JPH07183354A - Transport system of substrate and method for transporting substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a transport system for local cleaning suited for a single wafer type semiconductor substrate treatment device or a single wafer type LC substrate treatment device. CONSTITUTION:A storage container 2 of a substrate 11 which can be carried airtightly and can be connected is provided at a connection means 7 which is adjacent to a gate valve 6 provided at a load lock chamber 4 which is adjacent to a treatment chamber 3 via a gate valve 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transfer system and a substrate transfer method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the conventional semiconductor substrate manufacturing process and liquid crystal substrate manufacturing process, the manufacturing process is provided in a clean room to take measures against dust and contamination. In recent fine processing of semiconductors and liquid crystals, that is, high-density integration, a finer pattern than the conventional design rule, for example, a 0.35 μm wide pattern is formed on a substrate by repeating an etching process and a film forming process. It is achieved by doing so, and further miniaturization of the minimum allowable size of dust and reduction of the allowable number of particles per unit volume, that is, the class of cleanliness are required more than ever.

Therefore, the cleanliness level of the clean room required for the factory is changed from class 10 to class 1, and the construction and maintenance of the clean room to achieve this become very expensive, which increases the cost of the semiconductors and liquid crystal substrates which are the products. Was the cause of. On the other hand, the required cleanliness, for example, Class 1 to 10 should be achieved in a local part of the manufacturing equipment, and the external environment in which the manufacturing equipment is placed should be operated in a gentle cleanness, for example, Class 1000. Has been proposed.

However, for this purpose, substrates to be manufactured, such as semiconductor wafers and glass plates for liquid crystal substrates, have to be transported between the apparatuses in each manufacturing process at a moderate cleanliness level, for example, class 1000. Not
During this period, measures against garbage were required.

On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-222429 “Portable container having a particle filtration system”, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
67304 "Computer-Assisted Discrete Movement System for Consistent Control", Special Table Sho 61-502994 "Seal-type Standard Interface Device", Special Table Sho 63-5
03259 "Box door actuated cage", special table Sho6
3-500691 "Manipulator for standard mechanical interface device", Tokuhyo Hyohei 4-505234 "Sealable and transportable container with latch mechanism", Tokuhyo Hyohei 5
In the above publications of "Processing System with Information Tracking Function of 50275", substrates to be processed are stored in a cassette and further stored in a container having an airtight sealing mechanism with the cassette. By cleaning the inside of this container to perform local cleaning, the container is transported between the manufacturing devices, and in the manufacturing device, the substrate is transferred from the container to the cassette in the manufacturing device. As a result, a technique for solving the problem of measures against dust during transportation and the problem of cleaning is described.

[0006]

However, in the method of loading the substrate together with the cassette into the manufacturing apparatus described in the above publication, the mounting table corresponding to the bottom of the pod in which the cassette is mounted is lowered directly below the manufacturing apparatus. Therefore, the cost of the manufacturing apparatus is increased by adding a transport mechanism for taking in the cassette and an indexer mechanism for detecting at which position of the cassette the substrate is stored and which position is empty to the conventional manufacturing apparatus. Have a problem. Further, since the mounting table is moved right below, the manufacturing apparatus corresponding to this capacity is increased in the exclusive floor area.

Further, from a substrate processing apparatus or a batch processing method in which a substrate manufacturing apparatus simultaneously introduces and processes a plurality of substrates into a processing chamber, a branch-and-leaf processing in which each substrate is introduced into the processing chamber and processed. The method is about to change, and even if a plurality of substrates, for example, 25 substrates are loaded into the apparatus for each cassette, the processing is performed for each branch and leaves, so that the substrates in most cassettes have a waiting time. There is a problem that it is not a long and effective method.

A substrate transfer system and a substrate transfer method according to the present invention include a substrate transfer system suitable for a manufacturing apparatus for locally cleaning the substrate transfer between steps to prevent dust and processing each branch. And a method of transporting a substrate.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a storage container capable of storing and transporting a plurality of substrates according to item 1, and an airtight seal for isolating the atmosphere inside and outside the storage container. A door provided on the storage container that can be opened and closed, and a connection means that is adjacent to the substrate processing apparatus through the door and opens the door to communicate the substrate processing apparatus with the front storage container;
Substrate transporting means provided in the substrate processing apparatus, wherein the substrate in the storage container is transported horizontally into the substrate processing apparatus for each branch by the transporting means. A storage container capable of storing and transporting a plurality of substrates according to item 2, an airtight sealing mechanism for isolating the atmosphere inside and outside the storage container, a door provided on the storage container and capable of opening and closing, and this door being opened. A communicating means that communicates with the inside of the substrate processing apparatus through the formed opening of the storage container, and a substrate in the storage container that is taken out through the communicating means and is transferred into the substrate processing apparatus. And a substrate transfer device provided in the substrate processing apparatus, and the substrate in the storage container is transferred into the substrate processing device for each branch by the transfer unit. The door of the third item is provided on a side wall of the storage container. The storage of a plurality of substrates in the storage container of item 4 is
A cassette storing the plurality of substrates is stored in the storage container. The substrate of item 5 is a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal substrate. The substrate according to the sixth aspect is stored in the storage container with a surface processed or processed by the semiconductor processing apparatus facing downward. The storage container of paragraph 7 is N
It is characterized in that the positive pressure is set to be higher than the atmospheric pressure by the atmosphere of either ₂ gas, Ar gas or Xe gas. Item 8 is characterized in that the inside of the storage container is set to a positive pressure rather than atmospheric pressure by clean air. The opening and closing of the door of item 9 is characterized by being opened and closed according to a command from the semiconductor processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus of item 10 is a semiconductor processing apparatus configured by any one of an ashing apparatus, an etching apparatus, a film forming apparatus, a coating phenomenon apparatus, or a combination of these apparatuses. The cleanliness inside the storage container according to item 11 is set to class 0.1 to class 1 during the transportation of the storage container. When the inside of the storage container of paragraph 12 and the load lock chamber of the substrate processing apparatus communicate with each other, the cleanliness inside the storage container is
It is characterized in that it is determined by the cleanliness of the load lock chamber. Item 13 is characterized in that the cleanliness in the load lock chamber at the time of communication is set to class 1 to class 10. Item 14 is a room provided with a first step of storing and transporting a plurality of substrates in an airtight storage container, and a substrate transfer means provided in the storage container and either the substrate processing apparatus or the substrate inspection apparatus. And a second step of communicating with each other through an openable / closable door provided in the storage container, and the substrate stored in the storage container by the substrate transfer means is taken out for each sheet, and the substrate A third step of transferring the wafer into either the processing apparatus or the semiconductor inspection apparatus, and a fourth step of performing a predetermined process or inspection on the substrate by either the substrate processing apparatus or the substrate inspection apparatus. And a process.

[0010]

According to the substrate transfer system and the substrate transfer method configured as described above, dust is prevented by using the storage container in which the substrate transfer between the manufacturing steps is locally cleaned.
Upon connection with the manufacturing apparatus, the substrate can be taken out from the storage container for each branch by the substrate transfer means provided in the manufacturing apparatus, and when the storage container connected to the manufacturing apparatus is evacuated by the manufacturing apparatus, It can be used as a storage place for substrates that communicate with each other as the same vacuum exhaust space.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a substrate transfer system and a substrate transfer method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Substrates to which the present invention is applied include, for example, semiconductor wafers used in semiconductor substrate manufacturing processes and semiconductor inspection processes, and liquid crystal display substrates used in liquid crystal display device manufacturing processes and inspection processes. These substrates are usually commercialized with semiconductor elements and electronic circuits formed on a silicon substrate. Materials for the substrate include crystal, quartz, synthetic quartz, in addition to silicon.
A transparent material such as glass may be used. Further, as long as it is a material capable of forming a semiconductor, various derivatives such as polyimide can be used as a substrate, and an insulating film such as an oxide film or a nitride film is formed on the substrate. It can be manufactured as a base substrate for forming a semiconductor element or an electronic circuit.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram in which the substrate transfer system of the present invention is applied to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as an embodiment. First, the configuration of this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 generally comprises a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 and a storage container 2 connected to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a processing chamber 3 and a load lock chamber 4
It consists of and. Processing room 3 and load lock room 4
Are connected by a gate valve 5.

The load lock chamber 4 and the storage container 2 have a cluster tool structure composed of a gate valve 6 provided between them, a connecting means 7 connected to the gate valve, and a side wall surface of the storage container 2. It is provided so as to be connectable via the provided door 8.

Next, a detailed configuration of the above-mentioned components will be described. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 4 is an apparatus that performs an etching process or a film forming process on a substrate. The processing chamber 3 is constituted by an airtight processing container 9, and a mounting table 10 for mounting a substrate 11 to be processed is provided in the container 9.

The processing container 9 is formed of a metal material such as aluminum or Sic, and an inner wall formed of the aluminum is polished and then an oxide film is formed on the surface thereof. Dust, especially heavy metals, comes out from the wall surface of 9 into the processing container 9,
It is configured to prevent the semiconductor attached to the surface of the substrate 11 from causing a defect in the semiconductor formed on the substrate 11. Further, the processing container 9 is electrically grounded.
The mounting table 10 includes an aluminum base on the surface of which an insulating layer for an electrostatic chuck, such as quartz or polyimide resin,
The substrate 11 is placed by laminating ceramics.

The aluminum base of the mounting table is constructed so that a high frequency power supply of, for example, 100 KHz to 500 KHz is applied through the matching circuit 13 to act as a lower electrode. Further, the mounting table 10 is provided with an electrostatic chuck that attracts and holds the substrate 11.

A shower head 14 is provided so as to face the mounting surface of the mounting table 10, and a plurality of gas supply means 15 for supplying a plurality of process gases for processing the substrate 11 are provided on the shower head 14. They are connected to each other via an opening / closing valve 16 in the middle of the piping. A baffle plate that mixes the plurality of process gases and a mix chamber are provided inside the shower head 14.

Further, the shower head 14 is provided with an upper electrode made of a conductive material or a semi-conductive material such as alumina or silicon, and a high frequency power supply 17 provided externally, for example, 13.56 MH. It is configured to be supplied via the matching circuit 18. The treatment to the bottom of the container 9 is also exhaust port 19 opening, exhaust means 20 which is provided outside, for example by a combination of a rotary pump and a turbo molecular pump, the processing number of the vessel 9 Torr~1 × 10 ^- It is configured to be evacuated to a predetermined vacuum degree of ⁸ Torr.

A process gas is uniformly supplied to the surface of the substrate 10 mounted on the lower electrode 10 through the shower head 14 so that the process gas is uniformly supplied to the surface to be processed. A plasma is generated when a high frequency is applied between them, and the substrate 10 is configured to undergo a predetermined process, for example, etching.

The processing chamber 3 and the load lock chamber 4 adjacent to the processing chamber 3 constructed as described above are provided so as to be connectable by a gate valve 5 which is automatically opened when the object to be processed is loaded. The configuration of the chamber 4 will be described.

The load lock chamber 4 has an airtight structure, and is provided with a transfer means 21 for transferring the substrate 11 therein and for mounting the substrate 11 on the mounting table 10 in the adjacent processing chamber 3. It is provided. A suitable structure for the transport means 11 is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. As a method of holding the arm 22 that holds the substrate 11 of the transfer means 21, a method using vacuum suction or a method using an electrostatic chuck is used.

When the degree of vacuum in the load lock chamber 4 is, for example, a vacuum of 1 × 10 ^-6 Torr to atmospheric pressure, an electrostatic chuck is suitable, and if it is 10 × 10 ^-1 Torr to atmospheric pressure or more, Vacuum adsorption can be used respectively.
The transport means 21 is sealed by a magnetic rail at the bottom of the load lock chamber 4, and has a drive means 2 provided outside with a drive shaft capable of rotating and vertically moving X-axis or Y-axis.
It is connected with 3.

By the driving force of the driving means 23, the conveying means 21 is configured to move forward, backward, rotate, and move up and down. Further, an inert gas such as N ₂ , Xe, Ar or clean air is introduced into the load lock chamber 4 through the opening / closing valve 25 from the gas supply means 24 provided outside. It is configured to be supplied from the provided filter 26.

As the filter 26, it is possible to use a filter having a large number of fine holes similar to those of a gas shower head, or a porous body formed of a finer sintered body.
Specific examples of the sintered body include carbon of gallary fiber, SiC
What was constituted by sintering etc. at high temperature is used. The purpose of providing this filter 26 at the tip of the gas supply port is
Since the inert gas or clean air is gently supplied by the filter, dust is prevented from flying up inside the load lock chamber 4, and the substrate 1 is being conveyed by the conveying means 21.
Contamination generated from 1 is to prevent cross contamination that diffuses what is accumulated at the bottom of the load lock chamber 4 and drops it on another substrate 11. Further, it is effective to achieve the above-mentioned object by providing a baffle plate which collides the supply gas with the tip of this filter.

Exhaust means 28, for example, a rotary pump is provided at the bottom of the load lock chamber 4 through an exhaust port 27. Due to the exhaust means 28, the load lock chamber 4 is moved from the atmospheric pressure to a predetermined degree of crimson, for example, several tens.
It is evacuated to Torr to 1 × 10 ⁻⁵ Torr.

Further, the load lock chamber 4 is made of aluminum, the inner wall of which is polished and coated with an oxide film.
Gas release from the wall and precipitation of heavy metals are prevented.
The load lock chamber 4 configured as described above and the connecting means 7 adjacent to the load lock chamber 4 are provided so as to be able to communicate with each other via the gate valve 6, and the connecting means 7 is provided so that the storage container 2 can be connected. There is.

Next, the structure of the connecting means 7 and the storage container 2 will be described. The gate valve 6 provided on the side wall of the load lock chamber 4 and capable of opening and closing is provided with the connecting means 7 which is a passage to which the door 8 provided in the storage container 2 can be connected. In this connection means 7, the transfer means 7 provided in the load lock chamber 4 is connected to the substrate 1
A space for holding and transporting 1 is provided as a passage.

The connecting means 7 is constructed in an airtight manner, and the storage container 2 includes the gate valve 6 and the door 8.
The communication space formed between the inside of the storage container 2 and the inside of the load lock chamber 4 formed by the opening of is opened from the outside so as to form an airtight clean space.

The storage container 2 has an airtight structure, and a cassette 29 capable of storing a plurality of substrates and a holding means 30 for holding the cassette 29 are provided inside. The side wall of the storage container 2, for example, the side wall surface, is provided with the door 8 which can be opened and closed and has an airtight mechanism in a closed state. The size of the door 8 is preferably such that all wafers in the accommodated cassette can be carried in and out. Here, only the state in which one cassette is stored in the storage container 2 is described, but the number may be two, three, four or more.

The storage container 2 is the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1
Apart from the above, the structure is such that it can be conveyed while maintaining the cleanliness inside, and the details of the structure will be described later. Needless to say, the inside of the storage container 2 may be in a normal pressure state filled with an inert gas such as N ₂ , Xe, and Ar when the container 2 is transported, or in a vacuum atmosphere of the inert gas.

The operation of the substrate transfer system configured as described above will be described below. The storage container 2 holding therein the cassette 29 storing the plurality of substrates 11 is transferred by the automatic transfer robot in a state where the door 8 is closed and the internal cleanliness is maintained at, for example, class 1. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 is mounted adjacent to the connecting means 7 provided adjacent to the load lock chamber 4.

The atmosphere in the load lock chamber 4 is evacuated by the evacuation means 28, the on-off valve 31 is closed, and then the gas supply means 24 continues until the N ₂ gas reaches a predetermined pressure. It is supplied into the load lock chamber 4. The gate valve 6 and the door 8 are opened, the load lock chamber 4 and the storage container 2 communicate with each other, and a common N ₂ atmosphere is created inside. Next, the transfer means 2 in the load lock chamber 4
1 moves, the substrate 11 is taken out from the cassette 29 in the storage container 2, and is transferred into the load lock chamber 4.

Next, the gate valve 6 is closed, and the inside of the load lock chamber 4 has a predetermined degree of vacuum, for example, 1 × 10 ^-3 Torr.
Is evacuated to. Next, the gate valve 5 is opened, and the substrate 11 held by the transfer means 21 is transferred onto the mounting table 10 in the processing chamber 3.

After the transfer means 21 is retracted into the load lock chamber, the gate valve 5 is closed and the inside of the processing chamber 3 is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum. Next, the process gas is supplied into the processing chamber 3, and the high frequency voltage is applied to the upper and lower electrodes 14, 10.
Is applied to generate a plasma, and a predetermined process is performed on the substrate 11.

In the processing chamber 3 where the process is completed, plasma is stopped, vacuum exhaust is performed, and the atmosphere is replaced with an inert gas atmosphere. Then, the gate valve 5 is opened and the substrate 11 is load-locked by the transfer means 21. It is carried into the chamber 4.

Further, the gate valve 5 is closed, the inside of the load lock chamber is replaced with an N ₂ gas atmosphere, the gate valve 6 is opened, and the substrate 11 is transferred to the substrate 11 by the transfer means 21.
The cassette 29 held in the storage container 2 is returned to a predetermined slot. The substrate transfer system operates as described above, and this operation is sequentially taken out from the cassette 29 for each branch and repeated, and all the substrates 1 in the cassette 29 are
The process for 1 is performed.

When this series of processing is completed, the gate valve 6 is closed, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 is returned to the airtight state, and the door 8 of the storage container 2 is also closed, so that the storage container 2 is kept airtight. _{2 The} atmosphere is maintained.

Next, the storage container 2 in which the plurality of processed substrates 11 are stored is held by an automatic transfer robot (not shown) and transferred to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus or semiconductor inspection apparatus in the next step.

In the substrate transfer system that operates as described above, the clean room, which is the external environment in which this transfer system is installed in the factory, is a relatively inexpensive construction room with a clean degree of about 100 to 1000. In contrast, the degree of local cleanliness in the storage container of the substrate of the transfer system is class 0.
A relatively clean internal environment of about 1 to 1 is realized to clean the substrate during transportation, and when connecting the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the storage container, the inside of the apparatus communicated with each other is cleaned. By matching the degree of cleanliness with the degree of cleanliness in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of class 1 to 10, the substrate is protected from dust, dust, and contamination in the external environment throughout the entire process and placed in a clean atmosphere to perform a series of processes. You can

Next, the main part of one embodiment of the transport system of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing a detailed structure of the storage container 2. The same components as those in FIG. 1 are assigned the same reference numerals and explanations thereof will be omitted.

A positioning recess 50 is provided at the bottom of the storage container 2, and the storage container 2 is positioned by a positioning protrusion 53 provided on a mounting means 52 of an automatic transfer robot (AGV) 51 (not shown). It is configured so as to eliminate the positional deviation during the transportation. Similar positioning protrusions are provided at the mounting positions of the storage container 2 of each semiconductor manufacturing apparatus or semiconductor inspection apparatus and are fixed in position.

An arm 54 is provided on the upper part of the storage container 2 so that the storage container 2 can be manually transferred, and the storage container 2 is sandwiched on the side by another automatic transfer robot. A convex portion (not shown) is provided so that it can be transported.

The storage container 2 is made of metal such as aluminum, SiC or plastic,
The container 29 is airtight and has a space for accommodating the cassette 29 therein, and the cassette 29 is transported into and out of the container 2 through the door 8 provided on the side surface. A plurality of substrates 11 are horizontally placed on the cassette 29. A suitable example of the substrate mounting method and the loading / unloading device is described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-47976, “Wafer Detection Device”. At the bottom of the cassette 29, a holding means 55 provided in the storage container 2 is provided.
Alignment means 56 capable of aligning with is provided, for example, as a combination of mechanical concavities and convexities, the cassette is positioned at a predetermined position in the storage container 2, and the cassette is being conveyed. This prevents the position shift of 29 from occurring.

Further, a door 8 which can be opened and closed is provided on the side wall of the storage container so as to be rotatable around a rotation center 57 of the door. The method of moving the door 8 between the opening position A and the door opening position B will be described in detail later. At the opening position of A, the door 8 has a permanent magnet 59 (magnet) provided inside the storage container 2 above the door 8 and an electromagnet 60 provided at a position facing the permanent magnet 59. A magnetic lock is provided at the opening to lock the airtightness while maintaining the airtightness and during transportation.

The electromagnet 60 is provided in the storage container 2 via a wire 61, and is controlled to be turned on / off by a control system 62 that is conveyed. Further, at the closed position A of the door 8, the sealing mechanism 6
3. For example, a rubber O-ring works to separate the inside of the storage container 2 from the outside, and the cleanliness of the inside is, for example, class 1
It is configured to work so as to keep it.

An open / close valve 65 having an opening 64 is connected to the filter 66 in the storage container 2 by piping at the upper part of the storage container 2. The open / close valve 65
Is controlled by the control system 62 so that it is opened when clean air or an inert gas is supplied into the storage container 2 and closed at other times. The clean air or the inert gas is sent to the connecting portion 67 having an opening through the valve 68 from the gas supply means 67 which is independently provided outside. This connecting portion 167 is
It can be connected to the opening 64, and the supply of the clean air or the inert gas into the storage container 2 is performed prior to the transfer by the automatic transfer robot 51.

Next, a valve 70 is connected to the lower side surface of the storage container 2 through an exhaust port 69.
0 has an opening 71. The valve 70 is
It is controlled by a control system 62 provided in the storage container 2 so that it is opened when the storage container 2 is evacuated and closed at other times.

This vacuum evacuation is configured to be performed when the evacuation means 72 independently provided outside is connected to the discharge portion 74 having the opening connected through the valve 73. .

The storage container 2 is configured as described above. Next, the operation of the storage container 2 will be described.
The door 8 of the storage container 2 that stores a plurality of unprocessed substrates 11 is closed and kept in an airtight state. After the inside of the container is evacuated to a predetermined vacuum degree, clean air or an inert gas is introduced to maintain the predetermined vacuum degree. The storage container 2 separated from the exhaust means 72 and the gas supply means 67 is an automatic transfer robot 51 (AGV).
And is connected to a predetermined semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1. Next, the process of opening, communicating with, and processing the load lock chamber of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 is as described above.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, a method of communicating the storage container 2 with a connecting means 7 provided adjacent to the load lock chamber 4 of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 and the storage container 2 provided. A method of opening and closing the door and a method of optical communication between the storage container 2 and the outside will be described. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where the storage container 2 is connected to the connecting means 7. The same components as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The storage container 2 is transferred to the vertically movable mounting means 100 provided in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 by the automatic semiconductor robot 51 (AGV). The door 8 of the storage container 2 is connected to the opening of the connection means 7 at the opening position A, and the connection means 7 and the side wall of the storage container 2 are hermetically sealed by airtight seals 101, 101, for example, metal rings. To be connected. The control system 62 provided on the upper part of the storage container 2 is arranged so as to face it, and is configured to be capable of optically communicating with the information reading / writing device 102 provided on the connecting means 7. .

The detailed structure of the control system 62 will be described later. The information reading / writing device 102 constantly emits an optical signal, and if a response is returned from the control system 62 as a predetermined signal code for optical communication, it is determined that the storage container 2 is connected and the information reading / writing is performed. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment control system 103 electrically connected to equipment 102
It is configured to send a signal to. This control system 10
In response, the opening signal of the door 8 is sent to the control system 6 as an optical signal via the information reading / writing device 102.
2, the control system 62 is configured to turn off the electromagnet 60, which is a magnet lock that locks the door 8, so that the door 8 can be opened.

Further, the wall on the bottom side of the connecting means 7 is provided with an airtight connecting means 7 which is sealed by a magnetic sealing means in such a manner that the arm 104 connects the inside and the outside of the container. The arm is configured to be driven by a drive mechanism 105 provided outside to rotate and move up and down. A hook 105 is provided inside the connecting means 7 of the arm 104 so that the door 8 of the storage container 2 is clamped at the opening position A and moved to the opening position B by driving the arm 104. It is configured.

Further, the information reading / writing device 102 is
Information regarding the substrates 11 accommodated in the storage device in the control system 62 is obtained by optical communication and transmitted to the control system 103 of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Based on the information, the control system 103 controls the transfer means 21 in the load lock chamber 4 to take out the substrate 11 placed on the cassette 2 for each branch and to the processing chamber 3. Transport. Substrate 11 on which a series of processing has been completed
The control system 103 of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus transmits the end of processing to the control system 62 by optical communication through the information reading / writing means 102 with respect to the storage container 2 storing therein. , The electromagnet 6
Turn 0 on. At the same time, the control system 103 of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus issues a signal to the driving mechanism 105 to drive the arm 104, move the door 8 at the opening position A, and hermetically seal the storage container 2. It will be in a state.

Next, the hook 105 releases the holding of the arm 58, and the storage container 2 can be separated from the connecting means 7. Next, the automatic transfer robot 51 (A
GV) sandwiches and conveys the convex portion (not shown) provided on the side surface of the storage container 2, and conveys the storage container 2 to the next manufacturing process or inspection process. As described above, the storage container 2 is configured so that the door 8 is opened and closed and optical communication with the outside is performed.

Next, the control system 62 provided in the storage container 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 4
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing blocks of the information read / write device 102 and the control system 103 in the control system 62 of the storage container 2 and the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus example. The same components as those in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are given the same numbers and their explanations are omitted. A control system 62 provided in the storage container 2 shown by a broken line includes an arithmetic CPU, a ROM 201 in which a control program and data are stored, a read / write data storage RAM 202, and a power source 203 that constantly supplies power to these electronic circuits. , Optical communication control (protocol) LSI2
0, an I / O 205 that drives the optical communication module 206 by this LSI, and an I / O 207 that turns on / off the electromagnet 60 that opens and closes the magnet lock of the door.

An optical communication module 208, an I / O 209 that drives the optical communication module 208, and an optical communication LSI (protocol) 210 are provided in the information reading / writing device 102 on the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus side, which is arranged opposite to the control system 62. ing.

The operation of the optical communication system configured as above will be described below. The control system 62 provided in the storage container 2 includes an external information reading / writing device 1
No optical contact with 02, so compared to the case where electrical connection is made by a mechanical part such as connector connection, dust and dust are not generated, and no heavy metal dust is generated. Suitable for manufacturing process.

Further, since the electronic circuit backup power supply 203 is provided, the control system can be always activated and maintained in the active state, which is suitable for external communication control. Furthermore, since the I / O 211 performs the plurality of valves 65 and 70 for setting the atmosphere inside the airtight container by the designation of the CPU 200 based on the optical communication from the outside, the configuration is suitable for automation.

Furthermore, the control of the magnet lock for opening and closing the door 8 provided inside the airtight storage container 2 is controlled by the electromagnet 6
Since the control for turning ON / OFF 0 is performed by the sheet metal of the CPU 200, the opening / closing of the magnet can be instructed by optical communication from the outside. The optical communication system operates as described above.

According to the embodiments described above, in a transfer system for storing a substrate and transferring it between manufacturing apparatuses, the substrate can be always placed in a locally clean space,
It is possible to configure the external transfer space in a low-cost clean room with low cleanliness. Furthermore, since this substrate transfer system has a configuration capable of taking out and taking in each branch corresponding to the branch processing,
There is no need for a transfer device that transfers substrates to the manufacturing equipment.
It is not necessary to provide a new space for accommodating the cassette in the manufacturing apparatus, and the floor area occupied by the manufacturing apparatus can be reduced to achieve cost reduction.

Further, although the connection to the manufacturing apparatus has been described as an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention can be applied to a transport system between the stocker for storing a plurality of storage containers 2 side by side and the manufacturing apparatus. Further, the pressure in the storage container 2 can be set optimally for the manufacturing process, and is adjusted to, for example, the pressure of the load lock chamber to which pressure is reduced in the N ₂ atmosphere and which is connected in advance, for example, 1 × 10 ⁻³ Torr. It can also be transported.

On the contrary, the N ₂ atmosphere is set to a positive pressure rather than the atmospheric pressure to prevent atmospheric air from entering the storage container 2 and to reduce the pressure of the storage container 2 prior to connecting with the load lock chamber. It is also possible to communicate with the load lock chamber after bringing it closer to atmospheric pressure. Further, in addition to N ₂ gas, the storage container is set to a desired gas atmosphere such as CO ₂ gas, Xe gas, Ar gas, etc., which is optimum for the process, and the quality of the film formed on the substrate surface during transfer is set. It is also possible to manage and promote reactions.

According to the substrate transfer system of the present invention,
When a substrate is transferred between each substrate processing apparatus, a locally clean environment is realized in the storage container to maintain the cleanliness of the substrate and the storage container is connected to each substrate manufacturing apparatus. In this case, the substrate can be inserted horizontally from the side wall of the storage container and processed. Therefore, a mechanism for loading a plurality of substrates together with a cassette into each substrate processing apparatus and a space can be omitted, and since the storage container can be used as an airtight space that communicates with the substrate manufacturing apparatus, it can be transported. Further, it is possible to provide a substrate transfer system that causes the storage container to function as a cassette chamber of the substrate processing apparatus while maintaining the cleanliness of the substrates in the storage container.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a substrate transfer system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a main part of a substrate transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a main part of a substrate transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram relating to optical communication of a substrate transfer system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment 2 Storage Container 3 Processing Room 4 Load Lock Room 7 Connecting Means 8 Door 11 Board 29 Cassette 60 Electromagnet 62 Control System 63 Sealing Mechanism 101 Airtight Seal

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A storage container capable of storing and transporting a plurality of substrates, an airtight seal for isolating an atmosphere inside and outside the storage container, a door provided in the storage container and capable of opening and closing, and a door provided therebetween. The substrate processing apparatus is provided with a connecting means which is adjacent to the substrate processing apparatus and which opens the door to communicate the substrate processing apparatus with the front storage container, and a substrate transfer means provided in the substrate processing apparatus. A substrate transfer system, wherein a substrate in a container is horizontally transferred to each of the branches and leaves into the substrate processing apparatus. 2. A storage container capable of accommodating and transporting a plurality of substrates, an airtight sealing mechanism for isolating the atmosphere inside and outside the storage container, a door provided in the storage container and capable of opening and closing, and this door being open. Formed through the opening of the storage container and communicating with the inside of the substrate processing apparatus, and the substrate in the storage container is taken out through the communication means and conveyed into the substrate processing apparatus. A substrate transfer system, comprising: a substrate transfer unit provided in the substrate processing apparatus; the transfer unit transfers the substrate in the storage container into the substrate processing apparatus for each branch. 3. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the door is provided on a side wall of the storage container. 4. The storage of a plurality of substrates in the storage container,
The substrate transfer system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a cassette for storing the plurality of substrates is stored in the storage container. 5. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the substrate is a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal substrate. 6. The substrate according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is stored in the storage container with a surface processed or processed by the semiconductor processing apparatus facing downward. Substrate transfer system. 7. The storage container is set to a positive pressure rather than atmospheric pressure by an atmosphere of any one of N ₂ gas, Ar gas, and Xe gas. The substrate transfer system according to item 2. 8. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the inside of the storage container is set to a positive pressure rather than atmospheric pressure by clean air. 9. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the door is opened / closed by a command from the semiconductor processing apparatus. 10. The semiconductor processing apparatus, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is any one of an ashing apparatus, an etching apparatus, a film forming apparatus, a coating phenomenon apparatus, or a combination of these apparatuses. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1 or 2. 11. The cleanliness inside the storage container is set to class 0.1 to class 1 while the storage container is being conveyed, according to claim 1 or 2. Substrate transfer system. 12. The cleanliness of the storage container is determined by the cleanliness of the loadlock chamber when the storage container communicates with the loadlock chamber of the substrate processing apparatus. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1 or 2. 13. The substrate transfer system according to claim 12, wherein the cleanliness of the load lock chamber at the time of communication is set to class 1 to class 10. 14. A first step of accommodating and transporting a plurality of substrates in an airtight storage container, and substrate transport means provided in the storage container and either the substrate processing apparatus or the substrate inspection apparatus. A second step of communicating the room with an openable / closable door provided in the storage container, and taking out the substrates stored in the storage container by the substrate transfer means sheet by sheet, A third step of transferring the substrate into the substrate processing apparatus or the semiconductor inspection apparatus, and a fourth step of performing a predetermined process or inspection on the substrate by the substrate processing apparatus or the substrate inspection apparatus. The method of transporting a substrate, comprising: