JPS6359249B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic wafer processing apparatus that enables full automation of manufacturing of semiconductor devices such as semiconductor integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to a fully automated processing system (apparatus) that includes means for transporting wafers housed in cassettes between manufacturing apparatuses that perform various processing and processing operations.

[Prior art and its drawbacks]

2. Description of the Related Art Various manufacturing equipment such as a heat treatment furnace, an ion implanter, a vacuum evaporator, and a mask aligner are generally used to manufacture semiconductor devices. Many proposals have been made to date for the automation of these manufacturing devices, and many are commercially available. Therefore, if the movement of wafers between these automatic manufacturing apparatuses is automated, automation of the entire process of semiconductor device manufacturing will be realized.

As a first conventional example of such a device,
For example, the magazine “Electronics” (vol. 47, 23
No. 1, published in 1974, by Matsuku Gro-Hill, Inc., USA). The line automatically transports wafers through a wafer transport path similar to a belt conveyor. However, in the case of such a belt conveyor type wafer transfer means, it is necessary to arrange a predetermined automatic manufacturing device, automatic inspection device, etc. along the wafer transfer path in the order of each process. For this reason, there was a drawback (problem) that when changing the process order due to changes in manufacturing types, etc., the arrangement of the equipment had to be changed each time.

In addition, when the same process is repeated, the number of automatic manufacturing devices that process the process in question should be arranged along the wafer transfer path in a number equivalent to the number of times the process is repeated, or a branched wafer transfer path should be used.
Each time the process is repeated, it is necessary to return the wafer to the automatic manufacturing equipment that processes the process. That is, in the first conventional technique, the overall device configuration becomes complicated and there is a problem that flexibility is lacking. For this reason, it has been difficult to automate the entire process until now.

Further, as an example of an automatic manufacturing apparatus in which the order of steps is arbitrary, there is a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 107678/1983 as a second conventional example. This technology allows wafers to be transferred between any manufacturing devices in any order using tracks without using a belt conveyor system, but in this technology, wafers can be transferred between individual manufacturing devices using a method called wafer pickup. This was done using a wafer carriage that had a "mechanism to hold one wafer horizontally." For this reason, productivity is extremely low because wafers are transferred one by one, and since the wafers are held and transferred horizontally, dust and the like tend to adhere to them, which is a practical problem.

Furthermore, with regard to automation of the various manufacturing equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, the wafers to be processed are placed in a cassette, loaded into a predetermined position in the equipment, and then processed automatically. Cassette-type devices, which are adapted to be folded and returned to position, are known for sputtering and CVD devices (Solid
State, Technology, July 1977, page 27, R.S.Rosler, WC Benzing, “Automation
In addition, ion implantation equipment,
As for exposure equipment, dry etching equipment, etc., cassette processing equipment is already commercially available. Here, the term "cassette" refers to a container that vertically holds a large number of wafers and is provided with grooves for holding the wafers. Generally, those made of fluoride resin and metal are used in commercially available cassette processing type manufacturing equipment. These cassettes are wafer storage containers for loading and unloading wafers into manufacturing equipment, have the role of preventing damage to wafers, and are also a unit of manufacturing control. Fluorinated resin cassettes are chemical resistant and are also used as containers for bulk processing such as cleaning.

Regarding heat treatment furnaces, automatic heat treatment furnaces using computers are commercially available, but in this case, the wafers are mounted on a quartz boat, so the quartz boat is regarded as a heat-resistant cassette, and the wafer is considered a cassette processing type manufacturing device. be able to.

Therefore, if wafers are transferred between various manufacturing equipment (ion implantation, exposure, heat treatment, etc.) using a cassette as a unit, a fully automated manufacturing equipment system can be realized, but the material and groove of each cassette (including quartz boats) Regarding the difference in pitch and wafer thickness,
Because the width of the groove is wide, the wafer is held in the groove with a certain degree of freedom (that is, the wafer is held at an angle), so when taking the wafer out of the groove,
There are problems such as the inability to adopt a take-out mechanism based on the groove position of the cassette, and in the past, fully automatic wafer processing equipment that specifically solves these problems and transfers cassettes as a unit has not been realized. Nakatsuta.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the actual situation in the prior art described above, and its purpose is to realize full automation of the manufacturing work of semiconductor integrated circuits, and to realize the entire automation including various manufacturing equipment. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic wafer processing apparatus that enables the simplification of the apparatus configuration.

To achieve this object, the present invention provides a cassette conversion system that automatically transfers semiconductor wafers between a plurality of cassettes containing semiconductor wafers, including heat-resistant cassettes such as quartz boats and chemical-resistant cassettes. A device, a plurality of manufacturing devices that automatically process semiconductor wafers stored in the cassettes, and a transfer device that transfers cassettes between the cassette conversion device and the manufacturing device, or between the manufacturing devices. The configuration includes a device. More specifically, the cassette conversion device includes optical groove position detection means;
Based on the detection results, a mechanism is provided to slightly move the position of the cassette, so that the wafer can be reliably inserted into the groove even between cassettes with different groove pitches and positions. Also, by adopting an arm with a vacuum suction function in the cassette converter, when a wafer is held in a groove whose width is larger than the thickness of the wafer, the wafer should be held at an angle. Even if the position of the upper end of the wafer is not determined, the wafer is reliably gripped by the arm by forced suction, thereby making it possible to transfer the wafer to another cassette.

The functions and effects of the above configuration will become clear from the examples described below.

〔Example〕

The automatic wafer processing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail below. First, we will explain N-MOS memory manufacturing as an example of semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturing.
Next, an outline and examples of the present invention will be described.

The N-MOS memory manufacturing process can be broadly divided into
(1) Interelement isolation film formation process, (2) Gate oxide film formation process, (3) Gate electrode formation process, (4) Source/drain formation process, (5) Multilayer wiring formation process, (6) Passivation film formation It is divided into processes, etc.

For example, (1) the inter-element isolation film formation step is as follows:
Wafer cleaning process using cleaning equipment, thermal oxidation process in dry oxygen using heat treatment furnace, nitride film formation process using low pressure CVD equipment, resist coating, pre-bake equipment, exposure equipment, resist development, and resist patterning through a series of steps in post-bake equipment. Formation process (i.e. lithography process), patterning process of nitride film and oxide film using plasma etching equipment, impurity implantation process for channel stop using ion implantation equipment, resist removal process using plasma assuring equipment, wafer cleaning process using cleaning equipment again, heat treatment Thermal oxidation process in wet oxygen using a furnace (selective oxidation method)
It consists of a series of steps such as a nitride film and oxide film pattern removal step using a plasma etching device.

(2) Gate film formation process includes wafer cleaning process, dry oxygen thermal oxidation process (gate oxidation process)
Consisting of (3) Gate electrode formation process is performed under reduced pressure.
The process consists of a polysilicon forming process using a CVD device, a resist pattern forming process, and a polysilicon electrode patterning process using a plasma etching device. (4) The source/drain forming process consists of an ion implantation process and a wafer cleaning process. (5) The multilayer wiring formation process consists of a phosphorus-doped silicate glass (PSG) film formation process formed using an atmospheric pressure CVD apparatus, and an A wiring formation process using lithographic etching. (6) Passivation film formation process includes passivation film formation using CVD equipment,
Consists of lithography, etching, etc.

Therefore, an N-MOS memory manufacturing line consists of a heat treatment furnace, low pressure CVD equipment, resist coating equipment, exposure equipment, resist developing equipment, plasma etching equipment, plasma assembling equipment, ion implantation equipment, and atmospheric pressure CVD equipment. , A vapor deposition equipment, organic solvent cleaning equipment, acid cleaning equipment, and various other manufacturing equipment are required. As mentioned earlier, in individual manufacturing equipment, equipment that takes wafers out of a cassette, processes them, and then returns them to the cassette is commercially available, making it possible to fully automate the entire manufacturing process. Therefore, in the present invention, there is provided a transfer device for storing and transporting wafers in cassettes between these manufacturing devices, and a central control of the transfer device and various manufacturing devices, and transporting cassettes containing wafers in the order of processes. This system is equipped with a control device for managing procedures and a cassette conversion device for automatically transferring wafers between different cassettes.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic wafer processing apparatus of the present invention, and this figure illustrates an apparatus for automatically manufacturing MOSLSI. In the figure, 1 to 8 are cassette processing manufacturing equipment that automatically process semiconductor wafers, 1 is an electric furnace, 2 is a low pressure CVD equipment, 3 is an atmospheric CVD equipment, and 4 is a resist coating, exposure, and development equipment. 5 is an ion implantation device; 6 is a resist pattern forming device that processes a series of steps;
A is a sputtering device, 7 is a dry etching device, and 8 is a cleaning device. 9 is a cassette storage; 10 is a cassette converter; 11 to 20 are cassette loading machines (described later); 21 to 30 are wafer transfer stations (described later); 31 is a wafer transfer device;
1' is a control device, and 31'' is a control network. Wafers are housed in cassettes and transported along a wafer transfer device 31 by a wafer transfer device (described later), and manufacturing devices 1 to 8 perform necessary processing. , the wafer storage 9, or one of the wafer transfer stations 21 to 30 corresponding to the cassette conversion device 10.The wafer processing order, processing conditions, etc. are all given in advance to the control device 31' in the form of a program. Then, the starting wafers are put into cassettes and put into the cassette storage 9. After the above preparations, when the control device 31' is commanded to start processing, the control device 31' first stores the wafers in the cassette storage 9 according to the program. The transfer device 31 is instructed to transfer the starting wafer at step 9 to one of the manufacturing devices 1 to 8. Upon receiving the instruction, the transfer device 31 goes to the station 29 and transfers the starting wafer from the storage 9 by the loading machine 19. A cassette containing starting wafers is placed on the transfer device 31. Next, for example, a case where the cassette is sent to the dry etching device 7 will be explained below. The sent cassette is loaded into a predetermined position of the dry etching device 7 by the cassette loading machine 17, and the wafer is automatically processed according to the command from the control device 31'.Transfer of the transfer device 31 Since the time required for processing wafers in the manufacturing apparatuses 1 to 8 is shorter, once the cassettes transferred by the loading machine 17 are taken, the cassettes can be transferred between different apparatuses. Processing can be performed in parallel in devices 1 to 8, and wafers that have been processed can be freely transferred to any device.

In the above explanation, the case where the cassette containing the wafers can be used as is in the destination manufacturing equipment will be explained. Next, the case where the cassette needs to be converted will be explained. (This is the case where the features of the present application are most utilized.) For example, the wafer that has been processed in the dry etching device 7 is transferred to the electric furnace 1.
When transferring the wafer to a quartz boat, the dry etching apparatus uses a fluorinated resin cassette, but the electric furnace 1 uses a quartz boat, so it is necessary to transfer the wafer to the quartz boat.

Generally, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, a heat treatment furnace,
In equipment such as cleaning equipment and mask aligners, wafer cassettes made of quartz, Teflon, and metal are used for processing and transporting wafers. A cassette converter is provided to automatically reload the cassettes. (The cassette converter and its operation will be described in detail later.) Therefore, in the present invention, first, while processing wafers in the dry etching device 7, an empty quartz boat is transferred from the electric furnace 1 to the cassette converter by the transfer device 31. Move it to 10. Next, the cassette containing the processed wafers is transferred to a cassette converting device 10, and the wafers contained in the fluorinated resin cassette are transferred to a quartz boat by the cassette converting device 10. Next, the quartz boat containing the wafers is transferred to the electric furnace 1 by the cassette transfer device 31 and heat-treated. Empty cassettes are transferred to storage 9 and stored there. The cassette storage 9 is used for storing cassettes containing starting wafers, temporary storage for waiting for equipment 1 to 8 to be used for the next process after one process is completed, and for storing empty cassettes necessary for cassette conversion. We also store. As above,
With the wafer in the cassette, the manufacturing equipment 1~
8, according to the program of the control device 31', and are automatically processed to produce a semiconductor device. To make semiconductor devices using different processes,
All you need to do is change the program, and it is not related to the order in which the manufacturing equipment is arranged.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the cassette converter shown in FIG. 1 described above. In the figure, 40 is the main body stand, 40' is the cassette conversion control unit, and 4
1 is a fluorinated resin cassette section; 42, 43, and 44 are wafer transfer tracks; 45 is a facet detection section;
46 is a metal cassette part, 47 is a wafer holder, 48
Reference numeral 49 indicates a quartz boat portion, and 49 a wafer moving arm. Fluorinated resin cassette section 41, metal cassette section 46, and wafer transfer tracks 42, 43, 4
4 is the same as that used in a known commercially available cassette processing type manufacturing apparatus, and the wafers are transferred one by one from a cassette to a wafer transfer track 42,
43, or the wafer transfer track 42, 4.
One wafer can be stored in each cassette from 3 onwards. The facet detection unit 45 fixes the wafers sent from the wafer transfer trucks 42, 43, and 44 by vacuum suction, rotates the wafers together with the fixed table, and detects the facet position of the wafers and detects damaged wafers. This is done electrically. If a damaged wafer is detected, a buzzer is sounded to call an operator. Further, FIG. 2 conceptually shows the storage state of wafers in each cassette or quartz boat. That is, wafers are stored in the quartz boat 48 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper, and the cassettes 41,
46 shows a state in which a wafer is held in a direction parallel to the plane of the paper, and a plurality of wafers are present in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper.

Further, the main body stand 40, wafer moving arm 49, cassette conversion control section 40', and a part of the quartz boat section 48 are connected to each other, and as shown below, a wafer insertion device into the quartz boat (Fig. 2-1) and a quartz boat section 48 are connected to each other. A device for taking out wafers from a quartz boat (Fig. 2-2) is constructed.

Figure 2-1 is an explanatory diagram of a device (wafer insertion device) for inserting wafers into a quartz boat;
is a quartz boat, 48-2' is a wafer groove, 48-4
48-5 is a light projector, and 48-5 is a light receiver. The quartz boat 48-2 containing no wafers is moved from one side to the other, and the reflected light from the emitter 48-4 is sent to the receiver 48-.
5, and the signal change is sent to the cassette conversion control section 4.
0', and the positions of all grooves 48-2' are stored in the cassette conversion control section 40'.

In this way, since the groove position of the quartz boat 48-2 is accurately memorized, the cassette conversion control section 4
The wafers are gripped by vacuum tweezers 49-1 (see FIG. 2, omitted in FIG. 2-1) connected to 0' and inserted one by one into predetermined groove positions.
In this case, the quartz boat 48-2 is moved one pitch at a time according to the stored groove position information to complete the insertion of all necessary wafers.

In this case, it is necessary to take out the wafer from a cassette made of another material and bring it to a position where it can be gripped by the vacuum tweezers 49-1. These operations are performed by the wafer pedestal 47, wafer transfer track 44, and control section 40' shown in FIG.

That is, when loading and unloading wafers into and out of the quartz boat, the wafers are moved one by one between the quartz boat and the wafer pedestal 47 installed in the quartz boat section 48 using a wafer moving arm 49 equipped with vacuum tweezers. This is done by letting The wafer pedestal 47 receives the wafer from the wafer transfer truck 44,
When sending wafers to the wafer transfer track 44, the wafer receiving surface of the wafer pedestal 47 is on the same plane as the wafer transfer track 44, but since the wafers are stored vertically in the quartz boat, the wafers are When moving a wafer between the pedestal 47 and the quartz boat part 48, the wafer pedestal 47
The rollers are adapted to roll approximately vertically with the side opposite to the side in contact with the wafer transfer track 44 as an axis. 47-1 in FIG. 2 is the rolling shaft. The quartz boat section 48 is movable in accordance with the pitch of the groove in the quartz boat into which the wafer is placed, which is stored in the control device. Because it is like this, you can take out the wafer from the quartz boat,
When loading wafers into the quartz boat, each time a wafer is loaded or unloaded from the quartz boat, the quartz boat section 48 moves one pitch at a time, and the next wafer can be loaded or unloaded at a fixed position by the wafer moving arm 49.

Figure 2-2 is an explanatory diagram of a device for taking out wafers from a quartz boat, and A to C are wafers;
0' is a cassette conversion control unit, 40-1 is a pressure sensor, 40-2 is a vacuum pump, 48-1 is a quartz boat unit, 48-2 is a quartz boat, and 49-1 is a vacuum tweezers.

With this structure, the control section 4
0', position the groove in the quartz boat containing the wafer to be taken out using the vacuum tweezers 49-1.
The wafer is brought to the position of the wafer moving arm 49 where the wafer is provided. In this case, if the wafer is inclined because the width of the groove is wide and the upper end to be gripped is not on the vertical extension of the groove, the wafer can be attracted by vacuum suction even if it is inclined as shown in A, for example. B
It can be grasped with vacuum tweezers 49-1 as shown in FIG. In this case, since the value of the pressure sensor 40-1 changes between state A and state B, by detecting this, the control unit 40' issues a command to start the movement of the wafer moving arm. The wafer can be removed from the quartz boat. The taken-out wafer is brought to a fixed position on a wafer pedestal 47 shown in FIG. 2, and placed in the wafer pedestal 47, which stands approximately vertically. Next, the wafer pedestal 47 is rotated until it is flush with the wafer transfer track 44, and the wafer is sent from the wafer pedestal 47 to the wafer transfer track 44, and the wafer passes through the facet detection section 45 and is transferred to the fluorinated resin cassette section. 41
or to the metal cassette section 46 and accommodated in the cassette. By repeating the above operations, the wafers housed in the quartz boat are sequentially transferred to the fluorinated resin cassette or the metal cassette.

Note that even if the wafer is tilted in the opposite direction to A as shown in C shown in FIG. 2-2, the quartz boat is moved in the direction of the arrow, so the vacuum tweezers 49-1 When it comes into contact with the object, it becomes state B and is adsorbed, so it can be taken out in the same way.

Next, a mechanism for transporting a cassette containing wafers will be explained.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing one embodiment of the above-mentioned cassette transfer machine, in particular, FIG. 3A shows a side view and FIG. 3B shows a front view. In these figures, 50 is the main body of the transfer machine, 51 is a steady rest metal fitting, 52 is an elevator storage section,
53 is a lifting motor, 54 is a lifting belt, 55 is a main pulley for lifting, 56 is a track (cassette transfer path), 57 is a dust cover, 58 and 59 are belt holders, 60 is a control unit, and 61 is related to the track 56. 62 is an auxiliary pulley for elevating, 63 is a storage case for storing the cassette, 64 is an elevating joint, 65 is a dustproof duct, 66 is a support supporting the track 56, 67 is a mounting bracket for attaching the track 56 to the support 66 , 68 is an orbital antenna, and 69 is an on-board antenna. The cassettes are carried by a storage case 63 to prevent contamination of the wafers during transport. Confirmation of the current position of the cassette transfer machine and control of the speed, stop, direction of movement of the cassette transfer machine, vertical movement of the lifting platform, etc. are performed by transmitting and receiving control signals using the orbital antenna 68 and the on-board antenna 69. Let's do it. When this cassette transfer machine approaches the target cassette transfer station, it is decelerated and stopped at a predetermined position. After stopping, when the lifting motor 53 rotates, the main lifting pulley 55 and the auxiliary lifting pulley 62 rotate, and the lifting belt 54 that was wrapped around it stretches.
The elevator platform 64 descends to the cassette transfer station. There, the storage case 63 is loaded or unloaded. When traveling again, the lifting platform 64 may be stored in the lifting platform storage section 52 and held down by the steady rest fitting 51, and the transfer machine body 50 will run on the track 56 in the dustproof duct 65 as before.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a cassette transfer station constituting the above-described transfer device. In FIG. 4, reference numerals 70 and 71 are motors, 72 and 73 are movable width adjustment fittings, 74 is a width adjustment closing limit switch, and 75 is a width adjustment opening limit switch. The lifting platform 64 that has been lowered by the lifting belt 54 from the transfer machine main body 50 shown in FIG. Next, the width adjustment movable metal fittings 72 and 73 are operated by the motors 70 and 71 to close the width adjustment close limit switch 7.
4 is closed until it is activated, sandwiching the lifting table 64 and fixing the lifting table 64 in a fixed position. Next, the storage case 63 is loaded or unloaded by a cassette loading device (illustrated with reference numerals 11 to 20 in FIG.
is opened, and the lifting platform 64 is stored in the transfer machine main body 50 by the lifting belt 54.

The above-mentioned cassette loading device is composed of a small arm robot having a movable arm, and is sandwiched between width-adjusting movable fittings 72 and 73 in the cassette transfer station, and lifts the storage case 63 from the fixed lifting platform 64. The cassette is taken out to a predetermined position, the lid of the storage case 63 is opened, and the cassette is loaded into a predetermined position of the automatic manufacturing apparatus. Further, the processed cassette is removed from a predetermined position of the automatic manufacturing apparatus, placed in a storage case 63, covered with a lid, and loaded onto the lifting table 64 of the transfer machine main body 50. With such a cassette transfer mechanism, wafers housed in cassettes can be transferred in bulk between individual semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses and between semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses and the above-mentioned cassette conversion apparatus.

In the above embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to an N-MOS memory manufacturing process has been exemplified. Completed wafers undergo processes such as inspection, cutting into chips, and encapsulation into wire bonding packages to become finished products. The automatic wafer processing apparatus is not limited to the eight types of cassette processing type manufacturing apparatuses shown in FIG. 1, but can be provided with any number of types depending on the necessary processes. The automatic wafer processing apparatus of the present invention is applicable not only to the N-MOS memory manufacturing process, but also to
It goes without saying that the present invention can be widely applied to wafer processing steps for manufacturing semiconductor devices. Further, by transporting the cassette in the storage case 63 as described above, contamination during transport of the wafers can be prevented. Furthermore, loading and unloading the cassettes into and out of the storage case 63, loading into the automatic manufacturing equipment, etc. may be carried out within a clean bench. In this way, contamination of the wafer can be prevented.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, even a quartz boat equipped with a cassette conversion device and having a pitch of grooves for holding wafers and a groove width different from those of cassettes made of other materials can be regarded as a heat-resistant cassette. , can be handled in the same way, making it possible to fully automate semiconductor manufacturing processes that require quartz boats. That is, in the present invention, the wafer processing order and processing conditions are programmed into the control device 31'.
When starting wafers are stored in cassettes and placed in a wafer storage, the wafers are automatically transferred and automatically processed by each manufacturing device to produce semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. Wafers can be transferred from any device to any device, and if the cassettes are different, they can be transferred, so there is an advantage that the wafer processing order can be changed only by changing the program.

Further, in the present invention, wafers are transferred between individual manufacturing apparatuses in units of cassettes. Compared to trays, which are other storage formats, cassettes are containers that store a large number of wafers vertically, so they can transfer an extremely large number of wafers at once, making them efficient.
Furthermore, since the wafer is transferred while being held vertically (inside the cassette), there is an advantage that dust is extremely difficult to adhere to.

Furthermore, since the arrangement of various manufacturing devices is not limited by the order of steps, it is also possible to simultaneously manufacture semiconductor devices such as bipolar, C-MOS, N-MOS, and analog devices that require different steps. Furthermore, automation can be expected to have great effects, such as preventing workers from handling the wafers directly and contamination due to dust generated by people.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an automatic wafer processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. Fig.-1 is an explanatory diagram of a device for loading wafers into a quartz boat, Fig. 2-2 is an explanatory diagram of a device for taking out wafers from a quartz boat, and Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a device for taking out wafers from a quartz boat. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a wafer transfer device, in particular, FIG. 4A is a side view, FIG. B is a front view, and FIG. It is. 1...Heat treatment furnace (cassette type manufacturing equipment), 2...
...Low pressure CVD equipment (cassette type manufacturing equipment), 3...
Atmospheric pressure CVD device (cassette type manufacturing device), 4...Resist pattern forming device (cassette type manufacturing device), 5...Ion implantation device (cassette type manufacturing device), 6...A sputtering device (cassette type manufacturing device) ), 7...Dry etching device (cassette type manufacturing device), 8...Cleaning device (cassette type manufacturing device), 9...Storage, 10...Cassette conversion device, 11-20...Cassette loading device, 2
1 to 30...cassette transfer station, 31...
...Cassette transfer passage, 31'...Control device, 40
...Cassette converter main body, 40-1...Pressure sensor, 40-2...Vacuum pump, 40'...Cassette conversion control section, 41...Fluoride resin cassette section, 42, 43, 44...Wafer transfer truck,
45...Facet detection unit, 46...Metal cassette unit, 47...Wafer holder, 47-1...Rolling shaft of wafer holder, 48...Quartz boat part, 48
-2...Quartz boat, 48-2'...Groove, 48-
4... Emitter, 48-5... Light receiver, 49... Wafer moving arm, 49-1... Vacuum tweezers section, 50... Transfer machine main body, 52... Elevating table storage section, 53... Lifting motor , 54... Lifting belt, 55... Main pulley for lifting, 56... Track, 6
0...Control unit, 61...Traveling wheel, 62...Sub-pulley for elevating, 63...Storage case, 64...Elevating platform.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A cassette capable of storing a plurality of wafers in a substantially vertical manner by holding the wafers in grooves; - Semiconductor manufacturing equipment that processes and processes wafers used for processing and stores processed wafers in cassettes, A cassette converting device comprising a cassette converting mechanism for exchanging wafers and a control unit controlling the exchanging; - A cassette converting device and a plurality of types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment are connected, and wafers are stored in the cassettes. a cassette transfer device comprising at least a transfer mechanism for transferring the cassette converter and the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus or between different semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, and a control section for controlling the transfer. In the automatic wafer processing apparatus, the cassette conversion device optically detects the groove position of the cassette, adjusts the cassette position based on the detection result, and inserts and holds the wafer into the corresponding groove of the cassette. and means for forcibly adsorbing the wafer by vacuum suction to take out the wafer from the cassette even if the upper end of the wafer is irregularly positioned with respect to the groove position, the cassette transfer device The storage case has a storage case for storing a cassette, a lifting means for raising and lowering the storage case, and a running wheel, a transfer machine for transporting the storage case, a track on which the running wheel is engaged, and a lower part of the track. a cassette transfer station, which is disposed at the cassette transfer station and has a mechanism for positioning the storage case; and a movable arm, which automatically loads the cassettes into the storage case positioned at the cassette transfer station, or automatically loads the cassettes from the storage case. An automatic wafer processing device comprising: a cassette loading device for loading and unloading a cassette;