JP2013055239A - Substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select error processing in accordance with the situation that the measurement values of control parameters exceed the upper limit of deviation for a reference value, and that exceed the lower limit of deviation for the reference value.SOLUTION: A substrate processing apparatus comprises a substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate, a storage section, and a control section for controlling the substrate processing. The storage unit includes a process recipe storage section for storing the process recipe, a control parameter storage section for storing the reference values of control parameters, and an alarm value storage section for storing the upper limit deviation and the lower limit deviation for the reference values of control parameters. The control section includes a process recipe execution section for executing the process recipe stored in the process recipe storage section, and an error processing section for determining whether or not the measurement values of control parameters have exceeded the upper limit deviation and the lower limit deviation stored in the alarm value storage section, and performing different process when the upper limit deviation has been exceeded and when the lower limit deviation has been exceeded.

Description

  The present invention relates to error processing performed in a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer when a deviation from a set reference value such as a processing temperature, a processing gas flow rate, or a processing chamber pressure is out of an allowable range. is there.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus (semiconductor manufacturing apparatus) as a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is a stack of wafers, a rotating shelf 105 that temporarily stores a pod 110 that is a substrate container for storing a plurality of wafers (substrates), a pod transfer device 118 that transfers the pod 110, and a wafer. A boat 217 to be mounted, a wafer transfer machine 125 for transferring wafers between the pod 110 and the boat 217 mounted on the rotating shelf 105, a substrate processing chamber (not shown), and the substrate processing chamber. A heat treatment furnace 202 having a heater (not shown) around it, a boat elevator 115 for carrying the boat 217 into and out of the heat treatment furnace 202, and substrate processing such as a storage unit, an operation unit, and a display unit (not shown). Each component of the apparatus and a control unit (not shown) that controls each component are provided. Then, the control unit executes wafer processing such as heat treatment based on the process recipe stored in the storage unit.

In a conventional substrate processing apparatus, for example, during execution of a process recipe, it is monitored whether a measured value of a control parameter, for example, a processing temperature in the heat treatment furnace 202 is within a predetermined deviation from a predetermined set value (reference value). If it deviates from the predetermined deviation, error processing fixed in advance is performed. Conventionally, the deviation error is treated as a minor error, and the error processing is set as a standby (HOLD), and it waits until it falls within the deviation.
For example, when a substrate is being formed in a certain process, if the processing temperature exceeds the upper limit of deviation and an error occurs, it is highly possible that the formed film has become abnormal. If a reset process is performed to stop the film formation process and the process temperature exceeds the lower limit of the deviation and an error occurs, the formed film may be returned to normal. Even when it is desired to perform recovery processing to be continuously executed, only the same error processing fixed in advance as described above can be performed.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses a technique for checking an upper limit value and a lower limit value of a gas flow rate when performing substrate processing, and performing error processing when it is determined to be abnormal.

JP 2007-335428 A

As described above, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus, the measured value of the control parameter is fixed in advance when the deviation exceeds the upper limit of the deviation and when the deviation exceeds the lower limit of the deviation with respect to the predetermined reference value. The same error processing is performed, and there is a problem that error processing according to the situation cannot be performed.
It is an object of the present invention to perform different error processing depending on whether a measured value of a control parameter exceeds an upper limit value of deviation or a lower limit value of deviation with respect to a predetermined reference value. It is to provide a method for manufacturing a substrate processing apparatus or a semiconductor device.

A typical configuration of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention for solving the above-described problems is as follows. That is,
A substrate processing apparatus comprising a substrate processing chamber for processing a substrate, a storage unit, and a control unit for controlling substrate processing,
The storage unit
A process recipe storage unit for storing a process recipe, a control parameter storage unit for storing a reference value of a control parameter to be controlled by the process recipe, and an upper limit deviation value and a lower limit deviation value for the control parameter reference value are stored. An alarm value storage unit
The controller is
The process recipe execution unit that executes the process recipe stored in the process recipe storage unit, the control parameter measurement unit that measures the control parameter at the time of substrate processing, and the measurement value of the control parameter measured by the control parameter measurement unit are It is determined whether the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value stored in the alarm value storage unit have been exceeded, and different processing is performed depending on whether the upper limit deviation value is exceeded or the lower limit deviation value is exceeded. A substrate processing apparatus comprising an error processing unit.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to select different error processing depending on whether the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the upper limit value of the deviation or the lower limit value of the deviation with respect to the predetermined reference value. It becomes possible.

1 is a perspective view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a structural example of the functional block diagram of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the error processing operation | movement of the control part which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, as an example, the substrate processing apparatus is configured as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that performs a processing step in a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device (IC: Integrated Circuit). In the following description, a case where a batch type vertical semiconductor manufacturing apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a processing apparatus) that performs oxidation, diffusion processing, CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) processing, or the like is applied to the substrate as the substrate processing apparatus will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective plan view of a processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and is shown as a perspective view. FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the processing apparatus 100 of this embodiment uses a pod 110 as a wafer carrier for storing a wafer (substrate) 200 made of silicon or the like, and includes a casing 111. A pod loading / unloading port 112 is opened on the front wall 111a of the casing 111 so as to communicate with the inside and outside of the casing 111. The pod loading / unloading port 112 is opened and closed by a front shutter 113. A load port 114 is installed on the front front side of the pod loading / unloading port 112, and the pod 110 is placed on the load port 114. The pod 110 is loaded onto the load port 114 by an in-process conveyance device (not shown), and also unloaded from the load port 114.

A rotating shelf 105 is installed at an upper portion of the casing 111 in a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction. The rotating shelf 105 rotates around a support column 116 and stores a plurality of pods 110 on a shelf plate 117. .
As shown in FIG. 2, a pod transfer device 118 is installed between the load port 114 and the rotating shelf 105 in the housing 111. The pod transfer device 118 includes a pod elevator 118 a that can move up and down while holding the pod 110, and a pod transfer mechanism 118 b as a horizontal transfer mechanism. Between the load port 114, the rotating shelf 105, and the pod opener 121. Then, the pod 110 is conveyed.

As shown in FIG. 2, a sub-housing 119 is constructed over the rear end at a lower portion of the housing 111 at a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction. On the front wall 119a of the sub housing 119, a pair of wafer loading / unloading ports 120 for loading / unloading the wafer 200 into / from the sub housing 119 are arranged in two vertical rows in the vertical direction. A pair of pod openers 121 and 121 are installed at the wafer loading / unloading ports 120 and 120 at the upper and lower stages, respectively.
The pod opener 121 includes mounting bases 122 and 122 for mounting the pod 110 and cap attaching / detaching mechanisms 123 and 123 for attaching and detaching caps (lid bodies) of the pod 110. The pod opener 121 opens and closes the wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 by attaching / detaching the cap of the pod 110 mounted on the mounting table 122 by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123. The mounting table 122 is a transfer shelf on which a substrate container is mounted when a substrate is transferred.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the sub-housing 119 constitutes a transfer chamber 124 that is isolated from the atmosphere of the installation space of the pod transfer device 118 and the rotating shelf 105. A wafer transfer mechanism 125 is installed in the front region of the transfer chamber 124. The wafer transfer mechanism 125 includes a wafer transfer device 125a that can place the wafer 200 on the tweezer 125c and can rotate or move in the horizontal direction, and a wafer transfer device elevator 125b for moving the wafer transfer device 125a up and down. It consists of The wafers 200 are loaded and unloaded from the boat 217 by the continuous operation of the wafer transfer device elevator 125b and the wafer transfer device 125a.

As shown in FIG. 1, a clean unit 134 composed of a supply fan and a dustproof filter is installed in the transfer chamber 124 so as to supply a clean atmosphere 133 which is a cleaned atmosphere or an inert gas. Has been.
As shown in FIG. 2, a processing furnace 202 is provided above the boat 217. The processing furnace 202 includes a substrate processing chamber (not shown) inside, and a heater (not shown) that heats the substrate processing chamber around the substrate processing chamber. The lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is opened and closed by a furnace port gate valve 147.

As shown in FIG. 1, a boat elevator 115 for raising and lowering the boat 217 is installed. A seal cap 219 is horizontally installed on the arm 128 connected to the boat elevator 115, and the seal cap 219 is configured to support the boat 217 vertically and to close the lower end portion of the processing furnace 202. ing.
The boat 217 includes a plurality of holding members, and horizontally holds a plurality of (for example, about 50 to 125) wafers 200 with their centers aligned and vertically aligned. It is configured as follows.

Next, the operation of the processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the pod 110 is supplied to the load port 114, the pod loading / unloading port 112 is opened by the front shutter 113 and loaded from the pod loading / unloading port 112.
The loaded pod 110 is automatically conveyed and delivered to the designated shelf plate 117 of the rotary shelf 105 by the pod conveying device 118.

  After the pod 110 is temporarily stored on the rotating shelf 105, the pod 110 is transferred from the shelf 117 to one pod opener 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122, or directly from the load port 114 to the pod opener 121. It is transported and transferred to the mounting table 122. At this time, the wafer loading / unloading port 120 of the pod opener 121 is closed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123, and clean air 133 is circulated and filled in the transfer chamber 124.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cap of the pod 110 mounted on the mounting table 122 is removed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123, and the wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 is opened. The wafer 200 is picked up from the pod 110 by the wafer transfer device 125a, transferred to the boat 217, and loaded. The wafer transfer device 125 a that has transferred the wafer 200 to the boat 217 returns to the pod 110 and loads the next wafer 110 into the boat 217.

  During the loading operation of the wafer 200 to the boat 217 by the wafer transfer device 125a in the one (upper or lower) pod opener 121, the other (lower or upper) pod opener 121 has the rotating shelf 105 or the load port 114. The other pod 110 is transported by the pod transport device 118, and the opening operation of the pod 110 by the pod opener 121 proceeds simultaneously.

  When a predetermined number of wafers 200 are loaded into the boat 217, the lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is opened by the furnace port gate valve 147. Subsequently, the seal cap 219 is raised by the boat elevator 115, and the boat 217 supported by the seal cap 219 is carried into the substrate processing chamber in the processing furnace 202.

  After loading, arbitrary processing is performed on the wafer 200 in the substrate processing chamber. After the processing, the boat 217 is pulled out by the boat elevator 115, and thereafter, the wafer 200 and the pod 110 are discharged to the outside of the casing 111 in the reverse procedure described above.

Next, a functional block configuration of the substrate processing apparatus centering on the control unit 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 10 includes an operation unit 31, a display unit 32, a wafer transfer mechanism 125, a heater 34 of the reaction furnace 202, a pump / pressure valve 35, a gas pipe / MFC (mass flow controller: flow rate). Each component such as a control device 36 and the storage unit 20 is electrically connected, and the controller 10 controls each component.
The operation unit 31 receives various operations and inputs performed by the operator on the substrate processing apparatus. The display unit 32 displays an operation screen for operating the substrate processing apparatus. The wafer transfer mechanism 125 transfers wafers between the boat 217 and the pod 110. The heater 34 heats the reaction furnace 202. The pump / pressure valve 35 adjusts the pressure and exhausts the atmosphere in the substrate processing chamber in the reaction furnace 202. The gas pipe / MFC 36 supplies a processing gas or the like into the substrate processing chamber and adjusts the supply flow rate.

The storage unit 20 includes a process recipe storage unit 21, an error recipe storage unit 22, a control parameter storage unit 23, and an alarm value storage unit 24. The storage unit 20 can be configured from a hard disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like.
The process recipe storage unit 21 stores a process recipe (substrate processing sequence) for performing substrate processing. For example, when an error is detected during execution of the process recipe, the process recipe can be configured to select and execute an error recipe from an error recipe storage unit 22 described later according to the content of the error. The error recipe can be configured as a process recipe subroutine.

  The error recipe storage unit 22 stores, for example, an error recipe for performing error processing that is executed when an error is detected during process recipe execution. Error processing includes severe error processing and mild error processing. The error recipe storage unit 22 is configured to store an error recipe used in each case of a severe error process and a mild error process. Details of the severe error process and the minor error process will be described later.

The control parameter storage unit 23 stores reference values of control parameters that are controlled by the process recipe. This control parameter includes the temperature in the substrate processing chamber, the flow rate of the processing gas supplied into the substrate processing chamber, the pressure in the substrate processing chamber, and the like. For example, the temperature in the substrate processing chamber during substrate processing is 800 ° C. As a reference value, 200 sccm is stored as the flow rate and 500 Pa as the pressure in the substrate processing chamber. The contents of the control parameter storage unit 23 can be set and changed by the operator from the operation unit 31 with the contents displayed on the display unit 32.
In addition, you may comprise the control parameter memory | storage part 23 so that it may incorporate in a process recipe as a part of process recipe.

The alarm value storage unit 24 stores an upper limit deviation value and a lower limit deviation value with respect to the reference value of the control parameter described above. For example, when the set temperature (reference value) in the substrate processing chamber during substrate processing is 800 ° C., 30 ° C. is stored as the upper limit deviation value and 60 ° C. is stored as the lower limit deviation value. In this case, when the measured temperature in the substrate processing chamber is higher than 830 ° C. or lower than 740 ° C., the upper limit deviation value or the lower limit deviation value is exceeded, and error processing is performed as an abnormal state.
The alarm value storage unit 24 stores the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value with respect to the reference values for control parameters other than temperature, such as gas flow rate and pressure, as in the case of temperature.

  The control unit 10 includes a position controller (not shown) that controls the position of the wafer transfer mechanism 125, a temperature controller (not shown) that controls the temperature of a heater that heats the reaction furnace 202, and substrate processing in the reaction furnace 202. Pressure controller (not shown) for opening / closing and adjusting a vacuum pump / pressure valve as a vacuum exhaust device for exhausting the indoor atmosphere, opening / closing of a source gas supply pipe etc. communicating with the substrate processing chamber, and a source gas supply pipe And a valve controller (not shown) for controlling the flow rate of an MFC (flow rate control device) arranged in the same manner.

  Further, the control unit 10 includes a process recipe execution unit 11, a control parameter measurement unit 12, an error processing unit 13, an alarm value setting unit 14, and a display control unit 15 that controls display contents of the display unit 32. . As a hardware configuration, the control unit 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory that stores an operation program and the like of the control unit 10, and the CPU operates according to the operation program.

  The process recipe execution unit 11 reads out the process recipe stored in the process recipe storage unit 21 based on, for example, an operator instruction from the operation unit 31 and sequentially performs steps such as process steps described in the process recipe. Run. For example, in the process recipe, it is described that the temperature in the substrate processing chamber is set based on the control parameter, and when the reference temperature is described as 800 ° C. in the control parameter, the heater temperature is set to 800 ° C. Control the degree of heating.

  For example, the control parameter measurement unit 12 measures the value of each control parameter that changes every moment during execution of the process recipe. For example, the actual temperature in the substrate processing chamber is measured momentarily or periodically by a temperature sensor disposed in the substrate processing chamber, and a temperature measurement value is output. The same applies to the gas flow rate and pressure of other control parameters. The gas flow rate is measured every moment or periodically by the MFC provided in the gas supply pipe supplied into the substrate processing chamber, and the pressure in the substrate processing chamber is Measured momentarily or periodically by a pressure gauge provided in a gas exhaust pipe for exhausting the gas in the substrate processing chamber.

For example, the error processing unit 13 determines whether or not the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value stored in the alarm value storage unit 24 during execution of the process recipe. Different processing depending on when the lower limit deviation value is exceeded, for example, severe error processing or minor error processing is performed.
Severe error processing is performed, for example, when a substrate being processed in error cannot be recovered to a normal processing state by recovery processing. For example, when the temperature in the substrate processing chamber is processed at a temperature higher than a predetermined temperature range, the normal processing state cannot be recovered. In such a case, since the substrate can only be discarded, the recovery process cannot be performed, and a reset process is performed to stop the substrate process being executed and shift the substrate processing apparatus to a safe state. That is, as the reset process, the supply of the process gas is stopped, the heater heating is stopped, the temperature in the substrate processing chamber is lowered, and the substrate is carried out.
In a severe error process, an error can be reported to the operator through a buzzer sounding process or an error display process, and a reset process or the like can be performed according to the operator's instruction.

  The minor error processing is performed when the substrate being processed can be recovered to the normal processing state by the recovery processing. For example, when the temperature in the substrate processing chamber falls below a predetermined range, it may be possible to recover to a normal processing state by performing high-temperature processing thereafter. In such a case, the temperature is reduced to the operator by buzzer sound processing or error display processing. An error is reported, and the substrate is recovered to a normal processing state by performing a recovery process in which the operator processes the substrate being processed at a temperature higher than normal. In this way, it is not necessary to discard expensive substrates.

For example, when the set temperature (reference value) of the control parameter for the temperature in the substrate processing chamber is 800 ° C., if the actual temperature measurement value in the substrate processing chamber exceeds the upper limit deviation value of 30 ° C., that is, higher than 830 ° C. The operator is informed of a serious error by buzzer sounding processing or error display processing, and a menu of various error recipes for handling severe errors is displayed on the display unit 32. The operator gives instructions by referring to the menu. Execute the error recipe and perform the reset process.
Also, if the actual measured temperature in the substrate processing chamber exceeds the lower limit deviation of 60 ° C, that is, lower than 740 ° C, a minor error is reported to the operator by buzzer sound processing or error display processing. A menu of various error recipes for error handling is displayed on the display unit 32, and the error recipe instructed by the operator is executed with reference to the menu to perform recovery processing. After the recovery process, the process recipe that was being executed is continuously executed.
When a serious error or a minor error is detected, an error occurrence is reported to the operator through a buzzer sounding process or an error display process, and the error recipe is not executed according to the operator's instruction, but in the error recipe storage unit 22 It is also possible to select, read out and execute an error recipe corresponding to the error content registered in advance from a plurality of stored error recipes.

The alarm value setting unit 14 performs processing so that the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value of the control parameter input by the operator from the operation unit 31 are stored in the alarm value storage unit 24. For example, when the operator inputs 30 ° C. as the upper limit deviation value and 60 ° C. as the lower limit deviation value for the temperature in the substrate processing chamber, the alarm value setting unit 14 inputs the upper limit deviation value 30 ° C. and the lower limit deviation value 60 ° C. Are stored in the alarm value storage unit 24 as the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value of the temperature in the substrate processing chamber.
The same applies to the gas flow rate and pressure of other control parameters.

  Preferably, a setting screen is displayed for all of a plurality of control parameters such as temperature, gas flow rate, pressure, etc. on the display unit 32. In the setting screen, reference values, upper limit deviation values, and lower limit deviation values of already set control parameters are displayed. Is displayed. In such a state where the reference values, upper limit deviation values, and lower limit deviation values of a plurality of control parameters are displayed, the control parameter reference values, upper limit deviation values, and lower limit deviation values are based on the operation of the operator from the operation unit 31. Is newly set or updated. This makes it easy for the operator to set or update the control parameter reference value, upper limit deviation value, and lower limit deviation value.

  Next, error processing when an error occurs during execution of a process recipe in the substrate processing apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an error processing operation of the control unit according to the present embodiment. In the case of the present embodiment, the process recipe includes a boat loading step for holding the substrate by the substrate holder and carrying it into the substrate processing chamber, raising the temperature in the substrate processing chamber from the standby temperature to the film formation temperature, and supplying the processing gas A preparatory step (standby step) for stabilizing the amount at a predetermined gas flow rate and stabilizing the pressure in the substrate processing chamber at a predetermined process pressure; a film forming step for performing predetermined processing on the substrate; A step of lowering the film formation temperature to a standby temperature, and a boat unloading step of taking out the boat holding the substrate from the substrate processing chamber.

  As shown in FIG. 4, for example, during the process recipe execution, the control unit 10 acquires a measurement value of each control parameter, and further acquires a deviation value between each measurement value and the reference value of each control parameter ( Step S1) in FIG. For example, the deviation value between the measured temperature in the substrate processing chamber and the reference temperature of 800 ° C., that is, the difference between the measured temperature in the substrate processing chamber at that time and the reference temperature is acquired.

  The controller 10 determines whether or not the deviation value exceeds the upper limit deviation value 30 ° C., that is, whether or not the measured temperature in the substrate processing chamber is higher than 830 ° C. (step S2), and sets the upper limit deviation value 30 ° C. If it exceeds (Yes in step S2), an upper limit error processing recipe is acquired, that is, a temperature upper limit error processing recipe is acquired from the error recipe storage unit 22 (step S3), and the error processing is executed ( Step S6), the error processing of FIG. 4 is terminated. For example, as the upper limit error process, the supply of the processing gas is stopped, the heater heating is stopped, the substrate process being executed is stopped, and the reset process is performed to shift the substrate processing apparatus to a safe state.

  If the deviation value does not exceed the upper limit deviation value 30 ° C. (No in step S2), whether or not the deviation value exceeds the lower limit deviation value 60 ° C., that is, the measured temperature in the substrate processing chamber is higher than 740 ° C. It is determined whether or not the temperature is lower (step S4), and if the lower limit deviation value exceeds 60 ° C. (Yes in step S4), the lower limit error processing recipe is acquired, that is, the temperature lower limit error processing from the error recipe storage unit 22 A recipe is acquired (step S5), the error process is executed (step S6), and the error process of FIG. 4 is terminated. For example, as the lower limit value error process, a recovery process that can restore the substrate to a normal process state is performed, and then the process recipe that was being executed is continuously executed.

  The control unit 10 periodically and repeatedly executes the error processing shown in FIG. 4 described above for all the control parameters.

According to the embodiment described above, at least the following effects (1) to (3) can be obtained.
(1) Different error processing can be performed when the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the upper limit value of the deviation and when the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the lower limit value of the deviation.
(2) If the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the upper limit deviation value, perform a reset process for stopping the substrate process, and if the measured value exceeds the lower limit deviation value, perform a recovery process that can continue the substrate process, Alternatively, when the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the lower limit deviation value, a reset process for stopping the substrate processing is performed, and when the upper limit deviation value is exceeded, a recovery process capable of continuously executing the substrate processing is performed. Since the number of cases where the processing can be continued is increased as compared with the conventional case, the number of cases where the substrate is discarded is reduced, and the operating rate of the substrate processing apparatus is improved.
(3) Since the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value with respect to the reference value of the control parameter are displayed, the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value can be set or updated from the operation unit. It becomes easy to set the value and the lower limit deviation value.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
In the embodiment, the temperature in the substrate processing chamber has been described as the control parameter. However, the present invention can also be applied to other control parameters such as the gas flow rate and the pressure in the substrate processing chamber.
The present invention can be applied not only to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus but also to an apparatus for processing a glass substrate, such as an LCD manufacturing apparatus, and other substrate processing apparatuses. The processing content of the substrate processing may be not only film formation processing for forming CVD, PVD, oxide film, nitride film, metal-containing film, etc., but also exposure processing, lithography, coating processing, and the like.

Note that this specification includes at least the following invention relating to a method for manufacturing a substrate processing apparatus or a semiconductor device. That is, the first invention is
A substrate processing apparatus comprising a substrate processing chamber for processing a substrate, a storage unit, and a control unit for controlling substrate processing,
The storage unit
A process recipe storage unit for storing a process recipe, a control parameter storage unit for storing a reference value of a control parameter to be controlled by the process recipe, and an upper limit deviation value and a lower limit deviation value for the control parameter reference value are stored. An alarm value storage unit
The controller is
The process recipe execution unit that executes the process recipe stored in the process recipe storage unit, the control parameter measurement unit that measures the control parameter at the time of substrate processing, and the measurement value of the control parameter measured by the control parameter measurement unit are It is determined whether the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value stored in the alarm value storage unit have been exceeded, and different processing is performed depending on whether the upper limit deviation value is exceeded or the lower limit deviation value is exceeded. A substrate processing apparatus comprising an error processing unit.

A second invention is a substrate processing apparatus according to the first invention,
The controller is
If the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the upper limit deviation value, perform a reset process to stop the substrate process, if the lower limit deviation value is exceeded, perform a recovery process capable of continuously executing the substrate process, Alternatively, the substrate processing apparatus performs the reset process when the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the lower limit deviation value, and executes the recovery process when the measured value of the control parameter exceeds the upper limit deviation value.

A third invention is the substrate processing apparatus of the first invention or the second invention,
Furthermore, an operation unit that receives an input from the operator, and a display unit that displays the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value.
The substrate processing apparatus in which an upper limit deviation value and a lower limit deviation value with respect to a reference value of the control parameter can be input and set from the operation unit to the alarm value storage unit.

The fourth invention is:
A process recipe storage step for storing a process recipe for substrate processing;
An alarm value storing step for storing an upper limit deviation value and a lower limit deviation value with respect to a reference value of a control parameter to be controlled in the process recipe;
A process recipe execution step of reading and executing the stored process recipe;
A measuring step of measuring the control parameter during execution of the process recipe;
A determination step of determining whether the measured value of the control parameter measured in the measurement step exceeds the stored upper limit deviation value or lower limit deviation value;
An error processing step of performing different processing when the upper limit deviation value is exceeded and when the lower limit deviation value is exceeded;
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising:

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Control part, 11 ... Process recipe execution part, 12 ... Control parameter measurement part, 13 ... Error processing part, 14 ... Alarm value setting part, 15 ... Display control part, 20 ... Memory | storage part, 21 ... Process recipe memory | storage part, 22 ... Error recipe storage unit, 23 ... Control parameter storage unit, 24 ... Alarm value storage unit, 31 ... Operation unit, 32 ... Display unit, 34 ... Heater, 35 ... Pump / pressure valve, 36 ... Gas piping / MFC pressure, 125: Wafer transfer mechanism.

Claims (1)

A substrate processing apparatus comprising a substrate processing chamber for processing a substrate, a storage unit, and a control unit for controlling substrate processing,
The storage unit
A process recipe storage unit for storing a process recipe, a control parameter storage unit for storing a reference value of a control parameter to be controlled by the process recipe, and an upper limit deviation value and a lower limit deviation value for the control parameter reference value are stored. An alarm value storage unit
The controller is
The process recipe execution unit that executes the process recipe stored in the process recipe storage unit, the control parameter measurement unit that measures the control parameter at the time of substrate processing, and the measurement value of the control parameter measured by the control parameter measurement unit are It is determined whether the upper limit deviation value and the lower limit deviation value stored in the alarm value storage unit have been exceeded, and different processing is performed depending on whether the upper limit deviation value is exceeded or the lower limit deviation value is exceeded. A substrate processing apparatus comprising an error processing unit.

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