JPH05217928A - Vertical-type heat treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a two boats type apparatus with a saving space for installation in order to improve in throughput and the efficiency of space for installation in the vertical heat treating apparatus. CONSTITUTION:In addition to a boat, elevator (7: boat position B) and a wafer transfer position (6: boat position A), a third position (12: boat position C) for installing a boat 5 is disposed in a wafer transfer mechanism. A swing arm 2 capable of moving the boat 5 to the three positions freely and a controller 1 for operating the mechanism sequentially are provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vertical heat treatment apparatus having a built-in mechanism for automatically transferring wafers from a cassette to a heat treatment jig (hereinafter referred to as a boat). Relates to a twin boat type heat treatment apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional twin boat type heat treatment apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 6 is a chart diagram showing movement of the boat. The boat elevator 25 is a means for mounting the boat, moving the boat up and down, and transporting the boat to the heating area above the boat. The boat position 23 is a position where a boat is placed here and a wafer is attached / detached using the wafer transfer mechanism unit 21, and has a boat positioning receiving structure. In addition, the boat elevator 25 and the boat position 23 are located in point symmetry with respect to the rotation axis of the rotation arm 24.

FIG. 6 is a chart showing a sequence flow of transferring two boats in the conventional apparatus. P1 corresponds to the boat elevator position 25 in FIG. 5 and P2 corresponds to the boat position 23 in FIG. Two boats are set in P1 and P2, respectively, and will be moved sequentially according to the numbers of the arrows shown in FIG.

The first boat is now at P1 and is loaded (L) and unloaded (UL) into the reaction area. or,
The second boat transfers the wafer at P2. At this time, the rotation arm 24 in FIG. 5 is at the starting position. Next, when the first boat finishes the heat treatment and returns to P1 and the transfer of the wafer to the second boat is finished, the rotation arm 24 starts to move. Then, each boat is hooked at the same time by, and is simultaneously supported by, and is rotated 180 ° at the same time.
1 and P2 are replaced and placed, and then the rotation arm is rotated to the positions Pa and Pb that do not compete with the boat elevator 25 and escaped. By repeating the above series of sequences, the first boat and the second boat can be interchanged.

[0005]

In the conventional device, since the rotation arm is used, the width of the device,
The depth was large, and the efficiency of the installation area was not very high. Also, because two boats are operated simultaneously,
It was difficult to adjust the relative positions of the boat position, boat elevator position, and rotation arm position. Furthermore, 2
Due to the simultaneous movement of the boats, it was not sufficient in terms of operation, such as being unable to operate independently.

[0006]

The heat treatment apparatus of the present invention comprises:
The wafer transfer mechanism section is provided with a third position for installing the boat in addition to the boat elevator section which is the first position and the wafer transfer section which is the second position, and the boat can be freely moved to these three positions. It includes a swing arm that can be operated and a control unit that sequentially operates the mechanism unit.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a perspective view of a transfer mechanism portion of a vertical heat treatment apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a chart diagram showing movement of a boat. The controller 1 is interlocked with the controller of the entire apparatus to sequentially control the entire wafer transfer mechanism section. The swing arm 2 carries the quartz boat 5 and freely reciprocates at three positions of a boat position A6 (wafer transfer position), a boat position B7 (boat elevator), and a boat position C12. The swing arm driving unit 3 and the swing arm driving unit 4 are driving units that rotate and vertically move the swing arm 2.
The quartz boat 5 is a jig on which a wafer is placed and heat treatment is performed. The boat position A6 is a position where wafers are attached to and detached from the boat 5, and a jig for receiving the boat 5 is installed. The boat elevator at the boat position B7 is for moving and holding the wafer 5 on which the wafer is mounted to the upper reactor for heat treatment. Reference numeral 11 is a quartz heat insulation tube on which a boat is placed. The boat elevator drive unit 10 is composed of a linear motion ball bearing combined with a ball screw 8 for moving the elevator up and down along the elevator guide 9, a motor, and the like. The boat position C12 is a space for mounting, supporting, and temporarily storing the boat 5 after the heat treatment, and is an important element of this embodiment.

Next, a series of movements will be described with reference to FIG. The line mainly shows the movement of the swing arm 2, the solid line represents the boat mounted state, and the broken line represents the boat unmounted state. Two
Among the boats, the first boat is at P2 (boat position A6) after the wafer transfer is completed, and the second boat is at P1 (boat position B7) after the heat treatment is completed (UL). The swing arm 2 starts from (S), picks up the second boat P1 and installs it at P3 (boat position C12). Next, the first boat of P2 is picked up in an empty state and installed at the boat elevator position of P1 (boat position B7). Further, the second boat after the previous heat treatment of P3 is picked up and set at the wafer transfer position of P2 (boat position A6). Then, it waits until the next cycle at the position (E). The above is the normal sequence, but the operation only between P2 and P1 and other operations can be freely performed.

Further, as shown in the comparison between the plan view of this embodiment shown in FIG. 2 and the conventional plan view shown in FIG. 5, the respective constituent elements can be arranged compactly, and the size of a1 and b1 is one boat type ( (Not shown) can be stored within about 1.1 times, and it is possible to reduce the size by about 20% compared with the conventional type a2 and b2.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the wafer transfer position of P2 (boat position A) is excluded from the first embodiment. Therefore, the wafer transfer is performed with the boat placed on the swing arm 2, which is advantageous in that the apparatus can be simplified.

[0011]

As described above, the present invention can reduce the installation area of the device by adopting the swing arm and adding the boat position. That is, it is about 1.2 times as large as the one-boat type apparatus and about 0.02 as compared with the conventional two-boat type apparatus.
This is 7 times the area, and compared with throughput / installation area as a productivity index of the equipment, it is 1.7 for one boat type.
The efficiency is 1.4 times that of the conventional two-boat type. Furthermore, as a qualitative effect, each of the two boats can be operated independently, which improves the degree of freedom and is more effective than the conventional type.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wafer transfer section according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the wafer transfer section of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a chart showing the movement of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a wafer transfer part according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a wafer transfer section of a conventional device.

FIG. 6 is a chart showing the movement of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Controller 2 Swing Arm 3 Swing Arm Drive Unit 4 Swing Arm Vertical Drive Unit 5 Quartz Boat 6 Boat Position A (Wafer Transfer Position) 7 Boat Position B (Boat Elevator) 8 Ball Screw 9 Elevator Guide 10 Boat Elevator Drive Unit 11 Quartz heat insulating cylinder 12 Boat position C 21 Wafer transfer mechanism 22 Wafer cassette 23 Boat position 24 Rotation arm 25 Boat elevator 26 Hook

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a vertical heat treatment apparatus having a built-in mechanism for automatically transferring a wafer from a cassette to a wafer heat treatment jig, a wafer is attached to and detached from a first position where the heat treatment jig is put in and out of a furnace, and the jig. In addition to the second position, a third position is defined and means for placing and supporting the jig provided at the third position and a swing for freely moving the heat treatment jig between the three positions are provided. A vertical heat treatment apparatus having an arm mechanism and a controller for sequentially operating them. 2. The vertical heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wafer heat treatment jig is mounted on a swing arm and stopped at a second position to attach and detach the wafer.