JPH01230243A - Conveying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the movement of wafers, by changing the direction of a wafer boat that is held with a holding mechanism in an upright attitude in parallel with the axis of a furnace core in correspondence with the opening part of a furnace body, receiving the boat with a holding mechanism provided on the side of the furnace body, and lifting and lowering the boat. CONSTITUTION:A process tube 4 is provided uprightly in a furnace body 2 of a heat treating apparatus that is provided in a longitudinal direction. A heater 6 is provided at the side part. A semiconductor 8 to be treated is held in a wafer boat 10. The wafer boat 10 is mounted on a lifting mechanism 12 which is lifted and lowered. The mechanism 12 is provided at the lower part of the tube 4. A mechanism 14 for holding the boat 10 is provided at the neighboring part of the mechanism 12. A direction changing mechanism 16 for changing the boat 10 in the vertical state and the horizontal state is provided at the neighboring part of the mechanism 12. When a wafer cassette 20 is sent on a working table 18 in this constitution, the wafer 8 is taken out with a transfer mechanism 22 and transferred into the boat 10 which is held with the holding mechanism 14. When the specified number of the wafers 8 are transferred, the boat 10 is changed into the vertical state with the mechanism 16. The boat is lowered and inputted into a heat insulating tube 23 for temporary storage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a transfer device for transferring a wafer boat to a vertically installed furnace body of a heat treatment apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

In low-pressure CVD equipment for semiconductor wafers, a heat treatment furnace with a horizontal furnace body (horizontal furnace) is used, but in order to reduce the installation area of processing equipment, a heat treatment furnace with a vertical furnace body is used. (Type I reactor) has been put into practical use.

Since a plurality of semiconductor wafers are continuously arranged and processed, the furnace body tends to be long depending on the processing capacity. For this reason, in a horizontal furnace where the furnace body is installed horizontally, an installation area proportional to the length of the furnace body is required, and moreover, there is also space for carrying the boat carrying semiconductor wafers in and out of the furnace body. However, in a vertical furnace, the furnace body is installed in the height direction, so the installation area depends on its diameter, and compared to a horizontal furnace, the installation area is smaller. has the advantage of being reduced. Also, it cannot be overlooked that the vertical furnace allows more use of convection phenomena for supplying processing gas.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in a vertical furnace, the wafer boat is erected in correspondence with the furnace body, which makes the transfer of semiconductor wafers complicated and time-consuming.

Therefore, this invention simplifies the transportation of semiconductor wafers,
It is designed to be done efficiently.

[Means to solve the problem]

As shown in FIG. 1, the transfer device of the present invention includes a holding mechanism 14 that holds a wafer boat 10, and a
A direction changing mechanism 16 that changes the direction of the wafer boat 10 held by the furnace body 2 parallel to the furnace core axis in accordance with the opening of the vertically erected furnace body 2, and a holding mechanism provided on the furnace body 2 side. It is provided with a lifting mechanism 12 that receives the wafer boat IO held by the furnace body 2 and lifts and lowers the wafer boat 10 to the furnace body 2 side.

(Function) The semiconductor wafer 8 is transferred to the wafer boat 10, and predetermined processing such as heating is performed on the first wafer boat.

When processing the semiconductor wafers 8, the wafer boat 10 holding the semiconductor wafers 8 is held by the holding mechanism 14, and the direction changing mechanism 1 is moved toward the furnace core of the vertically erected furnace body 2.
After changing the direction vertically by 6, it is passed to the lifting mechanism 12 and raised toward the furnace body 2 side.

In addition, when the process is finished, the lifting mechanism 12 is opened from the furnace body 2 side.
After lowering the wafer boat 10 by
4, and the direction is changed horizontally by the direction changing mechanism 16 toward the furnace core of the vertically erected furnace body 2, and taken out.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the transfer device of the present invention, (A)
is its plan view, (B) is its front view, and (C) is its side opening.

A furnace body 2 of the heat treatment apparatus is installed vertically, and a process tube 4 is erected inside the furnace body 2 . A heater 6 is installed on the side of the process tube 4 to heat it. An elevating mechanism 12 serving as a boat elevator is provided below the process tube 4 for elevating and elevating a wafer boat 10 holding semiconductor wafers 8 to be processed.

This elevating mechanism 12 raises a wafer boat 10 carrying semiconductor wafers 8 to be processed and accommodates them in the process tube 4, and also lowers the semiconductor wafers 8 that have been processed together with the wafer boat 10 to remove them from the process tube 4. It is to be published on

The elevating mechanism 12 is provided with a holding mechanism 14 that holds the wafer boat 10 adjacent thereto, and a direction changing mechanism 16 that changes the direction of the held wafer boat 10 between a vertical state and a horizontal state.

The holding mechanism 14 holds one end of the wafer boat 10 holding the semiconductor wafer 8, and the direction changing mechanism 16 holds the wafer boat 10 holding the semiconductor wafer 8.
The direction of the wafer boat 10 held by the wafer boat 4 can be transferred in correspondence with the elevating mechanism 12.

The workbench 18 is provided with a transfer mechanism 22 that transfers the semiconductor wafers 8 between the wafer boat 10 held by the holding mechanism 14 and the wafer cassette 20.

Therefore, when the semiconductor wafer 8 is carried into the work table 18 by the wafer cassette 20, the semiconductor wafer 8 is taken out from the wafer cassette 20 by the transfer mechanism 22, and the holding mechanism 14 The wafers are transferred to the wafer boat 10 held at the wafer boat 10 . Next, when a predetermined amount of semiconductor wafers 8 are transferred to the wafer boat 10,
The wafer boat 10 is vertically turned upside down by the direction changing mechanism 16 as shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, and the wafer boat 10 is moved to the lifting mechanism 12.
It is passed to the lifting mechanism 12 waiting below the process tube 4.

The wafer boat 10 placed on the elevating mechanism 12 is lowered and transferred to the heat retaining cylinder 23, and is inserted and carried into the process tube 4 side together with the heat retaining cylinder 23. In this state, predetermined processing is performed.

Then, the semiconductor wafer 8 that has been processed is lowered together with the wafer boat 10 by another elevating means, and the wafer bow 1-10 is received by the elevating mechanism 12, and further lowered and pulled out below the process tube 4 and held. It is handed over to mechanism 14.

The wafer boat IO held by the holding mechanism 14 is horizontally turned down by the direction changing mechanism 16 and moved to the front of the wafer cusp 20 on the workbench 18. In this state, the processed semiconductor wafer 8 is transferred from the wafer board 1-10 to the wafer cusp 20 by the transfer mechanism 22, and
Semiconductor wafers 8 to be processed are placed on a wafer boat 10 .

If the semiconductor wafers 8 are transferred by tilting the wafer boat 10 perpendicularly to the furnace core of the furnace body 2, the width direction of the pedestal of the furnace body can be reduced, and the installation area in the clean room can be reduced. Efficiency will be improved.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a specific configuration example of the holding mechanism 14 of the wafer boat IO and the first direction changing section 24 of the direction changing mechanism 16.

An arm 28 fixed to the frame 26 is provided with a gear 32 that meshes with a drive gear 30 of the first direction changing section 24, and an arm par 34 is attached to this gear 32.

Hunts 36 and 38 of the holding mechanism 14 are provided at the tip of the arm bar 34 to grip and hold the wafer boat 10 by opening and closing them as shown by arrows a and b using a hydraulic drive system.

The hands 3G and 3 grip a cylindrical grip part 40 provided at one end of the wafer boat IO, and the direction is changed according to the rotation of the gears 30 and 32 of the direction change part 24. 42
indicates a receiving portion of the wafer boat 10.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a specific example of the structure of the lifting mechanism 12, and FIGS. 4 and 5 show the handler section 44 thereof.

As shown in FIG. 3, the elevating mechanism 12 is provided with a carriage 48 that slides on a rail 46 erected on the side surface of the furnace body 2 in parallel with the furnace core. An arm 52 having a section 50 is attached, and a handler section 44 for supporting the wafer bow 1-10 is provided at the tip of the arm 52.

The carriage 48 is raised and lowered by the rotation of a motor 54 as a rotary drive part, and the arm 52 drives gears 58, 60, 62 by the rotation of the motor 56 to change the direction of the handler part 44. That is, the gear 58 is for driving, and the gear 60 rotates the arm 64 to which the handler section 44 is attached in response to the rotation of the gear 5. Further, the gear 62 is for rotation support.

The handler section 44, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5,
A body 66 is provided on which the wafer boat 10 is placed, and
A support plate 68 is provided at one end thereof, and a gripping mechanism 70 for gripping the wafer boat 10 is provided. The gripping mechanism 70 is
By applying one end of the wafer boat 10 to the support plate 68 and applying the other end to the gripper 72, and moving the gripper 72 forward and backward by the cylinder 74, the wafer boat 10 is placed in the opening 66''.
-10 is to be held.

Next, FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the transfer device of the present invention.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the wafer boat 10 is connected to the furnace body 2.
In the above example, the semiconductor wafer 8 is transferred by being pulled out by the lifting mechanism 12 and tilted in a direction perpendicular to the furnace core by the direction changing mechanism 16. In this embodiment, the wafer boat 10 is This shows the case where the transfer is performed by laying down parallel to each other. For this reason, the front part of the lifting mechanism 12 has the lifting mechanism 1
A boat horizontal conversion mechanism 76 is installed to move the wafer boat 10 from position A of 2 to position B of the work table 18 disposed in front of the furnace body 2. In this way, by tilting the wafer boat 10 parallel to the furnace body 2 and performing transfer, the depth dimension of the processing equipment can be reduced, making it suitable for clean rooms with small widths in the depth direction. .

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the wafer boat is held, the direction of the wafer boat is changed parallel to the furnace core axis in correspondence with the opening of the vertically erected furnace body, and the wafer boat is held by the holding mechanism. Since the wafer boat is moved up and down to the furnace body side in response to the wafer boat being moved, the transfer of semiconductor wafers can be simplified and carried out efficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the transfer device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific configuration example of the holding mechanism of the transfer device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. Figures 4 and 5 are diagrams showing specific configuration examples of the elevating mechanism of the transfer device.
6th diagram showing the handler section in the lifting mechanism shown in the figure.
The figure shows another embodiment of the transfer device of the present invention. 2 Furnace body 8 Semiconductor wafer 10 Wafer boat 12 Lifting mechanism 14 Holding mechanism 16 Direction changing mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] A holding mechanism that holds a wafer boat, and a direction of the wafer boat held by the holding mechanism that is changed parallel to the furnace core axis in correspondence with an opening of a vertically erected furnace body. A transfer device that includes a direction changing mechanism and a lifting mechanism that receives a wafer boat provided on the furnace body side and is held by a holding mechanism and raises and lowers the wafer boat toward the furnace body side.