JPH10107116A - Substrate treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the yield by including a plate for carrying a wafer between a carrying member and the wafer and treating the wafer in either the reaction chamber of the cooling chamber for each plate for carrying the wafer and hence preventing the wafer from being cracked on transportation, at the same time carrying only the wafer from a reaction chamber or a cooling chamber, and preventing the wafer from being contaminated with particles during transportation. SOLUTION: A plate 1 for carrying a wafer is carried between a reaction chamber and a cooling chamber 8 by a carrying member 6, while a wafer 5 is placed on the plate 1. A wafer support part 3 that supports the wafer 5 in dot shape in contact and consists of an inclination surface 4 is provided on the plate 1 for carrying the wafer. The plate 1 for carrying the wafer and the wafer 5 being carried on together are separated and supported by a wafer support stand 7 in the reaction room of the cooling room 8 so that only the wafer 5 can be supported by the carrying member 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly to a substrate processing apparatus that processes and transports a substrate together with a substrate transport plate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a plan view of a single wafer type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which is a conventional wafer processing apparatus. A load lock chamber 12, a cooling chamber 13, and a reaction chamber 14 are provided around the transfer chamber 11, and a wafer transfer robot 15 is provided in the transfer chamber 11. The wafer transfer robot 15 has a transfer arm 16, and a transfer member 17 called a tweezer for mounting the wafer 5 is attached to the tip of the transfer arm 16. As shown in FIG. 6, the wafer 5 is picked up by the transfer member 17 and has two fingers 17a, 17a.
b and is supported in surface contact.

In order to process the wafer 5, the transfer member 17 of the wafer transfer robot 15 is moved to the load lock chamber 12.
The wafer 5 in the wafer cassette 18 is carried into the reaction chamber 14 while being supported by the transfer member 17. Reaction chamber 1
When the processing of the wafer 5 in the wafer 4 is completed, the transfer member 16 is inserted into the reaction chamber 14 by the wafer transfer robot 15, the processed wafer 5 is supported by the transfer member 17, and the wafer 5 is unloaded from the reaction chamber 14. Later, load lock room 12
Return to At this time, when the temperature of the wafer 5 becomes high due to the processing of the wafer 5, the wafer 5 is once cooled in the cooling chamber 13 before returning to the load lock chamber 12, and then returned to the load lock chamber 12 after cooling.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional wafer processing apparatus, before film formation in the reaction chamber 14 and before returning the wafer 5 having a high surface temperature to the load lock chamber 12, It was transported to the cooling chamber 13.

However, since the transfer member 17 is waiting in the transfer chamber 11 at room temperature during the film formation, when the wafer 15 is taken out using the transfer member 17, the influence of the temperature difference between the wafer 5 and the transfer member 17. Therefore, there is a problem that a crack (also called a slip) is formed in the wafer 5. Also,
Since the wafer 5 is directly picked up and transported by the transport member 17, there is a problem that the wafer 5 is cracked by an impact or the like during the transport.

The adhesion of particles to the wafer 5 is proportional to the contact area between the wafer 5 and the transfer member 17, but since the wafer 5 is in surface contact with the transfer member 17,
There was also a problem that a large amount of particles adhered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, to prevent the substrate from being cracked, and to prevent the substrate from being contaminated by particles, thereby improving the yield. It is to provide a substrate processing apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of carrying out only a processed substrate even if a substrate carrying plate and a wafer are carried together into a reaction chamber or a cooling chamber. .

[0009]

According to the present invention, a substrate is transported between a reaction chamber for forming a film on a substrate and a cooling chamber for cooling the substrate by a transport member while the substrate is placed on a substrate transport plate. In the substrate processing apparatus for loading and cooling the substrate together with the substrate transport plate into the reaction chamber or the cooling chamber, the substrate transport plate may be provided with a substrate support portion having a slope for linearly supporting the substrate in line contact. It is a substrate processing apparatus characterized by the following.

When the substrate is supported by the substrate support on the substrate transfer plate in line contact, the generation of particles during the transfer of the substrate can be suppressed. In addition, since the substrate is processed together with the substrate transport plate, the substrate transport plate serves as a buffer, and it is possible to effectively prevent the substrate from being cracked when transported by the transport member between the reaction chamber and the cooling chamber.

In particular, it is preferable that the substrate supporting portions are provided at three points, and these are disposed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. The substrate supporting portions may be provided continuously on the circumference. However, if the substrate supporting portions are provided at three points and arranged at the vertices of an equilateral triangle, generation of particles can be further suppressed, and The balance of the substrate is good, and the displacement of the substrate during transfer and transfer can be prevented.

It is preferable that a substrate support stand is provided in the reaction chamber or the cooling chamber for separating and supporting the loaded substrate transport plate and the substrate. When the substrate transfer plate and the substrate are separated and supported in the reaction chamber or the cooling chamber, only the substrate can be carried out. Further, the substrate transport plate is formed in a ring shape, and the substrate support base is formed of an L-shaped member having a vertical trunk portion and a leg portion extending radially outward. It is preferable that the substrate supported by the plate is supported by the vertical body inserted through the ring hole, and the substrate transport plate is supported by being hooked on the horizontal leg.
The substrate and the substrate transport plate can be separated and supported by a simple structure in which the substrate support is an L-shaped member.

[0013] The substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is particularly suitably used when the substrate is a semiconductor wafer.

[0014]

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

In this embodiment, in order to prevent the wafer from being cracked, the wafer is not directly placed on the transfer member, but a wafer transfer plate is interposed therebetween, and the whole wafer transfer plate is processed. It is transported. That is, the wafer in a normal temperature state before film formation is placed on the wafer transfer plate, and the wafer transfer plate is transferred, film-formed, cooled, and after cooling, the wafer is removed from the wafer transfer plate and returned to the load lock chamber. I have.

As shown in FIG. 3, the wafer transfer plate 1 has a ring shape with a hole 2 in the center, and has an inner diameter larger than the wafer diameter and an outer diameter smaller than the wafer diameter. . A plurality of wafer supports 3 are provided at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction of the ring-shaped plate 1. In the illustrated example, three points are provided at 120 ° intervals. When the arrangement of the three wafer support portions 3 is a regular triangle, the wafer can be supported in a more balanced manner. The wafer supporting portion 3 is constituted by an inclined surface 4 which is raised more than other portions in order to make line contact or point contact with the wafer 5 and whose raised surface becomes lower inward in the radial direction of the plate 1. In order to prevent metal contamination from the wafer transfer plate 1, a hard carbon film DL
C (Diamond LikeCarbon) is coated. The wafer transfer plate 1 is made of, for example, alumina.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which a wafer 5 is placed on the above-described wafer transport plate 1. Since the wafer supporting portion 1 is constituted by the inclined surface 4 and the wafer 5 is supported at three points, the contact area with the wafer 5 is small and the generation of particles can be suppressed.

In this manner, the wafer 5 is not directly placed on the transfer member (not shown), but the wafer transfer plate 1 is interposed therebetween, and the wafer 5 is processed together with the wafer transfer plate 1 in the cooling chamber or the reaction chamber. I am trying to do it. As a result, the wafer transfer plate 1 serves as a buffer, so that the wafer 5 can be prevented from being cracked due to the influence of the temperature difference between the wafer 5 and the transfer member and the impact during transfer.

When the wafer is unloaded from the cooling chamber or the reaction chamber, it may be desired to leave the above-mentioned wafer transfer plate 1 in the chamber and unload only the wafer 5. FIG. 1 or 2 shows a substrate processing apparatus assuming such a case.

A wafer support table 7 for supporting the wafer 5 is provided in a cooling chamber or reaction chamber 8 in which the wafer 5 is transferred. The plurality of wafer supports 7 are arranged such that a plurality of body portions 7 a are arranged in the holes 2 of the wafer support 7 at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction, and support the wafer 5 in the holes 2 of the wafer support 7. Has become. In the illustrated example, three points are provided at 120 ° intervals. In this way, the wafer can be supported in a more balanced manner, as in the case of the wafer support unit 3.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the wafer support 3 is formed of an L-shaped member, and has a vertical body 7a disposed as desired in the hole 2 of the wafer support 3, and a radially outer portion. And a horizontal leg 7b extending in the right direction. The wafer 5 is inserted into the hole 2 of the wafer transport plate 1 by the body 7a.
, And floated from the cooling chamber or the reaction chamber 8 to support the wafer 5. The empty wafer transfer plate 1 with the wafer 5 deposited on the wafer support 7 is hooked on the leg 7 b of the wafer support 7. When the wafer support table 7 that supports the wafer 5 and the wafer transfer plate 1 separately in the cooling chamber or the reaction chamber 8 is provided, the transfer member 6 is inserted between the wafer 5 and the wafer transfer plate 1. Since a space is created, if the transport member 6 is inserted into the space and scooped up, only the wafer 5 can be carried out. Further, as shown by a two-dot chain line, if the transfer member 6 is inserted under the wafer transfer plate 1 and scooped up, the wafer transfer plate 1 and the wafer 5 can be carried out together.

[0022]

According to the present invention, since the contact area between the substrate carrying plate and the substrate is small, the adhesion of particles to the substrate is reduced. In addition, since the substrate transport plate and the substrate are processed together, the substrate transport plate serves as a buffer, and even if the substrate is transported from the processing chamber to the cooling chamber using the transport member, the effect of the temperature difference of the transport member will affect the substrate. And the occurrence of cracks due to impact during transportation and the like can be prevented, and the yield of substrate processing is improved.

When the substrate transport plate and the substrate are separately supported in the reaction chamber or the cooling chamber, only the substrate can be easily carried out while leaving the substrate transport plate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state where a wafer and a wafer transfer plate are separated and supported on a wafer support table in a cooling chamber or a reaction chamber according to the present embodiment.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are explanatory views of mounting a wafer on a wafer support according to the present embodiment, wherein FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view before mounting a wafer, and FIG. It is a figure which shows a mode that the wafer is supported by the support part of a wafer support stand, and the wafer conveyance plate is hooked on the leg part.

3A and 3B are explanatory views showing a wafer transfer plate according to the present embodiment, wherein FIG. 3A is a plan view and FIG. 3B is bb
It is a line sectional view.

4A and 4B are explanatory views of a state where a wafer is placed on a wafer transfer plate according to the present embodiment, wherein FIG. 4A is a plan view and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view taken along line bb.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a single-wafer-type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus constituting a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which a wafer is supported by a conventional transport member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wafer transfer plate 3 Wafer support part 5 Wafer 6 Transfer member 7 Wafer support 8 Cooling chamber or reaction chamber

Claims (2)

[Claims] A substrate is transported by a transport member between a reaction chamber for forming a film on a substrate and a cooling chamber for cooling the substrate, with the substrate placed on a substrate transport plate, and the substrate is transferred to the reaction chamber or the cooling chamber. What is claimed is: 1. A substrate processing apparatus for loading a substrate together with a transport plate and depositing or cooling the substrate, wherein the substrate transport plate is provided with a substrate support portion having a slope for linearly supporting the substrate. 2. A substrate supporter for separating and supporting a loaded substrate transfer plate and a substrate is provided in the reaction chamber or the cooling chamber, and the substrate supporter is disposed radially outward with respect to a vertical body. An L-shaped cross-section member having an extending leg portion, wherein the substrate transport plate is formed in a ring shape, and the substrate supported by the ring-shaped substrate transport plate is supported by the vertical body portion inserted through a ring hole. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate transport plate is supported by being hooked on the horizontal leg.