JP2576353Y2 - Semiconductor substrate automatic processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus for performing a cleaning process by immersing a plurality of semiconductor substrates such as silicon wafers and glass substrates in a processing solution in a processing bath.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of semiconductor substrate automatic processing apparatus, there is one disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-54827.

In this conventional semiconductor substrate automatic processing apparatus, semiconductor substrates as objects to be cleaned are arranged and stored in a box-shaped holder, and immersed in a processing liquid in a processing tank in this stored state. We are doing cleaning work. During the cleaning, ultrasonic vibration is applied by an ultrasonic vibrator, and the shock wave destroys and cleans the dirt attached to the semiconductor substrate.

Then, in order to generate a flow of the processing liquid to the semiconductor substrate and to enhance a cleaning effect, a table supporting the holder in the processing tank is oscillated as a swing type swing table. .

In such a conventional apparatus, the processing liquid becomes turbid due to dust adhering to the holder and the semiconductor substrate is contaminated. On the other hand, since the space occupied by the holder is large, not only the volume of the processing tank but also the entire apparatus is increased. There is a disadvantage that it is difficult to reduce the size.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present applicant has considered a device for cleaning a semiconductor substrate without using a holder as described above. Then, in that case, it was considered that the following problems should be solved together.

In the above-described conventional apparatus, the semiconductor substrate is swung with the swing center below the center of the semiconductor substrate. However, in such a configuration, the amount of displacement of each semiconductor substrate when the swing operation is stopped is large. It is difficult to perform positioning with high accuracy. Then, when an automatic transfer mechanism (for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-52138) for holding each of these semiconductor substrates and bringing them into the processing tank or carrying them out of the processing tank is provided. When the automatic transport mechanism carries out the semiconductor substrate out of the processing tank, there is a risk that the semiconductor substrate may not be properly gripped or a mistake may occur when the semiconductor substrate is carried in.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus which has solved all of the above problems.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a processing tank for storing a processing liquid, and a plurality of substrates having a receiving groove disposed in the processing tank and engaged with an outer peripheral portion of each of a plurality of semiconductor substrates. Substrate holding means for aligning and holding the main surfaces parallel to each other by a holding member, a support mechanism for swingably supporting the substrate holding means in a plane substantially parallel to the main surface of the semiconductor substrate, and the substrate Driving means for swinging the holding means within a predetermined angle, and exciting means for exciting the processing liquid in the processing bath by ultrasonic waves, wherein the swing center of the substrate holding means is held by the substrate holding means. And substantially coincides with the center of the semiconductor substrate. Further, the driving means of the present invention is such that the swing angle for swinging the substrate holding means is swung at an angle symmetrical with respect to the swing center. Further, the support mechanism of the present invention includes a vertical arm extending vertically in the outside of the processing tank and pivotally supported at a lower end thereof, and a substantially horizontal arm having one end attached to a free end of the vertical arm. A horizontal arm extending in the vertical direction, and a supporting frame that is attached to the other end of the horizontal arm in a hanging state and supports the substrate holding means at the lower end. The pivot point of the vertical arm is the semiconductor substrate. Is substantially the same as the center of In addition, the present invention provides an automatic transfer mechanism capable of relatively operating a plurality of gripping arms that are aligned and gripped at regular intervals in a state where the main surfaces of a plurality of semiconductor substrates are parallel and each is upright, and a processing liquid is stored. Processing tank,
A plurality of substrate holding members having receiving grooves engaged with the outer peripheral portions of the plurality of semiconductor substrates disposed in the processing tank and transferred by the automatic transfer mechanism are aligned and held so that the main surfaces thereof are parallel to each other. Substrate holding means, a support mechanism for swingably supporting the substrate holding means in a plane substantially parallel to the main surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a driving means for swinging the substrate holding means within a predetermined angle. Excitation means for exciting the processing liquid in the processing tank by ultrasonic waves, the center of oscillation of the substrate holding means being substantially coincident with the center of the semiconductor substrate held by the substrate holding means. is there.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a processing tank 2 filled with a processing solution 1. The bottom of the processing tank 2 is slightly inclined with respect to the horizontal plane, and the bottom of the lower side is a drain pipe 2a.
Are connected.

An ultrasonic vibrator 3 for generating ultrasonic waves is provided below the processing tank 2. This ultrasonic transducer 3
The processing liquid 1 is driven by an ultrasonic oscillator (not shown) disposed at a predetermined position in the housing of the semiconductor substrate automatic processing apparatus. The ultrasonic vibrator 3 and the ultrasonic oscillator are collectively referred to as excitation means. By providing this excitation means, a remarkable cleaning effect can be obtained.

A substrate holding means 7 comprising a plurality of, in this case, three rod-shaped substrate holding members 4, 5 and 6, is disposed inside the processing tank 2. The substrate holding means 7 holds a large number, for example, 50 semiconductor substrates 9 carried into the processing tank 2 by the automatic transfer mechanism 8 shown in FIG. The automatic transfer mechanism 8 includes a plurality of gripping arms 8a that operate relatively, and the gripping arms 8a cause the semiconductor substrates 9 to stand upright so that their main surfaces are parallel to each other. It is aligned and held at regular intervals in the state. Then, the semiconductor substrate 9 moves along the transport paths X _{1 to} X ₄ shown in the figure to carry each semiconductor substrate 9 into or out of the processing tank 2.

The above-described substrate holding means 7 holds the semiconductor substrates 9 carried in by the automatic transfer mechanism 8 while maintaining the aligned state.

Here, each of the substrate holding members 4 to 6 constituting the substrate holding means 7 will be described in detail.

As is apparent from the drawing, the three substrate holding members 4 to 6 provided are formed to have the same length, and extend in parallel with each other in the direction in which the semiconductor substrates 9 are aligned. . And one of the substrate holding members 4
Is formed in a long rectangular plate shape, and is arranged so as to engage with the lowermost end of the semiconductor substrate 9. The remaining two substrate holding members 5 and 6 are formed in a columnar shape and have the same shape as each other, and are arranged on both sides of the substrate holding member 4.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the details of the substrate holding member 5. FIG. As shown in the drawing, receiving grooves 5a that engage with and receive the outer peripheral portions of the semiconductor substrate 9 are arranged in the substrate holding member 5 at equal pitches in the longitudinal direction. As is apparent from FIG. 4, these receiving grooves 5a have, for example, a V-shaped cross section. As is apparent from FIG. 5, each receiving groove 5a is formed by cutting out a part of the substrate holding member 5, and the bottom surface thereof has a radius (100 m) of the semiconductor substrate 9 which engages with it. / M).

As described above, the substrate holding member 6 of the other two substrate holding members 4 and 6 has the same shape as the above-described substrate holding member 5, and the remaining rectangular plate-shaped substrate holding member 6 has the same shape. Since the member 4 has only the same receiving groove as that of the substrate holding member 5, the detailed description is omitted.

Next, a support mechanism for swingably supporting the substrate holding means 7 comprising the above-described substrate holding members 4 to 6 and a driving means for applying a driving force to the substrate holding means 7 to swing the substrate holding means 7 will be described. explain.

As shown in FIG. 1, the semiconductor substrate automatic processing apparatus has a main body frame 14 provided so as to surround the processing tank 2.
Two shafts 17 and 18 are provided for concentric rotation via 5 and 16. In addition, both shafts 1
Reference numerals 7 and 18 extend in the horizontal direction. Then, substantially rectangular plate-shaped vertical arms 21 and 22 are fixed to one end of each of the shafts 17 and 18. The vertical arms 21 and 22 are provided to extend in the vertical direction, and are attached to the shafts 17 and 18 at lower ends thereof.

Horizontal arms 24 and 25 extending in the horizontal direction are fastened to the upper ends of the vertical arms 21 and 22 by bolts (not denoted by reference numerals) at one ends thereof. L-shaped support frames 27 and 28 are bolted to the other ends of the horizontal arms 24 and 25 in a hanging state.

The supporting frames 27 and 28 are provided in the processing tank 2.
Each of the substrate holding members 4 to 6, which is a component of the above-described substrate holding means 7, extends between the lower ends of the support frames 27 and 28.

The above-mentioned bushes 15, 16; shafts 17, 18; vertical arms 21, 22;
The support mechanisms 4 and 25 and the support arms 27 and 28 support the substrate holding means 7 in a swingable manner. The substrate holding means 7 is configured to swing in a plane parallel to the main surface of each semiconductor substrate 9 held.

The vertical arm 21 and the horizontal arm 2
4 and the support frame 27, and the vertical arm 22, the horizontal arm 25, and the support frame 28 may be integrally formed instead of individual members.

The swing center of the substrate holding means 7, that is, the axial center of each of the shafts 17 and 18 is matched with the center of each semiconductor substrate 9 held by the substrate holding means 7.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, gears 31 and 32 are respectively fixed to the other ends of the shafts 17 and 18 acting as support shafts of the swinging portion. The torque applying means for applying a torque to each of the gears 31 and 32 is not shown, but the torque applying means includes a motor and the like, and the two gears 31 and 32 are rotated forward by a predetermined angle in the same rotational direction. It is configured to be able to reverse. This torque applying means and both gears 31 and 32
Thus, a driving means for applying a driving force to the substrate holding means 7 and swinging the driving force is constituted.

As described above, in the semiconductor substrate automatic processing apparatus, the swing center of the substrate holding means 7 is made to coincide with the center of the semiconductor substrate 9 held by the substrate holding means 7. In such a configuration, the semiconductor substrate 9 is always kept at a constant position during the swinging operation of the substrate holding means 7 and at the time of stopping, and no displacement occurs.

Therefore, when the automatic transfer mechanism 8 shown in FIG. 2 attempts to carry out each semiconductor substrate 9 out of the processing tank 2, each semiconductor substrate 9 can be reliably gripped by the gripping arm 8a. . Conversely, when the automatic transport mechanism 8 carries the semiconductor substrate 9 into the processing tank 2 and delivers it to the substrate holding means 7, there is no possibility that a delivery error occurs.

In the automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the semiconductor substrate 9 is
The shaded portion of the ultrasonic wave generated in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, a shaded portion generated when the substrate holding member 5 of the substrate holding means 7 is located at the top dead center of the swing stroke is indicated by a hatched line surrounded by a two-dot chain line in FIG. The shaded area generated when the substrate holding member 5 is located at the bottom dead center becomes the shaded area 44 surrounded by another two-dot chain line, and swings over the entire section from the top dead center to the bottom dead center. The shaded area that always occurs is a shaded area 45 surrounded by a solid line. Although the other substrate holding members 4 and 6 are not shown in the drawing, shaded portions are generated similarly to the above.

Here, in order to make a comparison with the configuration of the automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention and its effects,
A case will be described in which the swing center of the substrate holding means 7 is shifted downward by a predetermined distance from the center of the semiconductor substrate 9.

FIG. 6 shows the configuration.

As shown in the figure, in such a configuration, the semiconductor substrate 9 also swings greatly with the swinging operation of the substrate holding means 7, and when the swinging is stopped, the semiconductor substrate 9 always stops at a fixed position. Not exclusively. Therefore, as in the above-described automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, a reliable operation of attaching and detaching the semiconductor substrate 9 to and from the substrate holding means 7 by the automatic transfer mechanism 8 cannot be expected.

Further, in the configuration shown in FIG. 6, on each semiconductor substrate 9, for example, a shaded portion (a hatched region 5 surrounded by a solid line in FIG.
Corresponding to 5. In the drawing, a hatched area 53 surrounded by a two-dot chain line is a shaded portion generated when the substrate holding member 5 is located at the top dead center. The shaded area generated at the time of being located at the bottom dead center is shown. The shaded area 55 surrounded by the solid line represents the shaded area that is always generated when swinging over the entire section from the top dead center to the bottom dead center. ) Occurs, and the detergency of such a shadow portion 55 is reduced.

As is clear from the comparison between the area of the shadow portion 55, which always occurs, and the area of the shadow portion 45 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the swing angle is set to the same swing angle θ. When set, the area of the shadow portion 45 by the automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is significantly reduced as compared with the area of the shadow portion 55 shown in FIG.

[0035]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention,
Since each semiconductor substrate is directly mounted on the substrate holding means in the processing tank, the box-shaped holding tool conventionally used is not required, and the turbidity of dust with respect to the processing liquid can be extremely reduced. This has the effect of achieving a reduction in volume and, consequently, the overall size of the device. Also, in the semiconductor substrate automatic processing apparatus according to the present invention, the center of swing of the substrate holding means is substantially coincident with the center of the semiconductor substrate on the substrate holding means. Therefore, there is an effect that the semiconductor substrate is always kept at a fixed position, and the operation of attaching and detaching the semiconductor substrate to and from the substrate holding means by the automatic transfer mechanism is always performed reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a main part of the automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and an automatic transport mechanism for loading and unloading the semiconductor substrate into and from the automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus. FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of the automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a substrate holding member that is a component of the automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a front view of a configuration for comparison with the configuration shown in FIG. 3;

[Description of sign]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing liquid 2 Processing tank 3 Ultrasonic vibrator 4, 5, 6 Substrate holding member 7 Substrate holding means 8 Automatic transfer mechanism 9 Semiconductor substrate

Claims (4)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A a process tank for storing the treating liquid, the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor substrate, each of the number of multi disposed in said processing bath
To a plurality of substrate holding members having receiving grooves
A substrate holding means for more main surfaces to integer Retsuho lifting so is parallel to, and support mechanism for swingably supported in the substrate holding means said semiconductor substrate a plane substantially parallel to the main surface of said substrate drive means for causing rocking the holding means in a predetermined angle the processing solution in the processing bath exciting means for exciting by ultrasonic
Preparative comprising, a semiconductor substrate an automatic processing apparatus swing center is characterized <br/> that formed by the center substantially matches the semiconductor substrate held by the substrate holding unit of the substrate holding means. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the driving unit swings the substrate holding unit.
The swing angle to be moved is symmetrical with respect to the swing center.
The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor device is swung.
Body substrate automatic processing equipment. Wherein said support mechanism includes a vertical arm which is pivotally supported at the lower portion of the extending perilla vertically on the outside of the processing tank,
A horizontal arm comprising extending substantially <br/> horizontal direction having one end attached to the free end of the vertical arm, wherein the substrate held by the mounting et Re lower end droop state to the other end of the horizontal arm it consists of a supporting frame for supporting the unit, the pivot point of the vertical arm and the center substantially matches the semiconductor substrate
2. The semiconductor substrate automatic processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein main surfaces of the plurality of semiconductor substrates are parallel to each other.
One at a time, with each standing upright
An automatic transfer mechanism capable of relatively operating the gripping arm, a processing tank for storing the processing liquid, and a transfer tank disposed in the processing tank and transferred by the automatic transfer mechanism.
Receiving portions engaged with the outer peripheral portions of the plurality of semiconductor substrates to be received.
Principal surfaces are parallel to each other by multiple substrate holding members with grooves
Substrate holding means for aligning and holding the substrate so that the substrate holding means is substantially parallel to a main surface of the semiconductor substrate.
A support mechanism for swingably supported at the inner, drive means for oscillating the substrate holding means within a predetermined angular
When the processing solution in the processing bath exciting means for exciting by ultrasonic
With the door, swinging center of the substrate holding means by the substrate holding means
Be substantially coincident with the center of the held semiconductor substrate
An automatic semiconductor substrate processing apparatus, comprising: