JPH02229983A - Vacuum device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable independent application of purge processing on each vacuum chamber by a method wherein a plurality of purge valves and a plurality of slow purge valves, through which a plurality of vacuum chambers are respectively communicated to a gas source, are provided, and a plurality of flow rate regulators are communicated to the respective slow purge valves. CONSTITUTION:A vacuum chamber 1 to contain a semiconductor wafer to be processed is communicated to a vacuum chamber 2 to contain a semiconductor wafer through a gas source 3 for purge and purge valves 4 and 5. The vacuum chambers 1 and 2 are communicated to the gas source 3 in a state that slow purge valves 8 and 9 and flow rate regulators 71 and 72, connected to the respective slow purge valves, are located in series therebetween. Since, as noted above, purge processing is independently applied on the vacuum chambers 1 and 2 by a flow rate regulator for an exclusive use at each slow purge valve, a flow rate is held within a given value, a semiconductor wafer is prevented from contamination, and a processing time is also shortened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a vacuum apparatus for processing semiconductor wafers, particularly to its purge piping.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional vacuum device.

In the figure, (1) is vacuum chamber A that accommodates semiconductor wafers to be processed, (2) is vacuum chamber B that accommodates semiconductor wafer 1 after processing, and (3) is a purge gas source for each vacuum chamber. (1) (2) A gas is sealed inside each vacuum chamber (1) (2) for purging to return the interior from a vacuum state to an atmospheric pressure state. (4) and (5) are the purge gas source (
3) and vacuum chamber A (1) and vacuum chamber B (2) respectively.
(7) is a flow rate regulator whose one end communicates with the purge gas source (3), (8) and (9) are flow rate regulators. Vessel (7
) and the other end of vacuum chamber A (1) and vacuum chamber B (
2) is a slow purge valve inserted in the middle of piping Q0 that communicates with

Next, the operation will be explained. Now both vacuum chambers (1) (2
) are both in a vacuum state, and consider the case where they are sequentially returned to an atmospheric pressure state. Initially, there is a large pressure difference between the inside of the vacuum chamber A (1) and the purge gas source (3), so first open the slow purge valve (8) and gradually introduce gas into the vacuum chamber A ( 1) Send it inside. The flow rate regulator (7) is capable of adjusting its fluid resistance as appropriate, and suppresses the gas flow rate within a predetermined flow rate range. By this, vacuum chamber A
(1) This prevents the gas flow flowing into the chamber from rapidly increasing and blowing up dust and the like from contaminating the semiconductor wafers contained therein.

When a predetermined time has elapsed and the pressure difference becomes smaller, the slow purge valve (8) is closed and the purge valve (4) is opened.

Then, when the pressure inside the vacuum chamber A (1) becomes equal to atmospheric pressure, the purge valve (4) is also closed.

Next, vacuum chamber B (2) is returned to atmospheric pressure from the vacuum state. In the same manner as vacuum chamber A (1), first open the slow purge valve (9), and after a predetermined period of time, the slow purge valve (9) is opened. Close the purge valve (9) and open the purge valve (5), and after reaching atmospheric pressure, close the purge valve (5) as well.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Since the conventional vacuum apparatus is configured as described above, for example, when the slow purge valve (8) is opened to purge the inside of the vacuum chamber A (1), the purge inside the vacuum chamber B (2) can be started. If the slow purge valve (9) is newly enclosed when trying to start, if the pressure in vacuum chamber A (1) is higher than the pressure in vacuum chamber B (2), the pressure will be removed from vacuum chamber A (1) to vacuum chamber B. Gas rapidly flows toward (2).

For this reason, there is a problem in that slow purge does not occur and the flow rate exceeds a predetermined flow rate range, and dust and the like fly up inside the vacuum chamber B(2), contaminating the semiconductor wafer after processing. In addition, to prevent this, it is necessary to start processing vacuum chamber B (2) after purging of vacuum chamber A (1) is completed, which increases the overall processing time, etc. There was a problem.

The object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum apparatus capable of independently purging each vacuum chamber without causing costs such as contamination of semiconductor wafers.

[Means to solve the problem]

The vacuum device according to the present invention includes a plurality of flow rate regulators,
These are connected to each slow purge valve.

[Effect]

Even if the slow purge valves are opened at the same time when the internal pressures of the vacuum chambers are different, each vacuum chamber is connected to the purge gas source through its own dedicated flow rate regulator, so there will be a pressure difference. Vacuum chambers do not communicate directly with each other. Therefore, a sudden flow of gas from a high pressure vacuum chamber to a low pressure vacuum chamber does not occur.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1st
In the figure, what is different from the conventional one in Figure 2 is the flow Jl.
This is a piping circuit for a slow purge valve (8 bars and 9) including a regulator. That is, in this example, there are two streams! The flow regulator n@ is connected in series with the slow purge valve (8) between the vacuum chamber A (1) and the purge gas source (3), and the flow regulator @ is connected in series between the vacuum chamber A (1) and the purge gas source (3). It is inserted in series with the slow purge valve (9) between the vacuum chamber B (2) and the purge gas source (3).

Next, the operation will be explained. After the purge process of vacuum chamber A (1) is completed, the operation for starting the process of vacuum chamber B (2) is the same as the conventional method and there is no problem at all, so a description thereof will be omitted.

Therefore, during the purging process of vacuum chamber A(1), vacuum chamber B(
The operation when starting the process 2) will be described below. That is, the slow purge valve (8) is surrounded by a flow rate regulator (
Suppose that at the stage when gas is being gradually fed into the vacuum chamber A (1) through c), the slow purge valve (9) is further opened to start purging of the vacuum chamber B (2).

However, in this case, even if there is a large difference between the pressure in vacuum chamber A (1) and the pressure in vacuum chamber B (2), the flow rate of gas flowing into vacuum chamber B (2) is controlled by the flow controller. Of course, the flow rate of gas flowing into the vacuum chamber A(1) is determined only by the flow rate regulator (c), and both fall within a predetermined flow rate range.

In this way, each of the vacuum chambers (1) and (2) can proceed with its own purge process independently of the processing steps of the other vacuum chamber, and even with this, semiconductor wafer No problems such as contamination will occur.

Note that although the above embodiment has been described with reference to a case in which there are two vacuum chambers, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case in which three or more vacuum chambers are provided.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in this invention, a dedicated flow rate regulator is provided for each slow purge valve, so even if each vacuum chamber is purged at the same time, the gas flow flowing into each vacuum chamber is controlled by each dedicated flow rate regulator. Since the flow rate is kept within a predetermined range by the flow rate regulator, problems such as contamination of semiconductor wafers due to a sudden increase in the flow rate of the inflowing gas do not occur, and the processing time of the apparatus can also be shortened.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a vacuum apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional vacuum apparatus. In the figure, (1) is vacuum chamber A, (2) is vacuum chamber B, (
3) is the purge gas source, (4) (5) is the purge valve, (
8 bar 9) is a slow purge valve, and 0 (own) is a flow rate regulator. In each figure, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts. To N, to Tsukiju,

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A plurality of vacuum chambers that house semiconductor wafers, a purge gas source that fills a purge gas that is sent into the vacuum chambers and returns the vacuum chambers from a vacuum state to an atmospheric pressure state, respectively. a plurality of purge valves, one end of which communicates with each of the vacuum chambers and the other end of each of which communicates with the purge gas source; one end of each of which communicates with each of the vacuum chambers, and the other end of which communicates with each of the vacuum chambers, and the other end communicates with each of the vacuum chambers through a flow rate regulator; A device comprising a plurality of slow purge valves communicating with the purge gas source, and purging within a predetermined flow rate range by sequentially operating both of the valves, comprising a plurality of the flow rate regulators, each of which is connected to the A vacuum device characterized by communicating with each slow purge valve.