JP3482330B2 - Processing unit construct - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus assembly in which processing units for performing a series of processing on a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate or the like are assembled. 2. Description of the Related Art Many steps are required to form an integrated circuit on a semiconductor wafer or to form an element such as a TFT on a glass substrate. For example, examples of steps for forming an excimer resist film on a substrate surface include dehydration bake, BARC (bottom anti-reflection coating) application, bake, resist pretreatment, resist application, pre-bake, exposure, and post-exposure bake. (PE
B), development and post-baking steps. In order to continuously perform the above-described steps, conventionally, apparatuses for performing the respective steps are horizontally separated from each other and are arranged in a line shape in the order of the steps. The shape of the line is not limited to a straight line, but may be L-shaped or rectangular according to the shape of the factory. [0004] As described above, conventional processing apparatuses for semiconductor wafers, glass substrates, and the like have a large number of occupied areas because the equipment is continuous in the lateral direction. Further, in the case of a conventional processing apparatus, when a process is omitted or a new process is added, it is difficult to remove a part of the processing device or to connect another device to an existing device. . [0005] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a processing apparatus construct according to the present invention is provided with a series of processing units, and the processing units comprise a pair of processing blocks,
A transfer robot disposed between the pair of processing blocks, wherein the processing block is formed by stacking a plurality of processing apparatuses in a vertical direction, and the transfer robot is configured to position the processing apparatus in each of the stages. An elevating body that can be stopped at, an arm provided on the elevating body for taking in and out a plate-like workpiece to and from the processing apparatus at each stage, and a turning mechanism for turning the arm in a horizontal plane, In the middle part of each of the processing blocks, a transport unit for transferring a plate-like workpiece to and from an adjacent processing unit is incorporated. In the present invention, as described above, one robot is provided for each processing unit. As described above, since one robot is provided for each processing unit, even if a large number of processing units (stations) are adjacent to each other, the load on the robot is not affected and the throughput is not reduced. Further, since the robot does not move between the processing units, but only moves up and down and expands and contracts the arm,
The mechanism is simplified. Even if the robot does not move between the processing units, a transfer device such as a shuttle conveyor for transferring the plate-like workpiece is provided in a part of the processing block. Therefore, the transfer device has a buffer mechanism. Thus, only the processing in the processing unit is limited, and there is no restriction on the throughput between the adjacent processing units. That is, it is not affected by the adjacent processing unit. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an example of a processing apparatus construct according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the processing apparatus construct, and FIG. 3 is a processing unit constituting a part of the processing apparatus construct. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the lower part of the transfer robot. The processing apparatus construct 1 includes a plurality of processing units 2
Are connected in the horizontal direction, and the processing units 2 are independent of each other so that the processing units 2 can be increased or decreased. A transfer section 3 is provided at the middle stage of each processing unit 2 so that a plate-like workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate can be transferred between adjacent processing units 2. A transfer device such as a shuttle conveyor (SH) provided in the section 3 enables a plate-like workpiece to be transferred between adjacent processing units. Note that a mechanism for aligning the plate-like workpiece is provided in the transport unit 3. The processing unit 2 includes processing blocks 4 and 4
And a transfer robot (R) disposed between the processing blocks 4 and 4. The processing block includes, for example, a rotary cup type coating device (RC), an open cup type coating device (SC), and a reduced pressure dryer. (VD), cool plate (CP), hot plate (HP), back surface cleaning device (BR), adhesion device (AD), ultraviolet irradiation device (UV), air processor (AP), developing device (D
EV) and a processing device such as a post-exposure bake device (PB). In the case of the present embodiment, the transport unit 3 is disposed in the middle part of each device as described above. Each of the above-mentioned processing units has the same vertical dimension and horizontal dimension, and forms one rectangular parallelepiped when stacked in stages. still,
The thickness (vertical dimension) of the processing device differs for each processing device. In addition, an interface unit 5 and an exposure device 6 into which an object to be processed is sent via the interface unit 5 are arranged on one side of the processing apparatus construct 1. Further, the transfer robot (R) includes an elevating body 10 that can be stopped at the position of the processing device of each processing block, and the elevating body 10 for moving a plate-like workpiece into and out of the processing device of each stage. And arms 11 and 11 provided in the arm. The arms 11, 11 are cylinder units 1
2 and 12 extend and contract in opposite directions, and the end thereof is provided with a hand 13 for holding the periphery of the plate-like workpiece. The elevating body 10 is engaged with guide rods 16, 16 provided between the top plate 14 and the bottom plate 15, and can be moved up and down by a chain 18 driven by a motor 17 provided on the bottom plate 15. Have been. The bottom plate 15 is rotatable by 180 ° in a horizontal plane by another motor 19, and the positions of the arms 11, 11 are switched by this rotation. The lower structure of the transfer robot (R) is housed in a box 20, as shown in FIG.
2, divided into an intermediate space 23 and a lower space 24, air is introduced from the intermediate space 23, fine dust attached to the chain 18 is collected from the upper space 22 or the lower space 24, and a plurality of processing devices are stacked. Do not take garbage into places where they are located. Next, a specific example of the configuration of the processing apparatus construct will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG.
FIG. 6 is a front view of the processing unit viewed from the aa direction in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a front view of the processing unit viewed from the bb direction in FIG. FIG. The SOG coating apparatus construction includes an index processing unit 2A and an SOG coating unit 2B. The processing unit 2A for indexing is provided with cassette tables 30... As a substitute for processing blocks on both sides of the transfer robot (R1) so as to be able to move up and down. These cassette tables 30 can be moved up and down independently of the other cassette tables, and the direction of each cassette 31 can be changed by 90 °. The processing unit 2A for the index
First, the cassette table 30 is adjusted to the transfer level of the automatic transfer device in the factory, the cassette 31 is received from the automatic transfer device into the cassette table 30, and the cassette 31 is turned in a direction that the robot (R1) can take out. Then, a plate-like workpiece such as a wafer is taken out of the cassette 31 by the robot (R1). Thereafter, the plate-like workpiece is transferred from the robot (R1) to the transport unit 3, and is sent to the transport unit of the adjacent processing unit 2B by a transport device such as a shuttle (SH) provided in the transport unit 3. The object to be processed, which has been sent to the transport section of the processing unit 2B for applying SOG, is transferred to an ultraviolet irradiation device (UV) by the transfer robot (R2) of the processing unit 2B.
1) and are sequentially sent to the cool plate (CP) to perform pretreatment. Next, the pretreated object is coated with an SOG coating liquid by a rotary coating device (RC1), dried to some extent by a rotary drying device (SD), and backed by an open cup type cleaning device (SC1). Side rinse is performed, and then hot plates (HP1), (HP2),
(HP3) and baked in a cool plate (C
The temperature is adjusted in P). At this time, cool plate (C
The part P) may be replaced with a cooling area (CA). The cooling area (CA) is a place where the temperature is adjusted while the object to be processed is left naturally. The hot plates (HP4), (HP5) and (HP6) have the same function as the hot plates (HP1), (HP2) and (HP3). Thereafter, the transfer robot (R2) and the shuttle (SH1) send the baking furnace to the interface of the baking furnace, and send the baking furnace to the baking furnace via this interface for baking. One baking furnace may be provided for the interface, but two baking furnaces may be provided. After the baking is completed, the object to be processed is returned to the indexing processing unit 2A by the shuttle (SH2) on one side of each of the processing units 2A to 2B, and further stored in a predetermined cassette 31 in the processing unit 2A. Is stored. As described above, according to the present invention,
As a processing unit for performing a series of processes on a plate-like workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate, and a processing apparatus configured by connecting the processing units in series, basically, a single process is performed in a vertical direction. Since the processing blocks are overlapped, the space can be effectively used. Further, by setting the overall shape of a processing unit formed by stacking a plurality of processing blocks to a predetermined size, the number of processing units can be increased or decreased, and a processing apparatus for performing a series of processing can be easily constructed. . Further, according to the present invention, since one robot is provided for each processing unit, even if a large number of processing units are adjacent to each other, the load on the robot is not affected and the throughput is not reduced. Further, since the robot does not move between the processing units, but only moves up and down and expands and contracts the arm,
Since the mechanism is simplified, and even if the robot does not move between the processing units, a transfer device such as a shuttle conveyor for transferring a plate-like workpiece is provided in a part of the processing block. By providing the device with a buffer mechanism, only the processing in the processing unit is limited, and there is no restriction on the throughput between adjacent processing units.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an example of a processing apparatus construct according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the processing apparatus construct. FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a transfer robot of a processing unit to be configured. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a lower portion of the transfer robot. FIG. 5 is an exploded plan view of a processing apparatus assembly for applying SOG. FIG. FIG. 7 is a front view of the processing unit viewed from the bb direction in FIG. 5 [Description of reference numerals] 1. Processing apparatus construct, 2, 2A, 2B processing unit ,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Convey part, 4 ... Process block, 5 ... Interface unit, 6 ... Exposure apparatus, 10 ... Elevating body, 11 ... Arm, 18 ... Chain, R, R1, R2 ... Transfer robot, RC ... Rotating cup type coating device , SC: open cup type coating device, VD: reduced pressure dryer, CP: cool plate, HP: hot plate, UV: ultraviolet irradiation device, S
H ... Shuttle.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Sato 6186 Kinokocho, Ihara-shi, Okayama Prefecture, inside Tatsumo Corporation (72) Inventor Yasuyuki Sato 6186 Kinokocho, Ihara-shi, Okayama Prefecture, inside Tatsumo Corporation (56) References JP-A-10-284568 (JP, A) JP-A-8-46010 (JP, A) JP-A-8-162514 (JP, A) JP-A-10-12693 (JP, A) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/68 B65G 49/07 H01L 21/027

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] A processing apparatus structure for performing a series of processing on a plate-like workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate, wherein the processing apparatus structure includes a processing unit. The processing unit includes a pair of processing blocks and a transfer robot disposed between the pair of processing blocks. The processing block includes a plurality of processing devices stacked vertically. The transfer robot further comprises an elevating body that can be stopped at the position of the processing device at each stage,
Wherein comprising an arm provided on said elevating body so as to out the plate-like object to be processed to the processing unit of each stage, and a turning mechanism which allowed to pivot the arm in a horizontal plane, also the middle portions of the respective processing blocks A processing apparatus construct, wherein a transport unit for transferring a plate-like workpiece to and from an adjacent processing unit is incorporated.