JPS62198122A - Semiconductor processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always clean the surface of a semiconductor by forming clean gas passages in a wafer processor and a mechanism for controlling a wafer in the processor. CONSTITUTION:A loader 3 for setting a wafer cartridge 2 which contains a semiconductor wafer 1 and removing the wafer, a wafer handling unit 4, a boundary processor 5, a dehydrating bake unit 6, a photoresist coating unit 7, a prebaking unit 8, and an unloader 9 which contains the wafer 1 in the cartridge are provided. Modules are independently partitioned, cleaned gas is supplied to the independent spaces, controlled in exhaust amounts, and clean gas passages are formed. Further, gas streams in the modules are controlled so that dusts generated in the modules do not act on the wafer, and exhaust amount balances among the modules is controlled so that dusts do not act with other modules. Thus, the dusts are not adhered to the wafer to improve the manufacturing yield.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to semiconductor material processing technology, and in particular, the present invention relates to semiconductor material processing technology, in which semiconductor materials are subjected to various treatments while being kept in a clean state.
The present invention relates to processing techniques for forming semiconductor devices in semiconductor materials.

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, semiconductor device manufacturing technology includes crystal growth technology, impurity diffusion technology, crystal annealing technology, passivation film generation technology, metallization technology, and other heat treatments or heat treatments that involve reactions. Microfabrication technologies such as processing technology and dry etching technology are combined. The yield of miniaturized semiconductor devices affects the amount of foreign matter in the manufacturing atmosphere. Therefore, it is manufactured in a clean room where the amount of foreign matter is controlled.

A plurality of semiconductor processing devices are installed in the clean room, and the semiconductor processing devices are managed by humans. Although people are wearing dust-proof clothing in the clean room, their faces are exposed and become a source of dust generation. For this reason, clean room systems such as the down-flow type and clean bench type have been developed, as described in the August 1981 issue of "Electronic Materials" magazine published by Kogyo Kenkyukai on August 1, 1981, pages 21 to 25. There is. In these methods, clean gas is blown onto the semiconductor processing equipment from the ceiling of the clean room to prevent human-generated dust from being present on the semiconductor processing equipment.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The degree of integration is 1M, such as semiconductor memory IJ LSI etc.
When the bit is improved from 4M bits to 16M bits, the LSI element pattern size becomes 1μm.
The dimensions have been further refined to sub-μm dimensions.

As a result, it was found that foreign matter adhering to semiconductor wafers of 0.1 μm or less, which did not pose a problem in conventional semiconductor wafer processing, was directly linked to product defects.

From these backgrounds, as a result of pursuing the dust generation mechanism in a clean room, the present inventors confirmed the following problems.

Human dust generation by workers is also a major issue as a source of dust, but from the perspective of semiconductor wafers being processed, there are dust generation from the process itself that processes semiconductor wafers, and dust generation during the transportation of semiconductor wafers. It was found that equipment dust generated from mechanical parts, etc. was a major factor.

Furthermore, as a result of analyzing the correlation between the types of foreign particles adhered to wafers and product defects, we found that the size of the foreign particles as well as the material of the adhered foreign particles affect the characteristics of semiconductor devices. It was revealed that this was the cause.

In addition, the foreign matter adhering to the semiconductor wafer that causes defective semiconductor device characteristics is not only the foreign matter adhering to the front surface, but also the foreign matter adhering to the back surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor processing apparatus that eliminates the influence of dust generation and can process semiconductor wafers in a clean atmosphere at all times.

The above objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means for solving problems]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, a flow path for clean gas is provided between a wafer processing section of a semiconductor processing apparatus and a mechanism section that controls the wafer in this processing section.

More specifically, as a means of processing semiconductor wafers without causing foreign matter to adhere to the front or back surfaces, we keep the space where semiconductor wafers are placed in a clean state, and also keep the contact area with semiconductor wafers in a clean state at all times. Semiconductor wafer processing is performed while maintaining

In the present invention, each module unit constituting a semiconductor processing apparatus is divided into a plurality of independent spaces as a means for keeping the space in which semiconductor wafers are placed in a clean state. Each module is divided into independent spaces including the processing section and mechanism section, and each component section is further partitioned into independent spaces. A function is provided to supply purified gas to these partitioned independent spaces and to exhaust dust generated in these partitioned independent spaces. Then, the semiconductor wafers are processed while controlling the supply and exhaust amount of each cleaned gas, and the area where the semiconductor wafers are placed is kept in a clean state.

Furthermore, as a means to keep the contact portion with the semiconductor wafer always clean, the semiconductor wafer is supported by support pins made of a material such as quartz that has good cleaning properties.

[Operation] After the clean gas supplied to the independent space is blown onto the surface of the semiconductor wafer in the processing section, it passes through the mechanism section and is exhausted from the independent space. Therefore, the semiconductor surface is always cleaned by the clean gas, and dust generated from the mechanism is exhausted along the flow of the clean gas and does not reach the vicinity of the semiconductor wafer.

Furthermore, since the contact area with the back surface of the semiconductor wafer is made of quartz support pins, it is easy to clean and can reduce the accumulation of foreign matter in the contact area, as well as reduce the contact area.
It is possible to prevent foreign matter from adhering to the back surface of the semiconductor wafer.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a photoresist processing apparatus for forming a photoresist film on the surface of a semiconductor wafer.

To explain the device mechanism, there is a loader part 3 that sets a wafer cartridge 2 containing a semiconductor wafer 1 to be processed and takes out the semiconductor wafer l, a wafer handling part 4 that handles the taken out semiconductor wafer 1, and a semiconductor unit that has been handled. An interface treatment section 5 performs an interface treatment on the surface of the semiconductor wafer 11, a dehydration bake section 6 performs dehydration treatment, a coating treatment section 7 performs spin coating of photoresist, and a prebaking section 5 bakes the photoresist film formed on the semiconductor wafer l to remove the solvent. Part 8, prebaked semiconductor wafer l
It consists of an unloader section 9 that stores the wafer in a wafer cartridge.

Each of the constituent modules described above is independently partitioned, and the partitioned independent space includes a processing section and a mechanism section, and purified gas is supplied into the independent space, and the exhaust amount is controlled. A clean gas flow path is provided. Furthermore, we control the air flow within each module so that the dust generated in each module does not affect the semiconductor wafer, and we also balance the exhaust volume between each module to prevent dust from affecting other modules. It is meant to be controlled.

The detailed structure will become clear in the drawings described later.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the main parts of the loader section 3. To explain the structure, a wafer cartridge 2 with an airflow control function that houses a semiconductor wafer 1 is set on a cartridge set plate 10 in a processing section. The semiconductor wafer 1 in the wafer cartridge 2 is transferred to a vacuum suction wafer handler 11.
It is extracted by In the vacuum suction wafer handler 11, for the purpose of reducing foreign matter adhering to the back surface of the semiconductor wafer 1, the suction part 12 as a contact part with the semiconductor wafer is made of quartz that has good cleaning properties, and also has a structure that reduces the contact area. For the purpose of reliability, the structure is such that it is held by support pins 13 made of quartz.

On the other hand, the loader section 3 is partitioned as an independent space A by a loader partition cover (wall) 14, and clean air is supplied from above from the loader section clean gas (air) supply section 15, and the processing section and vacuum wafer The gas passes through the mechanism section of the handler 11, is exhausted by the loader section exhaust section 16, and a flow path for clean gas is provided. The independent space includes a wafer processing section and a mechanism section of the handler 11, and the amount of clean air supplied and exhausted within the independent space A is constantly controlled to control the clean air flow acting on the semiconductor wafer 1. , the semiconductor wafer 1 can always be taken out in a clean state.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part of the photoresist spin coating processing section 7. As shown in FIG. To explain the structure, the semiconductor wafer 1 is attracted onto a spin chuck 18 in a coating cup 17 as a processing section, and rotated by a motor 19 as a mechanism section. The spin chuck 18 has a reduced contact area with the semiconductor wafer 1 and is made of a material with good cleaning properties, such as quartz. The independent space B is composed of an application section clean gas supply section 22, an exhaust section 27, and a wall 26.

Semiconductor wafer 1 vacuum-adsorbed onto spin chuck 18
A photoresist 21 is dropped onto the top from a photoresist dropping nozzle 20 . Photoresist 2 on semiconductor wafer 1
A photoresist film is formed on the semiconductor wafer 1 while being rotated by the motor 19 while dropping the photoresist film. An application section clean gas supply section 22 is set above the application cup 17, and the cleaned gas is supplied in a downflow manner. An airflow control plate 23 is provided on the application cup 17 side, and controls the airflow mode supplied to the application cup 17. The clean gas supplied into the application cup 17 passes through the exhaust pipe 24, and the exhaust amount is controlled by the application cup internal exhaust section 25, thereby providing a flow path for the clean gas.

Furthermore, an outer peripheral duct (wall) 26 is constructed outside the application cup 17 to form an independent space B. The coating cup outer peripheral duct exhaust section 27 controls the airflow of the clean gas supplied from the coating section clean gas supply section 22, and
Floating resist released from the coating cup 17 and dust emitted from the motor 19 and the like as a mechanical part are removed. A clean gas flow path is provided as described above. Furthermore, the application cup 17 and spin chuck 18 shafts are completely shielded using a magnetic seal or the like, so that dust generated from the shaft 18 does not reach the inside of the application cup 17.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the main part of the pre-bake section 8.

To explain the configuration, a heater block 2 having a vent
A photoresist film-formed semiconductor wafer 29 on which a photoresist film has been formed is set by suction in the processing section above the wafer 8 . The prebake section as a processing section constitutes an independent space C by an internal furnace wall 30, an in-furnace clean gas supply section 31, and an exhaust section 32. An in-furnace clean gas supply section 31 is set in the upper part of the furnace, and the clean gas is supplied in a downflow manner to act on the photoresist film-formed semiconductor wafer 29 in a laminar flow manner. In order to form a laminar flow state of clean gas in the furnace, and to create a positive pressure inside the furnace and prevent the entrainment of foreign matter from outside the furnace, the exhaust amount is controlled by the furnace exhaust part 32. . In this way, a flow path for clean gas is formed.

In order to transport the photoresist film-formed semiconductor wafer 29 within the furnace, a wafer mechanical handling section 33 is configured as a mechanical section.

This wafer mechanical handling section 33 is driven by a mechanical handling drive mechanism section 34, and the heater block 2
Wafer handling is carried out on 8. In addition, outside the baking oven,
A furnace outer peripheral duct 35 is installed, clean gas is supplied from the furnace outer peripheral duct clean gas supply section 36, and the exhaust amount is controlled by the furnace outer peripheral duct exhaust section 37, and the inside of the independent space C' formed by these is The inside of the baking oven is always maintained at a positive pressure, the dust generated outside the oven is immediately exhausted, and foreign matter is prevented from being drawn into the oven. In order to reduce the contact area between the wafer mechanical handling part 33 and the photoresist film-formed semiconductor wafer 29 and to improve the cleaning performance of the contact part, it is made of a material with high cleaning performance, such as quartz.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the main parts of the unit arrangement. Base plate 38
A plurality of vent holes 39 are provided so that the airflow of clean gas on the base plate 38 is exhausted in a downflow manner, thereby providing a flow path for the clean gas. A processing section (interface processing section 5, coating processing section 7) 40 is set on the base plate 38, and a processing section exhaust pipe 41 is provided inside the processing section 40.
The gas is then exhausted by the internal exhaust section 42 of the processing section.

On the other hand, the semiconductor wafer 1 is handled by a wafer handler 43 provided with a ventilation hole above the processing section 40. This vented wafer handling 43 is driven by a handling drive mechanism section 44 .

This handling drive mechanism section 44 has a local exhaust hood 4.
5 is provided, and the dust generated from the drive mechanism section 44 is exhausted by a local exhaust section 46.

Furthermore, a side cover 4 that can control airflow is placed on the base plate 38.
7 is configured, and the shape of the processing section 40 is also shaped to allow airflow control.

Under this situation, a membrane-covered clean gas supply section 48 is configured above the device, and the clean gas is supplied in a laminar downflow manner. By controlling the exhaust volume using the side cover 47 shape, the processing section 40 shape, the lower cover 49, and the device exhaust section 50, a flow path for clean gas is always formed within the device, and the airflow is configured in a laminar flow state in a clean state. .

Since the semiconductor wafer l is always arranged near the clean gas supply section, the wafer is handled while being kept in a clean state at all times.

A method of applying photoresist onto a semiconductor wafer to form a photoresist film using the photoresist spin coating apparatus described above will be described.

When the semiconductor wafers 1 to be processed are placed in the wafer cartridge 2 and set in the loader section 3 and the apparatus is started, the semiconductor wafers 1 are taken out one by one from the wafer cartridge 2 by the vacuum suction wafer handler, and a vented wafer is placed. It is handled by the interface processing section 5 by handling 43 .

In the interface treatment section 5, interface treatment is performed for the purpose of improving the adhesion of the photoresist film to the surface of the semiconductor wafer 1. Thereafter, in the dehydration bake section 6, the surface of the ques is subjected to dehydration treatment.

Thereafter, a photoresist is spin-coated in the coating processing section 7, and a photoresist film is formed on the semiconductor wafer 1.

The photoresist film-formed semiconductor wafer 29 on which the photoresist film has been formed is baked in the prebaking section 8, and the resist i agent in the photoresist film is removed.

During the above-mentioned processing and during wafer handling, the semiconductor wafer is located in a clean gas flow path, and the atmosphere in which the semiconductor wafer is placed is kept clean. Furthermore, since the contact area between the back surface of the semiconductor wafer and the wafer handling section is small and the contact surface is clean, semiconductor wafer processing can be performed while keeping the semiconductor wafer clean at all times.

The effects obtained by the embodiments disclosed above are shown below.

(1) A clean gas flow path is provided between the semiconductor wafer processing section (chamber) and the mechanism section, and the clean gas is blown onto the surface of the semiconductor wafer. The generated dust can be prevented from reaching the vicinity of the semiconductor wafer by the above-mentioned clean gas flow. As a result, since the semiconductor wafer is always processed in a clean atmosphere, dust does not adhere to the semiconductor wafer, and the product yield of semiconductor devices can be improved.

(2) In order to always perform semiconductor wafer processing in a highly clean state, the semiconductor wafer processing equipment is divided into several independent spaces, and clean gas is constantly supplied to the partitioned independent spaces to eliminate unnecessary materials (dust). In order to prevent gas from rolling up onto the semiconductor wafer, a clean gas flow path is formed in the partitioned independent space and the exhaust volume is controlled to keep the partitioned semiconductor wafer processing section clean. As a result, the high purity of the semiconductor wafer processing is maintained, and there is no adhesion of dust to the semiconductor wafer, thereby improving the accuracy of semiconductor wafer processing and the product yield of semiconductor devices.

(3) In semiconductor wafer processing equipment, it is possible to divide the space into several spaces and control (manage) the cleanliness within those spaces, so it is possible to mix a dust-generating module and a dust-free module in one equipment. It is also possible to perform clean, high-purity processing, improving product yield.

(4) The contact area between the semiconductor wafer and the equipment side (handler, spin chuck section, baking section, etc.) is reduced, and the cleanliness is good and a high cleanliness state is maintained, so that foreign particles adhere to the semiconductor wafer. In addition, by not making the contact part contain heavy metal materials, the above (11, (
Due to the synergistic effect of item 2), it is possible to reduce the foreign matter attached to the semiconductor unit 1 that changes the characteristics of the semiconductor device, and it is possible to significantly improve the product yield.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained based on examples above, the present invention is not limited to the above examples, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. It goes without saying that there is.

For example, as in the embodiment, not only an apparatus that processes semiconductor wafers at normal pressure, but also a low-pressure apparatus such as a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) apparatus, a vacuum apparatus such as a sputtering apparatus, and a dry etching apparatus, Application to semiconductor processing equipment in a high-pressure atmosphere such as a high-pressure oxidation furnace is also possible.

The form of the reaction treatment is not limited to the examples, but may include a chemical reaction treatment apparatus such as a normal pressure DVC apparatus, a plasma reaction treatment apparatus such as a dry etching treatment apparatus, and a light C
It is also applicable to photochemical reaction processing devices such as VD devices.

〔Effect of the invention〕

A brief explanation of the effects obtained by typical inventions disclosed above is as follows.

It is.

In other words, by providing a flow path for clean gas between the processing section and the mechanical section in the semiconductor processing equipment, the surface of the semiconductor wafer is always kept clean, and the dust generated from the mechanical section is removed from the vicinity of the semiconductor wafer by the clean gas flow path. Since this can be prevented from occurring, the product yield of semiconductor devices can be improved.

[Application field]

In the above explanation, the invention made by the present inventor was mainly explained with respect to the photoresist processing apparatus in the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus π, which is the field of application behind the invention.
For example, it is effective for use in film forming equipment such as CVD equipment and sputtering equipment that forms inorganic films such as oxide films and metal films, as well as organic films such as polymide resin, on semiconductor wafers. It is a great technology. In addition, a dry etching device for processing the above-mentioned formed film,
This is an effective technology that can be used in ion milling equipment.

Furthermore, it is an effective technique for use in ion implantation equipment that implants impurities into semiconductor wafers, as well as diffusion treatment equipment that diffuses the implanted impurities. It is an extremely effective technology that can be applied particularly to cleaning equipment for cleaning the surface of semiconductor wafers, as well as drying equipment such as paper drying equipment.

Furthermore, it can also be applied to equipment that requires highly clean and highly purified processing in the chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology-related industry, precision machinery industry, etc.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a photoresist processing installation according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the main part of the loader section, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the main part of the coating processing part, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the main part of the pre-bake part. Figure 5 is a sectional view of the main parts of the unit arrangement. 1... Semiconductor wafer, 2... Wafer cartridge,
3...Loader section, 4...Quafer handling section, 5
. . . Interface processing section, 6. Dehydration baking section, 7. Coating processing section. 8... Prebake section, 9... Unloader section, 10.
...Cartridge set plate, 11...Vacuum adsorption wafer handler, 12...Adsorption section, 13...Support pin, 14...Loader partition cover, 15...Loader section clean air supply section, 16.・・Loader part exhaust part, 17・
...Applying cup, 18...Spin chuck, 19...
・Motor, 20...Dripping nozzle, 21...Photoresist, 22...Applying section clean gas supply section, 23...Air flow control board, 24...Exhaust pipe, 25...Exhaust in coating cup Part, 26... Application cup outer peripheral duct, 27
. . . Coating cup outer peripheral duct exhaust section, 28 . . Heater block, 29 . - Furnace exhaust section, 33... Wafer mechanical handling section, 34... Mechanical handling drive mechanism section,
35...Furnace outer circumference duct, 36...Furnace outer circumference duct clean gas supply section, 37...Furnace outer circumference duct exhaust section, 3
8... Pace plate, 39... Ventilation port, 40... Processing section, 41... Processing section exhaust pipe, 43... Wafer handling with vent, 44... Handling drive mechanism section, 45 ...Local exhaust hood, 46... Local exhaust section, 47... Side cover, 48... Device clean gas supply section, 49... Lower cover, 50... Device exhaust section. Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure Z2 Figure 4 Figure 0

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A processing unit for processing semiconductor wafers to be processed, and a mechanism unit for controlling the semiconductor wafers in the processing unit as desired;
A semiconductor processing apparatus, characterized in that the processing section and the mechanism section are provided with a flow path for clean gas. 2. The clean gas flow path includes a clean gas supply section, an exhaust section that exhausts the clean gas supplied from the clean gas supply section,
2. The semiconductor processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor processing apparatus is located in an independent space formed by a wall provided between the clean gas supply section and the exhaust section. 3. The semiconductor processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the amount of clean gas supplied and the amount of gas exhausted in the independent space are controlled as desired. 4. In the processing section in the independent space, the back side of the semiconductor wafer to be processed is supported by support pins, and the contact area between the back side of the semiconductor wafer and the support pins is kept clean, and the contact area is kept small. 3. The semiconductor processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the semiconductor processing apparatus has a reduced power consumption.