JPH10307604A - Processor and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the processor and its control method which can perform processings of different management items in parallel. SOLUTION: The processor is equipped with processing units 26 which processes objective bodies, to be processed, a conveying mechanism 25 which conveys the processing bodies, and a control means 21 which controls the processing by the processing units 26 and the conveyance of the processing bodies. In this case, the control means 21 includes a sequence managing means 22 which manages sequences of processings, a time managing means 23 which manages the time of the processings, and a determining means 24 which extracts a processing unit where processings are repeated according to data from the sequence managing means and time managing means and determines a processing sequence given priority for the extracted processing unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus such as a coating / developing processing apparatus applied in the field of manufacturing semiconductor devices and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a coating / developing apparatus used in the KrF excimer lithography generation, a chemically amplified resist is used. In the coating / developing process using the chemically amplified resist, the resist is applied to the object to be processed, the time until the exposure after pre-baking (T1), the time from the exposure to the PE
There is a waiting time of a time (T2) until B (Post Exposure Bake) and a time (T3) from PEB to development.
Here, due to the nature of the chemically amplified resist, PEB
The time (T2) affects the characteristics of the resist film. Therefore, in a coating / developing process using a chemically amplified resist, it is necessary to accurately manage the time (T2) from exposure to PEB.

Further, since the chemically amplified resist generates an acid upon exposure, its characteristics may be deteriorated due to the presence of a basic substance such as amines. For this reason, in a coating and developing process using a chemically amplified resist, the processing atmosphere (environment)
Also need to be managed.

[0004]

However, KrF
In the lithography of 0.25 μm line width using excimer lithography, there is a process using a material which is not affected at all by time or environment. For example, a process using a material of an organic coating type antireflection film as an undercoat layer, a novolak-naphthoquinonediazide type positive resist, or the like. In a process using such a material, there is no need to control time and environment.

In the KrF excimer lithography process, there is a demand that a process using a chemically amplified resist affected by time and environment and a process affected by time and environment be performed in parallel. In order to execute processes with different items in parallel, a separate device must be installed or any of the processes must be stopped before execution.

However, installing a separate device takes up space and is expensive, which is not preferable.
Stopping any of the processes is disadvantageous in terms of throughput, and frequently stopping the device is inefficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing, and an object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus capable of executing a plurality of processes having different management items in parallel and a control method thereof.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for performing processing on an object to be processed, and a plurality of processing units for performing processing on the object to be processed; A transport mechanism for transporting, comprising a control unit for controlling the processing in the processing unit and the transport of the object to be processed,
The control unit includes a sequence management unit that manages a sequence of processing, a time management unit that manages the time of the processing, and a processing unit in which processing overlaps based on data from the sequence management unit and the time management unit. And a determining unit for determining a processing sequence to be prioritized in the extracted processing unit.

According to this configuration, since the processing sequence and the time are managed, it is possible to grasp the existence state of the object to be processed in a plurality of processing units. This makes it possible to manage the processing in the processing unit where the processing is duplicated. Therefore, the sequence of another process can be executed without stopping the priority process, and the process can be efficiently performed on the object to be processed.

The present invention also relates to a method of controlling a processing apparatus for performing processing on an object to be processed, comprising: a step of managing at least two processing sequences and times; Extracting a processing unit whose processing is duplicated from the processing unit, and determining a sequence in which the processing is preferentially performed in the extracted processing unit, and executing the sequence. I will provide a.

According to this configuration, since the processing sequence and time of at least two processes are managed, and the processes in the overlapping processing units are managed, even if the management items are different, each process can be efficiently performed. In addition, the processing can be performed in-line with a minimum waiting time for the object. As a result, the processing device can be used effectively, and the processing throughput can be improved.

In the present invention, it is desirable that a process requiring time management, such as a process using a chemically amplified resist, and a process not requiring time management are performed in parallel.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a coating / developing processing apparatus which is an embodiment of the processing apparatus of the present invention. The coating / developing apparatus 1 includes a loading / unloading unit 11 for loading / unloading a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer, a processing unit 2 for performing various processes on the workpiece, and a The exposure apparatus 3 mainly performs an exposure process on a resist film formed on the surface.

The processing section 2 includes heating sections 12 and 17 for pre-baking and post-baking the resist solution applied on the surface of the object to be processed, a cooling section 13 for cooling the heated object to be processed, and A coating unit 14 for applying a resist liquid on the surface of the processing target, a developing unit 15 for performing a developing process on the exposed resist film, and improving the adhesion between the processing target surface and the resist film And an adhesion unit 16 for performing an adhesion process on the surface of the object to be processed.

In the processing section 2, a heating section 12, a cooling section 13, and a coating section 14 are arranged in a line, and a heating section 17, an adhesion section 16, and a developing section 15 are arranged in a line. And between the two unit rows,
A transfer arm 18 which is a transfer mechanism for transferring an object to be processed between the processing units is movably installed. In addition, an interface unit 19 for transferring an object to be processed between the processing unit 2 and the exposure apparatus 3 is provided between the processing unit 2 and the exposure apparatus 3.

In the coating / developing apparatus 1, the processing in the processing section 2 and the transport by the transport arm 18 are controlled by the control means 21 shown in FIG. The control means includes a processing sequence management means 22 for storing and managing various processing sequences, a time management means 23 for storing and managing time in processing, a processing sequence management means 22 and / or
Alternatively, the processing sequence data and / or
Alternatively, the processing unit 2 mainly includes a determination unit 24 that reads time data, extracts a unit whose processing is duplicated in the processing unit 2, and determines a processing sequence to be prioritized in the extracted unit.

Here, a signal based on the determined data is sent to each unit of the transfer arm 25 and the processing unit 26 to perform processing and transfer.

As described above, since the control unit 21 manages the processing sequence and time, it is possible to grasp the existence state of the objects to be processed in a plurality of processing units. Thereby, when a plurality of processing sequences are being executed, it is possible to manage the processing in the processing unit where the processing is duplicated. Therefore, the sequence of another process can be executed without stopping the priority process, and the process can be efficiently performed on the object to be processed. In the management of the processing in the processing unit in which the processing is duplicated, it is desirable to make the determination based on the information on the existence status of the object to be processed in the unit before or further in the unit in which the processing is duplicated.

Such control is particularly effective when a process requiring time management and a process requiring no time management are executed in parallel. Next, a specific description will be given of management of overlapping processing units in a case where processing requiring time management and processing requiring no time management are performed in parallel, with reference to FIG. Here, a process that requires time management is given priority, and a process that does not require time management is described as another subordinate process.

First, the sequence of the priority processing is read from the processing sequence management means (S1). Next, another processing sequence is read from the processing sequence management means (S2). Then, priority processing is started (S3), and other processing is started (S4).

Next, a processing unit (overlapping processing unit) commonly used in the priority processing and other processing is extracted from the processing sequence data and the time data from the processing sequence means 22 and the time management means 23 (S5).
Then, it is determined whether an object to be processed is present in the extracted processing unit (S6).

Here, if there is no object to be processed in the processing unit, that is, if the processing unit is empty, another processing is performed (S8). On the other hand, if there is an object to be processed in the processing unit, that is, if the processing unit is not vacant, an object to be processed for another process is put on standby (S7), and waits until the processing unit becomes empty. In this case, the determining means 2
According to 4, it is determined that the priority processing is given priority over the priority processing and other processing.

By controlling as described above, it is possible to manage the processing in the processing unit where the processing is duplicated. Therefore, the sequence of another process can be executed without stopping the priority process, and the process can be efficiently performed on the object to be processed.

As described above, as a combination of the processing that requires time management and the processing that does not require time management, for example,
Combination of treatment using a chemically amplified resist and coating treatment using a novolak naphthoquindiazide-based resist, combination of treatment using a chemically amplified resist and PEB and development using a novolak naphthoquindiazide-based resist, Combination of processing using chemical amplification type resist and application and baking processing of the material constituting the organic anti-reflection film, processing using chemical amplification type resist and time-independent resist processing processed with other exposure equipment And a combination of a treatment using a chemically amplified resist and a resist treatment that is not time-dependent and is to be treated by another exposure apparatus.

As described above, when two processes are executed in parallel, a mark such as a flag is attached to one of the objects to be processed so that it can be determined whether the process is a priority process or a subordinate process. It is desirable to keep.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied
The case where the invention is applied to a development processing apparatus is described,
The present invention can be applied to all processing apparatuses that perform a plurality of processes and have overlapping processing units.

[0027]

As described above, the processing apparatus and its control method of the present invention manage the processing sequence and time,
Since the processing is managed in the processing unit where the processing is duplicated, a plurality of processings having different management items can be executed in parallel.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of a processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram for explaining control means of the processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a control method of the processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Coating and development processing apparatus, 2, 26 ... Processing part, 3 ... Exposure apparatus, 11 ... Load / unload part, 12, 17 ... Heating part, 13 ... Cooling part, 14 ... Coating part, 15 ... Developing part, 16
... Adhesion part, 18, 25 ... Transfer arm, 19 ...
Interface unit, 21 control means, 22 processing sequence management means, 23 time management means, 24 determination means.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A processing apparatus for performing processing on an object, comprising: a plurality of processing units for performing processing on the object;
A transport mechanism for transporting the workpiece in the processing apparatus; and a control unit for controlling processing in the processing unit and transport of the workpiece, wherein the control unit manages a sequence of the processing. Means, a time management means for managing the time of the processing, and a processing sequence in which processing units having overlapping processings are extracted based on data from the sequence management means and the time management means, and the extracted processing units are prioritized. And a determining means for determining the value. 2. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein processing requiring time management and processing requiring no time management are executed in parallel. 3. A method for controlling a processing apparatus that performs processing on an object to be processed, wherein a step of managing at least two processing sequences and times is overlapped with the managed sequence and time data. A method for controlling a processing apparatus, comprising: a step of extracting a processing unit to be processed; and a step of determining a sequence in which processing is preferentially performed in the extracted processing unit and executing the sequence. 4. A process requiring time management and a process not requiring time management are executed in parallel.
A method for controlling a processing device according to claim 1.