JPH01257346A - Semiconductor wafer treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify a transfer of a semiconductor wafer to a vertical type furnace and to enhance the transfer efficiency by installing the following: a transfer means used to transfer a wafer boat on which a wafer has been placed between an exchange position and setting positions of more than one vertical- type heat-treatment furnace; an elevator means installed at each treatment furnace. CONSTITUTION:The following are provided: transfer means 8, 20 used to transfer a wafer boat 22, on which a semiconductor wafer 2 to be treated is placed, between an exchange position and setting positions of more than one vertical- type heat-treatment furnace 16 and to deliver the wafer boat 22 between the heat-treatment furnaces 16; an elevator means used to receive the wafer boat 22 from the transfer means 8, 20, to fill it into a vertically installed process tube 30 and to take it out from the process tube 30. By this setup, the wafer 2 can be transferred between the vertical-type heat-treatment furnaces 16; even when two or more vertical-type furnaces 16 are used, the wafer 2 can be transferred efficiently between the individual furnaces 16.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for transporting semiconductor wafers housed in a cassette into a vertical heat treatment furnace, and transporting processed semiconductor wafers from the heat treatment furnace into the cassette.

(Prior art) The manufacture of semiconductor devices such as ICs involves an impurity diffusion process, a thermal oxidation process, and a CVD process (cheo+1cal vapor).
A heat treatment furnace is used for this heat treatment process. A plurality of semiconductor wafers to be heat-treated are placed in a row on a wafer boat made of quartz glass and introduced into a heat-treating furnace.

As mentioned above, heat treatment of semiconductor wafers involves the work of lining up the semiconductor wafers stored in the stocker in a wafer boat and setting them upright, and the work of taking the semiconductor wafers set up at ports into and out of the heat treatment furnace. Various operations are required, such as storing processed semiconductor wafers from a wafer boat in a stocker. In order to perform these operations automatically, an apparatus for automatically transferring wafers is used.

By the way, conventionally, the heat treatment furnace was installed horizontally! 2
Horizontal furnaces were generally used. However, recently, vertical furnaces in which the furnace body is vertically installed have come into use. The biggest reason for this is that a vertical furnace can significantly reduce the installation area of a clean room compared to a horizontal furnace. moreover.

Loading wafers into reaction tubes in a horizontal furnace requires advanced soft landing techniques to avoid contact with the reaction tube walls in a horizontal furnace.
In a vertical furnace, it can be carried in extremely easily by lifting it up from below the reaction tube.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) When a vertical furnace is used, the direction in which the semiconductor wafer to be processed is introduced into the furnace is vertical, unlike the horizontal direction in the case of a horizontal furnace. Therefore, the use of a vertical furnace requires different wafer transfer equipment than a horizontal furnace.

Furthermore, in the case of a vertical furnace, there is a tendency to use a plurality of furnaces in one production line, taking advantage of the advantage that the v1 loading volume is small. Therefore, there is a need for an efficient device for transferring semiconductor wafers to be processed between a plurality of installed vertical furnaces.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to transfer semiconductor wafers to and from a vertical heat treatment furnace, and even when a plurality of vertical furnaces are used, it is possible to transfer semiconductor wafers to and from a vertical heat treatment furnace. The present invention aims to provide a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus that can efficiently transfer semiconductor wafers.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a transfer means for transferring semiconductor wafers between a cassette containing wafers to be processed and a wafer boat; a transfer means for transporting the processed wafer boat between a transfer position and an installation position of one or more vertical heat treatment furnaces, and for transferring the wafer boat to and from the heat treatment furnace; and each of the heat treatment furnaces. A means for elevating and lowering the vehicle.

A semiconductor wafer processing apparatus is provided, comprising a lifting means for receiving the wafer boat from the transfer means, loading it into a vertically erected process tube, and pulling it out from the process tube. .

Further, the present invention provides a semiconductor wafer transfer means, characterized in that the transfer means is equipped with a transfer arm for gripping and transferring a semiconductor wafer held in a cassette or a wafer boat at a transfer position. A processing device is obtained.

Further, the present invention provides that the transfer means includes a track extending between the transfer position and the heat treatment furnace installation position, a carriage movably provided on the track, and a wafer boat holding and The present invention provides a patented wafer processing apparatus characterized in that it includes a handler provided on the carriage for transferring the wafer.

Furthermore, the present invention provides that the handler includes a direction changing means for changing the direction of the held wafer boat,
A semiconductor wafer characterized in that the wafer boat is transferred to and from the lifting means by holding the wafer boat in a vertical direction, and the wafer boat is transferred on a track by holding the wafer boat in a horizontal direction. A processing device is obtained.

(Operation and Effect) That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to simplify the transfer of semiconductor wafers to the vertical furnace and increase the transfer efficiency.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, one embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to one drawing.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus, and in the figure, 2... are semiconductor wafers.

A predetermined number of these semiconductor wafers 2 are stored in the cassette 4. Cassettes 4 containing wafers 2 are stored in a stocker 6.

16 is a vertical heat treatment furnace. This furnace is diffused.

Heat treatment furnace 16 that performs treatments such as oxidation, heating, CVD, etc.
A process tube 30 is installed vertically inside the tube. The bottom of the process tube 30 is provided with an inlet/outlet for inserting the semiconductor wafer 2 into the process tube 30 and pulling it out from the process tube. In order to perform this vertical insertion and withdrawal, the heat treatment furnace 16 is provided with a lifting mechanism 28.

The semiconductor wafer 2 is placed between the stocker 6 and the heat treatment furnace 16.
. . , the transfer device of this embodiment includes a first transfer mechanism 8 and a second transfer mechanism 20. The first transfer mechanism 8 moves from the position of the stocker 6 to the heat treatment furnace 1.
The vehicle includes a first track 10 extending in the direction of 6, and a carriage 12 slidably installed on the track 10. The carriage 12 transfers the cassette 4 to and from the stocker 6 and transports the cassette 4 on the track 10. For this purpose, the carriage 12 is equipped with a force set 4.
Four cassette holders 14 are attached to hold the cassettes.

At the end of the track 10 on the heat treatment furnace side, a waiting area 18 is provided in which the cassette 4 is placed on standby. In addition, the cassette 4 and the second transfer mechanism 2 in the standby area 18
A transfer mechanism 24 is provided to transfer the semiconductor wafer 2 to and from the semiconductor wafer 2.

This transfer mechanism 24 is slidably attached to the truck IO.

The second transfer mechanism 20 includes a second track 27 that extends from the standby area 18 to the front of the heat treatment furnace 16, and a carriage 26 that is slidably mounted on the track 27. There is. Also included is a wafer boat 22 for receiving and holding the semiconductor wafers 2 from the transfer mechanism 24. A ball screw is attached to the track 27, and the carriage 26 is moved from the standby area 18 to the front of the heat treatment furnace 16 by rotation of the ball screw. The carriage 26 is provided with a handler 25 for holding the wafer boat 22. Therefore, the wafer boat 22 is transported on the track 27 by the carriage 26.

At the location of the heat treatment furnace 16, a handler 25 and a lifting mechanism 28 are installed.
The wafer boat 22 is transferred between the wafer boat 22 and the wafer boat 22 .

When the wafer boat 22 is moved up and down inside the heat treatment furnace by the lifting mechanism 28, the wafer boat 22 is moved vertically. On the other hand, the wafer boat 22 being transported on the track 27 is held in a horizontal state. Therefore, when transferring the wafer boat 22 between the handler 25 and the lifting mechanism 28, an operation of rotating the wafer boat 22 by 90 degrees is included.

To perform this operation, the handler 25 is provided with a direction changing mechanism 42.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing more specifically the mechanism of the apparatus of the above embodiment. The operation of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus will be explained in more detail with reference to this figure.

First, four cassettes 4 containing a predetermined number of semiconductor wafers 2 are taken out from the stocker 6.

It is held in a cassette holder 14. Subsequently, the carriage 12 moves on the track 10 and transports the cassette to a waiting area 18. In the waiting area 18, the semiconductor wafers 2... are transferred to the second transfer mechanism 20 by the transfer mechanism 24 in the following manner.

The transfer mechanism 24 consists of a push-up device 32 and a pair of arms 34a, 34b that can be opened and closed by a pneumatic drive or an electric drive means.

The top and bottom surfaces of the cassette 4 are open, and the semiconductor wafer 2 is held in a locked state on the side wall of the cassette 4. As shown in FIG. 2, a pushing up mechanism 32 is provided in the waiting area 18, and this pushing up mechanism 32 pushes up the semiconductor wafers 2 one by one or in batches of 25 from the open bottom surface of the cassette 4. The semiconductor wafer 2 pushed out of the cassette 4 is moved by the arm 34a,
34b and is placed upright on the wafer boat 22. In order to perform this transfer operation, the gripping arm 34
a and 34b are also movable in the direction across the track 10 and in the vertical direction.

Note that since the semiconductor wafers 2 are provided with an orientation flat (notch), it is necessary to align the semiconductor wafers 2 in the cassette 4 in order to perform the above transfer. For this purpose, a rotating roller 36 is provided in the waiting area 18. Semiconductor wafers stored with their orientation flats facing downward do not protrude from the bottom of the cassette 4, but other semiconductor wafers 2 do protrude from the bottom of the cassette 4. Therefore, at the bottom of the cassette 4, the roller 36
By rotating the cassette 4, the semiconductor wafer protruding from the bottom surface is rotated until its orientation flat is at the bottom surface of the cassette 4.

As a result, all the semiconductor wafers 2 .

In the above transfer operation, the semiconductor wafer 2...
The wafer boat 22 receiving the wafer is held by a holding mechanism 38 provided between the first transfer mechanism 8 and the second transfer mechanism 20. After the transfer is completed, the handler 25 receives the wafer boat 22 from the holding mechanism 38, so that
Transfer of the semiconductor wafer from the first transfer mechanism 8 to the second transfer mechanism 20 is completed. Note that semiconductor wafer 2
The transfer can also be performed while the wafer boat 22 is held by the handler 25. In that case, the holding mechanism 38 is not required.

Next, by moving the carriage 26 on the track 27, the wafer boat 22 is transported to the front of the heat treatment furnace 16. The direction changing mechanism 42 is now activated, causing the handler 25 to rotate in the vertical plane. As a result, the wafer boat 22 is rotated as shown by the arrow in the figure, changing its direction in the vertical direction. Subsequently, the vertically oriented wafer boat 22 is moved from the handler 25 to the elevator n2 of the heat treatment furnace 16.
Passed to 8. The wafer boat 2 is moved by the lifting mechanism 28.
2 is introduced into the process tube 30 from an inlet/outlet provided at the bottom thereof.

It is lifted up and loaded into a predetermined heat treatment position. The semiconductor wafer 2 loaded into the process tube 30 in this way...
- is subjected to prescribed heat treatment such as impurity diffusion.

After the heat treatment is completed, the processed semiconductor wafers 2 are stored in the stocker 6 through the reverse route to that described above.

First, the wafer boat 22 is pulled out of the process tube by the lifting mechanism 28 and delivered to the handler 25. Subsequently, after the wafer boat 22 was turned horizontally,
The semiconductor wafer 2 is transported to a transfer position. Here, the wafer boat 22 is transferred from the handler 25 to the holding mechanism 3.
Passed to 8. A second push-up mechanism 40 is provided here, and by this push-up mechanism, the semiconductor wafers 2 standing on the wafer boat 22 are removed from the wafer boat 22 one by one or every 25 wafers. ,
pushed upwards. The pushed-up semiconductor wafer 2 is gripped by the arms 34a and 34b and stored in the cassette 4 in the standby area 18. thus,
All the semiconductor wafers 2 . . . placed upright on the wafer boat 22 are stored in four cassettes 4, and the cassettes containing processed semiconductor wafers 2 .

It is transported on the first truck 10 and stored in the stocker 6.

As explained above, according to the transfer device of the above embodiment,
The semiconductor wafers 2 stored in the cassette 4 in the stocker can be automatically loaded into the process tube 30 of the vertical heat treatment furnace 16. Further, it is also possible to automatically take out the processed semiconductor wafers 2 from the process tube 30, store them in a cassette, and store them in the stocker 6.

The present invention is applicable not only to a production line using only one heat treatment furnace 16 as in the above embodiment, but also to a production line using a plurality of heat treatment furnaces 16 as shown in FIG. can do. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, four vertical heat treatment furnaces 16 are used as shown, and the track 27 of the second transfer mechanism 20 extends in front of each heat treatment furnace 16.

The rest of the structure is the same as the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the semiconductor wafers 2 can be transferred to and from the respective heat treatment furnaces 16 by the same operations as described above. As described above, it is a great advantage of the transfer apparatus according to the present invention that it can be applied to a production line using a plurality of vertical heat treatment furnaces.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the transfer of semiconductor wafers to the vertical furnace can be simplified and the transfer efficiency can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus for explaining one embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the transfer mechanism of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an illustration of another embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. It is a diagram.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A transfer means for transferring semiconductor wafers between a cassette in which a wafer to be processed is stored and a wafer boat, and a wafer boat on which the semiconductor wafer to be processed is mounted is set to a transfer position. A transfer means for transporting the wafer boat between installation positions of one or more vertical heat treatment furnaces and transferring the wafer boat to and from the heat treatment furnace, and a lifting means provided in each of the treatment furnaces, A semiconductor wafer processing apparatus comprising a lifting means for receiving the wafer boat from the transfer means, loading it into a vertically erected process tube, and pulling it out from the process tube. (2) The transfer means includes a push-up means for pushing out the semiconductor wafer held in the cassette or wafer boat at the transfer position from below, and a transfer means for grasping and transferring the pushed-out semiconductor wafer. 2. The semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a changeover arm. (3) The transfer means includes a track extending between the transfer position and the heat treatment furnace installation position, a carriage movable on the track, and holding and delivering the wafer boat. 2. The semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a handler provided on said carriage for performing said processing. (4) The handler is equipped with a direction change means for changing the direction of the held wafer boat, and the wafer boat is transferred to and from the lifting means by holding the wafer boat in a vertical direction, and the wafer boat is held vertically on the track. 4. The semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the wafer boat is transported by holding the wafer boat in a horizontal direction.