JP2018163955A - Substrate housing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate housing apparatus being advantageous in terms of degree of freedom in layout in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and downsizing of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.SOLUTION: A substrate housing apparatus for housing a substrate includes at least three support rods, and a substrate support part which is held by the support rods and designed to support end portions of the substrate. The substrate support part is disposed at each of the at least three support rods. The at least three support rods are arranged at positions that allow loading and unloading of the substrate in at least three directions in a plan view.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate storage device that stores a substrate.

  At present, in the manufacturing process of semiconductor elements, pattern miniaturization is progressing, and it is possible to produce microstructure devices based on design rules of nanometer order. As such miniaturization progresses, even particles that adhere to the substrates (including wafers and masks) used in the manufacturing process, even nanometer-sized substances, can be a factor in reducing product yield. . For these reasons, semiconductor devices are manufactured in a clean room with few airborne particles. However, maintaining a high level of cleanliness in the entire cleanroom is very costly, and it takes time to reach the required cleanliness. The time will be longer. In practice, a method of keeping a high cleanness in a narrow region in a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate and transporting the substrate in a sealed container with a high cleanness is used. Examples of such containers include FOUP (Front-Opening Unified Pods) and SMIF (Standard of Mechanical Interface).

  FIG. 10 shows a configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 42 according to a conventional example (Patent Document 1). In FIG. 10, the SMIF opener 50 is disposed so as to protrude in the X direction with respect to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 42 in order to shorten the dimension in the Y direction.

  In general, FOUP or SMIF is used for a substrate storage apparatus that stores the substrate 3 in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 42. In these substrate storage apparatuses, the shape and dimensions of the substrate storage portion are defined by standards such as “SEMI E112-1106”, for example. In the example shown in FIG. 9, the pair of wall-shaped substrate holding portions 47 are formed with opening grooves 48 at equal intervals in a comb shape, and the substrate 3 is taken in and out from one direction along the opening grooves 48. For this reason, when it is necessary to change the direction in which the substrate 3 is taken in and out inside the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 42, it is essential to change the direction of the substrate storage portion as shown in the conventional example of FIG. The direction of 50 must be changed.

JP 2001-358194 A

  For example, in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 42 shown in FIG. 8, the substrate storage apparatuses 7 a and 7 b are parallel to the access direction 51 to the apparatus and are arranged on the target with the robot 45 interposed therebetween. In such an arrangement, the robot 45 wants to insert and remove the substrates 3a and 3b from the access directions 52a and 52b into the substrate storage device with respect to the substrate storage devices 7a and 7b. That is, in FIG. 9, unless the substrate 3 can be taken in and out from the access directions 52a and 52b in addition to the current access direction 52, it cannot be used in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 42 as shown in FIG.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate storage device that is advantageous in terms of freedom of layout in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and miniaturization of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate storage device for storing a substrate, comprising: at least three support columns; and a substrate support unit that is held by the support columns and supports an end portion of the substrate, A substrate support portion is provided on each of the at least three support columns, and the at least three support columns are arranged at positions where the substrate can be loaded and unloaded in at least three directions in plan view. The board | substrate storage apparatus characterized by these is provided.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the board | substrate storage apparatus advantageous at the point of the layout freedom in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the size reduction of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is provided.

The figure which shows an example of a structure of a board | substrate storage apparatus. The figure which shows the example of the board | substrate storage apparatus with which the board | substrate was mounted. The figure which illustrates the shape of a board | substrate. The figure explaining arrangement | positioning of the support | pillar of a board | substrate storage apparatus. The figure which shows the structural example of the board | substrate support part of a board | substrate storage apparatus. The figure which shows the structural example of the board | substrate support part of a board | substrate storage apparatus. The figure which shows the structure of the board | substrate storage apparatus using the board | substrate support part of FIG. The figure which shows the structural example of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus with which a board | substrate storage apparatus is applied. The figure which shows the shape of the board | substrate storage apparatus by a prior art example. The figure which shows the structural example of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus by a prior art example. The front view which looked at the board | substrate storage apparatus of FIG. 2 from the Y direction. The figure which shows the other structural example of a board | substrate storage apparatus. The figure which shows the other structural example of a board | substrate storage apparatus. The figure which shows the other structural example of a board | substrate support part.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following embodiment, The following embodiment shows only the specific example of implementation of this invention. Moreover, not all combinations of features described in the following embodiments are indispensable for solving the problems of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a substrate storage device according to the present embodiment. The substrate storage device includes a support column 1, a support portion 2, and a pedestal 4. The column 1 includes columns 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, and 1 d erected at the four corners of the base 4. The support portion 2 that supports the substrate includes substrate support portions 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d that are respectively held by the columns 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d. The support 1a is provided with a substrate support 2a. A plurality of substrate support portions 2a are arranged on each column. For example, in the present embodiment, the substrate support portion 2a includes a plurality (for example, five in this case) of substrate support portions 2a-1, 2a-2, 2a-3, 2a-4, which are arranged at equal intervals in the Z direction. 2a-5.
The support 1b is provided with a substrate support 2b. The substrate support portion 2b includes five substrate support portions 2b-1, 2b-2, 2b-3, 2b-4, and 2b-5 arranged at equal intervals in the Z direction.
The support 1c is provided with a substrate support 2c. The substrate support portion 2c includes five substrate support portions 2c-1, 2c-2, 2c-3, 2c-4, and 2c-5 arranged at equal intervals in the Z direction.
The support 1d is provided with a substrate support 2d. The substrate support portion 2d includes five substrate support portions 2d-1, 2d-2, 2d-3, 2d-4, and 2d-5 arranged at equal intervals in the Z direction.
The substrate support portions 2a-1, 2b-1, 2c-1, 2d-1 are arranged at the same height in the Z direction, and the remaining four stages of substrate support portions are similarly fixed at the same height. . Thus, a plurality of stages of storage positions are formed.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram in which the substrate 3 is mounted on the substrate support portions 2a-2, 2b-2, 2c-2, and 2d-2 in the second stage from the bottom in the substrate storage apparatus shown in FIG. As described above, since the substrate supporting portions 2a-2, 2b-2, 2c-2, 2d-2 are arranged at the same height, the substrate 3 is mounted in parallel with the base 4. .

  4 is a view of the substrate storage device of FIG. 2 as viewed from above in the Z direction. The substrate 3 assumed in this embodiment is a square substrate having a quadrangular shape in plan view, and has a width Wx in the X direction and a width Wy in the Y direction. As shown in FIG. Side surfaces 21, 22, 23, 24. In FIG. 4A, a plane including the first side surface 21 of the substrate 3 is referred to as a first plane 31, and a plane including the second side surface 22 parallel to the first side surface 21 is referred to as a second plane 32. In this case, when the substrate 3 is transported in the X direction, the substrate 3 passes through a region sandwiched between the first plane 31 and the second plane 32. Similarly, a plane including the third side surface 23 adjacent to the first side surface 21 of the substrate 3 is referred to as a third plane 33, and a plane including the fourth side surface 24 parallel to the third side surface 23 is referred to as a fourth plane 34. In this case, when the substrate 3 is transported in the Y direction, the substrate 3 passes through a region sandwiched between the third plane 33 and the fourth plane 34.

  The support pillars 1a to 1d are arranged at positions where the substrate can be loaded and unloaded in at least three directions in plan view. In the example of FIG. 4, all of the support pillars 1 a to 1 d arranged near the corners of the substrate 3 are a region sandwiched between the first plane 31 and the second plane 32, and the third plane 33 and the fourth plane. 34 is arranged in a region that avoids the region sandwiched by 34. That is, the four struts are arranged with an interval wider than the width Wx or Wy of the substrate 3 in the X direction or the Y direction. As described above, the plurality of support columns are arranged at positions outside the substrate storage position. Therefore, the substrate 3 does not interfere with any of the columns 1a to 1d when the substrate 3 is moved in the X direction or the Y direction. Since the support pillars 1a to 1d do not interfere with the flow line of the substrate 3 in both the X direction and the Y direction, the substrate 3 can be viewed from any of the access directions 52a, 52b, 52c, and 52d shown in FIG. Can be carried in / out. On the other hand, the board | substrate support part 2 is arrange | positioned so that a board | substrate may be supported in the position inside the accommodation position of a board | substrate. In this way, a substrate storage device that can carry in and out the substrate in at least three directions in plan view is realized.

  FIG. 11 is a front view of the substrate storage device of FIG. 2 as viewed from the Y direction. As described above, the interval W in the X direction between the column 1 b and the column 1 c is wider than the width of the substrate 3. Further, in the substrate support portions 2 b and 2 c arranged in the Z direction, each substrate support portion is arranged with a gap H larger than the thickness of the substrate 3. Therefore, the substrate 3 can pass through the opening region of the gap H in the Y direction without interfering with the support columns 1b and 1c and the substrate support portions 2b and 2c.

  In FIG. 5, the structural example of the board | substrate support part 2 is shown. In FIG. 5A, the placement portion 11 on which the substrate 3 is placed is a step bottom surface formed at a position lower than the upper surface of the substrate support portion 2 by a depth D in the Z direction. Further, the step side surface rising from the step bottom surface is used as an abutting portion 12 against which an end portion of the substrate is abutted so as to restrict the horizontal movement of the substrate placed on the placing portion 11. The step side surface as the abutting portion 12 is formed by an inclined surface for guidance when the substrate is placed on the placement portion 11 as shown in FIG. 5A, for example. In FIG. 4A, the distance between the placement portions of the adjacent substrate support portions is arranged to be narrower than the width Wx in the X direction or the width Wy in the Y direction of the substrate 3. And the board | substrate 3 is mounted horizontally by the four mounting parts of the board | substrate support part of the same step. Also, as shown in FIG. 11, the substrate 3 is placed below the upper surface of the substrate support portion by a depth D after passing through an opening having a width W and a height H wider than the thickness T of the substrate 3. Mounted on the part. At this time, since the abutting portion 12 is formed with an inclined surface, the movement when the substrate 3 is lowered to the placement portion 11 is also smooth. Although the side view seen from the Y direction is shown in FIG. 11, the side view seen from the X direction is also the same as FIG. 11, and has a sufficient opening to allow the substrate 3 to pass in the X direction. Therefore, the substrate storage apparatus of the present embodiment can carry in / out the substrate 3 from four horizontal directions.

  Therefore, when the substrate storage device of this embodiment is applied to the substrate storage devices 7a and 7b in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 42 shown in FIG. 8 as a conventional example, the substrate storage device of this embodiment has either of the mounting positions 7a and 7b. Can also be used interchangeably. Further, when the substrate storage device of the present embodiment is applied to the substrate storage devices 7a and 7b, the internal substrate 3 is unloaded by the hand 43 of the robot 45 even if the substrate storage device is rotated by 90 ° with respect to the Z axis. It is possible to transfer to the processing chamber 46.

  For example, consider the case where the substrate storage device of the present embodiment is used as the substrate storage device 7a of FIG. First, the robot 45 inserts the hand 43 at a position lower than the bottom surface height S2 of the substrate 3 shown in FIG. Then, the substrate 3 is sucked and fixed on the hand 43. Thereafter, the hand 43 is further lifted to a position several millimeters higher than the height S1, and the hand 43 is moved in the X direction to the robot 45 to the center position P, whereby the substrate 3 can be taken out from the substrate storage device 7a. And the board | substrate 3 can be returned to the board | substrate storage apparatus 7a by implementing the reverse drive to the above.

  However, when processing the substrate 3 in the processing chamber 46, the position of the substrate 3 may be shifted by about 1 mm. In this case, since the substrate 3 received by the hand 43 from the processing chamber 46 is transferred to the hand 43 in a state of being shifted from the time when it is carried in, the shift amount remains as it is when returning to the substrate storage device 7a. It can be mounted on the mounting portion 11 as it is. However, since the abutting portion 12 is formed with an inclined surface as shown in FIG. 5A in the substrate support portion 2, the position of the substrate 3 is corrected in the specified position direction along the inclined surface when descending. To be installed.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5B, the width of the abutting portion 12 described in FIG. 5A is formed to a width of, for example, 1 mm or less so that the contact surface with the substrate 3 becomes small. Specifically, the substrate support part 2 has a rib formed by a side wall part of the substrate support part 2 rising from a step bottom surface formed at a position lowered from the upper surface thereof. The bottom surface of the rib formed at a position lowered from the top surface of the rib is referred to as a mounting portion 11, and the side surface of the rib that rises from the bottom surface of the rib is referred to as an abutment portion 12. With this structure, the frictional resistance generated by the contact between the surface of the abutting portion 12 and the substrate 3 is reduced, the substrate 3 is prevented from being caught in the middle of the abutting portion 12, and the amount of particles generated by the contact is reduced. Can also be reduced. Furthermore, in the example of FIG. 5B, the placement portion 11 has an inclination such that the contact portion that contacts the substrate becomes lower toward the center of the substrate. For this reason, the bottom surface of the substrate 3 and the contact portion are not in surface contact but are in line contact or point contact. Therefore, even if particles are on the contact portion, the particles can be prevented from transferring to the bottom surface of the substrate 3.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5C, the mounting portion 11 is configured by a protruding portion that protrudes from the bottom surface of the step formed at a position lowered from the upper surface of the substrate support portion 2 and contacts the bottom surface of the substrate. According to this configuration, there is less concern about the generation or transfer of particles.

  In the example of FIGS. 1 and 2, the four corners of the substrate 3 are described as being configured to be supported by the substrate support portion 2. However, since the substrate 3 can be stably fixed as long as it receives three places in the four corners, it can be said that it is sufficient that there are at least three support columns. Furthermore, it is sufficient that at least three substrate support portions 2 are arranged at the same height. From the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the support column 1d and the substrate support unit 2d may be deleted, and the substrate 3 may be held by the other three support columns and the substrate support unit. Show. In the example shown in FIG. 12A, the column 1e is disposed at an intermediate position between the column 1c and the column 1d in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 13, since the support 1e is on the flow line of the substrate in the access direction 52c, access from four directions is not possible, but access from three directions is secured. In other words, at least two of the at least three columns only need to be arranged outside the region of the transport locus in at least three directions of the substrate in plan view.

  In FIG. 13, the movement of the substrate 3 in the + X, −Y, and + Y directions is restricted by the substrate support parts 2 a and 2 b, so the substrate support part 2 e only needs to restrict the movement in the −X direction. FIG. 14 shows a configuration example of the substrate support 2 that restricts only movement in the −X direction. In this case, unlike the form shown in FIG. 5, the abutting portion 12 has a shape in contact with the substrate 3 only in one direction. Further, the support 1e is not provided at an intermediate position on one side of the substrate as shown in FIG. 12A. For example, as shown in FIG. 12B, two adjacent support 1c and support 1d are connected. It is good also as a structure which provides the board | substrate support part 2 in the intermediate part of the connecting member to connect.

  In the substrate storage apparatus of FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 5, the substrate support 2 is shown as an independent member with respect to the support column 1, but for example, as shown in FIG. May be an integrated configuration. In FIG. 6, the same stage substrate support portions are integrated by attaching the same stage substrate support portions 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, 2 d to the plate 5. FIG. 7 shows a configuration example in which the substrate support portion having such a configuration is fixed to the column 1 similar to FIG. In the same figure, the plate 5 plays the role of the shielding board which isolate | separates space between each 5 steps | paragraphs of board | substrate support parts so that it may demonstrate below.

  As described above, a substrate used in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is generally transported by a substrate storage device such as FOUP or SMIF. In such a substrate storage device, it is important to prevent the gas or particles present in the transport path from coming into contact with the substrate in order to highly guarantee the cleanliness of the substrate. Therefore, not only the material that suppresses the generation of particles is applied to all the parts constituting the substrate storage device, but also consideration is given to making the contact area with the substrate as small as possible. However, even if the generation of particles is sufficiently suppressed, there is a case where dust is generated at the contact portion between the substrate 3 and the substrate support portion 2 or particles adhered to the substrate are brought into the substrate storage device. is there.

  Thus, in a situation where the generation of particles in the substrate storage device is not completely eliminated, it is important that the particles do not diffuse in the substrate storage device. According to the configuration shown in FIG. 7, even if the substrate 3 is mounted, the space between the substrates is divided by the plate 5, so that it is difficult for particles to reach other substrates.

  According to the various embodiments described above, when the substrate is carried in / out of the substrate storage apparatus, the substrate conveyance path can be blocked by the wall-shaped substrate holding portion 47 as shown in FIG. Absent. Further, since the support column is disposed outside the substrate storage position, the transfer route of the substrate is not blocked by the support column. Therefore, the substrate can be taken in and out of the substrate storage device from a plurality of directions, the layout freedom in the semiconductor manufacturing device is improved, and the semiconductor manufacturing device can be downsized.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to these embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and change are possible within the range of the summary.

1: support, 2: substrate support, 3: substrate, 4: pedestal

Claims (13)

A substrate storage device for storing a substrate,
At least three struts,
A substrate support portion held by the support column and supporting an end portion of the substrate;
Have
The substrate support is provided on each of the at least three columns.
The substrate storage device, wherein the at least three support columns are arranged at positions where the substrate can be loaded and unloaded in at least three directions in plan view.   2. The substrate according to claim 1, wherein at least two of the at least three columns are arranged outside a region of a conveyance locus in at least three directions of the substrate in the plan view. Storage device. The substrate is a square substrate;
The at least two struts are provided on a region sandwiched between a first plane including the first side surface of the square substrate and a second plane including a second side surface parallel to the first side surface, and on the first side surface. 3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the second flat plate is disposed in a region that avoids a region sandwiched between a third flat surface including a third side surface adjacent thereto and a fourth flat surface including a fourth side surface parallel to the third side surface. The board | substrate storage apparatus of description.   The substrate support unit includes a mounting unit on which the substrate is mounted, and an abutting unit that restricts horizontal movement of the substrate mounted on the mounting unit. The substrate storage device according to any one of 1 to 3.   The said mounting part is a level | step difference bottom face formed in the position lowered | hung from the upper surface of the said board | substrate support part, The said abutment part is a level | step difference side surface which stands | starts up from the said level | step difference bottom face, Board storage device.   6. The substrate storage device according to claim 5, wherein the step side surface has an inclined surface for guiding when the substrate is placed on the mounting portion. The substrate support portion has a rib formed by a side wall portion of the substrate support portion rising from a step bottom surface formed at a position lowered from the upper surface of the substrate support portion,
5. The substrate according to claim 4, wherein the mounting portion is a rib bottom surface formed at a position lowered from an upper surface of the rib, and the abutting portion is a rib side surface rising from the rib bottom surface. Storage device.   The substrate storage device according to claim 7, wherein the rib bottom surface is inclined so as to come into contact with the substrate by line contact or point contact.   5. The substrate storage device according to claim 4, wherein the mounting portion has a protrusion that protrudes from a bottom surface of a step formed at a position lowered from an upper surface of the substrate support portion and contacts the bottom surface of the substrate. .   A plurality of the substrate support portions are arranged on each of the at least three support columns, and a plurality of substrate storage positions are formed by setting the intervals in the height direction of the arrangements at equal intervals. The substrate storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.   The substrate storage device according to claim 10, further comprising a plate to which the substrate support portions at the same stage are attached. The at least three struts have four struts;
A connecting member that connects two adjacent struts of the four struts;
The substrate storage device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate support portion is disposed at an intermediate position of the connecting member.   The substrate storage device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is supported between the substrate support portions provided on each of the at least three support columns.

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