JPS58118124A - Wafer loading method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To uniform the treatment of wafers and prevent the breakage thereof, by a method wherein wafers are loaded into and unloaded from a uniforming ring by scooping as well as lifting and lowering the wafers, and the ring loaded with the wafers is carried between a treating chamber and a sub-vacuum chamber. CONSTITUTION:A wafer 40 loaded as at 25 into a sub-vacuum chamber 20 from the outside is pushed up by means of a seat 23b and scooped up with a fork 27 and is then loaded into a uniforming ring 30 by means of a seat 23a moving vertically. The ring 30 is grasped as at 21 and sent into a treating chamber 10 through the pivoting motion of an arm 22. After treatment, the ring 30 is re- turned onto the seat 23a, and the wafer 40 is pushed out of the ring by the upward movement of the seat 23a and is then mounted on a belt 26 and carried to the outside through a similar movement. By this constitution, it is possible to facilitate the loading/unloading operation with respect to the uniforming ring. In addition, since wafers are not directly held with claws, any damage can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a wafer loading method, and in particular, to a method for loading a wafer into a uniformizing ring to be processed in a processing chamber of a semiconductor manufacturing system W such as an etching system WIISOVD system, and for loading a wafer into a uniformizing ring. The present invention relates to a wafer loading method suitable for transporting outside and transporting to a predetermined location.

Conventionally, wafers supplied from the outside to a sub-vacuum chamber installed in a processing chamber of a semiconductor manufacturing device are chucked using chuck jaws (hereinafter abbreviated as jaws) of a mechanical chuck, a vacuum chuck, etc.
is directly grasped and held and transported from the sub-vacuum chamber to the processing chamber.
The wafers transported to the processing chamber are held inside the equalizing ring, which equalizes the processing of the wafers, and are gripped by claws. After the wafer has been processed in the processing chamber, the wafer is gripped again by the claws and carried out of the equalization ring, and then transported in this state from the processing chamber to the sub-vacuum chamber again. The wafer transferred to the sub-vacuum chamber is
It is stored externally by other means.

This wafer loading method has the following drawbacks.

(1) It is necessary to provide a guide groove for the pawl on the equalization ring, but if the width of the guide groove is more than lsm, the electric field will concentrate on the guide groove during wafer processing, causing damage to the area near the guide groove.

- Wafer processing cannot be performed well, resulting in non-uniform wafer processing.Also, if the width of the guide groove is less than 100%, uneven wafer processing can be prevented; In order to make the operation smooth, it is necessary to control the positions of the claws and the equalizing ring with high precision, which makes it difficult to carry the wafer into the equalizing ring and to take it out of the equalizing ring.

(2) Since the wafer is directly gripped by the claws, there is a risk that the wafers being transported may be damaged by the grip of the claws.

The present invention is aimed at eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks, and includes a method for carrying wafers into a uniforming ring that uniformizes wafer processing, and for transporting wafers out of the uniforming ring.

A processing chamber of semiconductor manufacturing equipment that processes wafers by scooping up and raising and lowering them, and also processes wafers carried into the equalization ring (wafers carried into the equalization ring) and a sub-vacuum chamber assembled in the processing chamber. The wafers are transported between the wafers and the wafers during transport, and can uniformize the processing of the wafers. 7) A loading method that can prevent damage to the wafer.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 42.

FIG. 1 shows a wafer loading process according to the present invention.
In the configuration diagram of w, the sub-vacuum chamber assembled in the processing chamber IO of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment includes an arm n which has a claw 4 at its tip and partially rotates, and a push-up seat. A homogenizing ring holder, which has a height of 23 m that can be raised and lowered internally and has a homogenizing ring (material) placed on its upper end surface, and a wafer 40 that is connected to a sub-vacuum chamber from the outside.
from the belt 5 that supplies and the sub-vacuum chamber to the external
Wafer pushing seats 23b and 23c that can be raised and lowered are provided at one end of each of the belt supports for storing the wafer 40;
- The wafer 40 is scooped up from the lifting seat 23b and transferred to the wafer pushing seat 2 of the equalizing ring seat by rotating, and the wafer 40 is transferred to the wafer pushing seat 2 of the equalizing ring seat.
Wafer loading consists of a fork n that scoops up the wafer 40 from 3 m and rotates to transport it to the wafer push-up seat 23c! IW is installed internally. The center of the equalizing ring seat and the wafer pushing dust 23m is on the rotation locus of the center point of the pawl of the arm η, and the center of the equalizing ring seat and the wafer pushing seat 23a to Z (c) The centers are located on the rotation locus of the center point of the scooped-up portion of the fork valley.

The wafer 40 supplied from the outside to the sub-vacuum chamber by the belt 5 reaches the wafer push-up seat 23b4.

Thereafter, the wafer hoist is pushed up by the wafer push-up seat 23b, the fork 4 rotates from point A to point B I in FIG. 1, and the wafer push-up seat 23b is lowered to be scooped up by the fork η. Fork n, which scooped up wafer 40, moves from point B to point C! The wafer push-up seat 23m lifts the wafer 40. Next, the wafer push-up seat 23m is lowered, so that the wafer is placed in the equalization ring as shown in FIG.

-840 is brought in. As shown in FIG. 2, the equalization ring (material) into which the wafer 40 has been carried is held by the claw ♂ and transported from the sub-vacuum chamber to the processing chamber 10 by the rotation of the arm η. Once the processing of the wafer in the processing chamber IO is completed,
The equalizing ring (material) is gripped by the claw O and transported from the processing chamber 10 to the sub-vacuum chamber I by the rotation of the arm ρ, and is placed on the upper end surface of the equalizing ring seat η as shown in FIG. arm n
rotates further and returns to its original position. Thereafter, the wafer pushing seat 23m is rotated from the upper point E to the 0 point, and the wafer pushing seat 23m is lowered again, so that the wafer is scooped up by the fork.

Next, the fork that scooped up the wafer 40 is rotated from point 0 to point D to lift up the wafer and lift the dust 230, so that the wafer 40 is received by the wafer 40 and lifted up by the wafer 40. The removed fork n rotates further and returns from point D to point E again. After that, the wafer push-up seat Z3c is lowered.

- The 40 is placed on the belt and is stored outside from the sub-vacuum chamber by the belt.

In the halo loading method as in this embodiment, the wafer can be carried into and out of the equalizing ring by scooping up the fork and lifting the wafer and lifting the dust, so the equalizing ring has a guide groove for the pawl. In addition, the wafer can be scooped up and transported with a fork, and the wafer can be transported between the processing chamber and the sub-vacuum chamber while being carried into the equalization ring, so the wafer can be moved to a specified position without having to directly grasp it with claws. can be transported to the location.

As explained above, the present invention carries the wafer into the equalizing ring and takes it out of the equalizing ring by raising and lowering the wafer, and the wafer is uniformly Since the equalizing ring is transported between the processing chamber and the sub-vacuum chamber, there is no need to provide guide grooves for the claws on the equalizing ring, so wafer processing can be made uniform and there is no need to provide a guide groove for the claws in the equalizing ring. This makes it easier to carry the wafer in and take it out of the equalization ring, and it also allows the wafer to be transported to a predetermined location without having to directly grip it with claws, which has the effect of preventing damage to the wafer during transport.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 illustrate one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wading/10-ding device in which the present invention is implemented. Figure J2 is a cross-sectional view from E in Figure 1. lO...Processing chamber, 20...Sub-vacuum chamber,
4...Claw, n...Arm, 23a to 23c...2, -7% push-up seat, required...
... Equalizing ring seat, n...Fork, (9)
... Equalization ring, 40...tsu, -ha agent patent attorney Usui 1) Li Kougai 1] Supply Storage zQJ ゛23a

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1 General formula for wafers into an equalization ring that uniformizes wafer processing, transport out of the equalization ring, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment that processes the wafers carried into the equalization ring. In a wafer loading method in which the wafer is transferred between a processing chamber and a sub-vacuum chamber provided in the processing chamber. The wafer is carried into the equalization ring and taken out of the equalization ring by scooping up and raising/lowering wafer/1, and the equalization ring into which the wafer has been carried is transferred to the processing chamber and the sub-vacuum chamber. A wafer loading method characterized by transporting between.