JPS61133640A - Wafer carrying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent attachment of dust on wafers, by sucking the dust, which is yielded from a carrier and the like into a cleaning unit at the lower part of a cleaning tunnel, and discharging clean air from the upper part of the wafers. CONSTITUTION:A cleaning tunnel 11 is separated into the upper part and the lower part by a partitioning wall 17. A carrier 15 moves in the upper part of the tunnel 11. A truck 12 moves in the lower part of the tunnel 11. A cleaning unit 21 is provided at the adjacent part of the tunnel 11. Air is sent to the upper part from a fan 22 in the direction of an arrow and filtered by an air filter 23. The air is sent to the upper part of the tunnel 11 and inputted in the unit 21 through a slit 18 and the lower part of the tunnel 11. Thus the attachment of dust on wafers can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Use] The present invention relates to a wafer transfer device, and more particularly to a transfer device that utilizes a clean tunnel used to transfer wafers between processes.

[Conventional technology]

Semiconductor integrated circuits are formed on wafers, and the wafers are cut into individual chips by dicing. Before the wafer is divided into chips, the wafer is subjected to cleaning, ion implantation, chemical vapor deposition, and other treatments in a clean room. For this purpose, the wafer must be transported from one process to the next.

Traditionally, transporting such wafers relied on human labor, but
Wafers are now transferred mechanically and automatically to eliminate manual labor and to prevent the generation of dust due to the movement of people within the clean room.

Referring to FIG. 4, within the clean room there are stations 42a and 42b that carry out the processes described above.

42c, 42d are arranged, and each station is provided with a transfer machine 43a, . . . , 43e. When input is received from the keyboard, a carrier containing wafers in a loft is taken out from a transfer machine, placed on a transport trolley,
The carrier is transferred onto the loop 45 from one of the branch lines 44a, .

The transport cart used for moving the carrier is shown in the side sectional view of Fig. 5 ta), and in the figure, 51 is a clean tunnel;
52 is a transport cart (also called a container), 53 is a rail,
54 is a carrier, 55 is a wafer, and 56 is a high efficiency air filter (HEPA, High 1efficiency P).
(commonly referred to as articu-1ate Air-Filter), and the transport cart moves in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper.

The carrier 54 is shown in the front sectional view of FIG. 5 (bl), and the speed limit for this type of carrier is 5 m/SeC. Note that clean air is sent in the direction of the arrow in the figure.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The purpose of automating semiconductor device manufacturing lines was to improve productivity, so the above-mentioned transport system became a reality, but now that we have entered the VLSI era, equipment has
The cassette-to-cassette system is adopted, and isolation of workers, who are the biggest cause of dust, is required not only in the wafer processing process but also in the transport process.

In the method shown in FIG. 5+al, there is a problem in that the dust generated below the transport carriage is blown up by the turbulent flow accompanying the movement of the transport carriage and adheres to the wafer. Such turbulence occurs more often in the method shown in FIG. 5 (bl).

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides a clean tunnel for transporting wafers that solves the above-mentioned problems, and the means thereof include a carriage that carries a carrier containing wafers and moves therein, and a transport tunnel that allows the carriage to move inside. and a partition wall having a slit extending in the traveling direction of the cart and partitioning the transport tunnel into an upper part and a lower part, the carrier moves within the upper part of the transport tunnel, and the cart This is accomplished by a wafer transfer device that moves in the lower part of a tunnel, feeds clean air into the upper part, and exhausts air from the lower part.

[Effect]

In the above device, the wafer carrier is placed on a platform formed at the upper end of a support shaft provided on a transport vehicle, and the lower movable portion of the transport vehicle and the platform are connected by a partition wall provided with a slit for the support shaft. Clean air is injected from an air filter above the wafer carrier and flows through the slit from below the carrier, through the clean unit, and to the filter, so that the wafer is always supplied with clean air. The wafers are always transported in a clean state because the dust generated by the wafers is always removed by the clean unit.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

An embodiment of the present invention is shown in a side sectional view in FIG. 1, which is composed of a clean tunnel 11 (extending perpendicular to the plane of the paper), a transport trolley 12 with tires 12a, and a carrier □ support stand 13. What is a carrier support stand? Support shaft 1
A carrier 15 accommodating a plurality of wafers 16 is placed on the carrier support stand 13 . Control signals are transmitted to the truck from the rails 20.

The clean tunnel 11 is divided into an upper part and a lower part by a partition wall 17, and a slit 18 is formed in the partition wall 17 for the movement of the support shaft 14 and for airflow to be described later.

Clean unit 21 adjacent to clean tunnel 11
A fan 22 is provided below inside the clean unit.
, an air filter (HEPA) 23 is arranged above.

In operation, the air sent upwards in the direction of the arrow from the fan 22 is filtered by the air filter 23, the clean air thus created is sent in the direction of the arrow through the holes 24 into the upper part of the clean tunnel, and the clean air is then passed through the slits. 1
Enter the lower part of the clean tunnel through hole 25.
Enter the clean unit 21 from there.

In this way, clean air is always blown onto the wafer 16, and the dust generated from the motor 19 and rail 20 disposed below the carrier is carried to the clean unit 21 and does not enter the upper part of the clean tunnel.

The clean tunnel is suspended from anchor bolts 27 placed on the ceiling 26, and the transport truck is moved by the system shown in FIG. It is preferable to arrange one clean unit every 5 to 7 m in the straight part of the loop 45, and two clean units in the branch part.

In order to prevent the wafer from falling during transportation, the carrier 15 is tilted and supported on a support 13a that is spring-loaded onto the base 13, as shown in the front sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 2(1)) is a plan view of the platform 13, and the ceiling of the tunnel is omitted in this figure.

When the cart arrives at the destination, the carrier 15 is pushed downward by a robot or the like to make it horizontal, and then the carrier is taken out.

For this purpose, the means shown in the plan view of FIG. 3 is used.

To move the carrier that has entered the station 32 from the loading/unloading 31 that passes through the loop to the shelf 33, operate the fork portion 34 that moves up and down in the XY and θ directions, move it to the loading/unloading 31, and move the carrier to the shelf 33. 15 on the fork 35, then move backward, change direction, face the shelf 33, and move up and down if necessary to place the carrier in a predetermined position on the shelf.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, wafers, which are objects to be transported, are isolated from outside air and rails by a clean tunnel,
Dust from transport vehicles is sucked into the clean unit at the bottom of the clean tunnel, and clean air is released from above the wafer, and since the wafer is almost horizontal to the direction of travel, no dust sticks to the wafer. Since it prevents this and improves the cleanliness, it is highly effective in improving the manufacturing yield of semiconductor devices and product reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 (al is the first
A front cross-sectional view of the transport vehicle for the equipment shown in the figure, (bl is a plan view of the platform of the equipment shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a plan view of the means for moving the carrier shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a clean room 5 (Al and (BL are side sectional views and front sectional views of the conventional example. In the figure, 11 is a clean tunnel, 12 is a transport cart, 12
a is a tire, 13 is a base, 14 is a spindle, 15 is a carrier, 16 is a wafer, 17 is a partition, 18 is a slit, 19 is a motor, 20 is a rail, 21 is a clean unit, 22
23 is a fan, 23 is an air filter, 24 and 25 are holes, 26 is a ceiling, and 27 is an anchor bolt. Figure 1 Figure 2 (CI) Figure 2 (b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] It has a carriage that carries a carrier containing wafers thereon, a transport tunnel in which the carriage can move, and a slit extending in the direction in which the carriage moves, and the transport tunnel is divided into upper and lower parts. the carrier is moved in the upper part of the transport tunnel, the cart is moved in the lower part of the transport tunnel, clean air is sent to the upper part, and exhaust air is exhausted from the lower part. A wafer transfer device characterized by: