JPH10340870A - Polishing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide highly clean products by suppressing the increase of facilities and running costs, and preventing mutual pollution at each step. SOLUTION: In a polishing equipment providing polishing units 10a and 10b. For chemically and mechanically polishing the surface of materials to be polished, cleaning units 26a, 26b and 26c for cleaning the polished materials, and transfer units 20a and 20b for transferring the materials to be polished between the units 26a, 26b and 26c, a space housing each unit are partitioned according to the degree of cleanliness for constructing a plurality of chambers R1 to R4 , and a transfer gate 18, having temporary chambers 18a and 18b for temporarily storing the materials to be polished are provided between the chambers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a polishing apparatus, and more particularly to a polishing apparatus for polishing a material to be polished such as a semiconductor wafer into a flat and mirror-like surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as the degree of integration of semiconductor devices has increased, circuit wiring has become finer, and the distance between wirings has become smaller. Accordingly, when a circuit is formed by optical lithography or the like, the depth of focus becomes shallow, so that a higher flatness of the imaging surface of the stepper is required. As a means for flattening the surface of a semiconductor wafer, a chemical mechanical polishing is performed by pressing a wafer held by a carrier against the polishing cloth while supplying a polishing liquid containing abrasive grains to a polishing cloth attached on a rotating turntable. (CMP) is being performed.

[0003] As such a polishing apparatus, a polishing apparatus having a polishing table that moves periodically in a plane and a gripping member that presses a polishing surface of a material to be polished against the polishing table is used. And in such a polishing unit,
Further, a storage device for storing the material to be polished, and a cleaning device for cleaning the material to be polished in the polishing device,
A reversing device that is provided adjacent to the storage section and reverses the polished material when transferring the polished material between the storage section and the polishing section or the cleaning section; In addition, a polishing apparatus to which a conveying device for transferring a material to be polished is added is used.

As shown in FIG. 6, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, accommodating portions 100a and 100b for accommodating a material to be polished, at least two polishing units 106a and 106b each having a turntable 102 and a top ring 104,
Cleaning devices 108a to 108d for cleaning and drying the polished material polished in the polishing unit, a transport device 110 for transferring the polished material between these devices, and a reversing machine 112a for reversing the polished material. , 112b. Each unit is arranged in consideration of the overall processing flow and the transfer of the object to be polished, and covers the entire apparatus with one cover to air-condition the internal space, for example, so that air flows from top to bottom. I was going.

As described above, since this polishing apparatus has two polishing units, when polishing is performed in multiple stages by changing the polishing liquid in the manufacture of compound semiconductors, contamination by the polishing liquid at the previous stage is prevented. In addition, in the case of single-stage polishing, the polishing can be performed in parallel by each polishing unit to increase the throughput.

[0006]

In the above-mentioned conventional polishing apparatus, an apparatus for performing each processing step is arranged in the same space. Therefore, a relatively low-cleanness step such as a polishing process is performed. Air flows between the unit to be performed and a process requiring high cleanliness, such as final cleaning, and small particles (particles) such as splashes of polishing liquid and polishing debris in the polishing section are generated from the former to the latter. And the latter may be contaminated. The polished, cleaned, and dried semiconductor wafer is transferred to the storage unit 100 by the transfer device 110.
a, 100b, the semiconductor device may be contaminated if the transfer device is contaminated. Further, if the degree of cleanliness in the space is improved as a whole to prevent such contamination, the capacity of air conditioning must be increased, and equipment and operating costs increase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a polishing apparatus capable of preventing cross-contamination in each step and providing a product having a high degree of cleanliness while suppressing equipment and operating costs.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a polishing apparatus having a polishing apparatus for chemically and mechanically polishing a polished surface of a material to be polished, wherein an internal space is partitioned according to cleanliness. A polishing apparatus is provided, wherein a transfer gate having a temporary storage chamber for temporarily placing a polishing material is provided between a storage device for storing the polishing material and the polishing device.

Thus, the cleanliness of each room is set high, and the cleanliness of the material to be polished as a final product is maintained.
The material to be polished can be smoothly transferred. The maintenance of the cleanliness of each room is performed, for example, by setting respective pressures so that air on the low cleanliness side does not flow into the room on the high cleanliness side. This is performed by using a valve in a duct of an exhaust device or the number of rotations of a fan. The polishing apparatus may be provided with a reversing device for reversing the front and back of the material to be polished, if necessary. Further, it is preferable that an appropriate drying means is provided in the cleaning device so that the material to be polished can be returned to the storage device in a dried state.

[0010] An air path for supplying clean air into the temporary storage room may be connected to the transfer gate. This allows
With the opening and closing of the transfer gate, the contaminated air in the temporary storage room is replaced and cleaned, thereby preventing the polishing target material from being contaminated through the temporary storage room.

The transfer gate may be provided with a shutter for individually opening and closing the temporary storage chamber to the outside. Thereby, the workpiece is moved in a state where only the shutter between the room for transferring the workpiece to and from the temporary storage chamber and the temporary storage chamber is opened, and the flow of air between the rooms is suppressed. Transport is performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a polishing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the transfer gate is provided with a plurality of the temporary storage chambers. Since the plurality of polished materials can be independently moved, the polished materials can be smoothly transferred between the rooms, and the throughput can be improved. In addition, the use of the respective temporary storage chambers according to the cleanliness of the workpieces to be transported prevents contamination of the workpieces via the temporary storage chambers.

[0013] The plurality of temporary storage rooms may be vertically divided and arranged, and an air path for supplying clean air from the upper side to the lower side may be provided.

[0014] According to a third aspect of the present invention, the accommodating device for accommodating the material to be polished, the first chamber for accommodating the first transfer device, and the polishing surface of the material to be polished are chemically and mechanically polished. A polishing apparatus, comprising: a second room for accommodating a polishing device and a second transfer device; and a temporary storage chamber for temporarily storing an object to be polished between the two rooms.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the first chamber includes a first processing apparatus, and in the first processing apparatus, a process including cleaning and drying of the polished material after polishing is performed. The polishing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the polishing apparatus is used.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the second chamber includes a second processing apparatus, and in the second processing apparatus, a step including buffing and cleaning of the polished material is performed. 5. The polishing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the polishing apparatus is used.

The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the second chamber is divided into a polishing device portion, a cleaning device, a second transfer device portion, and a buffing device portion. Polishing apparatus.

The invention according to claim 7 is the polishing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the temporary storage chamber is attached to a transfer gate.

The invention according to claim 8 is a step of taking out a wafer having a semiconductor device on a surface from a cassette and transferring the wafer to a temporary storage chamber; and transferring the wafer from the temporary storage chamber to a polishing apparatus. A step of chemically and mechanically polishing the wafer with the polishing apparatus part, a step of transporting the polished wafer to a buffing apparatus part, a step of buffing the wafer, and a step of transporting the buffed wafer to a first cleaning apparatus part Step, the step of transporting the wafer after the first cleaning to the temporary storage chamber, the step of transporting the wafer to the second cleaning device portion, and the step of cleaning and drying the wafer,
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the step of transferring a dried wafer to a cassette is performed in the same box.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the semiconductor device according to the eighth aspect, wherein at least one of the steps includes a step of cleaning in a space in which at least one step is performed, and is further performed in a clean room. It is a manufacturing method of.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a polishing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
In this apparatus, two polishing apparatuses 10a and 10b are arranged on one side of one end of a space on the floor which is entirely rectangular, and a pair of loading / unloading apparatuses on which the wafer storage cassettes 12a and 12b are placed at the other end. The load unit 14 is arranged and configured. A two-rail running rail 16 extending from the load / unload unit 14 to the polishing apparatuses 10a and 10b.
The transfer robots 20a and 20b are disposed on rails 16a and 16b, respectively, with a transfer gate (temporary storage room) 18 interposed therebetween. Running rail 1
A buffing device 22 and a cleaning tank 23 for dressing the buffing tool are provided on the tip side of 6a and 16b, and two reversing machines 24a and 24b and three reversing devices are provided beside the running rails 16a and 16b. Washing machines 26a, 26b, 26c
Is arranged.

As shown in FIG. 2, two polishing apparatuses 10
Reference numerals a and 10b denote a turntable 28 having an upper surface to which a polishing cloth is adhered, a top ring 30 for holding a wafer by vacuum suction and pressing against the turntable 28, a dressing device 32 for dressing the polishing cloth, and a turntable for these. And a means for supplying a polishing liquid containing water or abrasives to the dressing device 32 and the dressing device 32.
And a pusher 34 for exchanging between them. The top ring 30 is pivotable in a horizontal plane, and the pusher 3
4 can be moved up and down.

The buffing device 22 includes polishing devices 10a, 1
The wafer polished in step 0b is further polished or washed and polished. The pusher 36 is configured as a table (buffing tool) having a translational circular motion to which a buff is affixed. Top ring (gripping device) 22a that grips the wafer from the surface and presses it against the buffing tool, and dressing head (dressing device) 2 for dressing the buffing tool
3a is provided. In FIG. 1, the top ring 22a is on the buffing tool 22, and the dressing head 23a
Indicates a state on the cleaning tank 23.

The details of the buff polishing apparatus 22 will be described with reference to FIG. The buffing device 22 includes a cover 40 that covers the entirety.
, A top ring device 22 and a dressing device 23 are provided at an upper portion thereof, and a buffing tool device 21 is provided at a lower portion thereof.
6 and a pusher 36 for transferring the wafer.

The top ring device 22 is provided with a support shaft 222 that passes through the inside of the cylindrical case 220. The wafer is directed toward the buffing tool device 216 while holding the wafer at the lower end of the support shaft 222 by suction. The top ring head 22a which presses with a predetermined pressure is attached. A motor is built in the cylindrical case 220, and the support shaft 222 rotates with the driving of the motor, and the cylinder 226 disposed on the side of the cylindrical case 220 and the support shaft 222 are connected. The support shaft 222 is connected to each other via a member 228 so that the support shaft 222 moves up and down as the cylinder 226 is driven.

On the other hand, the dressing device 23 also has a support shaft 232 inserted through the inside of the cylindrical case 230 in substantially the same manner.
Is provided at the lower end of the support shaft 232.
A dressing head 23a for dressing the buff pasted on the upper side is attached. A motor is built in the cylindrical case 230, and the support shaft 232 rotates in accordance with the driving of the motor, and the cylinder 236 and the support shaft 2 arranged on the side of the cylindrical case 230.
32 are connected to each other through a connecting member 238, whereby the support shaft 232 is
Moves up and down.

Each of the support shafts 222 and 232 is composed of a spline shaft, and the spline shaft and the output shaft of the motor are slidably connected by a spline groove.
Therefore, the transmission of the driving force of the motor and the cylinder 22
The vertical movement of the support shafts 222, 23
2 is transmitted. At the upper end of the support shaft 222 of the top ring device 22, an encoder 240 for detecting rotation is provided.

The top ring device 22 and the dressing device 23 are mounted on a rectangular flat carriage 244 that can run along a pair of guide rails 242.
And the dressing head 23a is mounted in a state of protruding downward. The top ring head 22a reciprocates between the polishing tool device 216 and the pusher 36 and the dressing head 23a reciprocates between the rinsing tank 246 and the polishing tool device 216 by traveling of the carriage 244.

The polishing tool device 216 is provided with a polishing table 50 that performs a translational circular movement. On the upper surface of the polishing table, a polishing cloth selected from a nonwoven cloth or a non-nonwoven cloth or a wiping cloth made of ultrafine fibers is used. "Buff" is stuck. The pusher 36 transfers a wafer between the top ring head 22a and the robot 20b.
It is configured to be able to move up and down and to be position adjustable in the front-rear direction.

In such a configuration of the buff polishing apparatus 22,
Since the polishing tool requires a smaller diameter than when a rotating turntable is used, the space can be saved. Washing machine 26a, 2
The types of 6b and 26c are selected according to the purpose. For example, a pencil type with a sponge at the tip or a roller type with a sponge is used. As the stage washer 26c, a type in which a wafer is spun to spin-dry and dry is used.

Each of the transfer robots 20a and 20b has an articulated arm provided on a carriage traveling on rails 16a and 16b, for example, so as to be able to freely bend in a horizontal plane. (Hand). The upper hand of the first robot 20a is a dry hand 38a for handling wafers before polishing and after drying, the lower hand is a wet hand 38b for handling wafers before drying, and the upper hand of the second robot 20b is A clean hand 38c for handling a clean wafer and a dirty hand 38d for handling a wafer in a polishing process are provided below. The four types of hands 38a to 38d can move up and down, and can enter an upper stage or a lower stage of the transfer gate 18 described later.

In this embodiment, the reversing devices 24a and 24b are necessary in relation to the cassette storage system and the holding mechanism of the robot. However, when the wafer is always transferred with the polished surface of the wafer facing downward. Not necessary. Further, a case where the robots 20a and 20b have a reversing function is not necessary. In this embodiment, the two reversing machines 24a and 24b are selectively used as a reversing machine 24a for handling a dry wafer before polishing and a reversing machine 24b for handling a wet wafer after polishing.

As shown in FIG. 1A, in this polishing apparatus, the space inside the cover 40 covering the whole is partitioned by partitions 42 according to the required cleanliness. That is, loading and unloading unit 14, the first transfer robot 20a, and its inverting unit 24a disposed on the side and two washer 26b, space is first room R ₁ becomes comprising 26c, the second the transfer robot 20b and space the second chamber R ₂ becomes including reversing machine 24b and the cleaning unit 26a disposed on one side of this, buffing apparatus 22, the space containing the top ring 22a and a dressing head 23a is third next room R _3, 2 two polishing apparatus 10a, 10
space containing the b is the fourth room R _4. In this example, the spatial R ₅ adjacent to the loading and unloading unit 14 is disposed a control device (not shown), also the space R ₆ adjacent thereto is opened to put a human for maintenance . Spatial R ₁ first chamber, and a space R _2, R _3, R ₄ When the second chamber, the wafer becomes possible to move between these two rooms, the transport will be described later between these two rooms Gate 18 is present.

Between the first room R ₁ and the second room R ₂ ,
A transfer gate 18 is provided for temporarily placing the material to be polished when moving between rooms. This is a plastic box where the wafers are transferred between these rooms. As shown in FIG. 1 (b), the interior is partitioned into upper and lower temporary storage chambers 18a and 18b, so that a wafer in a dry state in the upper stage and a wafer in a wet state in the lower stage are transferred. . Although not shown, a shutter (not shown) is provided at a position facing the pushers 34 and 36 also on the partition wall between the second room R ₂ and the third and fourth rooms R ₃ and R _4. Have been.

At positions facing the first room R ₁ and the second room R ₂ , shutters 62 a ₁ , 62 a ₂ , 62 b ₁ , 62 b _{2 which} are individually opened and closed for the upper and lower temporary storage rooms are provided. I have. Holes H ₁ , H ₂ , and H ₃ are formed in the upper, lower, and middle partition walls of the transfer gate, respectively. Air supply and exhaust ducts are provided in the holes H ₁ and H ₃ so that clean air flows sequentially. Is provided. Further, a nozzle for injecting water into the wafer is provided in the lower temporary storage chamber. in this way,
By blowing air from the upper stage to the lower stage, particles in each temporary storage room can be prevented from scattering, and the upper and lower temporary storage rooms are cleaned, and the upper and lower stages mutually contaminate the inside. In particular, contamination of the upper temporary storage chamber can be prevented by properly using the lower temporary storage chamber for transporting wet wafers.

The reason why the transfer gate 18 is partitioned into the upper and lower temporary storage chambers in this manner is firstly to increase the throughput. In other words, if there is only one stage, if the unpolished wafer is stored in the transfer gate, the polished wafer cannot be put in the transfer gate during that time, and the polished wafer will be washed until the unpolished wafer exits the transfer gate. It is necessary to wait in the machine 26a, and the wafer does not flow smoothly. That is, a waiting time occurs. The same occurs for an unpolished wafer when the polished wafer is stored in the transfer gate. If two stages are used, the above-mentioned waiting time does not occur, and the throughput is increased. That is, the four hands 38a-
38d it is possible to perform the unpolished wafer and sending from R ₁ to R _2, the polished wafer concurrently and send from R ₂ to R _1.

Second, as described above, the two temporary storage chambers are used for transporting a clean material to be polished and for processing an unclean material to be polished, so that the material to be polished is contaminated via a transfer gate. This is to prevent that. In this example, a wet wafer is placed in the lower stage, and water is applied to the wafer from a nozzle provided in a box so that particles do not adhere to the wafer. Therefore, the pedestal of the wafer in the box is wet and is dirty with particles. On the other hand, the upper stage is used exclusively for dry wafers, and is not watered unlike the lower stage, so that the upper stage receiving stand is not wet. Therefore, when a trouble occurs in the apparatus when there is a wafer in the upper stage, the wafer is temporarily loaded and unloaded by the load / unload unit 12.
The wafers may be returned to the positions a and 12b. However, the wafers are not contaminated by the upper pedestal, so that the wafers can be returned to the load unit while being clean. If the unpolished wafer is contaminated and returns to the load side, contaminants (particles) are dried and fixed on the wafer and cause damage to the wafer surface during polishing.

The reason why the upper stage is dedicated to dry wafers is that if the upper stage is dedicated to wet wafers and the lower stage is dedicated to dry wafers, the dry hand will enter the lower stage. This is because the dry hand wets or contaminates the dry hand by dropping water and contaminates the polished wafer.

In this embodiment, the shutter of the transfer gate is provided for each of the two outlets of the upper and lower temporary storage chambers because the air between the rooms R ₁ and R ₂ and the transfer gate 18 is not provided. preventing the flow, in particular in order to not to a contaminating the clean space R ₁ side. That is, the dry hand 38
When a puts the dry wafer on the upper stage, the shutter 62a ₁
Only open further open the shutter 62b ₁ by closing the shutter 62a _1, taken in the room R ₂ dry wafer from the upper by dirty hands 38d.

Similarly, when the clean hand 38c places the wet wafer on the lower stage, the shutter 62b2 is opened,
When the wet hand 38b removes a wet wafer from the lower stage, only the shutter 62a2 is opened. That is,
Four to open only necessary among the shutter, particles and the like of the room R ₂ is prevented from flowing into the room R ₁ through the transfer gate 18. Incidentally, at the wafer in a temporary incubation cabinet of the transfer gate closes the inserted side shutter, until you open the other shutter, taking short time between, H ₁
When clean air is supplied from the transfer gate and the air in the transfer gate is replaced, cross-contamination from the transfer gate can be more completely prevented.

This polishing apparatus is provided with means for maintaining the atmosphere in each room at a predetermined cleanliness. That is, the pressure in each of the rooms R _{1 to} R ₄ is sequentially changed to P ₁ ,
Assuming that P ₂ , P ₃ , and P ₄ are provided, a pressure adjusting means is provided for adjusting them such that P ₁ > P ₂ > P ₃ > P _{4 in} order of decreasing cleanliness. From rooms R ₃ and R ₄ to rooms R ₁ and R ₂
The purpose is to prevent the flow of dirty air, etc.
₃ = may be used as P _4. The pressure adjusting unit is configured as, for example, a unit for setting the performance of a blower or an exhaust device, or a unit for adjusting the opening of a valve of a duct. If necessary, a control device for controlling these operations based on the output of the pressure sensor may be provided. Thereby, between each room, it flows only from a room with high cleanliness to a room with low cleanliness.

In the first room R ₁ and the second room R ₂ , as shown in FIG. 4A, a part of the air is circulated and a downward flow is formed from top to bottom. Such a semi-closed air conditioning system AC is configured. That is, a filter unit 50 is provided at the upper part of these rooms. The filter unit 50 takes in outside air from an air inlet 56 by a fan 54 driven by an inverter motor 52 and passes the air through a filter 58 at the upper part of the room to purify the air. Supply to the room. A circulation duct 60 having an intake hole is provided at a position at the bottom of the room where washing water and the like are not taken in.

The circulation duct 60 communicates upstream of the filter 58 of the filter unit 50, and air is circulated by the fan 54. From the air inlet 56, the cleaning device 26
a, 26b, 26c and the wet reversing machine 24b are supplied with an amount of air to supplement the air exhausted together with the waste water. In FIG. 4, the cleaning devices 26a, 26b, 26c,
The exhaust air from the reversing device 24b is discharged from the floor B of the apparatus, is once raised upward, and is discharged in the direction indicated by the arrow E.
With the above configuration, the first chamber R ₁ in the interior of the cleanliness of which is ensured very high.

The third room R ₃ and the fourth room R ₄ do not purify or circulate air as in the rooms R ₁ and R ₂ , but also take in air from the upper side and lower the air from the lower side. A downward flow is formed by exhausting air. by this,
Contaminants and scattered liquid from a drive mechanism or the like on the lower side of each device are not wound up. Note that R
_3, air flow R ₄ in the top to bottom may be abolished. This R _3, although in the R ₄ is because not required cleanliness of air so, the R ₃ as indicated by E in FIG. 4 (a), R ₄
Exhaust from the bottom. Due to this exhaust, R ₃ and R ₄ are at a lower pressure than outside the device. This is because R
From _3, R _4, in order to prevent the exiting air dirty into the surrounding clean room.

The flow of a wafer when polishing the wafer in the polishing apparatus having such a configuration will be described. From cassettes 12a and 12b accommodating a plurality of wafers placed on the load / unload unit 14,
First out the wafer in a dry hand 38a of the robot 20a, was reversed in the first reversing machine 24a, opens the shutter 62a ₁ of the transfer gate 18, a dry hand 3 again
8a put on the upper stage. Then, the wafer is taken out dirty hand 38d of the second robot 20b opens the other of the shutter 62b ₁ of the transfer gate 18 is placed on the polishing device 10a or 10b of the pusher 34 to open the shutter of the partition wall 42.

Hereinafter, in the case of parallel processing, wafers flow in the order of polishing apparatuses 10a and 10b → buff polishing apparatus 22 → reversing machine 24b → cleaning machine 26a. In the case of series processing, the first polishing apparatus 10a → The washing machine 26a → the second polishing apparatus 10b → the buff polishing apparatus 22 → the reversing machine 24b → the washing machine 26a.

When the wafer is polished by the buff polishing apparatus 22, the top ring 22a and the dressing head 23a move from the state shown in FIG. 1, the top ring 22a is placed on the pusher 36, and the dressing head 23a is moved by the buff polishing tool 2a.
The buffing tool is regenerated by the dressing head while the unpolished wafer on the pusher 36 is held by the top ring 22a on the top ring 22a. And again top ring 2
2a, while the dressing head 23a is moved to the position shown in FIG. 1 and the top ring 22a presses the wafer against the buffing tool to polish the wafer, the dressing head 23a
a is washed in the dressing head washing tank 23a. The transfer between the devices up to this point is performed by the dirty hand 38d.

Next, a relatively clean and and wet wafer after the first washing with washer 26a, is taken out at a clean hand 38c of the second robot 20b, conveyed by opening the shutter 62b ₂ gate 18 In the lower row,
The shutter 62b is closed. Since the clean hand 38c is used only for transferring the polished wet wafer from the cleaning device 26a to the transfer gate 18, the clean hand 38c is used.
8c can be kept clean, and the clean hand 38c does not contaminate the wafer.

In this embodiment, two polishing apparatuses 10a and 10b are provided for one buff polishing apparatus 22. This is because the polishing time is shorter in the buff polishing device 22 than in the polishing devices 10a and 10b. In the conventional apparatus, when only one primary polishing device was provided, the secondary polishing device (buff polishing device 22) rested the polishing until the primary polishing of the next wafer was completed. In the apparatus, the primary polishing apparatus is composed of 10a and 10b.
The first polishing of the wafer was performed in parallel.
The buffing device 22 for performing the next polishing can be eliminated, and the polishing throughput can be increased.

Next, the shutter 62a _{2 of the} transport gate 18
And the wet hand 38b of the first robot 20a
Then, the wafer is taken out and sequentially sent to the second cleaning machine 26b and the third cleaning machine 26c to perform cleaning and drying. The wafer dried by the third cleaning device 26c is taken out by the dry hand 38a of the first robot 20a and returned to the cassettes 12a and 12b of the load / unload unit 14.

In the above steps, each room is basically partitioned from other rooms except for a passage for taking in and out of a wafer, and there is no air flow. That is, the first room R ₁ is exchanging wafers through the transfer gate 18 between the second chamber R _2, since the transport gate 18 opens the shutter of the minimum required number, distribution air directly Never do.
Also, the second room R ₂ and the third and fourth rooms R ₃ and R ₄
A shutter is also provided in the window between them so that they can be opened when needed. Also, even when there is some gap between the partition walls or when these shutters are opened to move the wafer, air flows only from the high pressure side to the low pressure side. Therefore, since there is no air flow from the lower cleanliness side to the higher cleanliness side, mutual contamination is prevented.

In this embodiment, the robot 20
a and 20b are provided with two hands 38a to 38d, respectively, so that the wafer after cleaning, the other wafer, and the case of handling a wet wafer in a dry state can be used properly. No pollution. Further, since the shelves in the transfer gate 18 are divided into upper and lower shelves, there is no contamination via the transfer gate 18.

In the above steps, it is necessary to keep the room R ₁ , the dry hand 38a, the unpolished dry wafer, and the polished dry wafer clean. The reason why the unpolished dry wafer is kept clean is that if the particles are polished while being fixed to the dry wafer, they cause damage to the wafer surface as described above.

In particular, it is necessary to keep the polished dry wafer clean, and for that purpose, the following measures have been devised. The dry hand 38a maintains cleanliness because it handles wafers that have been polished, cleaned, and dried. For room R ₁ of cleanliness maintained, circulation and air in the transfer gate 18, to prevent contamination from the room R ₂ opens only the necessary portions of the four shutters. For room R ₁ detergency maintained, and the exhaust air circulation in the room R _1. In order to maintain the cleanness of the dry hand 38a, the hole H ₁
→ have done the exhaust of H _2. In order to maintain the cleanliness of the unpolished dry wafer, holes H
We have done the exhaust of ₁ → H _2. For cleanliness maintenance of polished dry wafer, keeping the dry hand 38a to clean, and it is kept a room R ₁ clean.

The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above, and the configuration, number, type or arrangement in each device is arbitrary. For example, when series or parallel processing is not performed, only one polishing apparatus is required, and the number of attached facilities may be small. In addition, the presence / absence of the reversing machine, the arrangement, the number, the type, the presence / absence of the pushers 34 and 36, and the like are also arbitrary. For example, the transfer robots 20a and 20b may be of a stationary type instead of traveling on rails.

Further, in the above embodiment, the first room R ₁ includes the load / unload unit 14, but since the load / unload unit 14 needs to be particularly kept clean, this portion is covered with a partition wall. It may be a separate room.
Then, the cleaning machine 26b, 26c the first transfer robot 20
the high-pressure space (portion excluding the unit 14 from R ₁ in FIG. 1) with respect to loading and unloading the unit comprising a like, further the transfer of the wafer between the load-unload unit 14 and the robot 20a A shutter may be provided on the partition. Since the pressure inside the load / unload unit is higher than the space including the washing machines 26b and 26c, the first transfer robot 20a, and the like, the inside of the load / unload unit can be kept clean.

[0057]

As described above, according to the polishing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to provide products with high cleanliness while preventing equipment and operating costs and preventing cross-contamination in each step.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a plan view schematically showing a polishing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a transfer gate portion.

FIG. 2 is a plan view specifically showing the polishing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the inside of the polishing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing an air conditioning mechanism of the polishing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view as viewed from a direction AA in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing a conventional polishing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

10a, 10b Polishing device 14 Load / unload unit 18 Transport gate 18a, 18b Temporary chamber 20a, 20b Robot (transport device) 22 Buff polishing device 23 Dressing device 24a, 24b Inverter 26a, 26b, 26c Cleaning device 50 Filter unit R _{1 to} R ₄ rooms

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yajima Hiromi 72 Horikawa-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Toshiba Kawasaki Office (72) Inventor Kenichi Shigeta 72 Horikawacho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Toshiba Corporation Inside the Kawasaki Office (72) Inventor Yoshikuni Tateyama 72 Horikawa-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Toshiba Kawasaki Office

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A polishing apparatus provided with a polishing apparatus for chemically and mechanically polishing a polished surface of a material to be polished, comprising: an accommodation device for accommodating the material to be polished by partitioning an internal space according to cleanliness; A polishing apparatus, further comprising a transfer gate having a temporary placement chamber for temporarily placing a workpiece to be polished. 2. The polishing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said temporary storage chambers are provided in said transfer gate. 3. A storage device for storing a material to be polished, a first room for storing a first transfer device, a polishing device for chemically and mechanically polishing a polishing surface of the material to be polished,
A polishing apparatus, comprising: a second room for accommodating a second transfer device; and a temporary placement room for temporarily placing an object to be polished between the two rooms. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first chamber includes a first processing apparatus, and the first processing apparatus performs a process including cleaning and drying of the workpiece after polishing. Item 4. A polishing apparatus according to Item 3. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second chamber includes a second processing device, wherein a process including buffing and cleaning of the polished material is performed in the second processing device. Item 5. The polishing apparatus according to item 3 or 4. 6. The polishing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the second chamber is divided into a polishing device portion, a cleaning device, a second transfer device portion, and a buffing device portion. 7. The polishing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the temporary storage chamber is attached to a transfer gate. 8. A step of taking out a wafer having a semiconductor device on a surface from a cassette and transporting the wafer to a temporary storage chamber; a step of transporting the wafer from the temporary storage chamber to a polishing apparatus portion; A step of chemically and mechanically polishing the wafer, a step of transporting the polished wafer to a buffing apparatus part, a step of buffing the wafer, a step of transporting the buffed wafer to a first cleaning apparatus part, and after the first cleaning Transporting the wafer to the temporary storage chamber, transporting the wafer to the second cleaning unit, cleaning and drying the wafer, and transporting the dried wafer to the cassette are the same. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the method is performed in a box. 9. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 8, wherein at least one of the steps includes a step of cleaning in a space in which the step is performed, and is further performed in a clean room.