JPH1097962A - Treating device and treating system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively utilize a highly clean first chamber and, at the same time, to easily connect utility lines on the main body side of a treating device to the utility lines of utility facilities. SOLUTION: The main body 2 of a treating device is set in a highly clean first chamber S1 and utility facilities (a utility box 3 and a pump box 4) are set in a second chamber S2 provided below the chamber S1. A relaying unit 6 is provided on a floor section 5 dividing the chambers S1 and S2 from each other so that the air in the second chamber S2 cannot flow in the first chamber S1 and utility lines on the first chamber S1 (device main body 2) side and utility lines on the second chamber S2 (utility facility) side are connected to the unit 6 in disconnectable states.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus and a processing system for performing processing such as heat treatment on an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Semiconductor wafers (hereinafter referred to as "wafers")
As one of the manufacturing processes, there is a process of performing a heat treatment at a high temperature in order to form an oxide film, diffuse a dopant, and the like. A heat treatment apparatus for performing such a heat treatment includes, for example, an apparatus main body 1, a utility box 11 and a pump box 12, as shown in FIG. 10, and the apparatus main body 1 holds a wafer cassette C between itself and the outside. An input / output port 13 for loading and unloading, a wafer transfer mechanism (not shown) for transferring wafers between the wafer cassette C and the wafer boat 14, a heat treatment furnace 15 for loading the wafer boat 14 and performing heat treatment. Have.

The utility box 11 is provided with an electric system unit 16 containing electric system components, a gas supply unit 17 for supplying a processing gas, a purge gas and the like to the apparatus main body 1, and the like. Is provided with a vacuum pump and the like for exhausting the inside of the heat treatment furnace 14.
The pump box 12 is connected to various parts inside the apparatus main body 1 by an exhaust pipe 12a, the electric system unit 16 is connected to a cable 16a, and the gas supply unit 17 is connected to a gas pipe 17a.

Here, in a semiconductor manufacturing plant, a region having a high degree of cleanliness having a special structure such as a filter is provided in order to prevent particles from adhering to a wafer. In the heat treatment apparatus described above, the high clean area is divided into a clean room CR and a maintenance room MR having a lower clean degree than the clean room CR. While the wafer is managed by the room room CR, the maintenance of the apparatus is performed by the maintenance room MR.

Specifically, the heat treatment apparatus is a clean room C
R is installed between the maintenance room MR and the
The input / output port 13 is provided on the clean room CR side surface of the apparatus main body 1 so that the wafer cassette C is carried in and out from the room CR side, and the utility box 11 is provided with a maintenance room. -Located at the MR.

[0006]

By the way, the above-mentioned clean room CR is cleaned by removing dust in the room space by a high-performance filter, and at the same time, is controlled to keep the temperature and humidity at required values. The room was done. For this reason, airtightness is required, and special equipment such as a high-performance filter, air circulation means, temperature and humidity control means is expensive, so that the cost for installing the clean room CR is high, The running cost for maintenance is also high.

[0007] Further, regarding the maintenance room MR,
Since a considerably high degree of cleanliness is required if not as high as the atmosphere in which the wafer is placed,
After all, installation costs and running costs are high. This is a maintenance routine for adjusting the boat elevator and the wafer transfer arm during maintenance.
The operator enters and exits between the maintenance room MR and the transfer area in the apparatus main body 1, whereby air enters the cleaning room CR from the maintenance room MR, and the cleaner in the apparatus main body 1. This is because air is taken into the apparatus main body 1 from the maintenance room MR via the filter and is circulated as clean air in the apparatus main body 1 in order to increase the degree.

As described above, in a semiconductor manufacturing plant, the cost for securing a working atmosphere is inherently high, and the diameter of a wafer is increasing, and accordingly, the apparatus main body 1, the utility box 11, and the pump box 12 are also required. If the size is increased and the number of apparatuses is reduced on the same floor, there is a problem that the processing unit price becomes higher than before.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a purpose thereof is to install a utility box and a pump box separately from a clean room CR and a maintenance room MR. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus and a processing system capable of effectively utilizing a room with a high degree of cleanliness and reducing processing costs.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention includes a processing section for processing a target object and a transfer area in which the target object is transferred to the processing section. A processing apparatus main body provided in a room with a high degree of operation, and a utility facility connected to the processing apparatus main body via a utility line, wherein the utility facility is separated from the room. For example, it is provided in a room partitioned above or below the room.

Here, for example, the utility equipment is a gas supply equipment,
The utility line of the utility facility includes a gas exhaust facility and an electrical system facility. The utility line on the device body side and the utility line on the utility facility side are connected by being detachably connected.

According to the present invention, there is provided a first room having a high degree of cleanliness, a processing section for processing an object to be processed, and a transfer area for transferring the object to the processing section. A plurality of processing device main bodies provided in the first room, a second room partitioned above or below the first room, and a second room And a utility facility connected to the main body of the processing apparatus via a utility line.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vertical heat treatment apparatus will be described. First, the concept of this embodiment will be described. In a conventional heat treatment apparatus, a wafer is carried into the apparatus main body from a clean room side, and after the heat treatment, is carried out again to the clean room. For this reason, it is necessary to arrange the apparatus main body in an area with a high degree of cleanness, but since the wafer is not carried into the utility box or the pump box, these utility facilities themselves are arranged in an area with a high degree of cleanness. It is not necessary, and if it is installed in another area, the maintenance room can be reduced or used effectively by this installation area. The present embodiment focuses on this point when constructing the apparatus.

The vertical heat treatment apparatus according to this embodiment
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a processing apparatus main body, for example, the apparatus main body 2, a utility box 3, and a pump box 4
And The apparatus main body 2 is a first room S, which is a room with a high degree of cleanliness, provided with cleaning equipment (not shown).
1.

The first room S1 is a clean room CR.
And the maintenance room MR are partitioned by a partition plate 51, and the apparatus main body 2 is installed over the first clean room CR and the maintenance room MR, and the wafer cassette C is inserted therein. The front surface provided with the cassette stage 21 serving as an output port is located in the clean room CR.

Each part of the apparatus main body 2 will be briefly described with reference to FIG.
Numeral 1 is configured so as to be tilted 90 degrees to the back side by the rotation shaft 21a, that is, so that vertically placed wafers in the cassette C are horizontal. A stocker 23 is disposed on the upper side and an intermediate stage 24 is disposed on the lower side of the cassette stage 21 via a transport path of a cassette transport mechanism 22 behind the cassette stage 21.

A wafer boat 26 as a wafer holder is provided behind the intermediate stage 24 via a wafer transfer means 25. The wafer boat 26 is configured so that a large number of wafers can be arranged and held horizontally in a shelf shape, and is mounted on a boat elevator 27 via a heat retaining cylinder 28. A processing unit, for example, a heat treatment furnace 29 is provided above the wafer boat 26, and the boat elevator 27 is raised to carry the wafer boat 26 into the heat treatment furnace 29.

The maintenance room MR has a lower degree of cleanness than the clean room CR, and a door (not shown) is provided between the maintenance room MR and the wafer transfer area in the apparatus main body 2. When the maintenance of the heat treatment apparatus is performed, for example, when adjusting a boat elevator or a wafer transfer arm, the operator can enter and exit the apparatus main body 2 from the maintenance room MR. I have.

The utility box 3 and the pump box 4 constitute a utility facility, and these are provided in a second room separated from the first room S1 in which the apparatus main body 2 is provided.
It is provided in the room. The second room S2 is formed, for example, in a lower region of the floor portion 5 of the first room S1, and is not provided with a cleaning facility and is not configured as a clean room.

The utility box 3 has therein:
A gas supply unit 31 serving as a gas supply unit having a valve, a flow meter, and the like for supplying a processing gas and a non-oxidizing gas for purge into the heat treatment furnace 29, and a power supply unit for supplying power to the entire apparatus. And an electric system unit 32 which constitutes electric system equipment including electric system components such as a transport system and a heater control circuit.
And a cooling water unit 3 for cooling the inside of the heat treatment furnace 29
3 and so on. The pump box 4 constitutes a gas exhaust system, and includes a vacuum pump and the like for evacuating the inside of the heat treatment furnace 29.

The utility equipment and the apparatus main body 2 are provided with an exhaust pipe,
Although connected by utility lines such as a gas supply pipe group, a cable group, and a cooling water flow pipe, in this example, the first room S1 and the second room S1 are connected.
A relay unit 6 which is a relay section of a utility line is provided on a floor portion 5 (a ceiling portion as viewed from the second room S2) which is a partition wall for partitioning the room S2 of the first room S2. Exhaust pipe 41b, gas supply pipe group 31b, cable group 3
2b, the cooling water passage 33b and the utility lines (exhaust tube 41a, gas supply tube group 31a, cable group 32a, cooling water passage 33a) on the second room S2 side are attached to and detached from the relay unit 6. Connected freely.

The relay unit 6 has a relay utility line (exhaust pipe 61, gas supply pipe group 6) inside the unit body 60.
2. The cable group 63 and the cooling water passage 64) are vertically penetrated, and are provided such that both ends of the utility line project from upper and lower ends of the unit main body 60. The unit main body 60 includes, for example, flange portions 65a and 65b at both left and right ends, and an opening 5 formed in the floor plate 5.
2 so that the air in the second room S2 does not flow into the first room S1.

A processing system having a plurality of the above-described apparatus main bodies 2 is configured as shown in FIG. 6, for example, and a plurality of the apparatus main bodies 2 are arranged side by side in the first room S1 on the same floor. A utility box 3 and the like corresponding to each apparatus main body 2 are arranged side by side in a second room S2 which is a basement, for example.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. In the relay unit 6, as shown in FIG. 5, a utility line on the device body 2 side in the first room S <b> 1 is connected to a connection end on the upper side of the utility line for relay. A second room S is provided at the connection end on the lower side of the
In 2, the utility line on the utility facility side is connected. In this way, each mechanism of the apparatus main body 2 placed in the first room S1 and the utility equipment placed in the second room S2 are connected by the utility line.

Each mechanism of the apparatus main body 2 is driven by being supplied with electric power by the electric system unit 32, and exchanges signals with the electric system unit 32. Then, the inside of the heat treatment furnace 29 is evacuated to a predetermined pressure by a vacuum pump in the pump box 4 based on predetermined process conditions,
A predetermined processing gas or purge gas is supplied into the heat treatment furnace 29 at a predetermined flow rate by a gas supply unit 31.

The operation of the heat treatment apparatus is as follows.
Is loaded into the cassette stage 21 from the outside and transported to the intermediate stage 24 by the cassette transport mechanism 22. Thereafter, wafer transfer means 25
As a result, the wafer W is transferred from the wafer cassette C to the wafer boat 26, and a predetermined number of wafers, e.g.
After the 00 sheets are loaded, the wafer boat 26 is carried into the heat treatment furnace 29 by the boat elevator 27. Heat treatment furnace 2
In 9, a predetermined heat treatment is performed based on the process conditions.

In such a heat treatment apparatus, the first room S
1 is a room with a high degree of cleanliness and a second room S2.
Is installed in the basement, separated from the first room S1, and only the apparatus main body 2, which needs to be placed in a room with a high degree of cleanliness, is the first
The utility box 3 and the pump box 4, which need not be placed in a room with a high degree of cleanliness, are placed in the second room S2 which is a basement.

For this reason, the utility equipment (the utility box 3 and the pump box 4) is also provided with a utility equipment as compared with the conventional heat treatment apparatus provided in a room with a high degree of cleanness on the same floor as the apparatus main body 2. For this reason, a room with a high degree of cleanliness required for installation of the heat treatment apparatus can be reduced, thereby reducing the installation cost of a room with a high degree of cleanliness and the running cost for maintenance.

When a room with a high degree of cleanliness is partitioned in advance, the number of devices installed in this room can be increased, so that a room with a high degree of cleanliness can be effectively used. As a result, the operating cost per heat treatment apparatus including the running cost of this room can be reduced. This means that if the number of installations is the same, the space of the clean room can be narrowed as compared with the conventional system.

Further, each room S is connected via the relay unit 60.
Since the utility lines 1 and 2 are detachably connected to each other, the maintenance of the apparatus body 2 and the utility facilities can be easily performed.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is that the wafer cassette is a close cassette 7 (hereinafter referred to as a cassette 7) as shown in FIG. Briefly describing this cassette 7,
The cassette 7 hermetically closes, for example, a cassette main body 71 in which wafer holding portions 70 are formed in multiple stages so as to hold 13 wafers W1 in a shelf shape, and an opening 72 which is a wafer take-out port of the cassette main body 71. And a lid 73.

The cover 73 is provided so as to enter the inside of the opening 72 of the cassette body 71. The cover 73 is provided with, for example, two key holes 74 at the key holes 74. By inserting and turning −75, for example, four lock pins 76 project from the upper end and the lower end of the lid 73, and the lid 73 is fixed to the cassette body 71.

When such a cassette 7 is used,
The apparatus main body 8 is configured, for example, as shown in FIGS. The apparatus main body 8 is a first room which is a clean room.
The first room S1 is not divided into a clean room CR and a maintenance room MR, and the degree of cleanness when a conventional open-type cassette is used. It is maintained at a lower, so to say medium, degree of cleanness.

In the heat treatment apparatus having such a configuration, the cassette 7 is mounted on the delivery port 81a of the apparatus main body 8 which is always closed by the cover, and the cover 73 of the cassette 7 is provided.
And the lid of the transfer port 81a are opened by an opening / closing mechanism (not shown). Thereafter, the wafers in the cassette 7 are transferred to the wafer boats 83 and 84 by the wafer transfer means 85, and the wafer boats 83 and 84 are transferred to the boats. -Elevators 83a, 84
The predetermined heat treatment is carried out by being alternately carried into the heat treatment furnace 82 by a.

In the present embodiment, the transfer area (the transfer area of the wafer transfer means 85 and the movement areas of the wafer boats 83 and 84) in the apparatus main body 8 is partitioned from the outside, and the cassette 7 itself is separated. Since the inside of the apparatus main body 8 must be high in the degree of cleanness because it is of a closed type provided with a lid to prevent particles from entering the apparatus main body 8 and the cassette 7, the first room S1 itself may have a moderate degree of cleanness as described above. Therefore, since the installation cost and the running cost of the first room S1 are lower than the case where a high degree of cleanliness is required, the utility box 3 and the pump box 4 are provided in the second room S2. If the first room S1 can be made smaller, the installation cost and running cost of the first room S1 can be further reduced.

As described above, according to the present invention, a second room partitioned from the room is provided above the first room having a high degree of cleanliness, and the processing apparatus main body is provided in the first room. The utility equipment may be installed in the first room, or the second room may be provided on the same floor as the first room. When a plurality of processing apparatus main bodies are installed in the first room, utility equipment common to two or three processing apparatus main bodies may be installed in the second room.

[0037]

According to the present invention, a room having a high degree of cleanliness can be effectively used. Further, by providing the relay section, the utility line on the processing apparatus main body side and the utility line on the utility facility side can be easily connected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a heat treatment apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a heat treatment apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing an apparatus main body of the heat treatment apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a relay unit.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a relay unit.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a heat treatment system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a close type cassette.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a heat treatment apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a heat treatment apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a conventional heat treatment apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2, 8 Main unit 29 Heat treatment furnace 3 Utility box 31 Gas supply unit 32 Electric system unit 33 Cooling water unit 4 Pump box 5 Floor 6 Relay unit 7 Closed cassette S1 First room S2 Second room

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A processing unit provided in a room with a high degree of cleanness, including a processing unit for processing an object to be processed and a transfer area where the object to be processed is transferred to the processing unit. A processing apparatus comprising: an apparatus main body; and a utility facility connected to the processing apparatus main body via a utility line, wherein the utility facility is provided in a room isolated from the room. . 2. A processing unit provided in a room with a high degree of cleanness, including a processing unit for processing an object to be processed and a transfer area for transferring the object to and from the processing unit. In a processing apparatus including an apparatus main body and a utility facility connected to the processing apparatus main body via a utility line, the utility facility is provided in a room partitioned on an upper side or a lower side with respect to the room. A processing device, characterized in that: 3. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the utility equipment includes a gas supply equipment, a gas exhaust equipment, and an electric system equipment. 4. A utility line relay section is provided on a wall section separating a room where the processing apparatus main body is placed and a room where the utility equipment is placed, and a utility line on the processing apparatus main body side and a utility line on the utility facility side are provided. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is detachably connected to the relay unit. 5. A first room having a high degree of cleanliness, a processing unit for processing an object to be processed, and a transfer area for transferring an object to and from the processing unit, The first
A plurality of processing device main bodies provided in a room; a second room partitioned above or below the first room; provided in the second room; A utility system connected via a utility line.