JPH113926A - Leaf semiconductor wafer processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize the whole device, by a method wherein a carrier base, a wafer processor and two intermediate stages are arranged radially on a rotary axle of the swiveling operation of a carrier pedestal. SOLUTION: A spinner (wafer processor) 4 clean-processing wafers is provided in one position on a device body 1 on the opposing position to a carrier base 2. A first arm 7 for taking-in and-out wafers from the carrier base 2 and a second arm 8 for quick-disconnecting the wafers from a rotary table 4a of the spinner 4 are provided on a carrier pedestal 10. Next, a first and a second intermediate stages 5 and 6 are provided on the positions near the carrier pedestal 10 within the swivelling range and expansion range of the first and the second arms 7 and 8. In such a constitution, these intermediate stages 5, 6, the carrier base 2 and the spinner 4 are radially arranged on the rotary center of the carrier pedestal 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer.
The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus such as a single wafer cleaning apparatus for cleaning wafers one by one. More specifically, the present invention relates to a single-wafer-type semiconductor wafer processing apparatus having an improved layout for miniaturizing the apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a wafer cleaning process in a semiconductor manufacturing process, semiconductor wafers are taken out one by one from a carrier containing a predetermined number of semiconductor wafers, and the semiconductor wafers are mounted and fixed on a spinner (rotating stage in a wafer processing unit). 2. Description of the Related Art A single-wafer-type wafer cleaning apparatus for cleaning a wafer by applying a cleaning liquid such as pure water while rotating a spinner is used. Such a wafer cleaning apparatus is installed in a clean room together with other process apparatuses in order to maintain a high quality semiconductor as one of a series of semiconductor manufacturing processes. Since the space in this clean room is limited, it is required that the devices installed inside the clean room have a compact and small configuration and a small installation area.

A conventional single wafer cleaning apparatus can use various cleaning means such as brush cleaning, jet cleaning and ultrasonic cleaning in order to increase productivity by increasing the number of processed wafers and diversify the cleaning method. Accordingly, a plurality of carrier tables on which carriers are placed are arranged, and a wafer can be taken out from each of the plurality of carriers. Further, a plurality of spinners are provided, and the wafers can be simultaneously cleaned by the respective spinners. In such a configuration, a wafer is taken out of each carrier by a wafer transfer means such as a transfer arm, and the wafers are cleaned by changing the cleaning conditions with each spinner.

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional wafer cleaning apparatus, since a plurality of carrier tables and a plurality of spinners are provided, the productivity is increased, but the entire apparatus is large and requires a large installation area. Thus, a limited space such as a clean room is largely occupied, which restricts the installation of other devices, and the price is high. In addition, a dedicated transfer arm for loading and unloading wafers on each carrier table and a dedicated transfer arm for loading and unloading wafers on each spinner are required, and a mechanism for transferring wafers between each carrier and the spinner must be separately provided. In some cases, a transfer mechanism for taking out and storing a wafer is complicated and large, and the whole apparatus is further increased in size and cost is increased. Further, since cleaning is performed using a plurality of spinners, cleaning conditions for each wafer and control conditions such as a cleaning order and a transport route are complicated, and the condition setting process is troublesome and troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned prior art, and has a compact and small size as a whole while maintaining sufficient productivity required for practical use without excessively lowering productivity. It is an object of the present invention to provide a single-wafer-type semiconductor wafer processing apparatus having a simple configuration and reducing an installation area.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a carrier table comprising a mounting space for one carrier accommodating a plurality of wafers to be processed, and one wafer per wafer. Only one wafer processing unit for performing processing, wafer holding means for holding the wafer and taking the wafer in and out of the carrier table and the wafer processing unit, and mounting the wafer holding means for raising / lowering operation and turning operation And a transfer mechanism having a transfer table for performing linear movement operation, and a transfer mechanism for mounting a wafer provided on a transfer path between the carrier table and the wafer processing unit.
A single-wafer-type semiconductor wafer processing apparatus, comprising: a carrier stage, a wafer processing unit, and two intermediate stages arranged radially around a rotation axis of a rotation operation of the transfer table. provide.

[0007] According to this configuration, the carrier table on which one carrier is mounted, one wafer processing unit and two intermediate stages are radially juxtaposed within the range of the wafer transfer path. Layout becomes feasible. In this case, the processing is performed with sufficient production efficiency in the semiconductor manufacturing process by a control sequence program in which the wafer taken out of the carrier and the processed wafer are put on standby using the two intermediate stages and the processing processes are sequentially performed. Can be performed. Therefore,
The equipment can be downsized while maintaining the productivity required for practical use, reducing the restrictions on the installation of other equipment in a limited installation space such as a clean room, and freeing the layout of the entire manufacturing process. Thus, the productivity of the whole process can be increased, and the cost can be reduced.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In a preferred embodiment,
The wafer holding means includes a first arm for taking a wafer in and out of the carrier table, and a second arm for taking a wafer in and out of the wafer processing unit, wherein the first and second arms are arms. The arm is arranged in a longitudinal direction, and each of the arms is separately movable along the longitudinal direction.

According to this configuration, when the holding mode of the wafer is different from the holding mode of the wafer from the carrier in accordance with the processing mode of the wafer processing unit, the two arms are used to align their longitudinal directions and separate them. By enabling the linear drive, an efficient wafer transfer sequence can be achieved without increasing the space.

In a further preferred embodiment, the wafer processing section comprises a rotary cleaning device.

According to this configuration, a compact arrangement structure can be obtained particularly in a wafer cleaning process which requires a large reduction in layout.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a single wafer type semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the arrangement and operation of the upper surface thereof.

In this semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus, an apparatus main body 1 is used as a base, and a carrier table 2 is provided thereon. The carrier table 2 has a configuration in which only one carrier 3 containing a predetermined number of wafers is placed, and a guide member (not shown) when an operator mounts the carrier 3 on the table.
And a sensor (not shown) for detecting the presence or absence of a wafer in the carrier 3 for detecting that the carrier 3 is mounted.

A spinner 4 for cleaning a wafer at one position on the apparatus main body 1 at a position facing the carrier table 2.
Is provided. The spinner 4 includes a rotary table 4a on which the wafer 20 is mounted and fixedly held, and a rotatable high-pressure jet arm 4b and a brush arm 4c provided on both sides of the rotary table 4a. The system is provided with a supply system and a drainage system, and an exhaust system for suppressing and discharging mist generated during cleaning.

Between the carrier table 2 and the spinner 4,
A transfer mechanism 9 having a transfer table 10 is provided. A first arm 7 for taking a wafer in and out of the carrier table 2 and a second arm 8 for attaching / detaching the wafer to / from a rotating table 4a of the spinner 4 are provided on the carrier table 10. The first arm 7 and the second arm 8 are provided vertically one above the other with the longitudinal directions of the arms aligned, and mounted on a transfer table 10 of the transfer mechanism 9 so as to be separately movable in the longitudinal direction.

That is, the rear ends of the first and second arms 7 and 8 are bent in the L-shape in opposite directions, respectively, and the L-shaped bent ends are formed by slits in the cover 10a on each side surface of the carrier 10. The arm 7 is engaged with the guide rail 11 through a not-shown part, and the arms 7 and 8 are slid in the longitudinal direction to extend and contract (arrow R). The solid lines in FIGS. 1 and 2A show a state in which the first arm 7 is retracted onto the carrier 10 and the second arm 8 thereon extends from the carrier 10 and protrudes.

A wafer chuck means (not shown) having, for example, a vacuum chuck or a mechanical chuck structure for holding the wafer at the time of transferring the wafer is provided at the tip of the first arm 7.
Is provided. An arcuate chuck 8a for mechanically holding the outer periphery of the wafer is provided at the tip of the second arm 8.
FIGS. 1 and 2A show a second L-shaped bent portion.
The state where the tip of the first arm 7 is hidden under the rear end of the arm 8 is shown.

The transfer table 10 on which the first and second arms 7 and 8 are mounted is driven by a driving device (not shown) built in the transfer mechanism 9 with the center P of the transfer table 10 as an axis.
It is rotatable as shown in FIG. 2 and can be moved up and down as shown by arrow Q (FIG. 1). Further, as described above, the first and second arms 7, 8 are moved as shown by arrow R (FIG. 1). The telescopic slide is driven independently along the guide rails 11.

A first intermediate stage 5 and a second intermediate stage 6 are provided at positions close to the transfer table 10 within the turning range and the telescopic range of the first and second arms 7 and 8.
The intermediate stages 5 and 6, the carrier table 2 and the spinner 4 are arranged radially about the rotation center O of the transfer table 10. The first intermediate stage 5 (and / or the second intermediate stage 6) may be provided with an orientation flat alignment mechanism (orientation flat alignment mechanism) for uniformly aligning the crystal orientation of the wafer. The second intermediate intermediate stage 6 (and / or the first intermediate stage 5) may be provided with a mechanism for reversing the mounted wafer.

An example of the operation sequence of the cleaning process of the semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus having the above configuration is as follows.

First, the carrier 10 is rotated with the first and second arms 7 and 8 contracted on the carrier 10, and the sliding direction is directed to the carrier 2. Here, as shown in FIG. 2B, the first arm 7 is extended and the wafer in the carrier 3 is sucked and taken out. At this time, the transfer table 10 is positioned at the height of the wafer to be taken out by the lifting device in the transfer mechanism 9. First arm 7 holding wafer
The transfer table 10 is rotated in a state in which the first arm 7 is directed toward the first intermediate stage 5, and the arm is extended to mount a wafer on the intermediate stage 5. Pull in on table 10. Next, this first intermediate stage 5
The second arm 8 stretches and grips the upper wafer, and shrinks onto the carrier 10 while holding the wafer. Subsequently, the transfer table 10
Is rotated to change the sliding direction of the second arm 8 to the spinner 4.
Turn to. Here, as shown in FIG. 2A, the second arm 8 is extended to move the wafer 20 to the turntable 4 in the spinner 4.
a and then shrink onto the carrier 10.

Here, wafer cleaning by the spinner 4 is performed. During this cleaning operation, the transfer table 10 rotates to drive the first arm 7 to take out the wafer to be cleaned next from the carrier 3 and mount it on the first intermediate stage 5 as described above.

When the wafer cleaning by the spinner 4 is completed, the second arm 8 takes it out, rotates and mounts the cleaned wafer on the second intermediate stage 6 (FIG. 2).
(A) Two-dot chain line). Thereafter, the second arm 8 grabs the wafer on the first intermediate stage 5 and sets it on the spinner 4 as described above.

Further, the above-mentioned first arm 7 is directed to the second intermediate stage 6 on which the already cleaned wafer is mounted, sucks the washed wafer and stores it in the carrier 3. By repeating the above operation, the wafers in the carrier 3 are sequentially cleaned.

FIG. 3 shows an application example of the present invention. The basic structure of the wafer processing apparatus 21 of the present invention is the configuration of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. Wafer processing equipment 2 of this basic structure
As shown in FIG.
An orientation flat aligning mechanism is incorporated in the intermediate stage 5, and an orientation flat alignment can be performed with a stage rotation function as shown by an arrow A. Further, as shown in (b), the first intermediate stage 5 (and / or the second intermediate stage 6) is
, And a mechanism for turning the wafer upside down as shown by the arrow C can be provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), the present invention can be applied as a single wafer type etching apparatus by installing an etching apparatus 22 for performing a process such as ion etching instead of the spinner 4. Further, as shown in (d), an ashing device 23 for removing the resist may be provided in place of the spinner 4 to perform the ashing process. Further, the present invention is also applicable to a single wafer type CVD apparatus, a vapor deposition apparatus, a heat treatment apparatus such as RTP, and the like.

The spinner of the above-described embodiment may be cleaned with pure water, or may be cleaned with another chemical. In addition to the spinner for cleaning, the present invention can also be applied as a spin coater for spin coating of a resist or coating an interlayer insulating film of another layer wiring.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the carrier table on which one carrier is mounted, one wafer processing unit and two intermediate stages are radially arranged within the range of the wafer transfer path. Therefore, a small and compact layout can be realized. In this case, the processing is performed with sufficient production efficiency in the semiconductor manufacturing process by a control sequence program in which the wafer taken out of the carrier and the processed wafer are put on standby using the two intermediate stages and the processing processes are sequentially performed. Can be performed. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size of the apparatus while sufficiently maintaining the productivity required for practical use, reduce the restrictions on the installation of other equipment in a limited installation space such as a clean room, and arrange the layout of the entire manufacturing process. , The productivity of the whole process can be increased, and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wafer cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an application example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: apparatus main body, 2: carrier stage, 3: carrier, 4: spinner, 5: first intermediate stage, 6: second intermediate stage, 7: first arm, 8: second arm, 9: transport mechanism,
10: conveyance stand, 11: guide rail.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Mitsuhiro Nishizaki 6-7-35 Kita Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Sony Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A carrier table comprising a mounting space for one carrier accommodating a plurality of wafers to be processed, a single wafer processing unit for processing wafers one by one, and holding the wafers. And a wafer holding means for taking in and out of the wafer with respect to the carrier table and the wafer processing unit, and a transfer mechanism having a transfer table for carrying the wafer holding means to perform a lifting operation, a turning operation, and a linear movement operation. And two intermediate stages for mounting a wafer provided on a transfer path between the carrier table and the wafer processing unit, wherein the carrier table, the wafer processing unit, and 2 are arranged around a rotation axis of a rotation operation of the transfer table. A single wafer type semiconductor wafer processing apparatus, wherein two intermediate stages are radially arranged. 2. The wafer holding means comprises a first arm for taking a wafer in and out of the carrier table, and a second arm for taking a wafer in and out of the wafer processing unit. The single-wafer type semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second arm is arranged with the arm longitudinal direction aligned, and each of the arms is separately movable along the longitudinal direction. 3. The single wafer processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wafer processing section comprises a rotary cleaning apparatus.