JP3014770B2 - Semiconductor manufacturing 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 semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for heating a wafer. In recent years, I
With miniaturization and high integration of C and LSI, dimensional stability is required by miniaturization of circuit patterns. Therefore, it is necessary to heat the wafer by accurate temperature control even in the wafer heat treatment process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a wafer manufacturing apparatus, for example, a heating apparatus used for drying a resist in a photolithography process, heats a wafer by bringing the wafer close to an upper portion of a hot plate constituted by a heater and a hot plate. A proximity bake method for controlling the temperature of a hot plate by controlling a heater to heat a wafer has been proposed.
However, only the heater actually detects and controls the temperature, and does not detect the temperature of the wafer itself. Therefore, it is not possible to know whether the wafer has been accurately heated at the desired temperature, and it is not possible to heat the wafer at the desired temperature.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, a support portion 34 for arranging a wafer 33 close to the hot plate 32 is provided on the upper surface of a hot plate 32 composed of a heater 30 and a hot plate 31. A method has been considered in which a thermocouple 35 is inserted through the substrate and the thermocouple 35 is pressed against the lower surface of the wafer 33 to detect the temperature of the wafer 33. The temperature of the wafer 33 is detected based on the detection signal from the thermocouple 35, and the temperature controller 36 controls the heater 30 to control the temperature of the hot plate 32.

[0004]

However, since the thermocouple 35 passes directly through the hot plate 32,
The heat of the heater 30 and the heating plate 31 directly affects the thermocouple 35. Therefore, there is a problem that the temperature of the wafer 33 cannot be accurately detected. Further, in order to accurately detect the temperature of the wafer 33, the thermocouple 35 must be firmly brought into contact with the wafer 33. However, since the weight of the wafer 33 is light, the thermocouple 35 must be firmly attached to the lower surface of the wafer 33. Can not be brought into contact with Therefore, there is a problem that the temperature of the wafer 33 cannot be accurately detected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus capable of accurately detecting the temperature of a wafer and controlling the temperature of the wafer accurately. Is to do.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention. The wafer 4 is heated by the support member 3
It is supported close to the upper side. This heating member 1 has a pipe
5 penetrates and contacts the lower surface of the wafer 4. This
In the pipe 5, a temperature detector for detecting the temperature of the wafer 4 is provided.
The ejecting means 6 is inserted and is in contact with the lower surface of the wafer 4.
You. Then, the inside of the pipe 5 is sucked to make a negative pressure,
Suction means 7 for adsorbing the lower surface of the wafer 4 to the pipe 5 is provided.
Have been killed.

[0007]

[0008]

The wafer 4 is supported by the support member 3.
Then, the wafer 4 is heated by the heating member 1 . In this state, when the suction means 7 is driven to suck the inside of the pipe 5,
The pipe 5 sucks the lower surface of the wafer 4 by the negative pressure .

As a result, the heat of the heating member 1 is hardly transmitted to the temperature detecting means 6 by the pipe 5, and the temperature of the wafer 4 can be accurately detected. Further, the suction means 7
Temperature detecting means 6 in the pipe 5 by the suction force of
Temperature detecting means 6 by utilizing the pressure on the lower surface of the
Can be brought into contact with the lower surface of the wafer 4. For this reason, the temperature detecting means 6 can more reliably detect the temperature of the wafer 4.

[0010]

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
3 will be described. A heater 11 is mounted on the support base 10, and a heating plate 12 heated by the heater 11 is provided above the heater 11. A thermocouple 18 made of chromel-alumel is embedded in the hot plate 12, and the temperature of the hot plate 12 is detected by the thermocouple 18. The thermocouple 18 is connected to a heater temperature controller 19. Further, the heater temperature control device 19 is connected to the heater 11. Therefore,
A thermocouple 18 detects the temperature of the hot plate 12, and a heater temperature control device 19 drives and controls the heater 11 based on the detection signal to bring the hot plate 12 to a desired temperature.

In this embodiment, the heater 11 and the hot plate 12
Constitute a heating member. A plurality of (three in this embodiment) insertion holes 13 are provided in the heater 11 and the heating plate 12, and a support pin 14 as a support member is pierced through the insertion holes 13 so as to be vertically movable. ing.
The tip of the support pin 14 protrudes from the upper surface of the heater 11. The tip of the support pin 14 has a conical shape.

Further, the heater 11 and the hot plate 12 are provided with a through hole 15 having a diameter larger than that of the insertion hole 13. A pipe 16 made of a SUS sanitary pipe is provided in the through hole 15 so as to be movable in the vertical direction similarly to the support pin 14, and the tip of the pipe 16 projects from the upper surface of the heater 11. The heights of the support pins 14 and the pipes 16 protruding from the upper surface of the heater 11 are all the same. The wafer 17 is placed so as to be supported at four points by the support pins 14 and the tip of the pipe 16, and is arranged close to the hot plate 12.

The support pins 14 for supporting the wafer 17 and the base ends of the pipes 16 are fixed to a connecting plate 20.
The connecting plate 20 is connected to an elevating device 21, and the elevating device 21 moves the connecting plate 20 up and down. Therefore, in this embodiment, the connecting plate 20 and
The lifting device 21 forms lifting means. Then, based on a command signal from a wafer temperature control device 23 as a wafer temperature control means to be described later, the lifting device 21 raises and lowers the support pins 14 and the pipe 16 via the connecting plate 20 so that the wafer 17 and the hot plate 12 can be adjusted.

A thermocouple 22 made of chromel-alumel is disposed inside the pipe 16 as a temperature detecting means, and the thermocouple 22 is disposed so that its tip is slightly exposed from the tip of the pipe 16. ing. And thermocouple 2
2 is in contact with the lower surface of the wafer 17. The base end of the thermocouple 22 is led out of the pipe 16 and connected to a wafer temperature control device 23. Then, the thermocouple 22 detects the temperature of the wafer 17 heated by the heater 11, and the wafer temperature controller 23 calculates and calculates the temperature of the wafer 17 based on the detection signal of the thermocouple 22.

If the temperature of the wafer 17 is lower than the desired temperature, the wafer temperature control device 23 drives the elevating device 21 so that the support pin 14 and the pipe 16 are connected via the connecting plate 20.
To decrease the proximity distance between the wafer 17 and the hot plate 12 to increase the temperature of the wafer 17. If the temperature of the wafer 17 is higher than the desired temperature, the wafer temperature controller 23
Drives the lifting / lowering device 21 to raise the support pins 14 and the pipe 16 via the connecting plate 20, and to move the wafer 17 and the hot plate 12
Is increased to lower the temperature of the wafer 17.

The pipe 16 is provided with a suction device 24 as suction means , and the suction device 24 suctions the inside of the pipe 16 to about 200 Torr.
That is, when the suction device 24 is driven in a state where the wafer 17 is placed on the tip of the pipe 16, the tip of the pipe 16 is attracted to the lower surface of the wafer 17.
Therefore, the thermocouple 22 is slightly exposed from the distal end surface of the pipe 16, so that the thermocouple 22 is pressed against the lower surface of the wafer 17.

Next, a case where the resist applied to the upper surface of the wafer 17 is heated and dried by the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus constructed as described above will be described. First, when the wafer 17 is placed on the support pins 14 and the tip of the pipe 16, the tip of the thermocouple 22 slightly exposed from the tip of the pipe 16 comes into contact with the lower surface of the wafer 17. And
Usually, in order to heat and dry the resist applied on the upper surface of the wafer 17 by heating the wafer 17 to 100 ° C., the heater 11 is controlled by the heater temperature controller 19 to heat the hot plate 12 to about 120 ° C. The thermocouple 18 is connected to the hot plate 12
Is detected, and the heater temperature controller 19 controls the temperature of the hot plate 12 so as to be always 120 ° C. based on the detection signal of the thermocouple 18.

In this state, when the suction device 24 is driven to suction the inside of the pipe 16 to about 200 Torr, the lower surface of the wafer 17 is attracted to the tip of the pipe 16 so that the tip of the thermocouple 22 is further moved to the wafer 17. Firmly contact the underside of the Then, the thermocouple 22 detects the temperature of the wafer 17, and the wafer temperature control device 23 calculates the temperature of the wafer 17 itself based on the detected signal, and calculates the temperature of the wafer 17.
Is constantly heated to 100 ° C.

As a result, when the temperature of the wafer 17 exceeds 100 ° C., the wafer temperature control device 23 drives the elevating device 21 to drive the support pin 14 and the pipe 1 through the connecting plate 20.
6 is raised. As a result, the proximity distance between the wafer 17 and the hot plate 12 increases, so that heat from the hot plate 12 is less likely to be transmitted to the wafer 17, and the temperature of the wafer 17 decreases, and
It can be 0 ° C.

When the temperature of the wafer 17 is lower than 100 ° C., the wafer temperature controller 23 drives the elevating device 21 to lower the support pins 14 and the pipe 16 via the connecting plate 20. Then, the proximity distance between the wafer 17 and the hot plate 12 is reduced, so that heat from the hot plate 12 is easily transmitted to the wafer 17, and the temperature of the wafer 17 is increased to 100 ° C.

At this time, by suctioning the inside of the pipe by the suction device 24, the tip of the thermocouple 22 comes into firm contact with the lower surface of the wafer 17, so that the temperature of the wafer 17 can be accurately detected. Further, the heat of the heater 11 and the hot plate 12 can be prevented from being transmitted to the thermocouple 22 by the pipe 16, so that the temperature of the wafer 17 can be detected more accurately.

As a result, the resist applied on the upper surface of the wafer 17 can be heated and dried at a constant temperature, so that the unevenness in the drying of the resist can be prevented, and the circuit pattern formed by the miniaturization of the circuit pattern can be prevented. Dimensions can be stabilized. Although the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment is used for heating and drying the resist applied on the upper surface of the wafer 17, the present invention can be applied to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus used for annealing the wafer 17 and the like.

In this embodiment, the wafer 17 is supported at four points by the support pins 14 and the pipes 16. However, the wafer 17 is supported at four or three points by the support pins 14, and the pipe 16 is placed at the center of the wafer 17. Arrange thermocouple 2
2, it is also possible to detect the temperature of the wafer 17 or increase the number of the pipes 16 and the thermocouples 22 to totally manage the temperature of the entire wafer 17.

Further, other than the thermocouple 22, other temperature detecting means such as a thermistor can be used. Further, the heating plate 12 and the wafer 17 are controlled by the heater temperature control device 19.
Can be controlled.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is an excellent effect that the temperature of a wafer can be accurately detected and the temperature of the wafer can be accurately controlled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a partial side sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Heating member, 3 ... Support member, 4 ... Wafer, 5 ... Pie
6; temperature detection means; 7; suction means.

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/027

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A heating member and a supporting member for supporting a wafer close to and above the heating member.
And penetrates the heating member and contacts the lower surface of the wafer
A pipe, which is inserted into the pipe and abuts against the lower surface of the wafer;
Temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the wafer , and suctioning the inside of the pipe to a negative pressure, and lowering the lower surface of the wafer
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, comprising: suction means for causing the pipe to be suctioned . 2. The lifting and lowering operation of the support member and the pipe.
Raising and lowering means for raising and lowering the temperature of the wafer detected by the temperature detecting means.
2. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a wafer temperature control means for controlling said elevating means .