JPH01194317A - Holding jig of semiconductor wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to mount a wafer on a susceptor and take it out of a susceptor without its touching a treated surface of a semiconductor wafer, by forming a cutout groove serving as a moving path of a handling jig from a periphery to the center of a plate surface of the susceptor. CONSTITUTION:A cutout groove 5 is formed from a periphery to the center on a susceptor and claws 3A and 3B for supporting are arranged on both surfaces of the susceptor along the groove 5 such that comparative position of them may be shifted so as to be at different levels. When a semiconductor wafer 4 is provided on the susceptor 2, a handling jig is applied to a P part of the back surface of the wafer 4 to suck the wafer 4 and then the jig is moved into the groove from the upper part of the susceptor 2 and the wafer 4 falls in the claw 3A for mounting with the treated surface facing an outer side. In the same way, the wafer 4 is mounted on the opposite surface of the susceptor 2 with the treated surface facing the outer side by operating the jig sucking the wafer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to the structure of a holding jig for a semiconductor wafer used in a film forming process using a low pressure CVD method.

[Conventional technology]

First, in Fig. 0 showing the conventional structure of the holding jig shown in Figs. The susceptors 2 are disk-shaped susceptors arranged in an upright position, and claws 3 for supporting wafers are provided on both the front and back surfaces of the susceptors 2. Note that one holding jig is usually equipped with about 30 to 50 susceptors at regular intervals.

With this configuration, the semiconductor wafer 4 is supported on the plate surface of the susceptor 2 with its processing surface facing outward and its peripheral edge dropped between the claws 3, and in this state is carried into a low pressure CVD apparatus and subjected to film formation processing.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Currently, when loading and unloading the semiconductor wafers 4 into the holding jig having the conventional structure described above, one person manually picks up the periphery of the wafers 4 one by one using tweezers.

However, when using tweezers, even if careful attention is taken, the tweezers end up touching the wafer processing surface, which often causes contamination and damage to the film-forming surface of the wafer, impairing the quality of the wafer.

Moreover, in the current configuration, the processing side of the wafer loaded onto the susceptor faces outward and is closely supported on the plate surface of the susceptor. Therefore, for example, a vacuum suction type handling jig is used to suction the back side of the wafer. If this continues, it will not be possible to proceed with automation of the handling process.

This invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to use a vacuum suction type handling jig to adsorb the back side of the wafer without touching the processing surface of the wafer when loading or unloading the semiconductor wafer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor wafer holding jig which has excellent handling properties and allows loading and unloading of wafers to and from a susceptor in the same state.

[Means to solve the problem]

This invention attempts to solve the above-mentioned problem by forming grooves in the plate surface of the susceptor from the periphery toward the center, which serve as movement paths for the handling jig that holds the back surface of the wafer. .

[Effect]

By forming the cut grooves in the susceptor as described above, a handling jig, such as a vacuum suction type handling jig, which is applied to the back side of the wafer and adsorbs the semiconductor wafer, can be moved within the cut grooves. This makes it possible to load and unload semiconductor wafers onto and from a susceptor without touching the wafer processing surface at all, and it also becomes possible to automate the handling process.

In addition, when loading semiconductor wafers on both the front and back sides of the susceptor, the wafer support claws provided on the front and back sides of the susceptor can be shifted relative to each other along the cut grooves in advance, so that the other side The vacuum suction type handling jig can be operated from the back side of the wafer to proceed with handling work without interfering with the wafer. Furthermore, by plugging the notch groove with a groove plug when the semiconductor wafer is loaded on the susceptor, the processing gas flowing in the film forming process will not flow into the notch groove of the susceptor and be disturbed. It is possible to grow a homogeneous film on the wafer surface without the risk of oxidation.

〔Example〕

1 to 7 show embodiments of the present invention, and the same members corresponding to FIGS. 8 to 10 are given the same reference numerals.

First, in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cut groove 5 is formed in the susceptor 2 from the top of its periphery toward the center of the plate surface, and the front and back surfaces of the susceptor 2 are defined as A side and B side. ,
The claws 3A and 3B for supporting the wafer provided on the B side are set along the cut groove 5 so as to be at different levels relative to each other by an amount E. Note that the groove width of the cut groove 5 is determined to be such that a vacuum suction type handling jig, which will be described later, can move within the groove in the radial direction of the susceptor 2.

Next, the semiconductor wafer is loaded onto the holding jig with the above configuration,
The handling method for taking out the material will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. First, a vacuum suction type handling jig known as vacuum tweezers or the like is used as a semiconductor wafer handling jig. When the semiconductor wafer 4 is taken out from the wafer cassette and loaded onto the susceptor 2 of the holding jig, a handling jig is applied to the P section on the back side near the periphery of the wafer 4 to adsorb the wafer. In this suction state, transfer the handling jig to the susceptor 2.
The wafer 4 is moved from above along the inside of the cut groove 5, and the wafer 4 is dropped between the claws 3A on the side A of the susceptor 2, with the processing surface facing outward, and loaded.

Next, in the same manner as above, the direction of the handling jig that has sucked the wafer 4 from the back side is reversed and operated from the opposite side, and the wafer 4 is moved inside the cut groove 5 to the B side of the susceptor 2. to be loaded. In this case, the relative positions of the wafer supporting claws 3A and 3B are shifted by different steps, so that the handling jig does not interfere with the wafer already loaded on the A side.

Thereafter, similar operations are performed for each susceptor to load semiconductor wafers on both the front and back surfaces.

On the other hand, when taking out the wafer 4 from the susceptor 2 after the film-forming process, the handling jig first passes through the notch 5 to the wafer 4 that has been loaded in B, contrary to the loading order described above, and touches the back side of the wafer. The wafer is adsorbed, and while moving the handling jig along the cut groove 5, it is pulled up and transferred from the holding jig to another wafer cassette.Next, the direction of the handling jig is reversed and the above-mentioned wafer is transferred from the opposite direction. With the same key operation, the wafer 4 loaded on the A side of the susceptor 2 is attracted from the back side and pulled out, thereby allowing handling work to proceed without touching the processing surface of the semiconductor wafer 4 at all.

On the other hand, if a film is formed on a wafer with the cut grooves 5 left open, the processing gas flow will be disturbed by the cut grooves 5, which may hinder the growth of a homogeneous film. At this point, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, each susceptor 2
By preparing a groove plug 6 to close the notched groove 5 and loading the groove plug 6 into the notched groove 5 with the semiconductor wafer 4 loaded, processing caused by the notched groove 5 can be avoided. It is possible to prevent gas turbulence and form a homogeneous film on the wafer. As shown in the figure, the groove plugs 6 are attached to the support member 7 in multiple manner in accordance with the arrangement pitch of the susceptors 2, so that each groove plug 6 is attached to each of the plurality of susceptors 2.
can be attached and detached all at once.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a cut groove is formed in the plate surface of the susceptor from the periphery toward the center to serve as a moving path for the handling jig that attracts the back surface of the wafer, thereby processing semiconductor wafers. Wafers can be loaded onto and unloaded from the susceptor by suction from the front side using a vacuum suction type handling jig without touching the surface at all. It becomes possible to automate the wafer handling process.

In addition, by providing claws for supporting wafers on both the front and back sides of the susceptor at different relative positions along the cut grooves, it is possible to move the front and back sides of the susceptor using a vacuum suction type handling jig without interfering with the wafer. Wafers can be set on both sides, and by providing a groove plug that closes the cut groove of the susceptor with semiconductor wafers loaded, it prevents turbulence in the processing gas flow during the power processing process and ensures that the wafer is uniformly placed on the surface of the susceptor. Effects such as being able to form a thin film can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 7 show the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and the first
Figure 2 is a front view and side sectional view of the susceptor, Figures 3 and 4 are a front view and side sectional view of the susceptor with semiconductor wafers loaded, and Figure 5 is a holding jig equipped with a groove plug. 6 and 7 are a front view and a side sectional view of the susceptor in FIG. 5, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the entire structure of a conventional holding jig, and FIGS. 9 and 10 are FIG. 9 is a front view and a side view of the susceptor in FIG. 8. In each figure, 2: susceptor, 3.3A, 3B: wafer support claw, 4: semiconductor wafer, 5: cut groove, 6: groove plug.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A holding jig for a semiconductor wafer used in the CVD film forming process, which supports the semiconductor wafer on the plate surface of an upright susceptor with the processed surface facing outward. 1. A holding jig for a semiconductor wafer, characterized in that a cut groove is formed to serve as a movement path for a handling jig that holds the back side of the wafer by suction. (2) In the holding jig according to claim 1,
A holding jig for a semiconductor wafer, characterized in that claws for supporting the wafer are provided on both the front and back sides of a susceptor at different relative positions along the cut grooves. (3) In the holding jig according to claim 1,
A holding jig for a semiconductor wafer, characterized in that a groove plug is provided to close a cut groove of a susceptor in a state where a semiconductor wafer is loaded.