JP2946545B2 - Control device for semiconductor vapor deposition equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a control device for a semiconductor vapor deposition apparatus.

[Prior Art] As a process control method of a conventional semiconductor vapor deposition apparatus, for example, as shown in JP-B-63-28495, process control information (for example, sequence execution time, A process program group (referred to as a recipe source program in the present invention) is created by arranging the opening / closing state of the valve, gas flow rate, furnace temperature, pressure, etc.) as process control information of each sequence in the order of execution. Then, the growth process is executed by reading out the process program group and decoding it into a sequence instruction of execution formation.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the process control method of the conventional semiconductor vapor deposition apparatus described above, since the creation and execution of the recipe program related to the growth process are processed in the same computer, the recipe program It was not possible to create a recipe program during the execution of, and it was not easy to create a recipe program. Furthermore, since the recipe program was executed while converting the recipe program (recipe source program) into an executable form, there was a disadvantage that the control processing speed was slow.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A control apparatus for a semiconductor vapor deposition apparatus according to the present invention includes a first computer section, a second computer section, and a first computer section and a second computer section. A first bidirectional memory connected between the first and second computer units, the first computer unit comprising: (A) an execution time of each step constituting a process relating to semiconductor vapor deposition; Controlling the flow of a plurality of gases, the open / close state of a group of valves provided on a pipeline network leading to the reaction furnace, the flow value of a group of flow path setting devices, and the pressure of the plurality of gases flowing into and out of the reaction furnace. A step content description section that describes, as process control information, which is a step content of each step, a pressure set value of a pressure setter group to be controlled and a temperature value of a heater that controls the temperature in the reaction furnace; S (C) the step contents, the macro contents, the ON / OFF state of the pressure setter group, the ON / OFF state of the heater, and the respective steps. Means for creating a recipe source program by arranging sequence control information for controlling the flow in the order of execution; (D) means for converting the recipe source program into an executable form to generate a recipe object program; Online execution means for storing the program in the two-way memory and storing a command for executing the recipe in the two-way memory; and wherein the second computer unit executes the command for executing the recipe. When received via the bidirectional memory, the data stored in the bidirectional memory It reads the recipe object program process according to the semiconductor vapor deposition based on the recipe object program (recipe)
A recipe execution processing unit for executing

Example Next, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

The master CPU unit 10 has a keyboard 21 for inputting commands and data, a CRT 22 for displaying data and displaying programs,
An external memory 23 for storing a recipe program and a program for controlling the system, and a bidirectional memory 30 for exchanging data with the slave CPU 40 are connected.

The slave CPU 40 includes a console 51 for controlling sequence execution and displaying process status, a load / lock unit 52 for supplying and removing a susceptor, a gas mixer unit 60 for controlling the flow of a plurality of gases guided to the reaction furnace 80, and a reaction furnace. A heater 70 for controlling the temperature inside 80 is connected.

The master CPU 10 has a main program 11 for controlling the entire system, a step content description section 12 for describing control information of each step, a macro description section 13 for combining step contents in execution order, and a combination of step contents and macro description in execution order. It comprises a recipe source program creating section 14 for creating a recipe source program, a compiling section 15 for converting a recipe source program into an executable form to create a recipe program, and an online executing section 16 for controlling the execution of a recipe object program.

The slave CPU unit 40 includes a mode program 41 for controlling the operation mode of the entire slave CPU, a recipe execution processing unit 42 for reading and executing a recipe object program from the bidirectional memory, and a process status display unit for displaying a valve status and a gas flow rate. Consists of 43.

2 (a) to 2 (c) show the contents of the bidirectional memory 30.

FIG. 2 (a) shows the overall structure,
It consists of a process status table, a sequence table and a step content table.

FIG. 2B shows the structure of the sequence table, in which the execution contents of each step are arranged in the order of the sequence.

FIG. 2C shows the configuration of each step, and each step is composed of a command content, a step content table number, and a step time.

FIG. 3 (a) shows a list of command contents, FIG. 3 (b) shows the step contents indicated by one step contents table number, and each step contents is stored in the step contents table of FIG. 2 (a). Is stored.

FIG. 4 (a) shows an example of a step content description created by the step content description section 12, and FIG. 4 (b) shows an example of a macro description created by combining the step content descriptions.

FIG. 5 is an example of a recipe source program created using the created step content description, macro description, and sequence control instruction.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the main program 11 is started in the master CPU 10, and the control is transferred to the step content description section 12 by the keyboard 21.

As shown in FIG. 4 (a), in this step content description section 12, a step number [STEP = number], a step execution time [TIME = hour: minute: second], a valve opening number [VA
LVE: number, number,…], flow rate setting [MFC: MFC01 = flow rate…], pressure setting amount [APC1 = pressure……], heater temperature [RF = temperature] are set for each step. To be stored.

Next, the control is passed to the macro description unit 13 and the operation is shifted to the macro description operation. A macro [macro name = step number, step number...] Is defined as shown in FIG.
To be stored.

Further, a recipe program creating unit 14 is started to create a recipe source program for executing a certain growth process.

In the recipe program creation unit 14, the step content description unit
Steps created in step 12, macros created in macro description section 13, ON / OFF status of pressure setting unit group [APC ON / OF
F], a heater on / off state [RF ON / OFF], and a sequence control instruction [REPEAT / UNTIL, END] are arranged in the order of execution to create a recipe source program as shown in FIG.

Further, the created recipe source program is stored in the external memory 23, and the main program 11 starts the compiling unit 15.

The compiling unit 15 converts the recipe source program into an executable recipe object program,
Store in 23.

Next, the main program 11 transfers control to the online execution unit 16. The actual recipe object program execution operation will be described.

The online execution unit 16 introduces and takes out the susceptor and executes the recipe. First, when a susceptor introduction command is given, the susceptor introduction command is set in the mutual communication area of the bidirectional memory 30 shown in FIG. 2 (a), the mode program of the slave CPU is started, and control is performed by the recipe execution processing unit 42. hand over.

The recipe execution control unit 42 controls the load lock unit 52 to introduce the susceptor into the reaction furnace 80.

Next, when the susceptor introduction is completed, the control is transferred to the mode program 41, a completion flag is set in the mutual communication area of the bidirectional memory 30, and the susceptor introduction operation is completed.

Further, the online execution unit 16 reads the specified recipe object program from the external memory 23 to execute the recipe, and writes the contents of each step in the sequence table area of the bidirectional memory 30 in the step content table.

Next, the recipe execution command is set in the mutual communication area, the mode program of the slave CPU is started, and control is passed to the recipe execution processing unit 42 and the process state display unit 43.

The recipe execution processing unit 42
From the table, the command contents, the step contents numbers, and the step times shown in FIG. 2C are read out in sequence as shown in FIG. 2B, and the command contents shown in FIG. 3A and the command contents shown in FIG. According to the step contents determined by the step contents number as shown in b), the opening / closing of the valve group, the flow setting of the flow setting device, the ON / OFF and pressure setting of the pressure setting device, the heater ON / OFF and the temperature setting are executed.

This operation is executed for each step according to the sequence table, and a series of growth processes is completed.

When the execution of the recipe is completed, the procedure moves to the mode program 41, where a recipe execution completion flag is set in the mutual communication area, and the completion is notified to the online execution unit 16.

Further, during the execution of the recipe, the process status display section 43 measures the open / closed status of the valve and the gas flow rate, displays the process status on the console, and writes the process status in the process status table of the bidirectional memory 30, and writes the main CPU status.
Side to monitor the status of the process.

Next, the online execution unit 16 proceeds to the operation of taking out the susceptor.

In the same way as the operation of introducing the susceptor, the takeout command is set in the mutual communication area of the bidirectional memory 30 and the slave CPU 4
0 mode program 41, and the recipe execution control unit 4
Pass control to 2.

The recipe execution control unit 42 controls the load lock unit 52 to take out the susceptor from the reaction furnace 80.

Thus, even while the slave CPU 40 is executing the recipe, the main CPU 20 only needs to monitor the process state with the online execution unit 16 and is not directly related to the actual recipe execution operation. 13,
By activating the recipe program creation unit 14, the creation of the recipe program can be easily performed in parallel, and the creation of the recipe source program can be easily performed by the macro description.

Further, since the recipe source program is converted into an executable recipe object program, the processing speed of the recipe execution processing unit 42 increases.

[Effect of the Invention] The control device of the semiconductor vapor deposition apparatus of the present invention is a master CPU.
After creating a recipe source program using the macro description, convert the recipe source program into an executable form to create an execution recipe object program, send it to the slave CPU via the bidirectional memory, and execute the recipe Since the object program can be read and the recipe can be executed, there is an effect that the recipe source program can be efficiently created and the recipe program and the recipe can be executed simultaneously.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c) are schematic diagrams showing the contents of a bidirectional memory, and FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) are command contents and FIGS. 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams showing step contents and macro description examples, and FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a recipe source program. 10: Master CPU, 11: Main program, 12: Step content description section, 13: Macro description section, 14: Recipe program creation section, 15: Compile section, 16: Online execution section, 21 ... ... Keyboard, 22 ... CRT, 23 ... External memory, 30 ... Bidirectional memory, 40 ... Slave CPU, 4
1 Mode program, 42 Recipe execution processing unit, 51
… Console, 52… load lock, 60… gas mixer, 70… heater, 80… reactor.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A first computer section; a second computer section; and a bidirectional memory connected between the first computer and the second computer section for exchanging data with each other. The first computer section comprises: (A) an execution time of each step constituting a process related to semiconductor vapor deposition, and a flow of a plurality of gases in each step, which is controlled on a pipeline network leading to a reaction furnace. The open / close state of the valve group provided in the reactor and the flow rate value of the flow path setter group, the pressure set value of the pressure setter group for controlling the pressure of a plurality of gases flowing into and out of the reactor, and the temperature in the reactor. (B) a step content description section that describes, as process control information, which is a step content of each step, a heater temperature value that controls the temperature of the heater; (C) The step contents and the macro contents, the ON / OFF state of the pressure setting unit group, the ON / OFF state of the heater, and sequence control information for controlling the flow of each step are arranged in the order of execution. Means for creating a recipe source program; (D) means for converting the recipe source program into an executable form to generate a recipe object program; and (E) storing the recipe object program in the bidirectional memory and a recipe. Online execution means for storing a command for execution in the bidirectional memory; and wherein the second computer unit receives the command for executing the recipe via the bidirectional memory. Then, the recipe object program stored in the bidirectional memory is read and the recipe object program is read. Process (recipe) for semiconductor vapor deposition based on the project program
A control device for a semiconductor vapor deposition apparatus, comprising: a recipe execution processing unit that executes the following.