JPS62259932A - In-out carrying device for wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a processing quality and processing efficiency, by connecting a processing vacuum chamber with an auxiliary vacuum chamber, neighboring to the processing vacuum chamber, through a communication pipe, which can be opened and closed, and carrying a wafer on a cassette bed in the auxiliary vacuum chamber into and out from the processing chamber. CONSTITUTION:A vacuum is held for a processing vacuum chamber 10 by a vacuum source 12 while for an auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 by a vacuum source 16, and the both vacuum chambers are connected and disconnected as necessary by an opening and closing device 18. A bed 26 of a cassette 30, mounting a wafer 60, in the auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 is vertically moved by a device 20 setting one of the cassettes 30 to predetermined height. Next the wafer 60 is extruded by an extruding mechanism 22 and mounted onto a receiving bed 44, and the wafer 60 is transferred by a horizontally moving mechanism 48 to the processing chamber 10 by opening the opening and closing device 18. The wafer 60, after it finishes processing, is again returned to the auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 and mounted onto the cassette 30 by a press-in mechanism 24. In this way, the wafer improves its processing quality by preventing dust from infiltrating and reducing the time for regulating the vacuum.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a wafer loading/unloading device for loading and unloading wafers into and out of a vacuum chamber for processing silicon wafers and other materials on a relatively small scale. It is something.

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally, when performing surface processing on a small number of wafers, or when processing wafers experimentally, the common method was to manually grasp the wafer with a bin set or the like and place it on a processing table. is being carried out.

(c) Problems to be solved by the invention However, with this method of feeding and taking out wafers using human hair, the vacuum state is released every time a wafer is replaced, so the vacuum source must be activated to create a vacuum. The problem is that it takes a very long time. Also,
Since the vacuum source is repeatedly operated to create a vacuum, variations in the vacuum state are likely to occur. The present invention aims to solve these problems.

(d) Means for solving the problems The present invention solves the above problems by providing a device that can carry wafers into a processing vacuum chamber without manual intervention and can take out processed wafers. . That is, the wafer loading/unloading device according to the present invention has a processing vacuum chamber (
10), an auxiliary vacuum chamber (14) provided adjacent to the
a vacuum source (16) for controlling the vacuum state of the auxiliary vacuum chamber;
An opening/closing device (18) such as a gate valve that is installed at the connection between the processing vacuum chamber and the auxiliary vacuum chamber and can switch between communicating and blocking the two vacuum chambers, and a vertical movement mechanism (20). A cassette stand (26) installed in the auxiliary vacuum chamber so as to be movable up and down, a cassette (30) installed on the cassette stand and equipped with a plurality of shelves provided at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction on which wafers are placed, and a cassette (30) installed at a predetermined height. An extrusion mechanism that horizontally pushes out the wafers on the shelf of the cassette at the
22), a receiving table (44) that can be stopped at a transfer stop position for receiving the extruded wafer, and a receiving table (44) that moves between the transfer stop position and the processing stop position in the processing vacuum chamber through an opening/closing device. a horizontal movement mechanism (48) to move the wafer on the receiving table at the transfer stop position in the auxiliary vacuum chamber to the cassette shelf (24).
) and 5. Note that the symbols in parentheses indicate corresponding members in the embodiments described later.

(E) Operation A desired shelf of the cassette on the cassette table is set at the push-out height position by operating the vertical movement mechanism. Next, the extrusion mechanism is activated to extrude the wafer onto the receiver. When the wafer is placed on the receiving table, the horizontal movement mechanism is activated, and the wafer is moved from the auxiliary vacuum chamber to the processing vacuum chamber through the opening/closing device in the open state. Next, close the opening/closing device and set the vacuum level in the processing vacuum chamber to: &! After the initial adjustment, the surface of the wafer is processed.

After processing is completed, the opening/closing device is opened and the horizontal movement mechanism is operated in the opposite manner to the above to move the receiving table to the auxiliary vacuum chamber. The push mechanism is then actuated to push the wafer on the receiver back into the cassette shelf. By repeating the same operation below,
Wafers on desired shelves of the cassette can be processed sequentially.

(F) Embodiment Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. Processing vacuum chamber 1
The zero vacuum state can be adjusted by a vacuum source 12. An auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 is provided adjacent to the processing vacuum chamber 10. The vacuum state of the auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 can be adjusted by a vacuum source 16. The processing vacuum chamber 10 and the auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 are connected via an opening/closing device 18. In the open state, the opening/closing device 18 has a size that allows a receiving table 44, which will be described later, to pass therethrough. The auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 is provided with a vertical movement mechanism 20, an extrusion mechanism 22, and a push-in mechanism 24. The vertical movement mechanism 20 includes a ball screw drive device 28 (a ball screw drive device is a drive device that combines a ball screw mechanism and an electric motor such as a pulse motor) that can move the cassette table 26 up and down. There is. A cassette 30 is installed on the cassette stand 26. The cassette 30 has a plurality of horizontal shelves at regular intervals, and a wafer 60 is placed on each shelf. The extrusion mechanism 22 includes a ball drive device 32 and a rubber plate 36 attached to the tip of a piston rod 34. The push-in mechanism 24 also includes a ball drive device 38 and a rubber plate 42 attached to the piston rod 40. Extrusion mechanism 22
The push-in mechanism 24 is provided at a position opposite to the auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 so as to face each other, and the rubber plate 36 and the rubber plate 42 are provided at substantially the same height position. Rubber plate 4
The receiving stand 44 is provided so that its upper surface is located at a position slightly lower than the height position of 2. The receiver 44 has two guide bins 46 for positioning the wafer.

The receiving stand 44 can be moved in the horizontal direction by a horizontal movement mechanism 48, and as shown in FIG. It is possible to move between the machining stop position and the machining stop position. That is, the receiving stand 44 is connected to the ball screw @54 of the ball screw drive device 52 by the shaft 50, so that it can be moved in the horizontal direction as described above.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, the vacuum sources 12 and 16 are activated to create a processing vacuum chamber 1.
0 and the auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 are brought into a predetermined vacuum state. The opening/closing device 18 is kept open.

A wafer 60 is placed on each shelf of the cassette 30. By operating the vertical movement mechanism 20, the surface of the lowest shelf is set to be at the same height as the surface of the receiving table 44. Next, the extrusion mechanism 22 is operated to advance the rubber plate 36 in the direction shown in the figure, and the wafer 60 is extruded onto the receiving table 44. The wafer 60 is attached to the guide pin 4 provided on the receiving table 44.
6 and automatically moves to the center of the receiving table 44.

After moving the wafer 60, the rubber plate 36 returns to its initial position. When the wafer 60 is placed on the receiving stand 44, the water moving mechanism 48 is activated, and the receiving stand 44 is moved to the processing vacuum chamber 10 side through the open/close device 18. After the receiving table 44 stops at the processing stop position within the processing vacuum chamber 10, the opening/closing device 18 is closed and the vacuum source 12 is activated to finely adjust the vacuum state within the processing vacuum chamber 10. In this state, predetermined surface processing is performed on the wafer 60 on the receiving table 44. After the processing is completed, the opening/closing device 18 is opened and the horizontal movement mechanism 48 is operated again to move the receiving table 44 from the processing vacuum chamber 10 side to the auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 side. Next, the pushing mechanism 24 is actuated to move the rubber plate 42 to the left in the figure, pushing the processed wafer 60 on the receiving table 44 back to the original shelf of the cassette 30. Next, the L-up moving mechanism 20 is activated to lower the cassette stand 26 by the height of one shelf of cassettes 30. Thereafter, the wafers 60 on the second shelf from the bottom are transported in the same manner. Note that it is not necessarily necessary to sequentially transport and process the wafers 60 on the top shelf of the cassettes 30.
The wafers may be processed in order from 6 to 6.
0 may be processed.

During the above work, the auxiliary vacuum chamber 14 side is also connected to the vacuum source 16.
The vacuum state is maintained by the vacuum chamber, and the degree of vacuum on the processing vacuum chamber 10 side only needs to be finely adjusted during processing.
The time required for vacuum adjustment is greatly reduced, and the vacuum condition is also stabilized. Further, since outside air is not introduced every time one wafer is processed, it is possible to effectively prevent dust from entering the processing vacuum chamber 10. Furthermore, since the wafers 60 on a desired shelf of the cassette 30 can be selected and processed as described above, the degree of freedom in the work order is increased.

(G) As described in detail, according to the present invention, a large number of wafers stacked in a cassette in an auxiliary vacuum chamber can be automatically loaded and unloaded without releasing the vacuum in the processing vacuum chamber. As a result, the time required for vacuum adjustment is significantly shortened, the intrusion of dust is prevented, and the vacuum state is stabilized, so that the quality of wafer processing can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan sectional view showing a wafer loading/unloading device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of the wafer loading/unloading device shown in FIG. 10... Vacuum chamber for processing, 12... Vacuum source, 14...
- Auxiliary vacuum chamber, 16... Vacuum source, 18... Opening/closing device, 20... Vertical movement mechanism, 22... Extrusion mechanism, 2
4... Pushing mechanism, 26... Cassette stand, 30...
Cassette, 44... Receiving stand, 48... Horizontal movement mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An auxiliary vacuum chamber provided adjacent to a processing vacuum chamber in a wafer loading/unloading device for loading unprocessed wafers into a processing vacuum chamber for processing wafers and carrying out processed wafers. , a vacuum source that controls the vacuum state of the auxiliary vacuum chamber, and a switching device that is installed at the connection between the processing vacuum chamber and the auxiliary vacuum chamber and can switch between communicating and cutting off the two vacuum chambers. , a cassette stand provided in an auxiliary vacuum chamber that can be moved up and down by a vertical movement mechanism, a cassette that is installed on the cassette stand and equipped with a plurality of shelves provided at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction on which wafers are placed, and an extrusion height. an extrusion mechanism that horizontally pushes out the wafers on the cassette shelf at the position, a receiving stand that can be stopped at the transfer stop position to receive the extruded wafers, and a receiving stand that can be stopped at the transfer stop position and the processing vacuum chamber. a horizontal movement mechanism that moves between the processing stop position and the opening/closing device;
A wafer loading/unloading device comprising: a pushing mechanism for moving a wafer on a receiving stand at a delivery stop position in an auxiliary vacuum chamber onto a cassette shelf.