JPH01293516A - Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time necessary for evacuation of a load lock chamber and improve the throughput by a method wherein the supporter of a receptacle is divided into a plurality of supporting parts to provide spaces between the lower surface of a work and a base through which gas can be circulated. CONSTITUTION:In a semiconductor manufacture apparatus, a work 17 is loaded into the unloaded from a vacuum chamber through a load lock chamber 11. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus has a receptacle 13 which is provided in the load lock chamber 11 and supports the work 17 above its base 14 with a supporter 15 protruding from the base 14. The supporter 15 of the receptacle 13 is divided into a plurality of supporting parts to provide spaces at least between the lower surface of the work 17 and the base 14 through which gas can be circulated. A part of the gas in the load lock chamber 11 is exhausted through those spaces. For instance, the receptacle 13 is composed of the disc type base 14 and the supporter 15 divided into three parts which protrude a little above the base 14.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

(Prior Art) Generally, some semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses used for manufacturing integrated circuit devices and the like process objects to be processed, such as semiconductor wafers, in a vacuum chamber. In such semiconductor manufacturing equipment, when loading and unloading objects to be processed into a vacuum chamber, the pressure inside the vacuum chamber is returned to normal pressure, and then the inside of the vacuum chamber is brought back to a high vacuum until it is ready for processing. It takes a very long time. For this reason, many of them are equipped with a load-lock chamber whose volume is much smaller than that of a vacuum chamber, and many of them are configured to load and unload the workpiece into the vacuum chamber via the load-lock chamber.

5 and 6 show an example of a load lock chamber of such a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and an exhaust line 2 is connected to the side of the load lock chamber 1 formed in a cylindrical shape. In the load lock chamber 1, a pedestal 3 is arranged.

The pedestal 3 is placed on a disc-shaped base 4 with a U shape that protrudes.
A character-shaped support portion 5 is provided. Further, a planar support surface 5a for supporting a semi-circular semiconductor wafer is formed on the upper side of the support portion 5, and the peripheral edge of the support surface 5a has an angle of about 5 to 45 degrees, for example. A taber guide 5b is formed that inclines inward at a predetermined angle.

Further, an elliptical opening 6 is formed approximately in the center of the base 4, and the presence or absence of a semiconductor wafer is detected through this opening 6 using, for example, an optical sensor.

Note that when a semiconductor wafer is placed on the support surface 5a of the support section 5, a gap is formed between the semiconductor wafer and the base 4, but this is due to the clearance of the arm and fork for transporting the semiconductor wafer. It is a gap for That is, the gap formed in the region A of the inner part of the U-shaped support part 5 is a gap for the escape of the transport arm, and the gap formed in the area A of the inner part of the U-shaped support part 5
The gap formed in regions B and C of the outer part of the parallel part of is,
This is the gap for the escape of the transport fork.

In such a load lock chamber 1, the pedestal 3 is often formed by cutting, for example, two aluminum plates. This is because, for example, if the pedestal 3 has many joints made by welding or screwing, air etc. will enter the gaps between these joints, and the evacuation time required to create a high vacuum in the load lock chamber 1 will increase. It's for a reason. Similarly, in order to shorten the evacuation time, the volume of the pedestal 3 is not reduced by reducing the cutting portion of the pedestal 3 as much as possible, except for the gaps required for escape of the arm and fork for transferring semiconductor wafers. As a result, efforts have been made to reduce the volume of the gap within the load lock chamber 1.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in recent years, in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, it has been desired to further shorten the time required for exhausting the load lock chamber and improve throughput. In particular, in ion implantation equipment that implants ions by scanning and irradiating a semiconductor wafer with an ion beam, the actual time to irradiate the semiconductor wafer with the ion beam is very short, for example, about 10 seconds.
The time required to load and unload a semiconductor wafer has a large effect on its throughput.

The present invention has been made in response to such conventional circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that can shorten the time required for exhausting the load lock chamber and improve throughput compared to the prior art. That is.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) That is, the present invention is a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a workpiece is loaded and unloaded into a vacuum chamber via a load-lock chamber and processed. In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including a pedestal placed in a load lock chamber and supporting the workpiece on the pedestal by a support part provided so as to protrude from the pedestal, the light beam is transmitted to a plurality of supporting parts of the pedestal. By dividing and forming the load lock chamber, a gap is provided between at least the lower surface of the object to be processed and the base to allow gas to flow, and a part of the gas in the load lock chamber is discharged through the gap. It is characterized by being configured so that

(Function) As mentioned above, in conventional semiconductor manufacturing equipment, in order to reduce the volume of the void in the load lock chamber, efforts are made to make the shape of the pedestal into a shape with as few cutting parts as possible and to shorten the exhaust time. It has been done. However, if the shape of the pedestal is made into such a shape, the air in the gap (region B shown in FIG. 5) formed on the opposite side of the exhaust line for the escape of the transport fork, for example, will be absorbed by the support part. This will block the air and make it difficult to eject, causing a longer evacuation time.

In the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the supporting part of the pedestal is divided into a plurality of parts, thereby creating a gap that allows gas to flow between at least the lower surface of the workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer and the base. It is being

Therefore, a part of the gas in the load lock chamber is discharged through this gap unobstructed by the support,
The time required to exhaust the air inside the load lock chamber can be shortened compared to the conventional method.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention is applied to ion implantation i will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

The cylindrical load-lock chamber 11 is connected to a vacuum chamber of an ion implanter (not shown) via a shutter mechanism (not shown).

Further, an exhaust line 12 is connected to the side of the load lock chamber 11, and inside the load lock chamber 11, for example, -
A pedestal 13 is disposed, which is formed by cutting a piece of aluminum plate or the like.

The pedestal 13 includes a disc-shaped base 14 and a disc-shaped base 14.
The support part 15 is divided into a plurality of parts, for example, three parts, so as to protrude upward by a slight height. That is, the pedestal 13 has a structure in which a single semiconductor wafer is supported by divided support parts 15. Further, on the upper side of these support parts 15, planar support surfaces 15a for supporting the peripheral edges of the roughly circular semiconductor ueno\ are formed, and the peripheral edges of the support surfaces 15a have, for example, 5-4
Taber guides 15b are formed which are inclined inward at a predetermined angle of about 5 degrees. Further, an oval opening 16 is formed approximately in the center of the base 14, and the presence or absence of a semiconductor wafer is detected through this opening 16 by, for example, an optical sensor.

Note that, as shown in FIG. 2, the support surface 15a of the support portion 15
When the semiconductor wafer 17 is placed on the base 14, a gap is formed between the semiconductor wafer 17 and the base 14, and this is a gap for the arm and fork for transporting the semiconductor wafer 17 to escape. .

That is, similar to the conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus described above, the gap formed in area A is a gap for the escape of the transport arm, and the gap formed in area BSC is for the escape of the transport fork. This is the gap between

Furthermore, the gaps formed between the regions A and BSC are communicated with each other by a gap formed between the supporting parts 15.

In this embodiment with the above configuration, the vacuum chamber and the load lock chamber 11 are hermetically isolated by the shutter mechanism, and
For example, the semiconductor wafer 17 is inserted into a predetermined position above the pedestal 13 using a fork of a transport device. Then, by raising the pedestal 13 or lowering the fork, the semiconductor wafer 17 is transferred from the fork to the support surface 15a of the support section 15.

Thereafter, the exhaust line 12 is evacuated, and the inside of the load lock chamber 11 is evacuated to a predetermined pressure, for example, about 10-7 Torr. At this time, as described above, a gap is formed between the semiconductor wafer 17 and the base 14 so as to communicate the area A and the BSC. The gas is discharged from the exhaust line 12 through the gap as shown by the arrow.

When the pressure inside the load lock chamber 11 reaches the above-mentioned predetermined pressure, the shutter mechanism is opened, the semiconductor wafer 17 is transferred to a platen in the vacuum chamber by, for example, a transfer arm, and the ion beam is scanned and irradiated to remove ions. inject.

That is, in this embodiment described above, by dividing the supporting portion 15 of the pedestal 13 into a plurality of parts, a gap is formed between the lower surface of the semiconductor window 117 and the base 14 to allow gas to flow therethrough. ing.

Therefore, the volume of the gap in the load lock chamber 11 increases compared to the conventional case, but as described above, the exhaust line 12
Air in a region far from the main body, for example in region B, is quickly discharged through this gap without being blocked by the support portion 15 as in the conventional case.

Therefore, the time required to evacuate the load lock chamber 11 can be shortened compared to the prior art, and the throughput can be improved.

In the above embodiment, when processing semiconductor wafers 17 with different diameters, it is necessary to replace the pedestal 13. For example, as shown in FIG.
5, a support surface 15a and a tapered guide 15b are provided in a stepped manner.
By forming this, it becomes possible to process a plurality of types of semiconductor wafers 17 having different diameters without replacing the pedestal 13.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the time required for exhausting the load lock chamber can be shortened compared to the conventional method, and the throughput can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a top view showing the main part configuration of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an ion implantation device, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line GG in FIG. 1,
3 is a perspective view of the pedestal shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a modification of the support part shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a top view showing the main part configuration of a conventional ion implantation device. , Figure 6 is F in Figure 5.
-F sectional view. 11... Load lock chamber, ]2... Exhaust line, 13... cradle, 14...
Base, 15...Support part, 15a...Support surface, 15b...Taber guide, 16...
...Opening, 17...Semiconductor wafer. Applicant Chiru Parian Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Sasa Suyama - No. 22 5b Fig. 3 > g 42 Fig. 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that loads and unloads a workpiece into a vacuum chamber via a loadlock chamber and processes the workpiece, the apparatus being disposed within the loadlock chamber and protruding from a base. In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including a pedestal that supports the workpiece on a base by a support part, the support part of the pedestal is divided into a plurality of parts, so that at least the lower surface of the workpiece and the A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus characterized in that a gap is provided between the base and the base to allow gas to flow, and a part of the gas in the load lock chamber is discharged through the gap.