JP3449707B2 - Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, wafer transfer method in semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and semiconductor element manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for transferring a wafer which exhibits a merit of a single sheet system and a merit of a batch system and is efficient in a wafer transferring of the apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor. SOLUTION: The apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor includes a transfer equipment for transferring the wafer between a boat accommodating the wafer in a horizontal attitude on multi-stages in a upward/downward direction and a cassette accommodating X sheets (1<Y<X) of wafer, and the transfer equipment has Y sheets of plates for holding the wafer. The apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor is capable of transferring the wafers loaded on the Y sheets of plates at the same time. Regarding a product of wafer and a dummy of wafer, the apparatus has a control portion which controls so as to transfer Z sheets (1<Z<Y) of wafers using Z sheets of plates among the Y sheets of them when transferring those sheets at the same time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus,
For example, the present invention relates to a wafer transfer method and a semiconductor element manufacturing method in a vertical CVD diffusion apparatus and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art CV is one of the manufacturing processes for semiconductor devices.
There is D processing. In this method, a required number of silicon wafers are heated in a CVD apparatus and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is performed, but in order to homogenize the CVD process, both end portions of the row are sandwiched so as to sandwich the product wafers. A plurality of dummy wafers are arrayed in each, and a monitor wafer for inspection is arrayed at a required interval in the middle of the product wafer. This will be outlined with reference to FIG.

In the diffusion furnace, the wafer 1 is supported by the boat 2.
When performing VD processing, first, the wafers 1 are inserted into the boat 2 so that the required arrangement is obtained, and the boat 2 with the wafers 1 inserted therein is loaded into the diffusion furnace. Generally, the temperature distribution in the diffusion furnace is not uniform over the entire area, and therefore the boat 2 has a sufficient margin for the number of wafers to be processed (for example, 1.5 times the number of processed wafers). The number of wafer storage spaces is equal to the number of wafers, and when processing wafers, it corresponds to a location with uniform temperature distribution, or the wafer storage position of boat 2 is selected according to the number of wafers. There is.

Dummy wafer groups 3 and 4 each consisting of an appropriate number of dummy wafers 1b are housed at the upper and lower ends of the wafer array of the boat 2, and a predetermined number of product wafers 1a are sandwiched between monitor wafers 1c. The product wafer group 5 is housed, and the product wafer group 5 is housed one after the other across the monitor wafer 1c. A monitor wafer 1c is inserted between the lowermost product wafer group 5 and the dummy wafer group 4.

The wafer transfer device transfers a wafer loaded in a cassette to the boat and performs a series of operations for loading the processed wafer into an empty cassette.

A conventional wafer transfer device will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 12 shows a wafer transfer apparatus of a single wafer type (a method of transferring one wafer at a time), in which a cassette 7 loaded with a wafer 1 is arranged in the same circle around the handling unit 6. A required number of units are arranged on the circumference, and a transfer elevator 8 and a load / unload elevator 9 are provided adjacent to the handling unit 6, and the boat pedestal 10 of the transfer elevator 8 is a cylindrical surface including the circumference. The vertical diffusion furnace 12 is provided above the boat pedestal 11 of the load / unload elevator 9 along the bus. Further, a transfer unit 13 for transferring the boat 2 is provided between the transfer elevator 8 and the load / unload elevator 9.

The handling unit 6 is equipped with a rotary arm 14 that rotates around the center of the circumference and moves up and down, and a wafer suction chuck 15 that advances and retreats in the radial direction along the rotary arm 14 and is loaded in the cassette 7. Wafers 1 are picked up one by one and taken out, and transferred sequentially from the top to the boat 2 placed on the transfer elevator 8. The transfer elevator 8 follows the progress of the transfer of the wafer 1 and descends step by step.

The boat 2 on which the wafers 1 have been transferred is transferred from the transfer elevator 8 to the load / unload elevator 9 by the transfer unit 13, and the load / unload elevator 9 moves the boat 2 into the diffusion furnace 12. Charge into.

When the CVD process is completed, the boat 2 becomes a diffusion furnace.
It is taken out from the cassette 12, further transferred to the transfer elevator 8 by the transfer unit 13, and loaded into the cassette 7 by the handling unit 6 in the reverse order of the above.

The above-mentioned conventional transfer device is a single-wafer type, but there is also a collective type as shown in FIG.

The wafer suction chuck 15 is equipped with 25 sets of suction plates 16 and chucks all 25 wafers 1 loaded in a cassette 7 and transfers them to a boat 2. .

[0013]

However, the above-mentioned conventional single-wafer transfer apparatus and batch transfer apparatus have the following problems.

The arrangement of the wafers to be inserted into the above-mentioned boat 2, the number of the upper and lower dummy wafers, or the number of the product wafers and the monitor wafers to be provided are determined. It depends on the processing conditions or the processing specifications of the customer.

In the former single wafer method, wafers are transferred one by one, so that any arrangement of wafers can be supported. However, the number of operations is extremely large, which results in a long transfer time and poor efficiency. In addition, the large number of operations increases the probability of dust generation stochastically, which adversely affects the product quality.

On the other hand, the latter batch method has the advantage that the transfer time is short and is extremely efficient, but since 25 wafers are processed in a batch, it is not possible to arrange the wafers at the time of wafer transfer. Can not. Therefore, dummy wafers, monitor wafers, and product wafers are mixed so that a predetermined arrangement is obtained when wafers are loaded in the cassette. The loading of wafers into the cassette is a manual operation, and the loading of different types of wafers in a predetermined arrangement is extremely complicated, inefficient, and erroneous insertion is inevitable. It was

In view of such a situation, the present applicant proposed a partial batch transfer type wafer transfer machine for transferring five wafers at a time in the previous application (Japanese Patent Application No. 63-130524). However, the present invention provides a wafer transfer method, transfer apparatus, and transfer control apparatus that can fully exert the advantages of the single wafer method and the advantages of the batch method in the partial batch transfer method. It is what

[0018]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a boat for accommodating horizontally oriented wafers in multiple stages in the vertical direction, a required number of cassettes capable of loading 25 wafers, and transferring the wafers between the boats and the cassettes. In a vertical CVD diffusion device having a set of transfer devices, the transfer device can transfer one to five wafers, and one to one dummy wafer or product wafer at a time. According to the wafer transfer method in which five wafers are transferred and monitor wafers inserted between the dummy wafer and the product wafer are transferred one by one,
Or, transfer one to five dummy wafers at a time, transfer five product wafers at a time, or transfer the required number of upper dummy wafers located at the top of the boat first, After that, monitor wafers, product wafers, and lower dummy wafers are transferred one by one, or a plurality of upper dummy wafers that are initially positioned on the boat are transferred.
Next, a plurality of lower dummy wafers located at the bottom of the boat are transferred, and then monitor wafers and product wafers are transferred alternately, or the total number of dummy wafers above and below is set to 5
If the number of dummy wafers on the lower side is 5 or more, the surplus fraction of 5 or less dummy wafers inserted on the upper side is moved to the lowermost position of the wafer array, or the total number of upper and lower dummy wafers is changed. When the number of dummy wafers on the lower side is 5 or less and the number of dummy wafers on the lower side is 5 or less, the fractions of 5 or less on the upper dummy wafers are directly transferred and transferred from the cassette, and the lower dummy wafers are transferred. Regarding the mounting, it depends on the wafer transfer method that transfers the product wafers and monitor wafers after they have been transferred, and also the boat that stores the wafers in the horizontal position in multiple stages in the vertical direction, and the required number of 25 wafers that can be loaded. Vertical CV having a cassette, and a set of transfer devices for transferring wafers between the boat and the cassette
In the D diffuser, a wafer chuck having chuck plates arranged in five stages and connected to a vacuum source via electromagnetic valves provided corresponding to the chuck plates is used as a wafer chuck. The present invention relates to a wafer transfer machine in a vertical CVD diffusion device that can be moved in a radial direction, can be rotated about a vertical axis, and can be moved up and down.
Vertical CV with variable chuck plate pitch
The present invention relates to a wafer transfer device in a D diffusion device.

In the present invention, since 5 wafers are transferred at a time, the transfer is performed quickly, and the number of wafers stored in the cassette is 25. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform fractional processing, and there is no fractional processing. However, the minimum operation is required.

Further, the wafer chuck can be moved to any cassette storage position of the storage rack by the cooperation of the traverse of the storage rack and the load / unload elevator, and then the wafer chuck is moved back and forth by the slide mechanism and the slide mechanism is moved. Wafers are transferred to the boat by rotating and elevating the transfer elevator, and wafers are transferred from the boat to the cassette. It should be noted that any number of wafers from 1 to 5 can be chucked and transferred by individual operations of the solenoid valve.

Next, by setting and inputting a desired sequence program to the main controller, the product cassette, the dummy cassette, and the monitor cassette are stored at arbitrary positions of the storage rack, and these cassette positions and boat By inputting the wafer arrangement and the like from the input section, the wafers are transferred sequentially so as to form a desired arrangement on the basis of five wafers.

[0022]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show a vertical CVD diffusion apparatus equipped with a wafer transfer control device according to the present invention.

The device will be briefly described.

Reference numeral 12 is a diffusion furnace, 17 is a load / unload elevator, 18 is a transfer elevator, 19 is a cassette stocker, 20 is an operation panel, and 21 is an apparatus main body.

The boat 2 is mounted on the load / unload elevator 17, and the boat 2 is loaded / unloaded to / from the diffusion furnace 12 by raising and lowering the load / unload elevator 17.

The transfer elevator 18 is provided with a handling unit 22, and is driven by a lifting motor 23, which will be described later, to raise and lower the handling unit 22. Further, the cassette stocker 19 has a required number of stages (4 in this example).
Multi-row (two rows in this example) cassette storage rack 24
The cassette storage rack 24 is horizontally moved by a rack traverse motor 25 described later.

Next, the handling unit 22 which is a main part of the transfer device will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

Substrate 26 attached to transfer elevator 18
A slide mechanism 28 is attached via a coaxial speed reducer 27, and a wafer chuck 29 is attached to the slide mechanism 28.

A motor 30 for rotation is fixed to the substrate 26, and an output shaft 31 of the motor 30 and an input shaft of the speed reducer 27.
32 is connected through a timing gear 33, a timing belt 34, and a timing gear 35, and the output shaft of the speed reducer 27.
The slide mechanism 28 is fixed to 36. Further, the central portion of the speed reducer 27 is hollow, and a cable 38, a vacuum hose 39 of a wafer chuck described later, and the like are inserted into the hollow portion 37.

The slide mechanism 28 includes a guide 40 extending in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the speed reducer 27 and the guide 40.
The guide 40 has a rotatable screw rod 41, and a slider 42 is slidably provided on the guide 40. The slider 42 and the screw rod 41 are screwed together via a nut block 43. A slide motor 44 is provided on the side of the guide 40, and the slide motor 44 and the screw rod 41 are connected to each other by a timing pulley 45 and a timing belt 4.
6. Connected via the timing pulley 47.

Reference numerals 48 and 49 are limit sensors for detecting the stroke end, and 50 and 51 are shield plates for operating the limit sensors 48 and 49.

The wafer chuck 29 fixed to the slider 42 has five chuck plates 54, 55, 56, 57 and 58 stacked at the same pitch as the stored wafer pitch. 56, 57, 58 are hollow, and suction holes 58 are formed in the upper surfaces of the chuck plates 54, 55, 56, 57, 58.
Further, the hollow portions of the chuck plates 54, 55, 56, 57 and 58 are connected to a vacuum source via solenoid valves 59, 60, 61, 62 and 63 (described later), respectively.

The outline of the operation will be described below.

The cassette storage position of the storage rack 24 is row A,
Row B, 1 step, 2 steps ... from the bottom, A1, A2, ... B1, B2
..., and the cassette 7b loaded with the dummy wafers at the required storage position is replaced with the cassette 7c loaded with the monitor wafers.
And a cassette 7a loaded with product wafers.

The handling unit 22 takes out the wafers 1 from the cassette stocker 19 side and transfers them to the boat 2 so that the wafers are arranged in a predetermined manner.

First, the rack traverse motor 25 and the lifting motor 23
The handling unit 22 is positioned at the storage position of the cassette 7 in which the wafers 1 to be transferred are loaded by the cooperation with the screw motor 44 by the slide motor 44.
Rotate 41, chuck plate of wafer chuck 29
Insert 53,54,55,56,57 between wafers 1 and 1. The wafer chuck 29 is slightly raised by the elevating motor 23 to receive the five wafers 1, and the solenoid valves 59, 60, 61, 62 and 63 are operated to adsorb the wafers 1 to chuck the wafers 1. Slide motor
44 is driven to retract the slider 42, and the wafer 1 is completely pulled out from the cassette 7, and then the rotary motor 30 is used to drive the timing gear 33, the timing belt 34, and the timing gear 3.
5. The slide mechanism 28 is rotated via the speed reducer 27. Next, the wafer chuck 29 is moved to the boat 2 by the lifting motor 23.
The wafer chuck 29 is moved up and down to the wafer insertion position and the wafer chuck 29 is moved forward by the slide motor 44 to insert the wafer 1 into the boat 2. Solenoid valve after wafer insertion 59,60,61,62,63
The wafer chuck 29 is slightly lowered by the lift motor 23, the wafer 1 is transferred to the boat 2, and the slide motor
At 44, the wafer chuck 29 is retracted.

By repeating the above operation, the cassette stocker
Transfer wafers from side 19 to boat 2. Also boat
Transfer from 2 to the cassette stocker 19 side is performed by the reverse procedure of the above operation.

The wafers 1 are transferred to the boat 2 in a desired arrangement by appropriately combining and controlling the transfer operations described above.

FIG. 4 shows an outline of a control device for performing such control.

In the figure, 70 is an input unit, 71 is a main control unit, 72 is a traverse motor control unit, 73 is a lifting motor control unit, 74 is a rotation motor control unit, 75 is a slide motor control unit, and 76 is a solenoid valve control unit. , 77 is a display unit, 64 is a position sensor for detecting the rows A and B of the storage rack, and 65, 66, 67 are encoders for detecting the rotation amounts of the respective motors.

From the input section 70, by the operator, the position a of the product wafer cassette 7a, the dummy wafer cassette 7b, and the monitor wafer cassette 7c stored in the storage rack 24, the number b of the upper dummy wafers, the lower dummy wafer The number c of wafers, the number d of monitor wafers, the position e of monitor wafers, and the number f of product wafers are input. A sequence program is set and input in the main control unit 71, and the control units 72, 73, 74, 75,
The operation command is issued to 76, and the working condition input by the operator and the guidance message are displayed on the display unit.

Further, each motor control unit 72, 73, 74, 75 receives the position sensor 64 so that the operation command from the main control unit 71 is satisfied, and the rack lateral motor 25, by the feedback signal from each encoder 65, 66, 67, The lifting motor 23, the rotation motor 30, and the slide motor 44 are driven while being monitored. Also, solenoid valve control unit
76 is a predetermined number according to the number of wafers 1 to be chucked,
Operate the solenoid valve in place.

Further, each of the control units 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, according to the operation command, the motors 25.23, 30, 44, the solenoid valves 59, 60, 61, 6
When the driving of 2,63 is completed, a completion signal is output to the main control unit 71. When the completion signal is input from each control unit, the main control unit 71 outputs the next operation command according to the sequence program.

The control operation will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First, assuming that the operator inserts the dummy cassette 7b into the A1 position of the storage rack 24, the monitor cassette 7c into the B1 position, and the product cassette 7a into the remaining position, the input is input to the input section 70. As the operating condition a to be entered, the storage position of the storage rack 24 of each cassette is input. Further, assuming that the number of upper dummy wafers 1b is 8 and the number of lower dummy wafers 1b is 12, b = 8 and c = 12 are set as working conditions. At this time, the number of dummy wafers is set to b + c = 5n. Similarly, the number of monitor wafers 1c is 5 (this number is arbitrarily set), the number of product wafers 1a between monitor wafers is 25 (25 wafers are stored in the cassette 7, so 25 However, if it is a multiple of 5, it can be any number.) And so on, d = 5, ..., f =
Enter 25 etc. in sequence.

When the above working conditions are input and set and started, the main control unit 71 issues an operation command to each control unit according to a sequence program.

First, the traverse motor control unit 72 and the elevating motor control unit 73 drive the traverse motor 25 and the elevating motor 23 so that the position of the handling unit 22 faces the A1 position of the storage rack 24. Moving the handling unit 22, storage rack
Completion of the movement of 24 is confirmed by a feedback signal from the encoder 65 and the position sensor 64, and the completion signal is input from the traverse motor control unit 72 and the traverse motor control unit 73 to the main control unit 71. The main control unit 71 waits for the input of this completion signal, issues a wafer transfer command to the lifting motor control unit 73, the rotation motor control unit 74, the slide motor control unit 75, and the solenoid valve control unit 76, and these control units 73, 74,75,76 are lift motor 23, rotary motor 30, slide motor 44, solenoid valve 59,60,61,62,63
Are driven appropriately. The encoders 65, 66 and 67 monitor the movements of the motors 23, 30, and 44, and when the operation is completed, the completion signal is input to the main control unit 71 in the same manner as described above.
Since the wafer transfer operation itself has been described above, it is omitted here. Furthermore, a handling unit for storing the monitor cassette 7c and the product cassette 7a.
Since the movement of 22 is also a repetition of the above-mentioned operation, it is omitted, and the following mainly describes the procedure for transferring the wafer 1 from the cassette 7 to the boat 2.

When inserting eight dummy wafers 1b on the upper side, as shown in FIG. 5, five dummy wafers 1b loaded in the cassette 7b are chucked from the lower side to the top of the wafer array of the boat 2. The wafer is transferred (movement locus), and further five chucks from the cassette 7b are chucked and inserted below the dummy wafer 1b inserted in the previous movement (movement locus). Next, the lower two of the dummy wafer 1b inserted in the boat 2
The two plates are chucked from the upper side by two chuck plates 53 and 54, and are moved to the lowermost position of the wafer array (operation locus). With respect to the transfer of the lower dummy wafer 1b, the transfer is stopped while the further five wafers have been transferred (operation track), and the upper five wafers are left untransferred.

Subsequent wafers are sequentially transferred from the upper side to the lower side of the boat 2 regardless of the type of wafer (operation locus- (10) in FIG. 6).

Regarding transfer of the monitor wafer 1c,
The lower monitor wafer 1c loaded in the monitor cassette 7c is sucked and chucked one by one from the lower monitor wafer 1c by the uppermost chuck plate 53 of the wafer chuck 29, and is inserted into the boat 2 from the upper side as shown in the operation trajectory of FIG. Go on.
Regarding the transfer of the product wafers 1a, five wafers 1a are chucked from the upper side of the product cassette 7a and transferred to the boat 2 from the upper side to the lower side (Fig. 8 operation locus ~). The wafer 1a loaded in the cassette 7a
Is 25 sheets, the transfer operation is completed in 5 times, and it is not necessary to perform the fraction processing.

Next, the number of upper dummy wafers 1b is 12
The transfer procedure when the number of the lower dummy wafers 1b is 3 and the total number of the lower dummy wafers 1b is 15 and the total number is 15> will be described with reference to FIG.

Regarding the transfer of the upper dummy wafer, transfer is performed twice for each five wafers, and then, only two wafers are transferred by chucking (operation locus-). Thus, the transfer of the three lower dummy wafers is performed last after the transfer of the product wafer and the monitor wafer is completed. In this case, since the boat 2 has a sufficient empty space below the wafer arrangement, the wafer chuck 29 and the boat 2 do not interfere with each other when the lower dummy wafer is transferred.

When the number of upper dummy wafers is 5>, the operation locus may be omitted in the transfer procedure described with reference to FIG. Further, the operation locus in FIG. 5 may be added at the end of the operation of transferring the product wafer and the dummy wafer instead of first.

Needless to say, the transfer of the boat 2 to the cassettes 7a, 7b, 7c may be carried out by reversing the above-mentioned procedure.

As is clear from the above description of the operation, the method of chucking and transferring 5 wafers at a time is adopted, paying attention to the fact that the number of wafers loaded in the cassette is 25. And, the number of dummy wafers is 5 x
Since there are n wafers, transfer of 5 or less dummy wafers (fractional processing) is completed in principle in a single operation, which is efficient, and transfer of monitor wafers is a concept of single wafer processing method. Since it can be used in any arrangement, since the transfer of the product wafers is performed every five wafers, it can be performed quickly without the need for fractional processing.

Next, the wafer cassette is 3 "for 6" wafers.
The storage pitch is different from 1/4 inch for 16 inch and 8 "wafers. Therefore, the pitch varying mechanism shown in FIG.

The slide substrates 81, 82, 84, 85 are slidably fitted to the guide shaft 80, and the supporting substrate 83 is fixed to the guide shaft 80. The chuck plates 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 described above are attached to the slide substrates 81, 82, the support substrate 83, and the slide substrates 84, 85.

The screw shaft 86 is attached to the slide substrate.
81, 82, 84, 85 are rotatably provided so that the screw shaft 86 is rotated by a pitch adjusting motor 87, and the rotation amount of the motor 87 is detected by an encoder 88.

The screw shaft 86 and the supporting substrate 83
Is rotatably fitted, the slide base plate 82 and the screw shaft 86 are screwed together at the first screw portion 89a, the slide base plate 81 and the screw shaft 86 are screwed together at the second screw portion 90a, and the screw The shaft 86 and the slide base plate 84 are screwed together by the third screw portion 89b, and the screw shaft 86 and the slide base plate 85 are screwed together by the fourth screw portion 90b. Therefore,
The 1st screw part 89a and the 3rd screw part 89b are a right and left reverse screw with the same pitch, and the 2nd screw part 90a and the 4th screw part 90b are a left and right reverse screw, and it is 2 with respect to the 1st, 3rd screw parts 89a, 89b. It has a double pitch, and by rotating the pitch adjusting motor 89, the chuck plates 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 are moved toward and away from each other while maintaining the same interval relationship.

A pitch adjusting motor control unit (not shown) for driving and controlling the pitch adjusting motor 89 is operated by an operation command from the main control unit 71, and the input unit 70 is operated.
If a pitch change is added to one of the working conditions set and input to, it is possible to cope with a difference in wafer storage pitch between the cassette and the boat.

It is needless to say that the control device and the control operation described above can be applied to a diffusion device having a cassette arranged in a plane as shown in FIG.

[0063]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects are exhibited.

(I) The transfer efficiency is good because the transfer is performed every 5 sheets.

(Ii) The number of wafers stored in the cassette is 25
Therefore, it is not necessary to carry out a fractional process for the transfer of the product wafer, and the transfer of the dummy wafer can be processed with the minimum movement.

(Iii) Since the sequence program can be processed with the minimum number of movements, the sequence program can be simplified, the capacity of the electronic parts such as the memory to be used can be small, and the cost can be reduced.

(Iv) Since the fractional processing can be performed and the wafers at the time of transfer can be arranged in a desired arrangement, it is not necessary to arrange the wafers in a predetermined arrangement in advance in the cassette, and the operator's burden can be reduced and erroneous operation can be performed. The loss can be reduced and the yield can be improved.

(V) Since the wafer arrangement can be easily changed by changing the working conditions from the input section, it is possible to sufficiently meet the diversified requirements of the customer and improve the product value.

(Vi) Since the chuck plate pitch is variable, wafers can be transferred smoothly even if there is a difference in wafer storage pitch between the cassette and the boat.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a vertical CVD diffusion device equipped with a transfer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the same.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a handling unit.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a transfer operation.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a transfer operation.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a transfer operation.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a transfer operation.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a transfer operation.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the wafer chuck.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a wafer array for a boat.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example of a wafer transfer device.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,1a, 1b, 1c wafer Two boats 7,7a, 7b, 7c cassette 12 Diffusion furnace 17 Road / unload elevator 18 Transfer elevator 23 Lifting motor 25 traverse motor 28 Slide mechanism 29 Wafer chuck 30 rotation motor 53,54,55,56,57 Chuck plate 59,60,61,62,63 Solenoid valve 70 Input section 71 Main control unit 73 Lifting motor controller 74 Rotary motor controller 75 Slide motor controller 76 Solenoid valve controller

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Riichi Kano 3-14-20 Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. No. 20 Within Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-2-297925 (JP, A) JP-A 63-24615 (JP, A) JP-A 49-69073 (JP, A) JP-A 63-155632 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/68 B65G 49/07 C23C 16/44 H01L 21/205 H01L 21/22 511

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A single transfer for transferring wafers between a boat that stores horizontally oriented wafers in multiple stages in the vertical direction and a cassette that stores X (where 1 <Y <X) wafers. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a Y-plate for holding wafers and capable of simultaneously transferring the wafers on the Y-plates. For product wafers and dummy wafers, when transferring Z (1 <Z <Y) wafers at a time, use Z of the Y plates , and monitor wafers as described above. Of Y plates
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a control unit that transfers one by one using one of the plates . 2. One transfer for transferring wafers between a boat that stores wafers in a horizontal posture in multiple stages in the vertical direction and a cassette that stores X (1 <Y <X) wafers. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a Y-plate for holding wafers and capable of simultaneously transferring the wafers on the Y-plates. For product wafers and dummy wafers, when transferring Z (1 <Z <Y) wafers at a time, use Z of the Y plates , and monitor wafers as described above. Of Y plates
A wafer transfer method in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that one of the plates is used to transfer one by one . 3. A single transfer for transferring wafers between a boat for accommodating horizontally oriented wafers in multiple stages in the vertical direction and a cassette for accommodating X (1 <Y <X) wafers. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a Y-plate for holding wafers and capable of simultaneously transferring the wafers on the Y-plates. For product wafers and dummy wafers, when transferring Z (1 <Z <Y) wafers at a time, use Z of the Y plates , and monitor wafers as described above. Of Y plates
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor element, characterized in that one of the plates is used to transfer each one .