JPH0249718Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial field of application The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer transfer device, and more specifically, to a device that is used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and transfers multiple semiconductor wafers at once between a carrier and a boat. be.

Background Art Semiconductor devices are manufactured using semiconductor wafers (hereinafter simply referred to as wafers) on which a large number of semiconductor elements are formed.
This is done by processing in various processing steps. Among these various processing steps, for example, in the heat treatment step such as impurity diffusion, only one side of the wafer is processed, so as shown in FIG. A back-to-back method is used, in which two sheets are placed on top of a boat, their backs touching each other, and then held at a fixed pitch slightly tilted to maintain alignment. During the heat treatment process using this back-to-back method and between the processes before and after it, two wafer-dedicated holders are used to store multiple wafers 1, 1, etc. one by one at a fixed pitch with their surfaces facing the same direction. A frame-shaped Teflon carrier 3 as shown in Fig. 15 is arranged and stored in the grooves 2, 2..., and a plurality of wafers 1, 1... are placed two by two with their back surfaces in close contact with each other. wafer holding grooves 4, 4
A raft-shaped quartz glass boat 5 as shown in FIG.
It is necessary to transfer the wafers 1, 1, . . . , all at once.

Back to between carrier 3 and boat 5 above
Wafer transfer using the Back method is carried out using a holder 8 placed between a carrier base 6 and a boat base 7 on which the carrier 3 and boat 5 are positioned and placed, as shown in FIG. The wafers 1, 1, . . . are brought into close contact or separated by changing their alignment, and then loaded or unloaded onto an empty boat 5 or carrier 3.

The wafers are transferred from the carrier 3 or boat 5 to the holder 8 by pushers 9 and 10 provided below the carrier base 6 and boat base 7 so as to be movable up and down, respectively. On the upper surface of the pushers 9 and 10, there are shown figures 18 and 20.
As shown in the figure, a plurality of wafer receiving grooves 11, 11
. . . 12, 12 . . . are carved at regular pitches along the wafer alignment direction in the carrier 3 and boat 5. The wafer receiving grooves 11, 11, . . . , 12, 12, . As shown in FIG. 20, the wafers 1, 1... on the boat 5 are held in a slightly tilted state with respect to the boat 5, so the upright direction and pusher of the wafers 1, 1... 10, the boat base 7 is arranged to be inclined in the opposite direction to the wafer tilting direction, so that the wafers 1, 1 on the boat 5 can be held upright with respect to the pusher 10. .

During wafer loading or unloading, the holder 8 is transferred from the carrier 3 or boat 5.
To transfer the wafer to the carrier base 6 or the boat base 7, move the carrier base 6 or the boat base 7 below the holder 8, raise the pushers 9 and 10, and push up the pushers 9 and 10 to move the carrier base 6 or the boat base 7 onto the carrier 3 or the boat 5. Once the wafers 1, 1... are placed in the wafer receiving grooves 11, 11... 12 of the pushers 9, 10,
12..., further transferred to holder 8, and held in alignment in this holder 8.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention By the way, in the conventional semiconductor wafer reloading apparatus, when transferring the wafers 1, 1, . ，
1... are being transported in a state where they are kept aligned. The pushers 9, 10 have a groove width W ₁ so that the wafers 1, 1... can easily fit into the wafer receiving grooves 11, 11...12, 12... as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20. , W ₂ to wafer 1, 1...
(the thickness of one wafer on the carrier side and the thickness of two wafers on the boat side) must be set slightly larger than w ₁ and w ₂ . Therefore, the wafers 1, 1, . . . are not held upright within the wafer receiving grooves 11, 11, 12, 12, . Incidentally, in order to prevent the alignment direction of the wafers 1, 1, . In this way, even if the wafers 1, 1... are tilted at a small angle, if the positional deviation at the upper edge of the wafers 1, 1... becomes large due to this, the wafers 1, 1... 1...
There was a problem in that the upper edge of the wafer 8 did not fit smoothly into the guide groove (not shown) of the holder 8 and got caught, causing damage to the wafers 1, 1, . . . .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor wafer reloading apparatus that solves the above-mentioned problems using the simplest possible means.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention was proposed in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it holds a plurality of wafers aligned at a fixed pitch, and is carried out from a carrier or boat tilted along the wafer alignment direction. , is a device for transferring wafers all at once to a holder disposed above the holder by pushing up a pusher, and the upper surface of the pusher has a plurality of wafer receiving grooves for holding the wafers aligned at regular pitches. This is a semiconductor wafer stand-up device that achieves the above object by inclining the wafer at a slight angle in the opposite direction to the direction in which the wafer is tilted due to the inclination of the carrier and boat.

Effect According to the present invention, since the wafer receiving groove of the pusher is inclined at a slight angle in the opposite direction to the direction in which the wafer is tilted due to the inclination of the carrier and boat, the wafer receiving groove of the pusher is The wafer that has been inserted into the pusher is held in alignment in an upright position on the upper surface of the pusher and transferred to the holder.

Embodiment An embodiment of the semiconductor wafer reloading apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13. In addition, FIGS. 1 and 2, FIGS. 3 and 4 show the shape of the wafer receiving groove of the pusher in the carrier section and the boat section, and FIGS. 5 to 7, 8 and 9
The figure shows the carrier section of the semiconductor wafer advance equipment mentioned above.
10 to 13 show the overall structure of the semiconductor wafer reloading apparatus.

The semiconductor wafer reloading device 15 shown in FIGS. 10 to 13 stores a plurality of wafers 1, 1, . A carrier section 17 includes a horizontally movable carrier base 16 on which a frame-shaped Teflon carrier 3 (see FIG. 15) is positioned and mounted, and a plurality of wafers 1, 1...
A raft-shaped quartz glass boat 5 (see Fig. 16) holds the wafers in two wafer holding grooves 4, 4, slightly tilted and aligned at a fixed pitch with their back sides closely touching each other. has a horizontally movable boat base 18 on which is positioned and mounted, a boat section 19 arranged parallel to the carrier section 17, and an intermediate position P ₀ between the carrier section 17 and the boat section 19.
The wafers 1, 1... transferred from the carrier 3 or the boat 5 are placed above and temporarily stored and held, and the wafers 1, 1... are transferred using two vertically rotating rollers 20 to 23. Its main part is composed of a holder part 25 having a vertically movable holder 24 that can be brought into close contact with each other or separated to change its alignment state. In the boat section 19, as shown in FIG. 13, the wafers 1, 1... are tilted at a minute angle and held in alignment on the boat 5, so that the boat base 18 is moved in the direction in which the wafers 1, 1... are tilted. The wafers 1, 1, . . . are arranged at a slight angle of inclination in the opposite direction, and the direction in which the wafers 1, 1, . Further, by tilting the entire apparatus slightly backward in the front-rear direction along the wafer alignment direction as shown in FIG. 12, the carrier 3 and boat 5 are arranged at an angle, and the wafers 1, 1, . . . ...wafer storage groove 2, 2...
...and the wafer holding grooves 4, 4... to restrict the position in one direction (towards the rear of the device). The respective parts of the carrier section 17, boat section 19, and holder section 25 described above are driven and controlled by a control section (not shown) as described later.

Directly below the carrier section 17 and boat section 19 are base transfer mechanisms 26 and 27 that transfer the carrier base 16 and boat base 18 between standby positions P ₁ and P ₂ and intermediate position P ₀ , respectively. will be established. Further, at the lower part of the carrier base 16 and the boat base 18, the wafers 1, 1, . . .
Pushers 28, 29 that can be moved up and down to transfer...
Pusher mechanisms 30 and 31 are installed.
Note that a holder elevating mechanism 32 for elevating and lowering the holder 24 is provided behind the holder portion 25.

The pusher mechanisms 30 and 31 of the carrier section 17 and boat section 19 are shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, Teflon pushers 28 and 29 are attached to base frames 35 and 36 that are integral with the carrier base 16 and the boat base 18 via pusher bases 33 and 34 to guide shafts 3 and 3.
7, 37, 38, and 38 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction. The pusher bases 33, 34 are provided with cylinder heads 4 of air cylinders 39, 40, which are drive sources fixed to the base frames 35, 36.
1, 42 are connected, and this air cylinder 39, 40
The pushers 28 and 29 are moved up and down via the pusher bases 33 and 34 by the operation of the pushers 28 and 29.

The feature of the present invention lies in the wafer receiving grooves 43, 43, . . ., 44, 44, . . . of the pushers 28, 29. 1 and 2 show the pusher 28 on the carrier side and its wafer receiving grooves 43, 43...
, Figures 3 and 4 show the pusher 29 on the boat side.
and its wafer receiving grooves 44, 44... are shown.
Wafer receiving groove 4 on the carrier side and boat side above
3, 43...44, 44... differ only in dimensional relationship, so they will be explained together below.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4, the pushers 28 and 29 have a plurality of wafer receiving grooves 43 on their upper surfaces along the wafer alignment direction in the carrier 3 or boat 5. 43...4
4, 44... are carved at the same pitch as the wafer storage grooves 2, 2... of the carrier 3 or the wafer holding grooves 4, 4... of the boat 5. In addition, the above-mentioned wafer receiving grooves 43, 43...44, 44...
In order to facilitate the insertion of wafers 1, 1..., the top edge along the width direction is formed into a tapered shape, and the width dimensions D ₁ and D ₂ are set to the wafer thickness (one wafer thickness on the carrier side, one wafer thickness on the carrier side, one wafer thickness on the carrier side, Set it larger than the size of two sheets on the side. Wafer receiving groove 43 of the present invention,
43...44, 44... are the directions in which the wafers 1, 1... are tilted due to the tilting of the carrier 3 or boat 5, that is, the direction opposite to the front-rear direction in which the entire apparatus is tilted (see FIG. 12). tilt at a small angle. When viewed from the entire apparatus, the wafer receiving grooves 43, 43, . . . , 44, 44, . . . are inclined forward (in the direction of arrow A in the figure). For example, if the wafer thickness is 0.5 mm, the wafer receiving grooves 43, 43... on the carrier side have a groove width D ₁ of 0.6 mm as shown in FIG. The dimensions are α ₁ = 0.35mm, β ₁ = 0.25mm, α ₁ ′=
Tilt it so that it becomes 0.25mm, β ₁ ′...0.35mm.
At this time, the inclination angle θ ₁ is 1°08'. Also, in the wafer receiving grooves 44, 44 on the boat side, the groove width is
D ₂ is 1.2 mm, and the front and rear dimensions from the center line l at the opening and bottom are α ₂ = 0.7 mm, β ₂ = 0.5 mm, α ₂ ′ = 0.5 mm,
β ₂ ′=0.7mm, resulting in the inclination angle θ ₂
becomes 2°17′.

Semiconductor wafer advance equipment 15 having the above configuration
The movement change operation during wafer loading and unloading will be described below.

First, during wafer loading, the carrier 3 stores multiple wafers 1, 1... one by one.
is positioned and placed on the carrier base 16 of the carrier section 17. Then, the carrier base 16 is transferred to the intermediate position Po by the base transfer mechanism 26, and in the meantime, the holder 24 of the holder part 25 is lowered to a position near the upper part of the carrier 3 by the holder lifting mechanism 32, and the wafers 1, 1 of the carrier 3 are moved.
... is transferred to the holder 24 of the holder section 25 by the pusher mechanism 30. Next, a plurality of wafers 1, 1, . . _. facing in the opposite direction to the wafers 1, 1, . The carrier 3 is shifted by half a pitch, and the wafers 1, . In this holder 24, the above-mentioned wafers 1, 1, etc. are brought into close contact with their back surfaces two by two using vertically rotating rollers 20 to 23 to set their alignment. Then, the wafers 1, 1, which are in close contact with each other in the holder 24...
is transferred to the empty boat 5 on the boat base 18 transferred by the base transfer mechanism 27 to the intermediate position Po.

Next, at the time of wafer unloading, a boat 5 in which a plurality of wafers 1, 1, . Then, the boat base 18 is transferred to the intermediate position Po by the base transfer mechanism 27, and in the meantime, the holder 24 of the holder part 25 is lowered to a position close to above the boat 5 by the holder lifting mechanism 32. The wafers 1, 1... are transferred to the holder 24 of the holder section 25 by the pusher mechanism 31.
Transfer to. In this holder 24, the vertically rotating rollers 20 to 23 are used to separate the wafers 1, 1, . The same operation is repeated twice and transferred to the empty carrier 3 on the carrier base 16 transferred by the base transfer mechanism 26.

During the above-mentioned wafer loading and unloading, the wafers 1, 1... of the carrier 3 and boat 5 are pushed to the pusher mechanism 3 at the intermediate position Po.
0 and 31 to the holder 24, the air cylinders 39 and 40 are operated to protrude the cylinder heads 41 and 42, and the guide shafts 37 and
Pusher base 33 via 37, 38, 38,
Raise 34. This pusher base 33,3
4, the pushers 28, 29 are pushed up, and the wafers 1, 1, .
8, 29 wafer receiving grooves 43, 43...44,
Move to 44... This Pushsia 28, 29
The wafers 1, 1, .

At this time, the wafers 1, 1 transferred to the wafer receiving grooves 43, 43, . . . , 44, 44, . ,43...4
4, 44... The wafer receiving grooves 43, 43... 4 are stored so as to be in contact with points a and b and tilted backward, but as described above, the wafer receiving grooves 43, 43... 4
Since the wafers 4, 44, . . . are tilted forward, the wafers 1, 1, . . .
The wafers 1, 1, . . . can be aligned and maintained in an upright state along the center lines 1, 1, and the direction in which the pushers 28, 29 are raised and lowered coincides with the direction in which the wafers 1, 1, . . . are raised. Therefore, the wafers 1, 1 on the pushers 28, 29
... is smoothly fitted into the guide groove of the holder 24 without being caught, and is transferred to the holder 24.

Effects of the invention According to the invention, since the wafer receiving groove of the pusher is tilted at a small angle opposite to the wafer tilting direction due to the inclination of the carrier and boat, when transferring wafers by the pusher from the carrier or boat to the holder, The wafer can be maintained in an upright position on the upper surface of the pusher, and can be smoothly stored in the holder, preventing the wafer from being damaged.It is a highly reliable semiconductor wafer reloading device with great practical value. This also greatly improves product yield.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 13 are for showing one embodiment of the semiconductor wafer stand-up apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an enlarged side view of the main part showing the wafer receiving groove of the pusher in FIG. The figure is an enlarged side view showing the pusher in the carrier section, Figure 3 is an enlarged side view of the main part showing the wafer receiving groove of the pusher in Figure 4, Figure 4 is an enlarged side view showing the pusher in the boat part, and Figure 5 is an enlarged side view showing the pusher in the boat part. 6 is a front view of the device shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is a plan view of the device shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged side view showing the carrier section of the semiconductor wafer changing device. 9 is a front view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 8, FIG.
0 is a plan view, FIG. 12 is a side view of FIG. 10, and FIG. 13 is a side view of the boat portion of the device shown in FIG. Fig. 14 is a side view showing wafers on a boat using the back-to-back method, Fig. 15 is a perspective view showing a carrier with wafers arranged and stored, and Fig. 1
Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a boat holding wafers in alignment, Fig. 17 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional semiconductor wafer loading device, Fig. 18 is a side view showing a pusher in the carrier section, and Fig. 19 is a A partially enlarged side view showing the wafer receiving groove of the pusher in Figure 18;
Figure 20 is a side view showing pushers in the boat section;
FIG. 21 is a partially enlarged side view showing the wafer receiving groove of the pusher shown in FIG. 20. 1... Semiconductor wafer, 3... Carrier, 5...
... Boat, 16 ... Carrier base, 18 ... Boat base, 24 ... Holder, 28, 29 ... Pusher, 43, 44 ... Wafer receiving groove.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A plurality of semiconductor wafers are arranged and held at a fixed pitch, and the semiconductor wafers are transferred from a carrier or a boat tilted along the wafer arrangement direction to a holder arranged oppositely above the carrier or boat. The device is a device that transfers the semiconductor wafers all at once by the push-up action of the pusher, and the upper surface of the pusher is provided with a plurality of wafer receiving grooves for holding the semiconductor wafers aligned at a fixed pitch in the direction in which the semiconductor wafers are tilted due to the inclination of the carrier and boat. A semiconductor wafer stand-up device characterized in that the wafer is engraved at a slight angle in the opposite direction.