JP2557463Y2 - Quartz crucible cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a single crystal pulling crucible used in the manufacture of semiconductors, and to an apparatus having a conveying means used in the washing and drying steps of the crucible manufacture. The present invention relates to a cleaning device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a quartz crucible for pulling a single crystal used in semiconductor manufacturing, maintaining a good temperature distribution on the surface of the crucible is one factor for producing a high-quality single crystal. In order to realize this, a quartz crucible containing microbubbles is manufactured so that the microbubbles are intentionally included in the crucible (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-215534). On the other hand, the quartz crucible, when its inner surface layer is contaminated such as containing an impurity element, has a great adverse effect on the single crystal to be pulled. Therefore, chemical cleaning (for example, using a hydrofluoric acid solution) ) Is performed. In this chemical cleaning, the crucible is kept in the chemical cleaning liquid for a certain period of time, the surface is eroded by the liquid, and then the chemical cleaning liquid is subjected to a dewatering treatment with pure water. . The conventional quartz crucible washing / drying process includes a series of steps of carry-in → HF washing → pure water washing → drying → unloading, during which a transfer operation is performed to transport the crucible to a required place.

Conventionally, a transfer mechanism used for loading and unloading the crucible is provided with a string-shaped non-slip on its surface, and the left and right bottom surfaces of the crucible are evenly arranged on a base formed in an arc shape corresponding to the outer shape of the crucible to be transferred. And the crane is moved by a crane to prevent the crucible from falling from the crane (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-62543), and the crucible holding arm is used to prevent the crucible from becoming a contamination source on the surface of the crucible. There is a type in which a coating is applied to a material and a structure in which a crucible is held thereon is configured to be transported by a movable crane. In the end, they have a structure corresponding to a certain size and weight of the crucible, and if the shape of the crucible changes, the transport mechanism is generally changed. By the way, it is known that, once a crack is generated on the outer surface of a quartz crucible, the crack is apt to be quickly extended to a dense inner surface (see the above-mentioned JP-A-60-2155).
No. 34), this property causes the crucible to be carefully handled when being carried in. In the above crucible production, the crucible itself becomes larger and larger each year, and as with the liquid tank for cleaning and the equipment for drying, the jigs and equipment used for them are also used in the loading and unloading equipment. Nevertheless, many improvements and investments have been made. Nevertheless, for example, the increase in the weight of the crucible and the danger of the chemical cleaning liquid to be handled, as well as the loading / unloading device, the provision of crack generation factors to the crucible surface, drop obstacles, Negative factors, including contamination of the crucible, do not diminish, and the mental,
The deterioration of the physical working environment cannot be ignored. In other words, the improvement efforts in these prior arts, albeit with the scale, have been only technically minor improvements. In other words, in the conventional technology of the cleaning device, every time the crucible is enlarged, related devices and jigs are replaced.
It was within the range of symptomatic improvement.

[0004]

However, in the conventional apparatus for cleaning a quartz crucible, the transport mechanism of the conventional apparatus is designed to cope with a certain size or weight, and it is necessary to cope with the internal stress or strength of the structure of the crucible. However, it has not been made from the concept of setting the holding capacity of the transport mechanism. Therefore, even if the crucible has the ability to hold the entire weight of the crucible, if the unit load at the contact position between the unloading mechanism and the crucible does not match the internal strength per unit of the constituent material of the crucible portion, cracking may occur. It is possible to accumulate the cause of occurrence, or to generate a crack in the crucible part that comes into contact with one carry-in / out, and to make the crucible unusable as the time elapses and the frequency of holding times increases Become.

[0005] By the way, as the size of the crucible increases, if the same transport mechanism is continuously used, the above-mentioned mismatched state is not only increased, but also when the crucible is small, the unmatched state is increased. Regardless of the size, even if the capacity of the transfer mechanism has an extra capacity, the relationship with the strength of the crucible may change to an inconsistent state. Therefore, the size of the quartz crucible is changed in a short cycle, causing the problem of keeping the size of the equipment and jig of the transfer mechanism constant.On the other hand, the transfer mechanism is changed every time the size of the crucible is changed. In addition to the necessity of changing, the technical method of the above-mentioned conventional transport means has been one of the obstacles for promoting efficient automation.

In view of the drawbacks of the prior art, the object of the present invention is to sufficiently consider the characteristics of the structure of the quartz crucible and to increase the size of the crucible while responding to social demands while effectively transporting the material. By adopting the method, by means irrespective of the diameter of the quartz crucible, a quartz crucible has a transfer mechanism that will not be hindered unintentionally, and a good manufacturing environment is created by introducing an automatic mechanism in the transfer process, or It is an object of the present invention to provide a quartz crucible cleaning apparatus that reduces idle time and improves a working environment.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the crucible is placed in a state where the opening face is downwardly directed, and the crucible is subjected to each step of a washing process, that is, each of a loading section, a washing tank, a drying tank and an unloading section. In a quartz crucible cleaning device provided with one or a plurality of transport mechanisms for transporting to an adjacent processing step, the transport mechanism 6 is moved downward by a pair of arm members 46
A drive system 39 for swinging the arm member 46 so as to be able to move to and away from the outer peripheral surface of the crucible 1 to the left and right, and a drive source 40 for the drive system 39 capable of generating a torque of a predetermined pressure. The crucible 1 is configured to be conveyable to an adjacent processing step in a state where the arm member 46 is held between the outer peripheral surfaces of the crucible 1 by the driving of the drive source 39, and the driving source 40
By using the above torque pressure, a clamping pressure smaller than the crucible breaking pressure can be constantly applied to the crucible 1. Further, in the cleaning apparatus in which a plurality of cleaning chambers and a plurality of drying chambers are provided, the transport mechanism 6 is provided on the loading section 4 side and the unloading section 8 side, respectively, and these are independent from each other along the same moving rail 42. And is configured to be movable. Further, the crucible 1 installation sites of the carry-in section 4, the washing tank 2, the drying tank 3 and the carry-out section 8 are arranged horizontally and in parallel. The washing tank 2 is formed by a pair of support rods 7, The cleaning apparatus is characterized in that a part of the opening end face of the crucible 1 can be held through the support rod 7. In the drying tank 3, the quartz crucible support 26 is configured to be able to hold the same function as the support rod 7. In this case, it is not necessary to fixedly dispose each crucible 1 installation site including the support rod 7, and if necessary, the crucible installation surface is kept horizontal, and the crucible 1 is moved and stopped at a predetermined position. As long as it is made possible and provided with a reliable locking means, the whole may be configured to be movable.

In the present invention, claim 1 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, claim 2 is shown in FIG. 5, and claim 3 is shown in FIGS. 3 to 5.

[0009]

According to such a technical means, as shown in FIG. 1, the size of the crucible is not changed as shown in FIG. 1, instead of being transferred with a holding capacity based only on the weight and size of the crucible as in the prior art. Even if it changes, it has a holding mechanism that can respond to it, that is, it holds the crucible sandwiched left and right so that the torque at that time can be controlled, so that it is held regardless of the diameter of the crucible, and It is possible to convey the crucible at a pressure equal to or less than the predicted breaking pressure of the crucible by always grasping the capacity as a numerical value. Since the device of the present invention can be linked and individually arranged on the same moving rail common to the washing tank and the drying tank, it enables free transfer operation exclusive to each of the washing and drying processes. Minimize idle time in adjacent processes due to delays in pre- or post-process operations, and maintain maintenance of processes by using one as an actual spare during a failure or adjustment period as an emergency spare It can be. Further, always fixed, stable to crucible mounting, and arranged so as to be convenient for transport by the transport mechanism,
Since the set position of the crucible 1 composed of a pair of support rods is fixed regardless of the size of the crucible, the control operation of the transport mechanism can be easily and reliably performed. It facilitates the management of the transport process and allows the transport mechanism to be coupled to known automation techniques and to be coordinated with the time management of other adjacent processes. As a result, it is possible to provide a transport mechanism capable of coping with both the enlargement of the crucible and the cleaning process in which large and small crucibles are mixed, and accordingly, the manufacturing process management related to the present invention can be flexibly controlled. I can do it.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to only those components, unless otherwise specified. It's just FIG. 1 is a side view showing an essential part of a transport mechanism in a drying chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention. A crucible 1 placed on a quartz crucible support 26 has a pair of holding mechanisms of a transport mechanism 6 at the bottoms on both side ends. A block 47 is inserted tightly, and the crucible 1 is sandwiched from the left and right together with an auxiliary block 48 which is also in close contact with the side surface of the crucible 1, and can be moved up and down and conveyed. The holding block 47 is attached to the support frame 4.
An arm member 46 supported by 4 and constituting a drive system 39;
Via the drive shaft 45 and the reversing gearbox 39a,
The movement can be controlled by a drive source 40 including a torque motor 40. At this time, it can be controlled by a known technique (not shown) so that the holding torque generated through the contact surface is equal to or less than the predicted crucible breaking pressure. The holding block 47 and the auxiliary block 48
Is coated with a resin material that does not cause contamination when it comes into contact with the surface of the crucible 1. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a main part of the transport mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention. The drive source 40 has a reversing gearbox, and its end is fitted to the beams 44a and 44b of the support frame 44. By inverting each shaft 45a and 45b of the drive shaft 45 held by 51a, each shaft can be reversely rotated,
The left and right horizontal rails 46a and 46b connected to the drive shaft 45 can be moved centrifugally or centrifugally. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a front view showing the entire transfer mechanism in the loading section of the embodiment of the present invention. The transfer mechanism 6 is provided so that two pairs of quartz crucibles 1 can be individually held. The unloading mechanism 6 can be moved back and forth on a moving rail 42 on a moving gantry receiving beam 38 formed in common with the washing / drying process apparatus via a rail member 43 provided with wheels 42a and 42b. The control operation is performed by operating means outside the apparatus not shown here.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the entire cleaning / drying process apparatus of the present invention for a quartz crucible. The carry-in section 4, the washing tank 2, the drying tank 3 and the carry-out section 8 are provided from right to left. Have been. Each of the tanks is divided so that a pair of quartz crucibles 1 can be installed therein to form respective chambers, and the cleaning tank 2 is provided with an exhaust port 31 for each of the chambers so that the exhaust can be performed outside the machine. The pipe is connected to the main pipe 33. The drying tank 3 is provided with an air inlet 28 on one side wall surface for each chamber so that fresh air J can be taken in, and an exhaust port 36 having an automatic opening / closing type exhaust damper 35 on the other side wall surface. Main exhaust pipe 3 for exhausting indoor air
7 and can be processed outside the machine. In each of the chambers, crucible installation sites 1a to 1q where the quartz crucible 1 is to be mounted are provided at each process site with a pair of parallel and horizontal support rods 7 attached thereto. A detector 8a composed of a photo sensor for detecting the presence of the crucible 1 is disposed in the unloading section 8. FIG. 5 is a side view showing the entirety of the cleaning / drying process apparatus of the present invention for a quartz crucible, including a partially broken surface. The above-mentioned loading unit 4 and discharging unit 8 include discharge mechanisms 6a and 6b. The crucible 1 is held and transported, and is disposed on a pair of moving rails 42 connected to each other through the washing tank 2 and the drying tank 3, and can be moved right and left by a timing belt 41. The washing tank 2
Are provided with crucible installation portions 1g and 1h, respectively, and a rotating device 10 provided with a washing device 13 composed of a spray nozzle is mounted rotatably with the crucible 1 placed thereon. A drying device 20 provided with portions 1k and 1l is provided. A shutter 54 for blocking the space is provided at a key point inside the tank, and an inspection door 69 is provided at a key point on the wall surface of the tank. A pit 15 for collecting drainage is provided at a lower portion of each of the tanks 2 and 3.
It is mounted on a solid base 53 on a moving vehicle 52 for convenience in carrying out and carrying in.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a main part of a cleaning device for a quartz crucible according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is rotatable by a motor box 19 around a cleaning device 13 to which a rotating device 10 is fixed. It is arranged. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the operation of a rotating device of a cleaning device for a quartz crucible according to an embodiment of the present invention.
1 is rotatable by a motor 19a via rotation transmission gears 18a and 18b. FIG. 8 is a sectional view of an essential part for explaining the operation of a drying apparatus for a quartz crucible related to the embodiment of the present invention, and an infrared ray disposed in a drying chamber 9 provided with a heat reflector 22b on the inner wall surface of the room. An infrared heater 21 having a heat radiating region r, on which a heat reflector 22a is arranged on a semicircular arc below the heater 21, is provided on a quartz crucible support 26 made of transparent quartz glass which transmits infrared rays without loss. The quartz crucible 1 having a crucible projection space size R and containing microbubbles can be effectively heated with little heat loss.
FIG. 9 is a side view illustrating the entire drying apparatus related to the embodiment of the present invention.
The air can be ventilated through a high-performance filter 29 and a light-shielding louver 30 and discharged from an exhaust port 34 to a single drying chamber 9 in the drying tank 3 which can be closed and has a sealing. It has become. On the floor surface, an infrared heater 21 is disposed on a heater support 23 with its terminals protected by a terminal cover 24, and a base plate 25 is provided above the support base 27.
And a pair of parallel and horizontal quartz crucible supports 26 is fixed to form a crucible installation site, and can be placed at a regular position when the crucible 1 is transferred. .

FIG. 10 is a flow sheet of a piping related to a cleaning device for a quartz crucible according to the present invention. The flow sheet is provided so as to be inserted into the crucible 1 and the outer surface of the crucible 1 is provided so as to be washable. , And a cleaning device 13 composed of a spray nozzle capable of supplying pure water are connected to a common pipe 12, and the common pipe 12 can be connected to a pure water pipe 63 and a circulating water supply pipe 66 by a valve switching operation, respectively. It has become.
When supplying the HF, in particular, supply valves 12m, 12n, 64a, 64
b is opened, the supply valve 63a is closed, and the other related valves are opened, and the HF transferred to the circulation tank 55 by the HF supply tank 56 and the supply pump 59 is collected by the circulation pump 58 by the flow meter 60. The controlled HF can be supplied to the cleaning device 13 by the circulating liquid supply pipe 66. In addition, when supplying the pure water, in particular, the supply valve 12m, 12m
By operating n, 63a, 64a to open and the supply valve 64b to close, pure water can be supplied by pure water supply means (not shown). FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a working process for a quartz crucible related to the embodiment of the present invention. The crucible 1 is introduced into the cleaning tank 2 by the loading process 1A. And H
After the F cleaning step 1B to the pure water cleaning step 1C, there is an N2 spraying step, and then there is a transfer step 1E to the drying tank 3 to form a drying step 1F. One of the pair of transport mechanisms 6 is operated, and at the time of the drying step 1F, the next loading step 2A is started in parallel. After the completion of the drying step 1F, an extraction step 1G is performed, and a series of entire washing / drying steps is completed.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. Here, the crucible 1 is transferred by means not shown, and
At a predetermined position of the crucible installation site 1a or 1b of the crucible 1
Is placed with its opening face down, the edge around the opening face is placed on the horizontal upper surface of the pair of support bars 7. That position becomes the work table of the transport mechanism 6a. The shutter, which fully shuts off the internal space and the outside world of the washing / drying process apparatus, is fully opened, and the transport mechanism 6a, which is responsible for the transfer between the loading section 4 and the drying section 3, is moved through the moving rail 42. Part 4
Is moved to the crucible installation site where the crucible 1 is placed. The transferred transfer mechanism 6a moves the arm member 46 to the periphery of the crucible 1. That is, by a well-known operation control means relating to the entire transport mechanism 6 (not shown), a set of left and right falling members 46e and 46f, a so-called chuck shaft, is formed in a state where the set of left and right moving members 46a and 46b is spread left and right. Moves down to the edge height of the crucible 1.

Thereafter, a driving source 40 composed of a torque motor is provided.
The members 46e and 46f are brought closer to the crucible 1 from the left and right by the driving force of the above, the ridge line of the edge coincides with the L-shaped cross section of the holding block 47, and the holding block 47 is brought into close contact with the upper auxiliary block 48. Pinch it. The sandwiching pressure is detected as a torque, and when the crucible holding force is equal to or lower than a predetermined crucible breaking pressure, the sandwiching operation ends. Here, the setting of the auxiliary block 48 can be changed according to the size of the crucible by a spring 49 and a spring receiver 50. Upon completion of the sandwiching operation, the crucible 1 is lifted up to a predetermined height by the transfer mechanism 6a, passed through an opened shutter, and transferred to the crucible installation site in the next step. The predetermined transport destination is a crucible installation site where the regular configuration of the present invention is installed, and a pair of horizontal and parallel supports serving as a work table are formed in the same manner as the transfer means in the above-described loading section 4. Place gently on rod 7. When the wafer is transferred from the washing tank 2 to the drying tank 3, the worktable is a crucible installation site provided on the quartz crucible support 26. When the drying step is completed, instead of the transport mechanism 6a,
The transport mechanism 6b is operated in the same manner as the transport mechanism 6a described above, and exhibits exactly the same operation.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, a conveying mechanism having a holding capacity that gives priority to consideration for the crucible breaking pressure is provided in a quartz crucible cleaning apparatus that requires careful handling. While ensuring safety and improving the operability by a mechanism capable of freely transporting crucibles of which the sizes are mixed, the mixing of the manual operation is prevented, and the drying step and the washing step can be used together. It is possible to provide a quartz crucible containing microbubbles cleaning device with good operation efficiency and working environment. It is possible to provide a quartz crucible cleaning device with increased factors, and its practical value is extremely large. Further, in the above embodiment, a quartz crucible cleaning apparatus has been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also applicable to such as.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a main part of a transport mechanism in a drying chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a main part of a transport mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the entirety of the transport mechanism in the loading section according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the entire cleaning / drying process apparatus of the present invention for a quartz crucible.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the whole of the cleaning / drying process apparatus of the present invention for a quartz crucible, including a partially broken surface.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a main part of a cleaning apparatus for a quartz crucible according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the operation of the rotating device of the cleaning device for the quartz crucible according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of an essential part for explaining the operation of the drying device for the quartz crucible according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a side view illustrating the entire drying apparatus for the quartz crucible according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flow sheet of piping related to a cleaning device for a quartz crucible according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a working process for a quartz crucible according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Quartz crucible 1a to 1r Crucible installation site 2 Cleaning tank 3 Drying tank 4 Carry-in part 6 Transport mechanism 7 Support rod 8 Carry-out part 13 Spray nozzle or cleaning device 39 Drive system 40 Drive source 42 Moving rail 46 Arm member 47 Holding block 48 Auxiliary block

Claims (3)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A quartz crucible provided with one or a plurality of transport mechanisms for transporting a crucible having an opening face downward to adjacent processing steps of a loading section, a cleaning tank, a drying tank, and an unloading section. In the apparatus, a pair of arm members 46 that hang down the transport mechanism 6 and a drive system 3 that swings the arm members 46 so as to be able to move left and right away from the outer peripheral surface of the crucible 1.
9 and a drive source 40 of the drive system 39 capable of generating a torque of a predetermined pressure, and the crucible 1 is held in a state where the arm member 46 is held on the outer peripheral surface of the crucible 1 by the drive of the drive system 39. It is configured to be able to be conveyed to an adjacent processing step, and is configured to be able to constantly bias a clamping pressure smaller than a crucible breaking pressure to the crucible 1 using the torque pressure of the driving source 40 during the conveyance. Quartz crucible cleaning equipment. 2. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of cleaning chambers and a plurality of drying chambers are provided, respectively, wherein said transport mechanism 6 is disposed on the side of the loading section 4 and on the side of the unloading section 8, respectively. An apparatus for cleaning a quartz crucible, wherein the apparatus is configured to be movable independently of each other along 42. 3. The crucible 1 installation site of each of the carry-in section 4, the washing tank 2, the drying tank 3 and the carry-out section 8 is formed by a pair of support rods 7 arranged in parallel and horizontally.
The apparatus for cleaning a quartz crucible according to claim 1, wherein a part of the opening end face of the crucible (1) can be held through the opening.