JPH11111212A - Ion implanting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable manufacture of a compact ion implanting device by decreasing a necessary area for conveying a substrate, and provide the ion implanting device which can be installed in a small installing area, and which is composed of a widely-used semiconductor conveying robot without requiring a conveying device having a complicated mechanism. SOLUTION: The subject device is equipped with an ion source 17 generating an ion beam of a material to be implanted as ion, a vacuum robot 14 having a supporting part which supports a substrate 1 vertically and a mechanism part which moves the supporting part in the horizontal direction, a process chamber 16 in which the material is implanted into the surface of the substrate 1 by the ion beam generated from the ion source 17, primary door 22 which can be opened and closed for taking in and out the substrate 1 from the outside, and a load-lock chamber 15 adjacent to the process chamber 16 across secondary door 23 which can be opened and closed. The substrate 1 is conveyed in the vertical state in the device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ion implantation apparatus used in a TFT-LCD manufacturing process or the like, and more particularly, to a compact ion implantation apparatus having a small installation area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional ion implantation apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a conventional ion implantation apparatus. The substrate 1 is handled in a cassette 11 capable of storing a plurality of substrates 1 horizontally. The ion implantation apparatus 2 has a cassette station 12 in which the cassette 11 can be set. The cassette station 12 can position the cassette 11. A load lock chamber 15 is provided at a position facing the cassette station 12. Cassette station 12 and load lock chamber 15
Between them, an atmospheric robot 13 is installed. The atmospheric robot 13 has a function of taking the substrate 1 in and out of the cassette 11 placed in the cassette station 12 in a horizontal state,
A function of moving a substrate into and out of the load lock chamber 15 in a horizontal state. The load lock chamber 15 has an openable / closable first
Door 22 and an openable / closable second door 23 are provided. The first door 22 of the load lock chamber 15 faces the atmospheric robot 13. Second door 23 of load lock chamber 15
Is suitable for the vacuum robot 14. Beside the vacuum robot 14 is a process chamber 16. There is an injection stage 29 in the process chamber. Vacuum robot 14
Has a function of moving the substrate 1 in and out of the load lock chamber 15 in a horizontal state, and an injection stage 2 in the process chamber 16.
9 has a function of taking the substrate 1 in and out in a horizontal state.
The injection stage 29 has a function of vertically setting the substrate 1 placed horizontally. An ion source 17 is provided on a side surface of the process chamber 16 facing the surface of the substrate 1 which is set up vertically.

In order to improve the operation efficiency of the ion implantation apparatus, a plurality of vacuum robots 14, a load lock chamber 15, an atmospheric robot 13 and a cassette station 12 are usually provided as shown in FIG.

Next, each step in the conventional ion implantation apparatus 2 will be described along the flow of transporting the substrate 1. A plurality of substrates 1 are horizontally placed in a cassette 11 in a horizontal state. The cassette 11 is set in the cassette station 12. The atmospheric robot 13 pulls out one substrate 1 from the cassette 11 in a horizontal state. The first door 22 of the load lock chamber 15 is opened. At that time, the second of the load lock chamber 15
Is closed. Atmospheric robot 13 is substrate 1
Into the load lock chamber 15 in a horizontal state. The first door 22 of the load lock chamber 15 is closed and evacuated. When the inside of the load lock chamber 15 reaches a predetermined degree of vacuum, the second door 23 of the load lock chamber 15 is opened. Vacuum robot 1
4 pulls the substrate 1 out of the load lock chamber 15, puts it into the process chamber 16, and puts it on the injection stage 29. The injection stage 19 rotates with the substrate 1 placed thereon, and stands the surface of the substrate 1 vertically. The substance ionized by the ion source 17 is injected into the surface of the substrate 1. When the injection operation is completed, the injection stage 29 rotates while the substrate 1 is placed thereon, and returns the surface of the substrate 1 to a horizontal position. The second door 23 of the load lock chamber 15 is opened. At this time, the first door 23 is closed. The vacuum robot 14 removes the substrate 1 from the injection stage 29, pulls out the substrate 1 from the process chamber 16, and puts the substrate 1 into the load lock chamber 15 in a horizontal state. Load lock room 15
The second door 23 is closed, and outside air is introduced. When the outside air enters, the first door 22 is opened. Atmospheric robot 13 is substrate 1
Is drawn out of the load lock chamber 15 and inserted into the cassette 11 in a horizontal state. When the above steps are repeated by the number of substrates 1 in the cassette 11, the cassette in which all the substrates for which the injection processing has been completed is taken out. In general, a plurality of vacuum robots, load lock chambers, and atmospheric robots are alternately used to move the substrate 1 into and out of the process chamber 16 in order to improve operation efficiency.

[0005]

In the conventional ion implantation apparatus, the substrate is transported from the cassette position to the inside of the process chamber in a horizontal state. Before the substrate in the cassette in the cassette station is loaded on the injection stage, the cassette, the atmospheric robot, the load lock chamber, the vacuum robot, and the process chamber are sequentially moved and moved. Accordingly, there is a problem that a large area is required for transport, the overall size of the ion implantation apparatus is increased, and a large installation area is required.

There is also a problem in the arrangement of the ion source.
That is, if the ion source is arranged above the substrate and the substrate is supported from below, contaminants (contaminants) such as dust adhering to the ion source may fall and contaminate the substrate. In addition, if the ion source is arranged below the substrate and the substrate is supported from below, the edge of the substrate is supported to avoid the injection surface of the substrate. Therefore, in the case of a thin substrate, the center is bent by its own weight, which causes inconvenience. Therefore, the ion source had to be placed horizontally with respect to the substrate into which the substance was implanted. Since the overall size of the ion implantation apparatus is large, the ion implantation apparatus becomes large and there is a problem that a large installation area is required.

On the other hand, a conventional ion implantation apparatus designed to reduce the size of an ion source will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional ion implantation apparatus, and FIG.
Is a side sectional view thereof. In order to make the ion source 17 compact, a horizontally long ion beam is generated and
Is mechanically scanned vertically. In this apparatus, the vacuum robot 14 horizontally pulls out the substrate 1 put in the load lock chamber 15, rotates it by 90 degrees, inserts it into the process chamber 16, and moves it vertically in the ion beam. Therefore, although the ion source 17 is small, the size of the ion source when viewed from above is not so small, and a large installation area is required. Further, since the transfer of the substrate by the vacuum robot 14 is complicated, the mechanism of the vacuum robot 14 is also complicated.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above-described problems, and reduces the area required for transporting a substrate, enables the manufacture of a compact ion implantation apparatus, and allows the ion to be installed with a small installation area. It is intended to provide an injection device. Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide an ion implantation apparatus including a general-purpose semiconductor transfer robot without requiring a transfer device having a complicated mechanism.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an ion implantation apparatus for implanting a substance into a substrate, comprising: an ion source for generating an ion beam of the substance;
A vacuum robot having a gripper for vertically supporting the substrate and a mechanism for moving the gripper in a horizontal direction, and a process chamber for injecting a substance inside the surface of the substrate by an ion beam generated by an ion source. And a first door that can be opened and closed for taking in and out the substrate from the outside,
A load lock chamber adjacent to the process chamber with a second door that can be opened and closed interposed is provided.

According to this configuration of the present invention, a substance can be ionized and accelerated by the ion source to form an ion beam. In addition, the vacuum robot can vertically support the substrate with its grip portion and move the substrate in the horizontal direction. Further, a substance can be implanted into the substrate surface by an ion beam while the substrate is held vertically inside the process chamber. Accordingly, while holding the substrate vertically, the first door of the load lock chamber can be opened and the substrate can be taken in and out of the load lock chamber, and the second door can be opened and the substrate can be taken in and out of the process chamber. The outside air does not flow directly into the atmosphere inside the, and the atmosphere necessary for ion implantation can be maintained.
In addition, since the substrate is transported while holding the substrate vertically, the area required for transporting the substrate can be significantly reduced.

More preferably, in the ion implantation apparatus according to the present invention, the holding portion of the vacuum robot can be stored in the load lock chamber. With this configuration, the grip portion of the vacuum robot can be stored in the load lock chamber, so that separate installation areas are not required for the vacuum robot and the load lock chamber.

[0012] More preferably, in the ion implantation apparatus according to the present invention, the ion beam generated by the ion source is a vertically elongated ribbon beam. With this configuration,
An ion source that generates a vertically elongated ribbon beam is small, and the installation area of the ion source is small.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each of the drawings, common portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted. FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of the ion implantation apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. FIG. 4 is a front view of the grip portion.

As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, two cassette stations 12 are provided. Two load lock chambers 15 are provided at positions facing the cassette station 12. Cassette station 12
One atmospheric robot 13 between the
Is provided. A vacuum robot 14 is provided in the load lock chamber 15. On the surface of the load lock chamber 15 opposite to the surface facing the atmospheric robot, a process chamber 16 having an ion source 17 is installed.

In the cassette 11, a plurality of horizontal substrates 1 can be placed horizontally. The cassette station 12 can position the cassette 11. The atmospheric robot 13 is a polar coordinate robot capable of vertical motion, circumferential motion, and radial motion. The holding portion of the atmospheric robot 13 is thin enough to be inserted into a gap between the substrates 1 arranged in a row in the cassette 11, and a vacuum suction portion (for example, a groove) is provided on an upper surface of the holding device. Atmospheric robot 13 is substrate 1
Can be taken out from the cassette 11 by vacuum suction and holding. Further, the atmospheric robot has a rotation mechanism at the base of the gripping part, and holds the gripping part 9 times.
By rotating by 0 degrees, the substrate 1 can be made vertical, and the substrate 1 in a vertical state can be put into the load lock chamber 15.

In FIG. 2, on the wall of the load lock chamber 15, a first door 22 is provided on the cassette station 12 side (the left side in this figure), and a second door 23 is provided on the process chamber 16 side (the right side in the figure). In First door 22 and second door 2
3 is freely openable and closable. The second door 23 communicates with the process chamber 16. The load lock chamber 15 is airtight, and when the first door 22 and the second door 23 are closed and evacuated, the inside thereof can be made a vacuum atmosphere.
A vacuum robot 14 is installed in the load lock chamber 15. The first door 22 and the second door 23 can be closed while the gripper 24 and the mechanism 25 of the vacuum robot 14 are kept in the load lock 15 chamber.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the vacuum robot 14 includes a main body 30, a mechanism 25, and a gripper 24. The grip portion 24 has a frame shape, and has an opening at a position corresponding to the ion implantation region of the substrate 1. Support members 26 and 27 each having a groove that can sandwich the upper side and the lower side of the substrate 1 are provided on the upper side and the lower side of the grip portion 24, respectively. One end of the gripper 24 is the mechanism 2
5 is connected. A stopper 28 is provided at one end of the gripper 24 so that the substrate 1 can be positioned. The mechanism section 25 moves the grip section 24 in the horizontal direction, and
4 can be inserted into the process chamber 16. The vacuum robot 14 can move the holding unit 24 on which the substrate 1 is placed in the process chamber 16 at a set speed in a horizontal direction in a plane including the substrate 1.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the process chamber 16 is airtight. When the second door 23 of the load lock chamber 15 is closed and evacuated, a vacuum state required for ion implantation can be obtained. As shown in FIG. 1, an ion source 17 is provided in a direction orthogonal to the surface of the substrate 1. A plurality of (two in this embodiment) load lock chambers 15 are connected in parallel to the process chamber 16.

In FIG. 1, the ion source 17 can generate a vertically elongated ribbon beam. When the substrate 1 supported by the gripper 24 is horizontally moved in the process chamber 16 by the vacuum robot 14, the ribbon beam scans the ion implantation region of the substrate 1, and ions can be implanted into the entire region of the substrate. In addition, a high-pressure generator 18 for generating electric power for the ion source, a utility 1
9, a control device unit 20 and a monitor unit 21.

Next, each step in the ion implantation apparatus of the present invention will be described along the flow of one substrate 1. First, a cassette 11 in which the substrates 1 are arranged horizontally in a horizontal state is prepared, and the cassette 11 is set in a cassette station 12. The atmospheric robot 13 moves vertically and puts the gripper under the substrate 1 so that the upper surface of the gripper contacts the lower surface of the substrate 1. Next, the substrate 1 is vacuum-sucked and the cassette 11
, The gripper holding the substrate 1 is rotated, and the surface of the substrate 1 is set upright. Next, the atmospheric robot 13 is rotated to direct the substrate 1 toward the first door 22 of the load lock chamber 15.

At this time, the second door 2 of the load lock chamber 15
3 is closed, and the load lock chamber 15 has an outside air atmosphere. The vacuum robot 14 is on standby in the load lock 15 room. When the first door 22 is opened, the atmospheric robot 13 puts the substrate 1 into the load lock chamber 15 and puts the substrate 1 into the holding part 24 of the vacuum robot 14. Substrate 1
The upper and lower portions are positioned by support members 26 and 27 and a stopper 28 at one end on the process chamber side. When the atmospheric robot 13 puts the substrate 1 at a predetermined position, the vacuum suction is released, and the gripping portion of the atmospheric robot 13 is taken out of the load lock chamber 15.

At this time, the inside of the process chamber 16 is in a vacuum state necessary for ion implantation. First door 22
Is closed, the load lock chamber 15 is exhausted, and the inside of the load lock chamber 15 is set to the same atmosphere as the inside of the process chamber 16,
The second door 23 is opened. The vacuum robot 14 holds the gripper 2
The substrate 1 placed on the substrate 4 is moved in a horizontal direction in a plane including the substrate 1 at a planned speed, and is moved into the process chamber 16. The ion source 17 generates a vertically elongated ribbon-shaped ion beam. The substrate 1 is scanned by a ribbon-shaped ion beam from the front end portion in the traveling direction, and good ion implantation is performed over the entire ion implantation region of the substrate 1.

When the ion implantation is completed, the substrate 1 is pulled into the load lock chamber 15, and the second door 23 is closed. If necessary, load the heated substrate 1 into the load lock chamber 15.
Cool inside. At this time, the substrate 1 before ion implantation has already entered the other load lock chamber 15. Continue ion implantation. When the inside of the load lock chamber 15 has an outside air atmosphere, the first door 22 is opened. Atmospheric robot 13
Inserts the holding portion into the load lock chamber 15 and
Is vacuum-sucked, and the substrate 1 is transferred from the holding part 24 of the vacuum robot 14 to the holding part of the atmospheric robot 13. The atmospheric robot sucks the substrate 1 by vacuum, pulls out the substrate 1 from the load lock chamber 15, rotates the substrate 1, and brings it into a horizontal state. The atmospheric robot 13 is rotated to turn the substrate 1 toward the cassette 11. The substrate 1 is inserted into a predetermined place of the cassette 11. When the substrate 1 is in a predetermined position, the vacuum suction is released, and the gripper is pulled out of the cassette 11. The above operation is performed according to the number of substrates 1 contained in the cassette 11.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. For example, in this embodiment, an ion source that generates a ribbon beam has been described. However, a conventional ion source that can implant ions into the ion implantation region of the substrate at one time may be used. Also, the case where there are two sets of load lock chambers and a vacuum robot has been described, but one set may be used or three or more sets may be used depending on the required operation time. Further, a plurality of atmospheric robots may be installed, or the atmospheric robot may be mounted on a horizontal moving mechanism so as to be compatible with a plurality of cassette stations. Further, a mechanism for restraining the substrate may be provided in the holding portion of the vacuum robot.

[0025]

As described above, the substrate is moved vertically by the ion implantation apparatus of the present invention.
The area required for transportation is reduced. In addition, since the holding part of the vacuum robot is housed in the load lock chamber, the area for installing both is reduced. Further, since the ion beam has a vertically long shape, the size of the ion source is reduced, and the installation area is reduced. Therefore, the size of the ion implantation apparatus is much smaller than the conventional one, and the installation area of the ion implantation apparatus is reduced.

Further, the transfer device used in the present invention requires only a simple movement, and therefore can be constituted by a general-purpose transfer robot. Further, a plurality of load lock chambers, vacuum robots or atmospheric robots can be provided for the process chamber, and can be variously combined depending on required operation time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of an ion implantation apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a grip portion.

FIG. 5 is an overall configuration diagram of a conventional ion implantation apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of another conventional ion implantation apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Ion implantation apparatus 11 Cassette 12 Cassette station 13 Atmospheric robot 14 Vacuum robot 15 Load lock room 16 Process chamber 17 Ion source 18 High pressure generator 19 Utility 20 Control device unit 21 Monitor unit 22 First door 23 Second door 24 Grasping part of vacuum robot 25 Mechanical part of vacuum robot 26 Upper supporting member 27 Lower supporting member 28 Stopper 29 Injection stage 30 Main body of vacuum robot

Claims (3)

[Claims] An ion implantation apparatus for injecting a substance into a substrate, comprising: an ion source for generating an ion beam of the substance; a gripper for vertically supporting the substrate; and a horizontal movement of the gripper. A vacuum robot having a mechanism for causing the same, a process chamber for injecting a substance by an ion beam generated by an ion source on the surface of the substrate inside,
An ion implantation apparatus, comprising: a first door that can be opened and closed for taking a substrate in and out from the outside; and a load lock chamber adjacent to a process chamber with the second door that can be opened and closed interposed therebetween. . 2. The ion implantation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the grip portion of the vacuum robot can be housed in a load lock chamber. 3. An ion beam generated by an ion source is a vertically elongated ribbon beam.
An ion implanter according to any one of the preceding claims.