JPS61159570A - Wafer conveyor for ion implanting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a wafer conveyor which is free from particle generation with relatively simple constitution by constituting the conveyor in such a manner that a wafer carried from a preliminary vacuum chamber into a vacuum treating chamber is moved into an ion implanting part by using a rotating means and is then moved into the preliminary vacuum chamber by using again the rotating means. CONSTITUTION:The 1st sheet of the wafer W is carried through a vacuum gate 12 into the preliminary vacuum chamber 10 and is held with a wafer platen 37 by a wafer retainer 72. The inside of the chamber 10 is then preliminarily evacuated to a prescribed value and the inside of the vacuum treating chamber 20 is maintained in a high vacuum state. The state shown in the figure is attained by the 1st and 2nd driving means 50 and 60 and thereafter the rotating part is rotated approximately 180 deg.. The inside of the chamber 20 is further evacuated in this state and is ionized to effect the ion implantation treatment. The wafer W is carried 12 into the chamber 10 and the inside of the chamber is preliminarily evacuated. The rotating part is rotated again approximately 180 deg. after the degree of vacuum in the chamber 10 attains the prescribed value and the ion implantation ends. The inside of the chamber 20 is further evacuated and the 2nd sheet of the wafer W is subjected to the ion implantation treatment. The 1st sheet of the wafer W is ejected 12 from the chamber 10 and the next wafer is carried into the chamber.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a wafer transfer device for implanting ions into a wafer in a vacuum processing chamber of an ion implantation apparatus.

[Prior art and its problems] As is well known, in an ion implantation apparatus, a wafer is transported from the atmosphere through a preliminary vacuum chamber to a vacuum processing chamber, and after ion implantation, the wafer is returned to the atmosphere through the preliminary vacuum chamber. A wafer transport device is provided to carry out the wafer.

As this type of wafer transport device, a device that utilizes the weight of the wafer has been known. This conventional apparatus has a wafer inclined guide means from the atmosphere to the vacuum processing chamber via a pre-vacuum chamber, and another inclined guide means from the vacuum processing chamber to the atmosphere via another pre-vacuum chamber. The wafer is sequentially moved downward by using the wafer's own weight using the inclined guide means to perform the ion implantation process.

The above-mentioned conventional example has the advantage of not requiring a drive device for wafer conveyance, but has the following problems.

That is, in the case of a wafer provided with photoresist e, (a
) When the MG gets stuck during transport, causing a temporary interruption of the work, (b) When stopping the Uni-No with the stopper, the resist layer attached to the wafer edge and the wafer edge itself are destroyed, resulting in so-called particles (dust). was the cause of the outbreak. Furthermore, even if a photoresist layer is not provided on the wafer, the problem (a) above cannot be completely eliminated, and furthermore, as in (b) above, particle generation due to damage to the wafer edge itself becomes a problem. Ta.

[Object of the Invention] An object of the present invention is to provide a wafer transfer device for an ion implantation apparatus that eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional example described above. The above-mentioned objective is achieved by moving the ion-implanted sea urchin l\ to the ion implantation section using a rotating means, and moving the ion-implanted sea urchin l\ to the preliminary vacuum chamber again using the rotating means.

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention relates to an apparatus for implanting ions into Unino\ in a vacuum processing chamber, including at least one pre-vacuum chamber, a rotating means having a rotating part inside the vacuum processing chamber, and the rotating part. at least two wafer holding means provided in the wafer holding means;
A first driving means for selectively driving the wafer holding means to a predetermined position in the vacuum processing chamber and the preliminary vacuum chamber, and a second driving means for driving the wafer holding means to a predetermined position in the ion implantation section. The ion implantation is characterized in that the wafer carried into the preliminary vacuum chamber is transported to the ion implantation unit by the rotation means, and after ion implantation, the wafer is carried out of the apparatus via the rotation means and the preliminary vacuum chamber. This is the wafer transport device of the device.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 and 2 are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows the state during ion implantation and the transfer of wafers between the preliminary vacuum chamber and the outside of the apparatus, FIG. 2 shows the state of the rotating part just before or after rotation.

In FIG. 1, a pre-vacuum chamber (load-lock chamber or pre-vacuum chamber) IO has a vacuum gate 12 for carrying a wafer into the apparatus and carrying the wafer out of the apparatus. That is,
A wafer to be subjected to ion implantation is carried into the preliminary vacuum chamber 12 from the atmosphere (outside the apparatus) through the gate 12 (
(in the direction of arrow 14), while the wafer after ion implantation is carried out into the atmosphere through gate (12) (in the direction of arrow 16).
Furthermore, the wafer cassette and the wafers from this wafer cassette are carried into the preliminary vacuum chamber one by one.

Alternatively, the means for storing the ion-implanted wafer from the preliminary vacuum chamber into the wafer cassette is not shown because it is not directly related to the present invention.

The rotating means 18 consists of a rotating part 22 and a driving part 24 provided inside a vacuum processing chamber (ion implantation chamber) 20.
The rotating part 22 and the driving part 24 are magnetically sealed bearings 2
It is connected via 5.

The rotating portion 22 includes a member 28 fixed to a rotating shaft 26;
Arms 30 and 32 that are pivotally supported by this member 28, a platen 34 that pivotally supports arm 30, and a platen 3 that pivotally supports arm 32.
Consists of 6th class. Wafer fist platens (wafer holding means) 35 and 37 are fixed to the platens 34 and 36, respectively, and are replaceable according to the size of the wafer, and the wafer W held by the wafer platens 35 and 37 is ionized by rotation. It is transported near the injection section 38 and near the preliminary vacuum chamber.

Note that a dashed arrow 40 indicates the direction in which ions fly, and 42 is a member that adjusts the ion implantation angle (channel angle) into the wafer.

The first drive means 50 includes a drive section 52 driven by hydraulic pressure, pneumatic pressure, etc., a shaft 54 driven by the drive section 52 substantially in the left-right direction in the drawing, and a platen 56 pivotally supported by the shaft 54. have

On the other hand, the second drive means 60, like the first drive means 50 described above, includes a drive section 62, a shaft 64 driven by the drive section 62 in the substantially left-right direction in the drawing, and a shaft 14 that is supported by the shaft 14. It has a platen 66.

Note that the heat generated by ion implantation into the wafer.

It is absorbed by a suitable coolant circulating inside the platen 56 via a bendable pipe 58.

As shown, the wafer W is held on wafer platens 35 and 37 by wafer pressers 72 and 74, respectively. The wafer holders 72 and 74 hold or release the wafer W by the wafer holder driving means 74 when the wafer W is carried into the preliminary vacuum chamber 10 . Note that the evacuation systems for the preliminary vacuum chamber and the vacuum processing chamber are not shown.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. First, the first wafer is transferred from the wafer cassette to the preliminary vacuum chamber 10 via the vacuum gate 12 using appropriate means (both not shown), and is held by the wafer holder 72 to the wafer platen 37 (in the case shown). ) (@1
(state in the figure) 0 Next, in this state, the pre-vacuum chamber is pre-evacuated to a predetermined value (for example, l O Torr), and
The vacuum processing chamber 20 is placed in a high vacuum state (for example, l 0 = Torr
) Then, the first and second driving means 50 and 60 bring the one rotation portion into the state shown in FIG. Since the arms 30 and 32 are biased toward the right side in the drawing in the state shown in FIG. 1, the shaft 54 of the first drive means 50 and the second drive means 60
If the shaft 64 is pulled, the state shown in FIG. 2 will be obtained. In this state, the rotating part is rotated approximately 180 degrees, and the shafts 54 and 6 are rotated again.
4, the state shown in FIG. 1 will be obtained. In this state,
The vacuum processing chamber 20 is further evacuated to perform the ion implantation process, and the gate 12 is opened to carry the second wafer into the preliminary vacuum chamber 10 for preliminary vacuum evacuation. When the predetermined value is reached and the ion implantation is completed, the state shown in FIG. 2 is returned, the rotating part is rotated approximately 180 degrees, and the shafts 54 and 64 are extended again to obtain the state shown in FIG. 1. Next, the vacuum processing chamber 20 is further evacuated and the second wafer is subjected to ion implantation processing, and the gate 12 is opened to take out the first wafer from the preliminary vacuum chamber lO, and the third wafer is wafers are carried into the preliminary vacuum chamber lO. Thereafter, this process is repeated to complete ion implantation into all wafers in the wafer cassette.

In the above description, the number of preliminary vacuum chambers is one, but it may be two or more. If there are two or more preliminary vacuum chambers, it is also possible to have a plurality of ion implantation sections.

For example, if there is one ion implantation section and two preliminary vacuum chambers, one preliminary vacuum chamber can be used only for loading wafers, and the other chamber can be used only for unloading wafers, which will speed up the ion implantation process. I can figure it out. In this case, the ion implantation part and the
The preliminary vacuum chambers are provided at intervals of 120 degrees, and by rotating the above-mentioned rotating part in one direction by 120 degrees, the wafer is transferred from one of the preliminary vacuum chambers to the ion implantation section at the same time. The ion-implanted wafer is transferred to the other preliminary vacuum chamber.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a wafer transfer device that does not generate particles can be obtained with a relatively simple configuration without providing a structure for stopping the wafer with a stopper as in the conventional example. be able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are schematic sectional views for explaining the present invention. lO: Preliminary vacuum chamber 18: Rotating means 20: Vacuum processing chamber 38: Ion implantation section 50: First driving means 60: Second driving means 50: Rotating means Patent applicant Tokyo Electron Co., Ltd. Agent
Patent Attorney Toshiaki Morisaki Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] Regarding an apparatus for implanting ions into a wafer in a vacuum processing chamber, at least one preliminary vacuum chamber, a rotating means having a rotating part inside the vacuum processing chamber, and at least two wafer holding means provided in the rotating part. a first driving means for selectively driving the wafer holding means to predetermined positions in the vacuum processing chamber and the preliminary vacuum chamber; and a second driving means for driving the wafer holding means to a predetermined position in the ion implantation section. The wafer carried into the preliminary vacuum chamber is transported to the ion implantation section by the rotation means, and after ion implantation, the wafer is carried out of the apparatus via the rotation means and the preliminary vacuum chamber. Wafer transport device for ion implantation equipment.