JPH0657451A - Etching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the yield of a probe inspection by inserting and disposing the probe of a prober system which measures the electrical characteristics of substrates after an etching treatment into a preliminary chamber at the time of sending the substrates via the preliminary chamber into a treatment chamber and etching the substrates. CONSTITUTION:The substrates 1 (high-frequency SAW devices, etc.) with which a photoetching stage is completed are set in a cassette 8 in a cassette chamber 7. The substrates 1 are transported from the cassette 8 into the preliminary chamber 5 by opening a sluice valve 9 and are subjected to the characteristic inspection by the contact of the prober system 6 when the treatment chamber 4, the preliminary chamber 5 and the cassette chamber 7 are evacuated to a vacuum. The substrates 1 are transported to the treatment chamber 4 and are treated for a prescribed period of etching time in the case of execution of a frequency adjustment again when the result of the inspection is NG. The substrates 2 are transported to the cassette chamber 7 when the substrates satisfy specifications after the treatment. The substrates are returned to the treatment chamber 4 unless the substrates satisfy the specifications. As a result, the characteristics after the etching are evaluated in a short time and the efficiency is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an etching apparatus,
In particular, the present invention relates to an etching apparatus applied to the etching of SAW (surface acoustic wave) devices and film resistance elements.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a flow chart of manufacturing a SAW device using a conventional etching apparatus, in which an electrode pattern is formed in the photo-etching step of step 22 and an electrical pattern of each element is formed in the probe inspection step of step 23. Characteristic is measured and selected.

[0003]

When a SAW device is manufactured by such a manufacturing flow, the processing precision is high in the case of a high frequency SAW device that requires high performance.
Yield of probe inspection is sluggish. An object of the present invention is to provide an etching apparatus capable of solving the problem of poor probe inspection yield of the prior art and manufacturing high-frequency SAW devices with high yield.

[0004]

The etching apparatus of the present invention is most characterized in that it has an anisotropy or selectivity when adjusting the frequency and is provided with a prober system function independent of the reaction chamber. Is. That is, in an etching apparatus that takes out a substrate to be etched from a cassette chamber to a preliminary chamber and further conveys it to a processing chamber to perform etching while maintaining a predetermined vacuum degree, the electrical characteristics of the substrate after the etching process is measured in the preliminary chamber. It is characterized by inserting and arranging the probe of the prober system to be used.

[0005]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the outline of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a manufacturing flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention. S
In the case of manufacturing an AW device, conventionally, there was no frequency adjustment and inspection process (step 24) as shown in FIG. Therefore, the device required to have high performance has a low probe inspection yield. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, after the probe inspection step 23, the frequency adjustment step 24 is performed and the probe inspection is performed again. Further, if the specifications are not satisfied, the frequency is adjusted again. In order to manufacture a device by such a manufacturing flow, the etching apparatus of the present invention as shown in FIG. 1 is advantageous. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention in which the function of a prober system is added to an ion milling device. The substrate holding mechanism and the transfer mechanism are not shown for the sake of clarity. The substrate 1 for which the photoetching process 22 has been completed is set in the cassette 8 in the cassette chamber 7. If the processing chamber 4, the preparatory chamber 5, and the cassette chamber 7 are evacuated, open the gate valve 9,
The substrate is transferred from the cassette 8 to the preliminary chamber 5 (substrate 2), and the characteristic inspection is performed by the probe of the prober system 6. Figure 2
In the manufacturing flow chart of FIG.
When the frequency becomes G and the frequency adjusting step 24 is performed again, the substrate is transferred to the processing chamber 4 (substrate 3) and processed for a predetermined etching time.

In the ion milling of FIG. 1, since the etching rate of each material changes depending on the etching angle, it becomes possible to provide selectivity. When the frequency adjustment is completed by etching, the substrate 3 is transferred to the preliminary chamber 5, and the probe inspection is performed again. Then, if the specifications are satisfied, the substrate 2 is transferred to the cassette chamber 7. If it does not meet the specifications, it is returned to the processing chamber 4. Vacuum degree of each room is vacuum pump 1
1, 12 and valves 14, 15 and the like. Further, the probe inspection step 23 may be performed by sampling when the number of in-plane chips of one substrate is large, such as in a SAW device, and the inspection of all the chips having a small number of chips can be performed.

[0007]

As described in detail above, by carrying out the present invention, characteristic evaluation (inspection) after frequency adjustment (etching) can be performed in a short time and efficiency is improved. Further, the readjustment of the frequency can be performed without breaking the vacuum, which is efficient and is advantageous in terms of contamination. Moreover, since it can be used independently as an etching device or a prober system, it is economical.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a manufacturing flowchart of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conventional manufacturing flowchart.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,2,3 Substrate 4 Processing chamber 5 Preliminary chamber 6 Prober system 7 Cassette chamber 8 Cassette 9,10 Gate valve 11,12 Vacuum pump 13 Ion source 14,15 valve 20 Cleaning process 21 Thin film forming process 22 Photoetching process 23 Probe Inspection process 24 Frequency adjustment process

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An etching apparatus which takes out a substrate to be etched from a cassette chamber to a preliminary chamber, and further conveys the substrate to a processing chamber to carry out etching while maintaining a predetermined vacuum degree. An etching device, in which a probe of a prober system for measuring characteristics is inserted and arranged.