JP3260777B2 - Wafer transport boat - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer transport boat for loading and carrying a cassette boat for loading semiconductor wafers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of semiconductor wafer is loaded and transported.
Te boat (motherboard) odor, for example, with respect to the wheel mounting portion formed at one end or both ends of the semiconductor wafer loading area for loading the cassette boat for semiconductor wafer stacking, wheel devices are arranged. It has been proposed that the leading end of the pull-out rod is engaged with the locking hole formed in the wheel mounting portion, and the transfer boat is inserted into the furnace core tube of the heat treatment furnace or pulled out from the furnace core tube. ing.

At this time, the loading / unloading speed / pattern and the like are mechanically set, and conditions are determined according to the type of semiconductor to be manufactured.

For example, a conventional transport boat has a structure as shown in FIG. The cassette boat 2 is placed on the transport boat 1. A large number of semiconductor Si wafers W are mounted on the cassette boat 2. The boat 1 has a locking hole 3 formed therein. The drawer bar 4 moves horizontally in the direction of the arrow and inserts the hook 5 of the drawer bar 4 into the locking hole 3. Then, the transport boat 1 is moved by the wheels 6 by operating the drawer bar 4 horizontally.

[0005] The conventional drawer rod 4 is of a key type as shown in FIGS.

[0006]

However, as described above, the drawer bar has a key shape for hooking, and is pulled out by being locked in the locking hole 3 by one hook. The diameter of the hook 5 is usually designed to be smaller than the locking hole 3. For this reason, for example, when inserting the boat 1 into the furnace,
Since the cross-sectional shape of the furnace core tube is circular, the boat 1 may meander if the furnace core tube is not correctly moved in the longitudinal direction.

[0007] If the meandering is performed excessively, there is a drawback that the loaded wafer is finally dropped at an angle.

Further, in the boat 1, the upper portion of the wheel device is flat, and when the hook 5 of the draw bar 4 is inserted into the locking hole 3 and set, the wafer W comes into contact with the wafer W loaded on the cassette boat 2 and is damaged. Accidents have occurred frequently.

Further, when the boat 1 is moved in and out, the drawer rod 4 comes off from the locking hole 3 and comes into direct contact with the wafer W.
May be damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to correctly move a wafer transport boat and to prevent a wafer from being damaged by a drawer rod.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wafer transfer boat for transferring a wafer placed on a wafer placement unit, wherein a drawer rod for moving the boat in a furnace has at least a tip. The boat itself has one hook, and the boat itself has an engaging portion for engaging the hook at one end, the engaging portion has a flat upper surface , and the engaging portion is provided between the wafer placement portion and the engaging portion. high bulge portion than the flat top surface of the is provided as part of the boat, has one locking hole at least the toothing, the tip of the hook,
A second aspect of the present invention is to provide a wafer transfer boat, which is configured to be guided by a flat upper surface and a convex portion and to enter into a locking hole downward.
For transporting wafers to place and transport wafers
In a boat, a drawer for moving the boat in the furnace
The rod has at least one hook at the tip and the boat itself
The body has a hook engaging part at one end and a hook
The mating part has a flat upper surface and engages with the wafer placement part.
Convex part higher than the flat upper surface of the engagement part
Is provided as part of the boat,
It has at least one locking hole and a guide groove on the flat upper surface.
And the tip of the hook is guided by the guide groove.
To enter the locking hole downward.
The main feature is a boat for transporting wafers, which is a special feature.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The outline will be described. In one embodiment of the present invention,
The boat for loading and transporting wafers has an engaging section that engages with a drawer rod to move the boat in the furnace.
I do. The engagement portion includes a locking hole. In order to prevent the drawer rod from reaching the wafer and to guide it without error to the locking hole, for example, 5
A projection having a height of at least mm is provided.

[0012] In another embodiment of the present invention, the drawer bar for moving the boat in the furnace preferably has two or more hooks.

[0013] Preferably, one of the hooks has a round cross section and the other has a polygonal cross section.

The wafer transport boat is preferably provided with two or more engaging portions.

When the draw bar is engaged with the engaging hole of the engaging portion, the draw bar is formed on the flat upper surface of the engaging portion .
It is guided by the guide groove and the projection, and enters the locking hole downward well. Even if it slides toward the wafer side without properly entering the locking hole , the protrusion can reliably stop the drawer bar . Therefore, the draw bar will reach the wafer
Can be prevented. Embodiment 1 Embodiment 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The wafer transport boat 11 is also referred to as a mother boat, and includes an arrangement portion 13, wheels 14, a wheel mounting portion 15,
It has a prevention member 16 for the extraction rod 20.

The cassette boat 12 is placed on the arrangement section 13. Wafers W are placed side by side on the cassette boat 12. The pair of wheels 14, 14 are connected by an axle 14a.

Flat upper surface 1 of hollow wheel mounting portion 15
One locking hole 18 is formed below the center of 7.
The wheel mounting portion 15 can be provided on one end side or both sides of the mounting portion 13. FIGS. 1 and 3 illustrate one end of the boat 11. The hook 19 of the drawer rod 20 can be inserted into the locking hole 18.

The protruding portion 16 which is a plate-like component is
5 is fixed upward to the wafer-side end portion of the upper surface 17. That is, it is near the wafer W. The convex portion 16 is preferably made of the same material as the boat 11, and is, for example, a reaction sintered SiC obtained by impregnating Si into a SiC material.
It is made.

Normally, in the loading system of the boat 11, after the semiconductor wafers W are loaded on the cassette boat 12, the cassette boat 12 is loaded on the loading section 13 of the boat 11. In this loading system, a drawer rod 20 is set in a locking hole 18 and is taken in and out of a diffusion furnace by an autoloader (not shown) in accordance with a sequence programmed in advance.

Therefore, the drawer rod 20 is connected to the wheel mounting portion 15.
When the hook 19 of the drawer rod 20 is set in the locking hole 18 by moving along the upper surface of the drawer rod 20, unlike the conventional boat, the protrusion 16 for preventing contact is provided in advance and placed there. The position of the wafer-side end face 15 can be easily grasped, and the positioning of the setting of the boat 11 in the furnace tube becomes easy.

Also, a drawer rod 2 used for loading
No. 0 has a normal length of 1000 mm to 2000 mm, and the drawer bar 20 may come off from the locking hole 16 due to the deflection of the drawer bar 20 during insertion.

At this time, if the convex portion 16 is present, the boat 11 stops, and even if only the pull-out rod 20 that comes out of the locking hole 18 is inserted, the draw-out rod 20 comes into contact with the Si wafer W. Thus, it is possible to prevent the drawer rod 20 from falling down and breaking the wafer.

Embodiment 2 FIGS. 4 and 5 show Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The transport boat 111 according to the second embodiment includes a convex portion 116 having a V-shape when viewed from above. By doing so, the hooks 19 of the drawer rod 20 along the projections 116 as particularly shown in FIG.
Can be reliably guided to the locking hole 118 of the mounting portion 115.
The projection 116 is above the flat upper surface 117. The locking hole 118 is below its flat upper surface 117.

Embodiment 3 In the embodiment 3 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the projection 216 is integrally formed on the wheel mounting portion 215 from the beginning. This projection 21
Reference numeral 6 denotes a straight line, which is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the boat longitudinal direction. The protrusion 216 is above the flat upper surface 217. The locking hole 218 is below its flat upper surface 217.

Fourth Embodiment In the fourth embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a two-step projection 316 is formed integrally with the wheel mounting portion 315. The protrusion 316 is flat
It is above the flat upper surface 317. Locking hole 318 is the
It is below the flat upper surface 317.

Embodiment 5 In the embodiment 5 shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the convex portion 41 having a slope is used.
6 is formed integrally with the wheel mounting portion 415. Convex part 4
16 is above the flat upper surface 417. Lock hole 41
8 is below its flat upper surface 417.

Embodiment 6 In Embodiment 6 of FIGS. 12 and 13, a convex portion 516 having an inner periphery of, for example, a parabolic curved surface is integrally formed near a locking hole 518 of a wheel mounting portion 515. . The protrusion 516 is flat
It is above the flat top surface 517. Lock hole 518 is flat
At the bottom than a top surface 517.

Embodiment 7 In the embodiment 7 shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, for example, an arc-shaped convex portion 616 is integrally formed in the vicinity of the locking hole 618 of the wheel mounting portion 615. The protrusion 616 is above the flat upper surface 617. The locking hole 618 is below the flat upper surface 617.

Eighth Embodiment In the eighth embodiment shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, a V-shaped projection 716 is integrally formed near an engaging hole 718 of a wheel mounting portion 715. The protrusion 716 is above the flat upper surface 717. The locking hole 718 is below the flat upper surface 717.

In the embodiments 6 to 8 shown in FIGS.
The draw-out bars can be reliably guided to the locking holes 518, 618, 718 by the prevention members 516, 616, 716, respectively.

In the above-described third to eighth embodiments, illustration of wheels, cassette boats and the like is omitted.

Next, another embodiment of the drawer bar will be described.

Embodiment 9 The drawer bar 200 shown in FIGS. 18 and 19 has two columnar hooks 219 and 220.

Embodiment 10 As shown in FIG. 20, these hooks 219 and 220 can be inserted into two locking holes 818 of the wheel mounting portion 815, respectively.
The wheel mounting portion 815 has an arc-shaped convex portion 816.
The protrusion 816 is above the flat upper surface 817. The locking hole 818 is below the flat upper surface 817.

Embodiment 11 The drawer bar 300 shown in FIGS. 21 and 22 has hooks 319 and 320.
have. The hook 319 has a circular cross section, and the hook 320 has an octagonal cross section.

Embodiment 12 The drawer bar 400 shown in FIG. 23 has a hook 419 in a rectangular shape.

Embodiment 13 In FIG. 24, a guide groove 1000 is formed on a flat upper surface 917 of a mounting portion 915. The guide groove 1000 is provided with two locking holes 1018. The hooks 219 and 220 of the drawer bar 200 can be inserted into these locking holes 1018. That is, the hooks 219 and 220 are
And can be inserted into the locking holes 1018 respectively. However, also in this case, the wheel mounting portion 915 has a convex portion 916 for safety of the wafer. Convex part 91
6 is above the flat top surface 917. Lock hole 101
8 is below the flat upper surface 917.

Embodiment 14 In FIG. 25, the protrusion 1216 is flat on the wheel mounting portion 1215.
It is positioned above a top surface 1217. This convex part 1
216 is provided between the locking hole 1218 and the arrangement portion 1213 of the wafer. The locking hole 1218 is provided in the wheel mounting portion 1.
215 is formed over the entire width. Drawer rod 1
220 is wide and engages with the locking hole 1218. The width of the locking hole 1218 and the width of the drawer rod 1220 can be smaller than the width of the wheel mounting portion 1215. Such shapes of the locking hole 1218 and the convex portion 1216 can be applied to the first to thirteenth embodiments.

Embodiment 15 FIG. 26 shows another embodiment of the transport boat shown in FIG. The wafer placement portion 13a of the fifteenth embodiment is wider than the flat upper surface 17. The planar shape of the wafer arrangement portion 13a of this boat can be applied to the above-described first to fourteenth embodiments.

For example, in the transport boat shown in FIG.
6 is the height of the wheel mounting portion 1 with respect to the wheel mounting portion 15.
It is preferably 5 mm or more higher than 5. Convex part 16
Is a plate-shaped part, which is bonded and fitted or integrally formed. The convex portion prevents the drawer rod of the boat loading device from coming out of its original position and coming into contact with the wafer to damage or damage the drawer. Further, when the boat is set in the furnace, damage to the wafer can be prevented in advance.

When two or more hooks are provided instead of a simple hook shape as in the case of the drawer bar shown in FIG. 18 or FIG. As a result, the locking force is larger and the displacement can be reduced as compared with the simple hook.

Since the stress acting on the tip portion can be dispersed as compared with the simple hook, breakage of the tip of the drawer bar can be reduced.

For example, a drawer rod 20 having two hooks 219 and 220 shown in FIG. 18 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
A meandering test was carried out by moving the 0 on the platen while locking it in a locking hole of an actual boat.

At that time, as a comparative example, the same test was performed on a conventional drawer having one hook.

The examples of the present invention and the comparative examples are both 3
The boat was moved back and forth 0 times, and at this time, it was examined how much the boat deviated from the axis of the boat moving direction, that is, how much the boat meandered.

[0047]

[Table 1] Table 1 shows the results. It was found that the displacement by the draw bar of the embodiment of the present invention was about 1/10 compared to the conventional comparative example. In other words, the displacement of the drawer rod 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention from the shaft is 3 mm, and the displacement from the shaft of the conventional comparative example is 35 mm.

Further, as shown in FIG. 21, which is an embodiment of the present invention, the drawer rod 3 having two hooks 319 and 320 is provided.
Using 00, the meandering was tested by moving on a surface plate while being locked to an actual boat. As shown in Table 1, FIG.
18 has a displacement of 2 mm from the axis, and FIG.
The deviation from the central axis was smaller than the deviation from the axis of the pull-out rod of 3 mm, and it was found that the polygonal case was more effective.

Incidentally, the above-described embodiments are described for facilitating or facilitating the understanding of the present invention, but not for limiting the present invention. The number of locking holes and the number of hooks are not limited to one or two, and three or more may be provided. The shape of the hook is not limited to a circle or an octagon. The two or more hooks may have the same diameter and the same shape. Also, the diameter or shape may be changed.

[0050]

According to the present invention, when the boat is loaded, the drawer rod does not deviate from the original position and comes into contact with the wafer to prevent the wafer from being damaged or damaged.
Further, when combining chewing the engaging hole of the pull bar in a furnace, flat
The upper surface and the guide grooves and projections formed therein can guide the drawer rod into the locking hole. Moreover, it is pulled out by the convex part
Since the rod can be prevented, it is possible to prevent the drawer rod from damaging the wafer by mistake. This is particularly effective when the drawer bar is long and flexible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing Embodiment 1 of a transport boat according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a transport boat according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a side view of a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a side view of a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a side view of a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a side view of Embodiment 8 of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a plan view of an eighth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a side view showing a ninth embodiment of the drawer bar of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a front view showing a ninth embodiment of a drawer bar of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view of the tenth embodiment of the present invention, showing a state where the drawer bars are engaged.

FIG. 21 is a side view showing an eleventh embodiment of the present invention regarding a drawer bar.

FIG. 22 is a bottom view showing an eleventh embodiment of the present invention with respect to a drawer bar.

FIG. 23 is a perspective view of a twelfth embodiment of the present invention with respect to a drawer bar.

FIG. 24 shows a thirteenth embodiment of the present invention for a wheel mounting portion.
FIG.

FIG. 25 is a first embodiment of the present invention of a transport boat and a drawer rod.
FIG.

FIG. 26 is a perspective view illustrating a transport boat according to a fifteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 27 is a view showing a conventional boat and a drawer rod.

FIG. 28 is a side view of a conventional drawer bar.

FIG. 29 is a bottom view of a conventional drawer bar.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Transport boat (mother boat) 14 Wheel 15 Wheel mounting part 16 Convex part 18 Locking hole 19 Hook 20 Pull-out rod W Wafer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/68 H01L 21/22 B65G 49/07

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A wafer transfer boat for transferring a wafer placed on a wafer placement part, wherein a drawer rod for moving the boat in a furnace has at least one hook at a tip, and the boat itself is used. One end has a hook that engages the hook, and the engagement portion has a flat upper surface.
Between the wafer placement part and the mating part.
A raised portion higher than the flat upper surface is provided as part of the boat, and the engagement portion has at least one locking hole .
A boat for transporting wafers, wherein a tip of a hook is guided by a flat upper surface and a convex portion , and enters into a locking hole downward. 2. A wafer is placed on a wafer placement part and transported.
In the wafer transfer boat for
A drawer rod for moving the
The boat itself has a hook on one end
It has a mating part, and the mating part has a flat upper surface.
Between the wafer placement part and the mating part.
Protrusion higher than the flat top surface is provided as part of the boat
And the engaging portion has at least one locking hole.
The guide groove is formed on the flat upper surface,
The tip is guided by the guide groove and faces downward into the locking hole.
Wafer transfer characterized by a configuration that allows
For boats.