JP4541931B2 - Semiconductor device manufacturing method and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to processing performed after a processed substrate is taken out from a processing chamber.

  Generally, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be classified into two types according to a processing chamber (chamber) arrangement. One is a cluster type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a plurality of chambers are arranged in a star shape around a transfer chamber. The other is an in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a chamber and a transfer chamber are arranged in a straight line. Unlike the cluster type in which each process chamber shares a common vacuum robot, the in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus occupies a vacuum robot. It is excellent in that there are no problems such as decline and failure of the operation schedule. Therefore, an in-line type, particularly a parallel in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus will be described here.

The parallel in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be divided into a vacuum side and an atmosphere side.
A substrate processing module constituting a plurality of lines is provided on the vacuum side. Each of the substrate processing modules is provided with a process chamber and a vacuum transfer chamber (vacuum lock chamber) that are connected in-line. Each vacuum lock chamber is provided with one vacuum robot, and the substrate (wafer) can be independently transferred between the process chamber and the vacuum lock chamber. In addition, each vacuum lock chamber is provided with a wafer holding unit including a buffer stage (load stage) for exchanging wafers between the vacuum lock chamber and the process chamber, and a cooling stage for cooling the wafer.
On the atmosphere side, an atmosphere loader commonly connected to a vacuum lock chamber constituting each substrate processing module and a plurality of load ports connected to the atmosphere loader are provided. The atmospheric loader is provided with one atmospheric robot, and can transfer a wafer between the vacuum lock chamber and the load port.

  In the inline type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, each substrate processing module is independently transferred. When a carrier (cassette) containing a plurality of unprocessed wafers is inserted into the load port, the unprocessed wafers are transferred one by one to the aligner unit in the atmospheric loader by the atmospheric robot, and alignment (wafer orientation alignment) is performed. I do. After that, the unprocessed wafer is transferred to the vacuum lock chamber, the load door provided between the vacuum lock chamber and the atmospheric load is closed, the vacuum lock chamber is evacuated, and the evacuation is completed. To the corresponding process chamber. A wafer carried into the process chamber is heated by a heating device based on a process recipe (a control sequence describing a process procedure), and a predetermined process is performed on the wafer.

  The vacuum robot receives the unprocessed wafer from the buffer stage of the wafer holding unit in the vacuum lock chamber, loads it into the process chamber, and processes the unprocessed wafer based on the process recipe. When the processing of the unprocessed wafer is completed, the processed wafer is received by the vacuum robot, held on the cooling stage of the wafer holding unit, and the processed wafer is cooled. The vacuum lock chamber is returned to atmospheric pressure, the cooled wafer is taken out from the vacuum lock chamber by the atmospheric robot, and is discharged to the load port carrier via the atmospheric loader. After unloading, the unprocessed wafer to be processed next is carried into the vacuum lock chamber by the atmospheric robot from the carrier of the load port, and the above-described processing is repeated.

  In such a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a conditioning process (pre-processing) is performed before the process processing is performed in the process chamber, that is, before the wafer processing is started from the apparatus idle state, in order to condition the process chamber. There is a need. In addition, after the last wafer processing process of the continuous wafer processing is completed, if the processing in the chamber is not performed for a while and then the process chamber is not ready to be used quickly, the apparatus operation rate is Therefore, post-processing for leaving the process chamber (processing for setting the idle state) needs to be performed.

  For example, if the process chamber is left without performing post-processing and not processing the wafer, the temperature of the process chamber rises. When a wafer is processed in the process chamber, a new wafer having a low temperature is introduced or a process gas having a low temperature is exhausted while being supplied to the process chamber. If the wafer is left unprocessed in the process chamber, such a cooling action is lost, and the temperature becomes higher than the processing temperature when the wafer is continuously processed. If the next wafer process is started while the temperature of the process chamber is high, the reproducibility of the wafer process cannot be achieved. For example, in the heat treatment, the impurity diffusion amount is not reproducible, and when the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is a film forming apparatus, for example, a thermal CVD apparatus or a plasma CVD apparatus, there is a problem that the film thickness is not reproducible.

  Thus, conventionally, pre-processing has been performed when a carrier is loaded onto a load port and a start instruction is received. This start instruction is issued from the overall control controller as the host computer, but the timing to issue is not determined. Further, the post-processing is performed after the processing of the last wafer of the lot is completed and the processed wafer returns to the carrier. Here, in the pretreatment, the processing chamber is pulled to a high vacuum or the set temperature of the heating device is changed. Further, in the post-processing, the substrate processing pressure is restored, but the set temperature of the heating device is kept as it is.

  However, in the conventional technique described above, in the process after the processed substrate is taken out of the processing chamber, the substrate to be processed next can be processed immediately after being placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber. Even if it is possible, if there is a start instruction, pretreatment such as changing the set temperature of the heating device is forcibly performed. Therefore, until the substrate temperature stabilizes, There was a problem that the processing could not be performed and the throughput was lowered. Further, in the process after the processed substrate is taken out from the processing chamber, if the substrate to be processed next is not placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber, the processing chamber is in a standby state. If post-processing such as maintaining the set temperature of the heating device as it is, the temperature in the processing chamber will rise excessively during that time, and the substrate to be processed next will be placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber and immediately However, even when substrate processing can be performed, the substrate to be processed next cannot be processed until the temperature in the processing chamber is lowered and stabilized, resulting in a problem that throughput decreases.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device capable of solving the above-described problems of the prior art and improving the throughput.

  1st invention is a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device including the process of processing a substrate carried in in a processing chamber, heating it with a heating device, and taking out a processed substrate from the processing chamber. After the substrate is taken out from the processing chamber, if the substrate to be processed next is placed in a predetermined location other than the processing chamber in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the set temperature of the heating device is set. If the substrate to be processed next without being changed is a place in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and not placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber, the set temperature of the heating apparatus is lowered. This is a feature of a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device.

When the substrate to be processed next is in the processing chamber, the processing conditions in the processing chamber cannot be changed, but if the processed substrate is taken out from the processing chamber, the processing conditions in the processing chamber can be changed to change the throughput. It can contribute to improvement. Even if the substrate to be processed next is placed at a predetermined location other than the processing chamber, if the location is not a location in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, it does not contribute to an improvement in throughput.
According to the present invention, when the substrate to be processed next is placed at a predetermined place other than the processing chamber, the set temperature of the heating device is not changed, so that the substrate to be processed next is stored in the processing chamber. Processing can be performed quickly, and throughput can be improved. Further, when the substrate to be processed next is not placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber, the set temperature of the heating device is lowered so that the temperature in the processing chamber does not rise too much, so that the substrate to be processed next Can be processed in the processing chamber without delay, and throughput can be improved.

According to a second invention, in the first invention, when the substrate to be processed next is in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and is placed at a predetermined place other than the processing chamber, the processing chamber is evacuated. When the substrate is placed in a vacuum preparatory chamber (load lock chamber) for loading and unloading the substrate while keeping the substrate, or the substrate is stored in a load port for carrying the substrate in and out of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein a carrier is placed.
When changing the set temperature of the heating device for heating the substrate, the throughput and the reproducibility of the substrate processing are likely to be greatly affected by a predetermined location other than the processing chamber for determining the presence or absence of the substrate. According to this, since the predetermined place other than the processing chamber is a load lock chamber adjacent to the processing chamber or a carrier on a load port that is a carrier insertion port of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, such a problem can be solved.

According to a third invention, in the first invention, after the set temperature of the heating apparatus is lowered, a substrate to be processed again is a place in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus base and a predetermined place other than the processing chamber. In the semiconductor device manufacturing method, the substrate to be processed next is processed in the processing chamber after the set temperature of the heating device is returned to the original temperature.
Since the temperature set in the heating device is lowered so that the temperature in the processing chamber does not rise too much, the substrate to be processed next can be quickly heated to a predetermined temperature even if the temperature set in the heating device is restored. it can. Therefore, the substrate to be processed next can be processed quickly, and the throughput can be improved.

4th invention is a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus provided with the process chamber which processes a board | substrate, the heating apparatus which heats the board | substrate carried in into the process chamber, and the control apparatus which controls the said heating apparatus, Comprising: The said control apparatus In the case where the substrate to be processed next is placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus after the processed substrate is taken out from the processing chamber In the case where the set temperature of the heating device is not changed and the substrate to be processed next is a place in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and is not placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber, A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus characterized by controlling to lower a set temperature of the heating device.
When the substrate is transferred to the processing chamber, the substrate is processed while being heated by the heating device. When the processed substrate is taken out from the processing chamber, the control unit determines whether or not the substrate to be processed next is placed at a predetermined location other than the processing chamber, and the substrate to be processed next is the processing chamber. When it is placed in a predetermined place other than the above, the heating device is controlled so as not to change the set temperature. When the substrate to be processed next is not placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber, the heating device is controlled to lower the set temperature.
As described above, since the control device is used to determine whether the set temperature of the heating device can be changed, the first invention can be easily implemented.

  According to the present invention, after the processed substrate is taken out of the processing chamber, the set temperature of the heating device is changed based on the presence / absence of the substrate to be processed next, so that the throughput can be improved.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment is an in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which two substrate processing modules each including a process chamber as a processing chamber and a vacuum lock chamber as a vacuum preparatory chamber (load lock chamber) are arranged in parallel. Connected to the atmospheric transfer chamber. A pre-process for adjusting the chamber condition is performed immediately before the chamber is operated, and after the chamber is operated, a post-process for setting the apparatus in an idle state is performed. Before explaining this in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a process chamber constituting a part of the substrate processing module will be explained in advance.

  The process chamber is composed of, for example, a plasma processing furnace. This plasma processing furnace is a substrate processing furnace (hereinafter referred to as an MMT apparatus) that performs plasma processing on a substrate such as a wafer using a modified magnetron type plasma source that can generate high-density plasma by an electric field and a magnetic field. It is. In this MMT apparatus, a substrate is installed in a processing chamber that ensures vacuum tightness, a reaction gas is introduced into the processing chamber via a shower plate, the processing chamber is maintained at a certain pressure, and high-frequency power is applied to the discharge electrode. A magnetic field is applied and a magnetron discharge is generated by applying a magnetic field. Since the electrons emitted from the discharge electrode continue to circulate while continuing the cycloid motion while drifting, the lifetime becomes longer and the ionization generation rate is increased, so that high-density plasma can be generated. In this way, the substrate can be subjected to various plasma treatments such as diffusion treatment such as oxidation or nitridation by exciting and decomposing the reaction gas, or forming a thin film on the substrate surface, or etching the substrate surface.

  FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration diagram of such an MMT apparatus. In the MMT apparatus, a processing chamber 201 is formed from a lower container 211 that is a second container and an upper container 210 that is a first container placed on the lower container 211. The upper container 210 is made of dome-shaped aluminum oxide or quartz, and the lower container 211 is made of aluminum. Further, by forming a susceptor 217 as a heater-integrated substrate holding unit, which will be described later, from aluminum nitride, ceramics, or quartz, metal contamination taken into the film during processing is reduced.

  A shower head 236 that forms a buffer chamber 237 that is a gas dispersion space is provided on the upper portion of the upper container 210, a gas introduction port 234 that is an introduction port for gas introduction is provided on the upper wall of the shower head, and the lower wall is The shower plate 240 has a gas ejection hole 234a which is an ejection hole for ejecting gas. The gas introduction port 234 is connected to a gas supply pipe 232 which is a supply pipe for supplying gas, a valve 243a which is an on-off valve, and a flow rate. It is connected to a gas cylinder of a reaction gas 230 not shown in the figure via a mass flow controller 241 that is a control means. The reaction gas 230 is supplied from the shower head 236 to the processing chamber 201, and the exhaust for exhausting the gas to the side wall of the lower container 211 so that the gas after substrate processing flows from the periphery of the susceptor 217 toward the bottom of the processing chamber 201. A gas exhaust port 235 which is a port is provided. The gas exhaust port 235 is connected to a vacuum pump 246, which is an exhaust device, via an APC 242, which is a pressure regulator, and a valve 243b, which is an on-off valve, by a gas exhaust pipe 231 which is an exhaust pipe for exhausting gas.

  The discharge means for exciting the supplied reaction gas 230 has a cylindrical cross section, and a cylindrical electrode 215 that is preferably a cylindrical first electrode is provided. The cylindrical electrode 215 is installed on the outer periphery of the processing chamber 201 and surrounds the plasma generation region 224 in the processing chamber 201. A high frequency power source 273 that applies high frequency power is connected to the cylindrical electrode 215 via a matching unit 272 that performs impedance matching.

  Moreover, the cross section is cylindrical, and the cylindrical magnet 216, which is preferably a cylindrical magnetic field forming means, is a cylindrical permanent magnet. The cylindrical magnet 216 is disposed near the upper and lower ends of the outer surface of the cylindrical electrode 215.

  A susceptor 217 is disposed at the center on the bottom side of the processing chamber 201 as a substrate holding means for holding the wafer 200 as a substrate. The susceptor 217 can heat the wafer 200. The susceptor 217 is made of, for example, aluminum nitride, and a heater 218 as a heating device is integrally embedded therein. The heater 218 can apply high frequency power to heat the wafer 200 to about 500 ° C., for example.

  The susceptor 217 is also equipped with a second electrode that is an electrode for varying the impedance, and the second electrode is grounded via the impedance varying mechanism 274. The impedance variable mechanism 274 is composed of a coil and a variable capacitor, and the potential of the wafer 200 can be controlled via the electrode and the susceptor 217 by controlling the number of coil patterns and the capacitance value of the variable capacitor. .

  A processing furnace 202 for processing the wafer 200 by magnetron discharge with a magnetron type plasma source includes at least the processing chamber 201, a susceptor 217, a cylindrical electrode 215, a cylindrical magnet 216, a shower head 236, and a gas exhaust port 235. The wafer 200 can be subjected to plasma processing in the processing chamber 201.

  Around the cylindrical electrode 215 and the cylindrical magnet 216, an electric field and magnetic field formed by the cylindrical electrode 215 and the cylindrical magnet 216 are arranged so as not to adversely affect the external environment and other processing furnaces. And a shielding plate 223 that effectively shields the magnetic field.

  The susceptor 217 is insulated from the lower container 211 and is provided with a susceptor elevating mechanism 268 that is an elevating means for elevating and lowering the susceptor 217. The susceptor 217 has a through hole 217a, and at the bottom of the lower container 211, wafer push-up pins 266, which are substrate push-up means for pushing up the wafer 200, are provided in at least three places. Then, when the susceptor 217 is lowered by the susceptor elevating mechanism 268, the through hole 217a and the wafer up pin are arranged such that the wafer push-up pin 266 penetrates the through-hole 217a in a non-contact state with the susceptor 217. 266 is provided.

  Further, a gate valve 244 serving as a gate valve is provided on the side wall of the lower container 211. When the gate valve 244 is open, the wafer 200 is loaded into or unloaded from the processing chamber 201 by a transfer means (not shown), and when it is closed, the processing is performed. The chamber 201 can be closed airtight.

  The controller 121 as a control means includes a high frequency power supply 273, a matching unit 272, a valve 243a, a mass flow controller 241, an APC 242, a valve 243b, a vacuum pump 246, a susceptor lifting mechanism 268, a gate valve 244, and a heater 218 embedded in the susceptor. A high frequency power source (not shown) for applying high frequency power is connected to control each.

  A method of performing a predetermined plasma treatment on the surface of the wafer 200 or the surface of the base film formed on the wafer 200 in the above configuration will be described.

  The wafer 200 is loaded into the processing chamber 201 by a transfer means (not shown) that transfers the wafer from the outside of the processing chamber 201 constituting the processing furnace 202, and is transferred onto the susceptor 217. The details of this transfer operation are as follows. First, the susceptor 217 is lowered, and the tip of the wafer push-up pin 266 passes through the through-hole 217a of the susceptor 217 and protrudes by a predetermined height from the surface of the susceptor 217. In this state, the gate valve 244 provided in the lower container 211 is opened, and the wafer 200 is placed on the tip of the wafer push-up pin by the transfer means not shown in the figure. When the gate valve 244 is closed and the susceptor 217 is raised by the susceptor elevating mechanism 268, the wafer 200 can be placed on the upper surface of the susceptor 217 and further raised to a position where the wafer 200 is processed.

  The heater 218 embedded in the susceptor 217 is heated in advance, and heats the loaded wafer 200 to a wafer processing temperature within a range of room temperature to 500 ° C. The pressure of the processing chamber 201 is maintained within a range of 0.1 to 100 Pa using the vacuum pump 246 and the APC 242.

  When the wafer 200 is heated to the processing temperature, the reaction gas is directed from the gas inlet 234 to the upper surface (processing surface) of the wafer 200 disposed in the processing chamber 201 through the gas ejection holes 234a of the shower plate 240. To introduce. At the same time, high frequency power is applied to the cylindrical electrode 215 from the high frequency power supply 273 via the matching unit 272. At this time, the impedance variable mechanism 274 is controlled in advance to a desired impedance value.

  Magnetron discharge is generated under the influence of the magnetic field of the cylindrical magnets 216 and 216, charges are trapped in the upper space of the wafer 200, and high-density plasma is generated in the plasma generation region 224. Then, plasma processing is performed on the surface of the wafer 200 on the susceptor 217 by the generated high-density plasma. The wafer 200 that has been subjected to the surface treatment is transferred to the outside of the processing chamber 201 using a transfer means (not shown) in the reverse order of substrate loading.

  It should be noted that the power control of the high frequency power supply 273, the adjustment of the matching unit 272, the opening and closing of the valve 243a, the flow rate of the mass flow controller 241, the valve opening of the APC 242, the opening and closing of the valve 243b, the start and stop of the vacuum pump 246, and the susceptor lifting mechanism The controller 121 controls the elevating and lowering operations of 268, the opening and closing of the gate valve 244, and the power control to the power source that applies power to the heater 218 embedded in the susceptor.

  Now, FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a parallel in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment including the process chamber described above. The parallel in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be divided into a vacuum side and an atmosphere side.

Two substrate processing modules MD1 and MD2 are provided in parallel on the vacuum side. The substrate processing module MD1 includes a process chamber PM1 as a vacuum-tight process chamber connected in-line and a vacuum-tight vacuum lock chamber VL1 as a front chamber provided in the preceding stage. The substrate processing module MD2 includes a process chamber PM2 as a vacuum-tight process chamber connected in-line, and a vacuum-tight vacuum lock chamber VL2 as a front chamber provided in the preceding stage. The process chamber PM1 and the vacuum lock chamber VL1 are connected by a gate valve G1. The process chamber PM2 and the vacuum lock chamber VL2 are connected by a gate valve G2.
The vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 constitute a vacuum preparatory chamber (load lock chamber) for taking in and out the wafer W while keeping the processing chamber 201 in a vacuum.

  The process chambers PM1 and PM2 have a function of adding value to the wafer, such as film formation by chemical reaction (CVD) as described above. In addition, it has a mechanism suitable for the film formation method, such as a gas introduction / exhaust mechanism and a temperature control / plasma discharge mechanism.

  The vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 are configured so as to be able to control a vacuum or atmospheric pressure in the chamber. The vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 are independently provided with vacuum robots VR1 and VR2 as second substrate transfer apparatuses, respectively, between the process chamber PM1 and the vacuum lock chamber VL1, or between the process chamber PM2 and the vacuum. The wafer W can be transferred between the lock chambers VL2. Further, the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 have a multi-stage type capable of holding the wafer W, for example, two upper and lower stages. The upper buffer stages LS1, LS2 have a mechanism for holding the wafer W, and the lower cooling stages CS1, CS2 have a mechanism for cooling the wafer W.

On the atmosphere side, an atmospheric loader LM as an atmospheric transfer chamber connected to the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 constituting the substrate processing modules MD1 and MD2, and two units as substrate storage units connected to the atmospheric loader LM Load ports LP1 and LP2 are provided. The load ports LP1 and LP2 are places where the carriers containing the wafers W are placed in order to carry in and out of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
The atmospheric loader LM and the vacuum lock chamber VL1 are connected by a load door (gate valve) G3. The atmospheric loader LM and the vacuum lock chamber VL2 are connected by a load door (gate valve) G4. The atmospheric loader LM is provided with one atmospheric robot AR, and can transfer the wafer W between the chambers VL1 and VL2 and the load ports LP1 and LP2. Further, the atmospheric loader LM is provided with an aligner unit AU as a substrate position correction device, which corrects the deviation of the wafer W during conveyance and performs notch alignment (hereinafter referred to as alignment) for aligning the notch of the wafer W in a certain direction. It is possible.
The load ports LP1 and LP2 are configured so that carriers CR1 and CR2 that can store a plurality of wafers W can be delivered to the outside of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. It has a function of reading / writing a carrier ID at the time of delivery.

  The above-described vacuum robots VR1, VR2, atmospheric robot AR, gate valves G1, G2, load doors (gate valves) G3, G4, process chamber PM1, PM2 gas introduction / exhaust mechanism, temperature control / plasma discharge mechanism, The cooling mechanism and the like of the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 are controlled by control means CNT as a control device.

Further, the control means CNT is configured such that after the processed wafer W is taken out from the process chambers PM1 and PM2, the wafer W to be processed next is placed on the wafer holder in the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2. Is detected, the pre-process control including the process of not changing the set temperature of the heater 218 is performed, and after the processed wafer W is taken out from the process chambers PM1 and PM2, the wafer W to be processed next is vacuumed. When it is detected that the wafers are not placed on the wafer holding portions of the lock chambers VL1 and VL2, post-processing control including a process of lowering the set temperature of the heater 218 in the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 is performed.
Further, the control means CNT includes the vacuum chambers VL1 and VL2 from the process chambers PM1 and PM2 of the substrate processing modules MD1 and MD2 that have been processed quickly in the process chambers PM1 and PM2 among the two substrate processing modules MD1 and MD2. The atmospheric robot AR is controlled so as to transport the processed wafer W. When it is detected that the processed wafer W has been transferred to the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2, the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 are controlled to return from the vacuum pressure to the atmospheric pressure, and the processed wafer W is transferred. In order to transfer the unprocessed wafer W to the substrate processing modules MD1 and MD2, the next unprocessed wafer W is transferred from the load ports LP1 and LP2 to the atmospheric loader LM in parallel with the atmospheric pressure return control. The vacuum robots VR1 and VR2 are controlled to wait.

  Means for detecting that the substrate W to be processed next is placed on the wafer holding portion in the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2, and that the processed wafer W has been transferred to the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2. Is a sensor that detects that the wafer W is placed on the substrate placement portions of the vacuum robots VR1 and VR2, and that the substrate placement portions of the vacuum robots VR1 and VR2 are in the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2. Or a sensor that detects the wafer W held on the substrate holding part provided in the vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2.

  The sensor can be attached to a predetermined location of the vacuum lock chamber VL. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of such a vacuum lock chamber VL. 2A is a perspective view of the vacuum lock chamber with the lid VL0 removed, FIG. 2B is a plan view of the buffer stage LS, and FIG. 2C is a side view of the buffer stage LS and the cooling stage CS. The vacuum lock chamber VL includes a vacuum robot VR having an arm therein (FIG. 2 (a)). The upper buffer stage LS includes three pins P1 to P3 that can support the wafer W at three points (FIG. 2B). The lower cooling stage CS is composed of a plate PL capable of supporting the wafer W in surface contact (FIG. 2C).

  The sensor is provided on the lid VL0 of the vacuum lock chamber VL. For example, the sensor S1 that detects the presence or absence of a wafer on the stages LS and CS is provided on the lid VL0 side corresponding to a predetermined part on the plate PL. When the process chamber PM is carried in and out, the sensor S2 for detecting the presence or absence of a wafer on the vacuum robot VR is provided on the lid VL0 side corresponding to a predetermined part before the opening AP that communicates with the process chamber PM side. Examples of the sensors S1 and S2 include an optical sensor composed of a light emitting / receiving diode. When it is detected that the wafer is transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL, the sensor S2 provided closer to the process chamber PM than the sensor S1 indicates that the processed wafer W has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL earlier. Can be detected. In the following description, the case of the sensor S1 will be described.

  Returning now to FIG. In each of the substrate processing modules MD1 and MD2, wafer conveyance is performed independently. The wafer W is received from the buffer stage LS1 or LS2 in the vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2 by the vacuum robot VR1 or VR2, and loaded into the process chamber PM1 or PM2, and the wafer W is processed, for example, plasma processing. When the processing of the wafer W is completed, the processed wafer W is received by the vacuum robot VR1 or VR2, and held in the cooling stage CS1 or CS2 in the vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2, thereby cooling the wafer W.

  The vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2 is returned to atmospheric pressure. In parallel with returning the vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2 to atmospheric pressure, an unprocessed wafer is taken out from the carrier CR1 or CR2 of the load port LP1 or LP2 to the atmospheric loader LM by the atmospheric robot AR, and passed through the aligner unit AU. Alignment is performed, and the vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2 is kept waiting in front of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2 until the vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2 returns to the atmospheric pressure.

  After returning to atmospheric pressure, the aligned wafer W that has been waiting is carried from the atmospheric loader LM to the buffer stage LS1 or LS2 of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2 by the atmospheric robot AR. On the other hand, the cooled wafer W is taken out from the vacuum lock chamber VL1 or VL2 by the atmospheric robot AR, and delivered to the carrier CR1 or CR2 of the load port LP1 or LP2 via the atmospheric loader LM. The above-described series of processing is repeated.

  Here, the control means CNT for controlling the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus described above will be specifically described. The control means CNT is connected to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as a control controller, and the control controller is configured to have means for carrying control and process control. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of such a control controller.

As the control controller, the operation unit 100, the overall control controller 90, and the process chamber controllers PMC1 and PMC2 are connected by a LAN circuit 80. The operation unit 100 is configured to have screens and functions for system control command instructions, monitor display, logging data, alarm analysis, parameter editing, and the like.
Here, the control controller corresponds to the control means CNT in FIG. The process chamber controllers PMC1 and PMC2 correspond to the controller 121 in FIG.

  The overall control controller 90 controls the operation of the entire system, the vacuum robot controller 91, the atmospheric robot controller 92, the VL exhaust system (MFC 93, valves, pumps, etc.) and the like.

  In the process chamber controllers PMC1 and PMC2, in order to control each process chamber individually, a mass flow controller MFC11 that controls the flow rate of gas, an auto pressure controller APC12 that controls the pressure in the process chamber, and a temperature in the chamber are controlled. The temperature regulator 13 for controlling the gas, the input / output valve I / O 14 for controlling the on / off of the valve for exhaust, and the like are connected.

  As an operation example of this control controller, the overall controller 90 that has received a command instruction from the operation unit 100 instructs the atmospheric robot controller 92 to perform a wafer transfer instruction. After the wafer is transferred from the carrier CR to the buffer stage (load stage) LS of the vacuum lock chamber VL, vacuum exhaust control (pump and valve control) of the vacuum lock chamber VL is performed. When the vacuum lock chamber VL reaches a predetermined vacuum pressure, the vacuum robot VR is instructed to transfer the wafer to the corresponding process chambers PM1 and PM2. When the transfer is completed and the gate valves G1 and G2 are closed, a process recipe execution instruction is issued to the corresponding process chamber controllers PMC1 and PMC2.

In the case of having two substrate processing modules ((PM + VL) × 2) in the operation method (transport sequence) of the inline type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus described above, as in the configuration example, one carrier CR1 and the process chamber PM1 are alternately arranged. There are a distribution operation in which processing is performed by allocating to the process chamber PM2, and a parallel operation in which processing is performed so that the carriers CR1, CR2 and the process chambers PM1, PM2 have a one-to-one relationship.
As an operation example common to these, the overall controller 90 that has received a command instruction from the operation unit instructs the atmospheric robot controller 92 to perform a wafer transfer instruction. After the wafer is transferred from the carrier to the buffer stage LS of the vacuum lock chamber VL, exhaust control (pump and valve control) of the vacuum lock chamber VL is performed. When the vacuum lock chamber VL reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum robot controller 91 of the vacuum lock chamber VL is instructed to transfer the wafer to the relevant (corresponding) process chamber controller PMC. When the transfer is completed and the gate valve GV is closed, the process chamber controller PMC is instructed to execute a process recipe (a control parameter for adding value to the wafer).

  By the way, in the present embodiment, pre-processing and post-processing for adjusting the condition of each process chamber PM are performed as necessary in the transfer sequence. The pre-processing and post-processing control methods (pre- and post-processing control methods) will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In the pretreatment, before the process in each process chamber PM, the pretreatment process recipe is executed in a state where there is no wafer W in each process chamber PM, and the chamber conditions such as the chamber temperature, the chamber pressure, and the chamber atmosphere are adjusted. . In the pre-processing, it is necessary to set up the chamber condition in accordance with the film forming conditions of the wafer. Therefore, a pre-processing process recipe whose setting can be freely changed by the operator is used. The chamber temperature of the preprocessing process recipe is set so as not to change the set temperature of the heater 218 (see FIG. 4). For the chamber atmosphere, the process chamber PM is evacuated.

  The pretreatment is controlled by the control means CNT. The storage means in the control means CNT is provided with a plurality of storage areas. As shown in FIG. 7, in the operation parameter area, “pre-processing is present” when pre-processing is performed in the process, “no pre-processing” is performed when pre-processing is not performed, and “post-processing” is performed when post-processing is performed. “Yes” and “No post-processing” are set when no post-processing is performed. In the PMC information area, a pre-processing flag area, a pre-execution process recipe name area, and an execution process name area are provided for each of the process chambers PM1 and PM2.

The flow of preprocessing control will be described with reference to FIG.
When the wafer W to be processed next (unprocessed) is loaded into the vacuum lock chamber VL and placed on the buffer stage LS (step 601), the sensor S1 places the wafer W on the buffer stage LS. Detect that After the wafer detection, the operation parameter is read to determine whether or not “pre-processing exists” is set (step 602). If it is determined that the pre-processing setting is present, the process is determined from the pre-processing execution flag read from the PMC information. It is determined whether or not the chamber PM has been preprocessed (step 603). When it is determined that the process chamber PM has not been preprocessed, the PMC information is read, and it is determined from the execution process recipe name whether the process recipe to be executed this time is the same as the process recipe executed previously (step 604). If it is determined that it is not the same as the recipe, the preprocessing of the process chamber PM is executed, and after the execution, the preprocessing execution flag of the PMC information is turned ON (step 605). After the execution flag is turned on, the vacuum evacuation (Evac) of the vacuum lock chamber VL leading to the process chamber PM is started, and after the evacuation process is completed, the unprocessed wafer W is transferred to the process chamber PM (step 607).

  When it is determined in the above-described preprocessing setting presence / absence determination step 602 that there is no preprocessing setting in the operation parameter, it is determined that preprocessing is not necessary in the process, and the process proceeds to the PM transfer step 607. If it is determined in step 603 that the preprocessing has been performed, it is determined that the necessary preprocessing has already been performed. After setting a preprocessing execution flag (step 606), the process proceeds to the PM transfer step 607. . Also, if the process recipe type determination step 604 determines that the process recipes are the same, it is assumed that continuous processing should be performed without performing preprocessing, and after setting a preprocessing execution flag (step 606), PM transport is performed. Proceed to step 607.

  As described above, in the preprocessing control, when the unprocessed wafer W is placed on the buffer stage LS and the process chamber PM is not preprocessed, the process recipe to be executed for the unprocessed wafer W is the previous time. Since the process chamber PM is not preprocessed when the process recipe is the same as the executed process recipe, the preprocess can be omitted even when the process recipe is the same as the previously executed process recipe. So throughput is improved. In addition, when the unprocessed wafer W is placed on the buffer stage LS and the process chamber PM is not preprocessed, the process recipe to be executed for the unprocessed wafer W is different from the process recipe previously executed. Since the preprocessing is performed without waiting for the start instruction, the throughput is improved as compared with the case where the preprocess is performed after waiting for the start instruction. In particular, even when the carrier CR is continuously charged and the wafer W is continuously processed in the same process recipe, the carrier CR is loaded on the load port LP and the pretreatment is performed when the start instruction is received. Since the processing timing is not waited until the wafer processing of the previous carrier is completed (until the wafer of the previous carrier returns), the throughput is improved. Furthermore, in the pre-processing, control is performed so as not to change the set temperature of the heater 218 in the process chamber PM, so that the wafer temperature can be quickly stabilized and the throughput can be improved.

  On the other hand, in the post-processing, the chamber condition is adjusted so that the process chamber PM is left in an idle state without the wafer W after the process processing is executed in the process chamber PM, and the wafer processing can be performed immediately. For example, if the set temperature of the heater 218 (see FIG. 4) is left as it is, the heat capacity of the process chamber is large and heat is trapped in the process chamber PM. Therefore, processing such as lowering the set temperature of the heater 218 is performed when left. Alternatively, a process such as cycle purge may be performed to reduce particles. These processes are performed using a post-processing process recipe.

A flow of post-processing control will be described with reference to FIG.
When the processed wafer W is loaded into the vacuum lock chamber VL and the wafer is placed on the cooling stage CS (step 701), the sensor S1 confirms that the wafer W is placed on the cooling stage CS. To detect. After the wafer detection, the operation parameters are read out to determine whether or not “post-processing is present” is set (step 702). When it is determined that post-processing is set, the operation parameter is set on the buffer stage LS in the vacuum lock chamber VL. Next, it is determined whether there is an unprocessed wafer W to be processed (step 703). If it is determined that there is no next process wafer, post-processing is performed (step 704). After the post-processing is executed, the processing by the process chamber PM is finished (step 705).
When it is determined in the post-processing setting presence / absence determination step 702 that there is no post-processing setting in the operation parameter, it is determined that post-processing is not necessary in the process, and the process proceeds to the PM processing end step 705. If it is determined in the next process wafer presence / absence determination step 703 that there is a next process wafer, the process proceeds to the PM process end step 705 on the assumption that continuous processing should be performed without performing post-processing.

  As described above, in the post-processing control, when the processed wafer W is placed on the cooling stage CS and the unprocessed wafer W is not placed on the buffer stage LS, the cooled wafer W is placed. Since the post-processing of the process chamber PM is performed even before the wafer is discharged, the unprocessed wafer W to be processed next is compared with the case where the post-processing is performed after the cooled wafer W is discharged. However, even if it is introduced during post-processing, the processing of the wafer W to be processed next can be started immediately, so that the throughput does not decrease. Further, in the post-processing, control is performed so that the set temperature of the heater is lowered so that the temperature in the process module PM does not increase too much. Therefore, even when the next carrier is input during post-processing, the final processing wafer is completed and the carrier is Since the substrate to be processed next can be quickly heated to a predetermined temperature even if the set temperature of the heating device is returned to the original temperature, unlike the case where the post-processing is performed after returning to step 4, the next carrier starts. Thus, throughput can be improved.

  Further, when the processed wafer W is placed on the cooling stage CS and the wafer W to be processed next is on the buffer stage LS, the post-processing of the process chamber PM is not performed. Therefore, even when the wafer W to be processed next is on the buffer stage LS, the post-processing can be omitted and continuous processing can be performed compared to the case where the post-processing is performed each time, so that the throughput is improved.

  If the substrate processing temperature is, for example, about 500 ° C., the temperature of the substrate to be lowered in the post-processing is 1 to 2 ° C., and the set temperature of the heater to be lowered in the post-processing is also a temperature range corresponding thereto. It should be noted that this range may fluctuate depending on the apparatus, and of course is not limited to the temperature range.

Next, the above-described pre- and post-processing control method will be described in detail by taking as an example the case of a distribution operation with a common load port LP1. FIG. 5 is an operation time chart (conveyance sequence).
In this example, the operation parameters are set to “pre-processing present” and “post-processing present”. In addition, it shows the case where the processing of the next lot is started continuously after the processing of a new lot is completed, and the next lot is processed by a process recipe different from the previous lot. Yes. For example, if a plurality of wafers stored in one carrier is one lot, the carrier is continuously loaded into the load port, and the wafer stored in the next carrier has a process recipe different from that of the wafer stored in the previous carrier. It is processed.

(1) The wafer (unprocessed wafer) # 1 to be processed next is taken out from the carrier CR1 placed on the load port LP1 by the atmospheric robot AR and loaded into the atmospheric loader LM. Alignment is performed by the aligner unit AU by the preceding operation by the arm of the atmospheric robot AR. The aligned unprocessed wafer # 1 is carried from the atmospheric loader LM to the front of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 by the atmospheric robot AR, and is carried into the vacuum lock chamber VL1 (arrow m1). The unprocessed wafer # 1 carried into the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is placed on the buffer stage LS1 as an upper unprocessed substrate placement unit. By mounting on the buffer stage LS1, the sensor S1 detects that the unprocessed wafer # 1 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL1.
The load door G3 is closed and the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is evacuated (Ev1). In the meantime, the unprocessed wafer # 2 is taken out from the carrier CR1 of the load port LP1 by the atmospheric robot AR, loaded into the atmospheric loader LM, and aligned by the aligner unit AU. Simultaneously with the evacuation (Ev1), a pretreatment of the process chamber PM1, for example, a process of changing the set temperature of the heater 218 is performed (A1).

  Here, the pre-processing of the process chamber PM1 is executed (A1). In this processing stage, the unprocessed wafer # 1 is placed on the buffer stage LS1 in FIG. 7 (step 601). In the preprocessing setting presence / absence determination step 602, the operation parameter is set to “preprocessing present”, so “YES”. In the preprocessing execution determination step 603, the preprocessing of the process chamber PM1 has not been executed yet. This is because “NO” is obtained, and “NO” is obtained in the process recipe type determination step 604 because the lot is a new lot.

  When the pretreatment of PM1 is completed, the gate valve G1 is opened, and the unprocessed wafer # 1 is loaded into the process chamber PM1 from the upper buffer stage LS1 of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 by the vacuum robot VR1 (a). After carrying in, the gate valve G1 is closed. The film forming process for the unprocessed wafer # 1 is started in advance in the process chamber PM1 (# 1: PM1 process).

  (2) The unprocessed wafer # 2 is taken out from the carrier CR1 of the load port LP1 by the atmospheric robot AR and loaded into the atmospheric loader LM. Alignment is performed by the aligner unit AU by the preceding operation by the arm of the atmospheric robot AR. The aligned unprocessed wafer # 2 is carried from the atmospheric loader LM to the front of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 by the atmospheric robot AR, and is carried into the vacuum lock chamber VL2 (arrow m2). The loaded unprocessed wafer # 2 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS2. By mounting on the buffer stage LS2, the sensor S1 detects that the unprocessed wafer # 2 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL2. The load door G4 is closed and the vacuum lock chamber VL2 is evacuated (Ev2). Simultaneously with this evacuation (Ev2), pretreatment of the process chamber PM2 is performed (A2).

  Here, the pre-processing of the process chamber PM2 is executed (A2), and in this processing stage, the unprocessed wafer # 2 is placed on the buffer stage LS1 in FIG. 7 (step 601). In the pre-processing setting presence / absence determination step 602, the operation parameter is set as “pre-processing present”, so “YES”. In the pre-processing execution determination step 603, the pre-processing of the process chamber PM2 is not yet executed. This is because “NO” is obtained, and “NO” is obtained in the process recipe type determination step 604 because the lot is a new lot.

  When the PM2 pretreatment is completed, the gate valve G2 is opened, and the unprocessed wafer # 2 is loaded into the process chamber PM2 from the upper buffer stage LS2 of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 by the vacuum robot VR2 (b). After carrying in, the gate valve G2 is closed. The film forming process of the unprocessed wafer # 2 is started later in the process chamber PM2 (# 2: process).

(3) # 1: After starting the PM1 process, the atmospheric robot AR takes out the unprocessed wafer # 3 from the carrier CR1 of the load port LP1 and carries it into the atmospheric loader LM. Alignment is performed by the aligner unit AU by the preceding operation by the arm of the atmospheric robot AR. The unprocessed wafer # 3 subjected to the alignment is carried from the atmospheric loader LM to the front of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 by the atmospheric robot AR. Before opening the load door G3, an inert gas N ₂ is introduced into the vacuum lock chamber VL1, and the inside of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is brought to atmospheric pressure (open to the atmosphere) (Ve1). At the same time as the release of the atmosphere (Ve1) is completed, the load door G3 is opened, and the unprocessed wafer # 3 is loaded into the vacuum lock chamber VL1 (arrow m3).
The loaded unprocessed wafer # 3 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS1. By mounting on the buffer stage LS1, the sensor S1 detects that the unprocessed wafer # 3 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL1. The load door G3 is closed and the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is evacuated (Ev3).

(4) # 2: After starting the PM2 process, the atmospheric robot AR takes out the unprocessed wafer # 4 from the load port LP1 and loads it into the atmospheric loader LM. Alignment is performed by the aligner unit AU by the preceding operation by the arm of the atmospheric robot AR. The aligned unprocessed wafer # 4 is carried from the atmospheric loader LM to the front of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 by the atmospheric robot AR. Before opening the load door G4, an inert gas N ₂ is introduced to open the vacuum lock chamber VL2 to the atmosphere (Ve2). Simultaneously with the completion of the air release (Ve2), the load door G4 is opened, and the unprocessed wafer # 4 is loaded into the vacuum lock chamber VL2 (arrow m4). The loaded unprocessed wafer # 4 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS2. By mounting on the buffer stage LS2, the sensor S1 detects that the unprocessed wafer # 4 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL2. The load door G4 is closed and the vacuum lock chamber VL2 is evacuated (Ev4).

  The vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 are in a standby (NOP) state after the evacuation (Ev3) and the evacuation (Ev4) until the # 1: PM1 process and # 2: PM2 process are finished (n1, n2).

(5) When the film forming process for wafer # 1 in the process chamber PM1 that has started in advance is completed, the gate valve G1 of the process chamber PM1 is immediately opened, and the processed wafer # 1 is processed from the process chamber PM1 to the vacuum lock chamber VL1 by the vacuum robot VR1. 1 is carried out (c). The unloaded processed wafer # 1 is placed on the cooling stage CS1 at the lower stage of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 and cooled. By mounting on the cooling stage CS1, the sensor S1 detects that the processed wafer # 1 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL1.
(6) The unprocessed wafer # 3 is carried into the process chamber PM1 from the upper buffer stage LS1 of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 by the vacuum robot VR1 (d). Close the gate valve G1. The film forming process for the unprocessed wafer # 3 is started in the process chamber PM1 (# 3: PM1 process).

  (7) When the sensor S1 detects that the processed wafer # 1 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL1, the atmospheric robot AR takes out the unprocessed wafer # 5 from the carrier CR1 of the load port LP1, and sends it to the atmospheric loader LM. Carry in. Alignment is performed by the aligner unit AU by the preceding operation by the arm of the atmospheric robot AR. The unprocessed wafer # 5 subjected to the alignment is carried from the atmospheric loader LM to the front of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 by the atmospheric robot AR.

Further, when the sensor S1 detects that the processed wafer # 1 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL1, an inert gas N ₂ is introduced before the load door G3 is opened, and the inside of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is aired. Open (Ve3). At the same time as the release of the atmosphere in the vacuum lock chamber VL1 (Ve3) is completed, the load door G3 is opened and the unprocessed wafer # 5 is loaded into the vacuum lock chamber VL1 (arrow m5). The loaded unprocessed wafer # 5 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS1. By mounting on the buffer stage LS1, the sensor S1 detects that the unprocessed wafer # 5 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL1.
At this stage, the unprocessed wafer # 5 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS1 of the vacuum lock chamber VL1, and the processed wafer # 1 is placed on the lower cooling stage CS1.

(8) During this time, when the film forming process for wafer # 2 in process chamber PM2 started later is completed, gate valve G2 is immediately opened, and processed wafer # 2 from process chamber PM2 to vacuum lock chamber VL2 by vacuum robot VR2. (E). The unloaded processed wafer # 2 is placed on the lower cooling stage CS2 of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 and cooled. By mounting on the cooling stage CS2, the sensor S1 detects that the processed wafer # 2 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL2.
(9) The unprocessed wafer # 4 is carried into the process chamber PM2 from the upper buffer stage LS2 of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 by the vacuum robot VR2 (f). After carrying in, the gate valve G2 is closed. The film forming process for the unprocessed wafer # 4 is started in the process chamber PM2 (# 4: P2 process).
(10) Thereafter, the cooled wafer # 1 on the cooling stage CS1 of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is taken out by the atmospheric robot AR, and is transferred to the load port LP1 (M1 (# 1 payout)). The load door G3 is closed and the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is evacuated (Ev5).

(11) When the sensor S1 detects that the processed wafer # 2 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL2, the atmospheric robot AR takes out the unprocessed wafer # 6 from the carrier CR1 of the load port LP1, and sends it to the atmospheric loader LM. Carry in. After performing alignment by the preceding operation with the arm of the atmospheric robot AR, the wafer # 6 is further carried by the atmospheric robot AR to the front of the vacuum lock chamber VL2.
Further, the air by the sensor S1, the processed wafer # 2 detects that it has been transported to the vacuum lock chamber VL2, before opening the loading door G4, introducing an inert gas N _2, the inside of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 Release (Ve4). Simultaneously with the completion of the air release (Ve4), the unprocessed wafer # 6 is put into the vacuum lock chamber VL2 (arrow m6). The loaded unprocessed wafer # 6 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS2. By mounting on the buffer stage LS2, the sensor S1 detects that the unprocessed wafer # 6 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL2.
At this stage, the unprocessed wafer # 6 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS1 of the vacuum lock chamber VL2, and the processed wafer # 2 is placed on the lower cooling stage CS1.

(12) Thereafter, the cooled wafer # 2 on the cooling stage CS2 is carried out to the load port LP1 by the arm of the atmospheric robot AR (M2 (# 2 payout)). Further, the load door G4 is closed, and the vacuum lock chamber VL2 is evacuated (Ev6).
The vacuum lock chambers VL1 and VL2 are in a standby (NOP) state after the evacuation (Ev5) and the evacuation (Ev6) until the # 3: PM1 process and the # 4: PM2 process are finished (n3, n4).

  As described above, when the process in the process chamber PM1 and the process in the process chamber PM2 are alternately repeated using the same process recipe, the film forming process for one lot of wafers in each of the process chambers PM1 and PM2 is performed. Ends. During this time, the preprocessing control is not executed. In FIG. 7, since the preprocessing in the corresponding process chambers PM1 and PM2 has already been performed, “YES” is determined in the preprocessing execution determination step 603, and since the unprocessed wafer W is the same lot, the recipe to be executed this time is also the previous time. This is because it becomes the same as the executed process recipe, and “YES” is given in the process recipe type determination step 604.

(13) The final wafer processed by PM1 is set to # n-1, and the final wafer processed by PM2 is set to #n. As soon as the film formation process for wafer # n-1 (not shown) in the process chamber PM1 is completed, the gate valve G1 of the process chamber PM1 is opened, and the processed wafer is transferred from the process chamber PM1 to the vacuum lock chamber VL1 by the vacuum robot VR1. Unload # n-1 (y). The unprocessed wafer # n-1 that has been unloaded is placed on the cooling stage CS1 in the lower stage of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 and cooled. By mounting on the cooling stage CS1, the sensor S1 detects that the processed wafer # n-1 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL1. Before opening the load door G3, an inert gas N ₂ is introduced into the vacuum lock chamber VL1, and the interior of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is opened to the atmosphere (Vek-3). At the same time as the release of the atmosphere (Vek-3) is completed, the load door G3 is opened, and the cooled wafer # n-1 on the cooling stage CS1 of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is taken out by the atmospheric robot AR and carried out to the load port LP1 ( Mm-1 (# n-1 payout)).

(14) When the film formation process for wafer #n in process chamber PM2 is completed, gate valve G2 is immediately opened, and processed wafer #n is unloaded from process chamber PM2 to vacuum lock chamber VL2 by vacuum robot VR2. z). The unloaded processed wafer #n is placed on the cooling stage CS2 at the lower stage of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 and cooled. By mounting on the cooling stage CS2, the sensor S1 detects that the processed wafer #n has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL2. Before opening the load door G4, an inert gas N ₂ is introduced into the vacuum lock chamber VL2, and the interior of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 is opened to the atmosphere (Vek). At the same time as the opening of the atmosphere (Vek) is completed, the load door G4 is opened, the cooled wafer #n on the cooling stage CS2 of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 is taken out by the atmospheric robot AR, and is transferred to the load port LP1 (Mm (# n payout)).

  (15) After the final wafer # n-1 in the process chamber PM1 is unloaded from the process chamber PM1 onto the cooling stage CS1 of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 (y), post-processing of the process chamber PM1 described later is performed (B1). ). Further, after the final wafer #n in the process chamber PM2 is unloaded from the process chamber PM2 onto the cooling stage CS2 of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 (z), post-processing of the process chamber PM2 described later is performed (B2). When these post-processing is completed, the processing for one lot is completed.

  Here, post-processing of the process chambers PM1 and PM2 is executed (B1, B2), respectively. In this processing stage, processed wafers # n-1, #n on the cooling stages CS1, CS2 in FIG. Is placed (step 701), the operation parameter is set to “post-processing present” in the post-processing setting presence / absence determination step 702, and therefore “YES”. In the next processing wafer presence / absence determination step 703, the buffer stage is set. This is because there is no unprocessed wafer on LS1 and LS2, and therefore “NO”.

  When the processing of one lot is completed and the next lot is input after a while, the transfer sequences (1) to (16) described above are sequentially repeated using different process recipes. The first half conveyance sequence will be described as follows.

(17) The unprocessed wafer # 1 of the next lot is taken out from the carrier CR1 newly input into the load port LP1 by the atmospheric robot AR, and is loaded into the atmospheric loader LM. Alignment is performed by a preceding operation by the arm of the atmospheric robot AR. The aligned unprocessed wafer # 1 is carried from the atmospheric loader LM to the front of the vacuum lock chamber VL1 by the atmospheric robot AR, and is carried into the vacuum lock chamber VL1 (arrow m1). The loaded unprocessed wafer # 1 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS1 as a wafer placement section. By mounting on the buffer stage LS1, the sensor S1 detects that the unprocessed wafer # 1 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL1. The load door G3 is closed and the vacuum lock chamber VL1 is evacuated (Ev1). In the meantime, the unprocessed wafer # 2 is taken out from the carrier CR1 of the load port LP1 by the atmospheric robot AR, loaded into the atmospheric loader LM, and aligned by the aligner unit AU.
At the same time as the vacuum evacuation (Ev1), the process chamber PM1 is pretreated (A3).

(18) The unprocessed wafer # 2 is taken out from the carrier CR1 of the load port LP1 by the atmospheric robot AR and loaded into the atmospheric loader LM. Alignment is performed by the aligner unit AU by the preceding operation by the arm of the atmospheric robot AR. The aligned unprocessed wafer # 2 is carried from the atmospheric loader LM to the front of the vacuum lock chamber VL2 by the atmospheric robot AR, and is carried into the vacuum lock chamber VL2 (arrow m2). The loaded unprocessed wafer # 2 is placed on the upper buffer stage LS2. By mounting on the buffer stage LS1, the sensor S1 detects that the unprocessed wafer # 2 has been transferred to the vacuum lock chamber VL2. The load door G4 is closed and the vacuum lock chamber VL2 is evacuated (Ev2).
Simultaneously with this evacuation (Ev2), pretreatment of the process chamber PM2 is performed (A4).

  Here, the pre-processing of the process chambers PM1 and PM2 is executed in the first half of the next lot processing (A3 and A4). In this processing stage, unprocessed wafers are placed on the buffer stages LS1 and LS2 in FIG. # 1 and # 2 are placed (step 601), and in the pre-processing setting presence / absence determination step 602, the operation parameter is set to “pre-processing present”. This is because the process chamber PM1 and PM2 are not yet executed in step 603, so “NO”, and in the process recipe type determination step 604, “NO” because it is a different lot.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the pre-processing is performed in parallel with the wafer transfer (# 1, # 2) at an appropriate timing after the lot is started (A1, A2, A3, A4), the apparatus throughput. Can be improved. In addition, after the lot starts, post-processing is performed at an appropriate timing (B1, B2), so that the apparatus throughput can be improved. Further, when wafers W are continuously processed in one lot process, the post-process and pre-process can be automatically omitted even if the pre-process setting and the post-process setting are made. Will improve.

  Here, the conveyance sequence of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and the conventional conveyance sequence shown in FIG. 6 will be compared and described. In the transfer sequence of the present embodiment, the pre-processing and post-processing do not have independent unit configurations, and can be arbitrarily incorporated into the transfer sequence, so that pre-processing (A1, A2) or post-processing is performed within one lot of processing. By incorporating (B1, B2), integration with the processing sequence of one lot can be achieved. On the other hand, in the conventional transport sequence, one lot of processing (FIG. 6A), post-processing (FIG. 6B), and pre-processing (FIG. 6B) are independent processing units. The reason why the post-processing and the pre-processing are independent units is that the pre-processing and post-processing are performed only when a construction instruction is issued.

  Therefore, in the case of completing the conveyance sequence for one lot of processing, when preprocessing is necessary, the preprocessing unit is added in front of the processing unit of one lot. When post-processing is required, the post-processing unit is added to the back of the processing unit of one lot. When both pre-processing and post-processing are required, pre-processing units and post-processing units must be added before and after one lot of processing units. In other words, in the conventional example, pre-processing (A1, A2) or post-processing (B1, B2) cannot be incorporated in one lot of processing, so that pre-processing and post-processing can be performed in parallel with other processing. Therefore, unnecessary pre-processing and post-processing cannot be omitted. Further, even if the unnecessary pre- and post-processing can be omitted, the end of the processing of one lot and the beginning of the next lot processing cannot be overlapped, so that the apparatus throughput cannot be improved. In this respect, the present embodiment does not have such a situation and the throughput is improved.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the substrate is placed in a predetermined place other than the processing chamber in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, or the wafer is placed in the vacuum lock chamber. Although described, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a case where a carrier in which the wafer W is stored is placed on the load port LP for loading and unloading the wafer W may be used. In the embodiment described above, the pre- and post-processing control can be performed in units of wafers, but this example is useful when the pre- and post-processing control is performed in units of carriers. In this case, in order to determine the presence / absence of the carrier, it is preferable to provide a detecting means for detecting that the carrier is placed on the load port. As the detection means, the sensor described in the example of the vacuum lock chamber described in FIG. 2 can be applied.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to an inline type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a cluster type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

It is a top view which shows the structure of the parallel in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in embodiment for enforcing the manufacturing method of the semiconductor device of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the vacuum lock chamber in embodiment. It is a block diagram of the controller for control of the parallel in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in embodiment. It is a schematic block diagram of the MMT apparatus as a process chamber which comprises the parallel in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in embodiment. It is an operation | movement time chart (conveyance sequence) of the parallel in-line type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in embodiment. The unitized conveyance sequence of a prior art example is shown, (a) is the processing sequence of 1 lot, (b) is a post-processing sequence and a pre-processing sequence. It is a pre-processing control flowchart in an embodiment. It is a post-processing control flowchart in an embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

PM1, PM2 Process chamber
W wafer (substrate)
218 Heater (heating device)
LS1, LS2 buffer stage (predetermined location other than processing chamber)
CS1, CS2 Cooling stage (predetermined location other than processing chamber)
LP1, LP2 load port (predetermined location other than processing chamber)

Claims (4)

In the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device including a step of processing a substrate carried into a processing chamber from a vacuum preliminary chamber while heating the substrate with a heating device and taking out the processed substrate from the processing chamber,
After taking out the processed substrate from the processing chamber, it is detected whether the substrate to be processed next is placed in the vacuum preliminary chamber,
When the substrate to be processed next is placed in the vacuum preparatory chamber , even if there is no substrate to be heated in the processing chamber, the set temperature of the heating device is not changed,
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, characterized in that when a substrate to be processed next is not placed in the vacuum preliminary chamber , a set temperature of the heating device is lowered. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising: a processing chamber for processing a substrate; a heating device that heats a substrate carried into the processing chamber from a vacuum preliminary chamber; and a control device that controls the heating device,
The controller is
After the processed substrate is taken out of the processing chamber, it is detected whether the substrate to be processed next is placed in the vacuum preliminary chamber,
When the substrate to be processed next is placed in the vacuum preparatory chamber, even if there is no substrate to be heated in the processing chamber, the set temperature of the heating device is not changed,
When the substrate to be processed next is not placed in the vacuum preliminary chamber, the heating apparatus is controlled so as to lower the set temperature of the heating apparatus. In a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, including a step of processing a substrate carried into a processing chamber while heating the substrate with a heating device, and taking out the processed substrate from the processing chamber.
After removing the processed substrate from the processing chamber, is the next substrate to be processed placed in a predetermined location other than the processing chamber in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including the processing chamber? Detect whether or not
When the substrate to be processed next is placed in the predetermined place, even if there is no substrate to be heated in the processing chamber, the set temperature of the heating device is not changed,
If the substrate to be processed next is not placed at the predetermined location, the substrate to be processed again is placed at the predetermined location after lowering the set temperature of the heating device. Then, after returning the set temperature to the original, the substrate to be processed next is processed.
Manufacturing method. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising a processing chamber for processing a substrate, a heating device for heating the substrate carried into the processing chamber, and a control device for controlling the heating device,
The controller is
After the processed substrate is taken out from the processing chamber, is the next substrate to be processed placed in a predetermined location other than the processing chamber in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including the processing chamber ? Detect whether or not
When the substrate to be processed next is placed in the predetermined place, even if there is no substrate to be heated in the processing chamber, the set temperature of the heating device is not changed,
If the substrate to be processed next is not placed at the predetermined location, the substrate to be processed again is placed at the predetermined location after lowering the set temperature of the heating device. Then, the heating apparatus is controlled so as to process the substrate to be processed next after returning the set temperature to the original temperature.

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