JPH07211762A - Wafer transfer treater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a wafer vacuum-transferring treater, which can easily construct a process, has a high maintainability, and can add the vacuum treater. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of pieces of transfer tubes 6, which are formed into the same form, are coupled with a plurality of pieces of vacuum-transferring chambers 3 a to l having a wafer transfer function via gate valves 5 and the like to constitute a transfer path and a transfer chamber connected with wafer treating chambers 2 a to j or a plurality of pieces of treating chambers is coupled with the vacuum-transferring chambers to constitute a wafer vacuum- transferring treater.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer transfer processing apparatus in a semiconductor wafer manufacturing process used in a semiconductor device manufacturing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the miniaturization and high density of semiconductors, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, integrated vacuum processing, large diameter wafers, and single-piece wafers are being developed. The advantage of adopting a vacuum integrated process as a semiconductor manufacturing process is that a series of processes in the manufacturing process can be performed in a vacuum or other inert gas, so that the wafer does not have dust or impurities. To reduce the possibility of contamination by molecules. In addition, the process reproducibility is improved, and the yield can be expected to be improved. Further, in the process-to-process transfer, it is possible to eliminate a step that may contaminate the wafer, for example, when a wafer cassette is transferred by a person.

Therefore, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus has a tendency to be integrated, that is, clustered, and further compounded such as multi-chambered, and further integrated and integrated into a vacuum.

An example of a vacuum wafer transfer processing apparatus in this type of semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-229633.

[0005]

In the disclosed example disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-229633, each cluster device or single processing chamber is radially arranged with a central vacuum chamber having a wafer holding means installed at the center. One semiconductor process line is constructed by connecting with chamber-to-chamber transfer arms. Therefore, when a trouble such as a wafer breakage occurs in the central vacuum chamber, the wafer cannot be transferred to another cluster device or the processing chamber, and the manufacturing must be stopped. Further, even if there is a case where it is desired to add a new process, the processing chamber cannot be added, and another device must be prepared and the line must be rebuilt. Further, since each processing chamber is radially connected to the central vacuum chamber, there is a problem that the installation area of the apparatus is large and the space efficiency is poor.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum wafer transfer processing apparatus and a transfer path connecting method in which a manufacturing line can be easily constructed and maintainability is improved, and a vacuum processing apparatus can be added. .

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a wafer transfer robot, and a plurality of vacuum transfer chambers having a wafer transfer port on a side surface thereof.
A plurality of transfer pipes having the same shape are connected to each other to construct an inter-device transfer device, and a wafer processing chamber, or a vacuum transfer chamber provided with a plurality of processing chambers using the transfer pipe having the same shape as described above. They are connected to form a wafer process step.

The vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube are connected to each other via a gate valve having a connection part that can be fixed to either or both of the transfer tube and the vacuum transfer chamber in an open or closed state. .

[0009]

A wafer transfer device between each processing step is constituted by connecting a vacuum transfer chamber equipped with a wafer transfer robot and a plurality of transfer tubes having the same shape through a gate valve. It Therefore, even if an accident such as a failure or a wafer damage occurs between a series of processing steps, it is not necessary to stop the entire apparatus, and the processing can be continued in a processing room that is not affected by the accident. Alternatively,
It is possible to create a bypass path using an unused transport port and continue the entire process. Further, even when the necessity of adding the wafer processing chamber arises, it is possible to easily add the wafer processing chamber by connecting the processing chamber or another vacuum transfer chamber using the transfer tube to the vacuum transfer chamber.

[0010]

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

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, which is an embodiment of a silicon integrated circuit process. Figure 1
In FIG. 1, for example, 1 is a load lock chamber in which the wafer 7 can be loaded and unloaded. Also,
In the figure, 2a to 2k are processing apparatuses for performing various processings on the wafer 7, for example, wafer cleaning, MBE,
It is a device for performing CVD, lithography, etching, annealing, ion implantation, multi-layer wiring, oxidation, passivation, evaluation and the like.

Next, the movement of the wafer will be described. First, after placing the wafer 7 in the load lock chamber 1,
Is evacuated. In the vacuum transfer chamber 3a connected to the load lock chamber via a gate valve, for example,
A wafer transfer robot 4a capable of rotating, expanding and contracting, and moving up and down while holding a wafer is installed. Therefore, the wafer 7 introduced into the load lock chamber 1 can be taken into the vacuum transfer chamber 3a. Vacuum transfer chamber 3
The wafer 7 taken in a is transferred to the wafer transfer robot 4
a by means of the gate valve through the vacuum transfer chamber 3a
It is transferred to another processing chamber connected to and subjected to necessary processing. The processed wafer is moved immediately before the end of the transfer pipe 6 connecting the vacuum transfer chambers 3a and 3b by the rotational movement of the wafer transfer robot 4a. This time,
The wafer transfer robot 4b to which the wafer 7 is to be transferred is on standby immediately before the end of the transfer tube 6 connected to the vacuum transfer chamber 3b. Then, these wafer transfer robots 4
Wafers are delivered by the expansion and contraction of a and 4b and the vertical movement. As shown in the figure, the vacuum transfer chamber 3b in which the wafer transfer robot 4b that receives the wafer is installed has the same plurality of vacuum transfer chambers 3c, d, f, and
g, i, j, l and a plurality of transport pipes 6 having the same shape are connected to each other to form a part of an annular transport path. The wafer can be freely moved in the transfer path by the wafer transfer robot in the vacuum transfer chamber forming this transfer path. Therefore, the wafer can be transferred to each processing chamber. By the way, a gate valve 9 is installed between the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube. Figure 2
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the connection between the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube.
Shows a perspective view. As shown in FIG. 2, the O-ring 1 surrounding the transfer port is provided on the connection surface between the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube.
There are two types of O-rings 4, 15 and O-rings 13, 16 surrounding the O-rings 14, 15. Vacuum grease is applied to these O-rings. The gate valve 9 is connected to the vacuum transfer chamber 3 and the transfer pipe 6 by the transfer pipe side screws 10 and 11, and the vacuum transfer chamber side screw 1.
It is fixed at 7,18. In addition, a valve mechanism is provided in the gate valve. As shown in FIG. 2, this valve mechanism has a transfer port for passing a wafer and an O-ring 1.
The space between 4 or 15 and the O-ring 13 or 16 can be opened and closed by the valve 22. This valve has an O-ring 14 or 15 and an O-ring 13 or 1
It is installed to exhaust the atmosphere left over between 6. That is, when the transport path is evacuated, the valve 22
Is open. At this time, the valve 22 has an O-ring 2
Since 0 is installed, vacuum leakage does not occur. Then, when the pressure in the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube reaches a constant value, the valve 22 is closed. by the way,
The gate valve 9 is normally connected to the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube so that the wafer can pass therethrough while the wafer is being processed. However, if it is desired to disassemble the transfer path due to a failure or accident, it is possible to disassemble the vacuum transfer chamber or transfer tube while maintaining the vacuum state. That is, the transfer pipe side screws 10 and 11 and the vacuum transfer chamber side screws 17 and 18 are removed, and the gate valve 9
In this figure, the transfer port may be covered by shifting it upward. At this time, the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube are in a vacuum state. Therefore, since the gate valve 9 is pressed against the vacuum transfer chamber 3 and the transfer tube 6 by the pressure difference from the atmospheric pressure, there is no vacuum leakage. However, as shown in the figure, the gate valve 9 may be pressed against the vacuum transfer chamber 3 and the transfer tube 6 by the gate valve retainer 23. afterwards,
The gate valve can be fixed by using the screw 12 and the screw hole 19 on the side where the vacuum state is desired to be maintained. Further, when the disassembling or repair work is completed, it is possible to return to the original transport path by the reverse operation. In this way, if a plurality of vacuum transfer chambers having a wafer transfer robot and a plurality of transfer tubes of the same shape are connected via a gate valve to form a transfer path, it is possible to perform processing between processing chambers or a plurality of processing chambers. Wafers can be transferred between vacuum transfer chambers connected to each other in a vacuum. In addition, even if disassembly or repair is required due to an accident such as a transfer device failure or wafer damage, the transfer valve and vacuum transfer chamber can be disassembled at any place while maintaining the vacuum state by the gate valve. The respective processing chambers or the vacuum transfer chambers connected to the processing chambers can operate independently. Therefore, it is not necessary to stop the entire device,
The damage can be minimized. Further, since the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube can be easily divided, only a minimum necessary portion needs to be repaired or replaced, and a device having very good maintainability can be obtained. Further, since the transfer path is constructed by connecting the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube, there is a degree of freedom in the shape of the transfer path. Therefore, the space for installing the device can be adjusted, and the space efficiency is improved.
That is, although the wafer transfer path has an annular structure in the present embodiment, the shape of the transfer path can be freely changed depending on the shape and area of the place where the apparatus is installed. Although the transfer robot of this embodiment has an extension / contraction mechanism and an elevating / lowering mechanism in the arm, instead, the arm of the transfer robot has only the extension / contraction mechanism, and the elevating / lowering motion can be performed while holding the wafer in the transfer tube. A push-up robot may be installed to transfer the wafer. Further, the gate valve interposed between the connecting portion between the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube may have any shape as long as it can seal the vacuum.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, since a failure occurs in the wafer transfer robot 4i installed in the vacuum transfer chamber 3i of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum transfer chamber 3m newly provided with the transfer tube and the wafer transfer robot 4m is used to bypass the wafer transfer robot 4i. It is the figure which comprised the conveyance path for. At this time, the vacuum transfer chambers 3g and 3j
And the connecting portion of the transfer pipe connected to the vacuum transfer chamber 3i is closed by a gate valve 9. By constructing the transport path in this manner, even when the faulty part is disassembled and repaired, the entire process can be continued without contaminating the vacuum, so that a device having a high mobility can be obtained.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is an example in which an additional processing chamber 8 is added via a gate valve 5 to the vacuum transfer chamber 3g forming the transfer path because of the necessity of adding a wafer processing device. By using the vacuum transfer chamber forming the transfer path in this way, it is possible to easily add a processing chamber. Although the processing chamber is directly connected to the vacuum transfer chamber in the transfer path in the figure, another vacuum transfer chamber may be connected using a transfer pipe to add a processing chamber to this vacuum transfer chamber.

[0015]

According to the present invention, even if an accident such as a transfer device failure or wafer damage occurs, it is not necessary to stop the entire device, and the process can be continued in a processing room which is not affected by the accident. . Further, even if it is necessary to disassemble the device or replace the parts due to an accident, since there are many places where the device can be divided, a device that is easy to work and has good maintainability can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a silicon integrated circuit according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a connecting portion between a vacuum transfer chamber and a transfer tube.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a connecting portion between a vacuum transfer chamber and a transfer tube.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Load lock chamber, 2a-k ... Processing chamber, 3a-m ... Vacuum transfer chamber, 4a-m ... Wafer transfer robot, 5
... gate valve, 6 ... transport tube, 7 ... wafer.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of vacuum transfer chambers having a wafer transfer robot therein and having transfer ports for introducing and ejecting wafers, and the wafers capable of passing through the inside,
Both ends form a transfer path by connecting a plurality of transfer pipes that can be connected so as to maintain airtightness with a partner to be connected, and one or more vacuum transfer chambers that form the transfer path, A wafer transfer processing apparatus comprising a wafer processing chamber or a transfer chamber connected to a plurality of processing chambers. 2. The wafer transfer processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a gate valve is provided at an arbitrary connecting portion between the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube. 3. The wafer according to claim 2, wherein a hole through which the wafer can pass is provided between the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube, and an area for sealing the transfer port of the vacuum transfer chamber and the transfer tube. A wafer transfer processing apparatus having a plate-shaped gate valve having a fastening portion that can be fixed to any one or both of the transfer tube and the vacuum transfer chamber with the transfer path opened or closed. 4. The wafer transfer robot according to claim 1, wherein the wafer transfer robot has a movement function in a plane, and a robot capable of moving up and down while holding the wafer is installed in the transfer tube. And a wafer transfer processing device that transfers the wafer by the movement of the robot.