JPH0982593A - Semiconductor processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize semiconductor processing equipment and improve processing efficiency by so designing the equipment that a plurality of semiconductor substrates will be processed in a plurality of chambers. SOLUTION: A pair of wafer holders 3 that can hold a wafer 1, respectively, are positioned on both the sides of a support base 2. A pair of chambers 5 that can enclose the respective wafer holders 3 and wafers 1 are formed. The wafer holders 3 can be freely moved so that the wafers 1 can be positioned vertically and horizontally. The chambers 5 can be freely shifted between the closed position where both the wafers 1 in the vertical position are enclosed and the open position where both the wafers in the horizontal position are exposed. This makes it possible to miniaturize the equipment further than batch- type equipment can be, and achieves higher throughput than with single wafer processing-type equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor for processing a semiconductor substrate in a sealed space in a chamber, such as a resist removing apparatus used for removing a resist pattern formed in a lithography process of a semiconductor wafer. Manufacturing equipment

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, an apparatus for performing processing on a semiconductor wafer in a closed space in a chamber, for example, a resist removing apparatus, is a batch type apparatus for simultaneously processing a plurality of wafers and a single wafer type processing apparatus. There is a single-wafer type in which each is processed. The batch type apparatus has a chamber having a size capable of accommodating a plurality of wafers during processing, a wafer boat for holding a plurality of wafers in the chamber, and the like. Further, in the single wafer processing apparatus, although the chamber is relatively small, one wafer is sequentially accommodated in the chamber for processing.

[0003]

However, since the batch type resist removing apparatus requires a large chamber, a wafer boat, etc., the chamber, wafer boat, etc. are further expanded with the recent increase in the diameter of the wafer, and the apparatus is It is getting larger. Therefore, there is a drawback that the footprint of the device increases. Also, in the case of batch type,
Since a plurality of wafers are collectively processed, there is also a problem that processing results differ between the wafers.

On the other hand, the single-wafer type resist removing apparatus has a smaller chamber and does not require a wafer boat as compared with the batch type, so that the problem of increasing the footprint as described above does not occur so much, but one wafer at a time is used. Since processing is performed, there is a drawback that the processing time per batch becomes long.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a structure in which a plurality of semiconductor substrates are processed in a plurality of chambers, respectively, so that the apparatus can be made compact and the processing efficiency can be improved. An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for performing processing on a semiconductor substrate in a sealed space in a chamber. A holding means and a plurality of chambers capable of sealing the respective substrates held by the respective substrate holding means are provided, and each of the substrate holding means is configured to arrange the respective substrates in a substantially vertical state. The chambers are configured to be movable between a closed position that covers the substrates in a substantially vertical state and an open position that exposes the substrates.

Further, according to the present invention, in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate in a closed space in a chamber, a plurality of substrate holding means capable of respectively holding a plurality of semiconductor substrates and the substrate holding means are held. And a plurality of chambers capable of sealing each substrate, and each substrate holding means is configured to be movable so as to convert each substrate into a substantially vertical state and a substantially horizontal state.
The chambers are configured to be movable between a closed position that covers the substrates in a substantially vertical state and an open position that exposes the substrates in a substantially horizontal state.

Further, in each of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, each of the substrate holding means is arranged on a side surface of a columnar supporting base.

[0009]

According to the present invention constructed as described above, a plurality of semiconductor substrates are arranged in a substantially vertical state by a plurality of substrate holding means, and a plurality of chambers are respectively closed and opened for these substrates. Since it is moved between and, the arrangement of each substrate in a substantially vertical state does not require a large chamber, substrate boat, etc., and the device can be made more compact than the conventional batch type device. The processing allows for increased throughput of the device as compared to conventional single wafer devices. Furthermore, since each substrate is processed in each chamber, the processing results of each substrate are substantially equal.

Further, when the substrates are arranged to be switched between the substantially vertical state and the substantially horizontal state by the movement of the respective substrate holding means, the respective substrates are arranged in the substantially horizontal state at the open position of each chamber. By doing so, each substrate can be easily attached and detached.

Further, by disposing each substrate holding means on the side surface of the support base having a columnar shape, a common drive system for each substrate holding means, processing function means for each substrate (for example, reaction gas exhaust system), and the like. Can be realized.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a resist removing apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3 are schematic front views of the apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the apparatus corresponding to FIG. This apparatus has a basic structure including a support base 2 and a pair of wafer bases 3.
And a pair of chambers 5, a pair of electrodes 8 and a high frequency power source 9.

The support base 2 is made of, for example, stainless steel in the shape of a flat rectangular prism, and the wafer bases 3 are provided on both side surfaces thereof. A pressure adjusting valve 7 is attached to the inside of the support base 2 and is connected to an exhaust means (not shown), so that the inside can be brought into a vacuum state.

The pair of wafer pedestals 3 are made of, for example, stainless steel in a table shape, and each has a horizontal fulcrum P with respect to the support base 2 as a center, and the horizontal state shown in FIG. 1 and the vertical state shown in FIG. Arrows A and A'to and from state
It is configured to be rotatable in any direction. And the wafer table 3
A plurality of slit-shaped wafer holding portions 4 made of, for example, quartz, each holding the wafer 1, are provided on the upper surface of the. Further, the wafer stage 3 has a temperature control means (not shown), which is composed of, for example, a heater, and is built in, and the ambient temperature near the wafer 1 can be controlled to a predetermined temperature.

The pair of chambers 5 are formed of, for example, quartz in a substantially cylindrical shape, and along the guide portion 10 extending from the upper portion of the support base 2, the open position shown in FIG. 1 and the blockage shown in FIG. It is configured to be movable in parallel with the position in the directions of arrows B and B '. Then, at the closed position, the opening peripheral edge of the chamber 5 is brought into close contact with the O-ring 6 made of, for example, Viton rubber, which is attached to the side surface of the support base 2.

The pair of electrodes 8 are movable in the directions of arrows B and B'integrally with the chamber 5, respectively, and are connected to a high frequency power source 9.

In the apparatus constructed as described above, first, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
Is moved to the open position, and the wafer table 3 is moved to the arrow A
It is rotated in the direction and arranged horizontally. In this state, the wafer 1 is transferred by the wafer transfer system (not shown), and the wafers 1 are held by the wafer holder 4 on the wafer table 3, respectively.
Is held at.

After holding the wafer, the wafer stage 3 is moved in the direction of arrow A ', and as shown in FIG. 2, the wafer stage 3, that is, the wafer 1 is arranged and held vertically.

Then, the chamber 5 and the electrode 8 are integrally moved in the direction of the arrow B ', and the chamber 5 is brought into close contact with the support base 2 via the O-ring 6 as shown in FIG. The table 3 is completely isolated from the outside atmosphere.

After that, the pressure control valve 7, which is normally closed, is opened, so that the atmosphere in the chamber 5 is sucked through the opening (not shown) of the support base 2 to be in a vacuum state. Then, a predetermined pressure, for example, 0.1 Torr or less is set, and a predetermined temperature, for example, 100 to 200 ° C. is reached by the temperature control means built in the wafer stage 3.

After that, the processing gas inlet 5 of the chamber 5
processing gas O ₂ into the chamber 5 from, for example, 1000
It is introduced at a flow rate of sccm, and the pressure is maintained in the range of, for example, 0.1 to 1.0 Torr, preferably about 0.8 Torr during the processing period by adjusting the pressure adjusting valve 7, and the high frequency power supply 9 operates at 13.56 MHz, for example. RF power is generated through the electrode 8 by generating 1000 W. At this time, the supplied processing gas O ₂ becomes plasma, and the oxygen radicals O ^* in the plasma react and remove the resist mainly consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen as shown in the following chemical formula. C _x H _y + O ^* → CO ₂ ↑ + H ₂ O ↑ By performing the above processing, the resist can be reliably removed from the wafer 1.

As described above, in the present apparatus, both wafers 3 are vertically arranged by both wafer stands 3.
Since both chambers 5 are moved between the open position and the closed position with respect to both of these wafers 1, a large chamber, a substrate boat, etc. are not required, and the device can be made more compact than the conventional batch type device. it can. Moreover,
Simultaneous processing of both wafers 1 can increase the throughput of the apparatus as compared with the conventional single wafer processing apparatus. Furthermore, since both wafers 1 are processed in both chambers 5, the resist removal results of both wafers 1 can be substantially equalized.

After the processing is completed, the chamber 5 is moved to the open position shown in FIG.
The wafer stage 3, that is, the wafer 1 is converted and arranged in the horizontal state of FIG. 1, and the wafer 1 is taken out from the wafer stage 3. That is, in this apparatus, both wafers 1 can be easily attached and detached by arranging both wafers 1 in a horizontal state at the open position of both chambers 5. The wafer 1 can be attached / detached while the wafer stage 3 shown in FIG.

Further, in this apparatus, both wafer stands 3
By arranging the columns on both side surfaces of the support base 2 having a columnar shape, the drive system of both wafer bases 3, the exhaust system of the reaction gas, and the like can be shared within the support base 2, so that each mechanism can be used. Can be simplified.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various effective modifications and applications are possible based on the technical idea of the present invention. For example, although an example in which two wafers are processed has been described in this embodiment, a configuration in which the support base is formed in a triangular column shape or a square column shape and three or more substrates are processed on the side surface is also possible. It is also possible to provide a plurality of holding means and chambers above and below. Also,
In this embodiment, the chamber is of a parallel movement type, but it may be of a rotation type. Although the wafer resist removing apparatus has been described in this embodiment, the present invention can be applied to various semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses that perform various processes on various semiconductor substrates in a chamber.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By placing a plurality of semiconductor substrates in a substantially vertical state and processing each substrate in a plurality of chambers, a large chamber, substrate boat, etc. are not required, so the device is more compact than the conventional batch type device. It is possible to achieve uniformization and equalization of processing results, and since it is possible to process a plurality of substrates at the same time as compared with the conventional single wafer processing apparatus, it is possible to increase the throughput of the apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a wafer horizontal state at a chamber open position in a resist removing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing a wafer vertical state in a chamber open position in the apparatus of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view showing a wafer vertical state at a chamber closed position in the apparatus of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view corresponding to FIG. 1 in the apparatus of the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Wafer (semiconductor substrate) 2 Support base 3 Wafer base 4 Wafer holding part 5 Chamber 5a Processing gas inlet 6 O-ring 7 Pressure adjusting valve 8 Electrode 9 High frequency power supply 10 Chamber support P Pivoting fulcrum of wafer base

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate in a closed space in a chamber, a plurality of substrate holding means capable of respectively holding a plurality of semiconductor substrates, and each of the substrates held by the respective substrate holding means. And a plurality of chambers capable of sealing, each of the substrate holding means is configured to arrange each of the substrates in a substantially vertical state, and each of the chambers surrounds each of the substrates in a substantially vertical state. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which is configured to be movable between a closed position and an open position where each substrate is exposed. 2. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for performing processing on a semiconductor substrate in a closed space within a chamber, and a plurality of substrate holding means capable of respectively holding a plurality of semiconductor substrates, and each of the substrates held by each of the substrate holding means. And a plurality of chambers capable of sealing the respective substrates, the substrate holding means being configured to be movable so as to convert the substrates into a substantially vertical state and a substantially horizontal state, and the respective chambers being substantially vertical. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is configured so as to be movable between a closed position that surrounds each of the substrates in a state and an open position that exposes each of the substrates in a substantially horizontal state. 3. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the substrate holding means is arranged on a side surface of a support base having a columnar shape.