JPH08215647A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a cleaning device in which throughput of cleaning treatment is increased and control is easily performed. CONSTITUTION: A cassette 10 being in a state supporting a work W is inserted into a cleaning tank 11 in which cleaning liquid L for cleaning the wafer W is held. Shafts 15, 16 having eccentric cams 17, 18 are freely rotatably fitted to the lower part of the cleaning tank 11, rotated and driven by a motor. Since the eccentric cams 17, 18 are rotated by rotation of the shafts 15, 16, the cassette 10 inserted into the cleaning tank 11 is guided by the guide members 13, 14 and vertically moved and the work W is cleaned in this state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning a work such as a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the process of processing a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer), a thin film is formed on the surface of a wafer by a physical method such as an oxidation process for forming an oxide film on the surface of the wafer, vacuum deposition or sputtering. Thin film processing to form, thin film processing to form a thin film by a chemical method such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and etching the device pattern transferred to the photoresist coated on the wafer, There is an etching process for completing the pattern. The etching process includes wet etching for etching a wafer in a liquid phase and dry etching for etching in a gas phase.

After completion of each of the above processes including the etching process and before the process, the wafer is transferred to a wet cleaning process using pure water for cleaning.

The conventional cleaning apparatus is basically one having a chemical bath for processing a wafer and a washing bath for washing off the chemical, and these are 1 in order to prevent the chemical atmosphere from spreading to the surroundings. It is installed in one box. At present, APM (ammonia / hydrogen peroxide) is mainly used, and HPM (hydrochloric acid / hydrogen peroxide), SPM (sulfuric acid / hydrogen peroxide), DHF.
Foreign substances on the wafer surface by combining chemicals such as (dilute hydrofluoric acid),
It is possible to remove complex stains such as organic substances and metal impurities in a consistent process.

As a cleaning apparatus used for pretreatment of wafers, an APM cleaning section including an APM cleaning tank disposed adjacent to a loader section and two APM cleaning tanks disposed downstream of the APM cleaning tank, and A DHF cleaning tank disposed adjacent to the APM cleaning section, and a DHF cleaning tank disposed on the downstream side.
Some have a DHF cleaning section consisting of two DHF cleaning tanks.
Test equipment 1994 version "issued November 20, 1993, P11
5 to P120).

[0006]

By the way, the present inventor has examined a wafer cleaning apparatus. The following is the technology examined by the present inventor, and the outline thereof is as follows.

That is, the respective cleaning tanks constituting the APM cleaning section and the DHF cleaning section are arranged in a straight line, and a transfer arm provided movably along these supports a predetermined number of wafers. The carrying jig was used to carry the supporting jig, and the carrying jig was used to immerse the supporting jig in the cleaning liquid in each cleaning tank. Then, the support jig was used to swing the support jig in the vertical direction.

However, if the wafer is moved up and down in the cleaning tank by using the transfer arm that supports the wafer, another wafer is transferred by the transfer arm while the wafer is moved up and down to clean the wafer. Cannot be performed, and the throughput of processing will be reduced. Further, the control for the vertical movement at the time of cleaning must be incorporated into the control of the transport system, which complicates the control device.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus which can improve the throughput of cleaning processing and facilitate control.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0011]

Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, a representative one will be briefly described below.
It is as follows.

That is, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention includes a support jig for supporting the work, a cleaning tank for supplying the cleaning liquid for cleaning the work and cleaning the work while being supported by the support jig, and a cleaning tank for cleaning the work. It has a vertical movement means for vertically moving the work through a support jig.

Further, in the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the shaft rotatably attached to the lower portion in the cleaning tank, the eccentric cam provided on the shaft and contacting the supporting jig, and the eccentric cam driven to rotate via the shaft. And driving means.

Further, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention has a vertically moving member penetrating through the cleaning tank so as to be movable up and down, and a drive means arranged below the cleaning tank to drive the vertically moving member. And A guide member for guiding the vertical movement of the support jig may be provided in the cleaning tank.

[0015]

In the cleaning apparatus having the above construction, the vertical movement means for vertically moving the support jig arranged in the cleaning tank while supporting the work is provided independently of the work transfer system. Since the work is conveyed, the work can be moved up and down in the cleaning tank to be cleaned. Thereby, the throughput of the cleaning process can be improved.

Further, since the support jig is moved up and down by the shaft and the eccentric cam provided on the shaft,
It is possible to smoothly move the support jig up and down without increasing the size of the cleaning device.

Further, by disposing the vertical movement means below the cleaning tank, the volume of the cleaning tank can be reduced.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the above APM cleaning unit 3
It is a figure which shows the one washing tank 1-3, the washing tank 1 is an APM tank, and the other two washing tanks 2 and 3 are washing tanks. A predetermined number of wafers are supported by a supporting jig, that is, a cassette, and the wafer is sequentially transferred to the respective cleaning tanks 1 to 3 by chucking the cassette by the transfer robot arm and transferring the wafer. It is like this.

(Embodiment 1) FIGS. 2 and 3 are views showing a cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and these drawings correspond to any one of the three cleaning tanks shown in FIG. . As shown in the figure, a predetermined number of wafers W are transported while being supported by a cassette 10 which is a supporting jig in an upright position. This cassette 1
The transfer of 0 is performed by chucking the transfer arm of the transfer robot.

The cleaning tank 11 has an inner tank 11a and an outer tank 11b arranged outside the inner tank 11a.
By the cleaning liquid supply pipe 12 connected to the bottom wall of the inner tank 11
The cleaning liquid is supplied into the inside of a.

A gap 11c is formed between the inner and outer tanks 11a and 11b, and the cleaning liquid L overflowing from the upper end of the inner tank 11a is discharged to the outside through the gap 11c. If the cleaning tank 11 is the APM tank shown in FIG. 1, the chemical liquid is supplied from the cleaning liquid supply pipe 12 into the tank, and if it is a washing tank, pure water is supplied.

The guide member 1 is provided on the inner surface of the cleaning tank 11.
3, 14 are attached to the guide members 13, 14
The cassette 10 is arranged in the cleaning tank 11 by being guided by. Two shafts 15 and 16 which are parallel to each other are rotatably mounted in the lower portion of the cleaning tank 11, and each shaft 15 and 16 has a columnar eccentric cam 17 having an elliptical cross section. , 18 are provided. Each of the eccentric cams 17 and 18 has a cleaning tank 11
It corresponds to the lower end of the cassette 10 placed inside,
The lower end of the cassette 10 comes into contact with the eccentric cams 17 and 18.

As shown in FIG. 3, a sprocket 21 is fixed to one of the shafts 15, and a sprocket 23 driven by a motor 22 fixed to the outside of the cleaning tank 11 is interposed between the sprocket 21 and the sprocket 21. Is provided with a timing belt 24. Each shaft 1
As shown in FIG. 2, the sprocket 2 is attached to the other end of the sprocket 2.
5 and 26 are fixed, and these sprockets 2
A timing belt 27 is stretched over the belts 5, 26.

Therefore, when the motor 22 is driven while the lower end of the cassette 10 is in contact with the eccentric cams 17 and 18, the eccentric cams 17 and 18 rotate in synchronization with each other, and the eccentric cams 18 and 18 rotate. The cassette 10 moves up and down while being guided by the guide members 13 and 14 with a stroke corresponding to the amount of eccentricity due to the difference in the distance between the rotation center of 17 and 18 and the outer peripheral surface. The vertical movement stroke of the wafer W is set by the eccentric amount of the eccentric cams 17 and 18, the vertical movement speed is set by the cam shape, and the vertical movement cycle is set by the rotation speed of the motor 22.

As described above, since the cassette 10 is moved up and down by the driving means provided separately from the wafer transfer system, when the cassette 10 is moved up and down to perform the wafer cleaning process. Another cassette (not shown) can be transferred by the transfer arm of the transfer robot, and the throughput of the cleaning process is improved. In addition, the transport control sequence becomes simple.

The cassette 10 may be brought into contact with the inner surface of the cleaning tank 11 to guide the vertical movement of the cassette 10 without providing the guide members 13 and 14. Further, depending on the shape of the cassette 10, the cassette may be moved up and down by one eccentric cam. Further, the two eccentric cams 17 and 18 may be driven by different motors. Then, as shown in the drawing, the rotation of the motor 22 may not be driven via the timing belt 24, but the motor may be directly connected to the shaft and driven.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 is a view showing a cleaning apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, members common to those shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 have the same reference numerals. It is attached.

In this cleaning apparatus, a plurality of support pins 31 are provided penetrating through the bottom wall of the cleaning tank 11 so as to be vertically movable, and these support pins 31 are lifter plates 32.
It is fixed to. Then, in order to move the lifter plate 32 up and down, an air cylinder 33 is provided below the cleaning tank 11.
Is arranged.

By supplying air pressure to the air cylinder 33 via a switching valve (not shown), the support pin 31 moves up and down via the lifter plate 32. Even with this type of cleaning device, the work can be cleaned efficiently and with simple control as in the above-described embodiment.

The lifter plate 32 may be moved up and down using an eccentric cam without using the air cylinder 33.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

For example, the means for moving the cassette 10 up and down is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, and any means may be used as long as it can move the cassette 10 up and down.

In the above description, the case where the invention made by the present inventor is mainly applied to the cleaning apparatus for cleaning the wafer for the pretreatment of the wafer, which is the field of application thereof, has been described, but the invention is not limited thereto. For example, for post-processing cleaning of various wafer processing equipment,
Alternatively, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention can be applied for cleaning treatment after various processing steps such as CVD processing. Further, the work to be cleaned is not limited to the wafer, and various kinds of works can be cleaned.

[0035]

Advantageous effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

(1) Since the vertical movement means independent of the transfer system for transferring the work is provided, the transfer sequence for transferring the work becomes simple and the automatic control can be easily incorporated.

(2) Since the work can be moved up and down by the driving means to clean the work while carrying the work, the throughput of the cleaning process is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a layout of a cleaning tank.

FIG. 2 is a front side sectional view showing a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the side surface of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a cleaning device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 cassette (support jig) 11 cleaning tank 11a inner tank 11b outer tank 11c gap 12 cleaning liquid supply pipe 13, 14 guide member 15, 16 shaft 17, 18 eccentric cam 21 sprocket 22 motor (driving means) 23 sprocket 24 timing belt 25 , 26 Sprocket 27 Timing belt 31 Support pin 32 Lifter plate 33 Air cylinder (driving means) L Cleaning liquid W Semiconductor wafer (work)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A support jig for supporting a work, a cleaning tank for supplying a cleaning liquid for cleaning the work and cleaning the work while being supported by the support jig, and a supporting jig for cleaning the work. And a vertical movement means for vertically moving the work through a tool. 2. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a shaft rotatably attached to a lower portion of the cleaning tank, an eccentric cam provided on the shaft and contacting the supporting jig, and the shaft are provided. And a drive unit that rotationally drives the eccentric cam via the cleaning device. 3. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vertically moving member is provided penetrating through the cleaning tank so as to be vertically movable, and the vertically moving member disposed below the cleaning tank. A cleaning device comprising: a driving unit. 4. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a guide member provided in the cleaning tank for guiding the vertical movement of the support jig.