JPH0459516A - Wafer housing transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable manufacture of high-quality wafers by providing a means for forming a purifying gas flow in the transfer space of wafer housings, so that when the wafers are transferred, clean transfer without adhesion of dust or particles can be carried out. CONSTITUTION:A port 11 for supporting a semiconductor wafer W is insertedly held by the fitting part 25 of a port turning device 21 which has been moved to the position of the port 11 by a horizontally driving mechanism 22, and further is supported to the driving mechanism 22 vertically from the horizontal position by means of a driving mechanism 24 of the turning device 21 that has been moved in a prescribed position. Then, the turning device 21 is further lowered by a vertically driving mechanism 23 to place the vertically supported port 11 in the port placing position of a port transfer device 6. At that time, fans 31 in the transfer device 6 are operated to positively take in the downdraft from a clean room through an air filter 30, so that a purifying gas flow B can be formed in the space k1. And the transfer device 6 conveys the port 11 along a transfer passage 26 up to the front of a desired heat treatment furnace 7 (not shown), and moves it to the position of a robot arm 33 (not shown) of a heat treatment furnace 5.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a wafer storage device conveyance device.

[Prior art] Conventionally, in the manufacturing process of semiconductor wafers and liquid crystal wafers, oxidation equipment, CVD equipment, epitaxial equipment, and diffusion equipment have been used to form oxide films, metal films, single crystal films, etc., and to diffuse impurities. There are heat treatment equipment such as These heat treatment devices are equipped with a coil heater surrounding the reaction tube, and
A film is formed on a semiconductor wafer placed in a reaction tube by heating it to 0 to 1250° C., and impurities are diffused.

When carrying out such a reaction of semiconductor wafers in a heat treatment equipment, a support for the semiconductor wafer is required that can withstand high temperatures and has high thermal stability without impurities generated by high temperatures. A quartz boat is used that satisfies the following. To perform heat treatment, the carrier is taken out of the carrier storage room where the semiconductor wafers are stored, transported to the wafer transfer device, and then transferred to the quartz boat that was also transported from the storage room of the quartz boat to the wafer transfer device. Transfers semiconductor wafers. Thereafter, the quartz boat carrying the semiconductor wafers is transported to a desired heat treatment furnace among the many heat treatment furnaces provided.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Such heat treatment equipment is placed in a clean room, but the storage room that stores the carriers is equipped with an air filter on the top and a fan installed on the bottom to actively control the downflow of the clean room. Dust and particles generated by the drive mechanism that moves the carrier storage shelves are removed by downflow. However, even in a clean room, the drive mechanism of the transport system for transporting carriers and quartz boats from these storage rooms and the transport system for the quartz boats on which semiconductor wafers are transferred from the carriers generates dust and particles. However, when dust and particles adhere to semiconductor wafers, there is a drawback that the yield of semiconductor devices decreases. Particularly in recent years, as semiconductors are required to be highly integrated, dust and particles have become an important problem, and even minute dust and particles in the transport system can no longer be ignored.

The present invention has been developed to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and it is possible to carry out clean transfer of wafers without the adhesion of dust or particles during wafer transfer, thereby making it possible to manufacture high-quality wafers. An object of the present invention is to provide a wafer storage device conveyance device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a wafer storage device transport device of the present invention includes a wafer storage device mounting table that supports wafers, and a transport means for moving the aforementioned mounting table. The wafer storage device conveying device is provided with means for forming a cleaning gas flow in a space in which the wafer storage device is transported.

[Working] The wafer storage device transporting device that transports the wafer storage device on which the wafer is placed to the processing device forms a cleaning airflow in the space in which the wafer storage device is transported. Therefore, even if dust and particles are generated from the transport device during transport of the wafer storage device, it is possible to prevent them from adhering to the wafers.

[Example 1] An example in which the wafer storage device conveying apparatus of the present invention is applied to a heat treatment apparatus for semiconductor manufacturing will be described with reference to the drawings.

The heat treatment apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 mainly consists of a storage chamber 2 in which a large number of carriers containing semiconductor wafers are stored, and a storage chamber 3 in which a large number of quartz boats for heat treatment, which are wafer storage devices that support semiconductor wafers, are stored. , a transfer device 4 that is provided adjacent to these storage chambers 2 and 3 and that transfers semiconductor wafers from carriers transported from the storage chamber 2 to a quartz boat, and a plurality of reaction devices that perform heat treatment on semiconductor wafers. For example, three heat treatment furnaces 5 and a quartz boat supporting unprocessed semiconductor wafers are transported from the transfer device 4 to the heat treatment furnace 5, or heat-treated semiconductor wafers are transferred from the heat treatment furnace 5 to the transfer device 4. It consists of a boat transport device 6, which is a wafer storage device transport device for transporting the wafers. A storage room 2 for storing carriers constituting the heat treatment apparatus 1 includes multi-stage shelves 7,
A plurality of carriers, for example, six carriers, are placed on the shelf 7 at one time by a carrier transfer device (not shown) provided on the movable mechanism 8. In addition, the storage room 3 for storing boats stores a boat 11, which is a wafer storage device capable of horizontally storing a plurality of semiconductor wafers, for example, 170 sheets, with its longitudinal direction vertical, and transports the boat 11 to the transfer device 4. The present invention includes a boat transfer device (not shown) for transferring the boat to the boat transfer device, and a boat transfer device (not shown) for transferring the boat to the boat transfer device. These storage rooms 2 and 3 are each provided with a sealed exterior body 12, and a gas purifying filter 13 is attached to the upper surface of the exterior body 12, so that the downflow from the clean room is actively taken in by a fan (not shown). It has become.

As shown in FIG. 2, a transfer device 4 provided adjacent to these storage chambers 2 and 3 is connected to a vertical drive mechanism 14 that lifts and simultaneously supports all the semiconductor wafers W stored in one carrier 10. A connected support 15 is provided. A clamping body 16 that clamps the semiconductor wafer W lifted and supported by the support body 15 from the left and right is connected to a horizontal and vertical drive mechanism 17, and is adapted to be transferred onto the boat 11. The transfer device 4 equipped with these is sealed by an exterior body 18, and is provided so as to isolate the transfer space K from the clean room in which the heat treatment device 1 is arranged.

The exterior body 18 is made of an anti-static plastic material such as PVC or acrylic plate, and is transparent so that the inside can be observed. An air filter 19 is provided on the upper surface of the exterior body 18, and the air filter 19 is capable of removing particles down to 0.1 μφ. The transfer device 4, which is covered with an exterior body 18 and has an air filter 19 attached to its upper surface, is equipped with an exhaust mechanism, such as a fan 20, on the side and bottom surfaces, as shown in FIG. A clean air flow A is actively drawn into the device 4.

Such a transfer device 4 is provided with a boat rotation device 21 for converting the boat 11 fully loaded with semiconductor wafers W from horizontal support to vertical support. The boat rotation device 21 is connected to a horizontal drive mechanism 22, a vertical drive mechanism 23, and a rotation drive mechanism 24, and has a fitting part 25 that supports the boat 11, and rotates while fixedly supporting the boat 11. It is designed to convert from horizontal support to vertical support.

Furthermore, the boat conveyance device 6 through which the boat 11 is transferred by the boat rotation device 21 is connected to a conveyance path 26 which is a conveyance means.
and a boat mounting table 28 placed on a stage 27 that moves on a transport path 26.

The boat transport device 6 includes an exterior body 29 that seals and covers the space above the transport path 26, and an air filter 30 on the top surface.
There are multiple. This exterior body 29 and air filter 3
0 is made of the same material as the transfer device 4, and as shown in FIG. 4, a fan 31 is provided on the bottom and side surfaces of the exterior body 29, and the downflow of clean ream is actively taken in from the air filter 30 for cleaning. It constitutes a means for forming a gas flow B.

The heat treatment furnace 5 consists of a processing section 31 and a conveyance section 32, and the conveyance section 32 includes a boat 11 conveyed by a boat conveyance device 6.
a robot arm 33 that receives from the boat platform 28;
A vertical drive mechanism 34 is provided in which the robot arm 33 rotates to receive and pass the boat 11. The vertical drive mechanism 34 inserts the boat 11 into a processing section 31 equipped with a reaction tube heater (not shown) and the like.

The operation of the heat treatment apparatus 1 having such a configuration will be explained.

A plurality of desired carriers 10 stored in the storage room 2 are carried into the transfer mount M4 by a transport device (not shown). On the other hand, one boat 11 is transferred from the storage room 3 to the transfer device 4 by the transfer system.
Transport it to the transfer position.

At this time, fans 2 provided on the bottom and side surfaces of the transfer device 4
0 to take in a flow of clean gas through the air filter 19 on the top surface. The clean air flow A efficiently flows through the transfer space K because the interior of the transfer device 4 is isolated from the clean room by the exterior body 18. In this clean air region, the support 15 is raised by the vertical drive mechanism 14,
All semiconductor wafers W housed in one carrier 10 are raised at once. The raised semiconductor wafer W is held and supported from the left and right by the holding body 16, which is horizontally moved to that position by the drive mechanism 17.

The support body 15 is lowered by the vertical drive mechanism 14, and the support body 15 is lowered by the vertical drive mechanism 14.
6 is horizontally moved onto the boat 11 by the drive mechanism 17, and then lowered to place the semiconductor wafer W on the boat 11.

Then, the holding body opens, releases the holding of the semiconductor wafer W, and rises to move to the next carrier 2 position. Thereafter, the above-mentioned operation is repeated for the carriers one after another, and the semiconductor wafers W are transferred to the boat 11.

The boat 11 supporting the semiconductor wafer W is a horizontal drive mechanism 2
2, the boat rotating device 2 is held by the fitting part 25 of the boat rotating device 21, which is moved to the position of the boat 11 by the boat rotating device 2, and is further moved to a predetermined position by the horizontal drive mechanism 22.
The rotational drive mechanism 24 of 1 changes the horizontal support to vertical support. The boat rotating device 21 is further lowered by the vertical drive mechanism 23 to place the vertically supported boat 11 on the boat loading position of the boat transport device 6. At this time, the fan 31 of the boat transport device 6 is activated to actively take in the downflow of the clean room from the air filter 30, thereby forming a clean gas flow B in the space 1. The boat transport device 6 transports the boat 1 along the transport path 26 to the front of the desired heat treatment furnace 7.
1 is transported and moved by the stage 27 to the position of the robot arm 33 of the heat treatment furnace 5. and robot arm 3
3, the boat 11 is lifted up by the vertical drive mechanism 34 and inserted into the processing section 31.

After the heat treatment is completed, the aforementioned operation is reversed, and the boat 11 carrying the processed semiconductor wafers 8 is stored in the storage chamber 3. Since the semiconductor wafer is cooled down to room temperature, the next process can be performed immediately after the heat treatment is completed without having to place it in the heat treatment apparatus for a long time, and the heat treatment can be efficiently completed one after another.

The present invention can be applied not only to semiconductor wafers but also to boat transport devices for storing liquid crystal wafers. Further, the wafer storage device is not limited to a quartz boat, but may be a carrier for storing wafers.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the wafer storage device transport device of the present invention includes an exterior body and actively forms a cleaning airflow in the space where the wafer storage device is transported. ,
Microscopic dust and particles generated by the transport system can be quickly removed, and wafers can always be kept in a very clean atmosphere. Therefore, it is possible to improve the quality without reducing the yield of wafers due to the adhesion of dust and particles.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment in which the wafer storage device transfer device of the present invention is applied to a heat treatment apparatus, and FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 show essential parts of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. It is a diagram. 6...Boat transfer device (wafer storage device transfer device) 11...Boat (wafer storage device) 26...
...Conveyance path (conveyance means) 28...Placement table 29...Exterior body (airflow forming means) 30...
...Air filter (airflow forming means) 31...Fan (airflow forming means) W...Semiconductor wafer B...1 for cleaning gas flow ······space

Claims (1)

[Claims] A wafer storage device conveyance device comprising a wafer storage device mounting table for supporting wafers and a conveying means for moving the wafer storage device, comprising means for forming a cleaning gas flow in a space in which the wafer storage device is conveyed. A wafer storage device conveyance device characterized by comprising: