JPH08127861A - Vacuum treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce the occupying area at the time of setting a vacuum treating device provided with plural vacuum treating chambers or plural cluster tools. CONSTITUTION: In a vacuum treating device provided with a conveying chamber 2, cassette chambers 24 and 25 and three vacuum treating chambers 3A to 3C, a dry pump DP as a primary vacuum exhausting means among each vacuum treating chamber 3A to 3C is made common, furthermore, a cooling means 4 for cooling a refrigerant fed into suscepters in the vacuum treating chambers is made common, and moreover, a high frequency power source RF for generating plasma and a power source feeding surce 6 for heating the wall parts of the vacuum treating chambers to decompose away reaction by-products is made common.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Among vacuum processing apparatuses for manufacturing semiconductors, there are various apparatuses such as etching, film forming processing, ashing and sputtering, and the type of apparatus is a single wafer type or a batch type. is there. This kind of semiconductor manufacturing equipment has been variously devised and improved in order to cope with high integration and high throughput of semiconductors. For example, in a single-wafer type vacuum processing equipment, a plurality of vacuum processing chambers are used as a common transfer chamber. There is also known a system called a cluster tool, which is connected to each of the vacuum processing chambers and is transferred from a common input / output port to each vacuum processing chamber.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing such a system, in which a plurality of vacuum processing chambers 13 and cassette chambers 14 are provided in a transfer chamber 12 provided with a transfer arm 11 which can freely move back and forth and rotate.
Are connected radially to the rotation center of the transfer arm 11 to form a vacuum processing apparatus, and the wafer cassette 10 containing, for example, 25 semiconductor wafers (hereinafter referred to as wafers) is carried into the cassette chamber 14, After depressurizing, the wafers in the wafer cassette 10 are sequentially transferred into the vacuum processing chambers 13 by the transfer arm 11, and the wafers are processed in parallel in the vacuum processing chambers 13, for example.

In each vacuum processing chamber 13, a vacuum exhaust system 15 including a turbo molecular pump T and a dry pump D,
For example, a cooler 16 that circulates a coolant for cooling the susceptor of the wafer during etching, and further, although not shown,
A power system such as a high-frequency power source for generating plasma in the vacuum processing chamber 13 and a power source of a heating means for heating and decomposing and removing reaction products attached to the wall of the vacuum processing chamber 13 is additionally provided. . In the figure, V1 to V3 are valves,
16a and 16b are refrigerant circulation paths.

[0005]

In the cluster tool system, since wafers are sequentially taken out from the cassette 10 in the cassette chamber 14 in a vacuum atmosphere, and the respective vacuum processing chambers 13 process the wafers in parallel, The throughput is higher than that of an apparatus that carries in the vacuum processing chamber from the atmosphere side via the load lock chamber, and the transfer system can be shared, which is advantageous in terms of cost. Another advantage is that it can be used in a series of wafers. On the other hand, if the vacuum exhaust system, the cooler, the heating means, the high frequency power source and the like are collectively referred to as a utility system unit as described above, a power system unit is required for each vacuum processing chamber. However, since many devices are included in the utility unit,
A cluster tool system provided with a plurality of vacuum processing chambers requires a large space for peripheral devices even if the apparatus main body is downsized. The vacuum processing apparatus is installed in a clean room here, but the cost per unit area of the clean room is very high, which increases the operating cost of the entire system. In addition, since the relative positional relationship between the plurality of vacuum processing chambers is determined, the layout of the utility system unit is also determined to some extent. Therefore, when a plurality of cluster tool systems are installed, the dead space increases, and There is also a problem that the required area in the clean room in the system becomes large.

The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and an object thereof is to reduce the area occupied by peripheral equipment when a plurality of vacuum processing chambers are provided or a plurality of cluster tool systems are provided. It is to provide a vacuum processing apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the invention, in a vacuum processing apparatus having a plurality of vacuum processing chambers, at least a part of a utility system of the vacuum processing chambers is shared between the plurality of vacuum processing chambers. It is characterized by having done.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a transfer chamber having a vacuum atmosphere is hermetically connected to a container mounting chamber having a vacuum atmosphere and a plurality of vacuum processing chambers. In a vacuum processing apparatus provided with a plurality of vacuum processing units for carrying an object to be processed between a container in the mounting chamber and the vacuum processing chamber, at least a part of a utility system of the vacuum processing chamber is provided between the plurality of vacuum processing units. It is characterized by being common.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to the first or second aspect, the utility system is provided between a first vacuum evacuation means for evacuating the vacuum processing chamber to a first vacuum degree and the vacuum processing chamber. And a second vacuum evacuation means for evacuating to a second vacuum degree higher than the first vacuum degree, and the second vacuum evacuation means is shared among a plurality of vacuum processing chambers. It is characterized by

The invention of claim 4 is the invention of claim 1, 2 or 3.
In the invention described above, the utility system includes a temperature adjusting means that is a supply source of a temperature adjusting medium for adjusting the temperature of at least a part of the vacuum processing chamber, and the temperature adjusting means is shared by a plurality of vacuum processing chambers. It is characterized by having become.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the invention of the first, second, third or fourth aspect, the utility system supplies electric power to heating means for heating at least a part of the vacuum processing chamber. And a common power supply source for heating among a plurality of vacuum processing chambers.

The invention of claim 6 is the invention of claims 1, 2, 3, 4
Alternatively, the vacuum processing chamber may include a pair of electrodes for generating plasma, and the utility system may include a power supply source for plasma generation that supplies power between the pair of electrodes. It is characterized in that the power supply source for plasma generation is shared between the processing chambers.

The invention of claim 7 relates to claim 1, 2, 3,
In the invention described in 4, 5, or 6, the common utility system of the vacuum processing chambers is gathered in the utility system storage area.

[0014]

Since at least a part of the utility system is shared between the plurality of vacuum processing chambers, the space occupied by the utility system is reduced. For example, a first vacuum evacuation unit when the vacuum processing chamber is drawn in two stages by the first and second vacuum evacuation units, a cooling unit for cooling at least the refrigerant in the vacuum processing chamber, a power supply source for plasma generation, and a vacuum process. By sharing the power supply source of the heating means for heating the chambers among the plurality of vacuum processing chambers and collecting them in one place, the space occupied by the utility system is significantly reduced, instead of the number of vacuum processing chambers. At the same time, the degree of freedom in the layout of the arrangement of the plurality of vacuum processing chambers and the plurality of vacuum processing units is increased, and the clean room can be used efficiently.

[0015]

1 is a schematic plan view showing the overall construction of a vacuum processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a construction showing a part of a vacuum processing chamber and a utility system of the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure. In the figure, reference numeral 2 denotes an airtight transfer chamber. In the transfer chamber 2, a wafer transfer means 2 including, for example, an articulated arm is provided.
1, alignment stage 22 and buffer stage 2
3 is provided, and a wafer cassette C which is a container for storing 25 wafers W is provided around the transfer chamber 2.
The vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C composed of the two cassette chambers 24 and 25 in which are mounted and the three vacuum chambers are hermetically connected via a gate valve (not shown), and thus a vacuum processing apparatus called a cluster tool is installed. It is configured.
For example, one of the two cassette chambers 24 and 25 is used for carrying in and the other is used for carrying out. For example, a door (not shown) is provided on the upper part or the front face so that the cassette C can be carried in and out from the outside. It is configured.

The structure of the vacuum processing chamber 3A will be described. At the bottom of the vacuum processing chamber 3A, a susceptor 31 for mounting a wafer W is arranged and the vacuum processing chamber 3A is placed.
A gas supply pipe 32 is connected to the upper part of A, and a gas supply part 34 having a gas injection plate 33 is provided to face the susceptor 31. The gas supply unit 34 also serves as an upper electrode, and a power supply line 35 is connected to the high frequency power supply RF which is a common power supply source for each of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C.
Connected through. The susceptor 31 also serves as a lower electrode and is grounded, and these electrodes are electrically insulated by an insulating member (not shown).

In the susceptor 31, there is provided a coolant reservoir 41 for storing a coolant for cooling the wafer W, for example, ethylene glycol. And are connected. The refrigerant supply pipe 42 and the refrigerant discharge pipe 43 are connected to the primary side refrigerant flow passage 44.
Is connected to a first heat exchanger TA that exchanges heat with the refrigerant passage 44, and the refrigerant passage 44 exchanges heat with a refrigerant passage 46 on the primary side in which the refrigerator 45 is interposed. Connected to the second heat exchanger TD. Here, the other vacuum processing chamber 3
As for the refrigerant supply pipe 42 and the refrigerant discharge pipe 43 in B and 3C, as shown in FIG. 2, respectively, the first heat exchanger TB,
Although connected to TC, the flow paths 44 on the primary side of these three first heat exchangers TA, TB, and TC are made common. In this embodiment, the first heat exchange TA, TB, T
The C, the refrigerant flow paths 44 and 46, and the refrigerator 45 form a cooling unit 4 that cools the refrigerant circulating in the refrigerant reservoir 41, and cools the susceptor 31 in each of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C, that is, the wafer W. A part of the cooling means for this is shared among the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C.

An exhaust pipe 51 in which a turbo molecular pump 5A is interposed is connected to the vacuum processing chamber 3A, and a bypass 52 is connected in parallel to the turbo molecular pump 5A.
V1 to V3 are valves. Other vacuum processing chambers 3B, 3C
Also connected to the exhaust pipe 51 are turbo molecular pumps 5B and 5C, respectively, and turbo molecular pumps 5A to 5C are connected.
A common dry pump DP is connected to the exhaust side of the. The vacuum exhaust system of the vacuum processing chambers 3B and 3C is also the vacuum processing chamber 3
Although it has the same configuration as the vacuum exhaust system of A, part of the reference numerals is omitted due to the space of the drawing. The dry pump DP and the turbo molecular pumps 5A to 5C form a first vacuum evacuation means and a second vacuum evacuation means, respectively. The valve V2 is opened and the valves V1 and V3 are closed, and the dry pump D is used.
The vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C are evacuated to a predetermined vacuum degree, for example, to 1 Torr by P, then the valve V2 is closed, the valves V1 and V3 are opened, and the turbo molecular pump 5A is opened.
-5C, the vacuum is evacuated to a higher degree of vacuum, for example, 0.2 Torr.

In the walls of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C,
A heater 61 composed of a resistance heating element that serves as a heating unit is embedded, and the heater 61 of each of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C is connected to a common power supply source 6 via a power supply source 62. The heater 61 is provided in order to prevent reaction by-products generated when heating the wall surface and performing, for example, plasma etching from adhering to the wall surface.

A magnet unit 7 is provided on the upper surface of the chamber body of each of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C.
The magnet unit 7 is provided separately from C, and the magnet unit 7 includes a magnet 72 that forms a magnetic field in the processing chamber 3A (3B, 3C) inside the housing 71, and the magnet 7.
A magnetic field leakage prevention magnet 73 is formed so that the magnetic poles opposite to the second magnetic pole are vertically overlapped with each other, and a motor 74 for rotating these is housed. A gate valve G that opens and closes the transfer chamber 2 is provided on the side walls of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. First, the insides of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C are drawn in two stages by the dry pump DP and the turbo molecular pumps 5A to 5C as described to evacuate each to a predetermined vacuum degree, and the inside of the transfer chamber 2 is not shown in a vacuum exhaust system. Is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum. The cassette C containing the unprocessed wafers is placed in one cassette chamber 24 and the other cassette chamber 25.
An empty cassette C is placed in the cassette chamber, the door (not shown) is closed, and the cassette chambers 24 and 25 are evacuated. Subsequently, the transfer means 21 receives the wafers W one by one from the cassette C in the cassette chamber 24 and transfers the wafers W into, for example, the vacuum processing chamber 3A. In the vacuum processing chamber 3A, a high frequency power supply RF is applied between the susceptor 31 and the upper electrode 33. For example, the frequency 13.56
MHZ, high-frequency power of 1 KW is applied, and the high-frequency power and the energy of the magnetic field of the magnet 46 turn the processing gas supplied from the processing-gas supply unit 33 into a plasma, and this plasma etches the wafer. Be seen.

At this time, the wafer W is cooled by the coolant in the coolant reservoir 41 and the temperature rise due to the plasma etching is suppressed, and the resist film is prevented from being damaged. Cassette C
The wafer W therein is distributed to, for example, the respective vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C by the above-described transfer process, and vacuum processing such as plasma etching is performed in parallel. Wafer W after processing
Is transferred to the cassette in the other cassette chamber 25 by the transfer means 21. Further, during maintenance, the walls of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C are heated by the heater 61 while evacuation is performed to decompose and remove reaction products attached to the wall surfaces during processing.

As described above, the respective vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3A are arranged in parallel.
In performing vacuum processing or maintenance at C, in this embodiment, a part of the cooling means for cooling the wafer W, the dry pump DP, the high frequency power supply RF, and the heater 6 are used.
One power supply source 6 is shared by the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C. Therefore, even if a plurality of vacuum treatments are provided, the space occupied by the utility system required for each vacuum treatment is reduced, so that the clean room can be used efficiently.

Still another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, a plurality of vacuum processing units, which are the cluster tools of the previous embodiment, are installed to constitute a vacuum processing apparatus of one system. The apparatus main body of each of the vacuum processing units U1, U2 ... Un is the same as in the previous embodiment (the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals), the transfer chamber 2 provided with the transfer means 21, and the cassette chambers 24, 25. And vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C. In this embodiment, each vacuum processing unit U1
A common dry pump DP is connected to the exhaust side of the turbo molecular pumps TA to TC associated with the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C of Un. A coolant supply pipe 42 and a coolant discharge pipe 43, which circulate a coolant for cooling the susceptor in each of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C, are configured to pass through the common cooling means 40. This cooling means 40 is, for example, similar to the cooling means of the previous embodiment, the refrigerant flow path on the primary side of the first heat exchanger to which the refrigerant supply pipes 42 and the refrigerant discharge pipes 43 related to all vacuum processing chambers are connected. 44 are shared. Further, the high frequency power supply RF for supplying high frequency power between the electrodes 31 and 33 (see FIG. 1) of the vacuum processing chamber, and the power supply source 6 of the heater 61 (see FIG. 1) for heating the wall of the vacuum processing chamber are all provided. It is shared with the vacuum processing chamber.

As described above, also for a plurality of cluster tools (vacuum processing units U1 to Un), if a part of the power system of the vacuum processing chamber is made common, each of the cluster tools corresponds to each vacuum processing chamber. Space can be saved significantly compared to the case where a utility system is provided.

Here, FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically showing an embodiment in which a utility system of each vacuum processing unit is made common when a plurality of vacuum processing units which are cluster tools are installed. The same reference numerals as those up to 3 indicate the same parts. However, only two vacuum processing units are shown in the figure. Further, 8 in FIG. 4 accommodates a part of the common utility system, for example, the dry pump DP, the high frequency power supply RF, the cooling means 40, and the power supply source 6 of the heater which are common as in the embodiment of FIG. Reference numeral 81 denotes a storage chamber, which is a utility line connecting the storage chamber 8 and each of the vacuum processing chambers 3A to 3C and collectively showing an exhaust pipe, a refrigerant flow path, an electric power supply source, and the like. If the common utility system is collected in one place and stored in the storage area, for example, the storage chamber 8, the area occupied by the utility system can be reduced and the layout of the vacuum processing chamber and the vacuum processing unit can be freely arranged. The degree can be increased and the clean room can be used very efficiently.

When a plurality of cluster tools (vacuum processing units) are installed in a clean room as described above, for example, a plurality of vacuum processing chambers may be provided for each vacuum processing unit without having to use a common power system for all the vacuum processing chambers. The utility system may be shared. Further, in the above-described example, the case where the cooling means for cooling the susceptor 31 (specifically, the wafer) is shared is described, but the present invention is not limited to this cooling means, and also has a function of heating the susceptor 31, for example, the susceptor 31. Part or all of the temperature control means for supplying the heat medium to the susceptor 31 and heating the heat medium also having a function of increasing the temperature of the refrigerant supplied to the vacuum processing chamber. You may make it common between. The vacuum processing is not limited to plasma etching, and may be other plasma processing such as plasma CVD, sputtering, or ashing, or other vacuum processing such as thermal CVD that does not use plasma.

[0028]

According to the present invention, since at least a part of the utility system is shared between a plurality of vacuum processing chambers or a plurality of cluster tools, the occupied area can be reduced,
The clean room can be used efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of an example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a vacuum processing chamber and cooling means used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a conventional vacuum processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Transfer chambers 3A, 3B, 3C Vacuum processing chamber 31 Susceptor (lower electrode) 33 Gas supply part (upper electrode) 4, 40 Cooling means 41 Refrigerant reservoir 42 Refrigerant supply pipe 43 Refrigerant discharge pipe TA-TC, 45 Heat exchanger 51 Exhaust pipe 5A to 5C Turbo molecular pump DP Dry pump RF High frequency power source 6 Electric power supply source 61 Heater 35, 62 Electric power supply line W Semiconductor wafer U1 to Un Vacuum processing unit 8 Storage room for power system

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Tozawa 1238-1 Kitashitajo, Fujii-cho, Nirasaki-shi, Yamanashi Tokyo Electron Yamanashi Corporation (72) Inventor Yasumasa Ishihara 2381 Kitashitajo, Fujii-cho, Narasaki-shi, Yamanashi 1 Tokyo Electron Yamanashi Co., Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum processing apparatus having a plurality of vacuum processing chambers, wherein at least a part of a utility system of the vacuum processing chambers is shared between the plurality of vacuum processing chambers. 2. A container in a container placement chamber is hermetically connected to a vacuum chamber in which a container placement chamber and a plurality of vacuum processing chambers are connected in a vacuum atmosphere. Also, in a vacuum processing apparatus having a plurality of vacuum processing units for transporting an object to be processed between the vacuum processing chambers, at least a part of a utility system of the vacuum processing chambers is shared between the plurality of vacuum processing units. Characteristic vacuum processing device. 3. The utility system is interposed between a first vacuum evacuation unit that evacuates the vacuum processing chamber to a first vacuum degree and a vacuum processing chamber, and a second system having a higher vacuum degree than the first vacuum degree. 3. A vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a second vacuum exhausting means for exhausting vacuum to a vacuum degree according to claim 2, wherein the second vacuum exhausting means is commonly used among a plurality of vacuum processing chambers. . 4. The utility system includes a temperature adjusting means that is a supply source of a temperature adjusting medium for adjusting the temperature of at least a part of the vacuum processing chamber, and the temperature adjusting means is shared by a plurality of vacuum processing chambers. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that 5. The power system includes a heating power supply source for supplying power to heating means for heating at least a part of the vacuum processing chamber, and the heating power supply source is provided between the plurality of vacuum processing chambers. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein 6. The vacuum processing chamber includes a pair of electrodes for generating plasma, and the utility system includes a power supply source for plasma generation for supplying power between the pair of electrodes, and the plurality of vacuum processing chambers. 6. A power supply source for plasma generation is shared between the two.
The vacuum processing apparatus described. 7. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the common utility systems of the vacuum processing chambers are collected in a utility system storage area.