JPS6131611B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved substrate drying apparatus used during the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices.

As is well known, semiconductor devices such as ICs and transistors are manufactured by repeatedly subjecting Si substrates to impurity diffusion, photolithography, chemical processing, etc. During these manufacturing processes, cleaning and dehydration with high resistivity pure water are performed. contains many.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 1, the above-mentioned cleaning is carried out by storing a semiconductor substrate 1 in a plastic storage container 2 having a number of grooves supporting the peripheral surface of the semiconductor substrate and an opening at the bottom, and immersing the semiconductor substrate in a water tank. Dehydration can be done by dehydrating and drying the semiconductor substrate 1 using dry air blown out from the blowing tube A4 and blowing tube B6 shown in FIG. A so-called centrifugal dehydration method using rotation was common.

Since the method shown in FIG. 2 requires manual processing of each semiconductor substrate 1, it goes without saying that the work efficiency is extremely low and there is also a risk of damaging the semiconductor substrate 1. In addition, although the centrifugal dewatering method has better work efficiency than the spraying method shown in Figure 2, it is difficult to automate the attachment and detachment of the storage container 2 to the centrifugal dewatering device, and it is difficult to completely complete the series of cleaning and dewatering operations. difficult to automate. Furthermore, it is not only practically difficult to completely dehydrate the semiconductor substrate 1 using centrifugal force, but also there are disadvantages such as the semiconductor substrate 1 being bitten into the groove 3 of the storage container 2 by the centrifugal force, resulting in damage or contamination of the semiconductor substrate 1.

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In particular, the aforementioned disadvantages tend to become more pronounced as the diameter of the semiconductor substrate 1 increases.

The present invention has been made to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional drying method, and includes a feeding device, a pushing device having a pushing plate, a guide device having a stopper, a receiving device, and a conveying device. A semiconductor substrate drying apparatus capable of drying a substrate is provided.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part of the embodiment shown in FIG. In these figures, 34 is a water tank made of a material such as a vinyl chloride board;
A belt conveyor A32 consisting of two belts for conveying the storage container 2 is installed inside, and a motor B3
1 drives this belt conveyor A32. 33 is a bearing plate for pivotally supporting the motor A8 and the feed screw A9, and is provided at one end of the water tank 34. Reference numeral 10 denotes a handle A driven in the axial direction by the feed screw A9, which grips the storage container 2 on the belt conveyor A32 in the water tank 34 and feeds the storage container 2 intermittently. 11
is a push-up plate that is raised and lowered by a well-known drive device, such as a direct-acting cylinder or a motor and a link mechanism, and penetrates from the lower part of the water tank 34 between the belts of the belt conveyor A32 and from the lower opening of the storage container 2 into the storage container 2. This is for pushing up the semiconductor substrates 1 supported one by one. On the other hand, a belt conveyor B is located at a position apart from the water tank 34.
22 is disposed, and a receiving device is provided near the belt conveyor B22 for lifting and intermittently feeding a storage container 2 other than the storage container 2 in the water tank 34 on the belt conveyor B22 diagonally upward. ing. This receiving device has the opening of the storage container 2 facing the downstream opening of a guide device to be described later, and after receiving the semiconductor substrates 1 one after another, transfers the storage container 2 to the belt conveyor B22. That is, 21a and 21b are a handle B and a handle C, respectively, which grip the storage container 2 from both sides, and these are used for intermittent feeding, rotational operation, etc. by means of a feed screw B28 pivotally supported by a bearing plate 25 and a spline shaft 24. conduct. 29 and 30 are motor C and motor D, respectively.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a shielding plate for closing the open ends of the exhaust boxes 18 and 19, and a part of the shielding plate includes a semiconductor substrate 1.
A slit (not shown) is provided through which the container 2 can pass, and is provided so as to always close one opening of the storage container 2.

The storage container 2 in the water tank 34 and the handle B21a,
A guide device and an exhaust box, which will be described below, are provided between the storage container 2 which is held and tilted by the handle C21b. That is, an L-shaped upper guide 12 and a lower guide 13 are interposed between the two storage containers 2 and are tilted so that the receiving device side faces downward. As shown in FIG. 4, V grooves 36 and 37 are formed in the upper guide 12 and the lower guide 13, respectively.
37 are facing each other. Stoppers 14a to 14e are actuated by electromagnets provided on the upper guide 12, and have a movable iron core inside that moves up and down by electromagnetic force, and a pin 15 made of plastic material is attached to the tip of this iron core. ing.
Note that this movable iron core and pin 15 are pushed upward by a compression spring 35 when not energized.

Reference numerals 18 and 19 denote an exhaust box A and an exhaust box B, which sandwich the upper guide 12 and the lower guide 13, and each have a spray pipe A 16a, a spray pipe B 16b, and a spray pipe C.
38 are provided, and these spray pipes 16a, 16
b, 38 has air supply port A40 and air supply port B
Dry air is supplied through 41, and air is injected from the tip air blowing nozzle onto both sides of the semiconductor substrate 1 held by the pins 15.

17 and 39 are exhaust pipe A and exhaust pipe B, respectively.
This is for discharging the air blown from the blowing pipes 16a, 16b, and 38 and the water droplets adhering to the semiconductor substrate 1 to the outside.

A method of drying the semiconductor substrate 1 using the semiconductor substrate drying apparatus configured as described above will be described below.

The storage container 2 containing a plurality of semiconductor substrates 1 is loaded onto the belt conveyor A32 in the water tank 34, and the belt conveyor A32 is driven to move the storage container 2 in the water tank 34 to wash the semiconductor substrates 1. Convey to the end of belt conveyor A32,
It is stopped by a stopper (not shown). The stopped storage container 2 is gripped by the handle A10 and another handle (not shown), and is driven by the motor A8.
It is positioned at a predetermined position by rotating the feed screw A9. That is, the storage container 2 is positioned so that the groove 3 at the rearmost end thereof is aligned with the V grooves 36 and 37 of the upper guide 12 and the lower guide 13. Next, by pushing up the push-up plate 11, the same plate 11 is moved into the storage container 2.
is penetrated through the bottom opening of the storage container 2, and only one semiconductor substrate 1 in the storage container 2 is lifted up by the push-up plate 11. The upper surface of the push-up plate 11 that supports the semiconductor substrate 1 is formed into an inclined surface having almost the same slope as the slope of the lower guide 13. Therefore, the upper surface of the push-up plate 11 is in contact with the V-groove bottom surface of the lower guide 13. When the matching position is reached, the semiconductor substrate 1 rolls to the left in FIG. 3 due to its own weight. At this time, the semiconductor substrate 1 is placed on the upper guide 1
2. It rolls while being guided by the V grooves 36 and 37 of the lower guide 13. Note that V-grooves are also formed in the vertical portions of the upper guide 12 and the lower guide 13, that is, in the portions where the semiconductor substrate 1 is pushed up from the storage container 2 and guided to the rolling portion.

The semiconductor substrate 1, which has started rolling to the left in FIG. 3 between the upper guide 12 and the lower guide 13, hits the pin 15a of the first stopper 14a, which is lowered by being excited, and stops at this position. . Here, the dry air blown out from the blowing tube A16a, the blowing tube B16b, and the blowing tube C38 hits both surfaces of the semiconductor substrate 1, scattering water droplets attached to the semiconductor substrate 1. After a certain period of time, the blowing out of dry air is stopped,
The second stopper 14b is energized and excited to cause the pin 15b to protrude, and the first stopper 14a is de-energized to retract the pin 15a. Due to this operation, the semiconductor substrate 1 further rolls to the left in FIG. 3, and the stopper 1
4b is moved to the second drying position, and drying is performed in the same manner as the previous drying.

The same operation is sequentially performed on the third, fourth, and fifth stoppers 14c, 14d, and 14e to completely dry the semiconductor substrate 1. The semiconductor substrate 1 which has been finally dried passes through the slit of the shielding plate 20 and is stored in the groove of the empty storage container 2 which has been lifted up in advance as shown in FIG. next,
The storage container 2 in the water tank 34 is moved one pitch by the motor A8 and the feed screw A9, and the next semiconductor substrate is dried in the same manner as described above. Incidentally, the storage container 2 disposed on the downstream side of the guide device is similarly moved by one pitch by the drive of the motor C29 and the feed screw B28 before the next semiconductor substrate is transferred. On the other hand, all semiconductor substrates 1
The empty storage container 2 is sent to the drying section, and the belt 32 is driven by the reversal of the motor B31, and the storage container 2 is transferred to the water tank 3.
4 It is carried outside.

The storage container 2 on the downstream side of the guide device, which is filled with a plurality of semiconductor substrates 1 that have been cleaned and dried, is returned onto the belt conveyor 22 and discharged by rotation of the spline shaft 24 by the motor D30.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to continuously and automatically process drying of a large number of semiconductor substrates 1 housed in a storage container 2 after cleaning and storing them in another storage container 2. At the same time, since air is ejected several times within the guide device, complete drying can be achieved.

Further, since the semiconductor substrate 1 is transported by rolling due to its own weight, it is carried out smoothly, and there are many advantages such as no fear of damage or contamination.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a storage container for semiconductor substrates;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a conventional method for drying a semiconductor substrate, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is a semiconductor substrate, 2 is a storage container, 8 is a motor A, 9 is a feed screw A, 10 is a handle A, 11 is a push-up plate, 12 is an upper guide, 13 is a lower guide, 14a~
14e is a stopper, 15a to 15d are pins, 16
a is the spray pipe A, 16b is the spray pipe B, 17 is the exhaust pipe A, 18 is the exhaust box A, 19 is the exhaust box B, 20 is the shielding plate, 21a is the handle B, 21b is the handle C, 22 is the belt conveyor B , 23 is a belt, 24 is a spline shaft, 25 is a bearing plate, 26 is a pulley A, 27 is a pulley B, 28 is a feed screw B, 29 is a motor C,
30 is a motor D, 31 is a motor B, 32 is a belt conveyor A, 33 is a bearing plate, 34 is a water tank, 35 is a compression spring, 36 and 37 are V grooves, 38 is a blowing pipe C,
39 is an exhaust pipe B, 40 is an air supply port A, and 41 is an air supply port D. 〓〓〓〓

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A feeding device for moving a storage container which supports a plurality of semiconductor substrates so that their main surfaces face each other and has an opening at the bottom so that the semiconductor substrates sequentially and intermittently reach a predetermined position; a push-up device having a push-up plate located at the bottom opening of the storage container and penetrating the inside of the container; and a guide surface that is inclined so that the semiconductor substrate pushed up by the push-up device rolls under its own weight. a guide device;
A plurality of stoppers are arranged along the rolling direction of the guide device and are operated by electromagnets to lock the rolling semiconductor substrate, and the stoppers are arranged opposite to each other on both sides of the semiconductor substrate locked by each stopper. An exhaust box having an air blowing nozzle and an exhaust port, and an opening of a storage container for storing semiconductor substrates processed by the exhaust box are arranged to face an opening on the downstream side of the guide device, and the semiconductor substrates are sequentially and uniformly fixed. a receiving device for moving the storage container so as to support it at the pitch of the container;
A semiconductor substrate drying apparatus comprising a transport device that transports a storage container containing semiconductor substrates using the receiving device.