JP2865585B2 - Gas supply integrated unit and its system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas supply apparatus used in an industrial production apparatus such as a semiconductor production apparatus, and more particularly, to an integrated gas supply apparatus for supplying a plurality of types of gases. The present invention relates to a gas supply integrated unit that can be made compact.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, a corrosive gas has been used for etching of a photoresist process or the like. Photoresist processing (photoresist coating, exposure,
Development and etching) are repeated a plurality of times in the semiconductor manufacturing process while changing the type of corrosive gas. In an actual semiconductor manufacturing process, a gas supply device that supplies a plurality of types of corrosive gases as needed is used. I have. Here, the gas supply device that supplies the gas has a mass flow controller for accurately measuring the flow rate, and an inlet opening and closing provided before and after the mass flow controller to prevent the supply gas such as corrosive gas from remaining in the mass flow controller. valve,
An outlet on-off valve and a purge valve, a manual valve for manually supplying or shutting off the supply gas, a regulator for adjusting the gas pressure of the supply gas, a pressure gauge for monitoring the supply gas pressure, and a supply A filter for removing impurities mixed with the gas is required as a component. Therefore, a conventional gas supply device is configured by connecting them in series.

FIG. 10 shows a conventional gas supply device. FIG.
From the right of 0, the output port of the manual valve block 104 is connected to the input port of the regulator block 103 via the joint 101, the pipe, and the joint 101. The manual valve 18 is attached to the upper part of the manual valve block 104. Also, at the top of the regulator block 103,
A regulator 17 is attached. The output port of the regulator block 103 is connected to the input port of the filter 15 via the joint 101, the three-way pipe 102, and the joint 101. A pressure gauge 16 is attached to the upper part of the three-pronged pipe 102. The filter 15 is of a type that enters from one side in the longitudinal direction and exits from the other, and the output port of the filter 15 is connected to the input port of the input block 24 via the joint 101, the pipe, and the joint 101.

The inlet opening / closing valve 14, the purge valve 13, and the mass flow controller 11 are integrated with a mass flow unit by an input block 24, a flow direction changing block 22, a mass flow controller block 23, a flow direction changing block 22, and an output block 21. Is composed. Regarding this mass flow unit, the present applicant has disclosed in
The detailed description is omitted because it is proposed and described in US Pat. An inlet opening / closing valve 14 and a purge valve 13 are attached to an upper portion of the input block 24. Also,
The output port of the input block 24 is connected to the input port of the flow direction changing block 22. The output port of the flow direction changing block 22 is connected to the input port of the mass flow controller block 23. The mass flow controller 11 is mounted above the mass flow controller block 23.

The mass flow controller block 23
Are connected to the input ports of the output block 21 via the flow direction change block 22. The output opening / closing valve 12 is attached to the output block 21.
The flow path of FIG. 10 is shown in FIG. 4 by a pneumatic circuit diagram. Purge valve 1
3 is connected to a flow path between the mass flow controller 11 and the inlet opening / closing valve 14 and a nitrogen gas supply pipe 19 for purging. The outlet opening / closing valve 12 is connected to a supply gas line 20 that communicates with a vacuum chamber where etching is performed.

[0006] In one vacuum chamber, a plurality of types of corrosive gases are switched and used to perform complicated steps of etching. Therefore, it is necessary to supply a plurality of types of gases to one vacuum chamber. 1
FIG. 8 shows a circuit diagram for supplying seven kinds of corrosive gases and the like to one vacuum chamber. FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a gas supply unit that embodies the circuit diagram of FIG. That is, the gas supply device of FIG. 10 is arranged in parallel in seven units in FIG. The installation direction of the gas supply device shown in FIG. 10 is not particularly restricted and is free. However, in order to make it as compact as possible, the gas supply units A, B and C are arranged in parallel as shown in FIG. , D, E, F, G.

On the other hand, FIG. 12 shows a layout of an etching apparatus provided with four vacuum chambers. Four vacuum chambers 26A, 26B, 26C, and 26D are provided around a robot 27 installed at the center. Further, two transfer devices 28 for supplying an unetched wafer or the like to the vacuum chamber 26 and collecting the processed wafer are provided. Here, since the gas supply unit shown in FIG. 11 is required for each vacuum chamber 26, four gas boxes 25A, 25B, 25C, and 25D are provided near the wall as shown in FIG. , Are connected to vacuum chambers 26A, 26B, 26C, 26D.

[0008]

However, the conventional apparatus has the following problems. (1) As shown in FIG. 11, the gas supply unit occupies a large floor space with a length of 520 mm and a width of about 300 mm. However, as shown in FIG. 12, when a gas supply device that supplies gas to a plurality of vacuum chambers 26 is put together as a gas box near a wall, a pipe from the gas supply device to the vacuum chamber 26 becomes longer,
Even if the mass flow controller 11 accurately measures the flow rate, there is a problem that the flow rate of the gas actually supplied to the vacuum chamber 26 becomes inaccurate due to the long piping. In addition, depending on the type of gas to be supplied, some of them are liquefied at room temperature, so that it may be necessary to keep the temperature. In that case, if the piping from the gas box 25 to the vacuum chamber 26 is long,
There is a problem that the entire heated pipe takes up space, and the working space is narrowed. Further, there is a possibility that the temperature is not sufficiently maintained and the etching is adversely affected.

The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is a gas supply unit having a plurality of gas supply units including a mass flow controller, a manual valve, a regulator, a pressure gauge, and a filter, and has a small floor space. An object of the present invention is to provide a gas supply integrated unit that is integrated so as to be arranged.

[0010]

To achieve this object, a gas supply integrated unit of the present invention has the following configuration. (1) A first opening / closing valve and a second opening / closing valve that are on a supply line of a supply gas and block a flow of the supply gas, and a flow rate of the supply gas that is intermediate between the first and second opening / closing valves. pressure gauge for a gas supply accumulation unit and the mass flow controller has a mass flow unit configured integrally, to monitor and regulator, the pressure of the feed gas for adjusting the gas pressure of the test <br/> feed gas DOO, characterized in that disposed in parallel with Ma scan flow unit. (2) In the method described in (1), the supply gas
A manual valve for manually supplying or shutting off;
A filter for removing impurities mixed with the gas,
Connect the regulator and the pressure gauge in series and
It is characterized by being arranged in parallel with the mass flow unit .

(3) In the device described in (1) or (2), the manual valve, the regulator, and the pressure
A force gauge and the filter, the first on-off valve, the second
On-off valve and mounting button for the mass flow controller
It is characterized by being attached with bolts from the same direction as the bolt . (4) Any of those described in (1) to (3)
In one, the regulator has an input pipe and an output.
Transform the flow path by connecting to the power pipe and the input pipe
An input conversion block and a flow path connected to the output pipe.
The output conversion block to convert is fixed integrally
It is characterized by the following. (5) Any of those described in (1) to (3)
In one, the filter and the pressure gauge are internally
Attached to one channel block where the channel is formed
It is characterized by being. (6) Two or more gas supply integrated units described in (3)
In addition to being stacked in parallel,
The output port of the second on-off valve of the unit is shared.
Gas supply characterized by having a through-flow channel block
Integrated system.

[0012]

In the mass flow unit of the gas supply integrated unit of the present invention having the above structure, a flow path is formed without using a pipe for connecting the mass flow controller to the first on-off valve and the second on-off valve. Since they are connected by the flow path block, the length in the flow direction can be reduced. Then, a manual valve for manually supplying or shutting off the supply gas, a regulator for adjusting the gas pressure of the supply gas, a pressure gauge for monitoring the pressure of the supply gas, and removing impurities mixed in the supply gas. Filter and a unit having the same length as the mass flow unit, and are arranged in parallel with the mass flow unit, so that the entire gas supply integrated unit can be compactly integrated. I have.

Further, the manual valve, the regulator, the pressure gauge, and the filter are mounted by bolts in the same direction as the mounting bolts of the mass flow unit including the first on-off valve, the second on-off valve, and the mass flow controller. Therefore, when replacing the manual valve, the regulator, the pressure gauge, or the filter, the replacement operation can be performed easily and in a short time. In addition, an input pipe, an output pipe, an input conversion block connected to the input pipe for converting the flow path, and an output conversion block connected to the output pipe for converting the flow path are integrally fixed to the regulator. Therefore, when replacing the regulators, by exchanging them integrally, the replacement work can be performed easily and in a short time.

Further, since the filter and the pressure gauge are attached to one channel block having a channel formed therein, the channel block and the input block of the mass flow controller can be shared. . In addition, the gas supply integrated system has a common output flow path block in which two or more gas supply integrated units are stacked in parallel and arranged, and the output port of the second on-off valve of each gas supply integrated unit is communicated. Therefore, the gas supply integrated system can be made compact, and even if it is arranged near the vacuum chamber, it does not hinder the operation.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a gas supply integrated unit according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of the gas supply integrated unit. This circuit diagram uses the same circuit as in the prior art in order to clarify the effects of the invention described later. The pipe of the corrosive gas F which is a supply gas is connected to a manual valve 18 for supplying or shutting off. The manual valve 18 is
Regulator 1 for adjusting gas pressure of corrosive gas F
7 is connected. The regulator 17 is connected to a filter 15 for removing impurities mixed in the corrosive gas F. On the other hand, a pressure gauge 16 for monitoring the pressure of the corrosive gas F is connected between the regulator 17 and the filter 15.

The filter 15 is connected to the inlet opening / closing valve 14, which is the first opening / closing valve. The inlet opening / closing valve 14 is connected to the mass flow controller 11 for measuring a flow rate of the corrosive gas F and supplying a fixed amount of the corrosive gas F. Since the mass flow controller 11 uses a commonly used one, detailed description is omitted. The mass flow controller 11 is connected to an outlet on-off valve 12, which is a second on-off valve. On the other hand, the inlet opening / closing valve 14
An input port of the purge valve 13 for replacing the remaining corrosive gas F with nitrogen gas is connected between the mass flow controller 11 and the mass flow controller 11. The output port of the purge valve 13 is connected to a nitrogen gas supply tank via a purge switching valve 47 and a nitrogen gas pipe 46.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the circuit diagram of FIG. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a configuration of one unit unit of a gas supply integrated unit for supplying a corrosive gas F, and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof. FIG.
FIG. 2 is an AA cross-sectional view including a partial external view of FIG. 1 and is a cross-sectional view showing a flow path of the gas supply integrated unit. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line BB including a partial external view of FIG. First, the corrosive gas F is input to the input port of the manual valve block 34. The output port of the manual valve block 34 is connected to the input port of the direction change block 32. The direction conversion block 32 converts the flow path input from the left direction upward, and outputs the flow path from the upper surface of the block. Direction change block 3
The output port 2 is connected to the input port of the input conversion block 31. The input conversion block 31 converts the flow path input from below to the right.

The output port of the input conversion block 31 is connected to the input port of the regulator block 29 via the input pipe 30. The output port of the regulator block 29 is connected to the input port of the output conversion block 41 via the output pipe 40. The output port of the output conversion block 41 is connected to the input port 33a of the flow path block 33 via the direction conversion block 32. The flow path block 33 includes a flow path 33 b from the input port 33 a to the input port of the filter 15, a flow path 33 d connected to the pressure gauge 16 via the pressure gauge pipe 39, and an output communicating from the output port of the filter 15. A flow path 33 is formed. The output passage 33 is provided with a direction changing block 38.
Connected to The direction changing block 38 is fixed to the lower surface of both the flow path block 33 and the input block 24, and connects the output port of the filter 15 and the input port of the inlet on-off valve 14.

In this embodiment, the manual valve 18 is attached to the manual valve block 34 with four bolts from above, and the manual valve 18 can be removed and attached from above. . Further, the regulator 17
Input pipe 30, input conversion block 31, output pipe 4
0 and the output conversion block 41 are integrally assembled, and as a unit, a pair of direction conversion blocks 32
Is mounted with four bolts from above, and the regulator 17 can be removed and attached from above as a unit. The pressure gauge 16
Is connected to the pressure gauge mounting block 51 via the pressure gauge pipe 39.
Thus, the pressure gauge 16 is attached to the flow path block 33 from above by four bolts, and the pressure gauge 16 can be removed and attached from above as a unit.

Here, the conventional pressure gauge 16 is connected to the pipe by a joint in order to make it replaceable. Therefore, there was a problem of generation of particles due to the sealing material at the joint portion. According to the pressure gauge 16 unit, generation of particles can be reduced because there is no joint. The filter 15 is attached to the flow path block 33 with four bolts from above, and the filter 15 can be removed and attached from above. The filter 15 and the pressure gauge pipe 3
9 has a mounting hole of the same size as the inlet opening / closing valve 14 and the purge valve 13, so that the same block can be used in common for the flow path block 33 and the input block 24.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the flow paths of the inlet opening / closing valve 14, the purge valve 13 and the outlet opening / closing valve 12. Here, only the mass flow controller 11 is shown in appearance. On the left and right sides of the mass flow controller 11, there are blocks for changing the direction of the flow path, and a mass flow block 4 for bolting the unit from above with bolts.
4, 45 are bolted from the lateral direction. Below the mass flow block 44, a flow direction changing block 22 for changing the direction of the flow path is bolted to the output block 21 from the right. The output opening / closing valve 12 is bolted to the output block 21 from above. An output manifold 43 is provided on the lower surface of the output block 21.
Is attached.

Below the mass flow block 45,
A channel direction changing block 22 for changing the direction of the channel is bolted to the input block 24 from the left.
A purge valve 13 and an inlet on-off valve 14 are bolted to the input block 24 from above. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the input block 24
The ejector manifold 42 is bolted from below to the ejector manifold 9 and is fastened with two bolts from above. An ejector (not shown) is connected to one end of the ejector manifold 42 via an ejector pipe.

Next, the gas supply integrated unit of the present invention is
A case where a plurality of units are integrated and arranged will be described. FIG. 8 shows a circuit diagram of the required gas supply device. Gases supplied to the vacuum chamber include Fa, Fb, Fc, Fd,
Seven types of corrosive gases of Fe, Ff and Fg are prepared. The gas supply integrated unit described above is used for each corrosive gas supply line. That is, the gas supply integrated unit attached to each corrosive gas supply line includes a manual valve 18, a regulator 17, a pressure gauge 16, a filter 15, an inlet on-off valve 14, a purge valve 13, a mass flow controller 11, and an outlet on-off valve 12. Have. The output port of the purge valve 13 is connected to a nitrogen gas pipe 46 via a purge switching valve 47. The nitrogen gas pipe 46 is connected to a nitrogen gas supply tank (not shown). The output ports of the outlet valves 12A to 12F are integrated with the gas supply pipe 50 and connected to the vacuum chamber. A supply pipe purge valve 48 for replacing corrosive gas remaining in the gas supply pipe 50 is provided on a pipe connecting the gas supply pipe 50 and the nitrogen gas pipe 46.

Next, a gas supply integrated system of the present invention, which embodies the circuit diagram of FIG. 8, will be described. FIG. 6 shows a side view, and FIG. 7 shows a plan view when FIG. 6 is viewed from above.
As shown in FIG. 6, seven gas supply integrated units A,
B, C, D, E, F, and G are attached to the base plate 49 in close contact with each other. The supply pipe purge valve 48 and the purge switching valve 47 are attached at the top. As shown in FIG. 6, the gas supply integration system improves the integration degree by stacking a plurality of gas supply integration units in close contact with each other horizontally. According to this, as shown in FIG. 7, the occupied floor area is L1 =
The area is 280 mm and L2 = 240 mm, which is less than half the area of the conventional one, and can be greatly reduced. Here, as shown in FIG. 6, the height H is 650 mm. Since the occupied area can be reduced, as shown in FIG. 9, even if the gas boxes 51A, 51B, 51C, and 51D are arranged in the immediate vicinity of the respective vacuum chambers 26A, 26B, 26C, and 26D, they do not hinder the work. Never be.

As described above in detail, according to the gas supply integrated unit of the present embodiment, the inlet opening / closing valve 1 that is on the corrosive gas F transport line and blocks the flow of the corrosive gas F
4 is a gas supply integrated unit having a mass flow unit in which a mass flow controller 11 for controlling the flow rate of the corrosive gas F, which is located between the entrance and exit valves 14 and 12 and controls the flow rate of the corrosive gas F, is integrated. A manual valve 18 for manually supplying or shutting off the corrosive gas F, a regulator 17 for adjusting the gas pressure of the corrosive gas F, and a pressure gauge 16 for monitoring the pressure of the corrosive gas F And the filter 15 for removing impurities mixed in the corrosive gas F are arranged in parallel with the mass flow unit, so that the entire gas supply device can be made compact and the occupied area of the floor can be greatly increased. Because the gas supply integrated system can be reduced, the vacuum chamber 2
It became possible to arrange it in the immediate vicinity of 6.

Further, according to the gas supply integrated unit of this embodiment, the manual valve 18, the regulator 17, and the pressure gauge 1
6 and the filter 15 are mounted with bolts from the same direction as the mounting bolts of the inlet on-off valve 14, the outlet on-off valve 12, and the mass flow controller 11, so when replacing the component parts constituting the gas supply integrated system. Moreover, it is easy to remove and attach. Further, according to the gas supply integrated unit of the present embodiment, the regulator 17
The input pipe 30, the output pipe 40, and the input conversion block 31 connected to the input pipe 30 to convert the flow path
And an output conversion block 41 which is connected to the output pipe 40 and converts the flow path, is integrally unitized.
When the regulator 17 is replaced, it can be integrally removed and attached, so that the replacement operation can be performed easily and in a short time.

Further, according to the gas supply integrated unit of the present embodiment, the filter 15 and the pressure gauge 16 are formed by the flow path block 33 which is one flow path block having a flow path formed therein.
, The flow path block 33 and the input block 24 can be shared, and the entire size can be unified, which is convenient for stacking and stacking.
Further, since the pressure gauge 16 is bolted to the flow path block 33 from above via the pressure gauge pipe 39, the pressure gauge 16 can be easily removed and attached in a short time.

According to the gas supply integration system of the present embodiment, two or more of the above gas supply integration units are stacked and arranged in parallel, and the outlet opening / closing valves 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12C of each gas supply integration unit are provided. 12D, 12E,
Since the output manifold 43, which is a common output flow path block for connecting the output ports of 12F and 12G, is provided, the entire apparatus for supplying a plurality of corrosive gases F can be reduced in size, and the floor occupied area can be reduced. The gas supply integrated system can be disposed in the vicinity of the vacuum chambers 26A, 26B, 26C, and 26D, and the gas supply accuracy of the mass flow controller 11 can be improved. .

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified and implemented. For example, in the present embodiment, each gas supply integrated unit is fixed to the base plate 49, but the same applies when the gas supply integrated units are connected to each other without using the base plate 49. In this embodiment, a sensor type is used as the pressure gauge 16, but a Bourdon tube type may be used. When the regulator 17 is not used, the regulator 17 only needs to be bypassed. The element of the filter 15 may be either a ceramic type or a metal type. In either case, according to the present embodiment, replacement is easy.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the gas supply integrated unit of the present invention, the first opening / closing valve and the second opening / closing valve which are on the supply line of the supply gas and block the flow of the supply gas. a valve, a mass flow controller for controlling the flow rate of the feed gas be in the middle of the first on-off valve and the second shut-off valve is a gas supply integrated unit having a mass flow unit configured integrally, gas supply gas a regulator for adjusting the pressure, a pressure gauge for monitoring the pressure of the feed gas, since it is arranged in parallel with Ma scan flow unit, it is possible to compact the entire gas supply apparatus occupied a floor Because the area can be significantly reduced, the integrated gas supply system can be placed very close to the vacuum chamber.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a specific configuration of a gas supply integrated unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a specific configuration of the gas supply integrated unit.

FIG. 3 is a first diagram showing a gas flow of the gas supply integrated unit.
FIG.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a gas supply integrated unit.

FIG. 5 is a second diagram showing the gas flow of the gas supply integrated unit.
FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a specific configuration of the gas supply integrated system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a specific configuration of the gas supply integrated system.

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a gas supply integrated system.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an overall configuration of an etching apparatus to which the gas supply integrated system is attached.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing a specific configuration of a conventional gas supply device.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a specific configuration of a conventional gas supply device.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of an etching apparatus to which a conventional gas supply device is attached.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Mass flow controller 12 Outlet open / close valve 13 Purge valve 14 Inlet open / close valve 15 Filter 16 Pressure gauge 17 Regulator 18 Manual valve 30 Input pipe 31 Input conversion block 40 Output pipe 41 Output conversion block

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first opening / closing valve and a second opening / closing valve on a supply line of a supply gas for interrupting the flow of the supply gas, and a flow rate of the supply gas between the first and second opening / closing valves. in the gas supply integrated unit having a mass flow unit and a mass flow controller is configured integrally to control and a regulator for adjusting the gas pressure before Symbol feed gas, and a pressure gauge for monitoring the pressure of the feed gas gas supply integrated unit, characterized in that disposed in parallel with the front SL mass flow unit. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the supply or the supply of the supply gas is manually performed.
A valve and a filter for removing impurities mixed in the supply gas.
Is connected in series with the regulator and the pressure gauge
And a gas supply integrated unit disposed in parallel with the mass flow unit. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said manual valve, said regulator, said pressure gauge, and
The filter includes the first on-off valve, the second on-off valve, and
And mounting bolts of the mass flow controller
A gas supply integrated unit, which is attached by bolts from a direction . 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein
In any one of the above, the regulator may include an input pipe, an output pipe,
Input conversion block that connects to the input pipe and converts the flow path
And an output converter connected to the output pipe to convert the flow path.
A gas supply integrated unit, wherein the replacement block is integrally fixed . 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein
In any one of the above, the filter and the pressure gauge have a flow path formed therein.
Featured in a single flow path block
Gas supply integrated unit. 6. A gas supply integrated unit according to claim 3,
Two or more ports are stacked and arranged in parallel, and the output port of the second on-off valve of each of the gas supply integrated units is arranged.
Having a common output flow path block for communicating
Characterized gas supply integrated system.