JPH0513546A - Method for transferring wafers for wafer processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a transfer method to enhance the throughput of wafer processing device whose processing chamber needs to be evacuated. CONSTITUTION:In the embodiment of Fig. 1, the titled device is provided with a carrier stage 3 on which a wafer carrier 2 is placed, and one end is opposed to the carrier 2 on the stage 3 and the other end is connected to a processing chamber 1, so that independent evacuation can be performed. Two transfer relay chambers 4 are provided to relay transferring of wafers between the carrier 2 and the chamber 1. One wafer is transferred through the carrier 2 to one chamber 4, and after the chamber 4 is evacuated the wafer is transferred to the evacuated chamber 1. These processes are performed through two chambers 4 alternately. In another embodiment, a carrier chamber that can perform evacuation while housing a wafer carrier and a transfer relay chamber independently evacuatable are provided together, thereby wafer transferring is smoothly performed without stagnation in the transfer relay chamber.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer transfer method for a wafer processing apparatus in which a processing chamber requires vacuum evacuation.

In a wafer process for manufacturing a semiconductor device,
The above wafer processing apparatus is used for film formation and dry etching on a wafer. The apparatus generally supplies the wafer to be processed from the atmosphere and conveys it to the processing chamber, and the throughput is reduced due to the time for vacuuming the atmosphere of the wafer.

The present invention intends to improve the throughput by adding some ideas to the above-mentioned wafer transfer method.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art In a wafer processing apparatus in which a processing chamber requires vacuum evacuation, generally, a plurality of wafers to be processed are housed in a wafer carrier, for example, 25 wafers are supplied from the atmosphere, and the wafers are loaded from the wafer carrier. 1
They are conveyed to the processing chamber one by one. For the transfer, a preliminary exhaust chamber is provided so as not to break the vacuum of the processing chamber, and the atmosphere of the wafer is vacuum exhausted before the wafer enters the processing chamber.

[0005]

For this reason, there has been a problem that continuous wafer transfer cannot be performed and the time required for vacuum evacuation of the preliminary evacuation chamber reduces throughput.

Therefore, the present invention relates to a wafer transfer method for a wafer processing apparatus which requires vacuum evacuation of the processing chamber, and an object thereof is to provide a method for improving the throughput of the apparatus.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a wafer transfer method for a wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention is a wafer transfer method for a wafer processing apparatus which requires vacuum evacuation in a processing chamber. A carrier stage to be placed, one end of which faces the wafer carrier on the wafer stage, and the other end of which is connected to the processing chamber for single vacuum evacuation, and wafer transfer between the wafer carrier and the processing chamber. Two transfer relay chambers for relaying are transferred, one wafer is transferred from the wafer carrier to one transfer relay chamber, and the transfer relay chamber is evacuated,
The method is characterized by having a step of transferring the wafer to the processing chamber which is evacuated, and performing the step alternately between the two transfer relay chambers.

Alternatively, in the same wafer transfer, a single vacuum evacuation is possible, and a carrier chamber accommodating a wafer carrier is connected to one end of the carrier chamber and the other end is connected to the processing chamber to perform a single vacuum evacuation. It is possible to provide a transfer relay chamber for relaying wafer transfer between the wafer carrier and the processing chamber, and transfer the first wafer from the wafer carrier accommodated in the carrier chamber to the transfer relay chamber. And evacuating the carrier chamber and the transfer relay chamber individually, and the step of evacuating the transfer relay chamber
It has a step of transferring the first wafer to the processing chamber that is evacuated, and a step of transferring the second and subsequent wafers from the wafer carrier to the processing chamber after the carrier chamber is evacuated. It is characterized by that.

[0009]

In the former case, the transfer relay chamber corresponds to the preliminary exhaust chamber, but since two transfer relay chambers are provided and used alternately, while the wafer from one of the transfer processing chambers is being processed. Then, the other transfer relay chamber is evacuated. As a result, even if it takes time to evacuate the individual transfer relay chambers, the time can be substantially ignored for the second and subsequent wafers, and the throughput of the apparatus is improved.

In the latter case, although the transfer relay chamber corresponds to the preliminary exhaust chamber, since the carrier chamber is provided and the chamber is also evacuated, it is not necessary to evacuate the transfer relay chamber for each wafer. However, by arranging the wafers during the vacuum exhaust of the carrier chamber and the transfer relay chamber as described above, the vacuum exhaust of the carrier chamber progresses while the first wafer is being processed. Even if it takes time to evacuate, the time can be practically ignored. Therefore, the throughput of the device is improved.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a main part configuration diagram of an apparatus for implementing the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a main part configuration diagram of an apparatus for implementing the second embodiment.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a processing chamber, 2 is a wafer carrier, 3 is a carrier stage, and 4 is a transfer relay chamber. The processing chamber 1 is in the form of leaf processing.

The wafer carrier 2 accommodates a plurality of, for example, 25 wafers to be processed. The carrier stage 3 is a place on which the wafer carrier 2 is placed and which is a starting point of wafer transfer to the processing chamber 1. Although not shown, the wafer carrier 2 is provided with a mechanism capable of detecting the number and positions of the wafers accommodated therein and selecting the wafer to be transported.

The transfer relay chamber 4 has one end facing the wafer carrier 2 on the wafer stage 3 and the other end connected to the processing chamber 1 so that a single vacuum evacuation is possible, and between the wafer carrier 2 and the processing chamber. It is about to relay the wafer transfer. Gate valves are provided at both ends for independent evacuation. Naturally, two transfer relay chambers 4 are provided in parallel.

The wafer transfer from the wafer carrier 2 to the processing chamber 1 for proceeding the wafer processing is carried by transferring one wafer from the wafer carrier 2 to one transfer relay chamber 4 and evacuating the transfer relay chamber 4. After that, the wafer is transferred to the processing chamber 1. The processing chamber 1 is evacuated in advance, and the processing is started immediately after the wafer is loaded. Then, the two transfer relay chambers 4 are alternately used. That is, while processing the wafer from one of the transfer processing chambers 4, the other transfer relay chamber is evacuated.

The wafer processed in the processing chamber 1 is transferred to the transfer relay chamber 4 which is evacuated, and the transfer relay chamber 4 is returned to normal pressure before being transferred to the wafer carrier 2. The plurality of wafers to be processed in the wafer carrier 2 are sequentially conveyed one by one in the above procedure until the processing of the last wafer is completed.

As described above, even if it takes time to evacuate the individual transfer relay chambers 4, the time can be substantially ignored for the second and subsequent wafers, and the throughput of the apparatus is increased. improves.

Next, in FIG. 2, 1 is a processing chamber similar to that of the first embodiment, 5 is a carrier chamber, and 6 is a transfer relay chamber. The carrier chamber 5 is capable of being evacuated independently, and is a starting point of the wafer transfer to the processing chamber 1 by accommodating the wafer carrier 2. Further, similar to the carrier stage 3 of the first embodiment, it is provided with a mechanism capable of detecting the number and position of the wafers accommodated in the wafer carrier 2 and designating the wafers to be conveyed.

The transfer relay chamber 6 has one end connected to the carrier chamber 5 and the other end connected to the processing chamber 1 so that a single vacuum evacuation is possible, and the wafer transfer between the wafer carrier 2 and the processing chamber is relayed. Is about to do. Because of the single evacuation,
Equipped with gate valves at both ends.

The wafer transfer from the wafer carrier 2 to the processing chamber 1 for proceeding the wafer processing is carried out in the carrier chamber 5
The first wafer is transferred from the wafer carrier 2 accommodated in 1 to the transfer relay chamber 6, and the carrier chamber 5 and the transfer relay chamber 6 are individually evacuated in that state.

That is, first, the first wafer is transferred to the processing chamber 1. The processing chamber 1 is evacuated in advance, and the processing is started immediately after the wafer is loaded. The vacuum evacuation of the carrier chamber 5 requires more time than the vacuum evacuation of the transfer relay chamber 6, but progresses to reach a predetermined pressure while processing the first wafer. Then, the transfer relay chamber 6 and the carrier chamber 5 are kept evacuated. Therefore, the return conveyance of the first sheet and the conveyance of the second sheet and the subsequent sheets one by one can be passed through without passing through the conveyance relay chamber 6.

As a result of the above, only the first wafer remains in the transfer relay chamber 6 during wafer transfer.
Even if it takes time to evacuate the carrier chamber 5, the time can be substantially ignored, and the throughput of the apparatus is improved.

By the way, the above-mentioned two embodiments have their own characteristics, and are superior or inferior depending on the difference in the number of wafers accommodated in the wafer carrier 2. When that becomes a problem, both the transfer mechanism of the first embodiment and the transfer mechanism of the second embodiment are provided for one processing chamber 1, and both transfer methods are performed by one apparatus. It should be possible to do.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a wafer transfer method for a wafer processing apparatus in which the processing chamber requires vacuum exhaust, and a method for improving the throughput of the apparatus is provided, For example, it greatly contributes to the improvement of efficiency in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of main parts of an apparatus for implementing a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of main parts of an apparatus for implementing a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 processing room 2 wafer carrier 3 career stages 4, 6 Transport relay room 5 Carrier room

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wafer carrier for a wafer processing apparatus, the processing chamber of which requires vacuum evacuation, a carrier stage on which a wafer carrier is mounted, one end of which faces the wafer carrier on the wafer stage and the other end of which is the processing chamber. Can be evacuated independently, and two transfer relay chambers for relaying wafer transfer between the wafer carrier and the processing chamber are provided, and one wafer is transferred from the wafer carrier. A step of transferring the wafer to the transfer relay chamber, evacuating the transfer relay chamber, and then transferring the wafer to the processing chamber that is evacuated; A wafer transfer method for a wafer processing apparatus, characterized in that the wafers are alternately processed. 2. A wafer carrier of a wafer processing apparatus which requires vacuum evacuation in a processing chamber, wherein a single vacuum evacuation is possible and a carrier chamber accommodating a wafer carrier, one end of which is connected to the carrier chamber and the other end of which is A single vacuum exhaust is possible by connecting to the processing chamber, a transfer relay chamber for relaying the wafer transfer between the wafer carrier and the processing chamber is provided, and the wafer carrier stored in the carrier chamber is A step of transporting the first wafer to the transfer relay chamber and evacuating the carrier chamber and the transfer relay chamber individually; and evacuating the first wafer when the transfer relay chamber is evacuated. And a step of transporting the second and subsequent wafers from the wafer carrier to the processing chamber after the carrier chamber is evacuated. Wafer transfer method of the wafer processing apparatus according to.