JP3462405B2 - Processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for taking out a substrate, for example, a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display from a substrate cassette and performing a resist coating and developing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a photolithography technique in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a resist is applied to the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer), and the applied resist is exposed to a predetermined pattern and further developed to form a predetermined pattern. A resist film is formed. Such a series of processing is performed by an apparatus in which the exposure unit is connected to the coating / developing unit.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a conventional example of such an apparatus. A cassette C containing 25 substrates, for example, semiconductor wafers is placed on a cassette stage 1 which is a loading / unloading port by an automatic transfer robot 10. Next, the wafer is taken out from the cassette C by a transfer arm which is not visible in the figure, transferred to the main transfer arm of the coating / developing processing unit 11, and the resist is coated on the wafer. After that, the wafer is exposed to the exposure unit 13 via the interface unit 12.
After being conveyed to the substrate and exposed there, it is returned to the coating / development processing section 11 and developed. The wafer that has undergone a series of processing is returned to the original cassette C by a route opposite to that at the time of loading, and the cassette C after all the wafers have been processed is returned.
It is carried to the next system or cassette stocker by the automatic carrying robot 10.

[0004]

The semiconductor device manufacturing process is carried out in a clean room in order to avoid particles from adhering, but since the clean room is expensive, it is necessary to efficiently lay out the processing equipment. come. However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, the movement space of the automatic transfer robot that transfers the substrates between the devices must be provided in the clean room, and recently, the wafer and the glass substrate for liquid crystal display (LCD) have a large size. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to realize an efficient layout because the moving space becomes wider.

The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a device which occupies a small space in the entire system including a cassette transfer mechanism corresponding to the automatic transfer robot. To effectively utilize the space in the clean room. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus in which transfer control of a substrate cassette between a cassette carrying mechanism and a cassette loading / unloading section is easy.

[0006]

A processing apparatus of the present invention includes a processing unit for processing a substrate and a plurality of substrates.
A substrate transfer mechanism that takes out the unprocessed substrate from the stored substrate cassette and transfers it to the processing unit, and also receives the processed substrate from the processing unit and transfers it to the original substrate cassette, and a plurality of substrates are stored. Board cassettes
A large number of placing parts to be placed and a cassette transport mechanism outside the device
The first position where the substrate cassette is loaded and unloaded with respect to
A number of mounting parts are arranged along the moving direction of the mounting parts.
Together with the substrate cassette mounted on the plurality of mounting portions, respectively
In contrast, the substrate transfer mechanism allows the sequential transfer of substrates.
Orbiting a number of mounting parts between the second position to be performed and
The drive mechanism that moves along the board and the circulation of each substrate cassette
The position on the track and the processing status of the substrates in each substrate cassette
The memory to be written and what is written to this memory
Based on the data, pair the substrate cassette in the second position.
Control the substrate transfer mechanism to transfer the substrate.
And the mounting part in the orbit in the second position.
The substrate cassette on the mounting part located on the most downstream side in the moving direction of the
Substrate in the first position after all the substrates in the package have been processed
The cassette contains the unprocessed substrate
Is confirmed by the data in the memory,
The drive mechanism is controlled so that the positions of the parts are shifted one by one.
And a control unit that operates .

The cassette loading / unloading section has a mounting section for mounting a plurality of substrate cassettes so that the substrates are in a substantially horizontal posture.
And a drive mechanism for moving the mounting portion in a circular manner while the substrate is in a substantially horizontal posture.

According to this invention, the substrate cassette moves along the circular orbit, and the cassette transfer mechanism transfers the cassette at the first position on the orbit, so that the cassette transfer control is easy. Is.

In this case, the first position is a position where the substrate cassette is loaded and unloaded with respect to the cassette transport mechanism which moves while being guided by the guide member, and it is desirable that it is higher than the second position. The mechanism may move in a position above or above the space in which the device is placed. If the cassette transfer mechanism is moved at a high position, for example, near the ceiling, instead of the automatic transfer robot that travels on the floor, the area occupied by the system in the clean room can be small .

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a coating / developing apparatus for coating a resist as a substrate and developing a resist after exposure will be described below. 1 is a schematic view showing a state in which an exposure apparatus 200 is connected to a coating / developing apparatus 100, and FIG. 2 is a coating / developing apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the developing device 100.

The coating / developing apparatus 100 has a plurality of sheets, for example, 25 sheets.
A cassette loading / unloading section 2 into / from which a wafer cassette (hereinafter simply referred to as a cassette) C, which is a substrate cassette in which a plurality of wafers W are held in a shelf shape, and a processing section 3 for performing coating / developing processing on wafers And a wafer transfer mechanism 4 serving as a substrate transfer mechanism for transferring the wafer W between the processing section 3 and the cassette C placed in the cassette loading / unloading section 2. However, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the cassette loading / unloading section 2 does not show the mechanical portion, and the position of the mechanical portion is indicated by reference numeral “2”.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cassette loading / unloading section 2 is provided with a drive mechanism 20 for moving a plurality of, but not limited to, six cassettes C in the vertical and horizontal directions. In this coating / developing apparatus 100, the cassette loading / unloading section 2 is the front side, and the cassette loading / unloading section 2 to the processing section 3 are arranged.
The direction when looking at is treated as left and right (sideways) and front and back. In addition, the cassette loading / unloading section 2 is provided with a pickup fixing cassette S that accommodates dummy wafers and the like.

The drive mechanism 20 is, for example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a gear 22 rotated by a motor 21, and a timing belt wound between the gear 22 and another gear (not shown). 23 (including a chain), a cassette mounting table 24 that is rotatably fixed to the timing belt 23 at predetermined intervals, for example, 6 mounting sections, and a guide member that guides the circular movement of the cassette mounting table 24. 25 is provided. The drive of the motor 21 is controlled by the control unit 40. The drive mechanism 20 is not limited to this configuration.

Although not particularly limited, the timing belt 23 is wound so as to have a size such that, for example, three cassette mounting tables 24 are arranged in upper and lower two stages. The cassette mounting table 24 is attached to the tip of a support shaft 26 fixed to the timing belt 23 so as to move integrally with the timing belt 23.
7 is rotatably attached, and a plate 29 serving as a mounting table is provided to the lower ends of a pair of suspending members 28 suspended from the rotating portion 27. Therefore, the cassette mounting table 24 is moved circularly while maintaining a substantially horizontal posture like a ferris wheel. Further, the cassette mounting table 24 includes, for example, a guide member (not shown) for positioning the bottom portion of the cassette C.

The guide member 25 is composed of, for example, a pair of rails sandwiching a support shaft 26 of the cassette mounting table 24,
The load of the cassette mounting table 24 and the cassette C is supported so that the cassette mounting table 24 can move smoothly. The guide member 25 is not always necessary if the cassette mounting table 24 can be moved smoothly.

A cassette carrying mechanism 5 is provided above the coating / developing apparatus 100, for example, near the ceiling of a clean room. The cassette carrying mechanism 5 is configured to be movable while being guided by a guide member 51 that extends laterally, for example, substantially horizontally. Before describing the cassette carrying mechanism 5, the structure of the cassette C will be described with reference to FIG. 5. In this example, the cassette C has a front surface that is open and a case C1 having a slot for holding the peripheral edge of the wafer W. A handle C2 having a U-shaped front shape is provided on the top. The cassette transport mechanism 5 includes a suspending member 52 that is inserted into the handle C2 of the cassette C and engages with the handle C2. The suspension member 52 is configured to be movable back and forth and up and down, and the cassette C with respect to the cassette mounting table 24 in the first position.
To deliver. In this example, the first position is the position of the upper one of the two upper and lower stages. The carrier transport mechanism 5 is not limited to the configuration in which the cassette C is suspended, but may be configured to hold the side surface of the cassette C by a pair of open / close arms, for example.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, the wafer transfer mechanism 4 will be described. The wafer transfer mechanism 4 is vertically and horizontally movable and is rotatable about a vertical axis.
1 is provided with a forward / backward transfer arm 42,
The transfer arm 42 transfers the wafer W to and from the cassette C on the cassette mounting table 24 at the second position where the transfer of the wafer W is possible.
The wafer W is delivered to the delivery unit described later. Here, the second position means the cassette mounting table 24.
Is the lower position of the upper and lower two rows. The delivery arm 42 is drive-controlled by the control unit 40.

The control section 40 will be described. The control section 40 includes the position of the suspending member 52 of the cassette transfer mechanism 5, the lot of wafers in each cassette C on the cassette loading / unloading section 2, and the position of each cassette C. The processing status of the wafer W in each cassette C (information such as which stage of the wafer W has been processed and which stage of the wafer W has not been processed), the position of the wafer transfer mechanism 4, and the transfer operation. Whether or not the wafer W in one cassette C has been processed, the cassette C in the first position of the cassette loading / unloading unit 2 is processed before the processing. It is determined whether a wafer is stored or a processed wafer is stored and is waiting to be unloaded, and the wafer transfer mechanism 4 operates to wait for the cassette C. Confirm that the transfer of wafer W is not performed, and outputs a control signal to the motor 21 to rotate the timing belt 23 is shifted one by one the position of each table 24. Although the drawing does not show the mounting interval of the mounting table 24 on the timing belt 23 due to the restriction of the area of the drawing, etc., in actuality, the mounting when moving from the lower stage (upper stage) to the upper stage (lower stage) is performed. The moving distance of the table 24 and the moving distance of the table 24 at each stage are designed to be the same.

The processing section 3 is provided with two main transfer arms 31 and 32 in the center thereof.
The shelves 6A, 6B, and 6C are provided on the front and rear sides and on the left side of 1, 32, respectively. Each of the shelves 6A to 6C is configured by stacking a plurality of units. As shown in FIG. 6, a heating unit that heats the wafer, a cooling unit that cools the wafer, and a wafer surface are made hydrophobic as shown in FIG. A hydrophobic unit for aligning the wafer, an alignment unit for aligning the wafer, and the like are assigned.
Further, in the shelves 6A and 6C, one of the unit groups is assigned as a wafer transfer unit. Figure 6
Reference numerals 61 and 62 denote delivery units. It should be noted that the unit allocation shown in FIG. 6 is for convenience of illustration and is not restricted to this arrangement.

On the right side of the main transfer arms 31 and 32,
A developing unit 33 that forms two developing processing units is provided on the upper side, and a coating unit 34 that forms two coating processing units is provided on the lower side. Main transfer arm 31, 32
Is configured to be movable up and down, rotatable about a vertical axis, and movable back and forth, and has a role of transferring the wafer W between the units of the shelves 6A to 6C, the coating unit 34, and the developing unit 33. The main transfer arms 31, 3
Transfer of the wafer W between the two is performed via an intermediate stage 30 which can be raised and lowered.

The coating / developing apparatus 100 has an interface section 7, and the processing section 3 is connected to the exposure apparatus 200 (see FIG. 1) via the interface section 7. The interface unit 7 is a coating / developing device 10.
Wafer W based on the difference in processing speed between 0 and the exposure apparatus 200
The transfer arm 62 is provided to transfer the wafer W between the transfer unit 62, the input / output port of the exposure apparatus 200, and the buffer cassette 71.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Here, for example, six cassettes (for convenience of explanation, reference numerals “A” to “F” are attached) A to F
Are mounted on the six cassette mounting tables 24, and the cassette F is returned to the cassette F after all the wafers W have been processed.

The cassette F is moved by the drive mechanism 20 to the upper stage side, which is the first position of the cassette loading / unloading section 2, and stopped. The suspension member 52 of the cassette transport mechanism 5 (hereinafter referred to as “first
Suspension member 52A ") is moved without the cassette attached. At that time, after the empty first suspending member 52A, the suspending member 52 (“the second suspending member”) that holds a cassette (with a reference symbol “G”) G in which the unprocessed wafer W is stored. Member 52B ”) is carried (see FIG. 7A).

After suspending the processed cassette F (see FIG. 7 (b)), the first suspending member 52A is suspended by the second suspending member 52B at the position where the cassette F was. The cassette G is moved so that it is positioned (Fig. 7).
(See (b)). Then, the cassette G is placed on the cassette placing table 24 that is emptied by removing the cassette F (see FIG. 7C).

On the other hand, for example, the unprocessed wafer W is taken out by the wafer transfer mechanism 4 from the cassettes A to C which are stopped at the lower side which is the second position of the cassette loading / unloading section 2, and the processing section 3 is operated. Delivery unit 61 (see FIG. 6)
To be delivered to. The wafer W is transferred to the main transfer arm 31.
Are sequentially transported to the processing units of the shelves 6A or 6C and subjected to predetermined processing such as hydrophobization processing and cooling processing. Then, the resist is applied by the coating unit 34 and further heat-treated, and then the transfer unit. It is sent from 62 to the exposure apparatus 200 (see FIG. 1) through the interface section 7.

Wafer W exposed by exposure apparatus 200
Are returned to the processing section 3 by the reverse path, and the main transfer arm 3
2 is conveyed to the developing unit 33 and subjected to development processing. The wafer W is heated and cooled before the developing process. The developed wafer W is returned to the original cassettes A to C at the second position of the cassette loading / unloading section 2 by a route opposite to the above.

With respect to the cassettes A and B, the wafer W can be taken out from the state immediately before the state of FIG. 7A, that is, the state where the cassettes F, A and B are lined up from the left side in the lower stage. Done. Then, while the taken-out wafer W is processed, the positions of the cassettes A and B are shown in FIG.
Since it shifts to the left side as in (a), the controller 40 writes the processing state of each wafer W into the memory and the position of the cassette when the processed wafer is returned to the cassette. , The data in the memory is read and grasped, and the wafer transfer mechanism 4 is controlled so that the wafer can be delivered to the cassette.

Then, for example, when all the wafers W in the cassette A have been processed and returned to the cassette A, the drive mechanism 20 is driven by the control signal from the control unit 40, and the cassette A is transferred into and out of the cassette. While being moved to the first position of No. 2, each of the other carriers B to E and G is also moved to the next position one by one (see FIG. 7D). While the cassettes A to C are being processed, the cassette F that has been removed first is transferred to the next processing station or stocker by the cassette transfer mechanism 5.

According to the above-described embodiment, since the cassette transfer mechanism 5 corresponding to the conventional automatic transfer robot is moved to a high place apart from the floor, the apparatus of the entire system including the cassette transfer mechanism 5 as well. Since the occupied space can be narrowed and the floor area which has been used as a traveling path of the automatic transfer robot can be utilized as, for example, the installation space of the apparatus, an efficient layout can be achieved in an expensive clean room. Further, in this case, if the cassette mounting tables 24 are set in a vertically aligned state so that the cassette transport mechanism 5 can access the cassette C on the upper stage side, the cassette transport mechanism 5 can be installed at a high place and at the time of access. There is an advantage that the stroke can be reduced.

Furthermore, since there is only one transfer position of the cassette with respect to the cassette transport mechanism 5 in the circular orbit of the cassette loading / unloading section 2, it is easy to control the transfer of the cassette. In the present embodiment, for example, two or more cassettes may be set as one set, and one set may be delivered at one position. For example, two cassettes may always be simultaneously delivered at the positions F and E in FIG. 7A.

Further, according to the above-mentioned embodiment, since the processing section 3 is provided with the two main transfer arms 31 and 32, the two main transfer arms 31 and 32 are parallel to each other to form two wafers W in parallel. In some cases, it is possible to transfer the data between the units, so that the throughput is improved.

In the above, the present invention, as the cassette carrying mechanism, is such that the cassette loading table 24 is orbitally moved in the horizontal plane in the cassette loading / unloading section 2, and is stopped so that it is lined up front and back instead of vertically. The cassette C or the wafer W may be accessed. An operator may carry the cassette C between the cassette carrying mechanism 5 and the cassette loading / unloading section 2. The substrate is not limited to a wafer and may be a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display.

[0033]

According to the present invention, the substrate cassette is provided with a circular track.
Move along the road and in the first position on the orbit, cassette
Since the cassette is delivered by the transport mechanism,
Easy delivery control of cassettes. Also the substrate is processed
Position of the cassette shifts in the second position while
However, based on the data in the memory,
The substrate can be delivered and received.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a state in which an exposure device is connected to a coating / developing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a coating / developing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a cassette loading / unloading unit that is a main part of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a drive mechanism in a cassette loading / unloading section.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a cassette carrying mechanism and a cassette.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the inside of the coating / developing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the coating / developing device and the cassette carrying mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a conventional coating / developing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

C board cassette W semiconductor wafer (substrate) 100 coating / developing device 200 exposure equipment 2 cassette loading / unloading section 20 Drive mechanism 24 Cassette mounting table (mounting section) 3 processing units 33 Development unit 34 Coating unit 4 Wafer transfer mechanism (substrate transfer mechanism) 5 Cassette transport mechanism 51 Guide member

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Michiaki Matsushita 2655 Tsukyu, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture Tokyo Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd. Kumamoto Business Office (56) Reference JP-A-7-142308 (JP, A) Special Kaihei 6-286811 (JP, A) JP 6-255707 (JP, A) JP 10-107115 (JP, A) JP 10-12528 (JP, A) JP 2000-124301 (JP , A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/027 H01L 21/68

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A processing unit for processing a substrate , a substrate before processing is taken out from a substrate cassette in which a plurality of substrates are stored, and is delivered to the processing unit, and a processed substrate is processed from the processing unit. A substrate transfer mechanism that receives and transfers the originals to the original substrate cassette and a substrate cassette that stores a plurality of substrates are respectively placed.
The substrate cassette can be carried to a large number of mounting parts and the cassette transfer mechanism outside the device.
The first position to be put in and out and the plurality of mounting parts are
Arranged along the moving direction and on the plurality of mounting parts
The substrate transfer mechanism for each of the substrate cassettes to be placed.
And the second position where the substrate is sequentially transferred by
Drive machine that moves a large number of mounting parts along the orbit between
Structure, position of each substrate cassette on the orbit and each substrate cassette
A second memory based on the memory in which the processing status of the substrate inside is written and the data written in this memory.
The board is delivered to the board cassette at the position
The board transfer mechanism is controlled so that the second position
In the most downstream side of the moving direction of the mounting part in the orbit
All of the substrates in the substrate cassette on the placement section have been processed
Substrate in the first and first position is the unprocessed substrate
That the data in the memory is
When confirming by, shift the position of each placing part one by one.
And a control unit that controls the drive mechanism . 2. The cassette loading / unloading section mounts a substrate cassette on which the substrate is placed in a substantially horizontal posture, and a drive mechanism for moving the placing section around while the substrate is placed in a substantially horizontal posture. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The drive mechanism transfers a substrate in a substrate cassette to a first position for loading and unloading the plurality of mounting tables in a vertical plane and for loading and unloading a substrate cassette with the outside of the apparatus. claim 1 or, characterized in that to circular movement along a circulating track and a second position which is carried out
Or the processing device according to item 2 . 4. The processing device according to claim 1, wherein the first position is higher than the second position. 5. A cassette transfer mechanism, the processing device according to any one of claims 1 to, characterized in that moving at the top or upper position of the space apparatus is placed 4. 6. cassette transfer mechanism, the processing device according to any one of claims 1, characterized in that it is configured to move while being guided by the device outside of the guide member 5. 7. The drive mechanism includes a drive gear, a motor for rotating the drive gear, a driven gear, and a timing belt wound between the drive gear and the driven gear, wherein the plurality of mounting table attached via a suspension member suspending always horizontal posture mounting table in the timing belt, according to claim 2 or 3 wherein the control unit and controls the driving of the motor The processing device described .