JPS62104131A - Wafer measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use a batch-processing wafer measuring apparatus in-line by inserting the apparatus in a semiconductor-manufacturing process line as required and to eliminate necessity of dual installtions, by providing conveying mechanisms on the side of a cabinet and the side of a loader/unloader. CONSTITUTION:When a wafer measuring apparatus 1, which is sued off-line, is used on-line, detachable loader/unloader units 6 and 7 are removed. Auxiliary moving mechanisms 80 and 81, which are linked to belt transporting mechanisms, re amounted on both sides of a central cabinet 3 in place of the loader/unloader units 6 and 7. Belt conveying mechanisms 84 and 85 are linked to belt transporting mechanisms of a semiconductor manufacturing line A. Wafer 12, whose measurement is finished, is moved to a belt conveying mechanism 50 from an X-Y stage 10 and then transferred to a belt conveying mechanism 83. The wafer is delivered to a belt conveying mechanism on the manufacturing line. Thus, the wafer measuring apparatus 1 can be incorporated into the manufacturing line simply as an in-line mode.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Fields] This invention is applicable to wafer pattern dimension measurement and alignment accuracy of 7! It relates to a wafer measuring device that carries I11 constants, etc.

[Prior Art] In a conventional 4ll wafer placement device, the reference point of each chip (for example, the corner of the chip) is determined by manually operating the X-Y stage mechanism on which the wafer is set while observing the screen of a monitor television. The pattern detection optical system is positioned, and the device reads the position coordinates of the X-Y stage opposite to it, stores it in the internal memory, and uses this as a reference to detect the mark pattern of each chip to be measured or the pattern to be measured. Measurements are performed by sequentially positioning the optical system at observation positions.

Conventionally, such dimensional measurement of wafers has been carried out in a batch process, in which specific selected wafers obtained from a semiconductor manufacturing line or the like are sequentially measured.

[Problems to be Solved] Recently, due to the increasing density of semiconductors and their reliability, measurement using low-processing of each semiconductor has become more and more popular.
As the production volume increases, batch processing cannot keep up.

Therefore, it is conceivable to place such an inspection device on the line of the conductor manufacturing process, but from the current perspective of the diversification of product types, batch-like measurement processing is still required, and semiconductor When a wafer measuring device is provided in a manufacturing process line, this measuring device cannot be used for batch processing, so-called off-line, and a problem arises in that there are seven duplicate facilities.

[Objective of the Invention] The object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and to provide a wafer measuring device for offline use by placing it in the line of the conductor manufacturing process and using it as an in-line device at any time. The object of the present invention is to provide a wafer 7I*1 fixing device that can perform the following.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a first casing provided in the casing for carrying the wafer to be measured into the casing of the measuring device. The opening and the second opening provided in the housing for transporting the measured wafer to the outside of the housing are arranged inside the housing and carried in through the first opening. a first transport mechanism that transports the wafer transferred to the X-Y stage; and a second transport mechanism that is removably installed in communication with the first opening and that transports the wafer to the first transport mechanism. a wafer loader mechanism; a third transport mechanism disposed inside the housing for transporting the wafer sent out from the X-Y stage to the second opening; and a third transport mechanism that is removably installed in communication with the second opening. , and a wafer unloader mechanism having a fourth transport mechanism for transporting the delivered wafer from the third transport mechanism to the outside of the whistle body, and the wafer loader mechanism and the wafer unloader mechanism are removed,
It can be placed on the manufacturing line of the conductor manufacturing process.

[Function] By providing a transport mechanism on the case side and the loader/unloader side in this way, the loader/unloader can be easily attached and detached from the case side. However, a wafer 4ull fixing device for batch processing can be inserted into the conductor manufacturing process line at any time and used in-line.

As a result, there is no need to provide duplicate wafer fixing devices.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of an embodiment of a wafer measuring device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the main internal parts thereof, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line II in FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line II in FIG. 1, showing the state when used as an in-line device. Note that the same parts in each of these figures are indicated by the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wafer measuring device 1 is provided with a control unit 2 at the bottom thereof that controls the X-Y stage 10 etc. shown in FIG. An X-Y stage lO is placed at the
A wafer 12 is placed on the Y stage 10.

An optical system and a detection system as shown in FIG. 2 are arranged on the inside upper side of the central housing 3, and an operation panel 4 is provided on the outside of the upper part of the central housing 3. A CRT display device 5 is placed on the top.

Loader/unloader units 6.7 are mounted on both left and right sides of the central housing 3, respectively. Here, one of the left and right loader/unrotor units 6.7 is used as a loader, and the other is used as an unloader. 8 is a cassette in which wafers 12 are stacked at regular intervals -! - has a shelf-like support edge arranged downwards; The wafers 12 are sequentially held on this support edge and stored in a stacked manner with a certain distance between them.

For example, suppose that the loader side unit is the loader/unloader unit 6, and the unrotor side unit is the loader/unloader unit 6.
Assuming that the unloader unit 7 is used, the wafers 12 in the cassette 8 loaded in the loader/unloader unit 6 are transferred one by one from the wafers 12 on the side to the X-Y stage IO, and the measured wafers 12 are transferred to the rotor/ The sheets are transferred to the unloader unit 7 and stacked one by one from the bottom. Moreover, on the contrary, the unit on the loader side can be operated as the loader/unloader unit 7 and the unit on the unloader side can be operated as the loader/unloader unit 6.

9 a e 9 b are a power supply section and a printing section, which are arranged on both sides of the control unit 2, respectively, and the loader/unloader units 6 and 7 are placed on top of the power supply section and the printing section, respectively. And these are this loader/
The unloader unit (E317) is detachably supported on the central housing 3.

Now, the wafer measuring device 1 measures dimensions of patterns on a wafer, measures alignment accuracy of patterns, etc. Inside the central housing 3, as shown in FIG. The main parts are built-in.

That is, the wafer 12 carried into the chuck section of the X-Y stage 10 by the loader/unloader 6 is positioned and held on the X-Y stage 10 with reference to the orientation flat 13 of the wafer 12. ing.

In this way, the coordinate system of the wafer 12 and the coordinate system of the xy stage 10 are made to match. Then, the upper surface of the wafer 12 is illuminated by a mirror 18. Achromatic lens 20 and half mirror 2
2. The locally bright and dark image of the surface of the wafer 12 illuminated in this way is detected by the pattern detection optical system 2.
4 and the monitor system 25/1t11.

The pattern detection optical system 24 includes an objective lens 26, the half mirrors 21 and 22, a half mirror 28, and a slit 30.
X, 30Y1 Relay lens 32X.

32Y1 Mirror 34, cylindrical lens 36X,
36Y, and CCD linear image sensors 38X and 38Y, which are one-dimensional image sensors.

The bright and dark images within the circular field of view of the wafer determined by the objective lens 26 are further narrowed down through the slabs 30X and 30Y and captured by the CCD linear image sensors 38X and 38Y. The bright and dark image inside is
It also enters the monitor system 25 side by the half mirror 21,
An image is formed on the imaging surface of the television camera 31 via the mirror 27 and the relay lens 29. Video No. 43 outputted from this television camera 25 is displayed on the screen of the CRT display device 5 shown in FIG.

Next, the transfer process of the wafer 12 will be explained according to FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line II in FIG. Pulley 62.82.63.
A motor 64 that is connected to the motor 63 and drives the pulley 62.
Driven by. Here, the pulleys 83 and 63 protrude outward from the opening 6a of the loader/unloader unit 6.

On the other hand, openings 3a and 3b are provided on both left and right sides of the central housing 3.
is provided, and when the loader/unloader unit 6 is attached to the central housing 3, the opening 6a of the loader/unloader unit 6 fits into the opening 3a, and the protruding pulley 63, 63 side is inserted inside this opening 3a.

Also, inside the central housing 3, facing the opening 3a,
A conveyance mechanism 40 including a belt 41 is provided as a second conveyance mechanism between the xy stage 10 and the conveyance mechanism 40 . The belt 41 has a pair of pulleys 42, 42, 43, 4, respectively.
3 and is driven by a motor 44 that drives a pulley 42. Here, the pulleys 42, 42 are the pulleys 63, 6 protruding from the loader/unloader unit 6 side.
The pulleys 42 and 42 are arranged on both sides of the pulleys 63 and 63 so as to sandwich them, and the pulleys 42 and 42 are connected to shafts and teeth l [(these are not shown) disposed below the pulleys 63 and 63, respectively. A configuration is adopted in which the rotation of the motor 44 is transmitted.

Similarly, the loader/unloader unit 7 has a transport mechanism 70 including a bell 71 as a fourth transport mechanism, and each bell 1-71 is connected to a pair of pulleys 72.
72 , 73 , and 73 , and is driven by a motor 74 that drives pulley 72 . Here, pulley 73.
73 projects outward from the opening 7a of the loader/unloader unit 7. Similarly to the above, when the loader/unloader unit 7 is attached to the central housing 3, the opening 7a of the loader/unloader unit 7 is replaced by the opening 3b.
The protruding boo IJ73.73 side is fitted with
It is inserted into the opening 3b of the central housing 3.

Also, inside the central housing 3, facing the opening 3b,
A transport mechanism 50 including a belt 51 is provided as a third transport mechanism at a symmetrical position with the second transport mechanism 407 and the X-Y stage 10 interposed therebetween. The belt 51 is stretched over a pair of boots IJ52, 52, 53, and 53, respectively, and is driven by a motor 54 that drives a pulley 52. Here, like the pulleys 42.42, the boos IJ52, 52 are arranged on both sides of the protruding boo IJ73.73 on the loader/unloader unit 7 side so as to sandwich it. are respectively boo+
A configuration is adopted in which the rotation of the motor 54 is transmitted by being connected to a shaft disposed on the lower side of the J73.73 via teeth 11t (these are not shown).

Next, the wafer loading/unloading operation during off-line measurement processing of the wafer 12 will be described.

First, when loading the wafer 12 onto the X-Y stage 10, the X-Y stage 10 moves from the center to the second belt transport mechanism 40 side on the right side of the drawing. The Uke waits in a position to pick up the Uni/X12.

On the other hand, the wafer 112 taken out from the F-most part of the cassette 8 inserted into the rotor/unloader unit 6 is placed on the belt 61, and the motor 64 is driven to transfer the wafer 12 to the center housing 3. It is transferred toward the opening 3a. This transfer is performed by pulleys 63, 63. Boo IJ42.42
At the point, the first belt conveyance mechanism 60 is relayed to the second belt conveyance mechanism 40, and the wafer 12 is transferred to the second belt conveyance mechanism 40 driven by the motor 44.

Here, the second belt conveyance mechanism 40 transports the wafer 12 by
- Transport it in the direction of Y stage 10 and X-Y stage 1
Pass to 0. The wafer 12 transferred to the X-Y stage 10 is sucked and fixed to the center of the X-Y stage 10'', and the X-Y stage 10 moves to the center position of the center housing 3.

The wafer 12 on the X-Y stage 10'' is placed at the center of the housing, and its pattern dimensions, etc., are measured 1t, and when this measurement is completed, the X-Y stage 10 is moved from the center to the left side of the drawing. The measured Ueno 112 is transferred to the third belt moving mechanism 50, and returned to the original central position.

The third belt transport mechanism 50 receives the measured wafer 12 from the X-Y stage 1O with its belt 51, and transports it toward the fourth belt transport mechanism 70.

And pulley 53.53. From the third belt transport mechanism 50 to the fourth belt transport mechanism 7 at the point of pulley 72.72
0, and the wafer 12 is transferred to the fourth belt conveyance mechanism 70.

The fourth belt transport mechanism 70 transports the measured wafer 12 to the outside through the opening 3b of the central housing 3.
The wafer 12 is taken out to the unloader unit 7 side and stored in a cassette 8 set in the loader/unloader unit 7.

Next, the online operation will be explained.

When using the wafer measuring device 1 online, the removable loader/unloader unit 6.7 is removed. As shown in FIG. 4, it was installed on a semiconductor manufacturing line. Auxiliary transport mechanisms 80.81 connected to the belt transport mechanism are mounted on both sides of the central housing 3 instead of the loader/unloader unit 6.7.

This auxiliary transfer mechanism includes a loader/unloader unit 6.
Part 1 of 7. It is provided with belt conveyance mechanisms 82.83 having a similar relationship to the fourth belt conveyance mechanism 60.70, and belt conveyance mechanisms 84.85 that relay transfer the wafer 12 from these belt conveyance mechanisms 82.83.

The belt transport mechanisms 84 and 85 are each connected to a belt transport mechanism of a semiconductor manufacturing line.

Now, the wafer 12 is being transported and singing on the production line.
is passed from the belt conveyor +/184 to the belt conveyance mechanism 82, relayed to the second belt conveyance mechanism 40, and then passed to the xy stage 10. The wafer 12 that has been measured is transferred from the X-Y stage 10 to the third belt conveyance mechanism 50, and then passed from the third belt conveyance mechanism 50 to the belt conveyance mechanism 83. After that, the receiver is delivered to the belt conveyance mechanism on the production line.

In this way, by providing a transport mechanism for transferring the urethane 1 to the loader/unloader unit 6.7 side and the central casing 3 side, the casing side and the loader/unloader unit side can be easily attached and detached, allowing online use. Sometimes, by providing a similar transport mechanism on the line side, it can be incorporated into the production line as an in-line system for simple qL.

As described above, in this embodiment, the loader/unloader unit 6 is described as the loader side, and the loader/unloader unit 7 is described as the unloader fill.
In this case, one side may be set as the loader side, and either side may be set as the unloader side.

By being able to do both in this way, when arranging it inline, either the left or right 611 can be used as the carry-in side.
There is an advantage that the operation panel can always be placed in front of the operator.

Furthermore, these loader/unloader units 6 and 7 are arranged on the left and right sides of the central housing 3 so as to be in a straight line. It may be placed in

Furthermore, since a belt conveyance mechanism is used, wafers can be loaded and unloaded by reversing the moving direction of the belt, and the loader/unloader unit used as a loader can also be used as an unloader. . In this way, one loader/unloader unit can be used as a loader and an unloader.

Therefore, it is sufficient to provide only one of these.

However, although the embodiment employs this belt-based conveyance mechanism, the conveyance mechanism is not limited to a belt-based conveyance mechanism.

Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be implemented with appropriate modifications.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is a first opening provided in the housing for carrying a wafer to be measured into the inside of the measuring device housing, and a wafer that has been measured. The housing has a second opening provided in the housing for transporting the wafers to the outside of the housing, and the wafers placed inside the housing and carried in through the first opening are a wafer loader mechanism having a first transport mechanism that transports the wafer to the Y stage; a second transport mechanism that is removably installed in communication with the first opening and that transports the wafer to the first transport mechanism; placed inside the body,
A third transport mechanism that transports the wafer sent out from the X-Y stage to the second opening; and a third transport mechanism that is removably installed in communication with the second opening and transports the delivered wafer. and a wafer unloader mechanism having a fourth transport mechanism for unloading the wafer from the wafer to the outside of the casing.
Since the wafer unloader mechanism and wafer unloader mechanism can be removed and placed on the production line of the semiconductor manufacturing process, there is no need to install a dedicated wafer measuring device on the line of the semiconductor manufacturing process (but it is not necessary to install a dedicated wafer measurement device on the line of the semiconductor manufacturing process). The wafer measuring device can be inserted into the semiconductor manufacturing process line at any time and used as an in-line device.

As a result, there is no need to provide duplicate wafer measuring devices.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an embodiment of a wafer measuring device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the main internal parts thereof, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line II in FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line II in FIG. 1, showing the cane state when used as an in-line device. l... Wafer measurement device, 2... Control unit, 3.
...Central housing, 4...Operation panel, 5...CRT
Display device, 8.7... Rotor/unloader unit, 8... Cassette, 9a... Power supply section, 9b... Printing section, 10.
...X-Y stage, 12... Wafer, 24... Pattern detection optical system, 26... Objective lens, 30X, 3
0Y...Slit, 31...TV camera, 38X
, 38Y... CCD linear image sensor, 40... First belt conveyance mechanism, 50... Second belt conveyance mechanism, 60... Third belt conveyance mechanism, 70... Fourth belt conveyance mechanism. Belt conveyance mechanism, 82.83, 84.85... Belt conveyance mechanism.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a wafer measuring device having an X-Y stage inside the casing of the measuring device main body, a first opening provided in the casing for carrying a wafer to be measured into the casing and measurement. The housing has a second opening provided in the housing for transporting the finished wafer to the outside of the housing, and the wafer placed inside the housing and carried in through the first opening is The first
a wafer loader mechanism having a second transport mechanism that is removably installed in communication with the first opening and that transfers the wafer to the first transport mechanism; , a third transport mechanism that transports the wafer sent out from the X-Y stage to the second opening, and a third transport mechanism that is removably installed in communication with the second opening and transports the delivered wafer a wafer unloader mechanism having a fourth transport mechanism for transporting the wafer from the transport mechanism to the outside of the casing; Features of wafer measurement equipment. (2) Each of the first conveyance mechanism and the second conveyance mechanism is a belt conveyance mechanism, and the direction of the belt can be controlled in reverse, and when the first conveyance mechanism is controlled in reverse, the direction of the belt can be controlled in reverse. The second transport mechanism operates as a fourth transport mechanism when controlled in reverse, the first opening and the second opening are the same, and the wafer loader mechanism 2. The wafer measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the wafer measuring device also functions as a wafer unloader mechanism. (3) The first transport mechanism, the second transport mechanism, the third transport mechanism, and the fourth transport mechanism are each a belt transport mechanism, and the wafer loader and wafer unloader are configured by a loader/unloader unit, The wafer measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the wafer measuring device is capable of selecting a loading/unloading direction.