JPH051612B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a dry etching apparatus.

[Background of the invention]

One of the important uses of dry etching equipment is to convert etching gas into plasma through glow discharge, and use this plasma to perform etching on the substrate.In other words, the dry etching process is performed on the substrate in a dry process. There is the formation of fine patterns in the manufacture of solid-state devices. For this reason, a photoresist is applied to the surface of the substrate to be etched in accordance with this pattern. This photoresist is not needed after the substrate is etched and is removed from its surface. Therefore, in such a dry etching apparatus, there is a processing chamber in which a substrate is etched by a dry process, a preliminary chamber provided in this processing chamber via a vacuum opening/closing means, and a dry etching process for etching the substrate surface after etching. It is necessary to provide an atsher chamber to remove the photoresist from the photoresist.

In conventional dry etching equipment, a processing chamber equipped with a preliminary chamber and an assher chamber are provided in separate locations, and the substrate that has been etched is once taken out from the processing chamber to the atmosphere through the preliminary chamber. Thereafter, the photoresist is removed from the surface of the photoresist.

Therefore, such a dry etching apparatus has the following drawbacks.

(1) The processing chamber, which is equipped with a preliminary chamber, and the accumulator chamber are provided in separate locations, and the processing chamber, preliminary chamber, and accumulator chamber each occupy a floor, which increases the area occupied by the apparatus.

(2) During transportation from the processing chamber to the assher chamber, the substrate is exposed to the atmosphere, which causes oxidation and dust adhesion on the substrate surface, reducing pattern accuracy.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a dry etching apparatus in which the floor area occupied by the apparatus can be reduced by sharing the floor occupied by the preparatory chamber with the atsher chamber.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention comprises a processing chamber, a preparatory chamber provided in the processing chamber via a vacuum opening/closing means, and an assher chamber provided below the preparatory chamber in communication with the preparatory chamber. The present invention is characterized in that the substrate cassette mounting tool and the blocking device are provided internally so that they can be moved up and down, and the substrate conveyance means is partially rotatable. The shutoff device is used to shut off the preliminary chamber and the pusher chamber, which normally communicate with each other, when removing the photoresist. By providing the assher room below the auxiliary room, the auxiliary room and the auxiliary room share the floor occupied by the auxiliary room.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

1 to 3, a preliminary chamber 30 is connected to the processing chamber 10 via a vacuum opening/closing means, for example, a gate valve 20.
is provided. An pusher chamber 40 is provided below the preliminary chamber 30 in communication with the preliminary chamber 30. In the preliminary room 30, a board cassette fixture 50 is installed.
and a shutoff tool 51 are installed inside so as to be movable up and down. The blocking device 51 penetrates the top wall of the preliminary chamber 30 and closes the preliminary chamber 3.
A substrate cassette fixture 50 is provided at the lower end of a lifting rod 53 that is driven up and down by a lifting device 52 while maintaining an airtight state. The substrate cassette 60 is provided with a plurality of grooves so that the substrates 61 can be stored or taken out. In the preliminary chamber 30, a substrate conveyance means, for example, a conveyor belt 70, is partially rotatable, that is, a position where the substrate 61 can be stored and taken out from the lower side of the substrate cassette 60, and a position where the substrate cassette mounting tool 50 and the blocking tool 51 are located. It is internally installed so that it can be rotated between a position that does not impede elevating and lowering, and in this case, between a horizontal position and a position along the side wall of the preliminary chamber 30. Note that 71 is a motor for driving the conveyor belt 70;
72 is an actuator that partially rotates the conveyor belt 70. Further, the volume of the assher chamber is such that the substrate cassette 60 can be accommodated therein. The atsher chamber is connected to a means for introducing a processing gas to remove the photoresist using plasma, a vacuum pump for discharging the gas, and is also provided with an electrode for converting the gas into plasma. Since these are generally well-known configurations, details will be omitted.

Substrates 61 coated with photoresist are carried into the preliminary chamber 30 through the opening 31, and a predetermined number of substrates 61 are stored in the substrate cassette 60 attached to the substrate cassette fixture 50. Ru. Thereafter, the opening 31 is hermetically sealed and the preliminary chamber 30 is evacuated to a pressure comparable to that of the processing chamber 10. After completion of such depressurized exhaust, the gate valve 20 is opened and the preliminary chamber 3 communicates with the processing chamber 10.
0, the substrate cassette 60 is intermittently driven downward by the lifting device 52, and a predetermined number of substrates 61 are moved by the drive of the motor 71 of the conveyor belt 70 set in a horizontal position by the actuator 72 and the reciprocating movement of the dedicated fork 80. The substrate is taken out from the substrate cassette 60 and carried into the processing chamber 10. After loading the substrate 61 into the processing chamber 10, the gate valve 20 is closed and the substrate 61 is etched by a dry process. Substrate 61 after etching process has been completed
are then collected into the substrate cassette 60 by the reverse operation to the above-described operation. In this way, the substrate 61
When all of the etching processes have been completed and all of the substrates 61 have been collected into the substrate cassette 60, the conveyor belt 70 is rotated by the actuator 72 from a horizontal position to a position along the side wall of the preliminary chamber 30, and then , the substrate cassette 60 is moved by the lifting device 52.
It can be lowered by As a result, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 2, the board cassette 60 is housed in the assher chamber 40 while being attached to the board cassette fixture 50, and the communication between the preparatory chamber 30 and the assher chamber 40 is interrupted by the interrupter 51. On the bottom wall of the chamber 30, for example, O
They are airtightly shut off by contacting each other via a ring (not shown). Next, as in the usual photoresist removal process, the
A processing gas such as CF ₄ is introduced, and the inside of the assher chamber 40 is evacuated to maintain a predetermined processing pressure. Then, high-frequency power is applied to the electrodes to turn the processing gas into plasma. As a result, the active species in the plasma and the resist undergo a chemical reaction to remove the resist. After removing the resist, the application of high frequency power is stopped, the supply of processing gas is stopped, and the inside of the assher chamber 40 is depressurized and evacuated to the same pressure as the preliminary chamber 30. After this process is completed, the substrate cassette 60 is raised by the lifting device 52 to a height that does not impede the rotation of the conveyor belt 70, while the conveyor belt 70 is returned from a position along the side wall of the preliminary chamber 30 to its original horizontal position. It is rotated by the actuator 72 to this position. After that, the board cassette 60
The substrate 61 is moved into a substrate cassette 60 by the lifting device 52.
is intermittently driven downward, and by driving the conveyor belt 70 with the motor 71, the preliminary chamber 3 is transported through the opening 31.
Exported from 0.

The dry etching apparatus of this embodiment provides the following effects.

(1) Since the pusher room is located below the auxiliary room, the floor occupied by the auxiliary room can be shared with the pusher room, reducing the floor space occupied by the equipment.

(2) Since the substrate is not exposed to the atmosphere during transportation from the processing chamber to the accumulator chamber,
Oxidation and dust adhesion on the substrate surface can be prevented, and pattern accuracy can be prevented from deteriorating.

(3) Since the conveyor belt is partially rotatably installed in the preliminary chamber, the preliminary chamber can be made compact, the time required to decompress and exhaust the preliminary chamber can be shortened, and throughput can be improved.

(4) Since the photoresist is removed from the substrate surface while a predetermined number of substrates are housed in the substrate cassette, the photoresist removal processing time can be shortened and throughput can be improved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention is composed of a processing chamber, a preparatory chamber provided in the processing chamber via a vacuum opening/closing means, and an assher chamber provided below the preparatory chamber in communication with the preparatory chamber. However, by installing the board cassette mount and the interrupter in the preparatory room so that they can be raised and lowered, and the board transport means that can be partially rotated, the preparatory room can share the occupied floor with the accelerator room. This has the effect of reducing the occupied floor space.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a dry etching apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B in FIG. It is a diagram. 10...processing chamber, 20...gate valve, 30...
Preliminary room, 40... Asshear room, 50... Board cassette fixture, 51... Blocker, 60... Board cassette, 61... Board, 70... Transport belt.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A processing chamber in which a substrate is etched in a dry process, a preparatory chamber communicating with the processing chamber via a vacuum opening/closing means, and a preparatory chamber provided below the preparatory chamber in communication with the preparatory chamber. and an assher chamber, the preparatory chamber is provided with a substrate cassette fixture for holding the substrate and a blocking device for isolating between the preparatory chamber and the assher chamber so as to be movable up and down, and a substrate conveyance means for conveying the substrate. A dry etching apparatus characterized in that the dry etching apparatus is rotatably provided between a position where the substrate can be stored and taken out and a position where the substrate cassette mounting tool and the blocking tool do not hinder the lifting and lowering of the substrate cassette mounting tool and the blocking tool. 2. The dry etching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blocking device is provided above the substrate cassette fixture. 3. The dry etching apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the substrate conveying means is a conveying belt. 4. The dry etching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the volume of the assher chamber is large enough to accommodate a substrate cassette.