JPS62269317A - Vertical plasma processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To cut down the downtime of device by means of vertically providing a reactive chamber detachably to be turned sideways. CONSTITUTION:To clean up a reaction chamber 3, flanges 6, 7 connected to the other flanges 5, 5 on upper and lower ends of the reaction chamber 3 are removed and then a heating furnace 4 and the reaction chamber 3 are pulled out of a device along rails 31, 31; an alignment pin 27 is pulled out of a throughhole 25c to turn the heating furnace 4; and the alignment pin 27 is inserted into either one of the other throughholes 25a, 25b and 25d. The heating furnace 4 and the reaction chamber 3 being leveled by inserting the alignment pin 27 into the throughholes 25a, 25d, a level carrier can be made adjacent to the outside of reaction chamber end to pull out the reaction chamber 3 on the carrier. Through these procedures, the downtime of device can be cut down.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a vertical plasma processing apparatus, and belongs to the field of equipment for manufacturing semiconductor devices.

(Prior art) Conventionally, semiconductor wafers have been exposed to a plasma atmosphere in order to grow conductive films and insulating films on the surfaces of semiconductor wafers, or to peel off (dry etching) thin films formed on the surfaces of semiconductor wafers. Processing devices are known (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 59-100514 and 1988-10051)
No. 9117, JP-A-60i No. 82129, JP-A-60-
182130 plasma CVD apparatus).

The semiconductor wafer is typically housed in a reaction chamber made of quartz and processed. This reaction chamber may be installed horizontally or vertically, but it is considered advantageous to install it vertically in order to reduce the floor area of the apparatus and to protect the semiconductor wafer from dust.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The inside of the reaction chamber needs to be cleaned at regular processing intervals, but it is made of quartz and is easily damaged, and in order to accommodate a large number of semiconductor wafers. Due to its large size, there was a problem that it was difficult to handle during cleaning. Particularly when the reaction chambers are installed vertically, there are problems in that the workability is poor and the downtime (non-operating time) of the apparatus becomes long.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The vertical plasma processing apparatus of the present invention has a cylindrical reaction chamber installed vertically, and a large number of wafers to be processed are lined up in the reaction chamber at predetermined intervals below -L. The apparatus is characterized in that the reaction chamber is installed vertically so that it can be rolled over and is detachable.

In the above, the reaction chamber can be installed in a cylindrical heating furnace, and the heating furnace can be rotatably supported via a horizontal axis, so that it can be turned over. In this configuration, it is desirable that the heating furnace be installed on a pedestal on rails installed both inside and outside the apparatus.

(Function) According to the vertical plasma processing apparatus of the present invention, since the reaction chamber can be rolled over and detached, it is possible to pull out the reaction chamber onto a separately prepared horizontal carrier, thereby preventing damage to the reaction chamber. It is possible to make handling during cleaning easier, such as eliminating the risk of damage. By preparing a spare reaction chamber, it is possible to replace the reaction chamber in an extremely short period of time, thereby reducing equipment downtime.

When installing a reaction chamber in a cylindrical heating furnace, if the heating furnace can be moved in and out of the apparatus, it is possible to move the heating furnace to the outside when performing maintenance on connecting members such as the gas introduction system and vacuum exhaust system connected to the reaction chamber. Since the entire reaction chamber can be moved to the outside of the apparatus, a space is created in the area, making maintenance work easier.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3 show the entire vertical plasma processing apparatus 1, in which a cylindrical reaction chamber 3 made of quartz is installed vertically in a lower frame 2, and an outside of the reaction chamber 3 is provided with a cylindrical reaction chamber 3. A heating furnace 4 is fitted. Flanges 5.5 are fixed to the upper and lower ends of the reaction chamber 3, respectively, a flange 6 to which a vacuum exhaust system is connected is fixed to the lower flange 5, and a gas A flange 7 to which an introduction system is connected is fixed. The flange 7 has an opening at the center, through which a parallel plate type electrode 8 supporting a semiconductor wafer can be inserted and removed.

FIG. 1 shows the electrode 8 taken out from the reaction chamber 3, and the taken out electrode 8 is positioned in a clean chamber 10 in a clean bench 9 installed on the upper part of the frame 2. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a connection jack facing the bottom of the reaction chamber 3, and when the electrode 8 is lowered and housed in the reaction chamber 3, it is connected to the connection bin 12 provided at the bottom of the electrode 8. High frequency power can be supplied from the outside.

Openings 13.13 are formed at both sides of the lower part of the clean chamber 10 for loading and unloading the semiconductor 5 integrated wafer, and the semiconductor wafer is loaded onto the electrode 8 via the wafer loading mechanism 14 and the wafer unloading mechanism 15. It is now possible to load and unload files.

There is an air duct 16.1 outside the clean chamber 10.
6 is installed so that loading and unloading of semiconductor wafers can be carried out in a clean atmosphere.

In the figure, 17 is a power supply section, 18 is a gas supply section, and 19 is a switch box.

4 to 6 are diagrams showing details of the reaction chamber 3 and heating furnace 4. FIG. That is, the heating furnace 4 fitted in the reaction chamber 3 has horizontal shafts 20.2 on both sides of the middle part.
0 is fixed, and the horizontal shaft 20.20 is supported by a bearing 22.22 installed at the upper end of the vertically installed furnace frame 21.21, so that the heating furnace 4 can rotate around the horizontal shaft 20. It has become.

The rotation of the heating furnace 4 is controlled by a semicircular stopper plate l-23 fixed to the base (on the heating furnace side) of one horizontal shaft 20.
The furnace frame 2 is placed opposite the stopper plate 1-23.
It can be regulated by a stopper mechanism 24 provided at 1. That is, for the through holes 25a, 25b, 25c, and 125d drilled in the peripheral edge of the stopper plate 23,
The rotation angle can be regulated by selecting through holes 25a to 25d into which a positioning pin 27, which is provided and biased by a spring 26, enters the stopper mechanism 24. In the figure, if the positioning bottle 27 is inserted into the through hole 25a or 25d, the heating furnace 4 and the reaction chamber 3 will be in a horizontal state, and if it is inserted into the through hole 25c, the heating furnace 4 will be in a vertical state, and if it is inserted into the through hole 25b. If you do so, it will be tilted at 45 degrees.

There are stop plates 28 and 28 on both sides of the edge of the stopper plate 23.
is fixed horizontally, and the stopper mechanism 24 side with respect to the stop plate 28 has a slider 1 to a tube pin 29 protruding from the stopper mechanism 24 side.
The heating furnace 4 is designed not to rotate beyond the above-mentioned horizontal state.

A wheel 30.30 is installed at the lower end of the furnace frame 21, and the wheel 30.30 is rotatably mounted on a rail 31.31 laid at the bottom of the frame 2 in an outward-inward direction. This allows the heating furnace 4 and the reaction chamber 3 to move in and out of the frame 2.

In the above configuration, when cleaning the reaction chamber 3, the flanges 6.7 connected to the flanges 5.5 at the upper and lower ends of the reaction chamber 3 are removed, and then the heating furnace 4 and the reaction chamber 3 are moved to the rail 31. .31 to the outside of the apparatus, then remove the positioning bin 27 from entering the through hole 250, rotate the heating furnace 4, and remove the positioning bin 27.
7 into any of the through holes 25a, 25b, and 25d. The positioning bin 27 is inserted into the through hole 25a or 25d/
＼When the heating furnace 4 and the reaction chamber 3 are in a horizontal state, a horizontal carrier (not shown) is placed adjacent to the outside of the end of the reaction chamber 3, and the reaction chamber 4 is placed on the rear of the reaction chamber 3. Chamber 3 can be pulled out. A spare reaction chamber 3 may be prepared separately, and the reaction chamber 3 for cleaning liquor may be replaced with the reaction chamber 3 that has been pulled out, thereby shortening the non-operation time of the apparatus.

Since the reaction chamber 3 is placed in a horizontal state and can be taken out of the apparatus, it can be easily cleaned and the risk of damage can be eliminated. In addition, the above reaction chamber 3
Needless to say, when cleaning the equipment, the power supply section installed at the rear of the equipment is temporarily moved to the side or rear.

Wafer loading mechanism 14 and wafer unloading mechanism 15
As shown in FIG.
, a Y direction arm 33 and an X direction arm 34.

The wafer cassette stand 32 holds two wafer cassettes 35.
is mounted and is movable in the left-right direction (Y direction), and the wafer cassette 35 facing the Y-direction arm 33 can be raised and lowered (Z-direction).

The Y-direction arm 33 is configured to be able to move a spatula 36 as shown in FIG. When the wafer cassette 35 is inserted into the gap and lowered slightly, the semiconductor wafers W are received one by one onto the spatula 36. When the spatula 36 that has removed the semiconductor wafer W is returned to its original position, the next operation of the X-direction arm 34 can be started.

As shown in FIG. 8, the X-direction arm 34 consists of a fixed chuck 37 and a moving chuck 38 that protrudes and retracts from the fixed chuck 37.
It is configured with chuck claws 39 shown in the figure, and can move in the left-right direction (Y direction) and up and down (Z direction).

However, the X-direction arm 34 moves onto the returned spatula 36.
After moving, it is lowered slightly, and then the moving chuck 38
By moving in the direction of the arrow 40, the semiconductor wafer W on the spatula 36 can be gripped. Then X
The directional arm 34 is further moved to insert the gripped semiconductor wafer W into the electrode 8 through the opening 13 of the clean chamber 10, and then the moving jack 38 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow 4.
When the semiconductor wafer W is moved in the direction 1 and released from the grip, the semiconductor wafer W is set against the flat plate electrode of the electrode 8.

The electrodes 8 can be moved up and down in the clean chamber 10 according to the spacing between the flat electrodes, and while repeating the movement one electrode at a time, a semiconductor wafer W is loaded onto each electrode by the above-mentioned wafer loading operation. Can be done.

When unloading the semiconductor wafer W from the electrode 8,
It is sufficient to perform the operation in reverse to the above, and the processed semiconductor wafer can be stored in the wafer cassette 35.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, since the reaction chamber is installed vertically so that it can be rolled over and detached, it is possible to provide a vertical plasma processing apparatus in which the reaction chamber can be easily cleaned. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front structural view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan structural view, FIG. 3 is a side structural view, FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of the reaction chamber of the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the stopper mechanism of the embodiment, FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the spatula of the embodiment, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged side view of the Y-direction arm of the embodiment. A partial bottom view and FIG. 9 are an enlarged sectional view taken along line A--A in FIG. 8.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A vertical plasma processing apparatus in which a cylindrical reaction chamber is installed vertically and a large number of wafers to be processed can be accommodated vertically in parallel at predetermined intervals in the reaction chamber, wherein the reaction chamber is Vertical plasma processing apparatus 2 characterized in that it is installed vertically so that it can be rolled horizontally and is detachable. The vertical plasma processing apparatus 3 according to claim 1 supported by the vertical plasma processing apparatus 3 according to claim 2, wherein the heating furnace is installed on a pedestal on a rail installed both inside and outside the apparatus. processing equipment