JPH0529436A - Method and apparatus for treatment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transfer, set and reset a semiconductor wafer with reference to each station in a treatment process in a treatment apparatus wherein the coating operation, the developing operation and the like of a photoresist film are executed to the wafer. CONSTITUTION:By means of tweezers 121 of a transfer mechanism, a wafer WB is set and reset, via tweezers 112, 113 as support devices of a holding and conveyance mechanism 110, form a cassette 122, prior to its treatment, which has been installed in a carrying-in and -out mechanism 120 to stations 103 to 108, for a plurality of treatment stages, which have been installed on both sides of a conveyance route 102 in a heat-insulating manner. At this time, the individual tweezers can be displaced freely in four directions of the longitudinal direction (X), the transverse direction (Y), the up-and-down direction and the swiveling direction (theta), and a centering operation and an alignment operation are executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The disclosed technology belongs to the technical field of processing systems such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

[0002]

As is well known to those skilled in the art, in manufacturing a semiconductor device such as an IC, a device such as a transistor is formed on a wafer of a semiconductor single crystal such as silicon (hereinafter simply referred to as a wafer). Although many fine processing steps are included, a PEP (photoengraving process) step of forming a predetermined resist pattern on the surface of the wafer occupies an extremely important position in the processing steps.

This is because the resist pattern formed by the PEP process is used as an etching mask or the like and forms the basis of the present fine processing technology.

Thus, the formation of the resist pattern in the PEP process is performed uniformly by applying a photoresist solution in a thin film form on the surface of the wafer, as disclosed in the invention of JP-A-52-27367. A step of forming a photoresist film having a film thickness, a step of selectively exposing a predetermined region of the photoresist film thereafter, and a step of subsequently developing the exposed photoresist film to form a desired resist pattern It consists of and.

Of these, the exposure process is, for example, a step
An exposure apparatus such as an And Repeat Aligner (usually called a stepper) is used, while the step of forming a photoresist film on the surface of the wafer is performed using, for example, the apparatus described below. , These are performed in series such as the forward process of the first stage and the return process of the second stage.

The flowchart of FIG. 9 shows an aspect of a processing procedure in such a series-type photoresist film forming apparatus generally called a track method. As shown in the drawing, the photoresist film forming apparatus starts from the previous stage. It has a plurality of processing stations that perform the preheating step 4, the cooling step 5, the coating step 6, and the heating step 8 in series in the subsequent stages.

Thus, the wafers 1 on which the photoresist film is to be formed are housed in the cassette 2, taken out one by one, and introduced into the photoresist film forming apparatus, and the belt holding and conveying mechanism 3 sequentially in each processing station. And is subjected to a predetermined process.

In the preheating step 4, the water content of the wafer 1 is removed by heating, and the preheated wafer 1 is
After being cooled in the cooling step 5 of the next stage, it is sent to the coating step 6, and in the coating step 6, for example, a predetermined photoresist liquid is set on the surface of the thin film by a coating device such as a spinner coater. It is evenly applied to thick layers.

Next, the wafer 1 coated with the photoresist solution is sent to a heating step 8 equipped with a walking beam type transport mechanism 7 and heated, whereby the photoresist solution coated on the wafer 1 is heated. Is stabilized like a film.

The wafer 9 having the predetermined photoresist film formed on its surface after the heating process in the heating step 8 is stored in the processed wafer storage cassette 10 by the belt holding / transporting mechanism 3. To be done.

[0011]

Therefore, as described above,
In the conventional photoresist film forming system, stations for each processing step are arranged in series,
The wafer 1 to be processed must pass through these stations in a predetermined order and in a one-way mode of the forward feed method so that the wafer 1 must be processed regardless of whether or not there is an inherent need for processing by design. Has been

For this reason, there has been a drawback that the processing order once set in advance cannot be arbitrarily changed, and it is also impossible to selectively pass only a certain processing station.

By the way, the processing steps necessary for forming semiconductor elements on the wafer 1 including the order thereof
It depends on the type of function, purpose, etc. of the IC formed in the above.

Nevertheless, in the conventional photoresist film forming apparatus, all processing steps have to be performed even for a wafer that does not require a certain processing step, which is an obstacle to incorporating a so-called throughput processing step. There were difficulties.

Further, when the wafer 1 is transferred from the cassette 2 to a predetermined processing step, it is transferred to the processing section by a belt holding transfer mechanism 3 such as a pre-feed type cord belt conveyor.
There is a risk that deviations and the like will inevitably occur during conveyance, and dust such as particles will adhere.

In this case, if the relative speed difference is generated between the pair of belts to adjust the alignment of the wafer, the particles are more likely to be generated.

Therefore, according to the type of wafer to be processed, the desired processing station among the multi-step processing stations provided in the photoresist film forming apparatus can be used in any order, including the case of only a single station. It is desired to develop a processing apparatus such as a photoresist film forming apparatus that can be independently and arbitrarily changed.

Then, when the object to be processed is taken out from the storage cassette for the object to be processed and transferred to a station for a predetermined processing step, for example, as shown in US Pat. No. 4,775,281. As a holding and conveying mechanism, a system having tweezers that can be displaced in the front-rear direction and the up-down direction has also been developed. However, in such a system technology, there is only a degree of freedom of displacement in two directions, and an object to be processed is treated in a predetermined manner. Centered at the process station,
There was a problem that it was not possible to carry in and out in the shortest distance by adjusting the alignment in the optimal posture.

[0019]

An object of the present invention is to provide a technical problem to be solved in order to solve the problem of loading and unloading of an object to be processed such as a wafer into a plurality of predetermined processing steps based on the above-mentioned prior art. It is intended to provide an excellent processing method and processing apparatus which can be selectively changed as necessary to improve the throughput of each processing, and which is useful for the field of processing technology application in various machine manufacturing industries. It is a thing.

[0020]

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems] In line with the above purpose,
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the structure of the invention of the present application, which has the above-mentioned claims as its gist, is subjected to predetermined processing such as photoresist film coating and development of an object to be processed such as a wafer,
An object to be processed such as a wafer before processing is set in a predetermined storage cassette, and a transfer mechanism such as tweezers in the loading / unloading mechanism moves vertically (X) and horizontally (Y) with respect to the storage cassette. , The up-down direction (Z), and further, it is displaceable in four directions of the turning direction (θ) to take out the object to be processed from the storage cassette and connect it to the transfer path provided adjacent to the loading / unloading mechanism. Part of the transfer path is transferred to the tweezers of the holding transfer mechanism via an interface in a baton-touch manner. During this time, the transfer mechanism and the holding transfer mechanism perform alignment such as centering of the object to be held and transfer. The workpiece is set by the mechanism in the optimum posture for the next processing step, and the holding and conveying mechanism in the conveying path is provided on both sides of the conveying path by the predetermined moving mechanism. And Predetermined processing such as heat treatment is carried out in an optimal posture, independently loaded into a station that is stacked vertically in a multi-stage treatment process that is thermally separated. Depending on the design, a plurality of types of processing are performed, and then the holding and transporting mechanism of the transporting path is transferred to the station of the next processing step according to a predetermined program, during which the supporting device such as tweezers is held in the holding and transporting mechanism. It has three fulcrums such as a negative pressure type, and by supporting it at three points, scratches, distortions, etc. do not occur on the object to be processed, and fine dust etc. do not adhere, and further,
An extension transfer route of the transfer route is additionally provided, or even in a system of additional multi-stage processing units, desired processing can be smoothly performed in series by an interface mechanism having a buffer function, or in parallel.
Further, the two are combined so as to be performed according to a desired program, and the processing is performed as designed, mutually independently, mutually reciprocally, and selectively with respect to the stations of the multistage processing steps. It is a technical measure that has been adapted.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A processing system having a photoresist film coating phenomenon device for a wafer will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6 as an embodiment of the invention of this application.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 shows a mode of a photoresist film coating / developing apparatus 100, in which a main body base 101 is provided near one side of the center (upper part in the figure).
At the center of the main body base 101, the arrow Y direction (lateral direction)
A passage 102 of a transfer path for a wafer W to be processed is extended to one side, and HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) for heating the unprocessed wafer W to remove moisture and the like is provided on one side thereof. ) A pre-heating station 103 for processing or simply heating, and a cooling station 1 for cooling the pre-heated wafer W attached to the pre-heating station 103.
04, for example, a first having two heating devices (not shown) in the vertical direction which are used for heating the wafer W after applying the photoresist solution and forming a dried photoresist film, and Second heating stations 105, 106 are provided laterally along the passage 102.

On the other side of the passage 102, first and second coating stations 107 used for coating, for example, a photoresist solution on the surface of the wafer W which has been preheated and cooled. , 108 are provided adjacent to each other.

In FIG. 1, the preheating station 103, the cooling station 104, and the first and second heating stations 105 and 106 are illustrated as being arranged in a plane for convenience of illustration. However, this is for the sake of convenience, and in practice, the heating device of the preheating station 103 is provided on the cooling station 104 in a vertically stacked two-tier structure.

Thus, the passage 102 has stations 103, 104, 105, 106, and 10 on both sides thereof.
Since 7 and 108 are arranged to face each other, they are thermally separated from each other, which facilitates heat management control and maintenance.

Thus, the inside of the passage 102 is
For example, a handling means that moves in the Y direction (lateral direction) by a drive mechanism (not shown) such as a ball screw, for example, a wafer holding / transporting mechanism 110 as a holding / transporting mechanism that transports the wafer W to a predetermined station is provided. The holding / transporting mechanism 110 has a carriage 111 as a transporting mechanism, and vacuum-type tweezers, for example, two tweezers 112 and 113 for sucking and holding the wafer W are attached to the carriage 111 so as to be vertically stacked. ing.

The tweezers 112 and 113 are independently movable in the X direction (vertical direction) and the Y direction (horizontal direction), and at the same time, can be translated in the Z direction (vertical direction) at a predetermined angle. It is designed to be able to turn in the θ direction (plane).

In order to enable such parallel movement and swiveling movement of the tweezers 112 and 113, the carriage 111
Is provided with a stepping motor and a drive mechanism (not shown) such as a ball screw connected to the stepping motor.

Then, the tweezers 112 and 113 hold the wafer W with one of the tweezers, center the wafer W at a predetermined processing station in an optimum posture, carry out alignment adjustment and carry the wafer W, and the processed wafer W is present in the processing station. At this time, the processed wafer W is picked up by the other tweezers and set back.

On the left side of the main body base 101 in the figure,
Wafer unloading and input mechanism 120 is provided, et al, the wafer cassette 122 for accommodating the wafer W _B of the pretreatment, and the wafer cassette 123 is provided for accommodating the wafer W _F after processing, also adsorb the back surface of the wafer W Equipped with tweezers 121 as a transfer mechanism for holding.

The tweezers 121 is the tweezers 1 described above.
With the same configuration as 12, 113, X direction (vertical direction), Y
Direction (transverse direction), Z direction (vertical direction) translation, and θ direction (turning direction) turning movement are possible.
The unprocessed wafer W _B is taken out from the wafer cassette 122, and the processed wafer W _F is stored in the wafer cassette 123 in a baton-touch manner in accordance with a program.

Further, the tweezers 121 of the loading / unloading mechanism 120.
Transfers the unprocessed wafer W _B to the tweezers 112 and 113 of the holding and transporting mechanism 110, and the processed wafer W _F
Is received from the tweezers 112 and 113, and an interface 30 described later that enables such baton-touch delivery is provided in the passage 102 and the loading / unloading mechanism 12.
It is provided at the boundary with 0.

Then, the tweezers 112 and 113 of the holding and transporting mechanism 110 are connected to the processing stations 103 to 108, respectively.
The wafers W can be delivered to and from each other in series, in parallel, in combination with each other, and further in throughput.
The wafer W is subjected to a predetermined process in each of the processing stations 103 to 108 in accordance with the set program order.

The operation of the holding and transporting mechanism 110 is controlled and controlled in a predetermined manner by a control system (not shown).

Therefore, by changing the program of the control system, the processing in the processing stations 103 to 108 of the wafer W can be performed in series, in parallel, sequentially, in combination, or in throughput. Can be arbitrarily set independently, and independently, that is, each processing station 103-10.
It is also possible to perform only some of the processing in 8 independently.
It is also possible to change the order of processing.

2 to 5, the tweezers 112, 113, and 121 mechanisms are shown in detail in common for convenience of illustration. In the drawings, 21 is a fork-shaped tweezer body in a plan view. There are three fulcrums 22, 2 on one side
3, 24 project in a triangular arrangement, and the wafer W is supported and conveyed at three points supported by these fulcrums 22, 23, 24, and these fulcrums 22, 23,
It is held by three-point support via 24, and is supported above the tweezers body 21 in a floating manner with a minute gap,
It is possible to prevent dust from adhering to the wafer W on the surface.

Of the fulcrums 22, 23, 24, the fulcrum 24 is provided with a suction port (not shown) that opens to the minute top surface thereof for vacuum suction.

Of course, it is within the scope of design changes to make the other fulcrums 22 and 23 have the same mechanism.

Further, for centering and / or alignment of the wafer W, an arc-shaped guide member 25 corresponding to the peripheral edge of the wafer W and a stopper member 26 on the opposite side thereof are provided. , The wafer W is
Placed on the fulcrums 22, 23, 24 in the state shown in FIG.
In this state, the wafer W is not centered or aligned, and is not vacuum-sucked.

[0040] Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the forceps body 21 is moved horizontally toward the stopper member 26 is brought into contact with the orientation flat W _a of the wafer W to the stopper member 26.

After that, by continuing the horizontal movement of the tweezers body 21, the wafer W is moved to the tweezers body 21.
Lightly slides on the three fulcrums 22, 23, and 24, and finally contacts the guide member 25 and is centered.
Alignment is adjusted and it stops.

Therefore, even if the position of the wafer W deviates from the central portion of the tweezer body 21 in the state of FIG. 3, the wafer W is guided by the guide member 2 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the centering of the tweezers main body 21 is performed at a predetermined position by being guided by the guide 5, and
Can be aligned.

FIG. 6 shows the interface mechanism 30 provided at the boundary between the passage 102 and the wafer loading / unloading mechanism 120. The interface mechanism 30 is provided between the tweezers 121 and the tweezers 112, 113. A holding member 31 having a buffer function of temporarily holding the delivered wafer W and holding the wafer W by a vacuum suction mechanism, and a driving device 32 such as an air cylinder for raising and lowering the holding member 31. Made of.

When the tweezers 121 of the transfer mechanism of the carry-in / carry-out mechanism 120 carries the wafer W to the position shown in the figure, the holding member 32 moves up via the drive unit 32, lifts and holds the wafer W, and then The wafer holding / transporting mechanism 110 on the resist coating / developing apparatus 100 side moves to the position of the interface mechanism 30 shown in the figure.

Then, when the holding member 31 is lowered by the driving device 32, the wafer W held by the holding member 31.
Is placed on the tweezers 112 or 113.

The delivery of the wafer W from the tweezers 112 and 113 to the tweezers 121 is also performed in the same manner as the above process.

A process of forming a photoresist film on the surface of the wafer W by the resist coating / developing apparatus 100 in the above structure will be described step by step.

Each step is processed based on a program stored in the control system in advance.

First, one unprocessed wafer W _B is taken out from the cassette 122 by the tweezers 121 of the transfer mechanism of the carry-in / carry-out mechanism 120 and is transferred to the position of the interface mechanism 30.

Then, the transferred wafer W _B is transferred via the interface mechanism 30 to one of the tweezers, for example, the tweezers 112, of the holding and carrying mechanism 110 waiting at the entrance of the passage 102 for suction holding. Then, it is set in the preheating station 103 and is used for preheating.

If only one wafer W _{B of the} same type is stored in one cassette 122, the cassette 122
The ID code may be displayed on the screen, and the program for the manufacturing process may be selected by reading the ID code.

Hereinafter, the preheating station 103, the cooling station 104, the first coating station 107,
A case in which the processes in the first heating station 105 are selected to be performed in this order will be described.

First, the tweezers 112, which has received the first wafer W, that is, the first wafer W, is attached to the preheating station 10.
3 to move the wafer W to the standby station 1
03 is centered in a predetermined manner, set in an aligned posture, and placed on a heater plate (not shown) provided therein for preheating.

In the meantime, the wafer W is displaced by the transfer mechanism 121 and the holding / transporting mechanism 110 in the predetermined direction in the vertical direction (X), the horizontal direction (Y), the vertical direction (Z), and the turning direction (θ) as described above. The position and orientation are adjusted so that the process is set in an optimum state.

At this time, the wafer W is not brought into direct contact with the heater plate but the three fulcrums 2 of the tweezers 121.
It is good to take measures against dust by floating about 0.3 mm by transfer via three-point support by 2, 23, and 24.

During this period, the tweezers 121 is moved to
The second wafer W is taken out of the cassette 122, kept waiting in the interface mechanism 30, and after the first wafer W has been loaded into the preheating station 103, the holding / transporting mechanism 110 removes the second wafer W from the interface mechanism 30. The tweezers 112 receives the tweezers 1
Then, the wafer 12 is sucked and held on the wafer 12 and waits as it is until the processing of the first wafer W in the preheating station 103 is completed.

When the preheating process for the first wafer W is completed, the holding / transporting mechanism 110 performs the following operation.

That is, first, by moving the tweezers 113 that does not hold the wafer W, the first wafer W that has undergone the preheating process is moved to the preheating station 1.
Take out from 03.

After the preheating station 103 is emptied in this way, the tweezers 112 holding the second wafer W is operated to set the second wafer W in the preheating station 103.

Then, the tweezers 112 and 113 are moved in the Y direction, the θ direction, and the Z direction to move the cooling station 104.
, The tweezers 113 holding the wafer W is operated in the X direction, and the first wafer W is moved to the cooling station 1.
Set to 04.

From the above operation, the two tweezers 112,
The advantage of providing 113 is utilized.

That is, in the case where there is only one tweezers, the holding and transporting mechanism 110 first takes out the first wafer W from the preheating station 103, sets it in the cooling station 104, and then the second from the interface mechanism 30. This is because the wafer W must be received and set in the preheating station 103.

While the above-described operation is being performed, in the carry-in / carry-out mechanism 120, the third wafer W to be processed next by the tweezers 121 is kept waiting in the interface mechanism 30.

Next, the holding / transporting mechanism 110 tweezers the third wafer W from the interface mechanism 30.
, And wait until the processing in the cooling station 104 is completed.

When the first wafer W cooling process is completed, the holding / transporting mechanism 110 takes out the wafer W from the cooling station 104 with the tweezers 113 that does not hold the wafer W, and then the programmed photo. It is set at the first coating station 107 on the opposite side of the passage 102 for the resist film coating process.

During the coating process, when the process of the second wafer W in the preheating station 103 is completed,
The holding / transporting mechanism 110 takes out the wafer W from the preheating station 103 by using the tweezers 113 that does not hold the wafer W.

Then, the third wafer W held in the tweezers 112 is set in the preheating station 103, and at the same time, the second wafer W held in the tweezers 113 is set in the cooling station 104.

This operation is the same as that described above.

If the preheating process for the second wafer W is completed before the completion of the cooling process for the first wafer W, the following process operation may be programmed. It is possible.

That is, in the state where the third unprocessed wafer W is first held in the tweezers 112, the second wafer W is taken out from the preheating station 103 by the tweezers 113, and then held in the tweezers 112. After the second wafer W is set in the preheating station 103, it stands by.

After the cooling process of the first wafer W in the cooling station 104 is completed, the first wafer W is taken out by the tweezers 112 or 113 and set in the first coating station 107.

The photoresist solution is applied at the station 107 by, for example, a resist droplet under spin coating device well known to those skilled in the art.

Thus, when the coating process of the photoresist liquid on the first wafer W in the first coating station 107 is completed, the holding / transporting mechanism 110 operates the tweezers 1.
13, the wafer W is applied to the first coating station 107.
Take out from.

Subsequently, the wafer W is moved to the right side in the drawing along the Y direction, the first wafer W taken out is set in the first heating station 105, and the heat treatment is performed.

When the cooling process of the second wafer W in the cooling station 104 is completed during the heating process, the holding and transporting mechanism 110 takes out the wafer W with the tweezers 113, and further, the first wafer W is removed. Coating station 10
Set to 7 and start coating the photoresist solution.

Then, when the processing of the first wafer W is completed in the first heating station 105 and a desired photoresist film is formed, the holding / transporting mechanism 110 sets the first wafer W on the tweezers 113. Take out.

Subsequently, the holding / transporting mechanism 110 moves to the left side in the Y direction in the drawing, and transfers the wafer W held by the tweezers 113 to the interface mechanism 30.

During standby in the interface mechanism 30,
As described above, the wafer W is not brought into direct contact with the mounting portion.
It is effective to put it in a slightly floating position as a measure against dust.

Further, it is more advantageous to form the standby interface mechanism 30 by a carrier cassette.

When the wafer W _F which has been processed in this way is put on standby by the interface mechanism 30, the loading / unloading mechanism 12
The tweezers 121 of 0 receives the wafer W _F and stores it in the cassette 123.

The series of processing operations described above is performed by the cassette 1
This is continued until there is no unprocessed wafer W _{B in} 22.

Although the first coating station 107 and the first heating station 105 are used in the above description of the operation, instead of these, the second coating station 10 is used.
8 and a second heating station 106 may be used.

Further, a photoresist film coating step and / or
Alternatively, if the heating process takes longer than the other processes, it is possible to use the two coating stations 107, 108 and / or the two heating stations 105, 106 at the same time, and the transfer mechanism 121. It is also possible to transfer from a part to a desired processing step at a throughput for processing.

By the way, when carrying out the above-mentioned photoresist film forming step, in order to confirm whether or not the programmed process is appropriate, one wafer W is subjected to trial processing. In this case, it is necessary to take out the test wafer W _{T for} which the trial processing has been completed from the tweezers 123 for inspection, but in order to facilitate this taking out, as shown in FIG.
A retractable receiver 40 is provided at the base of 23, a handle 41 is provided at one end of the receiver 40, and a wafer mounting table 42 is provided inside the test wafer W _T after the trial processing is completed. Is inserted from the opening 43 and placed on the mounting table 42.

Therefore, the test wafer W _T can be easily taken out by pulling out the receiver 40 as shown in the drawing.

Incidentally, the tweezers of the holding and conveying mechanism 110 do not necessarily have to be two in terms of design changes, and may be three or more.

As is clear from the above description of the operation, according to the processing apparatus of the above-described embodiment, the plurality of processing steps necessary for forming the photoresist film on the surface of the wafer W, including the order thereof, are included. The best process can be programmed in any combination.

Therefore, it is possible to select the most efficient combination of process steps according to the type of wafer W to be processed and obtain the best throughput.

Further, since the holding / transporting mechanism 110 has the two tweezers 112 and 113 and operates independently of each other, the degree of freedom in processing is high. For example, the wafer W exists at the station of the next process. Then, there is no inconvenience that the wafer W cannot be replaced in that process.

Further, a plurality of processing stations are connected to the passage 10.
The stations on both sides are thermally separated from each other because they are arranged on both sides along the line 2.
Maintenance is easy, and therefore the holding and transporting mechanism 110
The degree of freedom when changing the operation program of is extremely high,
Therefore, it is easy to change the processing program.

Further, since the preheating station 103 and the cooling station 104 are vertically stacked,
The floor space required for installation is also reduced.

Those skilled in the art can use the apparatus of the above embodiment as an apparatus for developing a photoresist film exposed in a predetermined pattern to form a resist pattern without any difficulty.

In that case, the coating stations 107, 10
A device for applying a developing solution to 8 can also be provided.

Further, the developing device may be configured to jet the developing solution in the form of a jet onto the wafer W which is rotating at a variable speed for developing.

Furthermore, the two coating stations 107, 1
08 is used to apply the photoresist liquid,
By using the other for applying the developing solution, it can be used as an apparatus for both forming the photoresist film and developing.

At this time, the interface mechanism 30 shown in FIG. 6 is also provided at the right end of the passage 102 in the figure so that the wafer W can be delivered to and from the exposure apparatus, so that the photoresist film coating process to the developing process can be performed. Can be processed in series as a consistent continuous process, or optionally in parallel, and with throughput.

When it is desired to connect a plurality of processing units, the following passage is formed on the extension line of the passage 102, and a standby mechanism for the wafer W, for example, is formed at the connecting portion.
A carrier station should be provided.

By the way, as shown in FIG.
Wafer W in 2,123 is unloaded or cassette 12
Each process is performed by the above-described operations by the carry-in / carry-out mechanism 120 having the arm 120a for carrying into the 2,123 and the first process system 150 having the holding and carrying mechanism 110a for delivering the wafer W by the interface mechanism 30. .

For example, the HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) processing station 151, the first heating station 1152, the first cooling station 153, and the first layer are disposed in the first processing system 150 with the holding and conveying mechanism 110a interposed therebetween. Is provided with a first coating station 154 for spin-coating the photoresist solution and a second coating station 155 for spin-coating the second layer photoresist solution, and these stations are selectively, independently, or The wafer W is conveyed and processed in a repulsive manner, and further, a plurality of processing stations, for example, a second heating station 156, a second cooling station 157, a photoresist for preventing diffused reflection in the exposure process. A third coating station 158 for coating and forming a surface coating layer such as a CEL film on the upper surface of the film is arranged to face each other. Further, a second processing system 159 having a holding and carrying mechanism 110b for carrying the wafer W is provided in each of these stations, and a standby mechanism 160 is provided between the second processing system 159 and the first processing system 150. And a standby table 160 on which a wafer W can be placed.
61 is provided, and similarly to the delivery of the wafer W in the interface mechanism 30, the holding table 161 is used to hold and transfer the mechanism 110 a of the first processing system 150 and the second processing system 1.
The wafer W can be transferred to and from the holding and transporting mechanism 110b of 59. The standby mechanism 160 is configured such that a buffer cassette (not shown) is provided without providing the mounting table 161, and a plurality of buffer cassettes are used. The wafer W may have a structure capable of waiting.

With the buffer cassette, it is possible to reduce the waiting time of one of the holding and conveying mechanisms 110a and 110b even if there is a difference in the work amount between the holding and conveying mechanisms 110a and 110b.

As described above, by providing the transfer mechanism with two systems via the standby mechanism 160, it is possible to easily cope with the addition of processing stations in a multi-step processing process and to realize high throughput processing.

The above-mentioned transport mechanism is not limited to two systems, but may be two or more systems, and the number can be increased appropriately as the number of standby mechanisms is increased.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the embodiment applied to the coating and developing treatment of the photoresist film as the manufacturing apparatus has been described, but the invention of this application is not limited to this.
For example, etching treatment, CVD treatment, ashing treatment, etc. can be similarly performed.

[0104]

As described above, according to the invention of this application, a storage cassette before and after processing of an object to be processed is basically provided in an apparatus for performing processing such as photoresist film coating of the object to be processed such as a wafer. A holding / transporting mechanism for the object to be processed, which is provided in the transporting path, is provided in a transporting path connecting the loading / unloading mechanism of the to-be-processed object with a plurality of predetermined processing steps. Not only the direction (Z), but also the turning direction (θ)
By having a holding and transporting mechanism for the object to be processed which has the degree of freedom of displacing in four directions, the object to be processed can be directly or optimally processed according to the conditions for processing the object, Since it can be given in terms of throughput, as a result, processing in each processing step can be performed under optimum conditions,
As a result, the performance of the processed product is remarkably improved, and the reliability of the product is remarkably improved.

Therefore, in the processing apparatus, even if stations for a plurality of processing steps based on a plurality of programs are provided on both sides of the transfer path in the vertical direction from the design stage, the object holding and transfer mechanism from the storage cassette can be operated. Since it is possible to take out the object to be processed from the storage cassette and selectively and mutually independently or mutually mutually connect with a station of a desired processing step, directly or indirectly,
The excellent effect that optimum processing is performed for the target product is achieved.

Further, in the loading / unloading mechanism of the object to be processed, a transfer mechanism for the holding / transporting mechanism of the transport path is provided, and like the holding / transporting mechanism, the vertical direction (X), the horizontal direction (Y), the vertical direction (X), Also, by providing a transfer mechanism that is freely displaceable in four directions in the turning direction (θ), it is possible to take out and store the object to be processed from the storage cassette and to the cassette under the optimum conditions as designed. An excellent effect is obtained in that damage, distortion, dust adhesion, and the like of the object to be processed can be reliably prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a photoresist film coating / developing apparatus for a wafer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the tweezers of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the tweezers of FIG. 1 before actuation.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the same during operation.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same after operation.

FIG. 6 is a wall side view of the interface.

7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the structure of the cassette of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of a conventional photoresist film coating apparatus for a wafer.

[Explanation of symbols]

W (1) Processed object (wafer) 122, 123 storage cassette 120 loading / unloading mechanism 103, 108 Treatment process (station) 102 transport route 100 processing equipment 110 holding and transporting mechanism 112,113 support device 22-24 fulcrum 30 Transfer mechanism

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Osamu Hirakawa             2655 Tsukure, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture Tokyo             Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshio Kimura             2655 Tsukure, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture Tokyo             Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd.

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A step of taking out one unprocessed object stored in a cassette, a step of temporarily holding the to-be-processed object taken out in the step, and an object to be processed held in this step. Is received by the first holding mechanism and is conveyed to a predetermined treatment step, and the object conveyed by the conveying step is treated by the second holding mechanism. After the removal, the step of loading the object to be processed held by the first holding mechanism, and the step of loading the object to be processed held by the second holding mechanism after the step of loading are predetermined. It is characterized by having a step of carrying to the next step and a step of carrying a processed object which has completed a predetermined processing program by these steps by the holding mechanism and storing it in a processed cassette. Processing method 2. The processing method according to claim 1, wherein the object to be processed is a semiconductor wafer. 3. The processing method according to claim 1, wherein the defined processing step is a photoresist film coating or developing step. 4. In a processing apparatus in which a conveyance path from a treatment object loading / unloading mechanism having a treatment object storage cassette to a plurality of processing steps is connected and extended, a vertical direction (X ), A lateral direction (Y), a vertical direction (Z), and a swivel direction (θ). 5. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding and conveying mechanism has an adsorption type supporting device for the object to be processed. 6. The processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of processing steps are provided with processing steps for performing at least the same processing. 7. The processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the same processing is a heating step. 8. The treatment of the object to be treated is at least two.
The processing device according to claim 4, wherein the processing device performs a type. 9. The processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the two types of processing of the object to be processed are coating processing and developing processing. 10. The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of the adsorption type supporting devices are provided. 11. The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the suction-type supporting device is provided with a fulcrum for supporting three points. 12. The processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein a vacuum hole is formed at the tip of the fulcrum. 13. A processing apparatus in which a transportation path from the processing object loading / unloading mechanism having a processing object storage cassette to a plurality of processing steps is connected and extends in the longitudinal direction (X ), A lateral direction (Y), a vertical direction (Z), and a swivel direction (θ). A workpiece holding and transporting mechanism that is freely displaceable in four directions is attached, and the loading / unloading mechanism includes the holding and transporting mechanism and the loading / unloading mechanism. And a cassette for transferring the workpiece, which is displaceable in four directions of a vertical direction (X), a horizontal direction (Y), a vertical direction (Z), and a turning direction (θ). Processing equipment.