1 in FIG. In parallel with the above processing, the wafer W taken out from the right load lock chamber LR is transferred to the front processing chamber 4b provided on the right side in FIG. 1, and the same processing is performed.

  Here, when two load lock chambers LL and LR are arranged in parallel on the front side of the transfer chamber 1, when the wafer W is received from the load lock chambers LL and LR by the first transfer robot 3a, the orientation of the wafer W is changed. There is a case. Therefore, when the wafer W is transferred to the load lock chambers LL and LR by the atmospheric transfer robot 6, the position of the V notch W1 is the center line in the expansion / contraction direction of the first transfer robot 3a for each load lock chamber LL and LR. For example, the stop position of the stage 61 with respect to the load lock chambers LL and LR and the operation of the atmospheric transfer robot 6 are controlled by the control means C so as to be positioned on the CL (see FIG. 1). Thereby, the direction of the wafer W can be aligned for each of the load lock chambers LL and LR (that is, the V notch W1 is located in the same direction). Regardless of which load lock chamber LL, LR receives the wafer W, the orientation of the wafer W in the front processing chambers 4a, 4b is aligned, that is, the wafer W in each processing chamber 4a, 4b. Can always be processed in a certain direction.

  Next, when a predetermined process is performed on the wafer W in the front processing chambers 4a and 4b, the wafer W is transferred to the transfer chamber 13 by the first transfer robot 3a. When the wafer W is transferred above any one of the transfer stages 2a, 2b, 2c in the transfer chamber 13, the lifter 22 moves up and lifts the wafer W to the upper side of the robot hand 31 via the support pins 22d. As a result, the wafer W is transferred from the first transfer robot 3a to the transfer stage 2. Thereafter, the first transfer robot 3 a is retracted from the transfer chamber 13.

  Here, since the transfer stages 2a, 2b, and 2c are arranged side by side along the same line in the left-right direction, any one of the left transfer stage 2a, the central transfer stage 2b, and the right transfer stage 2c in FIG. The direction of the wafer W is changed depending on whether the wafer W is delivered to (see FIG. 3). That is, the orientations of the V notches W1 in the circumferential direction of the wafer W are different from each other. In this case, if the phase alignment is performed by rotating the wafer W by a predetermined rotation angle and aligning the circumferential direction for each of the transfer stages 2a, 2b, and 2c, it takes time and throughput is reduced.

  Accordingly, when the wafer W that has been subjected to the predetermined processing in the front processing chambers 4a and 4b is transferred to the rear transfer chamber 5 by the second transfer robot 3b via any one of the transfer stages 2a, 2b, and 2c. The operation of the second transfer robot 3b is controlled so as to pass through the same transfer stage (for example, 2a). Thereby, in the transfer stage (for example, 2a), since the wafer W is always directed in a certain direction (the V notch is in the same direction), the phase alignment of the wafer W in the transfer stage 2 becomes unnecessary. .

  When the wafer W is delivered to any one of the transfer stages 2a, 2b, and 2c, the four laser units 24a attached to the transfer stage 2a are operated, and the reflected light amount at that time is measured, and the measured reflected light amount And the deviation amount of the wafer W is calculated from the reference value stored in the control means C in advance. For example, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 4, when the wafer W is shifted to the right side, a difference occurs in the amount of reflected light measured by the left and right laser units 24a. For example, in the left laser unit 24a, the reflected light is not blocked by the wafer W, and the amount of light increases from the reference value, whereas in the right laser unit 24a, the reflected light is blocked by the wafer W and the amount of light is the reference value. Decrease more. In this way, the deviation amount is calculated by the control means C from the increase or decrease in the amount of reflected light.

  When the deviation amount of the wafer W is calculated, the control means C calculates the movement amount (stroke) of at least one of the XY stage 23 in the X direction and the Y direction according to this, and based on this, the XY stage is calculated. The stage 23 moves and the deviation of the wafer W is corrected. In other words, as indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 4, as the stage body 23 a of the XY stage 23 moves in the X direction and the Y direction while deforming the bellows 21, the lifter fixed to the stage body 23 a is also used. By moving in the X direction and the Y direction, the wafer W also moves to the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. Then, after moving the XY stage 23 by a predetermined amount of movement, the amount of reflected light is measured again by the laser unit 24a, and if the value substantially coincides with the reference value, positioning ends. Note that the measurement of the amount of reflected light can be omitted.

  When the positioning of the wafer W on the transfer stage 2 is completed, the wafer W is received from the transfer stage 2a by the second transfer robot 3b. In this case, the wafer W is transferred to the second transfer robot 3b by lowering the lifter 22 while the robot hand 31 is moved around the support pins 22d of the transfer stage 2a. Then, it is transferred to any one of the rear processing chambers 5a to 5d provided in the rear transfer chamber 12, and various processes are performed. In this case, parallel processing may be performed in each of the rear processing chambers 5a, 5b and 5c, 5d provided on the left or right side in FIG.

  Next, when predetermined final processing is performed in the rear processing chambers 5a to 5d, the wafer W is taken out by the second transfer robot 3b and transferred to the transfer stage 2b or 2c different from the above. At this time, for example, when predetermined processing is performed again in the front processing chambers 4a and 4b, the wafer W is positioned in the same manner as described above, and then the processed wafer W is processed by the first transfer robot 3a. Are transferred to the same load lock chambers LL and LR as at the time of loading, and transferred to the cassette 7 by the atmospheric robot 6. Then, a plurality of wafers W are processed in the same manner as described above.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the wafer W is transferred between the front transfer chamber 11 and the rear transfer chamber 12, the same transfer stage 2a, 2b or 2c is used. For example, when the wafer W is transferred to the transfer stage 2a by the first robot 3a, the orientation of the wafer W (that is, the orientation of the V notch W1) can always be adjusted. For this reason, even if the processing chamber is important to process in accordance with the orientation of the V notch W1, if the processing chamber is designed in accordance with the position of the V notch W1 of the wafer W to be transferred, the wafer W There is no need to perform phase alignment by rotationally driving. Then, after detecting the amount of deviation of the position of the wafer W by the detection means 24, the lifter 22 is horizontally moved by the XY stage 23 while the bellows 21 is deformed according to the amount of deviation, thereby positioning the wafer W. Just do it. As a result, the time required for the positioning operation of the wafer W can be shortened as compared with the conventional example. Moreover, since it is not necessary to rotate the lifter 22, the apparatus configuration can be simplified.

  In addition, both the first and second transfer robots 3a and 3b are controlled so as to pass through different transfer stages from the case of transfer from the rear transfer chamber 12 to the front transfer chamber 11 via the transfer stage 2. If configured, it may be possible to prevent an increase in throughput due to a waiting time in any of the transfer stages 2.

  As mentioned above, although the vacuum processing apparatus of embodiment of this invention was demonstrated, this invention is not limited above. The number of processing chambers provided in both the front and rear transfer chambers 11 and 12 can be changed as appropriate, and the case where the wafer W is transferred by the three transfer stages 2 has been described as an example. The present invention can be applied if the orientation of the wafer W changes when the wafer W is delivered.

  In the above-described embodiment, the first and second transfer robots 3a and 3b receive the substrate while the bellows 21 is deformed. However, a temporary placement portion is formed around the lifter 22. However, the time for which the bellows 21 is deformed may be shortened.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the orientation of the wafer W is corrected when the wafer W is loaded into the load lock chambers LL and LR so that the orientation of the wafer W is aligned in all of the front processing chambers 4a to 4d. Although described, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as described above, the front and rear processing chambers 4 and 5 are divided into left and right at the center of the transfer chamber 1, and the wafer W put into one of the load lock chambers LL and LR is the same processing chamber. If the predetermined process is continuously performed via the transfer stage (for example, LL → 4a → 2a → 5a → 5b → 2b → LL), the above correction is not essential. Further, if the load lock chambers LL and LR are one, the phase alignment of the wafer W is not necessary.

  If the orientations of the V notches W1 of the wafers W stored in the cassette 7 are not aligned, the load lock chambers LL and LR are placed on the table TA on which the atmospheric transfer robot 6 is installed as shown in FIG. Prior to loading the wafer W into the wafer, a phase alignment stage 8 may be provided for phase alignment of the wafer W so that the orientation of the V notch W1 in the loaded load lock chamber LL (or LR) coincides. . The phase alignment stage 8 includes, for example, a lifter 81 that can be moved up and down through an opening provided in the table TA, a motor (not shown) that rotates the drive shaft of the lifter 81, and a wafer supported by the lifter 81. And detecting means 82 such as a CCD camera for detecting the position of the V notch. Then, the wafer W taken out of the cassette 7 is phase-adjusted by the phase-adjusting stage 8 so that the V notches W1 are positioned in the same direction within the loaded lock chamber LL (or LR) (for example, The phase is adjusted so that the position of the V notch W1 is positioned on the center line CL in the expansion / contraction direction of the first transfer robot 3a for each of the load lock chambers LL and LR). Next, the wafer W is transferred to the load lock chambers LL and LR by the atmospheric transfer robot 6, and various processes are performed on the wafer W as described above.

  M ... Vacuum processing apparatus, W ... Wafer (substrate), W1 ... V notch, 1 ... Transfer chamber, 11 ... Front transfer chamber, 12 ... Rear transfer chamber, 13 ... Transfer chamber, LL, LR ... Load lock chamber, 2 (2a, 2b, 2c) ... transfer stage, 21 ... bellows, 22 ... lifter (substrate support means), 23 ... XY stage, 24 ... detection means, 3a, 3b ... transfer robot, 31 ... robot hand, 4, 5 ... processing chamber, 6 ... atmospheric transfer robot, 8 ... phasing stage, C ... control means

Claims (4)

A vacuum processing apparatus comprising a transfer chamber elongated in one direction, and a plurality of processing chambers and a load lock chamber provided on a wall surface of the transfer chamber,
A transfer stage arranged in parallel in a transfer chamber that divides the transfer chamber into a plurality in the longitudinal direction; and a transfer robot that is provided for each transfer chamber and configured to reciprocate on the same line to hold a substrate. In having
The transfer stage is movable in at least one of a longitudinal direction and a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction while deforming the bellows, a substrate supporting means that protrudes into the transfer chamber through the bellows, and the bellows. An XY stage and a detecting means for detecting the position of the substrate supported by the substrate supporting means,
Among the transfer chambers, when transferring a substrate from one transfer chamber to another transfer chamber via a transfer stage, one transfer is performed so as to pass through the same transfer stage selected from the transfer stages arranged in parallel. A vacuum processing apparatus further comprising control means for controlling both the transfer robots in the chamber and other transfer chambers.   The control means passes through different transfer stages when transferring from one transfer chamber to another transfer chamber via a transfer stage and when transferring from another transfer chamber to one transfer chamber via the transfer stage. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein both the transfer robots in one transfer chamber and the other transfer chamber are controlled so as to perform the control.   2. The atmospheric transfer robot for transferring a substrate to the load lock chamber, wherein the control unit controls the atmospheric transfer robot so that the directions of the substrate in the load lock chamber are aligned. 2. The vacuum processing apparatus according to 2.   4. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a phase alignment stage for matching the directions of the substrates is attached prior to transferring the substrate to the load lock chamber by the atmospheric transfer robot.

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