JPS5833828A - Semiconductor surface treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance film quality and attain high speed treatment by loading and unloading the object to be processed at a time in unit of plural numbers for processing and by processing them at the processor through the movement in the same attitude. CONSTITUTION:Since plurality sheets of wafers transferred by the transfer portion 11 are simultaneously processed as a group consisting of plurality of wafers, a thin film can be formed at a time on the wafer surface with homogeneous quality of film. In addition, since the wafers of a group are being processed, other wafers are sequentially advanced for processing, the wafer processing efficiency is also not lowered. Moreover, the wafers are completely transferred automatically between the transfer portion 11-loader 13-processor 10-unloader 14- transfer portion 12, therefore realizing the automatic processing of the apparatus.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to surface treatment ii*t suitable for semiconductor wafer CVD processing, etching processing, other thin film formation processes, etc. It is a device that can be used.

CVD and etching are used to manufacture the 11-piece M-mount.

Other types of treatment such as thin film formation are required.

For example, in the CVD process, as shown in FIG. 1, an upper electrode 1 and a lower electrode 2 are provided facing each other, and a wafer 3
A configuration is adopted in which a high frequency wave is applied between both electrodes while supporting the wafer 3 and heating it with a heater 4, and the reactive gas 5 is reacted and decomposed by the plasma generated between the electrodes to form a thin film on the wafer surface. ing. Also, in this case,
When processing multiple wafers continuously, please refer to Figure 2 (
2) As shown in @, the wafers 3a-h are arranged in series on a straight line or on the circumference, and the wafers 3s+xh are processed while sequentially moving from one side to the other as shown by the arrows in the figure.

By the way, in such a processing apparatus, a plurality of reaction stages are usually provided in order to increase the number of processing per time, and each wafer 3a to 3h is provided with a total of 6 reaction stages.
Since the film is configured so that it has a predetermined thickness after passing through a-f, changes in film quality occur between the films formed at each stage, resulting in a laminated film and improving the homogeneity of the film. The problem is that it is bad. Further, in the above-mentioned process, since the wafer is heated by radiant heat, there are problems in that the uniformity of the heating temperature is poor and the temperature rise time also takes a long time.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned apparatus, in order to prevent foreign matter generated during processing from adhering to the wafer surface, a claw 7m is provided on the ring-shaped holder 7 integrated in the upper electrode 1 as shown in No. 3w, and the wafer is 3 is hooked onto this claw 7a and held. For this reason, since the holder 7 becomes a part of the high frequency electrode, it is necessary to use an aluminum material with good high frequency conductivity and to make the claws 7a small, making the claws 7a easy to break. Further, since the loading of the wafer into the holder 7 is normally carried out by inverting the wafer with its surface facing up using a vacuum bin set or the like, there is a problem that the workability is poor and it is not suitable for automation.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a processing section that can temporarily process a plurality of objects to be processed such as wafers, a transport section that transports the objects to be processed in series, and a processing section that can temporarily process a plurality of objects to be processed such as wafers. A loader and an unloader are provided for transporting the workpiece into and out of the processing section at the same time, and the processing section is configured so that the processing object can be transferred between the electrode and the loader and the unloader while maintaining the same posture, and can be processed. The object of the present invention is to provide a surface treatment apparatus that improves film quality and speeds up processing, while also enabling automation.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on illustrated embodiments.

4 and 5 are a front sectional view and a schematic plan view of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, in which 10 is a processing section, 11.12
13 and 14 are loaders and unloaders that transfer wafers between the transport sections 11 and 12 and the processing section 10; The section 10 consists of a central section [1i[15] and pre-processing reserves 16. Post-execution reserve room 17
The structure is constructed in such a way that it is kept airtight from the outside. Central office fM1!
The upper electrode 1 integrally has a dot #19 on the upper part of the electrode 15.
8 is kept constant, and a soaking board 20 is provided on the barley II (lower III), and a heat insulating board 21 is provided behind it. (See Fig. 8) A lower electrode 22 that can move up and down is supported by a vertical drive wheel 23, and this lower electrode 22 has a sixth
As shown in the drawings and FIG. 8, a supporter 25 having four claws 26 is attached via an insulating ring 24. As shown in FIG. 6, this pawl 26 can move up and down between the four corner notches 939 of the transport trays 35 and 37, which will be described later, and can support a circumferential image area of the wafer W by each passage 6. The vertical movement shaft 23 is divided into two parts in the length direction as shown in FIG. 8, and the two parts are connected by a bellies 27, and the sleeve 28 fixed to the lower shaft can be moved one-way to the shaft of one track. Push it in and keep it straight. A through hole 29 communicating with a reactant gas source (not shown) is formed in the vertical movement shaft 23, and a reactant gas can be introduced into the central processing chamber 15 through this hole.
is the reaction gas exhaust path. In this embodiment, the supporters 25 provided on the lower electrode 22 are arranged in three regions 25axc in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper (see FIG. 5).

Meanwhile, each of the aforementioned spares! At 16 and 17, there is a loading door 31. The carry-out door 32 is provided so as to be vertically Nll5, and especially when w5 is formed, the inside is isolated from the outside, and the inside of the preliminary chamber can be brought into a vacuum state by the action of a vacuum pump (not shown). In addition, when the vacuum state is reached in this way, each preliminary chamber 16, 17 and the central processing chamber 15
The normally closed shutters 33 and 34 located at the boundary between the two can be opened.

Furthermore, in each of the preparatory chambers 16, 17, transport F-rays 35, 37 having support portions 36, 38 on which wafers can be placed are formed at the ends on the side of the central processing chamber 15, respectively, in the left and right direction in FIG. They are designed so that you can move back and forth.

The support portions 36 and 38 are formed with the aforementioned four corner notches 39 (see FIG. 6). Further, the loading door 31. In the vicinity of the carry-out door 32, a reversing arm 40, 41 is installed which can rotate approximately 180 degrees in the vertical direction and is capable of vacuum suctioning a wafer. In the figure, 42.43 is the transport tray 35, 37
It is a rail for transportation.

Note that the transport tray 35 and the reversing arm 40 constitute the loader 13, while the transport tray 37 and the reversing arm 41 constitute the unruder 14, and these loaders 13 and unruders 14 are located on both sides of the supporter 25aNc. 131Nc, 14a to CI2 are installed.

Further, on the outside of each of the preparatory chambers 16.17, transport arms 44.45 are disposed which are movable in a direction perpendicular to the paper drawing in FIG.
2. These transfer arms 44 and 45 can support wafers on their upper surfaces, and carry the wafers from the magazine 46 for the pre-processing process shown in FIG. 49. In addition, each stage 47, 4g of the 4-DA and AMP-DA holds three wafers W, Wa-c, W.
It is possible to arrange each of a' to C in series.

Next, the processing action of the apparatus of the present invention will be explained.

The transfer arm 44 of the transfer unit 11 supports the wafers W and transfers them to the loader desk 47, and when the wafers are arranged in three rows, the reversing arm 40 adsorbs the wafers W. Next, the loading door 31 At approximately the same time as is opened, the reversing arm 40 rotates to move the wafer W onto the transfer tray 35 and release the suction. As a result, the wafer W
is placed on the transport tray 35 with its surface facing downward. Then, the carry-in door 31 is closed, the preliminary chamber 16 is evacuated, and the normally closed shutter 33 is opened when a predetermined vacuum pressure is reached. Next, the transport tray 35 moves to the right as shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, and carries the wafer W.
stops at the position directly above the supporter 25.

Then, the supporter 25 moves upward together with the lower electrode 22,
As shown in FIG. 7 (2), the wafer W is scooped from the support portion 36 of the transport tray 37 onto the support 85 and supported on the claw 26 . Thereafter, the transport tray 35 moves back to the left to open and close the normally closed shutter 33. The lower electrode 22 continues to move upward, and finally brings the wafer W into contact with the heat soaking plate 20 as shown in FIG. In this state, heater 1
9 heats the wafer, introduces a reactive gas into the central processing chamber 15 through the through hole 29, and further heats the wafer through the upper and lower electrodes 18.
CV DJ 611 can be performed by applying a high frequency between the two. After the process is completed, the lower electrode 22 stops at a position that is significantly higher than the initial position.

Next, the normally closed shutter 34 between the post-processing preliminary chamber 17, which is already evacuated, is released, and the transport tray 37 is moved to the left, so that its support portion 38 enters under the support 25. Then, by lowering the lower electrode, the wafer W is transferred to the transfer tray 37, and by moving the transfer tray 37 to the right, the wafer W is moved into the preliminary chamber 17. The normally closed shutter 34 does *w4g. Next, when the unloading door 32 is opened and the reversing arm 41 is activated, the wafer W is transferred to the transfer arm 4 that was waiting at the unloading station 48.
1, it will be transported to the post-process side.

Here, in the above-mentioned operation, that is, wafer processing between the loader stage opening 47 and the amplifier stage opening 48, a plurality of wafers, three in this example, are simultaneously processed. Furthermore, each of the above-mentioned operations is carried out sequentially. For example, when one group (three wafers) of wafers is being processed in the central processing chamber 15, the wafers of the previous group (completed processing) After processing, the wafers (wafers processed) are carried out from the preliminary chamber 17 to the outside and transported by the transport section 12, and the wafers of the next group (wafers to be processed next)
is transported from the transport section 11 into the pre-processing chamber 16. At this time, it goes without saying that later groups of wafers are transferred to the loader stage transport 47.

Therefore, in the processing apparatus described above, a plurality of wafers transported by the transport section 11 are processed simultaneously as one group, so that a thin film cannot be formed on the surfaces of all the wafers at once. can form a homogeneous film. Further, while one group is being processed, other wafers are processed in a sequential manner, so that the processing efficiency of the wafers does not decrease. Further, the transport section 1l-a-der 13-processing section 10-unloader 14-
All movements of the wafer between the transport sections 12 can be performed automatically, allowing automatic processing of the apparatus. Particularly, since the wafers can be moved and transferred between the preliminary chambers 16 and 17 and the central processing room Rutomi 15 with the wafers facing downward, automation of the processing becomes extremely easy.

On the other hand, in the processing unit IO, as shown in No. 81g,
Since the wafer W is heated by being brought into contact with the heat-uniforming plate array q of the upper electrode 18 by the supporter 25, conductive heating is performed and heating can be more uniform than by radiation heating. In addition,
At this time, due to the buffering effect of the bellies 27 interposed in the vertically moving shaft 23, no excessive force is applied to the wafer when the wafer is pressed, and the wafer is not damaged.

Furthermore, since the supporter 25 is kept insulated from the lower electrode 22, the supporter itself is not formed as a part of the electrode, making it possible to use high-strength stainless steel to increase the strength of the claw 26. It can also be increased to prevent damage.

Here, although this embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an apparatus for CVD processing, it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to an apparatus for etching processing and other thin film forming processing.

As described above, according to the surface treatment apparatus of the present invention, the objects to be processed that are sequentially transported are brought in and out of the processing section in batches and processed, and the objects to be processed are kept in the same posture in the processing section. Since the treatment is carried out while the treatment is carried out, the surface of the object to be treated is made homogeneous and the quality of the film is improved, the processing speed is increased, and the apparatus can be automated.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a partial sectional view of the conventional device, Figure 2 (8) is a schematic plan view showing the process of the conventional device, Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-section of a part of Figure 1, and Figure 4 5 is a schematic plan view thereof, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a supporter portion, and FIG. 6 is a seventh perspective view. (2) is an explanatory view of the action of the same part, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 4. 10... Processing section, 11.12... Transport section, 13...
・Roll r, 14...7n0-1, 15...Central processing bureau, 16...Processing cylinder preliminary chamber, 17...Post-processing preliminary chamber, 18...Upper electrode, 19. ...Heater, 22...
Lower electrode, 25... Supporter, 26... Claw, 37.
39...Transport tray, 40.41...Reversing arm,
44.45--Transportation arm, 47--Loader stage support, 4B--.P-stage installation, W...
Wafer (processed object). Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A semiconductor surface processing apparatus comprising a processing section capable of processing a plurality of semiconductor processing objects such as wafers, and a transport section that sequentially transports the J6 objects in a serial manner. 1. A processing section capable of simultaneously processing multiple semiconductor processing objects such as wafers, a transport section that sequentially transports the processing objects in series, and a processing section that transfers the processing objects sequentially and in series, The processing section is equipped with a p-da and an un-radar that can be moved in and out of the processing section blindly, and the processing section maintains the position of the horse mackerel in the same position as the p-da and the un-radar. The semiconductor surface treatment i*t according to claim II, paragraph 1, is characterized in that the semiconductor surface treatment i*t described in item 1 of claim II is characterized in that it has a 111m1 area so that it can be transferred to another job and can be processed.