JPH04354127A - Wafer processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the process time of a wafer, by installing a heater on a wafer stage wherein cooling is performed in order to prevent the wafer temperature from exceeding a suitable temperature in the course of wafer processing, and heating the wafer stage up to the suitable temperature. CONSTITUTION:When a wafer is carried onto a wafer stage 1, and a power supply of an ultraviolet radiation equipment is turned on, an ultraviolet radiation lamp is turned on, and the wafer 4 is irradiated with ultraviolet radiation. At the same time when the power supply is turned on, a heater control means 21 begins to apply a current to a heater 2, and the wafer stage 1 is heated. When the temperature of the wafer stage 1 rises tap to a set value, the heater control means 21 interrupts current supply to the heater 2. After that, the temperature of the wafer stage 1 is kept at the set value by a heat source like the ultraviolet radiation lamp and a cooling mechanism. Thereby the time necessary for data erase or the like of a storage device can be shortened.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer processing apparatus, and more particularly to an improvement in an ultraviolet erasing apparatus that erases information by irradiating ultraviolet rays onto a rewritable information storage device.

0002

[Prior Art] An ultraviolet erasing device uses an EPROM (Era
sable and programmable rea
This is a device for erasing the contents of a memory such as dOnly Memory) by irradiating ultraviolet rays, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a processing chamber of a conventional ultraviolet erasing device. In the figure, 20 is the processing chamber of the ultraviolet erasing device, and the wafer room 9
and a lamp room 8 located above it. A wafer stage 1 is disposed in the wafer room 9, on which a wafer 4 is placed during processing, and is held on a frame 1a. Since the wafer stage 1 is heated by ultraviolet rays during wafer processing, it has a structure (not shown) for cooling with cooling water so that the temperature does not rise above an appropriate temperature. 7a is an opening for taking the wafer 7 in and out of the wafer room 9, and a shutter 7 for opening and closing the opening 7a is attached to the opening 7a. Reference numeral 5 denotes an ultraviolet irradiation lamp disposed in the lamp room 8, and numeral 6 denotes a reflector for reflecting the light emitted by the ultraviolet irradiation lamp, which is arranged on both sides of the lamp 5 so as to surround it from above. . Reference numeral 11 denotes a partition wall that partitions the lamp room 8 and the wafer room 9, and a glass plate 10 is fitted into an opening 10a formed in the center of the partition wall 11.

Next, the operation will be explained. When the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5 is turned on, most of the ultraviolet rays from the lamp 5 are reflected by the glass plate 10 due to the action of the reflection plate 6.
, and reaches the wafer stage 1. Also, wafer 4
is carried into the wafer room 9 from outside the apparatus and set on the wafer stage 1. For example, when the wafer 4 is transported to the vicinity of the processing chamber 20, the shutter 7 is opened and the wafer 4 is taken into the wafer room 9. Then, this wafer 4 is placed on the wafer stage 1, and the shutter 7 is closed to complete the loading of the wafer. Thereafter, the wafer 4 is subjected to ultraviolet irradiation treatment. This ultraviolet ray erasure process is carried out in lamp room 8.
The ultraviolet rays emitted from the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5 in the wafer room 9 hit the wafer 4 on the wafer stage 1 in the wafer room 9, thereby erasing the information stored in the EPROM on the wafer 4. At this time, the wafer stage 1 is maintained at an optimum temperature by heating with ultraviolet rays and cooling with cooling water.

0004

However, in the conventional ultraviolet erasing apparatus, it takes time for the wafer stage temperature to rise to the set temperature, which has an adverse effect on the erasing processing time.

That is, in the conventional ultraviolet erasing device, the temperature of the wafer stage 1 is only raised by the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5, and the wafer stage 1 is cooled with cooling water so that the temperature does not exceed the set temperature. Because of this, there was a problem in that it took a long time for the wafer stage temperature to rise to the set temperature.

[0006] This invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to heat a wafer stage on which a wafer is placed during processing to a set temperature in a short time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wafer processing apparatus that can thereby reduce wafer processing time, that is, the time required for erasing information from a memory.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In a wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention, a wafer stage is provided with a heater for heating the wafer stage, which is cooled so that the temperature does not exceed an appropriate temperature during wafer processing, and the wafer stage is heated by the heater. is heated to the appropriate temperature.

[0008] In the wafer processing apparatus of the present invention, the wafer stage is provided with a temperature detector for detecting its temperature, and a heater control means is provided for controlling energization to the heater based on the temperature detection output. It is something.

[0009]

[Function] In this invention, the wafer stage, which is cooled so that the temperature does not exceed an appropriate temperature during wafer processing, is provided with a heater that heats the wafer stage, and the wafer stage is heated to the appropriate temperature by the heater.
The heating efficiency of the wafer stage is improved, and the time required to bring the wafer stage up to the set temperature can be shortened.

Further, in the present invention, the wafer stage is provided with a temperature detector for detecting its temperature, and a heater control means is provided for controlling energization to the heater based on the temperature detection output. Heating by the heater can be automatically stopped when the wafer stage reaches a predetermined temperature, without causing a decrease in work efficiency.

[0011]

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of an ultraviolet erasing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
is a wafer stage having a structure that allows circulation of cooling water 3;
4 is a wafer placed on the wafer stage 1, which is the same as in the conventional apparatus. A heater 2 is provided near the wafer stage 1 and heats the wafer stage 1; a temperature detector 22 is attached to the wafer stage 1 and detects the temperature of the stage 1;
A thermocouple is used here. 21 is the thermocouple 2 mentioned above.
This is a heater control means that controls energization to the heater 2 based on the temperature detection output of the heater 2. Further, here, the cooling mechanism of the wafer stage 1 takes into consideration the amount of heat that the wafer stage 1 receives from other heat sources including the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5,
The temperature of the wafer stage is approximately 90°C, so that the cooling water does not evaporate.
It is configured to be maintained at approximately ℃. For this reason, the heater control means 21 is configured such that the wafer stage 1 is
When the temperature is raised to .degree. C., the power supply to the heater 2 is stopped.

Next, the operation will be explained. When the wafer 4 is carried onto the wafer stage 1 and the power of the ultraviolet erasing device is turned on, the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5 is turned on and the wafer 4 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays. Further, in the apparatus of this embodiment, at the same time as the power is turned on, the heater control means 21 starts energizing the heater 2, and the heater 2 heats the wafer stage 1. At this time, the wafer stage 1 is heated by both the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5 and the heater 2, and its temperature increases. The temperature of wafer stage 1 is 90, which is the set temperature.
When the temperature rises to ℃, the heater control means 21 turns the heater 2
Stop energizing. Thereafter, the temperature of the wafer stage 1 is maintained at about 90° C. by a heat source such as the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5 and a cooling mechanism.

As described above, in this embodiment, the wafer stage 1 is provided with a heater 2 for heating it, and after the ultraviolet erasing device is powered on, the wafer stage 1 is heated by the heater 2 until it reaches an appropriate temperature. Therefore, the temperature of the wafer stage 1 in which the cooling water 3 is being circulated can be quickly raised to an appropriate temperature, and the information stored in the memory can be erased in a short time by irradiation with ultraviolet rays.

It is also possible to heat the wafer stage 1 using only the heater 2, that is, the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5
The wafer stage temperature can be maintained at the set temperature even when the lamp is not lit. Therefore, if the heater 2 is used to preheat the wafer stage 1, the memory can be erased by ultraviolet rays while the wafer stage 1 is at an appropriate temperature immediately after the ultraviolet irradiation lamp 5 is turned on.

Further, in this ultraviolet erasing device, the temperature of the wafer stage 1 is detected by the thermocouple 22, and the heater control means 2 controls the energization of the heater 2 based on the temperature detection output.
1, the heating by the heater of the wafer stage 1 can be automatically stopped when the wafer stage reaches a predetermined temperature, and there is no reduction in work efficiency.

[0016]

As described above, according to the wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention, the wafer stage, which is cooled so that the temperature of the wafer does not exceed an appropriate temperature during processing, is provided with a heater that heats the stage. Since the wafer stage is heated to an appropriate temperature, the heating efficiency when raising the temperature of the wafer stage can be improved, which has the effect of shortening the processing time for wafers on the wafer stage.

Furthermore, the heater can be used to preheat the wafer stage before processing the wafer, and in this case, the wafer can be processed at an appropriate temperature on the wafer stage immediately after the wafer is loaded onto the wafer stage. It is also possible to further reduce the time.

Further, according to the wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention, the wafer stage is provided with a temperature detector for detecting its temperature, and heater control means is provided for controlling energization of the heater based on the temperature detection output. With this arrangement, heating by the heater of the wafer stage can be automatically stopped when the wafer stage reaches a predetermined temperature, and there is no reduction in work efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a wafer stage portion of an ultraviolet erasing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a processing chamber of a conventional ultraviolet erasing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Wafer stage 2 Heater 3 Cooling water 4 Wafer 5 Ultraviolet irradiation lamp 6 Reflector plate 7 Shutter 8 Lamp room 9 Wafer room 10 Glass plate 21 Heater control means 22 Thermocouple

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wafer processing apparatus in which a wafer is placed on a wafer stage in a processing chamber and the wafer is subjected to ultraviolet irradiation treatment, wherein the wafer stage is provided with a heater that heats the wafer stage, and the heater A wafer processing device characterized by heating a stage to an appropriate temperature. 2. The wafer processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wafer stage is provided with a temperature detector for detecting its temperature, and heater control means controls energization to the heater based on the temperature detection output. A wafer processing apparatus characterized by being provided with.