JPS63244856A - Transfer device for wafer board - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the effective transfer of a wafer boat without doing damage to a semiconductor wafer, by using a transfer structure to carry the wafer boat to a diffusion furnace and standing the wafer boat upright and using a carrier device to carry the wafer boat as it is into a furnace core tube of a diffusion furnace. CONSTITUTION:A transfer structure 9 is moved along a guide 8 to the front of a prescribed diffusion furnace 1, and a drive gear 19 is driven to actuate a rack 20 and so a pinion 18 is rotated to stand a frame member 15 upright. Thereupon, a motor 26 is driven to turn a stopper 24 so as to be in contact with a semiconductor wafer 4 and then a wafer boat 5 is held not to move. A carrier arm 27 is moved to an upper surface of the transfer structure 9 and then the wafer boat 5 is transferred on the carrier arm 27. Thereafter the carrier arm 27 is driven to carry and mount the wafer boat 5 on a boat stage 6. Next, this boat stage 6 is raised to insert the wafer boat 5 into a furnace core tube 3 of a diffusion furnace 1 and thus a diffusion process of the semiconductor wafer 4 is performed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a wafer boat transfer device, and particularly relates to a wafer boat transfer device in which semiconductor wafers are held in multiple stages in a furnace core tube of a vertical diffusion furnace. This invention relates to a wafer boat transfer device for loading and unloading.

(Prior Art) FIG. 4 shows a conventional vertical diffusion furnace. At the top of the diffusion furnace 1, there is a furnace core tube 3 extending in the vertical direction and having an opening 2 at the bottom.
A semiconductor wafer 4 is provided below the furnace core tube 3.
A boat stage 6 on which a wafer boat 5 holding wafers in multiple stages is placed and the wafer boat 5 is inserted into the furnace core tube 3.
is installed so that it can be raised and lowered freely.

In the above apparatus, semiconductor wafers 4 are stored in multiple stages in a wafer boat 5 using a bin set or the like, the wafer boat 5 is placed on a boat stage 6, and the boat stage 6 is raised to open the wafer boat 5 through an opening 2. Insert it into the inside of the furnace core tube 3 from above. In this state, after performing the diffusion process on the semiconductor wafer 4, the boat stage 6 is lowered and the semiconductor wafer 4 is taken out from the wafer boat 5 using tweezers or the like.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above device, since the semiconductor wafer 4 is manually taken in and taken out using tweezers, the part of the semiconductor wafer 4 that comes in contact with the tweezers may be damaged, or the above operation may cause damage. There is a problem in that dust and the like adhere to the semiconductor wafer 4.

In addition, since the loading and unloading of the semiconductor wafers 4 and the transfer of the wafer boat 5 to the boat stage 6 are all done manually, this results in a significant decrease in work efficiency, and this becomes more noticeable as the diameter of the semiconductor wafer increases. It also has the problem of increasing risk.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a wafer boat transfer device that can automatically transfer semiconductor wafers and transfer wafer boats, and can significantly improve work efficiency. The purpose is to

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, a wafer boat transfer device according to the present invention includes a wafer boat that holds semiconductor wafers in multiple stages in a core tube of a vertical diffusion furnace. A wafer boat transfer device for loading and unloading includes a transfer unit that transfers a plurality of semiconductor wafers vertically to the wafer boat, and a transfer unit that holds the wafer boat and transfers it between the transfer unit and the diffusion furnace. The apparatus also includes a transfer mechanism that rotates the wafer boat to a vertical and horizontal position on the upper surface, and a transfer device that moves the vertical wafer boat into and out of the furnace core tube from the transfer mechanism.

(Function) According to the present invention, a semiconductor wafer is transferred to a wafer boat by a transfer unit, and this wafer boat is transferred to a diffusion furnace by a transfer mechanism, and this wafer boat is stood upright, and in this state, the transfer device The wafer boat is transported into the core tube of the diffusion furnace to perform the diffusion process, and all operations can be performed automatically, so there is no risk of damage to the semiconductor wafers when transferring them. The wafer boat can be transferred efficiently without any problems.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which vertical diffusion furnaces 1, 1, . A furnace core tube 3 having an opening 2 is provided, and a wafer boat 5 for holding semiconductor wafers 4 in multiple stages is placed below the furnace core tube 3, and the wafer boat 5 is placed inside the furnace core tube 3. A boat stage 6 inserted into the boat is provided so as to be movable up and down. Further, a transfer unit 7 is disposed on one side of this diffusion furnace 1, and this transfer unit 7 and each of the above-mentioned diffusion furnaces 1, 1
On the front side of... is a transfer mechanism for the wafer boat 5, which is movable between the transfer unit 7 and each diffusion furnace 1 along the guide 8 by driving a linear pulse motor (not shown) or the like. 9 is provided.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transfer unit 7 is equipped with a transfer head 10 that is movable in the front and rear, left and right, and up and down directions. Wafer holders 11.11 that hold a plurality of semiconductor wafers 4 vertically are provided facing each other, and below the transfer head 10, a gate member is provided between each of the wafer holders 11 so as to be movable back and forth. 12 are arranged. In addition, the above-mentioned transfer unit 7
A plurality of carriers 13.13 (four in this embodiment) for vertically accommodating a plurality of semiconductor wafers 4 are provided near the front of the upper surface, and below each of these carriers 13,
A pusher 14 is provided for lifting and lowering the semiconductor wafers 4 in increments of 10.

As shown in FIG. 3, a frame 15 is disposed on the upper surface of the transfer mechanism 9, and a rotating shaft 17 supported by a bearing 16 is mounted on both sides of one end of the frame 15. is fixed, and the frame body 15 is formed to be freely rotatable about the rotation shaft 17.

A pinion 18 is provided at the tip of the rotating shaft 17, and this pinion 18 is connected to a driving device such as an air cylinder.
9, the rack 20 reciprocates along the upper surface of the transfer mechanism 9.+: is engaged with the rack 20. Furthermore, boat holders 21 and 21 for holding the wafer boats 5 are arranged inside both ends of the frame 15, and each boat holder 2
1 is a screw shaft 2 extending along the longitudinal direction of the frame 15;
2, and each boat holder 21 is movable in the longitudinal direction of the frame 15 by rotating the screw shaft 22 by driving a motor 23 attached to one end of the frame 15. It is said that Above boat holder 2
1 is equipped with a wafer boat 5 that holds semiconductor wafers 4, and the crushed body 15 has a stopper 24 that holds the wafer boat 5 when the frame 15 is upright.
is attached via a link 25, and this stopper 24 is rotated by a motor 26 attached to one end of the frame 15, thereby rotating the wafer boat 5.
It is said that it can be attached to and detached from the semiconductor wafer 4 at will.

Further, on the arrangement surface of the boat stage 6, transfer arms 27 for moving the wafer boat 5 from the boat holder 21 to the boat stage 6 are respectively disposed.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, the transfer mechanism 9 is provided with a pusher 28 that can be raised and lowered.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, carriers 13 containing a plurality of semiconductor wafers 4 are placed at predetermined positions in transfer unit 7, and wafer boat 5 is attached to boat holder 21 of transfer mechanism 9. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the transfer head 10 is moved above the one carrier 13, the pusher 14 at the gear 9f 13 position is raised, and the semiconductor wafers 4 are transferred in units of 1r:I. Wafer holder 1 of replacement head 10
Insert it inside 1. In this state, the transfer head 10
The gate member 12 is moved to hold the semiconductor wafer 4, the first pusher 14 is lowered, and the transfer head 10 is moved above the wafer boat 5. Next, while lowering the transfer head 10 slightly,
The semiconductor wafer 4 is transferred to the wafer boat 5 by raising the bushing 28 of the transfer mechanism 9 to hold the semiconductor wafer 4 in the transfer head 10, and opening the gate member 12 to lower the bushing 28. Similarly, semiconductor wafers 4 from other carriers 13 are transferred to the wafer boat 5.

Next, the transfer mechanism 9 is moved along the guide 8 to the front of the predetermined diffusion furnace 1, and the drive device 19 is driven to move the rack 20
By operating the pinion 18, the frame body 15 is made to stand vertically as shown in FIG. At this time, the stopper 24 is rotated by driving the motor 26 so as to come into contact with the semiconductor wafer 4, and the wafer boat 5 is held so that it does not move. Then, the transport arm 27 is moved to the upper surface of the transport mechanism 9, and the motor 23. The wafer boat 5 is transferred onto the transfer arm 27 by moving the boat holder 21 up and down by driving the holder 26 and releasing the stopper 24 . Thereafter, the transfer arm 27 is driven to transfer and place the wafer boat 5 on the boat stage 6, and the boat stage 6 is raised to raise the wafer boat 5.
is inserted into the furnace core tube 3 of the diffusion furnace 1, and the semiconductor wafer 4 is subjected to a diffusion process.

After the diffusion process is completed, the wafer boat 5 is transferred and the semiconductor wafers 4 are returned to the carrier 13 by an operation opposite to the above operation.

Therefore, in this embodiment, all transfer operations can be performed automatically, so that damage to the semiconductor wafers 4 or reduction in yield due to dust generation can be avoided when transferring the semiconductor wafers 4. Moreover, the wafer boat 5 can be transferred efficiently. Furthermore, since the wafer boat 5 is placed upright during transfer between the transfer mechanism and the diffusion furnace, stable transfer can be performed, and the semiconductor device 4 is transferred vertically in other parts. Therefore, the adhesion of dust can be significantly reduced.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the wafer boat transfer device according to the present invention transfers semiconductor wafers to a wafer boat using a transfer unit, transports this wafer boat to a diffusion furnace using a transfer mechanism, and stands the wafer boat upright. In this state, the wafer boat is transported into the core tube of the diffusion furnace using a transport device to perform the diffusion process.All operations can be performed automatically, so when transferring semiconductor wafers, etc. The wafer boat can be transferred efficiently without damaging the wafers. Furthermore, during transfer between the transfer mechanism and the diffusion furnace, the wafer boat is held upright, allowing for stable transfer.In addition, since the semiconductor wafers are transferred vertically in other areas, dust can be removed. This has the effect of significantly reducing the adhesion of.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 3 each show an embodiment of the present invention, with Figure 1 being a perspective view, Figure 2 being a configuration diagram of the transfer unit, and Figure 3 being an enlarged perspective view of the transfer mechanism. Figure, 4th
The figure is a perspective view showing a conventional diffusion furnace. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Diffusion furnace, 3... Furnace core tube, 4... Semiconductor wafer, 5... Wafer boat, 6... Boat table,
7... Transfer unit, 9... Transfer mechanism, 10.
...Transfer head, 13...Carrier, 15...
Frame body, 21...Boat holder, 27...Transportation arm.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a wafer boat transfer device for loading and unloading a wafer boat holding semiconductor wafers in multiple stages into and out of a furnace core tube of a vertical diffusion furnace, a transfer unit that transfers a plurality of semiconductor wafers to the wafer boat in a vertical state; a transfer mechanism that holds and transfers the wafer boat between the transfer unit and the diffusion furnace and rotates the wafer boat to a vertical and horizontal position on the upper surface; A wafer boat transfer device comprising a transfer device that moves in and out of a furnace core tube.