JPH10178084A - Transfer machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transfer a cassette and a wafer by a set of transfer machines and to simplify and miniaturize a device by a constitution in which a cassette chuck and a wafer chuck for retaining a cassette and a wafer can be exchanged. SOLUTION: An elevation 2 stand 23 is supported by an elevation part 22 so that it can be rotated to be freely raised/lowered around perpendicular axis, a slider 24 is provided at the elevation stand 23 so that is can travel horizontally, and a cassette chuck 25, a plural wafer chuck 26, and a single wafer chuck 27 are horizontally detachably mounted to the slider 24. Then, the slider 24 is retreated, an elevation stand 23 is lowered to the position of a cassette shelf 2 and the cassette chuck 25 is opposed to the cassette shalf 2, the slider 24 is advanced or slightly lowered, and a cassette 14 is transferred to the cassette shelf 2. The elevation stand 23 is rotated by 180 degrees, the plural wafer chuck 26 is opposed to a boat 7, and the wafer is transferred to the boat 7 by advancing the slider 24 and slightly lowering the elevation stand 23.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer machine for transferring wafer cassettes and wafers in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An outline of a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus provided with a transfer machine will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a vertical semiconductor manufacturing apparatus provided with a vertical reaction furnace in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. A cassette receiving portion (not shown) is provided on the front surface of a housing 1. Body 1
Inside, cassette shelves 2 and 3 are arranged at the top and bottom.
A reaction furnace 4 and a boat elevator (not shown) are disposed at a rear portion inside the reactor.

The cassette receiving portion and the cassette shelves 2
Between the cassette shelves 2 and 3 and the reaction furnace 4, a wafer transfer machine 6 is provided.

The cassette transfer device 5 transfers a cassette between the cassette receiving portion and the cassette shelves 2 and 3 so that the cassette gripping portion 10 can be moved horizontally on an elevator 11. The lifting platform 11 itself is rotatable about a vertical axis, and the lifting platform 11 is supported by a lifting unit 13 so as to be able to move up and down.

The wafer transfer device 6 transfers wafers between the cassette shelves 2 and 3 and a boat 7 supported by a boat elevator.
The elevator 16 is provided so as to be movable in the horizontal direction, the elevator 16 itself is rotatable about a vertical axis, and the elevator 16 is supported by an elevator 17 so as to be able to move up and down.

The transfer of wafers outside the apparatus is performed with a predetermined number of wafers loaded in a cassette.

[0008] The cassette 14 carried in by an external transfer device (not shown) is received by the cassette receiving portion, and is transferred to the cassette shelves 2 and 3 by the cassette transfer device 5. Each of the cassette shelves 2 and 3 has a plurality of rows and a plurality of stages of shelves.
Can be stored. The cassette transfer machine 5 also transfers the cassette 14 between the cassette shelf 2 and the cassette shelf 3 as the processing of the wafer progresses.

The wafers in the cassette 14 stored in the cassette shelf 2 are chucked by the wafer transfer machine 6 for each required number of sheets by suction or the like and transferred to the boat.

When the transfer to the boat 7 is completed, the boat 7 is loaded into the reaction furnace 4 by a boat elevator (not shown), and predetermined processing such as thin film formation, impurity diffusion, and heat treatment is performed in the reaction furnace 4. .

After the processing of the wafer is completed, the wafer is transferred from the boat 7 to the cassette 14 of the cassette shelf 2 and the cassette is transferred from the cassette shelves 2 and 3 to the cassette receiving portion (not shown) in a procedure reverse to the above transfer operation. Is transferred.

[0012]

In the above-described semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the transfer of the cassette and the transfer of the wafer are performed by the individual transfer machine, the cassette transfer machine 5, and the wafer transfer machine 6. I need a transfer machine. For this reason, it is uneconomical, and a space for accommodating two sets of transfer machines is required in the housing 1, and there are problems such as an increase in the size of the apparatus.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made to enable cassettes and wafers to be transferred by a single set of transfer machines, thereby achieving simplification and downsizing of the apparatus.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a transfer machine including at least a cassette chuck for holding a cassette and a wafer chuck for holding a wafer, wherein the cassette chuck and the wafer chuck are interchangeable. By replacing the chuck with a chuck corresponding to the object to be transferred, different objects can be transferred by the same transfer machine.

[0015]

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

In FIG. 1, components similar to those shown in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

A cassette shelf 2 is disposed below a cassette receiving section 20 provided at a front portion of the housing 1, and a transfer machine 21 is provided between the cassette receiving section 20, the cassette shelf 2 and the reaction furnace 4. Is arranged.

The transfer machine 21 will be described.

An elevator 23 is supported by the elevator 22 so as to be able to move up and down and rotatable about a vertical axis. A slider 24 is provided on the elevator 23 so as to be movable in the horizontal direction. A cassette chuck 25, a multiple-wafer wafer chuck 26, and a single-wafer wafer chuck 27, which will be described later, are detachably mounted on the slider 24 in the horizontal direction.

A chuck holder 29, a chuck holder 30, and a chuck holder 31 are disposed above the cassette receiving portion 20 of the housing 1, and the lower surfaces of the chuck holder 29, the chuck holder 30, and the chuck holder 31 are provided on the lower surfaces thereof. Cassette chuck 25, double wafer chuck 26,
Clamp section 28 engageable with single wafer chuck 27
Is protruding. The clamping unit 2 is provided in the chuck holder 29, the chuck holder 30, and the chuck holder 31.
The cassette chuck 25, the multi-wafer chuck 26, and the single-wafer chuck 27 can be detached from below via the upper and lower surfaces of the cassette chuck 25 and the multi-wafer chuck 26.

The cassette chuck 25 is provided with a cassette receiving plate 33 extending in the horizontal direction, and a connector 35 which can be engaged with the slider 24 protrudes from the side opposite to the cassette receiving plate 33. The double leaf wafer chuck 26
Is provided with a plurality of stages (five stages are shown in the figure) of a wafer holding plate 34 extending in the horizontal direction, and a connector 35 which can be engaged with the slider 24 protrudes from the side opposite to the wafer holding plate 34. ing. Further, the single-wafer wafer chuck 27 is provided with a one-stage wafer holding plate 34 extending in the horizontal direction, and the slider 2 is provided on the opposite side to the wafer holding plate 34.
A connector 35 that can be engaged with the projection 4 is provided.

The operation will be described below with reference to FIGS.

When the cassette 14 loaded with wafers is loaded into the cassette receiving portion 20 of the housing 1 from an external transfer device (not shown), the cassette receiving portion 2 is moved by the transfer device 21.
From 0, the cassette 14 is transferred to the cassette shelf 2.

First, as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3D, the elevator 23 is raised to the position of the chuck holder 29, and then the slider 24 is moved forward to connect the connector 3.
5, the cassette chuck 25 and the slider 24 are combined. The engagement between the clamp portion 28 and the cassette chuck 25 is released. The elevator 23 is lowered, and the cassette chuck 25 is attached to the chuck holder 2.
9, the transfer machine 21 is in a state where the cassette 14 can be transferred.

The elevating table 23 is connected to the cassette receiving section 20.
, The cassette chuck 25 is opposed to the cassette receiving section 20, the slider 24 is advanced, and further raised slightly, and the cassette 14 is received from the cassette receiving section 20 on the cassette receiving plate 33. Put on. The slider 24 is retracted, the elevating table 23 is lowered to the position of the cassette shelf 2, the cassette chuck 25 is opposed to the cassette shelf 2, the slider 24 is advanced, and the cassette 14 is slightly lowered to move the cassette 14 to the position. Cassette shelf 2
Transfer to By moving the slider 24 backward, the transfer of the cassette 14 from the cassette receiving section 20 to the cassette shelf 2 is completed.

When transferring the wafer in the cassette 14 of the cassette shelf 2 to the boat 7, the elevator 23 is raised with the slider 24 retracted, and the operation reverse to the detachment operation of the cassette chuck 25 is performed. Then, the cassette chuck 25 is mounted on the chuck holder 29. The elevating table 23 is lowered to the position of the chuck holder 30, and the slider 24 and the compound wafer chuck 26 are combined via the clamp portion 28.
6 is detached from the chuck holder 30.

The elevator 23 is lowered so that the double wafer chuck 26 faces the cassette shelf 2, and the slider 2
4, the wafer holding plate 34 of the double-wafer wafer chuck 26 is inserted into the cassette 14, the elevator 23 is slightly raised, a plurality of wafers are received on the wafer holder 34, and the elevator 23 is retracted. . 180
And the multi-leaf wafer chuck 26 is
Then, the wafer is transferred to the boat 7 by advancing the slider 24 and slightly lowering the lift 23.
In addition, when performing fractional processing, after attaching the said double wafer chuck 26 to the said chuck holder 30, after combining the said single wafer chuck 27 with the slider 24, every single wafer by this single wafer chuck 27 is used. Transfer the wafer.

When the transfer of wafers to the boat 7 is completed, the boat 7 is lifted by a boat elevator (not shown), and the boat 7 is loaded into the reaction furnace 4 to process wafers.

When the processing of the wafer is completed, the wafer is transferred from the boat 7 to the cassette 14 of the cassette shelf 2 and the cassette 14 is transferred from the cassette shelf 2 to the cassette receiving section 20 in an operation reverse to the above-described operation. I do.

In the prior art, the transfer of the wafer cassette and the transfer of the wafers have been performed individually by dedicated transfer machines. In the present embodiment, however, the transfer is performed by one transfer machine 21.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention.

The slider 24 is provided with a crab scissors type clamper 3.
6 and the wafer holding plate 3
4 can be held by a holder 37.

The connection between the cassette chuck 25 and the chuck holder 29 may be a vacuum chuck, an electromagnetic chuck or the like, and the connection between the slider 24 and the cassette chuck 25 may be a vacuum chuck or the like. Further, the cassette chuck 25 and the double-wafer wafer chuck 2
6. The chuck holder 29 for holding the single-wafer wafer chuck 27, the chuck holder 30, and the chuck holder 31 may be provided outside the housing 1.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, the transfer of wafers and cassettes can be carried out by using a single set of transfer machines, and the overall structure of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is simplified and the manufacturing cost is reduced. In addition, the apparatus can be reduced in size and the space efficiency can be improved, and even if the double-wafer chuck of the transfer machine is damaged, it can be dealt with only by replacing the double-wafer chuck, thereby improving maintainability and maintenance cost. It is effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view of the embodiment.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D are explanatory views of the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view of the embodiment.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C are explanatory views of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 housing 2 cassette shelf 4 reaction furnace 7 boat 20 cassette receiving section 22 elevating section 25 cassette chuck 26 double wafer chuck 27 single wafer chuck 29 chuck holder 30 chuck holder 31 chuck holder

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transfer machine, comprising: a cassette chuck for holding at least a cassette; and a wafer chuck for holding a wafer, wherein the cassette chuck and the wafer chuck are interchangeable.