JPH062267Y2 - Wafer exposure handling equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to, for example, SOR in a semiconductor device manufacturing process.
The present invention relates to a handling device used in the X-ray exposure device of the above.

[Conventional technology and its problems]

As is well known, in the semiconductor device manufacturing process, it is necessary to match the relative positions of the mask pattern and the wafer pattern. This is referred to as mask alignment or positioning (alignment), and after this step, exposure is performed by irradiating ultraviolet rays, electron beams, X-rays, or the like. An apparatus that performs mask alignment and exposure is called an exposure apparatus.

By the way, in response to demands for miniaturization and high density of semiconductor elements, patterns having a width of 1 μm or less have come to appear. Therefore, an X-ray exposure apparatus having a short wavelength has become promising for exposure (see Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-5307). That is, line width 0.25μ
For ultra-precision exposure of m, X with SOR as a light source
Line exposure is expected.

In the exposure apparatus using such SOR as an X-ray source, the X-ray luminance is large and the light is almost parallel, so that the conventional X-ray source (electron beam excitation type source or plasma X-ray source) is used. Although the penumbra blurring and runout error that have been problems do not pose any problems at all, there are new restrictions such as the wafer table surface being vertical because the SOR ring is large and light is emitted horizontally. Has occurred.

On the other hand, in a general exposure apparatus that prints a mask pattern on a wafer, the light incident direction is vertically downward, that is, the wafer is placed on a horizontal wafer table and vacuum-adsorbed (for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-41727). Gazette, Jikkou Sho 59-23
No. 413 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 58-295), the handling of the wafer was easy.

More specifically, a conventional handling device for mounting a wafer on a wafer table is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
As shown in the figure. That is, 20 is a handling arm, which has a vacuum suction port (not shown) and also has a notch 20a for rod insertion. On the other hand, the wafer 1 is provided with a notch (orientation flat) 10 formed by a secant for indicating the crystal direction of the semiconductor on the disk forming the wafer. A wafer mounting table 22 has a vacuum suction port (not shown). 23
Is an ascending / descending rod, 24 is a positioning pin for the orientation flat 10, 25 is a positioning pin for an arc portion of the wafer, and 26 is a wafer pressing pin for approaching / separating toward the center of the wafer mounting table 22. There is.

Then, the operation is as follows. That is, the wafer 1 is treated with the exposed side of the wafer 1 being the handling arm 2
It is vacuum-adsorbed by 0 and carried to the position right above the wafer mounting table 22. Then, the elevating rod 23 penetrates through the wafer mounting table 22 and is raised, and further passes through the notch 20a of the handling arm 20 and is brought into contact with and supported by the back surface of the wafer 1. After that, when the handling arm 20 is swung in the direction of the arrow t, the wafer 1 is transferred to the end surface of the elevating rod 23. Therefore, when the elevating rod 23 is lowered, the wafer 1 is transferred to the wafer mounting table 22. After that, the elevating rod 23 is lowered and retracted below the surface of the table. Then, the wafer pressing pin 26 is attached to the wafer 1
Then, the wafer 1 is brought into contact with the positioning pins 24 and 25 by pushing the arc end of, and set at a predetermined position. Then wafer 1
Is vacuum-sucked on the table surface, and the wafer pressing pin 26 is retracted to its original position.

Since the handling arm 20 in the related art contacts only the back surface of the wafer, the exposure surface is not scratched, but as described above, the wafer mounting table surface of the SOR exposure apparatus forms a vertical surface. Because
Such a conventional handling arm 20 cannot hold a wafer, and if both sides of the wafer are held to hold the wafer, the exposed surface of the wafer will be scratched.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

Therefore, the present invention was devised with a view to solving such problems, and in particular, the exposed wafer is not touched and the exposed wafer is removed from the vertical wafer mounting table surface or exposed. The purpose is to attach the previous wafer to this table surface, and the gist of it is to use it in an exposure apparatus consisting of a wafer mounting table that forms a vertical surface and has a groove formed in the vertical surface. And a wafer suction arm capable of vacuum-sucking the back surface of the wafer and capable of being inserted and submerged in the groove, and facing the wafer at a slight distance from the wafer side of the wafer suction arm. And an air jet arm for jetting air toward the exposed surface of the wafer, and a wafer exposure handling device.

〔Example〕

The structure of the present invention, together with its operation, will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view of the embodiment of the present invention (a view from the arrow A in FIG. 2), FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is B of FIG.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the arrow, FIG. 4 is a wafer removing process diagram, and FIG. 5 is a wafer mounting process diagram.

Therefore, the present embodiment is applied to the manufacturing process of micron-order semiconductor devices such as VLSI, SOR (synchr
A handling device used in an exposure apparatus, in which a reference numeral 1 indicates a wafer, and an orientation flat 10 is attached to the wafer 1.
have.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a wafer suction arm, which has a large number of vacuum suction ports 2a, 2a on the P surface side (see FIG. 3), and the wafer suction arm 2 is a flat plate strip protruding from the base rod 2A. Is formed by. Further, the wafer suction arm 2 has a first
In the figure, the rigidity is low enough to allow some bending in the direction of the arrow S. Reference numeral 3 is a strain sensor, which detects this curved displacement.

Reference numeral 4 denotes an air ejection arm, which is the wafer adsorption arm 2
The air ejection arm 4 is provided to face the
Has a large number of air ejection ports 4a, 4a, ... Also, a notch 5 and a notch hole 5A are provided at the base of the air ejection arm 4, and the air is centered around this notch 5. Like the leaf spring, the ejection arm 4 can be bent in the S direction in FIG. Therefore, the surface of the wafer 1 and Q
When the distance between the surface and the surface becomes narrower, the pressure due to the air blown out at that distance increases, and the air jetting arm 4 bends around the notch 5 toward the side opposite to the wafer and stops at a position that balances the generated air pressure. The arm 4 and the wafer 1 are always in non-contact with each other. Also, Q facing the wafer 1
The wafer is pressed to the wafer suction arm 2 side by the air jetted from the surface. Further, the air jet arm 4 has a wedge 4b following the notch 5, and the wafer suction arm 2 is provided on both upper and lower end surfaces of the wedge 4b.
Is held by a notch 4C so as to be guided by a pair of guides 6 and 6 provided on the arm. The inclined surface formed on the facing surface on the arm base rod 2A side is the forward / backward movement of the piston wedge 8. By the movement, the space between the air ejection arm 4 and the wafer adsorption arm 2 is compressed or expanded while being pressed by the spring 7. An air cylinder 9 moves the piston wedge 8 forward and backward.

A wafer mounting table 11 has a vacuum suction port 11a for vacuum suction of the wafer 1 on the table surface. Further, on the wafer mounting table 11, a positioning pin 13 for determining the final position of the wafer 1, a convex portion 15 on which the orientation flat 10 can be placed, and a wafer pressing pin for pressing the wafer 1 to the final position. Have fourteen.

Since this embodiment has the above configuration, the following operation is performed. That is, [Wafer mounting procedure] In FIG. 5, the wafer 1 is vacuum-sucked by the wafer suction arm 2 with the orientation flat 10 facing downward, and carried to the front of the wafer mounting table 11. Next, while ejecting air from the air ejection arm 4, while keeping the wafer 1 parallel to the table surface,
The wafer suction arm 2 is moved to the table surface side so as to be inserted into the groove 12 formed on the table surface.
At the same time, the vacuum suction port 11a is evacuated.
Next, the strain sensor 3 confirms that the wafer 1 is in contact with the table surface, and stops the movement of the wafer suction arm 2. Then, the vacuum suction of the wafer suction arm 2 is stopped. Therefore, the wafer suction arm 2 and the wafer 1
Is not in contact with the surface of. Next, vacuum suction port 1
The evacuation of 1a is stopped. As a result, the wafer 1 drops in the vertical direction and is placed on the convex portion 15. At this time, the wafer 1
Air is ejected from the air ejection arm 4 toward the wafer 1 in order to prevent the air ejection arm 4 from falling toward the wafer 1. After the vacuuming on the wafer mounting table 11 side is stopped, pressurized air may be jetted from the vacuum suction port 11a to reduce the friction between the wafer 1 and the table surface. Next, the end portion of the wafer 1 is pushed by the wafer pressing pin 14 and brought into contact with the positioning pin 13. Then, the vacuum suction of the vacuum suction port 11a is started, and the wafer 1 is vacuum-sucked to the wafer mounting table 11. After that, the wafer pressing pin 14 and the wafer suction arm 2 are retracted.

[Wafer Removing Means] In FIG. 4, the air ejecting arm 4 is set to have a maximum distance from the wafer 1 by the forward movement of the air cylinder 9. Therefore, the wafer suction arm 2 is inserted into the groove 12 of the wafer mounting table 11. At the same time, air is jetted from the Q surface of the air jetting arm 4. Next, the air ejecting arm 4 is moved backward in parallel with the wafer adsorbing arm 2 while the air cylinder 9 is retracted so that the distance to the wafer 1 is minimized. At the same time, vacuum suction of the P surface of the wafer suction arm 2 is started. Next, the strain sensor 3 confirms that the wafer suction arm 2 is in contact with the back surface of the wafer 1, and the vacuum suction of the vacuum suction port 11a is stopped. After that, the wafer suction arm 2 is moved in parallel until it is completely separated from the table surface, and then retracted.

According to the present embodiment, the distance between the wafer suction arm 2 and the air ejection arm 4 can be freely changed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the distance is fixed and the air ejection The pressure of the air ejected from the arm 4 may be adjusted.

[Effect of device]

The present invention has the following excellent effects. That is,
Since the wafer is gripped by the handling device including the wafer suction arm that vacuum-sucks the back surface of the wafer and the air jet arm that jets air toward the front surface of the wafer,
Since it is mounted on a wafer mounting table that forms a vertical surface, both sides of the wafer can be directly or indirectly gripped even when the wafer is transported in a vertical state, and it does not come into contact with the exposed surface of the wafer. Never attached. Moreover,
Due to the action of the vacuum suction of the wafer suction arm and the air jet of the air jet arm in the handling device, the attachment and detachment from the wafer mounting table can be performed quickly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the embodiment of the present invention (a view from the arrow A in FIG. 2), FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is B of FIG.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the arrow, FIG. 4 is a wafer removing process diagram, FIG. 5 is a wafer attaching process diagram, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are a front view and a side view of a conventional example. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Wafer, 2 ... Wafer adsorption arm, 4 ... Air ejection arm, 11 ... Wafer mounting table, 12 ... Groove part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An exposure apparatus comprising a wafer mounting table having a vertical surface and having a groove portion formed in the vertical surface, wherein the back surface of the wafer is vacuum-sucked to the groove portion. An insertable and submersible wafer suction arm, and a wafer side of the wafer suction arm, which faces the wafer suction arm with a distance of at least the thickness of the wafer and exposes the wafer. A wafer exposure handling device consisting of an air ejection arm that ejects air toward the surface.