JPH06104326A - Processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To arbitrarily decide the layout of a processing section and processed object carrying-in and carrying-out section. CONSTITUTION:In an upstairs room 10, a plurality of processing chambers 16 are annularly arranged on the floor, namely, on the upper surface of a wood siding wall 14, with their front faces being faced to the center of the room 10, and a carrying arm 18 is provided near the center of the room 10. In a downstairs room 12, a turntable 40 is provided and a wafer cassette CR is transferred onto the table 40 by means of a carrying robot 42. A carrying arm 44 is incorporated in the table 40. An airtightly constituted clean tunnel 22A is provided between the rooms 12 and 10 and a wafer carrying device 65 which can move in the vertical direction is provided in the tunnel 22A.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing system including a single wafer processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a recent tendency of a single wafer type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a multi-chamber system in which a plurality of process chambers are connected to perform different processes continuously or simultaneously is prevalent. In the multi-chamber system, a transfer chamber such as a load lock chamber or a transport chamber is provided at the center of the system, and each process chamber is arbitrarily accessed from the transfer chamber by a robot such as a transfer arm, which is an object to be processed. Semiconductor wafers can be loaded and unloaded.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a conventional typical multi-chamber processing system. This processing system includes, for example, two process chambers 100 and 102 for performing a dry etching process, one process chamber 104 for performing a CVD process, a load lock chamber 106 and a transport chamber 108 for carrying a wafer, and a wafer. A pair of cassette chambers 110, 11 for loading / unloading cassettes into the system
2 and.

The load lock chamber 106 communicates with the cassette chambers 110 and 112 via gate valves 114 and 116, respectively.
08 communicates with each process chamber 100, 102, 104 via gate valves 118, 120, 122. Loadlock chamber 106 and transport
The chambers 108 directly communicate with each other to form a transfer chamber. A telescopic transfer arm 12 for transferring the semiconductor wafer W is provided in each of the chambers 106 and 108.
4, 126 are provided, and these transfer arms 12 are provided.
The wafers W and W are asynchronously transferred to each other via the buffer plate 128.

In both cassette chambers 110 and 112,
Wafer cassettes 130 and 132, each of which is loaded with, for example, 25 wafers W to be processed by this processing system, are loaded. After cassette loading, the gate valves 114 and 116 are opened and both cassette chambers 1
Under the condition that the load lock chamber 106 and the transport chamber 108 are in communication with each other, the pressure in each chamber 106, 108, 110, 112 is reduced from atmospheric pressure to a negative pressure, for example, 1 × 10 ^-2 Torr or less. It

In the vacuum transfer chambers 106 and 108, the transfer arm 12 on the side of the load lock chamber 106 is provided.
4 picks up the unprocessed wafers W one by one from the wafer cassettes 130 and 132 in the cassette chambers 110 and 112 and transfers them to the transfer arm 126 on the transport chamber 108 side through the buffer plate 128 for processing. The completed wafer W is transferred via the buffer plate 128 to the transfer arm 12 on the transport chamber 106 side.
4 from the cassette chamber 110,1
A wafer transfer operation of returning the wafers to the wafer cassettes 130 and 132 in 12 is performed. In addition, the transfer arm 126 on the transport chamber 108 side is provided with the buffer plate 12.
First, the wafer W received from the transfer arm 124 on the side of the load lock chamber 106 via 8 is carried into the reaction chamber 100 or 102 for the etching process, and the wafer W after the etching process is carried out from the reaction chamber 100 or 102. Wafer to be transferred to the reaction chamber 104 for CVD processing, and the wafer W after the CVD processing is unloaded from the reaction chamber 104 and transferred to the transfer arm 124 on the load lock chamber 106 side via the buffer plate 128. Carry out work. A wafer transfer robot or a worker carries the wafer cassettes 130 and 132 into and out of the cassette chambers 110 and 112.

[0007]

In the conventional multi-chamber processing system as described above, the load lock
The cassette chambers 110, 112 are arranged around the chamber 106 along with the plurality of process chambers 100, 102, 104.
The transfer arm 124 inside the gate valve
The wafer W is loaded and unloaded by accessing the wafer cassettes 130 and 132 in the cassette chambers 110 and 112 via the control unit 6. In such a system in which the process chamber and the cassette chamber are arranged side by side, it is possible to expand or add the process chamber or to increase the number of wafer cassettes accessible to the transfer arm 124, that is, the number of wafer cassettes pending in the system. It was difficult because of restrictions.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a compact processing system capable of arbitrarily arranging the layout of the processing section and the processing object loading / unloading section.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the first processing system of the present invention comprises a first chamber and a second chamber.
For separating the chamber in the vertical direction through a plate wall, one or a plurality of processing devices is arranged in the first chamber, and the object to be carried in and out of the second chamber. A port is provided, and a vertically movable transport means for transporting the object to be processed is provided between the first chamber and the second chamber.

In a second processing system of the present invention, the first chamber and the second chamber are vertically separated via a plate wall, and the first chamber is separated from the first chamber.
In this chamber, one or a plurality of processing devices are arranged, and an airtight transfer chamber communicating with each of the processing devices via an opening / closing device is provided.
A port for carrying out is provided, and between the transfer chamber and the second chamber in the first chamber, the transfer chamber and the second chamber are in communication with each other via an opening / closing device, and are airtight. A configuration is provided in which a transporting unit that is vertically movable for transporting the object to be processed is provided in the passage.

A third processing system of the present invention is the above first
Alternatively, in the second system, a rotary table mechanism capable of rotating and moving for supporting the cassette for storing the object to be processed is provided at the port in the second chamber.

According to a fourth processing system of the present invention, in the above first, second or third system, an alignment for aligning the object to be processed in the first chamber or the second chamber is provided. A means is provided.

[0013]

In the processing system of the present invention, the processing apparatus and the processing object carry-in / carry-out port are provided on different floors and have a hierarchical structure. The unprocessed object is carried into the port of the second chamber and then transferred to the first chamber via the vertical transfer means, and is processed by the processing device in the first chamber. The processed object is carried out of the processing chamber, then carried to the second chamber through the carrying means in the vertical direction, and carried out from the port there to the outside of the system. When each processing device in the first chamber is a decompression processing device, an airtight transfer chamber communicating with each of the processing devices via an opening / closing device is provided, and between the transfer chamber and the second chamber. Is provided with an airtight passage, and the transport means movable in the vertical direction in the passage transports the object to be processed. Usually, in this airtight passage, there is provided a first opening / closing device for communicating with the decompression transfer chamber, if necessary,
A second switchgear is attached for communicating with the second chamber as needed. Then, when the object to be processed is transferred between this passage and the second chamber, the inside of the passage is returned to a pressure state substantially equal to that of the second chamber, and the object to be processed is transferred to and from the transfer chamber. When the operation is performed, the inside of the passage is depressurized to a pressure state almost equal to that of the transfer chamber.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 are a schematic perspective view and a schematic side view showing a configuration of a processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This processing system has a two-story structure, and a room 10 on the upper floor (second floor) and a room 12 on the lower floor (first floor) are vertically separated by a plate wall 14. Upper room 1
0, a plurality of process chambers (processing devices) 16 are annularly arranged on the floor surface, that is, the upper surface of the plate wall 14 with their front faces toward the center side, and a transfer arm 18 is installed near the center position. ing. This transfer arm 18
Is a conventional transfer arm that can be raised / lowered / rotated / extended and contracted, and is configured so that a processing chamber in each process chamber 16 can be accessed through a gate valve 20 attached to the front of each process chamber 16. . Further, in the upper floor room 10, a pair of clean tunnels 22A and 22B project upward from the floor surface 14, and gate valves 24A and 24B are attached to the upper end side surfaces of these clean tunnels, respectively. The transfer arm 18 can also access the inside of the clean tunnels 22A and 22B via these gate valves 24A and 24B.

In FIG. 1, each processing device 16 is shown for convenience of illustration.
Although it is illustrated that all sides of the process chamber are open except for the floor side, to be precise, as shown in FIG. 2, vertical partition walls 26 shield the side and upper sides of each process chamber 16. In addition, a ceiling plate 28 is provided in the upper floor room 10. As a result, an airtight transfer chamber 30 is formed inside the plurality of process chambers 16 arranged in an annular shape, and the transfer arm 18 and the clean tunnels 22A, 2A, 2 are formed.
The upper end of 2B is located in the transfer chamber 30. An exhaust port 32 is provided on the ceiling 28 of the transfer chamber 30, and an exhaust pipe 34 is attached to the exhaust port 32. The exhaust pipe 34 communicates with a vacuum pump (not shown), and the inside of the transfer chamber 30 is evacuated to a predetermined depressurized state.
The space on the back side of the partition wall 26, that is, the space behind each processing device 16 is a maintenance room and is maintained at a predetermined cleanliness level by a normal method.

In the lower floor room 12, a rotary table 40 is provided on the floor 36 via an annular platform 38. A wafer cassette CR accommodating an object to be processed by this processing system, for example, a semiconductor wafer W, is rotated by a transfer robot 42 as shown in FIG.
0 is transferred. The rotary table 40 is configured to be rotationally movable by a conventional rotary drive mechanism (not shown). As a result, even if the wafer cassette CR is loaded from one place, the rotary table 40 is rotated by a predetermined angle, so that a large number of wafer cassettes CR can be placed side by side on the table as shown in FIG. There is.

A transfer arm 44 is installed near the center position inside the rotary table 40. The transfer arm 44 is a conventional transfer arm that can be raised, lowered, rotated, and expanded and contracted, and is located at a predetermined position (one or several positions) on the table 40.
The wafer cassette CR can be accessed at. As shown in FIG. 1, a vacuum chuck 46 for performing orientation flat position alignment (orientation flat alignment) of the wafer W and an optical sensor 48 for detecting an outer peripheral edge of the wafer are provided inside the rotary table 40 in the vicinity of the transfer arm 44. It is provided. The clean tunnels 22A and 22B also extend in the vertical direction inside the rotary table 40, and gate valves 50A and 50 are provided on the side surfaces of the lower ends of the respective clean tunnels facing the transfer arm 44.
B is attached.

As shown in FIG. 2, the lower floor room 12 has a side wall 5
2 has a gas supply pipe 5 inside the chamber from the side wall 52.
The gas introduction port of 4 faces. On the other hand, the floor 36 is provided with a gas exhaust port 36a, and a gas exhaust pipe 56 is attached to the gas exhaust port 36a. An inert gas such as N2 gas is supplied from the gas supply pipe 54 into the lower floor chamber 12 so that O2 gas, H2 O gas and the like in the chamber are entrained in the N2 gas so that the gas exhaust pipe 56 is discharged from the gas exhaust port 36a.
It is designed to be exhausted outside through the room. As described above, since the interior of the lower floor room 12 is purged with the inert gas, the wafer W stored in the wafer cassette CR is prevented from being oxidized or otherwise deteriorated.

The clean tunnels 22A and 22B are both vertical wafer transfer paths. For example, the clean tunnel 22A is used to transfer an unprocessed wafer W from the lower floor room 12 to the upper floor room 10, and the clean tunnel 22B. Is used to transfer the processed wafer W from the upper floor room 10 to the lower floor room 12. As shown in FIG. 2, the clean tunnel 22
A is a cylindrical body 58 having an upper end closed and a lower end open, and a bellows 6 extending vertically from the lower end of the cylindrical body 58.
It consists of 0 and. As described above, the gate valves 24A and 50A are attached to the side surface of the cylindrical body 58, and the gas supply pipe 62 and the exhaust pipe 64 are attached. The gas supply pipe 62 is connected to an inert gas such as an N2 gas supply source (not shown) via an opening / closing valve (not shown).
The exhaust pipe 64 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) via an opening / closing valve (not shown).

Inside the clean tunnel 22A, there is provided a wafer transfer device 65 vertically movable between height positions corresponding to the mounting positions of the gate valves 24A and 50A. The wafer transfer device 65 includes a plurality of wafers W, for example, three support pins 6.
6, a wafer supporting plate 68 for supporting the wafer supporting plate 68, and an air cylinder 7 for vertically moving the wafer supporting plate 68.
0, and a connecting rod 74 that connects the wafer support plate 68 and the piston rod 72 of the air cylinder 70. The connecting rod 74 penetrates the lower end closing plate 76 of the bellows 60 and is fixed to the closing plate 76 via a joint 78 having a sealing function.

When the air cylinder 70 operates and the piston rod 72 moves up, the connecting rod 74 connected to the piston rod 72 and the wafer support plate 68 also move up, and the connecting rod 7 moves.
The bellows 60 connected to 4 contracts upward. Also,
When the piston rod 72 descends, the connecting rod 74 and the wafer support plate 68 also descend together with the piston rod 72, and the bellows 60 extends downward. In this way, even if the connecting rod 74 and the wafer support plate 68 move up and down in the clean tunnel 22A by driving the air cylinder 70, the airtightness in the clean tunnel 22A is maintained. Although the other clean tunnel 22B is not shown in FIG. 2 for convenience of illustration, the clean tunnel 22B has the same structure as the clean tunnel 22A, and the wafer transfer device 65 having the same structure as the above is provided in the tunnel. Is housed.

Next, the wafer transfer operation in this processing system will be described. First, in the lower floor room 12, the transfer robot 42 transfers the wafer cassette CR onto the rotary table 40 at a predetermined position. By rotating the rotary table 40, a large number of wafer cassettes CR can be placed. And, a large number of these wafer cassettes CR
When the unprocessed wafer W is to be taken out from one of the
The R is transferred to a predetermined position, that is, a predetermined position where the transfer arm 44 can access.

The transfer arm 44 extends the hand 44a to a predetermined position on the rotary table 40 to take out one wafer W from the wafer cassette CR, and the taken-out wafer W is vacuum chuck 4 for aligning the orientation flat.
The sheet is conveyed to 6 and delivered to the support pin 46a for delivery. Here, the orientation flat alignment or alignment of the wafer W is performed by a conventional method. When the orientation flat alignment is completed, the transfer arm 44 next receives the wafer W from the support pins 46a for delivery, puts the received wafer W into the clean tunnel 22A through the gate valve 50A,
Then, the wafer W is delivered to the wafer delivery support pins 66 on the wafer support plate 68 which are on standby. At this time, the inside of the clean tunnel 22A is at standard pressure, for example, atmospheric pressure. In order to form this atmospheric pressure state, N is supplied from the gas supply pipe 62 with both gate valves 24A and 50A closed.
2 Gas is supplied.

When the wafer W is received by the wafer transfer device 65 from the transfer arm 44, the supply of the N 2 gas from the gas supply pipe 62 is stopped in the clean tunnel 22A, and the vacuum pump pumps it through the exhaust pipe 64. Floor 10
Of the transfer chamber 30 is evacuated to a vacuum degree of about 1 × 10 ⁻⁴ . In the clean tunnel 22 thus depressurized, the wafer W is lifted and transferred by the wafer transfer device 65 to a height position corresponding to the gate valve 24A of the upper floor chamber 10. Then, when the gate valve 24A is opened, the transfer arm 18 extends the hand 18a into the clean tunnel 22A, and the support pin 66 is released.
The wafer W is received from. Then, the transfer arm 18
If necessary, the wafer W received by the reciprocating movement, ascending / descending movement, and extension / contraction movement is carried to a predetermined process chamber 16, and the process chamber 1 is passed through the gate valve 20.
The wafer W is loaded into the processing chamber No. 6. The wafer W is transferred under a predetermined vacuum from the time it is loaded into the clean tunnel 22A in the lower floor room 12 to the time it is loaded into the process chamber 16.

When the processing is completed in any of the process chambers 16, the wafer W is unloaded from the process chamber 16. This wafer unloading is also performed by the transfer arm 18. The transfer arm 18 loads the unloaded wafer W into another process chamber 16 or into the clean tunnel 22B to return it to the wafer cassette CR waiting in the lower floor chamber 12. In the latter case, the inside of the clean tunnel 22B is evacuated to the same degree of vacuum as the transfer chamber 30. Then, when the processed wafer W is transferred to the lower chamber 12 by the wafer transfer device 65, the vacuuming is stopped and N2 gas is supplied at the same time, and the inside of the clean tunnel 22B is returned to the atmospheric pressure state.

After the inside of the clean tunnel 22B is returned to the atmospheric pressure in this way, the gate valve 50B is opened, the transfer arm 44 extends the hand 44a into the clean tunnel 22B, and the wafer W is transferred from the wafer transfer device 65. To receive. Next, the transfer arm 44 carries the received wafer W to a predetermined position on the rotary table 40, and loads the wafer W into the wafer cassette CR waiting there.

As described above, in the lower floor room 12, the wafer cassette C is provided between the rotary table 40 and the transfer robot 42.
Wafer cassette C as R is loaded and unloaded
The wafer W is loaded / unloaded between the R and the transfer arm 44, and the transfer arm 44 and the clean tunnels 22A, 22
The wafer W is transferred to and from the wafer transfer device 65 in B. In the upper chamber 10, the wafer transfer device 65 and the transfer arm 1 in the clean tunnels 22A and 22B are installed in the airtight transfer chamber 30 which is always kept in a depressurized state.
8 and the transfer arm 18 and each process chamber 1
The wafer W is carried in and out of the wafer 6. And
Between the lower floor room 12 and the upper floor room 10, the wafer W is transferred by the wafer transfer device 65 in the vertical clean tunnels 22A and 22B having the load lock function.

As described above, in the processing system of this embodiment, the processing parts such as the process chamber 16 are provided in the upper floor room 10, and the object loading / unloading parts such as the rotary table 40 are provided in the lower floor room 12.

Since the lower floor chamber 12 is purged with an inert gas, it is possible to store the wafer W for a long time, and not only functions as a loading / unloading port for the wafer W but also as a wafer storage. Also has Also,
Since the wafer cassette CR is placed or stored on the rotary table 40, it is possible to access a desired wafer cassette CR in a short time by one transfer arm 44. Since it is not necessary to consider the processing section in the lower floor room 12, the layout design is highly flexible, and it is easy to increase or decrease the number of wafer cassettes CR to be placed or stored.

In the upper floor room 10, the transfer arm 18 accesses each process chamber 16 in the airtight transfer chamber 30. The transfer chamber 30 is always maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum, and it is not necessary to return it to the atmospheric pressure state even when the wafer W is carried in and out of the lower floor chamber 12. Therefore, the transfer arm 18
The operating efficiency is high, and one arm can handle a large number of process chambers 16. Also, upper room 1
Although the clean tunnels 22A and 22B play a role of the load lock chamber at 0, these clean tunnels are vertical type, and the upper end portion of the clean tunnel is in the transfer chamber 30 on the floor 14.
It does not need to occupy any space as long as it protrudes from the above to the required height. Therefore, in the upper floor room 10, it is not necessary to consider the loading / unloading part of the object to be processed, the degree of freedom in layout design is great, and the process chamber 16 and the like can be easily expanded or expanded.

In the clean tunnels 22A and 22B, it suffices to provide a simple wafer transfer device 65 for only vertically moving up and down, and a complicated and expensive wafer transfer means having a rotating / expanding / contracting function is unnecessary. . Also,
By interposing the bellows 60 between the lower end of each clean tunnel and the connecting rod 74 of the wafer transfer device 65, the airtightness of the clean tunnel is ensured while ensuring the vertical movement of the wafer transfer unit. Dust from the drive unit does not enter the clean tunnel.

Further, since the entire processing system has a hierarchical structure in the vertical direction, it has a compact structure in the horizontal direction, and the installation space can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 3, a reflection type optical sensor 80 is attached to the tip of the hand 44a of the transfer arm 44 in the lower chamber 12, and the transfer arm 44 is moved up and down near the entrance of the wafer cassette CR. Scanning may be performed to detect whether each wafer W is present in the wafer holding groove G or is not tilted in the cassette CR based on the output signal of the sensor 80 at each height position. . The hole 44b provided at the tip of the hand 44a is a wafer suction hole. As described above, according to the method in which the transfer arm 44 side is scanned while the wafer cassette CR is fixed and the position of the wafer is detected, the up-and-down moving mechanism of the transfer arm 44 is used, so that the wafer cassette CR is moved up and down. It is not necessary to provide a special elevating / lowering movement mechanism for the purpose.
This is advantageous not only for reducing the cost of the system, but also for preventing the generation or soaring of particles.

In the embodiment described above, the process chamber 1
Although the processing parts such as 6 are provided in the upper floor room 10 and the target object loading / unloading parts such as the turntable 40 are provided in the lower floor room 12, on the contrary, the processing parts are provided in the lower floor room 12, The carry-in / carry-out section may be provided in the upper-floor room 10, or may have a hierarchical structure of three or more floors. Further, an alignment unit such as the vacuum chuck 46 may be provided in the chamber on the processing unit side. Further, the clean tunnels 22A and 22B do not necessarily need to extend in the vertical direction, and may be inclined. Further, it is possible to omit the clean tunnels 22A and 22B and expose the wafer transfer device 65 depending on the form of the processing system. It is also possible to use a mechanism other than the cylinder mechanism, such as a motor mechanism or a rail mechanism, for the drive unit of the wafer transfer apparatus.

Although the above-described embodiment relates to the multi-chamber type processing system, the present invention can be applied to a single-chamber type processing apparatus, and the object to be processed is not limited to a semiconductor wafer. Alternatively, an LCD substrate or the like can be used.

[0037]

As described above, according to the processing system of the present invention, the processing section and the object loading / unloading section are provided on different floors, and the two floors are connected by the vertical transfer means to perform processing. Since the transfer of the object to be processed in the section and the loading / unloading of the object to / from the system are performed on different floors, the processing section and the loading / unloading section of the object can be independently laid out arbitrarily. It is possible to construct a laterally compact system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a configuration of a multi-chamber processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a configuration of a processing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing an example in which a wafer detection sensor is attached to a transfer arm in the lower floor chamber of the processing system of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration of a conventional multi-chamber processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Upper Floor Room 12 Lower Floor Room 14 Plate Wall 16 Process Chamber (Processing Device) 18 Transfer Arm 20 Gate Valve 22A, 22B Clean Tunnel 24A, 24B Gate Valve 30 Transfer Chamber 40 Rotating Table 44 Transfer Arm 46 Vacuum Chuck 50A, 50B Gate Valve 65 Wafer transfer device CR Wafer cassette W Semiconductor wafer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first chamber and a second chamber are vertically separated via a plate wall, and one or a plurality of processing devices are disposed in the first chamber, and the second chamber is provided. Into the object to be processed
A port for carrying out is provided, and a vertically movable carrier means for carrying the object to be processed is provided between the first chamber and the second chamber. Processing system. 2. A first chamber and a second chamber are longitudinally separated via a plate wall, and one or a plurality of processing devices are arranged in the first chamber and each of the processing devices is arranged. An airtight transfer chamber communicating with an opening / closing device, a port for loading and unloading an object to be processed is provided in the second chamber, and the transfer chamber in the first chamber and the second chamber are connected to each other. A vertically movable transfer means for transferring the object to be processed in an airtight passage that communicates with the transfer chamber and the second chamber via an opening / closing device. A processing system characterized by being provided. 3. The rotary table mechanism capable of rotating and moving for supporting a cassette for accommodating the object to be processed is provided at the port in the second chamber, according to claim 1 or 2. Processing system. 4. The processing according to claim 1, wherein an alignment means for aligning the object to be processed is provided in the first chamber or the second chamber. system.