JPH05299316A - Semiconductor manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a semiconductor manufacturing equipment simply capable of conducting set, change, addition, etc., of collection data and their measurement condition. CONSTITUTION:Whether an event ID corresponding to previously set data collection parameter exists is judged (step 102) for each so-called process recipe. When it is judged that the event ID exists, a parameter is read (step 104). When it is judged that the event ID does not exist, data collection process is ended (step 114). After the parameter is read (step 104), whether spot time for designating measurement time exists is judged (step 106). When it is judged that the spot time does not exist, data are immediately inputted. When it is judged that the spot time exists, data are inputted after the designated time is past (step 108 and step 110).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for performing a part or all of a semiconductor manufacturing process such as CVD, and more particularly to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a function of collecting various data during processing. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The diffusion / CVD process is an important process in the semiconductor manufacturing process. These diffusion processing and CV
A large number of semiconductor processing apparatuses configured in one housing have been proposed and put to practical use as those capable of performing D processing in a relatively small occupied space. Such a temperature of a processing portion during semiconductor processing by the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus,
Various data such as pressure and gas flow rate are important for determining whether or not the processing is being performed smoothly.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the past,
The monitoring and collecting of various data are specified in advance, for example, during a so-called installation program (start-up process) of the apparatus. Therefore, once the desired data is set, the data is set. There is a problem that even if an attempt is made to change or add the type of data or its measurement conditions, it cannot be done simply and immediately, and thus flexible equipment cannot be monitored.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which data relating to semiconductor processing can be easily changed, added, deleted, and desired data can be easily monitored. The purpose is that.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for forming a predetermined desired semiconductor by executing a plurality of semiconductor processing steps. Data designating means for designating desired collection data and processing conditions for the processing step, and data designated by the data designating means in the semiconductor processing step each time the plurality of semiconductor processing steps are executed. And a determination means for determining whether or not data is generated, and when the determination means determines that the data designated by the data designating means is produced, the designation is made during execution of the semiconductor processing step. And a data collecting means for collecting data.

[0006]

In a plurality of semiconductor processing steps, various data desired to be collected and the measurement conditions thereof can be designated, changed, added, etc. at any time by the data designating means, and designated by the data designating means. The data is collected by the data collecting means. Therefore, unlike the prior art, not only at the time of so-called installation of the apparatus, but it is possible to specify, change, add, etc., the collected data and the measurement conditions thereof at any time by the data designating means, which is desirable. The data can be collected easily.

[0007]

Embodiments of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the mechanical structure of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in this embodiment will be mainly described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. 3 is an overall perspective view showing an example of the external structure of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in this embodiment, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of the operation panel section of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in this embodiment performs, for example, CVD or diffusion processing, and a diffusion furnace or the like is housed in a vertically long casing as shown in FIG.
In particular, an operation panel 1 having a screen display unit 2 is provided on the lower right side of the center of the entire surface (see FIGS. 3 and 4). This operation panel 1 is used for collecting data described later.
The data is designated, and the designated data is displayed on the screen display unit 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic electrical configuration centering on a portion that performs a data collecting function of this semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. The configuration will be described while. This semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, in particular, the part that performs the data collection function, has a CPU 3 that controls the entire apparatus, a temperature control circuit 4 that performs temperature value measurement and heater control, and pressure measurement and pressure control. A pressure control circuit 5, a gas flow rate control circuit 6 for measuring the gas flow rate value and controlling the gas flow rate, a drive control circuit 7 for controlling the drive of a motor of a semiconductor processing unit (not shown), and the control circuits described above. Line control circuit 11 for controlling serial signals 4 to 7
And an operation panel having an external storage device (memory card) interface. Here, the CPU 3 has a known / known configuration including a central processing unit, an interface unit, and the like.

Next, the procedure for editing the parameters relating to the desired data using the operation panel 1 will be described.
First, the screen display unit 2 before entering the parameter editing work is
The display state is as shown in FIG. This screen displays one of a plurality of process recipes (referred to as processing conditions for semiconductor processing) executed by the operation of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. The alphanumeric characters displayed in the upper left part of the screen are The name of the recipe shown on the screen is shown. One recipe consists of a plurality of processing steps (hereinafter referred to as "events"), and in the portion labeled "EVENT" on the screen, the plurality of event names are shown together with their processing times. Also, in the upper right part of the screen, the total number of events forming this recipe is "TOTAL EVENT.
NUMBER ”and below it,
The total number of hours required to process all of these events is "TOTAL
It is displayed as "EVENT TIME". Further, on the lower side of the screen, there are eight function keys arranged on the operation panel 1 immediately below the screen display section 2.
Each function of F1 to F8 (see FIG. 4) is displayed (hereinafter, referred to as “function display section”).

When the function key F8 (the display of the function display portion is "OTHER") is pressed in the display state of the screen as shown in FIG. 5, the above-mentioned display of the function function display portion is shown in FIG. The state becomes as shown in. After that, when the function key F3 (the display of the function display section is “data log”) is further pressed, the screen display section 2 is in the display state as shown in FIG. 6 and the parameter relating to the desired data is displayed. -Waiting for input of data.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a state in which a plurality of parameters have already been set. Referring to FIG. 6, a description will be given of the display contents and the parameter input method. -The number of the data (hereinafter referred to as "parameter number") is shown in ascending order. An identification name (hereinafter, referred to as "data ID") for identifying each data is displayed immediately below the item name ID. This data ID can be freely set by the user with two English characters. To input the data ID, first, the function key F4 (the display of the function display section is "alphabet") is pressed. As a result, the function keys F1 to F7 become input keys such as alphabets as shown in FIG. 13, and each time the function key F8 (the function display is "OTHER") is pressed, as shown in FIG. Since the alphabets for the function keys F1 to F7 change, the cursor 8 is moved to the ID column as shown in FIG. 6 and the data is depressed by pressing the function key corresponding to the desired alphabet. Enter the ID. Then, when the input is finished, the [CR] key of F7 is pressed, and the functions of the function keys F1 to F8 are returned to the states shown in FIG. The movement of the cursor 8 can be performed by using movement keys 9a to 9d provided on the operation panel 1.

On the right side of the above-mentioned ID, there is provided an EVENT ID column in which the number and the name given in advance to the event for obtaining the desired data are displayed. In this field, the user may enter the number of the corresponding event using the numeric keypad on the operation panel 1, and when the number is entered, the corresponding event name is automatically displayed on the right side. Is becoming Here, the correspondence relationship between the numbers entered in this field and each event is predetermined as shown in FIG. Each event shown in FIG. 7 is, of course, executed in each recipe.

On the right side of the EVENT ID column, there is an ITEM column that specifically shows desired collection data. The display of this column consists of the data item number input by the user operating the numeric key and the data name corresponding to the number. Here, the data item number is
The number in the guide section 10 displayed on the right side of the screen,
The data corresponding to the number is shown, and by referring to this display, the number corresponding to the desired data is confirmed and the number is input using the numeric key, which corresponds to the right side. The data name is automatically displayed. The data in this embodiment will be described in a few words. "TEMP" means temperature data. If "CH01" follows "TEMP", the data is input. Among multiple data channels prepared in
This means that the temperature data is input to the first channel. Further, "MFC" means the valve opening degree, and if "CH02" follows this "MFC", it is the valve opening degree input to the second channel of the data channels for inputting data. Means there is.

On the further right side of the above-mentioned ITEM column, there is provided a CONDITION column for designating the condition of the collection data. The conditions of this collection data are the above-mentioned data.
The state of collecting data, that is, the maximum value,
The minimum value, the average value, and the like are designated, and the user refers to each condition displayed in the CONDITION column of the guide unit 10 on the right side of the screen and the corresponding number to meet the desired condition. By inputting the number using the numeric key, the corresponding data collection condition name is automatically displayed.

On the right side of the above-mentioned CONDITION column, a guide section 10 is provided on which a guideline for the key entry of the above-mentioned ITEM and CONDITION columns is displayed.
And a SPOT TIME column for displaying a desired time for collecting the data specified in the ITEM column. In the SPOT TIME column of this embodiment, a maximum of eight times can be designated, and a desired time can be entered using the number keys on the operation panel 1. After setting the parameters as described above, by pressing the function key F1 (the display on the function display section is "outline"), the outline screens shown in FIGS. 6 to 5 are displayed. Return to and set the parameters.
According to the data, desired data is collected each time each recipe is executed.

Next, the storage state of the parameters relating to the desired collection data set as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 shows the storage order of the parameters in the storage section (not shown) provided in this apparatus. First, the total number of parameters is stored in the first byte. In this embodiment, the maximum number of parameters that can be set is 40. If no parameter is set, "00" is stored in this area. After the number of parameters, the above-mentioned event ID and the like are sequentially stored for each data ID.

That is, in the present embodiment, a 5-byte area is used for one parameter set,
A 2 byte area is reserved for the data ID,
The data ID is stored in this area in ASCII code. Following the data ID, Event I
An area of 1 byte is reserved for D, and the event number (see FIG. 6) described above is stored in the BCD code. If "00" is stored,
It means that there is no data collection target. Further, after this event ID, a 1-byte area is reserved for collection data designation (synonymous with ITEM shown in FIG. 6), which corresponds to desired data. The data number is stored in hexadecimal code. The type of each data corresponding to the data number shown in FIG. 8 is the same as each data item in the ITEM column displayed in the guide section 10 shown in FIG.

After the collection data is designated, a 1-byte area is reserved for the collection method designation. Here, the collection method has the same meaning as "CONDITION" in FIG. Here, the conditions of the collection data shown in FIG.
That is, the designation of the maximum value, the minimum value, etc. is stored in the hexadecimal code. The collection method shown in FIG. 8 and the corresponding numbers are the same as those described in the CONDITION column shown in the guide unit 10 in FIG. As described above, the contents per one parameter start from the above data ID to the designation of the collection method. In this embodiment, the number of this parameter is excluded unless there is no data to be collected. Is variable from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 40.

Further, after the above-mentioned set of parameters, a data area relating to the spot time is secured. In this embodiment, as described above with reference to FIG.
You can set the spot time up to the number of spots.
Then, one spot time consists of hour, minute, and second display, and a 1-byte area is secured for each. The meaning of this spot time is that when the time specified by this spot time has elapsed since the execution of the event specified in the EVENT ID column (see FIG. 6) was started,
This means that collection of predetermined data is started.

In the area of the data collection parameter shown in FIG. 8, if the number of collection data is one, the number of bytes in this case is 1 for specifying the number of parameters. Byte, 5 bytes for specifying parameters and 24 for specifying spot time
Since each byte is required, a total of 30 bytes will be used. At the maximum, that is, when 40 parameters are specified, the parameters are
Since 5 × 40 = 80 bytes are used only in the data area, a total of 225 bytes of storage area is used. In the present embodiment, the data collection parameters shown in FIG. 8 are process recipe data (data necessary for executing each recipe) as shown in FIG. ) Is designed to be stored at the rear. Data size of process recipe is 512 bytes, 10
A size of either 24 bytes or 2048 bytes is secured. In this way, by continuing the storage area for the data collection parameters immediately after the storage area for the process recipe data, it is possible to use the data area without waste.

Next, a specific example of data collection will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the execution state of the process recipe for forming the oxide film with the passage of time, and the data collected along with the passage of time while referring to the same figure. Will be described. First, the first event (event 1) after the lapse of the standby state, that is, the maximum value and the minimum value of the furnace temperature are collected from the channel 1 over the entire period of the process called run-up. Continued, second
In the event (event 2), that is, the process called preheat, there is no designated data, so no data collection is performed. Then, in the third event (event 3), that is, in the process called deposit (abbreviation of deposit), the average value of the furnace temperature during the period of this event 3 from the channel 1 is the oxygen flow rate from the channel 2 Minimum and maximum values and time T after the start of event 3
The values after one lapse are collected respectively. Also, the maximum and minimum values of hydrogen chloride flow rate from channel 3 and event 3
The values at the time when the time T2 has elapsed after the start are collected.

In FIG. 11, the data ID and event I of the collected data during the execution of the process recipe described above.
The correspondence between D, data collection items, and data collection methods is shown. Since the basic contents of each item shown in FIG. 11 have already been described, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

FIG. 12 shows the storage state in the storage area of the data collection parameter set to obtain the data obtained by executing the process recipe shown in FIG. There is. This figure is a concrete representation of the storage state of the data collection parameters described in FIG.
That is, the data collected by executing the process recipe
As is apparent from FIG. 11, the number of data is nine, so that “9” is stored in the first byte at the beginning of the storage area (see FIG. 12). Then, the data regarding the parameter 1 is stored. First, the A for the data ID Z1 is stored.
The SCII code, "5A" and "31" are stored over 2 bytes. Furthermore, after that, Event I
D number "01", code "0" representing data collection item
1 "and the code" 08 "representing the data collection method are stored in each 1-byte area.

As for the other parameters, those expressed by various codes are basically stored in the same manner.
The spot time is stored at the rear of the nine parameters. That is, in parameters 6 and 9, spot time T1 (22 minutes) and spot time T2
Since these are set respectively, this data is stored in each of spot 1 and spot 2 (see FIG. 12).
reference).

Finally, the data collection processing procedure of this apparatus will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the processing shown in this flowchart is executed as a subroutine program, and this subroutine program is executed by the CPU 3 shown in FIG. 2 for each process recipe. is there. This process starts from the start step 100 and proceeds to step 102 where the event ID is searched. That is, it is determined whether or not an event ID corresponding to the name of the process recipe in which this process is executed is in the data collection parameter, and if it is determined that there is no corresponding event ID, the step The program returns to the main program (not shown) via 114. On the other hand, if it is determined that the corresponding event ID exists, step 1
In step 04, the data collection parameters such as the data ID are read.

After reading the parameters, step 10
In step 6, it is judged whether or not there is a spot time, and if it is judged that the spot time is designated (YES), step 1
In step 08, the elapsed time from the start of the event to the designated spot time is counted, and when the designated time has elapsed, the routine proceeds to step 110. on the other hand,
If it is determined in step 106 that the spot time is not specified, the process directly proceeds to step 110. Then, in step 110, predetermined data is input based on the previously read parameters, and the process proceeds to step 112 to store the input data in a predetermined storage area of a storage element (not shown). After being done, step 11
You will return to the main routine via 4.

In the present embodiment, not only the desired collection data and the conditions of the collection can be specified and collected from the operation panel 1, but also the change, addition and deletion can be performed on the operation panel 1.
It is possible to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus capable of easily collecting various data for judging whether or not semiconductor processing is smoothly performed and easily monitoring the data, since it can be performed at any time by using Become.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In addition to setting various conditions when the apparatus is started for the first time, the desired data relating to semiconductor processing and the collecting conditions thereof can be set independently so that the data is different from the conventional data. Also, it is possible to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which the setting, change, and addition of the measurement conditions can be easily performed at any time, and desired data can be easily monitored.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining a series of procedures of data collection processing in a data collection apparatus for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a data collecting apparatus for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view showing an appearance of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a data collecting apparatus for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is incorporated.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of an operation panel portion of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing an example of a screen display unit in a state where the contents of a process recipe are displayed.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing an example of a screen display unit in a setting state of data collection parameters.

FIG. 7 is a correspondence diagram showing a correspondence relationship between event IDs and event names.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram conceptually showing a storage state of data collection parameters.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram conceptually showing the relative positional relationship between the data collection parameter and the process recipe data in the stored state.

FIG. 10 is a timing chart for explaining data collection in the process recipe execution state of oxide film formation.

FIG. 11 is a correspondence diagram showing a correspondence relationship between parameters such as data ID of collected data in oxide film generation shown in FIG.

12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a concrete storage state of data collection parameters in the process recipe in FIG.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a function of the function key as an alphabet input key.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Operation panel, 2 ... Screen display unit, 3 ... CPU,
8 ... cursor, 10 ... guide section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for forming a desired semiconductor by executing a plurality of semiconductor processing steps,
Data designating means for designating desired collection data and measurement conditions thereof relating to the plurality of semiconductor processing steps, and designation by the data designating means in the semiconductor processing step each time the plurality of semiconductor processing steps are executed. Determining means for determining whether or not the generated data occurs, and when the determining means determines that the data designated by the data designating means will occur, during the execution of the semiconductor processing step. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, comprising: a data collection unit that collects the specified data.