JPH04151834A - Chemical liquid atmosphere isolation equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To isolate a chemical liquid atmosphere without using a diaphragm in the manner in which wafers can be carried, by equipping an isolation part between wafer washing chambers with a linear type gas jet nozzle and an exhaust nozzle. CONSTITUTION:A linear type gas jet nozzle 2 is installed on one direction side of a silicon wafer conveying route 1 connecting a washing chamber of atmosphere A and a washing chamber of atmosphere B. A jet gas induction frame 4 is constituted to funnel larger for a specified distance from a gas jet nozzle 2 and then narrowed toward an exhaust nozzle 3. By linearly jetting gas, a gas fluidized bed is formed in the direction intersecting the silicon wafer conveying route 1, thereby atmospherically isolating both washing chambers A and B. Hence the atmosphere can be isolated without using a diaphragm in the isolation part of the washing chambers A, B, so that the operation for sliding the diaphragm at the time of conveying silicon wafers is unnecessitated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention provides a method for cleaning silicon wafers between cleaning chambers for chemically cleaning silicon wafers in a silicon wafer cleaning process without using a partition wall. The present invention relates to a device for separating chemical atmosphere.

(Prior Art) During the manufacturing process of silicon wafers, it is necessary to keep the surface of the silicon wafer clean. For example, if there is contamination such as dust on the surface of a silicon wafer during etching, it may cause wiring shorts or breaks, so in order to improve product performance and reliability, It is necessary to reduce contaminants on the surface of silicon wafers as much as possible. Therefore, cleaning steps such as pre-cleaning before oxide film formation and post-cleaning after etching are provided during the silicon wafer manufacturing process.

To clean the silicon wafers, several silicon wafers 110 are set in parallel on the wafer carrier 11 as shown in FIG.
10H20, II C+ + 1170, + 1 (2
The whole sea urchin leaflet 11 is immersed in a chemical cleaning tank 12Δ containing a drug of good quality such as 0, etc., and after cleaning with the chemical, it is immersed in a pure water cleaning tank 13A.

Incidentally, these chemical solutions are often heated to increase the cleaning effect ID1. For example, in the case of N I-14(') H or lIC1, the temperature is about 80°C, and in the case of II2SO or the growth solvent nochlorobenzene, the temperature is about 120°C.
Heat to about C. Then, the chemical and moisture evaporate from the heated chemical cleaning tank 12A, and the inside of the cleaning chamber 14A including the chemical cleaning tank 12A becomes an atmosphere of the chemical.

In this way, when the inside of the cleaning chamber 14A becomes a chemical atmosphere, if it is necessary to clean with different types of chemicals, for example, cleaning with NH, 01-1 and then cleaning with 11C1,
If the atmospheres of both chemical solutions come into contact with each other, there are problems such as the formation of salts due to reaction, so it is necessary to separate the cleaning chambers 14A and 14B for each chemical solution. Furthermore, it is necessary to transport the wafer carrier 11 through both of the cleaning chambers 14A and 14B. Therefore, the partition 15 between the two cleaning chambers 14A and 14B needs to be able to move the wafer carrier 11 at a very low speed and separate the atmosphere, and an atmosphere separation device such as a toslide type partition wall is required.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in the case where a partition wall is provided in this way, the driving device etc. for the partition wall are inevitably large-scale and the dimensions are large.
The cost also has to increase.

Furthermore, it is necessary to repeatedly open and close the partition wall when the silicon wafer undergoes i1.

Therefore, the present invention provides an apparatus that does not use a partition wall between silicon wafer cleaning chambers and separates the chemical atmosphere while allowing the transfer of silicon wafers.

(Measures for solving the problem F!i) The present invention provides a linear gas jet 1 on one side of the silicon wafer transport path at the cut portion of the silicon wafer cleaning chamber 111j, and This chemical atmosphere separation device is characterized in that an exhaust port is provided on the side, and ejected gas guide frames are provided on the side walls in four directions surrounding the silicon wafer conveyance path and connecting the ejection port and one casting pot.

(Function) In the present invention, a linear gas outlet is provided on one side of the silicon wafer transport path in the partition between the silicon wafer cleaning chambers,
By ejecting gas linearly, a fluidized layer of gas is formed in a direction across the silicon wafer transport path, and both cleaning chambers are atmospherically separated. The gas to be ejected is N
It is preferable to use an inert gas such as No. 2.

However, if the gas is simply ejected in a linear manner, the ejected gas will flow while involving the atmosphere of both cleaning chambers, collide with the opposing wall, and then flow into the subsequent cleaning chamber.
Since both atmospheres end up being mixed, it is necessary to exhaust the ejected gas. Therefore, a gas guide frame is provided on the side facing the gas outlet, and the side walls in four directions surrounding the silicon wafer conveyance path and connecting the outlet and the exhaust port, that is, the upper left and right side walls, are equipped with an ejected gas guiding frame. has been established. The ejected gas is always exhausted to the outside through the Au from the ejected gas guiding frame, thereby completely separating the atmosphere.

(Example) Figs. 1 to 4 schematically show an example of the chemical atmosphere separation device of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a linear gas jet 1 and 2 are provided on one side of the silicon wafer transport path 1 to connect the cleaning chamber to the atmosphere and the cleaning chamber to the atmosphere B. In this way, the gas outlet 2 can be provided not only on the side, but also on the "2" side or the "F" side. Also, in this example, the width is 1+ar
Although the slit is within a length, it is also possible to arrange round nozzles in a line.

In this example, a wind box 5 is placed behind the gas outlet 2 in order to eject the gas linearly and uniformly, the details of which are shown in FIG. If the gas supplied from the gas supply pipe 6 is directly ejected from the gas supply pipe 6, the flow velocity will be high on the side near the supply pipe 6, and slow on the side far from the supply pipe 6. Therefore, the wind box 5 is divided into a wind box rear chamber 5A and a wind box front chamber 5B by a separation plate 8 having many holes 9, and gas is first supplied to the wind box rear chamber 5A through the supply pipe 6, and then from the rear chamber 5A. Hole 9 of separation plate 8
It is preferable to flow the air through the wind box front chamber 5B and then blow it out from the spout 2.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view, and the ejected gas guide frame 4 is widened from the gas ejection port 2 to the X position, and then
It is narrowing towards. As an example of the actual N method, it is assumed that a=30+n+a and l+=60 mm for the width X-200-300 mm of the silicon wafer transport path 1. In this way, all the gas ejected is exhausted.

Along with this, the atmosphere in both cleaning chambers is also exhausted, but this is not a problem.

Although FIG. 4 is a front view, the width of the ejected gas guide frame 4 should be increased by the 1j method on the side closer to the exhaust direction 13 to ensure evacuation of the ejected gas. Then, when the atmosphere is separated by the ejected gas in this way, and it is necessary to transport the silicon wafer, it is sufficient to transport it through the transport path 1, and there is no need for any particular operation such as moving the partition wall.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, the atmosphere can be separated without using a partition wall in the partition portion between the cleaning chambers. Therefore, compared to the case where a partition wall is slid, a large-scale device is not required, and the device is small and inexpensive. Moreover, since the atmosphere is separated by gas, the silicon wafer can be transported by simply passing it through the transport path, and there is no need to perform operations such as sliding a partition wall.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 4 are diagrams showing the chemical atmosphere separation device of the present invention.
Figure 1 is a perspective view, Figure t52 is a partial cutaway showing the wind box part, Figure riS3 is a horizontal sectional view, Figure 4 is a front view, and Figure 5 is a cleaning of silicon wafers.
- It is a diagram showing the process in the Matata style. 1... Silicon wafer conveyance path, 2... Gas jet 1-
", 3...Exhaust port, 4...Blowout gas guide frame, 5...
・Wind box, 5A... Wind box rear chamber, 5B... Wind box front chamber, 6
... Gas supply pipe, 7 ... Exhaust pipe, 8 ... Separation plate,
9...hole, 1()...silicon wafer, 11...
1 Noah, 1-2A, j213... Chemical cleaning box, J 3 A, 1313... Pure water cleaning tank, 14A
, 14B... Washing room, 15... Partition section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A linear gas outlet is provided on one side of the silicon wafer transport path in the partition between the silicon wafer cleaning chambers, and an exhaust port is provided on the opposite side, and the air outlet and the air outlet surround the silicon wafer transport path. A chemical liquid atmosphere separation device characterized in that a blowout gas guiding frame is provided on the side walls in four directions connecting with the exhaust port.