JPH0562955A - Semiconductor cleaning device and semiconductor wafer holding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a cleaning processing device to be lessened in size, to save cleaning liquid, and to be clean. CONSTITUTION:Processing tanks 22, a wafer holding device 23 which directly holds a semiconductor wafer 1, and a transfer robot 26 which transfers the wafer holding device 23 to the processing tank 22 are provided, and the semiconductor wafers 1 are successively cleaned in the processing tanks 22 while held by the wafer holding devices 23.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor cleaning apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor wafer in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, and a semiconductor wafer holding apparatus used for the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of a semiconductor device, there is a cleaning process (so-called wet process) for cleaning a semiconductor wafer according to various processing processes. Two types of conventional cleaning processing apparatuses are known.

The first method is to insert a semiconductor wafer housed in a cassette into a processing tank together with the cassette for cleaning. That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a cassette 2 accommodating a plurality of semiconductor wafers 1 is integrally provided on a pair of arms 4 of a carrier 3 and a pair of openable and closable U-shaped chuck members. 5, the cassette 2 is held so as to be suspended, and the cassette 2 is moved by the carrier 3 to sequentially insert the semiconductor wafer 1 into each processing bath 6 together with the cassette 2 along with various processing processes for cleaning processing. ..

The second method is a so-called cassetteless cleaning method. As shown in FIG. 8, a fixing table 8 for mounting and fixing the semiconductor wafer 1 is arranged in advance in the processing tank 6, and the semiconductor wafer is fixed. 1 is held by the chuck member 10 of the carrier and is transferred to the fixed table 8 in the processing tank 6 for cleaning. During cleaning of the semiconductor wafer 1, the chuck member 10 stands by outside the bath. The fixing table 8 is provided with a fixing groove 9 for fixing the semiconductor wafers 1 one by one.

The example of FIG. 9 is also a cassetteless cleaning system, in which the fixed base 8 can be moved up and down by an elevating actuator 11, the semiconductor wafer 1 from the chuck member 10 is transferred outside the bath, and then the semiconductor wafer is moved. The fixing table 8 is inserted into the processing bath 6 together with the cleaning unit 1 to clean the semiconductor wafer 1.

[0006]

In the above-mentioned cleaning system of the first type, a large cassette 2 for carrying other than the semiconductor wafer 1 which originally has to be cleaned.
Since it also enters the processing tank 6, a large amount of fine dust is brought in and the cleaning effect is reduced. Further, since the large cassette 2 is inserted, the processing tank 6 becomes large, and the amount of processing liquid such as chemical liquid and pure water increases, resulting in a large waste.

In the cleaning system of the second system, the drawbacks of the first system are solved, but each processing tank 6
Since the semiconductor wafers 1 are transferred (attached / detached) in between, chucking errors may occur frequently. Further, since the fixing base 8 for the semiconductor wafer 1 is arranged in the processing tank 6, the first
Although the volume is smaller than that of the above method, there is a factor of increasing the size of the processing tank 6.

In view of the above points, the present invention reduces the amount of dust brought into the processing tank, enables the volume of the processing tank to be reduced, and enables cleaning processing without causing a chucking error. A cleaning device and a semiconductor wafer holding device used for the cleaning device are provided.

[0009]

A semiconductor processing apparatus 21 according to the present invention has a plurality of processing tanks 22 arranged therein, a holding means 23 for directly holding the semiconductor wafer 1, and a holding means 23 in each processing tank 22. The semiconductor wafer 1 is carried by the carrying means 26 and the semiconductor wafer 1 is held by the holding means 23 in sequence.
In step 2, the cleaning process is performed.

In the semiconductor wafer holding apparatus 23 according to the present invention, a pair of arms 33 is provided with a pair of horizontal members 35 that abut against the lower side edges of the semiconductor wafer 1. 35 is configured to be openable and closable via the arm 33, and the horizontal member 35 holds the semiconductor wafer 1 in the closed state.

[0011]

In the semiconductor processing apparatus 21 according to the present invention,
This is a so-called cassetteless system, in which the semiconductor wafer 1 is directly
The processing tank 22 is sequentially held in the state of being held by the holding means 23.
Since it is transferred to and cleaned, the amount of dust brought into the processing tank 22 is small, the volume of the processing tank 22 is small, and the consumption of the processing liquid can be reduced. Further, since it is not necessary to transfer the semiconductor wafer 1 to each processing bath 22, stable and reliable cleaning can be performed without chucking mistakes on the semiconductor wafer 1.

Further, the semiconductor wafer holding device 23 according to the present invention has a simple structure in which a pair of horizontal members 35 are brought into contact with the lower side edges of the semiconductor wafer 1 so as to be hung and held. It can be configured to have a minimum size necessary to hold the semiconductor wafer 1. As a result, the volume of the processing tank 22 is reduced, and the consumption of the processing liquid can be reduced.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a semiconductor processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes the entire semiconductor processing apparatus, 22 a plurality of processing tanks arranged according to the processing process, and 23, a semiconductor capable of carrying out cleaning processing while holding a plurality of semiconductor wafers 1 collectively. Wafer holding device, 24
Is a support base of the semiconductor wafer holding device 23 arranged at a position corresponding to each processing tank 22, and 26 is the semiconductor wafer holding device 2
3 shows a transfer machine (that is, a transfer robot) for sequentially transferring 3 along the processing process.

For cleaning the semiconductor wafer 1, cleaning of organic substances (for example, processing liquid: NH ₄ OH + H ₂ O ₂ + H) is performed.
₂ O), cleaning of metal contamination (eg processing liquid: HCl + H ₂
O ₂ ), removal of the natural oxide film by light etching (for example, treatment liquid: buffered hydrofluoric acid), and rinsing treatment between them (washing with chemical liquid). A plurality of treatment tanks 22 are appropriately selected and arranged according to a required treatment process so that they can be washed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transfer robot 26 has a chuck 28 that holds the base portion 27 of the semiconductor wafer holding device 23 from both sides, and a chuck 28.
A vertical movement mechanism 29 for moving 8 up and down, and a rail 30 provided with the robot itself behind each support 24.
A left-right moving mechanism 31 for moving in the arrangement direction of the processing tanks 22 is configured.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the wafer holding device 23 has a base portion 27 which is conveyed and engaged and supported on a support base 24, and the base portion 27 integrally extends horizontally. For holding a pair of arms 33 [33A, 33B] and a so-called chuck that is integrally attached to the arms 33A and 33B and is opened and closed by rotation about the axis of the arm. Frame 3
4 [34A, 34B].

The holding frame 34 is formed in a substantially U-shape including a horizontal member 35 and vertical members 36 extending vertically from both ends of the holding member 34. The holding frame 34 is inserted into the entire length of a semiconductor wafer in which a plurality of horizontal members 35 are arranged in a closed state. The semiconductor wafer 1 is formed so as to cross and contact both side edges below the center line 37 that bisects the semiconductor wafer 1 and hold the semiconductor wafer 1 in a suspended manner. Therefore, the holding frame 34 allows the vertical member 36 to exist within the wafer surface while holding the semiconductor wafer 1. It should be noted that one of the holding frames 34B may be provided with an auxiliary horizontal member 35a that comes into contact with the side edge of the semiconductor wafer 1. In the illustrated example, the wafer 1 is provided so as to be in contact with the upper side edge thereof, but it may be provided so as to be in contact with the lower side edge thereof in order to avoid dripping of the processing liquid after cleaning.

FIG. 4 shows another example of the semiconductor wafer holding device 22. In this example, two horizontal members 38 [38a and 38a which contact the predetermined position of the side edge of the semiconductor wafer 1, that is, the position on the center line that bisects the wafer and the position below the center line.
b] is passed over, and the holding frame 40 [40 is formed by connecting the two horizontal members 38 with vertical members 39 at both ends.
A, 40B] and the pair of arms 33 described above that are rotatable respectively.
It is configured by being attached to A and 33B. In the wafer holding device 22, when the holding frames 40A and 40B are closed, the horizontal members 38a and 38b contact the central and lower side edges of the semiconductor wafer 1 to suspend the semiconductor wafer 1. Can be held in a state.

In the semiconductor wafer holding apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the semiconductor wafer 1 in the cassette is lifted above the outside of the cassette via, for example, a wafer transfer machine, and then the holding frame 34 or 40 in the open state is placed in the semiconductor. The semiconductor wafer 1 can be held by bringing it into the wafer 1 and closing it.

FIG. 5 shows still another example of the semiconductor wafer holding device 22. In this example, a pair of substantially U-shaped frames 42 [42A, 42A,
42B] are opposed to each other in the arrangement direction of the semiconductor wafers, and a holding frame 44 formed by interposing horizontal members 43 [43a, 43b] abutting the lower side edges of the semiconductor wafer between the frames 42A and 42B. Become. In this case, the spacing d ₁ above the U-shaped frames 42A and 42B
Is formed wider than the lower space d ₂ at which the semiconductor wafer 1 is held, and the semiconductor wafer 1 is transferred from above by a single wafer by a vertical articulated robot, for example.

In addition, in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, a fixing groove with which the side edge of each wafer 1 engages can be formed in a portion corresponding to the side edge of the semiconductor wafer 1.

Next, the operation of the cleaning processing device 21 will be described with reference to FIGS. Plural sheets on the loader side, eg 2
When the cassette 50 accommodating the five semiconductor wafers 1 is transported, the cassette 50 is transferred by a wafer transfer machine (not shown).
Only the semiconductor wafer 1 inside is lifted up.

On the other hand, the transfer robot 26 uses the chuck 28.
Then, the required semiconductor wafer holding device 22 is held and moved to the loader side, and the pair of holding frames 34A and 34B of the wafer holding device 23 collectively holds 25 semiconductor wafers.

Next, the transfer robot 26 is moved to the first position.
The semiconductor wafer 1 is inserted into the processing bath 22 of
Perform the required cleaning process. During the cleaning process, the base 27 of the semiconductor wafer holding device 23 is placed on the corresponding support base 24. The transfer robot 26 separates from the semiconductor wafer holding device 23 and stands by at a predetermined position, or transfers the wafer holding device 23 holding another semiconductor wafer 1 to the processing tank 22 for the next cleaning. Done.

When the cleaning processing in the first processing tank 22 is completed, the wafer holding device 23 in which the semiconductor wafer 1 is held by the transfer robot 26 is again placed in the second processing tank 22.
The second cleaning process is performed in the processing tank 22 while being held by the wafer holding device 23.

In this way, the wafer holding device 23 is sequentially operated.
At the same time, the semiconductor wafer 1 is sent to each processing tank 22 and subjected to required cleaning. And after the final cleaning process,
The semiconductor wafer 1 is stored in a cassette on the unloader side.

According to the above-described embodiment, the semiconductor wafer 1 from the cassette 50 is directly held by the wafer holding device 23, and in the holding state, the semiconductor wafers 1 are sequentially transferred to the processing baths 22 to perform the required cleaning. Since this is performed, it is possible to reduce the amount of fine dust brought into the processing tank 22 as compared with the conventional method of inserting the cassette into the processing tank and cleaning it.

Further, as the wafer holding device 23, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the horizontal member 35 of the holding frame 34 is used.
Since the vertical member 36 is formed in the plane of the semiconductor wafer 1 and does not largely protrude from the semiconductor wafer 1, that is, the vertical member 36 is formed to have a minimum size necessary to hold the semiconductor wafer 1, the volume of the processing tank 22 is reduced. Can be made smaller. Therefore, the consumption of the processing liquid can be reduced as compared with the conventional case. Similarly, in the case of the wafer holding device 22 of FIGS. 4 and 5, the volume of the processing bath 22 can be made small and the consumption of the processing liquid can be made small.

Incidentally, in the case of the processing tank 6 to be inserted together with the cassette 2 of FIG. 6, the length a ₁ × the width b ₁ × the depth c ₁ = 3
While the size is 10 mm × 225 mm × 280 mm, in the case of the processing tank 22 of the embodiment of FIG. 3, vertical a ₂ × horizontal b ₂ ×
The depth c ₂ = 230 mm × 235 mm × 255 mm, and the volume of the processing tank 22 becomes small.

Since the processing tank 22 is small, the entire semiconductor processing apparatus can be downsized, and the occupied area in the clean room can be downsized. Also,
Since it is a cassetteless system, it is not affected by dimensional variations of cassettes, so there are few problems during processing,
Throughput can be improved.

Further, although the present embodiment is a kind of cassetteless system, it is not necessary to transfer the semiconductor wafer to each processing tank as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. Stable and reliable sequential cleaning processes can be performed without any problems.

[0033]

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the amount of dust brought into the processing tank and reduce the volume of the processing tank to reduce the consumption of the processing liquid. Further, since it is not necessary to transfer the semiconductor wafers to each processing bath, there is no chucking mistake for the semiconductor wafers, and stable and reliable cleaning processing can be performed.

Further, the semiconductor processing apparatus can be downsized as a whole, and the processing liquid can be saved and the cleaning can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a semiconductor processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part showing an example of a semiconductor wafer holding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part showing another example of the semiconductor wafer holding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part showing still another example of the semiconductor wafer holding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part showing an example of a conventional cleaning processing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a main part showing another example of a conventional cleaning processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a main part showing still another example of a conventional cleaning processing apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a main part showing still another example of a conventional cleaning processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 semiconductor wafer 50, 2 cassette 5 chuck member 6,22 processing tank 21 semiconductor processing device 23 semiconductor wafer holding device 24 support stand 26 transfer machine (transfer robot) 27 base 33A, 33B arm 34A, 34B holding frame 35 horizontal member 36 Vertical member

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of processing tanks arranged, a holding means for directly holding a semiconductor wafer, and a carrying means for carrying the holding means to each of the processing tanks, the semiconductor wafer being held by the holding means. A semiconductor cleaning apparatus, wherein cleaning treatment is sequentially performed in the above-mentioned treatment tank in the above state. 2. A pair of arms are provided with a pair of horizontal members that abut against lower side edges of the semiconductor wafer, the pair of horizontal members being openable and closable via the arms, and in a closed state. A semiconductor wafer holding device configured to hold the semiconductor wafer by the horizontal member.