JPH08191095A - Specimen conveying method in vacuum treatment equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a specimen conveying method in a vacuum treatment equipment wherein foreing matter is prevented from attaching to the specimen surface to be treated, by performing carriage and treatment while turning the specimen surface to be treated downward. CONSTITUTION: When a specimen surface to be treated is turned downward, dipole electrodes having anodes and cathodes are used for revolution arms 3, 4 and stages 5, 6, 7, and electrostatically attracted to the specimen surface to be treated to perform carriage and treatment. By detecting the voltage drop of electrodes as the electrostatic attraction part for retaining specimens 1, 2, the positions of the specimens 1, 2 are detected. Protective stage is installed below each waiting position, and protects a specimen when it drops. When it is detected by a transmission sensor that there is a specimen on the protective stage, the specimen is delivered on the protective stage. Thereby carriage and treatment are performed in the state that the specimen surface to be treated is turned downward.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus,
In particular, the present invention relates to a sample transfer method in a vacuum processing apparatus which transfers a sample such as silicon in a vacuum.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional vacuum processing apparatus, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-252146, a sample provided on a sample transfer swivel arm is used as a method for transferring a sample in a vacuum container. The surface of the sample to be processed is placed upward on the stage by gravity, and the arm is swung to each stage table.
The sample was handed over and transported by moving up and down the elevators in each stage.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art, the surface to be treated faces upward during sample processing and transportation, and as the vacuum processing is repeated, dust such as reaction products adhering to the inside of the vacuum container is removed. Due to vibration of the sample, it fell onto the sample surface, causing problems such as foreign matter.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sample carrying method in a vacuum processing apparatus which prevents foreign matters from adhering to the sample processed surface by carrying and processing the sample processed surface downward. is there.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is such that the surface to be processed of a sample is faced down, and the sample is conveyed and processed.

When the surface to be processed of the sample is turned downward, a tie-pole electrode having an anode and a cathode on each of the swivel arms and stages is electrostatically adsorbed on the back surface of the surface to be processed of the sample, and is transported and processed. I do. The position of the sample is detected by detecting the voltage drop of the electrode, which is the electrostatic attraction unit that holds the sample.
In case the sample falls, a protective stage is provided below each standby position to protect the sample. When the transmission sensor detects the presence of the sample on the protection stage, the protection stage transfers the sample.

By carrying out the above steps, the surface to be processed of the sample is oriented downward and the carrying process is carried out.

[0008]

According to the present invention, on the back surface of the sample processed surface, the sample is electrically attracted and held by the adsorption portion, and the sample processed surface is conveyed downward.
Perform processing. As a result, the entire transfer of the vacuum processing device,
In the processing step, the sample-treated surface can be faced downward, and it is possible to prevent foreign substances such as reaction products falling due to vibration of the apparatus from adhering to the sample-treated surface.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a microwave plasma etching processing apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, first, a sample 1 transported from the atmosphere is a load lock chamber which is a transfer port between the atmosphere and a vacuum.
The load lock stage 5 with an electrode in 12 is brought in, and the electrode 1 is electrostatically adsorbed to the back surface side of the sample 1 to be processed, thereby receiving the sample 1 from the atmosphere,
The load lock chamber 12 is evacuated. (At this time, the surface to be processed of the sample 1 is facing downward.) When the evacuation is completed, the load swing arm 3 swings to the load lock stage 5, receives the sample 1, and is again in the etching chamber stage in the etching chamber. Turn to 7 and hand over sample 1. When the transfer of the sample 1 to the etching chamber stage 7 is completed, the etching chamber stage 7 moves up to the sample stage 10, the sample 1 is electrostatically adsorbed on the sample stage 10, the etching chamber stage 7 moves down, and the microtron generated from the magnetron 9 is generated. The waves pass through the waveguide 8 and generate plasma in the etching chamber 16 to perform etching. When the etching is completed, the etching chamber stage 7 moves up again, the electrostatic adsorption of the sample table 10 is turned off, the sample 1 is transferred to the etching chamber stage 7, and then the etching chamber stage 7 moves down.

Next, the sample 1 is unloaded, which can be unloaded by performing the reverse operation of loading. That is, the sample 1 in the etching chamber stage 7 is unloaded.
The unload lock stage 6 conveys the unload lock stage 6 to the unload lock stage 6 and holds the unload lock stage 6 by electrostatic attraction.

With the above arrangement, the surface to be processed can be made to face downward in all the steps of transportation and processing, and it is possible to prevent foreign matter falling down due to vibration of the apparatus body from adhering to the surface to be processed. I can.

A dipole electrode having an anode 1 and a cathode 1 on the same surface is used as the electrode of each stage and arm. FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of a dipole electrode of a swivel arm. This electrode has an anode a 12 and a cathode a 14 which are insulated by an insulator 13, and a high voltage is applied between the anode a 12 and the cathode a 14 to maintain the electrostatic adsorption force and adsorb the sample 1. To do. Further, by detecting the voltage drop between the electrodes, it is possible to detect the completion or non-completion of adsorption, the presence or absence of the sample, the drop, and the like.

Next, the connection of each part will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows a method of delivering a sample in the etching chamber. First, the sample 1 is transported to the top of the etching chamber stage 7 by the load lock turning arm 3. The load-lock swivel arm 3 operates in the θ rotation direction and the Y-axis vertical direction. When the sample 1 comes on the etching chamber stage 7, the load-lock swivel arm 3 moves downward in the Y-axis direction.
The load-lock swivel arm 3 becomes an insulator when it is lowered by a certain amount.
By cutting off the current between the anode a 12 and the cathode a 14 which are insulated by 13, the electrostatic adsorption force is turned off. This completes the transfer of the load lock turning arm 3 and the etching chamber stage 7.

When the above operation is completed, next, the etching chamber stage 7 and the sample stage 10 are transferred. The etching chamber stage 7 on which the sample 1 is placed first rises to the sample stage 10 and descends when the sample 1 is electrostatically adsorbed by the electrodes on the sample stage 10. Although etching is performed in this state, the sample 1 is fixed by the sample retainer 15 in order to more surely hold the sample 1 on the sample table 10. Then, when the etching is completed, the etching chamber stage 7 is raised again, the electrostatic adsorption of the sample stage 10 is turned off, and the etching chamber stage 7 is lowered, whereby the etching chamber stage 7 is moved.
And the sample table 10 transfer is completed. When the above is completed, the unload lock swing arm 4 conveys the sample 1 to the unload lock chamber 13.

By repeating these operations, the sample 1 is delivered in the etching chamber of the single wafer processing etching apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of the load lock stage, and shows a method for connecting the load lock turning arm and the atmosphere transfer arm to the load lock stage.

The load lock stage 5 has an anode b 16,
It comprises a load lock electrode 21 having a cathode b 17, a safety stage 18 and a cylinder 19.

First, the load lock stage 5 is lifted by the cylinder 19 from the load lock chamber 12 which has become the atmosphere. The sample 1 is adsorbed by the atmospheric transfer arm 20 that is taught to the upper limit position of the cylinder 19, and is transferred from the atmospheric sample storage position to the load lock stage 5. Then, a high DC voltage is applied to the anode b 16 and the cathode b 17 of the load lock electrode 21 in the load lock stage 5 for adsorption, and at the same time, the adsorption force of the atmosphere transfer arm 20 is turned off to transfer the sample 1. To do.

When the transfer is completed, the load lock stage 5 is lowered into the load lock chamber 12 by the cylinder 19 to evacuate the load lock chamber, and when these are completed, the transfer of the load lock swing arm 3 and the sample 1 is completed. And then transferred to the etching chamber.

Here, if the adsorption force is removed for some reason because the sample 1 that should be adsorbed and held by the load lock electrode 21 is removed, the sample 1 naturally falls. Therefore, below the load lock electrode 21, a safety stage 18 is provided which is hollowed out in a taper shape and surface-treated so that the coefficient of friction with the sample 1 is reduced. As a result, when the sample 1 is dropped, it is received by the safety stage 18. Since the safety stage 18 has the above-described structure, the receiving position is naturally determined, and if this position is stored in the load lock swing arm 3, the load lock electrode 21 loses the attraction force and the sample 1 is transferred. When it falls on the footage stage 18 and is detected by the transmission sensor 22, it is possible to operate the protection system so that the load lock swing arm 3 goes to this position to pick up the sample 1 and conveys it to the etching chamber. I can.

Further, the unload lock chamber side has the same structure and can be carried out by performing the reverse operation.

As described above, by using electrostatic attraction and using the above-described transport system, the sample surface to be processed can be transported downward, and the foreign matter attached to the sample surface can be reduced. It can be done. Also, by electrostatic attraction,
Since the sample 1 can be firmly fixed to each electrode portion and is relatively unlikely to be displaced, high-speed transportation is also possible.

[0024]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the amount of foreign matter deposited on the surface to be processed of the sample and to improve the yield. Further, since electrostatic attraction is used, high-speed transportation is possible, and there is an effect that throughput is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a microwave plasma etching apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a tie-pole electrode that is an adsorption portion of a swivel arm.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a sample delivery method in an etching chamber.

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a load lock stage, and an explanatory view of the connection between the load lock swing arm and the atmosphere transfer arm and the load lock stage.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... sample, 2 ... sample, 3 ... load-lock swivel arm, 4
... unload lock swivel arm, 5 ... load lock stage, 6 ... unload lock stage, 7 ... etching chamber stage, 8 ... waveguide, 9 ... magnetron, 10 ... sample stage, 11 ... solenoid coil, 12 ... anode a , 13 ...
Insulator, 14 ... Cathode a, 15 ... Sample holder, 16 ... Anode b, 17 ... Cathode b, 18 ... Safety stage, 19
... cylinder, 20 ... atmosphere transfer arm, 21 ... load lock electrode, 22 ... transmission sensor.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method of transporting a sample in a vacuum for transporting and processing the sample, wherein the sample is held by an electrostatic chucking force utilizing an electric chucking force, and a sample-treated surface is directed downward. A method of transporting a sample in a vacuum processing apparatus, wherein the sample is loaded, processed, and unloaded in a state. 2. The method of transporting a sample in a vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the presence or absence of the sample is detected by detecting a voltage drop of an electrode, which is an electrostatic adsorption unit that holds the sample. A method for transporting a sample in a vacuum treatment device. 3. A method of transporting a sample in a vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a protective stage is provided under each standby position and a protective stage is provided in case of dropping the sample. A method of transporting a sample in a vacuum processing apparatus, characterized in that a transmission sensor provided in the stage detects that the sample is in a protective stage, and the sample is delivered in this protective stage. 4. A sample vacuum processing apparatus using the sample transfer method in the vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1.