JPS6144428A - Manufacturing equipment of semiconductor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable accurate and planned maintenance by enabling to display stored data of operational conditions such as the time of operation or number of operations of every factor at any time. CONSTITUTION:The luminance information of a lamp 11 is taken in a main control CPU70 from a luminance detector 100 and the used time information of the lamp 11 is also taken in the CPU70 from an oscillator 60. These informations are stored in a memory 80. The operational conditions of each unit of equipment are also stored in the memory 80 through the CPU70. The informations stored in the memory 80 can be taken out at any time by giving a command from a console 90. The CPU70 transfers a read out information to a console CPU92 and the CPU92 displays the information in a CRT94. Such a function enables a planned and efficient operation and sufficient maintenance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of the Invention 1] The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, such as a device called a mask aligner, and particularly to regular inspections or adjustments necessary to maintain the device at its highest performance over a long period of time. This invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment that allows easy acquisition of information regarding maintenance.

[Background of the Invention] Semiconductor manufacturing equipment such as mask aligners are expensive and are usually operated continuously during periods of use, so maintenance-related measures are important.

Conventionally, in order to maintain such an exposure bag Wl (mask aligner) in a state where it can exhibit its maximum performance for a long period of time, it has been necessary to monitor the usage time or number of times of use of the equipment by using a built-in or The timing of inspection or adjustment is known by checking an externally installed cumulative time meter or numeral, and the specified inspection or adjustment is performed depending on the time or number of times.

However, with this method, it is necessary to frequently check the cumulative rR time meter or the number of times.
This placed a heavy burden on equipment maintenance personnel. Furthermore, since the operators of the equipment are generally not informed of the timing of inspections and adjustments, they may neglect inspections and adjustments and use the equipment with degraded performance.

Furthermore, even if the timing of inspection and adjustment is specified in the instruction manual or maintenance manual, it is difficult to know when the inspection or adjustment period is due for a device as sophisticated as a mask aligner and with a large number of components. It is not easy to know whether the product is being used properly or not, and in order to properly perform these inspections and adjustments, it was necessary to read the instruction manual or maintenance manual very carefully and always keep an eye on the conditions of use. Therefore, the skill and attentiveness of the personnel required for maintenance were required, and the burden was heavy.

[Object of the Invention] In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to extract necessary information at any time in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and to enable accurate and planned maintenance.

[Explanation of Examples] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of a mask aligner according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is an illumination system which includes a lamp 11, a shutter 12, an optical lens, etc. The illumination light flux generated from the lamp 11 is transmitted to the shutter 12
The light beam is changed to υ111] and is irradiated onto the reticle set on the reticle stage 30. The image of the reticle passes through the projection lens 40 and is focused on the wafer mounted on the wafer stage 50 by the light beam irradiated onto the reticle.

The alignment scope 20 is used to observe the reticle and the wafer in order to align their positional relationship, or to detect relative positional deviation m. Information on the amount of relative positional deviation obtained by the alignment scope 20 is sent to the main body control CPU 70. Main body 111t11
The CPtJ 70 moves the reticle stage 30 or the wafer stage 50 to align the positions of the reticle and the wafer, and when the reticle and the wafer are fully aligned, sends an opening/closing command to the shutter 12 to place the reticle on the wafer. The image is projected and exposed to transfer the image. After the exposure is completed, the wafer is exchanged by the wafer transport section 51,
Repeat the same action again. Furthermore, when the printing on the same reticle is completed, the reticle is replaced by the reticle conveying section 31, and the printing operation is repeated again.

As the baking is repeated one after another as described above, each part of the device deteriorates or changes over time, making it impossible to achieve the maximum performance that was originally adjusted and set.

For example, regarding the lamp 11, the lamp brightness decreases as the lamp remains open for a long time, and when constant-consistency exposure is performed, the exposure time becomes longer and the throughput (processing efficiency) of the device decreases significantly. , reducing the operating efficiency of expensive equipment and leading to large losses.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the brightness information of the lamp 11 is sent from the brightness detector 100, and the operating time information of the lamp 11 is sent to the main body from the oscillator 60.
The data is captured into the memory 80 and stored (stored) in the memory 80.

Furthermore, not only information about the lamp 11 but also the operating status of each unit of the device is accumulated and stored in the memory 80 via the main body control I CPU 70. For example, the main system wcpu 70 drives the wafer stage 50 in order to align the positions of the reticle and the wafer, and stores the number of times the drive is performed in the mesori 80. In the case of a shutter, the number of times the shutter is opened and closed is stored in the memory 80. Furthermore, if necessary, the number of times the reticle stage and objective lens of the alignment scope are driven, the number of times the reticle is transported, etc. can also be stored in the memory 8.
Store it at 0. The various information thus stored in the memory 80 can be retrieved at any time by giving commands from the console 90.

For example, in order to check the operating status of the wafer stage 50 described above, first, an alphabet coded with "diagnosis of wafer stage" is keyed in from the input keyboard 91. Then, the console CP (J92) takes in this input code and transmits it to the main body control CPU 10.
CP tJ 70 reads information such as the operating time and number of operations of wafer stage 50 stored in memory 80 and transmits it to console CPU 92 again. This causes the console CP IJ 92 to
This information is displayed on T94.

With these functions, service personnel or users can
You can take planned and efficient actions and perform maintenance to the fullest.

Furthermore, as described above, it would be more effective to display the processing required at that time in addition to each piece of information or alone by instructing the display of accumulated information. For example, in the case of the above-mentioned "wafer stage diagnosis", if the operating time or number of operations of the wafer stage, or the elapsed time since the previous inspection or adjustment, etc., have reached the predetermined conditions,
In addition to displaying this information on the console CRT 94, depending on the above conditions, for example, "
Lubricate the wafer stage. ", [Please adjust the gear backlash of the wafer stage mechanism. J or "Please replace the ball screw and bearing of the wafer stage." is displayed.

Please note that these displays are not limited to characters;
Pictures, symbols, etc. can be anything as long as they are easy to understand for the viewer. Further, a display or warning may be provided by a light emitting means such as an LED or a lamp, or by sound.

[Scope of Application of the Invention] Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented with appropriate modifications within a range that does not depart from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above, an example in which the present invention is applied to a mask aligner has been described, but the present invention is applicable not only to mask aligners but also to peripheral devices such as blowers and all other semiconductor manufacturing equipment and semiconductor manufacturing process inspection equipment. It can also be applied to Also,
In the above description, a CRT is used as the display means, but a character or numeric display such as an LED or LCO may also be used. Further, as the display command input means, a switch exclusively for inputting display commands may be provided on the input keyboard or at any other desired location.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the usage status such as the operating time and the number of actual operations of each element is accumulated in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and this accumulated data can be displayed at any time. It becomes possible to carry out accurate and planned maintenance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of a mask aligner according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Illumination system, 11... Lamp, 20... Alignment scope, 21... Laser, 22... Microscope 1
1vL, 30... Reticle stage, 31... Reticle transport section, 40... Projection lens, 50... Wafer stage, 51... Wafer transport section, 60... Oscillator, 70... Book System mcpu, 80...Memory, 90
...Console, 91...Input keyboard, 92.
...Console CPU193...Memory, 94...
C.R.T.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Means for accumulating usage status such as operating time and number of actual operations of semiconductor manufacturing equipment or each part of the apparatus, means for instructing reading and displaying of the accumulated data, and means for accumulating the accumulated data in response to the instruction. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus characterized by having means for displaying data. 2. Claim 1, in which one or more pieces of accumulated data are selected and displayed according to the instruction content from the instruction means.
Semiconductor manufacturing equipment as described in . 3. According to the content of the instruction from the instruction means, one or more pieces of accumulated data are calculated using an appropriate calculation formula, and the necessity of inspection or adjustment is displayed according to the calculation result, as claimed in claim 1. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus described. 4. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the information display means is a CRT. 5. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein each part of the apparatus is a drive mechanism for a lamp, a wafer stage, a reticle stage, a shutter, an alignment scope objective lens wafer transport section, or a reticle transport section. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment.