JPH0221630A - Wafer cassette replacing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save manhour and prevent the generation of foreign matters by a method wherein, when exposure of all wafers are finished, a controller replaces the wafer cassette position of supply side for that of collection side, and at the same time, automatically replaces masks, too. CONSTITUTION:After the exposure of all wafers in a load cassette 30 is finished, and all of the wafers are accommodated in an unload cassette 32, the load cassette 30 moves in the direction shown by an arrow 50. On the other hand, the unload cassette 32 moves in the direction shown by an arrow 51. Each of them is moved by a linear motor 34. When all of the patterns A of an A- mask 4 have been transferred on a wafer 31, an index motor 77 rotates in the direction shown by an arrow 78 according to an order from a controller 76, and a B-mask 20 is positioned at an exposure position by rotating a rotary plate 75 by 180 deg.C. The controller 76 controls linear motors 34, 36 and makes them automatically transfer each cassette to a specified position.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a wafer cassette changing device, and particularly to a wafer cassette changing device that automatically changes wafer cassettes containing wafers in semiconductor manufacturing equipment that exposes mask patterns onto semiconductor wafers. The present invention relates to a wafer cassette exchange device suitable for exposing different types of patterns on the same wafer by exchanging the wafer cassettes.

[Conventional technology]

Regarding conventional technology, see Hitachi Review VOL, 65Nα7 (
1983-7), page 466.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are schematic diagrams of a conventional exposure apparatus. Exposure light 2 emitted from the exposure mercury lamp 1 is condensed by a condenser lens 3 and irradiates the A pattern 7 of the A mask 4 . The exposure light 2 transmitted through the mask 4 is transmitted through the projection lens 5
The A pattern 7 of the mask 4 is imaged onto the wafer 6. After the knee harrow is pulled out from the load cassette (C1) 8 by the load belt 9, it is
It is transferred onto the Y stage 11. After exposure, the wafer 6 is transferred to an unload cassette (
C2) It is stored in 13. FIG. 10 shows a state where the A pattern 7 is exposed on the right half of the wafer 6. As shown in FIG.

Next, on the left half of the wafer 6, as shown in FIG.
To expose the turn, as shown in FIG. 9, replace the A mask 4 with the B mask 20,
is placed in the position of the unload cassette 13, and the unload cassette 13 is placed in the position of the load cassette 8 by hand. On the other hand, the mask was replaced manually by an operator using a key from the operation panel after the wafer cassette was replaced. Therefore, a great deal of effort was required.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned conventional technology, it is necessary to obtain a load cassette and an unload cassette to replace their positions, and when the cassette is replaced, foreign matter (dust) is generated, which may contaminate the wafer.

The purpose of the present invention is to be able to automatically change the position of the cassette without any manual effort, thereby saving labor and preventing the generation of foreign matter.On the other hand, it is possible to automatically replace the mask when replacing the wafer cassette. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a wafer cassette exchange device that can be used for changing wafer cassettes.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is to arrange a pair of supply-side wafer cassettes containing a plurality of semiconductor wafers and an empty collection-side wafer cassette for collecting wafers that have completed the baking process. This is achieved by providing a controller that receives a signal and automatically switches the positions of the supply side and recovery side wafer cassettes 1- alternately to expose different circuit patterns on the same wafer.

Additionally, the controller automatically replaced the mask after all wafers were exposed.

[Effect]

The lower surface of the wafer stored in the supply side (load) wafer cassette is attracted by load vacuum tweezers, and the wafer is transferred onto the XY stage. The XY stage is
Repeat step exposure.

A mask pattern is exposed on the required area on the wafer surface.

The exposed wafer is adsorbed and stored in a recovery side (unload) wafer cassette by unload vacuum tweezers. This operation is performed for all wafers stored in the supply side wafer cassette. When all wafers have been exposed.

Naturally, the supply side wafer cassette becomes empty. On the other hand, the recovery side wafer cassette becomes full of wafers.

At this time, the controller moves the supply-side wafer cassette and the recovery-side wafer cassette on the rolls in opposite directions, swaps the positions of the supply-side and recovery-side wafer cassettes, and transfers the recovery-side wafer cassette to the supply-side wafer cassette. Since the wafer cassette on the supply side is used as the wafer cassette on the recovery side, and the mask is automatically replaced at the same time, it is possible to save labor and prevent the generation of foreign matter.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the wafer cassette exchanging device of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 5 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the present invention.
Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the wafer tweezers section, and Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the wafer tweezers section.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a moving mechanism section of the wafer cassette shown in the figure.

In FIG. 2, a load cassette 30 houses a wafer 31 to be exposed. Unload cassette 32
are installed on the opposite side of the load cassette 30, and each cassette 30, 32 can be moved left and right on the load cassette rail 33 or the unload cassette rail 41 by a linear motor 34, as shown in FIG. It has become. In FIG. 2, the lower surface of the wafer 31 in the load cassette 30 is sucked by the load vacuum tweezers 35, and as shown in FIG. The wafer 31 is transferred to the upper wafer chuck. The state in which the wafer 31 is transferred onto the wafer chuck is shown by the dashed line in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wafer 31 on the XY stage 38 performs a step operation in the XY force direction by driving the X servo motor 70 and the X ball screw 71, and the Y servo motor 72 and the Y ball screw 73. The upper A pattern 7 is exposed onto the wafer 31.

The wafer 31 that has been exposed is exposed as shown in FIG.
The unloading rail 40 moves to the unloading side and is attracted to the unloading vacuum tweezers 39 waiting here.
and is discharged to the unload cassette 32.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3, when all the wafers in the load cassette 30 have been exposed and stored in the unload cassette 32, the load cassette 3o moves in the direction of the arrow 50, as shown in FIG. do.

On the other hand, the unload cassette 32 moves in the direction of the arrow 51. Each movement is performed by a linear motor 3 shown in FIG.
It will be held at 4. The wafer 31 in the unload cassette 32 shown in FIG. 4 is sucked by the load vacuum tweezers 35 and transferred onto the XY stage 38 in the same manner as described above. The unloading force set 32 at this time operates in the same manner as the loading cassette 30 in FIG. 3, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 4. The xY stage 38 performs a step operation to expose eight patterns of the B mask 2o. The wafer 31 that has been exposed moves to the unload side. This state is shown in FIG.

Next, it is adsorbed by the unloading vacuum tweezers 39 waiting on the unloading side and is discharged to the loading cassette 30 which is in the state of an unloading cassette. When all the wafers in the unload cassette 32, which is in the load cassette state, have been exposed, the lot processing ends.

At this point, the A pattern and B pattern have been exposed on the wafer. Each stage of the wafer cassette shelves is processed by an elevator mechanism shown in FIG. The height of the unloading vacuum tweezers 39 is controlled in the direction of the arrow 63 by moving the reeling line 61 of the elevator motor 60 up and down. The vertical guidance is performed by a guide rod 62.

Next, mask replacement will be explained with reference to FIG.

The A mask 4 and the B mask 20 are mounted on a rotary plate 75, and when all the A patterns of the A mask 4 have been exposed onto the wafer 31, the index motor 77 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 78 according to a command from the controller 76. Then, the rotating plate 75 is rotated 180 degrees to position the B mask 20 at the exposure position. In addition, the controller 76 is connected to the near motor 3.
4 and 36 to automatically move each cassette to a predetermined position.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention as described above, when manufacturing an LSI for integrated circuits, it is necessary to expose a wide variety of ICs within one semiconductor wafer, but it is not necessary to expose a wide variety of ICs to light in a single semiconductor wafer. There is no need to manually replace the wafer cassettes on the supply side and recovery side each time a mask is changed, which saves labor and also minimizes the generation of foreign matter (dust) since no human intervention is required.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the wafer cassette exchanging device of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 5 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the present invention.
Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the wafer tweezers section, and Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the wafer tweezers section.
8 and 9 are schematic diagrams of the prior art, and FIG.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which a pattern has been exposed on the molding part. 4... A mask, 2o... B mask, 30... Load cassette, 31... Wafer, 32... Unload cassette, 33.41... Cassette rail, 34
．． 35...Load vacuum tweezers, 36...Linear motor, 37...Load rail, 38...xy stage, 39...Unload vacuum tweezers, 40...
・Unload rail, 60...Elevator motor, 6
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Reeling yarn, 62... Guide rod, 75... Rotating plate, 76... Controller, 77... Index motor. vOjl ward γ'/-'zu shift. 17th Section 7-B No. 11i-Fig. 2nd Prisoner 2nd Prisoner I

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an exposure apparatus that prints a mask pattern on a semiconductor wafer, a supply wafer cassette containing a plurality of semiconductor wafers and an empty collection wafer cassette for collecting wafers after the baking process are provided. Once all the wafers in the supply-side wafer cassette are exposed, the supply-side and collection-side wafer cassettes are automatically swapped alternately in response to the signal, and another circuit pattern is printed on the same wafer. A wafer cassette exchange device characterized by being provided with a controller for exposing. 2. The wafer cassette exchange apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller automatically exchanges the next exposed mask pattern at the same time when exchanging the positions of the wafer cassettes on the supply side and the recovery side.